Zian swore quietly at everything in the world as he walked through the door to his dorm room, climbed up to the top bunk and flopped on his back, still swearing under his breath, crushing the delicate silver figure into dust as he clenched his fist. Leon saw instantly as he walked through the door that Zian was angry.

"Hey bro... What happened?" he asked. Zian shook his head.

"It's stupid anyway..." he muttered.

"Look..." Leon said. "It's obviously not stupid to you if it's making you miserable right now. Now give. What happened?"

Zian punched the wall.

"I told Kayla I liked her..." he growled. Leon smiled.

"Took you long enough..." he said. "So what'd she sa-"

"She's with that bastard Damian, okay? Now will you just leave me alone?" Zian cut his brother off. He rolled over on the top bunk so that he was facing the wall.

If it was anyone except for Damian, he would have, however grudgingly, accepted it. Because it was him, all it made Zian want to do was beat the hell out of Damian even more than he normally felt like doing. He swore quietly again as he closed his eyes, drifting into a troubled sleep.

–

Damian sat back against the wall behind his dorm, smiling as Kayla walked up to him. She looked around at the others surrounding him, then glared.

"You said you weren't holding these anymore." she said softly. He looked down.

"Well, I kind of had to change my mind." He whispered to her. "The others complained."

"I don't care!" she said angrily. "One of my friends was hurt by one of YOUR alchemists. So you'd better cease with these gatherings." she continued. "What do you hope to accomplish, anyway?"

Damian knew she was truly angry, since she started talking all medieval-style when she got mad.

"I can't stop these meetings now! They'd kill me!" he defended. "And as for what we'll accomplish, we'll be the first to create an artificial form of life! We will create a living person!"

His eyes seemed to flash from dull gray to bright red as he said this, and Kayla began to wonder what was going on with him.

"You're sick!" she hissed. "You know that the price of creating life is too high to pay!"

Damian feigned submission, a look of false apology on his face.

"Of course. I don't know what I was thinking." he said. "I'll call it off at the end of this meeting."

Kayla smiled. "That's better." she said, throwing her arms around him.

–

Zian woke up, feeling sick. His head pounded, he felt emotionally... just... beaten down... and his thoughts were slow. Leon watched as he climbed down the ladder from the top bunk.

"You look like hell..." Leon said, frowning. "Just how much did you like this girl?"

Zian gave him the finger. Leon let out a low whistle. "That much? Wow."

Zian threw his coat on angrily.

"JUST SHUT UP, WILL YOU? FOR ONCE JUST SHUT UP!" he snapped and walked out the door.

He went behind one of the other dorms, drew a special circle he had created himself for this purpose, this one actually on his shoulder, and closed his eyes, concentrating. The metal sank in specific spots, etching the circle into his shoulder.

"Good." he said softly. "Now I've gotta test it..."

He laid his hand on the ground, closed his eyes, and concentrated again. This time, he shaped the stone around him, a perfect mold of his hand melting into the ground. He pulled his hand from the hole, smiling.

It worked! His idea had worked!

He carefully began to come up with a plan on how to take Damian out of the picture. Dig a hole out from under his feet? No, too much timing. Encase him in a stone block? No, he was probably an experienced alchemist. Fight him one-on-one to the death? He ran the risk of not being as skilled of a fighter as Damian, but otherwise, didn't see much wrong with that idea. Duels were a perfectly acceptable way to solve a dispute, and he had quite a few problems with Damian being around.

"Looks like we've got a winner, folks. Let's get this crap over with…" Zian muttered under his breath. With his artificial strength and the ability to do alchemy without drawing the circle, it'd almost be too easy for him to win.

He left the alley to wait for Damian at a corner, ignoring the strange looks people gave him because of his appearance. They'd have more important things to stare at soon.

–

Damian turned a corner, running straight into- Zian! Inside his head, Damian raged at Zian, wishing he hadn't sent a couple of grunts to take care of him. They hadn't even managed to kill him properly.

"Watch it." Zian said coldly, pushing him into the wall.

Damian smiled. Obviously the stupid kid was just LOOKING for trouble.

"What're you gonna do about it?" he asked, getting in Zian's face. Zian stayed completely calm as he answered in the same cold tone.

"I came here to start a fight." Zian said. "And luckily, you caught me in a bad mood."

Everyone in the square gathered around the two of them as Damian threw the first punch. Zian ducked, then drove a punch into Damian's stomach. As Damian fell, he pressed his hands to the ground, standing up with a stone sword in his hands. The crowd began to talk among themselves, wondering where he had gotten it as he slashed at Zian.

'Finally!' he thought happily, 'A reason to kill the stupid kid!'

The hilt of Damian's sword slammed into Zian's spine, and as he fell, his eyes widened. 'He's never been that fast!' Zian thought in surprise. He landed, then brought his legs up with a scissor kick around Damian's neck, hoping to bring the bigger boy down quickly now. He rolled as he fell, then groaned as he felt his back crack again.

Zian swore quietly, then pushed himself back up. Damian's head had been slammed into the ground as he had been pulled down.

'He's gotta be done!' Zian thought, starting to crack a smile. A few of the spectators echoed his thoughts. Damian's legs stirred, then he got to one knee. He had a sadistic smile on his face as he rose solidly to his feet. Zian stared, his jaw dropping.

'How can he still be conscious?!' he asked himself in horror. 'I hit him as hard as I could!'

Damian slashed in a lightning-fast blur. Sweat dripped down Zian's neck as he dodged each slash by a hair. Finally, he slipped, and the stone blade slashed from just below his left eye down, leaving a thin line of blood down his face. He fell to his hands and knees.

"Any last words?" Damian asked, advancing slowly. "If so, now's your chance."

Zian clenched his fists as the cut on his face burned.

"I WON'T lose to you again!" he said softly. The same liquid-light from before gathered around his hands as he knelt, enraged.

The light formed into a long blade-shaped, extending from each of Zian's wrists. The metal of his arms reformed, filling in the shape of the light with a steel blade. He rose with a grunt, turning to block Damian's blade with a clash of metal-on-stone.

He retaliated with as much speed as he could, groaning internally with frustration as he was blocked by the dark grey stone blade once again.

Once again, he swore under his breath, then Damian aimed an overhead slash at his head. He lifted his dual blades, catching Damian's in between them. He held the deadlock there, Damian putting more and more pressure on him, trying to force his way through. The stone gave slightly under the steel.

Zian grunted from the effort, but held his own against the bigger Damian's strength continuously. The stone blade gave a little more under Zian's dual steel ones, then with a crack they sliced the stone in half. Zian triumphantly pressed his assault, attacking Damian with a whirlwind of slashes. His wrist blades carved a bloody path across Damian's chest and neck, barely missing his throat. Zian threw a punishing kick into Damian's stomach, then with unbelievable speed slipped around behind him and put his blades to the bigger boy's neck. Blood tinted the bright silver steel dark red.

"How about you? Any last words?" he hissed.

"STOP!" an extremely familiar voice rang throughout the square, causing everyone to turn. In a flash, Damian pulled a knife out of a hidden pocket, stabbing Zian through the chest. Zian fell with the blade buried in his heart.

"NO!"

Kayla pushed her way through the crowd, falling to her knees by Zian's side. She pulled the glistening red blade from between his ribs, dropping it to the side. She cradled his head in her lap.

"Zian! No Zian, please, no!" she whispered.

He didn't say a word, just lying there, not even breathing. A shadow seemed to cross over Kayla's eyes as she looked at her fallen friend. Tears filled her eyes.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered, "I should have seen... what he was... I'm... so... sorry..."

She clenched her fists, then opened them, pressing her hands together before slamming them onto the ground. With a cry of rage, she rose, a smaller stone blade of her own in her hands. Before everyone's eyes it silvered as it inexplicably turned into steel.

"You selfish murdering BASTARD!" she screamed, charging at Damian, the blade extended to stab him.

He gasped as the blade slipped through his ribs, coming out of his back with a spray of blood. He croaked wordlessly, then slid off the blade, landing on the ground with a thud.

Kayla turned to the crowd, charging into the middle, her blade slashing through flesh, blood spraying in every direction as she took out her fury on the gathered students. Everyone in the school, once spectators, now screamed as her steel sword cut down every last one of them. Finally, Kayla stopped, the square filled with bodies, her vision red, her black, blood-soaked hair plastered to her face. She dropped the sword with a clatter, looking at the carnage she had left in her wake. No one had survived the deadly onslaught of steel.

AuthorNote: That's all I currently have. I will work on the second part when I can, don't expect it too soon. As for second part, I mean a 4th chapter, but it has a different tone to it. This one was really to introduce the two main characters, kind of like a prologue.