It was early morning in Regna Ferox when Grima awoke, the little dragon stretched its body and yawned. Groggily, he rose above the bed. Like most cold-blooded beings, Grima was affected by the cold, and was still tired from the Feroxi temperature. And needed time to fully wake up.

Looking over to Darren, Grima found the boy sleeping contently. Wrapped up a little in his blankets, he was probably unaffected by the colder temperature outside.

So like most good friends do to others, he decided to wake the boy from his sleep.

And promptly shot the boy with a small ball of dark energy.

It wouldn't be enough to injure him of course, but it was more than enough to startle him awake.

Darren bolted awake as the shot connected, and attempted to stand up on the bed, momentarily forgetting where he was at the moment. Unfortunately this led to him getting tangled in the blankets he was in and somehow managed to fling himself off the side of the bed.

Now a heap of limbs and fabric on the floor, Darren groaned as Grima began laughing as his misfortune.

"Ow…"

The Other Way - Chapter Five

Darren was muttering to himself as he made his way down the halls of the castle. Once again cursing evil tiny dragons that shouldn't exist. After he had finally gotten out of the blankets Darren had decided to find out if his original clothes were cleaned, and also to possibly find breakfast.

Passing by one of the servants in the halls, he asked if his clothes from yesterday was finished. The servant was a little suspicious about who he was, but when Darren told about how he was the Khan's champion he eased up a bit. Telling him that it would probably be ready during breakfast.

'On the thought of breakfast…' Darren thought to himself, smirking as he made his way to what was probably where the kitchen was.

Grima was lounging around in Darrens' room, unable to go out and do anything at the moment without risking suspicion towards his partner/friend. He wasn't sleepy anymore and was getting somewhat restless. With all that happened in the past few days, whether it was escaping from dangerous hordes of risen, or just walking here, the two were at least doing something. Now here he was, staring out the small window into the snow covered lands of Regna Ferox.

'This is boring…' Grima sighed.

The dragon found it somewhat humorous how impatient he was for someone who was trapped within the depth of their own mind for a little over a thousand years.

'It's not my fault it's amusing to be with him.' He grumbled to himself.

Turning away from the window he glided back to the bed. Waiting for Darren to arrive with breakfast.

Darren had been helping himself to whatever he could get his hands on in the mess hall. He had no idea what half of the items were named; all he knew was that it tasted good. He was so busy gorging himself that he didn't notice the entrance of the Khan behind him.

"Ah Darren, there you are." She said, walking towards him.

The boy turned around to face the Khan, a plate full of food meant for a certain fell-dragon occupying his hands.

"Morning Fl– Khan Flavia." He corrected himself.

Flavia gave an amused smile at the greeting, before waving a hand at her side casually. "You don't have to be so formal, Flavia'll do just fine." She said.

"Oh, alright then."

"I take it you had a good night's rest?" She asked.

"Yeah, best I've had in days." He responded cheerfully, knowing full well that even though it didn't compare to the beds in his previous life, that they were still better than sleeping on the ground, or a rock.

"Good to know," she eyed his plate curiously. "Well, I was going to show you where your lessons would be taking place, but I think I'll just let you eat first."

"Huh? This isn't for me." He said, immediately regretting doing so right after.

Flavia gave him a blank stare. "What do you mean–"

"It's for… later!" he said quickly. "I was going to leave it in my room and eat after my lessons."

Flavia continued to stare at him as he finished. By now Darren was beginning to sweat nervously. Finally the Khan seemed to dismiss the odd answer in favour of a different subject.

"Okay then," she said slowly. "You go do that and come back here once you're done, then I'll show you where it'll be."

Inwardly Darren sighed in relief, but outside he just nodded his head and quickly left the room. Not wanting to appear anymore odd than he probably already seemed.

Opening his door with one hand while balancing the plate in the other, he entered the room, closing it quietly before heading to the table and setting the plate down. Darren watched as Grima slithered out of the blankets like a snake and blindly went to the food, the dragons' snout tilted upwards and a tongue flickering in and out every so often. Flying off the bed towards the food Grima seemed to snap out of his little act and faced the teen.

'Thanks.' Was all he said before leaping upwards and diving into the food.

Darren sighed as he watched the little dragon tear into the breakfast, before giving a small smile. "I'm going to meet up with Flavia now, she's gonna show me where I'll be getting trained. So feel free to watch once you're done." He told Grima before turning to the door and leaving.

Grima poked his head out from inside a pie he had previously been eating. He stared at the door for a few moments, obviously thinking about something. Seeming to have made a decision, he began devouring his food at an even faster rate than before.

Finding Flavia again had been easy for Darren. She was eating (obviously) in the mess hall when he arrived. Once she saw him enter the room she pushed away her plate and approached him, those that were in the room parted as she walked.

"Ready now?" The Khan asked, stopping in front of him.

With a nod from the boy she led him out of the large room. They both walked down halls, eventually they even left the castle. At the moment they were heading in the direction of a large building that could be seen in the distance.

Inside Darren was a mixed bundle of emotions; he felt excited, anxious, even a little scared at what he was about to do. Finally he was getting something done. This was his first step towards doing something that would actually impact the world he was living in.

"So do you know who the person that's going to be training me is?" He asked after the thought entered his little internal monologue.

Flavia shrugged as she was walking. "I asked for a favor from someone I know. He said he had someone who now has a lot of free time on his hands. Never said who though." She said indifferently. "Says he just lost his job or something and could be spared."

"Is this person good though?" Darren pressed. Ignoring a sudden nagging thought in the back of his mind.

"He wouldn't send me someone who isn't." Flavia replied gruffly, and gave the boy a small frown.

The conversation ended at that. Darren was left to ponder with his thoughts as he followed the Khan to the rapidly approaching building.

A bit more than half an hour had passed since the two had left the East Khan's castle. Once they actually got there, Darren had found out the true nature of the building. It was actually a very large barracks. The pair walked around it and headed towards the back. There was a clearing that had a few wooden posts and some targets in the distance. Most likely the training area. In the center, closer to the building, was a large portion of cleared snow in a circle. With a few stone bleachers located at the side closest to the barracks. As Flavia walked into the circle she turned to Darren, who until then had been observing his surroundings.

"You'll stay here for a good portion of the day, your teacher should be arriving here soon." She informed him. "Well good luck Darren, I'm expecting results you know, I'd like to be in control by the end of this."

Darren grinned confidently, even though he knew he'd have absolutely no chance of winning the tournament. "I'll do my best Flavia." He said.

Nodding her head, Flavia began walking towards her castle.

'Well then, guess I'll just have to wait until my teacher gets here.' Darren thought, walking towards the stands.

"And where do you think you're going?" Said a rough voice behind him.

Darren had frozen the moment the voice was heard. It was male, and extremely familiar to the boy. Slowly he turned his head to the newcomer.

Standing there wearing his myrmidon clothes, wielding what unmistakably is a killing edge, messy dark brown hair, and a small scowl on his face, was Lon'qu. And it was obvious that he didn't want to be there either.

"I asked you a question." He growled out.

Snapping back to attention Darren replied weakly. "I was waiting for my combat teacher."

"Well here I am, now let's get this over with." Lon'qu said curtly.

The myrmidon withdrew his blade and walked to one of the sides in the arena, and waited silently for the boy to also enter.

"Wait a sec," Darren said nervously. "Are we just going straight into sparring?!"

"I believe in learning through experience, now hurry up." He half responded, half ordered the other boy.

Slowly Darren entered the arena, standing opposite of Lon'qu. The myrmidon raised an eyebrow as he saw that the younger teen had no weapon on his person. "Do you not have a weapon?" He questioned.

Giving a nervous laugh he extended the blades in the case on his right arm. Lon'qu looked at them for a moment, surprise was seen in his eyes before they returned back to their normal hard gaze, though they looked more cautious than before. And held his killing edge tighter than before.

As if an unheard bell sounded, the two shot forward. Though Darren could already tell how unmatched he was in comparison to his opponent. It was as if he couldn't touch Lon'qu; he was always missing by the barest of margins, and couldn't react fast enough to block or counter one of his own attacks. Several cuts made themselves known on various locations on his arms and torso, not enough to be lethal, but more than enough to let him know they were there.

'Faster.' Darren told himself.

Trying to get past his teachers defences he tried being more unpredictable; throwing out spin attacks using his momentum and aiming high and low. And it seemed to work for a while. Unfortunately for him, Lon'qu seemed to adjust to this after a few attacks.

'So how're things going?' Said an amused voice in his head.

'Not now Grima, I gotta focus here.' He growled out internally. Blocking the sword aimed for his mid-section.

'It looks like you're getting completely rolled over by this guy.' Laughed the fell-dragon.

'Of course I am!' Darren retorted angrily. 'Lon'qu isn't some stupid bandit with hardly any fighting skills. There's a reason he was Basilio's champion for so long!'

A sharp hit to the side of his head snapped the boy out of his mental conversation.

"Pay attention!" Snapped Lon'qu.

'What he said.' Grima said cheerfully.

Anger rising at the dragon's taunting, Darren lashed out with renewed determination. Momentarily catching Lon'qu off guard and nicking the side of his face. The both of them froze as a small trickle of blood flowed through the cut. Lon'qu's eyes narrowed as the other boys' widened.

'You're toast.'

Immediately Darren could feel multiple blows hit him all over the place. And had no way of defending himself against them. The last hit was a blow to the head using the hilt of the sword, and since Darren was barely able to stand by this point, he simply fell over.

"Not bad," Lon'qu complemented, watching as the other boy struggled to stand up. Lifting the killing edge to his side once more he looked the other boy in the eye and continued.

"Now, again."

The second time hadn't gone as well either for Darren, who was sweating despite the cold, whereas Lon'qu looked barely winded by the spar. Both were currently taking a break, though it was more meant for Darren than the other. Lon'qu had some healing salves that were used to heal the various cuts the younger teen had all over himself. They weren't the most pleasant smelling, but they got the job done effectively. Even if they burned like hell.

Grima was laughing up a storm in Darren's mind. He found the little dragon hiding on top the roof of the barracks, peering over the edge. How he managed to get there Darren had no idea. All he knew was that he was going to get the little dragon back.

"It's a good start." Lon'qu said from beside him. The cut from earlier was barely noticeable now that he put the salve on. Both males were currently sitting on the lowest seats of the bleachers.

"You really think so?" Darren muttered dryly, and then winced as he placed more of the salve on more of hits cuts. 'Jeez it's like I through a blender.'

'You might as well have.' Grima agreed. 'It's no wonder this guy can learn Astra later on.'

Lon'qu continued talking, unintentionally interrupting the conversation between the Hunter and fell-dragon.

"Most people wouldn't have been able to block as many of my attacks as you did, or lasted as long, even if this is just practice."

Surprised at the compliment or maybe it was just a fact, whatever it was, Darren was thrown off by the comment, and simply stared at him for a few moments.

Abruptly Lon'qu stood up again. Brushing off the remains of snow that clung to his clothes. The myrmidon walked off the seats towards the small arena again.

"Break over now, let's continue." He said without looking back. The barest twitches of his mouth was seen as the still seated teen groaned miserably. 'I guess this could keep my mind off what happened before.' Lon'qu thought to himself.

Darren staggered into his room. He hadn't even bothered with dinner when he got back, the boy was barely conscious and was really close to passing out. Barely even noticing the entrance of Grima, who came through the window which had been left slightly opened. Dragging his feet behind him, Darren collapsed onto his bed. Last thing he remembered was what Lon'qu had told him before they separated.

'I'll see you tomorrow for more sparring.'

"Ughhh." Was all he said before his head fell onto his pillow, probably falling asleep before it even landed.