Alice and Priscilla walked into the glass arena, smiling. Priscilla had dropped off her jacket, revealing her incredibly toned legs and flowery T-shirt that read "Relax! Go to the beach and have some FUN!" They were calm as they faced each other and bowed politely. The referee, who was a middle-aged man with multiple scars on his face, told them to begin.

Alice was quick, she was able to create a makeshift iron spear and fling it at Priscilla while in her other hand, a sturdy looking sword had formed. Priscilla dodged the spear and placed both her hands on the ground. A large shield came out of the ground where her hands were and she ripped it up just in time to block a heavy blow from Alice. A thunderous metallic sound resounded throughout the arena. But without missing a heart beat, Alice violently kicked the shield Priscilla was behind, knocking her backwards. Priscilla crashed into the glass wall with a heavy thud. Alice charged immediately with the new weapon she had just crafted, a lance. She was ready to impale right through Priscilla.

Priscilla was having none of that, she discarded her damaged shield and created two large earthly looking pillars from the ground, stopping Alice dead in her tracks. Alice distanced herself away from Priscilla as Priscilla ripped the two pillars out and threw them at her. The edge of the second pillar made contact with Alice's left arm, blood was seeping out of the fresh wound. Unfazed by this, Alice created yet another sword and began another round of assaults.

By now, a large crowd had formed to watch this ridiculous battle take place. Priscilla had two smaller shields she used to defend herself with while Alice relentlessly kept up her barrage of attacks. Finally, Alice knocked away Priscilla's shields and pressed the edge of her blade against Priscilla's throat.

"Hahahahaha!" Priscilla laughed heartily. "You win again, Alice. I give up."

Removing her sword from her friend's neck, Alice smiled back at her. "You were tough as usual though. My whole left arm is numb…"

"That didn't stop you from crushing my defense though!"

The two of them walked out of the arena, with Alice supporting Priscilla up. They passed by us, on their way to the infirmary.

"Good match, yes?" Kyle asked me.

"They're so powerful." I said in awe.

"Alice uses iron and specializes in offensive martial arts. Priscilla is the defensive, passive aggressive earth element user. They often go at it, but Alice always wins. If you'd like, tomorrow we can have a match too." Kyle grinned.

"That's funny, I don't even know what element or style I use. You'd definitely win. But they sure are able to manipulate their elements quickly. Within a split second they already had weapons and shields made."

"I can do that too! Maybe not as fast as them though. I bet you're wondering what element I use. But I'm not telling you yet! In any case, it's getting late, we should head back. Tomorrow we'll need to get up early."

"Alright. Let's go."

…

Back in our dorm, I had trouble falling asleep. Kyle was definitely nice, strange but nice. I got out of bed and glanced out the window. It was around 5am, and still dark outside. Guess I could go take a walk around this area, if I remembered correctly there was a beautiful, massive balcony on the third floor. Quietly, I made my way over to the balcony. I didn't want to wake anyone up with my stroll at 5am. However it would seem that someone was already up and on the balcony. I could just make out the person's figure. He or she was doing some sort of exercise. I got closer to get a better view. My breath caught in my throat. It was Chen Long, and he was doing Tai Chi on the balcony. I immediately tried to minimize my existence. Disturbing an Emperor while he was doing Tai Chi was the last thing I wanted.

"Boy. No need to fear, come join me." Chen Long said. His voice was soft and gentle. Not what I had expected.

Carefully, I walked towards him. "Good morning Master Chen Long." I bowed respectfully.

Chen Long raised a finger to his lips. "Shh. Listen."
I waited for him to continue talking. He didn't. He resumed his Tai Chi, ignoring my presence. I was utterly confused and nervous, and I was still listening for whatever it was he wanted me to listen to. It felt like an eternity; with me standing still as a tree and listening, and him doing Tai Chi. I couldn't see Chen Long's eyes as he had his head down and his dark hair covered them. But I could see his tall lean body moving with grace. There were no unnecessary movements. The garment he was wearing was a black robe with yellow dragons stitched into it for designs.

"Chen Long, wake up, we have to get to our meeting." A voice from behind us called out lazily. As the person came closer, it got progressively harder to breath. The atmosphere felt extremely heavy. I dropped to one knee as I could no longer support myself under this pressure. This man was wearing the same thing as Chen Long. He had a small distinct mole under his left eye and short cropped brown hair.

"Good morning Fuji. Good morning, boy." Chen Long greeted us. "Fuji. Your presence will crush the boy."

"Oops."

Almost immediately, the pressure let up.

Wait…what? Chen Long was sleeping this whole time? Hold on, I've missed something even more important. Fuji, another Emperor was here.

"G-good morning Master Chen Long, Master Fuji!" I stammered quickly.

"You always do this. You don't know how much of a hassle it is to come get you every morning. Next time you do this, I'ma just leave you here." Fuji complained, ignoring me.

"But Fuji, we had a deal remember?"

"Yeah yeah. But seriously, please do something about your sleep-Tai Chi-ing."

"I will when you stop being a lazy bum."

"I'm not lazy, I just like to relax."

The two of them had completely forgotten I was there by now and they had left. Relieved, I leaned back against the wall. What just happened? It was only two days ago since I moved here and already so much has happened. The skill here is on a completely different level. If I wanted to gain recognition, I'd need to get much stronger. The first rays of sunlight had already made its way onto the balcony. Guess it was time to head back.

The emperors were on my mind the whole way back to the dorm. I couldn't even stand properly in their presence. This was the power of the emperors that protected our nation. It was terrifying. Though, how many people could say they met two emperors in one day? When I had almost reached my dorm hallway, I heard a scream and then smelled the unmistakable odor of smoke. I ran towards the scream.

The scene that began to unfold before me resembled a nightmare...