Lucien had awoken before his roommates.
Ren had spread out into his bed and had let his hand hang out at the end of the bed like it had been sentence to.
Ken was lying on his back with his eyes open staring at the ceiling and probably had been for many hours.
Derian was sitting on the edge of his bed and had been pulling his wraps tighter around his knuckles without speaking.
Lucien put on his clothes without saying anything.
Ken, however, still noticed.
"You seemed to be walking a lot harder today," he said.
Lucien stopped to consider that. "Am i?"
Ken didn't reply.
He seldom answered when the question was one he did not want to hear the answer to.
Basic Combat Classes.
The training site of the academy was huge and too open to seem safe, while being too structured to seem free.
The stone terraces encircled the grass field; instructors stood at attention, like wardens rather than teachers, around the outside of the ringed training area.
The topic of today's class was not magic.
The mere mention of the word magic made the students more uncomfortable than normal.
"Today you will be practicing physical conditioning," the instructor announced. "Partner drills. No mana usage. No enhancements. Your body, your coordination, your limits."
Names echoed across the ground.
The noise did not increase when Princess Iryss was assigned to Lucien, but the vibration of sound changed significantly.
Everyone's attention sharpened, and more students gazed.
Iryss advanced to meet Lucien with an orderly, confident stride.
There was nothing regal in her appearance, nor was there any arrogance exhibited in the way she walked; she had no reason to exhibit it.
Her body was upright and fully determined, and her intelligent and assiduously observant eyes could easily have been the eyes of a woman who has always remained calm when surrounded by enemies disguised as friends.
The eyes of Lucien darted up briefly into those of Iryss before he turned away.
The physical drill assigned to Lucien and Iryss was a simple one in concept: they would practice holding themselves with proper balance while resisting the force exerted on them by their training partners.
Lucien was very efficient in the performance of his drills while demonstrating only an irrecoverable caution concerning the possibility that the training platform was going to give way under him if he trusted the ground too much.
Iryss noticed this and said to Lucien, "You are holding back."
Lucien took a deep breath and let it out. "We're not allowed to use mana."
"I wasn't talking about mana," she replied.
"That annoys me."
"Then don't say anything."
Iryss didn't even seem to be affected by his attitude. "If you get behind in your paired drills, paired drill, you endanger your partner."
Lucien clenched his jaw. "I didn't ask to be paired with you."
"And I didn't request somebody who walks around like they're expecting to be hit," she retorted.
He paused.
They stood facing each other with dense tension between them. Not loud or dramatic but enough tension to be able to feel it.
"I want you to say that again," Lucien said.
Iryss moved a little closer to him, her voice soft. "You walk as though you expect the ground to fall out from under your feet. Like you don't trust that you can stand on your own two feet."
Lucien laughed shallowly. "That's rich coming from a person who is born on solid ground."
That was the wrong thing to say to her.
Iryss's eyes turned cold. "You think because you are born into a position that means you are secure?"
She moved close to him so only he could hear, "The idea that you can depend on stability comes from those who have never had it challenged."
The whistle sounded, shattering the moment in half.
Without speaking, they separated.
Lucien dined early at night.
Not because he was hungry but due to the weight of being among others compared to being alone.
He left after clearing his tray. No further explanation provided.
When Eira entered, the seat across from her was empty; therefore, the question arose: "Where did Lucien go?"
Ren stated with a shrug: "He came and went."
Ken further stated: "He didn't provide an explanation."
Derian stated with disgust: "I didn't like how he moved."
Eira sat down slowly and began eating, however, she could not taste any food.
A feeling of pressure built in her chest; it wasn't a sense of panic, nor a feeling of fear, but a much calmer feeling, and worse.
Lanterns lit the academy's pathways.
They were bright and warm throughout the night, indicating that no danger exists outside of the academy's walls.
He slowly walked to the more secluded areas of the academy, breathing slowly and thinking more slowly.
He did not want to encounter trouble. He didn't want anything to do with fights again; nor did he want to prove anything to anybody.
All he wanted was silence.
Then he heard a girl crying.
She ran toward him, tears streaming down her face and her breaths came gasped and ragged.
"Lucien, please," she begged while continuing to cry. "Help me. Eira, she's in danger."
His entire body froze.
He asked, "Eira? Where?"
The girl spoke quickly, speaking too quickly in his opinion,
"Seniors. Outside. Forest Path."
"Take me to her."
The trees of the forest had swallowed the light.
When Lucien stepped into the clearing, the whole world was snuffed out like a candle.
A Barrier snapped back to life behind him.
Figures in masks came out, one slow and deliberate after another.
The girl dropped down, sobbing apologies. "I couldn't help it… they threatened me."
She ran.
Lucien did not chase her.
Instead, he looked at the masked figures.
"Where's Eira?" he asked.
A loud laugh answered. "She's safe."
Penultimately, one of them stepped up to him. "You're not."
Lucien put out his hand.
But nothing occurred.
The first hit him and his ribs shattered.
As the second hit, it stole his breath.
As he lay on the ground, Lucien's breath came in quick shallow gasps.
"Get up."
With all his strength, Lucien placed his hands onto the dirt; he could feel each bone in his fingers crack as he pushed with all his strength; his muscles in his upper body screamed at him.
A senior stepped forward and kicked Lucien back down.
"Still trying?" A mocking tone from behind the mask taunted him.
Lucien paid no attention to his taunter.
Lucien raised his hands again.
Light began gathering—or at least it should have.
All that was there where Lucien thought would have happened was his frown.
Lucien pushed to concentrate harder and push the mana forward like he always had.
Nothing happened.
He held his breath in. "No," he said.
Wind had always answered him.
Lucien opened his fingers and pressed harder, pulling energy from within, visualising his intent and circulating the energy until he found air in a vacuum.
The air was still.
A barrage of higher-level spells slammed into him, compression, restraint, blunt force... all meant to break rather than kill; and all three had the same initial effect.
"You feel that empty space?" asked one of them.
Lucien attempted to cast spells utilizing his mana, including fire, reinforcing his core or anything else he could think of.
None responded.
Deep inside of him, beneath all of the pain and fear.
But simply to say. "I will no longer fight back." The next thing he knew, he was struck from his side by a powerful spell.
His ribs shattered under the impact and he was engulfed by an intense wave of pain.
He rolled over to the side, coughing blood, and blurred vision.
Again, he pulled up his mana, focusing through the pain and reinforcing his belief,
"I can do it, I've been here before."
Still, when he tried to cast, nothing happened.
Then came the third strike.
And then, again.
His body was hot and covered with perspiration and sweat.
As he breathed heavily, Lucien looked above him and saw a canopy of darkness.
His chest had several boots pressing down on top of it.
A pool of blood was forming underneath him.
Lucien felt hollow and weak, knowing he was dying.
"So this is it."
Ellina followed seniors because curiosity outweighed fear.
It almost killed her.
Lucien lay in agony at the edge of a clearing covered with blood and near unconsciousness.
Without thinking, she ran to him.
Ellina was able to pour healing magic from her palms, however, it wasn't strong enough to magically cure Lucien.
However, it kept him alive.
Eira was walking the hallways of the school by herself.
At first, Eira rationalised her behaviour by claiming she was only checking on Lucien, ensuring he was ok.
Lucien always walked the same route at night, he always picked the quieter hallways to walk home, the ones with lanterns placed along the outside of the building.
Following the same route, Eira walked down the hallways with her softly quiet footsteps and scan the shadows for any sign of Lucien.
Nothing found.
Eira arrived at the East Wing stone bench, where Lucien had previously been sitting, looking at the stars and hoping to get answers for his questions.
No one was there.
Her heart started to sink.
Eira continued to expand her search.
The paths to the dormitory.
The paths to the edge of the training ground.
The quieter areas of the arcade where the voices echoed at night.
Still no sign of Lucien.
Finally, Eira had to pick up her pace.
She whispered to herself, "He must have come back," but she did not truly believe this.
As she traversed nearly all of the academy's ground, she looked into locations where he should not have been located, corners used for being alone and not protecting oneself.
Every movement intensified the pressure on her chest, it felt as though something was pulling her in a very strong way.
Something had happened wrong.
Then, she saw the other students.
A few senior students started to make their way towards the academy after leaving the wooded area.
They weren't in a hurry and made their way there with a very relaxed manner.
A loud laugh came from the group.
Eira slowed her pace to listen and to see what her gut told her to do. It was odd that they were coming back from that part of the woods.
That part of the woods was off-limits after dark.
Her heart began to race more quickly.
Without hesitating, she kept on moving into the woods.
Though she had not seen him yet, she smelled blood coming before she had a chance to see it in person.
As the clearing in front of her opened up, Eira could no longer see through the trees; therefore, she did not get to see what lay ahead of her:
Then she spotted him.
When Eira found him, there was massive internal bleeding. He was no longer able to move or speak. Lucien took shallow, laboured breaths that were so weak they were almost unnoticeable.
Time stood still for Eira while she was trying to comprehend what had happened to Lucien.
She was unable to control her legs and fell to the ground at his side. Her hands hovered above him. She was afraid she may do something to hurt him if she touched him. She was equally as terrified if she did not help him.
"Luci..." Eira managed to say, but when she spoke, her voice didn't sound right.
Lucien's eyes opened for just a moment.
Eira's stomach dropped when she saw the condition of Lucien's body. She knew that he was hurt and in a lot of pain; it was evident from the way he looked at her.
Eira felt as if something inside of her had shattered.
The sounds of footsteps crunched behind Eira; there was another person there, but Eira didn't have her mind on that.
Eira was focused only on Lucien.