A Mask of Shadows

Chapter 1

Athena sat in the enchanting room, waiting for Jade to show up for training. She'd been waiting for almost ten minutes, and Jade was always early. Never perfectly on time, and absolutely never late. And yet, training should've started three minutes ago.

Athena couldn't let herself feel worried for Jade. The Authority forced this job on her, and she was going to act like she didn't want to be there.

"Hey."

Athena whirled around to see Jade nonchalantly walk in.

"Why are you late? You're never late. I was wor—" Athena pressed her lips together, looking down.

"I don't know," Jade responded, looking at her feet.

Athena was about to ask more, but refrained, then sighed.

"How about you come back to the enchanting room to talk about it?" Athena grabbed Jade's arm and started walking towards the crystal castles.

"No." Jade swung her sword towards Athena's arm. Athena scoffed and sidestepped, deflecting Jade's sword and making her drop it in the process.

"I knew this would happen," Athena said, leaning down to pick up Jade's sword. "Did you not wonder why I didn't teach you fighting skills?"

"We get it. You're all old and wise and stuff." Jade rolled her eyes.

"But I'm not." Athena pulled her hood back to reveal her long brown hair, with no gray, pulled back into a ponytail. "I am much younger than you've thought. The Authority appointed me to prove that the most honorable person doesn't have to be old, and that could've been you." Athena shook her head solemnly towards the ground.

"GAsp. So dramatic and sarcastic," Jade mocked, as she slowly scrambled backwards.

"And just because I've been nice in the past doesn't mean I'm a fluffy teddy bear," Athena said venomously through clenched teeth, before she advanced on Jade, then slashed her arm.

"Ouch! You really underestimate me, don't you?" Jade asked as she scrambled to her feet.

"I guess I do." Athena lunged to grab Jade's sword arm, brought it behind her opponent's back and broke it, then swept down and cut Jade's shin.

Jade pulled out a dagger and lunged. "Well, we both know you shouldn't." Jade neatly sliced Athena's cheek before trying to retreat back, but Athena grabbed her wrist without flinching and twisted it, forcing her to drop the dagger. Athena then used magic to shove Jade away.

"Maybe. That's also why I didn't teach you magic. All I taught you was meditation, which maybe you should use right now. You're obviously very angry." Athena put on a mock sad face.

"You didn't need to," Jade said, pulling back one of her cloak's sleeves to reveal seven armbands. "Your password was so easy." Jade then used magic to pull her sword back, but she had to catch it in her non-dominant hand.

Athena laughed. "You are so gullible. Only one of those works, and it works once. You seem to be out of magic." Athena watched smugly as the sword disintegrated out of Jade's hand, followed by the armbands. "I'm not stupid enough to have my real password be '1234'."

"Fine. You win. Do whatever you want to do to me. I don't deserve mercy because I'm—," Jade stopped and didn't say anything more, just raised her non-broken arm above her head and backed slowly towards Athena, her head hanging.

"Mhmm." Athena nodded sarcastically, crossing her arms. "You lead the way."

"Sure." Jade emptied her pockets and started to walk towards her hut.