The Heroes of the Elemental Academies

Chapter 5 : The Street Brawl Game

       "Wait!" Seth exclaimed.

      "What?" the guy asked a look of irritation came to his face.

      "I'd at least like to know your name before I get skewered." At this he smiled,

      "Well good sir my name if it pleases you is Jack Peterson," Jack Peterson said in a perfect imitation of a medieval era Briton. "Now I will say no more for battle waits for no man."

       Seth smiled trying unbelievably hard not to explode into a laughing fit he knew would probably get him killed or worse. "Okay... I think I'm ready to go." With that Seth's vision went black.

       When he opened his eyes he was in a totally different place. For one he was now outside, for two he was holding the sword drawn in his hand ready to fight, for three he was surrounded by unfamiliar people who wore white shirts, jean pants and white metal breastplates, and carried swords just like his. Sensing that he didn't have much time to take in what was going on he quickly looked around. He was standing in the middle of some market square. All around the smell of food: Baking bread, sizzling meat, the sweet smell of fresh fruit. The buildings around him were made of a mixture of birch wood and white marble like stone. Some buildings were two story and others were just one story but there were signs hanging above doors that had the names of what Seth guessed were taverns. Seth was aware of the Sun far above shining down on him, the feeling of heat on the back of his neck like a warm oven hot pad energized him. There was a gentle breeze barely noticeable but definitely there that rolled over him like he was merely a speed bump in the road and then continued on its' way. Seth was standing in the middle of a crossroads. The street was gray cobblestone that was clearly worn from the many years of foot traffic. The road was as wide as a dump trucks front bumper and gradually rose up towards a massive castle looking structure that had roofs gilded in gold and massive marble pillars that stood proudly basking in the light of day.

       The sight nearly took Seth's breath away, and for a moment Seth was speechless. That's when the clang of metal clashing brought Seth back from his scenic tour. The people in front of him were engaged in a vicious battle against each other. As Seth watched he noticed that his old skills had resurfaced and without realizing it he had begun to analyze the people's movements and technique. When Seth had been in the fifth grade his mom had put him into sword play classes with a neighbor down the street from them. And it wasn't any fencing classes either he had learned about several ancient sword styles from the man he called Master Mustache on account of the very long and thick mustache that the old man sported.

     Any way Master Mustache had pounded into Seth the way of the sword. And after about one and a half years training, Master Mustache had given Seth one final test and then disappeared without a trace. Seth tried asking his mother where he went but whenever he did she would never answer him.

       It was thanks to those skills that Seth could sense the attack coming from behind almost as soon as the attacker entered the fighting field. Before Seth had time to think Seth had thrown himself to the right and into a summersault. He made sure to keep the sword in his hand away from his body to avoid impaling himself. Yes, what a fine trick that would be, a demon failed to kill him so did that girl Rylee but his own sword would. Seth came out of the roll kneeling his sword already at the ready. His attacker a short stubby looking guy that looked at least a bit older than him looked surprised that Seth had moved that fast.

      But instead of introducing himself he simply raised his sword above his head and a bolt of white energy shot into the sky and exploded like a flare.

    "Uh oh," was all Seth could think. "This is going to be bad." Suddenly guys in armor and swords started showing up from wherever they were fighting. Seth stood, he was completely surrounded probably by about thirty of the guys. He quickly assessed their skill. None of them were particularly good but there was way more of them. Seth immediately understood what this was it happened to him plenty of time when he had moved to a new school. It was an initiation, to beat up Seth. The thought that these guys wanted to gang up on him made him extremely irritated. A battle calm fell over Seth as he readied himself to fight.