Slowly, the sun peeped its head over the bottom of the window of the R1 Dormitory. Ty swatted away a ray of light to no avail and grimaced as he began to awaken. Upon rising from his bed and sitting upright, he found a few near him beginning to greet the new day as well. Almost eager to see what lay in store for him, he headed to his closet and pulled out a uniform. As he dressed, he was surprised by how soft the cloth felt. His former garments should have long ago thrown away and any new piece of clothing he received was already well worn. His attire was dominated by the characteristic pure white that the bowman had worn with silver trim throughout. He found himself looking completely different than how he imagined himself. Of course, he’d only been able to look at himself in deep puddles after a large storm. Taking one last look at himself, he grabbed his daggers and headed out the door.

Immediately after leaving the dormitory, a boy so small Ty could look down on him greeted him. “Hello, erm, Ty!” the little boy shouted out in a high voice. Ty grimaced at hearing such a loud and obnoxious sound so early in the morning and simply nodded. “I am Alex! I’ll be your guide for today! Though I may not look like it, I’m a fourteen year old skilled enough to be in R4.” Ty almost laughed. He was only of average height for his age and yet this boy was older and easily smaller. He was beginning to see why this boy had been chosen for the job.

The boy led him to the mess hall where he showed him how to get food. While they ate, the boy explained the basics of the academy. “There are ten divisions within each class’s regiment,” he mentioned at one point. “The skill of each division’s members relates indirectly with the division’s number. That means that one is the best and ten is the worst. Each division has ten to twenty people and has a unique system of hierarchy. Division and your rank within that division are very important to graduating from the academy and being permitted into the Order of Tutela.”

“But enough of that, about what you’ll be doing. Your schedule,” he said as he pulled out a slip of paper, “consists of intellectual classes as well as training classes. Despite your rumored natural talent, you are still a novice in battle and are uneducated as well. You’re lucky you’re so young seeing as how it would otherwise be very embarrassing for someone in a first division to be in an introductory reading and writing class.” The boy continued on and on, continuing after they left the mess hall and not shutting up until they reached Ty’s first class: basic mathematics and physics.

In this manner, the morning progressed. Ty attended his tiresome but necessary educational classes while Alex sat in on it with him, answering any questions he had. Finally, lunch came. Still, none of his fellow students besides his guide had even acknowledged him. After lunch came the one thing Ty was confident about, combat practice. This class lasted three to four hours depending upon the day of the week and took up all of the afternoon instruction. As Ty walked onto the practice field, finally, his peers took note of him. While in the morning they had looked right through him, he now found almost everyone’s attention focused on him. The incident the previous morning had spread throughout the academy and everyone was curious as to the abilities of the first student to ever be assigned to R1 as a rookie.

“Welcome students,” said a voice from behind the crowd of pupils. The crowd parted, and Alex hastily pulled Ty aside. A man equipped with an impossibly large sword walked down the middle of what was now a parted sea of children and young adults. “Today you’ll be doing a few drills and then go’t eh sparring. I will interrupt y’all when I thinks you should be. Now go! Five laps ‘round that there edge of the field.”

With the instructor’s command, the students dashed off. What followed was an hour of rigorous drills. Ty excelled in anything involving speed but was at a great disadvantage with anything involving strength. His stamina, while not incredible, was on par with most children his age. The hour stretched on and on in Ty’s mind and it seemed like a day had passed before it ended. By the end, Ty was breathing hard and had his hands on his knees. However, before he even had time to catch his breath they were paired off for sparring. He found himself facing a boy who appeared to be fourteen of fifteen and who held a plain sword in one hand and a wooden shield in the other. Ty unsheathed his daggers and dashed forward as the warrior dug in his heels and braced for the oncoming attack. Ty slashed furiously at the boy with no success: every attack was repelled. The boy then took his turn to attack. He lunged forward off his right foot and swung down heavily. Ty strafed to the left and attempted to counter. The boy smiled and, before Ty’s dagger came anywhere near him, rammed him with his shield. Ty stumbled backwards and fell roughly onto the ground. As the boy swung down forcefully, Ty scrambled to his feet and retreated backwards.

“Hold!” thundered the instructor. He approached Ty and looked him squarely in the eye, “Boy, you have any idear how’t defend yourself?” Ty looked at the ground and shook his head. A sigh came from the instructor, “’Ttack me.” Ty looked up, confused. “Do’t.” Obeying, Ty charged forward a swung with his right hand. The instructor, having already drawn his sword, repelled the attack and sent Ty flying. “Put together them reflexes and anticipation an’ use your weapon’a repel duh ‘ttack. Try to angle your weapon in such a manner that it covers the largest possible area in reference to your opponents attack,” the instructor explained as Ty got to his feet yet again. “Now, use that knowledge and figure it out for yourself in your match.” Suddenly, the instructor noticed that the great majority of pairs had stopped and were simply looking on in the humor of those who think they are right. “Back to sparring, lazy gud-fer-nutins!”

After deciphering the multitude of dialects compressed into one, Ty attempted to apply the instruction. The warrior boy readied as Ty approached him again. “Let’s go,” Ty said evenly. The boy charged and swung with all his force. Ty extended his right arm to attempt to defend, but managed only to deflect most of the attack before retreating back. The boy, however, did not let up. He charged towards Ty yet again and swung again, this time horizontal. Ty attempted to defend, yet failed to stop the attack for a second time. Time after time the cycle was repeated: the boy of attacking, Ty attempting to block and failing. Each time however, Ty improved bit by bit. Finally, fifteen minutes later, the defense held. Completely blocked, the sword clashed violently against Ty’s crossed daggers. He’d finally realized that his defense would be much more solid if he’d use both arms. The idea, while simple, had taken some time for Ty to understand. With a smile Ty spoke, “Now it’s my turn, I guess.”

Jumping back, he readied to attack. With a his usual tensing, he shot forward and swung horizontally with his right hand. The boy blocked with his shield and countered with a stab of his sword. Ty deflected this stab to the right, finding it much easier to block than a hack. The boy attempted to shove Ty off balance once again with his shield and rammed it forward. Ty ducked nimbly under the attack and rolled quickly around to the boy’s back. The boy gasped in horror and surprise and made a useless attempt to spin around and attack. Upon turning around, the boy found a dagger waiting at his neck. It was over. Really, it had been over ever since Ty had stopped the boy’s attack.

I made this one a bit longer just for y’all. Hope you enjoyed the read. The RP blog should be out within the next day (if the Ninja or Aliyah would post *cough*). Anyways, since some people have complained, I’m restoring the next part to its former glory. Please comment and, only if you enjoyed reading, click the button. *cough*LunarPanda*cough* Yeah, you know why I’m singling you out.