Valeth, the Hex

It had always been a dream of the three boys and Dannic to become generals for the king himself and serve a purpose in life. Of course, the three brothers would always have a backup plan if it didn't work out owning the trading company that hosted most of Vallahs' imports and export, making the three of them extremely well off.

Compared to the brothers, Dannic was orphaned at the tender age of five, his parents dying due to an illness that flooded the more run-down part of the villages. They didn't have the money to buy medicine or pay the fines for a doctor; all they could do was give what little money they had left to send Dannic off to the Royal Institute of Magic and Warfare. Just the time when the heirs to the Nenosi company enrolled to the very same school.

Oldest of three, Weylyn Coldwell, was well known by the royal court and sought after by many of the noble ladies. Able to control all six of the elements the best out of his brothers meant that he was the most wanted by any regiment who could get their hands on him. The other two were also sought after just as much but something about Weylyn drew people to him, which made him just that more wanted. The middle brother, Valeth Coldwell, was known amongst the school to quite loopy and at times, psychotic. He was always surrounded by books that taught the dark arts of each base element, most spells being illegal. However, having such an influential father meant you could do almost anything and get away with it. When practicing said spells, they had the tendency to go haywire or spark out of control, causing chaos throughout the school. Now the youngest of the three, Theron Coldwell, was probably the kindest and most humble of the three but could also be the one to shove a stick up your behind and beat you with it after if the time called for it. Like the other two, he was also a Hex and had a pretty balanced amount of power and control for each element.

Theron and Dannic had the honour of sharing a dorm room with one another, which meant they would spend the next three of their teenage lives together learning how to become soldiers fit for any battle thrown their way. As they would soon learn, all this training would pay off in the coming years.

It was on one of the first few days that Dannic shared his first encounter with Valeth and it was not a pleasant one to say the least. He had been invited by the youngest brother to come and meet his siblings in the lunch hall after their lesson in sword play, an absolute boor if you asked any one of the students who attended. They had sat down with their meal, a simple loaf of bread and water to wash it down, and Theron waved over two gentlemen who had similar looks to himself. One was rather tall, around 7ft, with long blonde locks pulled back in a pony tail hanging over his shoulder. He was well built to say the least, muscles could clearly be seen stretching the cheap fabric to its limits; the light material doing nothing to hide the rest of his body from the other cadets in the area. His sky-blue eyes stared into even the coldest of hearts, darting about whenever a noise was made like a true soldier on the battlefield. Truly, he was made for war.

He walked over with obvious confidence and sat with the two younger men; he began to eat his loaf in a pleasant silence. No contact was really made between him and Dannic, aside from the occasional nod to one another in the halls of the old school after their first encounter. The other brother was a completely different story. He, what looked like, stalked over to the table, glaring at anyone who so much as breathed his way. A cloak lay draped over his uniform, a deep navy woollen material, fit to fight off even the harshest of winters. Like a dragon hoarding his gold, Valeth carried a book held tightly to his chest, a book that should not even be in his possession. The arts of dark magic.

At first glance, the book didn't mean much to Dannic. However, at closer inspection, he slowly began to realise that the book was the same one that was used on days of execution. A book full of deadly spells and enchantments for any kind of Runner. It was also the very same book that was used to cause illness in the lower regions of the kingdom. He would know that book from anywhere as it was this book that was carried past him by an older man from the village only a few days before the illness broke loose. There was no other possible explanation at the time aside from the strange man in the cloak and the book in his possession.

Just like that, he was up and ready to take it out the middle brothers' grip by force if needed. He knew the damage it was able to cause. No one should be able to own it even if given permission by the King himself. He stepped into the path of Valeth, a foolish move on his behalf, and told him, "if you please hand over the book, Sir. You are not allowed to have it in y'er possession as it goes against the kings word on illegal spells."

A simple instruction that would normally be followed out, especially if the kings' word was involved. If only that were the case.

"And who are you to say what I can and can't do." Valeth replies with a quick glance up at the cadet. His messily cut hair covered one of his eyes, the rest of it splayed about across in different directions.

This was when Weylyn looked up from eating, nudged his youngest brother, and with a knowing look, began to get ready if anything were to get messy. Weylyn wasn't one to usually bother with small out brakes between cadets or even commanding officers. But this involved his brother and other brothers' roommate and a rather illegal book; one of which was in his families' possession.

"It doesn't matter who I am so long as you hand that book over to the authorities. If you don't, I'm afraid I'll have to be the one to take it off you, forcefully. Sir." The sir was said with a more sarcastic tone compared to the rest of what was said. Dannic held his ground in this situation, still not sure if that was the best move to make.

Valeth finally makes eye contact with the random stranger who dared to disrupt his lunch and then demand to take his book to the royal guard. The appearance of the first year was not what was expected from when Dannic first spoke to Valeth. Instead of a scrawny, been-pole of a boy, there stood a well-built young man. Eyes daring, he stood feet shoulder width apart and hand held firmly behind his back. Valeths' eyes looked down and caught a glimpse of what the recruit was wearing. His boots, though not much to look at, were made from fine leather and silver sterling buckles held the boot in position. Due to being in a training lesson prior to eating, his outfit was only the given sports wear which consisted of a plain black shirt and steel grey trousers.

Valeth took a step forward, about a foot away from Dannic, and said with a smirk knowing that the boy was only a Quad, "If that's the case, take it from me then, oh great one."

"if that's how you are going to be, so be it, you bastard." He paused. "I hereby challenge you, Valeth Coldwell of the Valour bloodline, to a duel of magic in two days' time. Your brother, Theron Coldwell, shall stand witness to this challenge and duel for conformation." He says, throwing the glove on the floor as he does so, a traditional way of challenging someone to a duel.

Valeth reaches down, picks up the glove and with a silent nod, agrees to the duel. He does not sit down once the commotion settled down. He did not begin to eat once it was all over. He just stood there. He stood with his book in hand and turned around to walk off as if he had not just agreed to a duel that could decide his future. Not a word was said from his mouth. He was most definitely the strangest of the three brothers.

Dannic turned back around to see the two other men stood ready if anything physical were to occur. It warmed his heart to think that both would be willing to step in if anything were to get out control. They sit back down, glad nothing too bad came out the first meeting between Dannic and Valeth.

Just as everyone began to eat what food they had left, Theron perked up and quickly said, "due to all the drama you just caused, I almost forgot to introduce you properly to my eldest, less insane brother." He adds on with a slight chuckle at the end. "this is my loving sibling Weylyn of the Valour bloodline and heir to the Nenosi company. I'm sure you two will get along somewhat better than with Valeth."

Weylyn stretches his arm out towards Dannic, and with a firm handshake and nod form both parties, the introduction was over. As Dannic was about to take a bit of his loaf, the bells rang, and people began to move along to their next lesson. With all the commotion, Dannic didn't have time to change out of his training gear for warfare strategies so he had to go a she was. Pissed off and slightly sweaty.

The next day passed by in a blur, mainly because of the repetitive lessons and boring spellology theories. Now was the day that secured the fate of the two men in their future forever. It was the day of the duel.

They had agreed to have the duel during the start of the first free period, so if any injuries occurred, they could be sorted before lessons. Due to rumours spreading, the duel itself had created quite the crowd, many curious of the power of a Hex and to see how well a basic Quad can his own against unknown magic. It was held in the training grounds, with permission of the teacher and a medic on standby. It was a dreary day, clouds covered the sky in an array of patterns and shapes, with the occasional spout of rain here and there. It was almost like the universe knew something was bound to happen. Whether that be a good thing or bad, we wouldn't know till the end.

They both walked out from opposing end of the arena, the crowd settling down to watch the fight. Desperate to see who shall be victorious and who shall bare the burden of defeat. No weapons were planned to be used in the fight for safely regulations the school had in place. All they had was their magic and raw hand to hand combat ability.

Weylyn stood centre, waiting patiently for the two cadets to reach the middle ground and begin their fight. He would act as the referee for the battle, purely because he wanted to make sure neither of them killed the other with the glares being shot from both parties.

It was obvious that Dannic was overpowered two to one by Valeth, he had first hand experience with how strong Hexes could be. But he had to stand his ground, for his honour and to get that book into a save place where no one could cause harm with it. He was the one who challenged Valeth and he was going to be the one to beat him, if it was the last thing he did. This was his reason for fighting, for the peace of those innocent. And this man before him sure was not innocent in the slightest, especially seeing as he held that book in possession.

He looked up towards his opponent and sees that Valeth is once again wearing his woollen cloak, yet now he has combat boots and the schools' uniform on. Aside from the cloak, their outfits were practically the same. Dannic stuck out his hand as a sign of good faith, not like he actually meant it. The other man took his hand in a tight grip, shook it, and dropped his gaze as he let go. You couldn't get a read on what was going on in that mind, let alone actually seeing his face anyway.

They backed up once the rules were said by Weylyn and got ready for the signal to begin the fight. "you may begin in three, two, one."

As soon as the words were said, a fireball was thrown from underneath the apparently fireproof cloak. With a high-level attack right off the bat, Dannic didn't have much time to avoid the throw, it narrowly missing him and instead singes the ends of his shirt.

Now on his knees off to the side, his best course of action was an Earth attack, but Valeth would most probably see that coming already be planning a counter force like Air magic. Going completely against all logic. He quickly rises, along with his quickening heartbeat, and throws bac his own, less powerful fire ball.

Without even looking up, Valeth releases a water shield which simply absorbs the fire. Now, Dannic was in a sticky situation.