CHAPTER 3

Damien hears Ackmard's voice roar in fury, directing the mob around to look in his direction. The two sides stare at each other for a brief moment before Damien breaks the stillness as he scrambles for the shard, no longer caring about the state of his uniform. The mob rushes toward Damien, bodies fumbling over one another after him. Damien snatches up the shard in a panic and wields the Nehmacite, pointing it towards the throng. He closes his eyes and focuses as the enchantment rings form around its tip, the Hayze glowing with a white light. Panic floods Damien's mind, all of his previous experience and castings, leaving him only with one idea left amid the chaos.

A blinding flash engulfs the field as a piercing screech fills the air, bringing the rush mob to their knees. Damien shakes his head clear of the daze and turns running down the field, following along the wall.

The Flare only lasts a moment and soon Damien can hear the heavy thumps of footsteps chasing after him as he reaches the edge of the sparring grounds. Finally he comes to the intersecting point of the wall and the exterior of the main Academy building. Quickly, he ducts inside through a nearby archway and makes a mad dash down the hall. His mind races, only thinking of putting as distance as possible between him and the mob that followed.

He could hear the echo of footsteps scrambling behind him as the first parts of the group enter the halls behind, much closer than he had expected. Suddenly, he can feel adrenaline begin to course through his veins, heightening his senses but doing little to clear his head. But his lungs burn as the running weighs on his body, his speed decreasing despite the rush to his system.

Clack clack clack.

He can hear the sound of their shoes as they run on down the hardwood floors getting closer and closer with each passing moment. His mind begins to stir, and his eyes dart back and forth down the sides to the hallway. Finally, he spots a small passageway on his left side, too small for his pursuers to follow him en masse. Using the last of his energy, Damien, wills himself forward and ducks into the darkened crevice.

He slides down the rift, his chest flat against the wall as he tries to conceal himself, following the opening to another narrow alley. He hurriedly ducks around the corner, breathing deep, heavy breathes as his lungs attempt to catch up with the miracle of a run he just finished.

Clack clack clack.

The sound cuts his breath short, mid-gasp. The sound of stampeding, uniformed shoes follows only a few moments after Damien stops to catch his breath. Panicked sweat begins to pour down his face. Quickly, the sound reaches him just down the passageway. Relief begins to flood over Damien as they pass his location.

"Wait." Damien hears the familiar voice of Cordesh

Fear grips Damien's heart and begins to shoot through his veins like lightning with every feverish pulse. He can hear it drumming in his ears, so loud he swore that the beat echoed against the walls of the passageway toward the dreadful steps that approached him.

"Cordesh."

Damien's attention is suddenly diverted toward the second voice as the steps stop in their tracks and seem to turn toward the sound.

"C'mon Cordesh." Damien recognizes Ackmard's voice," He couldn't have gone that way, he wasn't far enough ahead of us to have gone down there."

Damien can feel the tension in the air as Cordesh pauses for a moment, weighing his options.

Finally, Damien relaxes as he hears Cordesh begin to run back down the hallway after the group. Despite his narrow escape, Damien stays still, his back pressed against the wall, waiting, as the steps echo further and further away. Soon the sounds of footsteps drift away into silence and Damien, not being able to hold his breath any longer, releases a gasp, expelling his lungs of the bad air.

Suddenly, hands reach out from the dark a grab Damien, quickly covering his mouth to muffle his voice as he begins the shout. Fear once again hits Damien's system as his mind spins before landing on his combative training.

His hands shoot up to grab his assailant's hold over his mouth as he spaces his feet apart, widening his stance. The narrow hallway proves to be non-conducive to his effort. Before he can adjust to his environment, Damien's feet are swept from under his body and sent flying over his head in one expertly executed motion.

In a flash, Damien's world is sent spinning in a blurred circle. Then in another moment, the world snaps to clarity as Damien is yanked out of motion. Damien blinks to see that his body was stopped just as his nose had fallen a mere inch of the ground's surface.

"HAHA, seriously Damien? You can't tell me you were really thinking you could take me with some basic Level 1 crap like that did you?" Aerden says smiling.

He looks down at his poor, exasperated friend, holding him in place for a moment more by the back of uniform coat before releasing his grip. Damien slumps to the ground,his head still pounding from the adrenaline. His mind was still scrambling in the midst of everything, trying to process the series of events that just occurred.

Andreas, quickly appears from behind his brother and kneels down to help Damien, propping him up against his standing leg for support.

"See? I told you that wasn't going to be a good idea!" Andreas begins, chastising his older brother in a worried tone," Now look at him! He could barely tell which way was up, much less recognize your ugly mug."

"Psh." Aerden guffaws in response. "If you seriously thought my actions would have harmed him, we both know you would have stopped me," Aerden pauses for a moment to make playful eye contact with his brother,"Besides, I can see in your eyes that you thought it was just as funny as I said it would be."

Andreas looks away in flustered embarrassment at his brother's usual insightfulness, trying to deny his guilt at being humored by their friend's plight.

Damien's mind snaps back to alertness after taking in everything.

"Welcome back to the Land of the Living." Aerden jokes. Damien looks up in surprise at his friend leaning over him, his face brimming ear to ear with an overly faked smile of innocence. Damien returns the smile with an equally sarcastic grin.

"Yea. Right. Cause that was the most appropriate way to get my attention given the circumstances right?" Damiens responds, sarcasm still lacing his voice. Aerden simply keeps on smiling, pretending to be coy to the events being alluded to.

"Well either way," Andreas begins in a nasally voice," You still did a pretty awesome job Damien."

DONG DONG DONG.

The Hourly Bell rings out. Over an hour had passed since they ditched class to go on their vengeance quest. Now, they would be forced to cover the distance of the entire Academy to their next class in the short ten minute passing period.

"Holy-," Aerden begins to curse as he spins around and makes a break down the narrow passageway, the other two following closely behind him.

The three come swinging around the corner as they continue down the hallway. Aerden continues to lead the group until the sound of clinking catches his attention. Damien continues to speed past Aerden, unaware of Aerden slowing his steps slightly. Then, in the blink of an eye, Aerden expertly maneuvers his hands as he slides them into Damien's pocket and steals the Nehmacite shard without interrupting Damien's stride. The act still catches Damien off guard and breaks his concentration before sending him fumbling a couple yards down the hallway in front of them. Aerden holds the shard, dangling the Nehmacite with his fingertips.

"Ya know", Aerden begins," You always were the expert when it came to enchantments, but today, that was a work of pure genius. Now I wonder how much of that was you," Aerden pauses, flashing the Nehmacite," And how much of that was 'cause you had thi-"

Aerden's comment is cut off in mid-sentence as Damien tackles him in the stomach. The attack catches Aerden by surprise and sends the shard flying from his hand. The group stares as the Nehmacite soars through the air, their minds taking in every detail as reality seems to move in slow motion before regaining regular speed as they fumble over each other as they scramble after it.

Damien quickly breaks through the fray and bursts forward, sweeping up the shard in his hand. He smiles back at his companions, still following after him, more interested in the chase than the actual shard. Seeing their competitive bloodlust radiating from their eyes, Damien makes a mad dash once more down the hallway, cutting around the corner only a few feet ahead of his pursuers.

He looks back for a moment from all the chaos, only to return his gaze forward just as he collides with an innocent pedestrian walking unknowingly in the path of the trio's rampage. After a second, Damien collects his bearing, recovering from the collision. No sooner as he regains his sight, the gnawing pit of fear tears at his stomach as he looks at the all too familiar rich coloring of Priest's Robes that garbed the stranger who stood in front of him.

They were caught.