Meeting my brothers

"The first trial will begin in a month's time, before the start of the first trial the contestants are to go through rigorous training in order to prepare for the trial,"

I could still feel my heart beating through my chest. Sweat dripped down my forehead, cooling me off.

"If you have any questions ask them now, because the next conference will be held after the first trial,"

The crowd exploded into chatter and whispers. After a short while one of the voices spoke up and said " what do you plan on training before the first trial?"

"Its simple really, I plan on practicing my expertise with the the spear. My skill is something that will not be able to be replicated by anyone else in the kingdom," A short and nimble looking young boy said with an arrogant smile.

"I understand that you are skilled with the spear Damien, but are you sure that it will be enough to compete with my advanced knowledge of the magical arts?" said the white haired man who had brought me here.

I had no clue how pulling a rabbit out of a hat was going to be useful, but if he could use actual real magic then id have to first see it to believe it.

"What about you Sammy?, do you plan on staying useless or are you going to actually develop a skill for once in your life?" Damien said snickering to himself.

That little shit stain was really starting to annoy me with his idiotic attitude. but to be fully honest, I had no idea what to say. I was frozen silent for a couple of seconds.

"of course you don't have anything to sa-"

" I'll practice swordsman ship and train the magical arts," I said in a frank tone.

Damien gave me a surprised and cocky smile. he shook his hand as he spoke " last time you tried to train with a sword, you got knocked out cold by me. what makes you think you'll get any better?"

I stayed quiet and I didn't ay another word. Things were getting interesting, but I still had no clue what the trial would be.

"Don't worry Sam, I'll teach you the magical arts," the white haired man said in a kind and assuring tone.

"come on Gabriel, it's funnier when he's weak," Damien said grimacing to himself.

"I will teach him because I'm not keen on watching my brother die," Gabriel scolded Damien in a stern voice.

"Next question !" the booming voice exclaimed.

Another voice from the cloud yelled "Do any of you know what the first trial is going to be?"

"no" Gabriel said in a sullen tone.

"but I was told that today we would be informed on what the first trial will be,"

Damien nodded in agreement.

The booming voice returned with excitement " The first trial will be to complete a relatively simple dungeon, the objective is to lead a group of dogs through the dungeon without any of the dogs dying,"

The conference went one for another 3 hours, most of the questions asked were irrelevant and the whole ordeal was a huge bore.

I stepped out into the courtyard to get some fresh air. I looked back only to see a tall and majestic castle casting its huge shadow over me. The courtyard was large with a large stone path leading to separate parts of the castle. The edges of the path were adorned with flowers of all kinds. Beyond the Courtyard was a thick and dense forest.

Suddenly a familiar voice woke me out of my trance.

" you said you wanted to train swordsmanship right Sammy?" Damien said sneering at me wickedly. He tossed me a wooden sword and I barley caught it.

Damien gripped his wood spear tightly and shot me a cocky smile. At that moment the whole world around us disappeared as I was only focused on him and our duel.

I charged at him with my sword, swinging it around wildly. He disappeared from in front of me as I felt a sharp jab to my back, knocking me down to the floor. I turned around to see Damien looking down with a stupid smile on his face.

"is that It?, I thought you were gonna train with a sword but you can't land a single blow on me,"

As he spoke I swung my sword at him but he swiftly moved out of the way and slammed the bud of the spear into my gut. I fell down then rose up slowly as he laughed at me, finally I hit him in the shoulder with my sword. He returned the favour by smacking me in the side with his spear and kicking me down.

" that's the first time you managed to hit me, I'm impressed. But can you do it again?"

Suddenly he turned into a blur, side stepping around me and jabbing into me from all angles.I lunged forward nocking him onto the ground. He was immobile as I slammed the bud of my sword into his face till his nose was bloody. He head-butted me and nocked me to the floor beside him.

"Stop it the both of you !" The old gentleman came rushing towards us.

"you're supposed to be training, not quarrelling like children. The first trial is in a month so act like it" He said in a stern but worried tone.

"whatever you say Ferdinand," Damien got to his feet while I still laid on the ground.

Later in the day I sat in the library reading a book about water magic when Gabriel walked into the room. " you sure you want to learn water magic?, it's kind of difficult for beginners,"

'I feel really inclined to learn it specifically, I don't know why to be honest" I told him

The aura of water magic was alluring and almost tantalising. its nothing like I have ever felt before.

"if that's what you want to learn then fine, but if it is too hard we could always switch to something else." he said as he led me to a very spacious field near the castle.

It was dark and the sky was a deep purple, and the trees were vailed in shadows.

"now what you want to do first is cup your hands and imagine that you have a ball of water in your hands," Gabriel said

I cupped my hands and closed my eyes. I tried to visualise a ball of water in my hands

When I opened my eyes there was nothing there. Gabriel shot me a worried smile as I tried to form a water ball again, Nothing happened. But on the third time I managed to form a water ball the size of a golf ball. I couldn't believe my eyes. I Just performed real genuine magic.

"That will be enough for today I think," Gabriel said with a smile

"Tomorrow you will start training swordsmanship with Ferdinand,"

A week had passed since I started my training. Despite his looks Ferdinand was no pushover and really pushed me to my limit. I had major improvements with my water magic, being able to form a basketball sized water ball.

But one morning out of nowhere Ferdinand burst into my room yelling "The Village nearby has been attacked by Nergles, Nearly half of the villagers are dead but we have enough time to save some of them !"

All I could do at that moment was give him a confused and nervous look.