Has any ever told you that finals suck? Well trust me, they do. And having to write with a pencil in my mouth probably didn't help any. My upper right arm had a clean break and was in a sling with a splint, while my lower left arm was split into three pieces at the break. I had a full forearm cast with immobilized fingers. Fun. And while we Fleshies heal quickly, bones only heal so fast. The best of us can shave maybe a week off heal time for bones. Consigned to weeks of useless limbs, I began the laborious task of filling out exempt forms for the exhibition exams. It's about midnight now, and I'm having a hard time focusing on writing.

It's really beautiful outside tonight. A cool breeze is blowing from the north and the sky is clear and the moon is bright and I don't feel the urge to sleep at all. I remember when I was 13 and dedicated my life to becoming nocturnal. My mom shut that down after three days. I suppose I should explain how my arms healed so fast, but it will make more sense if I tell it along with the first day of second semester. And I don't want to write anymore now anyway.

Sorry I haven't written in so long, I had a rather hard time with two broken arms. But that comes later. It was Saturday night, the night of the big dance at the end of Music week. After hearing me imitate singers all week, the rest of the guy in the dorm had decided that I would be the one to represent our dorm in the Vocal Cover event. It involved singing at least one song while a live band (made of previous event winners) played the instrumental with you. It was a rather hard event to win, and honestly I had no idea why I was chosen. When it was my events turn, I began to sweat and started wondering how hard everyone was going to laugh. One of the official handed out slips indicating the songs that each of us was to sing. I took mine and hurriedly opened it up, preventing any anxiety from building. When I saw the song I was to play, I almost laughed. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is one of my favorite songs, and I know it by heart. The contest got a whole lot more fun after that.

After I had sung my song, I waited back stage for the winner to be announced. The few minutes it took seemed to last forever. The suspense had been built, the stage was set. And the winner was... a tie. But it was a tie between me and a sophomore from Dorm 4. We were allowed to pick the song that we were going to sing, and the person who sung their song the best won. The sophomore went first, singing "Turn the Page." After waiting for his cheering to die down, I stepped onto the stage. Tjaden, who was playing bass, winked at me. I gathered the musicians together, and told them the song to play. A few of them laughed, but they all headed back to their instruments and got prepared. I nodded to the head guitar, and the familiar intro began to play. I smiled, knowing how funny this was going to be.

"Scotty doesn't know

that Fiona and me

do it in my van every Sunday."

A wild cheer had gone up through the crowd. People were clapping and jumping up and down, and I started to really get into it. Suddenly a fist came out of nowhere. I raised my left arm to block, but with no time to react, the punch landed on vulnerable bone. My ulna snapped with a sickening crack. I was determined to win the contest now, so I continued singing. Holding the mike in my right hand, I pseudo-kicked with my left foot. I pulled my foot down into a lunge step, and, tossing the mike into the air swung towards my attacker. Suddenly my arm stopped against my will. I felt my upper arm snap, and I cried out in pain and spun to knee my second attacker in the balls. I was getting seriously pissed. I couldn't concentrate enough to see the first attacker's pressure points, and I couldn't hit the ones I had memorized with my feet. So I improvised.

The first kick stunned him, and the second one brought him down. I looked to the crowd, who was utterly silent. I managed to smile, and everyone started cheering.

I woke up in the the infirmary a day later, not sure how I had got there. Alan smiled as I regained consciousness.

"Alan, where am I?"

"The infirmary, if you must know."

"And why am I here?"

"You blacked out in front of a crowd of people; really, it's not much of a stretch."

"How long was I out?"

"The better part of a day."

"WHAT!? Why so long!?"

"Stone stages are particularly unforgiving to the back of one's head. Now, you need to rest. You have finals tomorrow."

I know, I thought it was crap too. The second semester starts in a few days, and I'm not sure if I'm ready.

Wednesday was Break Day. No music was played, and most just didn't move. At about nine in the morning, I threw myself out of bed and crawled to the dining hall. Breakfast was being served all day, so I took my time and ate very, very slowly. At eleven, I left the mess hall to go back to bed and did a full flip over a small child. After landing very painfully on my face, I rolled over to see if the child was alright. He stood stoically, for the most part pretending I didn't exist. I rose to my feet and asked in a sincere tone, "Are you alright?"

The boy looked up at me, still without expression. I looked down at his dull gold eyes. They seemed to dance with dark shapes, twisting and writhing inside of his mind. I turned to leave, and suddenly I froze, I couldn't move. I was inside a golden yellow sphere, covered on the inside by strange symbols: runes. The boy strode in front of me, and the sphere shifted to keep both of us inside it. The boy motioned with his arm, and my body bent down to him of its own will. My own face a few inches from his, the boys eyes now seemed to glow.

"Stay away from my kind, Arbiter. You may not like what you find."

The orb disappeared, and I fell to the ground. I looked up, and the boy was half way down the hall. So went my first conversation with a rune writer.

At twelve, when I got back to my dorm, I flopped down on a couch. After five minutes of staring at a wall, I went down to the courtyard to read a book. When I got there, I found Greta and Zoe sitting under a tree, chatting away. I decided to do something interesting with my time, so I went at sat next to them.

"Oh hey, B. How's it going?" While Spirits technically participated in Music Week, the didn't get very into it, and it was obvious by her refreshedness that Greta had been sleeping.

"Brain. Fried." I was lucky to get both words out.

"Oh my Gosh. This week has been SO much fun, hasn't it, B?"

I turned to Greta, lost for words that I couldn't have said anyway.

"She's still pumped on music from last night."

"Oh."

Zoe, still enthused, kept up her questions.

"So what did you do last night?"

"Sleep... around."

"Zach!... With who?"

"No one."

"Oh. Ohhhhhh ok in various places. What did you do this morning?"

"Ate."

"Good, good. What are you going to do the rest of the day?"

"Crawl in a hole and die."

"Oh ha ha. What are you really going to do?"

"Sleep. Eat. Work.... abs."

Greta blushed slightly and turned away, and Zoe laughed at her.

"Wow, Greta, you have such an ab fetish."

Over the next few minutes, the conversation between the girls dissolved into squabbling. Suddenly, Greta turned to me.

"So, Zach what do you think?"

But I was already asleep.

So on Monday, all that happened was that we played Ninja to the Mortal Kombat Theme all day. Absolutely nothing else. Ninja is game in which 3-7 people stand in a circle with their hands together. One of the people cries "NINJA!" and everyone strikes a pose. Then the person who cried Ninja tries to stike one of the hands of another person. Since you only get one "move," you must leave your hand extended if you strike at someone. If the attacker is successful in hitting another's hand, that person is out. If not, play continues as normal. Everyone plays in turn, moving clockwise. If someone moves out of turn or flinches when not being struck at, they are also out. Also, when striking at an opponent, one step or jump is allowed. Double strikes (striking with both hands at once) are allowed but are risky. At any time that it is your turn, you may move to position yourself without striking. This uses one turn. You can also use one turn to move yourself into the original standing position. If everyone returns to the original position, Ninja may be recalled. Last person standing wins.

The obvious skill in this game is speed, but strategy and unpredictability are just as important. Due to the nature of the participants, the games were fast paced, but it was surprising how quickly people began perfecting their game. Soon it appeared that full on sparring sessions were going on, with 4 or 5 person groups flying all over the school. Since there were no limits on match locations, I soon found myself playing upside down in the girls 3rd floor bathroom. How, you may ask? Two things: water pipes and strong ankles. The Spirit girls were not pleased, but the Fleshy girls either joined us or... ahem. Tried to distract us. Unfortunately Jeff, the biggest perv I know, got distracted. His nose is still crooked. Fortunately for Jeff, he blacked out on the stone floor, so the Spirit girls had the guts to take him to the infirmary. Those of us who didn't get distracted (i.e. everyone but Jeff) continued on since he fell out of turn and was therefore out. This may seem cold, but like I said, we were in the zone. A few hours later, a supper, we all went to Jeff and apologized for not helping him, then smacked him across the back of the head for being such an obvious pervert. I think Daniel mad him break his nose again. Exhausted from a day of horse play, everyone in my room went to bed while worked on my abs.

Did I mention I hate ab work outs?

Friday morning I woke up earlier to dig out an instrument. It was really hard to decide, but I finally worked it down to either my sitar or my violin. The sitar is wild and exotic, the violin classic and refined. It was a hard decision, but I ultimately went with the violin. Most of the other guys in the dorm were tuning guitars or warming up horns. There were a few other violins, but I saw some cellos and upright basses, meaning that a quartet might be possible. I quickly warmed up my violin and made my way to class. As soon as I walked into Light Weapons I knew that this week was going to be way too much fun. Kids were sitting in various places aroung the room, playing and listen to music. I sat over by Dani and Lisa, who I already kneew liked classical music.
"Hi B."
"How's it going?"
"Hello Dani, Lisa. I'm feeling good this morning. You guys excited for this week?"
They looked at each other knowingly and I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong when Dani snapped her head back to look at me.
"Yeah, Music Week is usually lots of fun."
I wasn't sure if there was something I was missing, but I went ahead and started playing. Smiles lit up both of the girls faces. I played the Allegro con bria from Violin Sonata No. 1, playing quietly and emotionally. I closed my eyes as I began to drift off into the music, but soon I could hear someone laughing at me. I opened my eyes to a view of the ceiling, and I knew I'd done it again. Everytime I play the violin I close my eyes... and lay on my back. It's not a problem when I'm alone, but when I'm standing up and playing for someone, it's kinda weird. I laughed it off, but I didn't play for the rest of the period. From then on, I just started out laying on the ground. It attracted some questions, but not nearly as much laughing. During lunch, a few of us got together and played one of Beethoven's string quartets.

Saturday was a riot. No literally, a riot. At eight o'clock in the morning, music was blasted all over the school. Not pop music either, the kind of music your mom doesn't want you to listen to. I jumped out of bed, and as I threw on some pants, I could feel a buzz coming already. Then "Come Out and Play" by The Offspring came on, and me and I'm pretty sure every other guy in the dorm ran out without bothering to put a shirt. There were so many of us that we didn't fit through the door, so a few of us went right through the walls. We all went running down the halls. getting way too excited and having way too much fun. We had just made into the Main Hall when the song ended. Then "One" by Metallica began to play. I sank to my knees, losing myself in the familiar rythmn. I knew every second of the song, and soon I was only slightly concious, my mind off in its own little world. I knew that I wa on my knees, and that was about it. You see, when a normal listens to music they like, endorphins are released that make you feel good. A concert atmosphere releases adrenaline as well as other stimulants. When a flesh mage is in similar circumstances, their mind releases a huge array of chemicals that have afffects that vary from person to person. When these chemicals hit me, I suddenly became super-aware of every detail of my surroundings. A few feet a way from me, a girl was laying on the floor, moaning softly, where as the guy next to me was on his feet spinning his head wildly as if he was seeing unimanginable things. And the music, oh the music. It felt like my soul was vibrating in time with the melodies. Many songs played, and during that time I saw images, felt things that I had never experienced. As "Fade to Black" played, I felt a strange sensation begin to spread through my body. It felt like a combonation of fire and electricity at the same time. At first I thought I might be having an orgasm, but then a crushing darkness flooded me. Cold trickled down my limbs, and my legs jeked me to my feet. Suddenly, a energy filled my body, an unspeakable wildness that danced and weaved through every cell in my body. It was like I was the most hyper I'd ever been, but I was so hyper my brain couldn't comprehend it. The energy buit and built and built until I thought it would burst from me. Somewhere, deep in my mind, something gave way. I let out a feral yell, louder than even the music. People snapped out of trances to look at me, and even though I realized there were terrified of me, I couldn't stop. As the song ended, I could fell the energy leaving. When the music stopped and I gained control of my body again, I gently smiled to the people staring at me.

And then I collapsed.

The black limousine pulled to a halt, signaling my return to the Academy of Magic. Alan, as Professor Long asked me to now call him, and I walked through the gate and up the front steps, meeting suprisingly few people along the way.
"Hurry to your dormitory, Belerophon (unfortunately Alan wasn't picking up on my nickname), I believe the staff is currently announcing something you won't want to miss."


Even though I almost ran back to my dorm, I caught the Ranged Weapons instructor just as she walked out off the dormitory. She nodded at my slightly pleading look and gestured into the room. I opened the door to find the Common Parlor, or Common, as it is also known, full of people chatting amongst themselves. A few people from my classes waved as I walked by, but I kept walking until I saw George and Joshua sitting on one of the short couches on the western wall of the room.
"Hey guys, what's all the fuss about?"
Joshua answered first, nodding something to himself as he turned to my face.
"Music Week begins on Friday."
George followed him up with a bit more detail.
"Music Week is a student celebration week centered around music. There are activities, games, a few parties, and at the end of the week there is a large dance. You might want to start working on your abs now."
"Abs?"
"The King of the Music is the guy with the best musical performance in his category. If you enter in anything but Funk, you'll have to take your shirt off to win."
"I'll remember that."
"And also, be careful around campus this week."
"Why?"
"The Week of Music has an odd effect on the school," replied Joshua. "Since music has such strong reaction in the human body... well, haven't you ever gotten high on music?"
I'd never heard it phrased that way, but since I knew what he meant I answered honestly.
"Why yes, yes I have."
George leaned in again, a look that could only be described as glee covering his face.
"Imagine everyone in the school on a music-driven adrenaline rush!"
I thought the kid was going to jump right out of his seat.
After a few minutes of discussion on adrenaline as stimulant versus norepinephrine, we got around to discussing our favorite genres of music. I learned that Joshua was in to electronica and very surprisingly, rap. I said that I liked classical and rock. George shared my taste in classical music but said he prefers jazz to rock.
Just then Dvarek walked over to where the three of us were sitting. He was grinning, as usual, and was holding an acoustic guitar.
"Hey B. Josh. George."
"Hey Dvarek. What are you doing in our dorm?" I asked.
"Picking up the guitar I'm playing this week."
"This week?" Oops. I was going to have to dig deep to find my instruments.
"Anyone who's anyone plays an instrument all week."
"Any suggestions?"
He shot me a quizzical look. "How many do you play?"
"Electric guitar, sax, violin, piano, sitar, and the mandolin..."
I had noticed that George and Josh were now staring at me. Something seemed to nag at Josh.
"All saxes?"
"Yes."
"Electric bass, too?"
"Yes."
Josh nodded to himself again, something that was really starting to annoy me.
"Can't you do a mnemonic blink?"
"No, actually. It was something I was never able to grasp."
Dvarek turned back to me. "Started on your abs yet?"
"Nope. But I heard about that."
"Well, good luck."

That night I went ahead and started on my abs, pushing my endurance to the limit. Rather than foolishly concentrating on front abs, I also did obliques and back, along with pecks to even out my upper body. It was the first time in weeks that I was to tired to continue working.

I hope to sleep well.

The island that my training took place on was quite small. A ten foot diameter circle of stone dominated the eastern half of the island, with the western twenty feet covered with brush and a single small tree. I stood in the stone circle and turned to face Professor Long.
"How will my training present itself today?"
"You handled the Arbiter news fairly quickly," he responded.
"It doesn't change who I am, and I still have much to learn." I bent into a crouch and then slid into the forward stance, presenting my right hand in the proper position.
Prof. Long smiled and a chuckle escaped his lips.
"That sounds like my favorite student. But we won't be sparring today."
I stood erect, slightly puzzled.
"Today you are going to begin learning about the second part of Death Fist. The pressure points."
"Pressure points? Like acupuncture?"
Long chuckled again. "Even more powerful, but much simpler. There are 1637 pressure points in the human body that can be manipulated, but only 700 or so of those are suitable for battle."
"And how does someone manipulate these points?"
Long smiled one of his more mischievous smiles.
"Before you learn to touch, you must learn to see."
And so for the rest of the day Long and I did a number of chi exercises designed to allow me to access and see chi both in myself and others. I made progress, but it was frustratingly difficult to see chi in other beings than myself.
"Belerophon, this is the most difficult part of the training," explained Long after a few hours of struggling," as a flesh mage, controlling your own body comes as second nature. But that makes seeing how others control their bodies that much more difficult. It can take months for someone to master this phase of the Death Fist."
And so I practiced until the sun began to set. But still no luck. I slept well, and so I woke up long before the sun rose. I swam back out to the island, and was meditating in the predawn calm when a couple paddled by in a canoe. They didn't see me, and so their conversation went on interrupted. The woman was rattling off a long list of fishing gadgets she wanted to bring. The man shook his head and replied quietly, "Honey, you can't make a fish believe that your lure is real. But what you can do is make your lure act like it's real."
Realization hit me like a tidal wave. I was going about trying to see chi completely the wrong way. Rather than trying to make someone else's chi visible to my eyes, I should try to make my eyes attuned to seeing other people's already present chi. I sat down in the center of the stone circle, focusing my chi to once again begin practicing. I could tell the difference between my two attempts immediately. My eyes began to tingle, as though I could feel my chi flowing to them. A blink seemed to last for an eternity, and then my eyes opened.
And I saw.
Bushes flickered, trees danced, the water swirled with strange patterns.
But the sky, the shifting, twisting, breathing, living sky held my attention.

Sorry I've been gone so long, but some pretty crazy stuff happened in the past week or so. It all started when after class, Prof. Long handed me an orange sheet of paper.
"Have all of your other teachers sign this."
"What's it for?"
"We are going on a field trip."

At dinner that night the guys were pretty amazed.
"People don't go on one-on-one field trips with professors until at least sophomore year," explained Dvarek, "there must be something very interesting about you."

Three days later Prof. Long and I made our way to Rome, were we took a plane to Minneapolis. We then took a charter plane to Duluth, were we rented a car.
"Where exactly are we going?" I asked.
"The Boundary Waters Canoe Area, the BCWA. It is the perfect place to conduct the next phase of your training."

We drove for a few hours until we reached an outfitters. As we approached the rental cabin, a friendly looking elderly man stepped to greet us.
"Good to see you again, Alan."
It took me a minute to realize that Prof. Long's first name was Alan. I hadn't expected something so... Western.

After packing the gear we'd need into an aluminum canoe, we set off onto Poplar Lake. After making our way Lizz and Moose lake, we set up camp in Horseshoe Lake. Once we were settled in, Prof. Long directed me to a small island about 100 yards from shore.
"Swim to that island."
The water was cold, but felt good in the afternoon sun. It didn't take me long to reach the island, but when I arrived Prof. Long was already there.
"Bellerophon, recently certain events were set in motion that directly impact you. Certain prophecies were put into play, ancient rituals have started once again. All of these things concern the Arbiter."
"The what?"
The Arbiter is a flesh mage with absolute authority. He is the final say in a dispute, his word is unbreakable law. Anyone who recognizes him as the Arbiter is bound to his will."
"What about those who don't recognize him?"
"That is where the second part of the Arbiter's power comes in. He is a master of all seven branches of flesh magic. He can defeat anyone who opposes his power."
"And what do0es this have to do with me?"
"When you were young, you were tested to see what manner of flesh mage you were to be. You were aligned with all of the branches. Your current development has proven it. You are to be the next Arbiter."
I was stunned. I had bo idea what any of it meant for me, and I wasn't sure what to do next.
"So I'm a king"
"You are more than a king. You are the law. You are a judge."
"So I'm the judge of flesh mages?"
"Actually, your power will work on all the magical peoples. You will be the judge of everyone."

Today Proff. Long began my training in Death Fist. When I wallked into the room at fifth hour, the fist thing I noticed was that Prof. Long wasn't wearing a shirt. I also noticed that the weapon racks and dummies that usually stood at the outside of the room were now dispersed across the floor.
"What's new today, Proffessor?"
"Today, Bellerophon, you will begin your journey in the Death Fist."
I was shocked. I knew that my prowess in martial arts was growing rapidly, but I had no idea that I was ready for Death Fist.
"Sir, I don't understand. I thought I wouldn't be starting Death Fist until second semester"
"The Death Fist doesn't meet in this room fifth hour until second hour. Your training begins as soon as you are ready."
"So I'm ready?"
"After observing your abilities and natural style, not only are you extremely proficient at martial arts as a whole, your natural fighting form is Death Fist."
"Oh. So... what is Death Fist?"
"Death Fist is an ancient martial art that uses your oppenents body against him. By pressing certain pressure points in the body, almost every body activity can be stopped, changed, or started. It also has many useful applications in healing and medicine. But the single most important aspect of Death Fist is being fluid. Your movements, actions, reactions, all must be fluid. And so today, you will learn to bend and twist like water in a stream."
And so I learned. I had to stretch and move and flex in ways that I didn't know were possible. Becoming quite sore, I was glad when Proffessor Long told me to stop with twenty minutes left in the period. I was suprised, however, when Prof. Long motion me over to a small table. On th e table was a brush, a bottle of ink, and a needle. I looked to Prof. Long, unsure of why I was getting a tattoo. He told me to sit down, and painted a hand with splayed fingers on my forearm near the elbow, facing outward. As he picked up the needle, he spoke to me.
"This ink can only be removed by the person who tattoos you, and cannot be expelled by the normal means. This tattoo signifies that you are a trainee in the Death Fist, and seperates you from the other students at this school."
"Why is the hand open if I'm entering the Death Fist?"
"When you have completed your training and are a full member of Death Fist, this tattoo will be removed and replaced with a closed fist."

The tattoo didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, but it still hurt a lot. And since it hurt even more to cover it, it was exposed for everyone to see as I went to supper. I got a few weird looks on my way to the Mess Hall, but that was nothing compared to the reaction I got from my friends. Greta almost slapped me for getting a tattoo, Zoe wanted to touch it, and my upperclassmen friends were astonished.
"You're in Death Fist?"
"Yes, Dvarek, I am."
"What's it like?"
"Hard, Dvarek, very hard."

Today has been pretty crazy. It all started when Daniel approached me after lunch.
"B, there's a meeting after night classes tonight. Be there." And he walked away.
Earlier that day I had successfully disarmed three straight opponents in all three of my weapons classes, earning the award of "the triple triple." Only nine other people had done it, which I found weird considering that it was only disarming three consecutive people. But when I considered how many people took all three weapons classes, it began to make sense. Because of this happening, I thought that the "meeting" thatt was tonight was for me.
Boy was I wrong.
I walked into the library, expecting to see teachers or maybe some kids from advanced weapons. Instead, I saw a small group of underclassmen standing near one of the tables, a mixture of Fleshies and Spirits.
"Hi, Bellerophon."
Greta and Zoe walked towards me, both glad to see me there.
"What is this?" I asked.
"It's a get together of famous names," replied Greta.
"And you want to know if people here live up to their namesakes?"
Zoe and Greta frowned.
"Yeah... how did you know that?"
"Because, Zoe, of your interest in my name."
Greta frowned again, and turned to the rest of the group.
"Why don't we get started."
A collection of weapons lay upon the table, and as I gathered around, I noticed that they were all real.
"Advanced weapons agreed to let us borrow some of their training weapons. We're here to see if you live up to the names you have been given."
Michael was first. He took a medium sized sword and actually set on fire. He then proceeded to take apart the training dummy.
Achilles took a short sword and launched himself through the air and stabbed the sword though the heart of the dummy.
Various others went after, and then suddenly the attention turned to me.
"Greta, do you have any flying horses?"
Everyone laughed. Except Greta.
"No, but I have a bow."
She threw a longbow at me a little harder than was necessary. I strung the bow and then picked up an arrow off the table. I notched the arrow and walked to the other side of the room. And then I started. It got easier every time I aimed a bow. I focused on where I wanted the arrow to land. I drew the bow, careful to stop my breathing. The dummy appeared to float right in front of my face. And then I imagined myself reaching out and stabbing the arrow exactly were I wanted it to go. I released, the low thrum of a longbow filling my ears.
A gasp issued from the group. From across the library, almost 75 yards, I had put an arrow through the mouth of the dummy.
The meeting was pretty much done after that. I quickly left the library, but as I passed some of the Fleshies on my way out, I heard one of them whisper to his friend.
"He will silence those that doubt him."

This morning was funny. And I don't mean funny ha ha I mean funny weird. First of all, instead of being so sore I couldn't move, I actually felt better than yesterday morning. I was more energetic, I was quicker, I was stronger, I was things I shouldn't have been. I sat next to Dvarek at breakfast, and he noticed it too.
"Seems like you're skipping the freshman hell week."
"Yeah, it kinda creeped me out this morning."
"It might just be that you're life aligned, but I don't know."
"Yeah I don't know either... so, what is there to do around here when class isn't in session?"
"Hehe well, the die hards hang out in the weight room or at the track. Some go to the library to learn, others go to try to pick up spirit mage girls."
"What about Fleshy girls?"
Dvarek snorted into his cranberry juice. "You have any Fleshy sisters?"
"Nope."
"Well that explains it. Fleshy girls are either ugly or viscious. Period."
"That's bullshit. There have to be some in between."
"None that I've seen."
As we turned back to eat, Tjaden walked up to Dvarek. "Dvarek, today at 12:30. Usual place, same rules."
Dvarek laughed and turned to me. "Eat up, B, you're skipping lunch today."
I wasn't sure what to expect, but Light weapons drove the questions from my mind. It was strange, I knew the shrimps weren't taking it easy on me, but it was a lot easier to keep up than yesterday. And in medium weapons, I actually put the small kids on the defensive and was par with the big guys. I still got the shit beat out of me, but I dodged more, blocked more, and landed some good hits. Stamina class was way too easy, and I was worried that something was wrong when a thousand sit ups felt like 700. First Aid was so boring it wasn't even worth mentioning. I was still thinking about morining classes when I walked into the Mess Hall.
"Kay B's here, let's go."
Dvarek grabbed my shoulder as he and the other guys walk out of the Mass Hall.
"So Dvarek, what exactly are we going to? And where?"
"We're headed to the library for the fights."
"Who's fighting?"
"Occasionally there are some guys with beefs, but most people go for the girls."
"Fleshy girls fight each other there?"
"And Spirits. Today the headliner is actually a Fleshy on spirit."
"I did not expect that."
"It is pretty rare. That's why so many people are coming."
As we walked into the library, I saw the crowd of people. There must have been hundreds, a mixture of all three classes. They stood in a circle around an area cleared of all tables and shelves. The seven of us shoved our way to the inner most ring of people, and Tjaden hopped up onto the table nearest the center ring.
"Are there any who wish to enter their own fight?"
The crowd was silent.
"Then let the main event begin!"
A Fleshy girl walked out from one side of the ring. She had brown hair and soft features not at all unattractive. That left viscious. She was graceful and sure, walking around the ring with a confident air. The Spirit girl walked in from the other side of the ring, gliding around as though her feet weren't actually on the ground. She had blond hair and had hard lined features. Her silver and gray robes gave away that she was a Spirit, not to mention the disdain she showed for the Fleshy girl. She also circled the ring, as if to show off. When both were at opposite sides of the circle, they stopped. Tjaden stood up once again and spoke.
"Place bets!"
I turned to Dvarek, shocked. He laughed at my ignorance and replied, "That's the whole point of these fights."
"Is this allowed?"
"No killing is allowed, so... yeah."
People flooded to the table by Tjaden. Bets were going both ways, and it looked like even odds. Once all those that were betting had finished, the contestants squared up, preparing to fight.
"Dvarek, who are those two?"
"I haven't seen them before, they must be freshman."
"What alignment is the Fleshy?"
"How does she walk?"
"Smoothly."
"And what can you deduce from that?"
"Either walking is easy for her, meaning she's speed aligned, or her muscles are working at maximum efficiency, making her endurance aligned. Or she could be both."
"Good work, my friend."
The two contestants faced each other, and the fight began.
The Spirit made a handsign, a beam of light shot from her palm. The Fleshy easily dodged, sliding into a leg sweep. With a surprising amount of agility, the Spirit flipped over the leg, signing in the air. When her kick missed, the Fleshy spun around and clipped her thumb, drawing blood and forming summoning symbols. At the same, the two fighters summoned creatures. A shadow cat, a smaller feline version of a shadow wolf, by the Fleshy, and a glowing, erethreal tiger by the Spirit. The two creatures lept at each other, and exploded in a huge flash. A cheer went up from the crowd. But then something strange happened. The Fleshy walked up and gave the Spirit a high five. The crowd died. I started laughing and turned to Dvarek.
"Looks like we found a good looking, level-headed girl Fleshy."
The two girls walked out of the library and turned left. I quickly shoved my way through the crowd and went out the side entrance of the library. I caught up to the pair just down the hallway.
"Hey."
The Fleshy turned to me and I realized that she was in my Stamina class.
"What?"
"I just wanted to say that that was a great show, and way to blow the minds of everyone in that room."
Both of the girls laughed.
"I told you everyone would be surprised, Zoe."
The Fleshy huffed and turned away from her friend.
"Whatever, Greta, people are so closeminded."
They both laughed again.
"I'm Zoe, " said the Fleshy.
"I'm Greta," said the Spirit.
"I'm Bellerophon."
"You mean Bellerathorn?" said Zoe
"It's the Greek version," said Greta.
"Yeah."
"So you're Bellerophon, slayer of the Chimera?" asked Greta?
The two girls looked at each other. Greta nodded to Zoe. Zoe leaned over and whispered in my ear, "We'll be contacting you," and then she and Greta walked away. Puzzled, I realized that I was almost late for Proffessor Long's.
The rest of the day passed with out event, except in creation we learned about implanting summoning marks rather than actually working on our constructions.

Zoe and Greta still have me worried.

Hell began today. First, in Light Weapons, we paired up to fight with staffs as a basic training tool. It wouldn't have been a problem except that almost everyone who takes Light weapons is either speed or endurance aligned, meaning I got the crap beat out of me by shrimpy kids that moved so fast that they were hard to see. In Medium Weapons, the heavier training swords slowed down the small kids, but the strength aligned guys hit hard. I wasn't being hit as often, but the hits did some real damage. I stumbled out of the class carrying some serious bruises. But when I walked into heavy weapons, I about shit my pants. Those guys were huge! I was easily the smallest guy in the room, and the grins on the other guys faces told me that this was not going to be fun. For not being trained, those guys were strong enough to hand it to me with almost no trouble. Even though they were padded, the practice war hammers did everything but break bones. Dodging only worked for so long, and those guys were strong enough to just deflect my swings. Stamina didn't help any. Running four miles and then concentrating on a fly was not my kind of fun. Then we did 1,000 sit-ups and practiced releasing adrenaline and other chemicals.
I crawled into Long's room, not sure what to expect. A small Asian man stood in the center of the room. He was compact, built like a fighter,with a surprising amount of muscle packed onto his lean frame. Once I had entered, he turned to me with a smile.
"Hello, Bellerophon."
"Hello proffessor."
"I bet you are wondering why you aren't scheduled for this class?"
"Yeah, I wasn't sure as to why the note was disguised, but not to any flesh mages."
"You have been chosen to enter the Death Fist."
I felt the color leave my face.
"What's the Death Fist?"
"It is both a martial art and a group that operates in this school. The most skilled fighter in the Advanced Martial Arts class is asked to enter. You have been chosen based on other skills you possess. Since you haven't gone through the classes and Death Fist doesn't meet until second semester, you will be training with me until then."
"What skills do I possess that make me desired for this group?"
"You will start to understand tomorrow morning."
"Oh."
"Why don't we begin?"
And so for the rest of the hour we trained. Proffessor Long taught me quite a bit for one period, and I felt like I retained most of it. And although we did strenuous work, I didn't feel tired by it at all. I felt better in First Aid, and I actually healed some of my bruises. Creation made me want to vomit, but was utterly cool at the same time. We began to construct our first creature, and at first I was overwhelmed. I had decided to make a shadow wolf, and even though it was only a medium-class construct, I had to work my hardest to keep up with those doing easier projects. The shadow wolf is the same general shape as a wolf, except it is about five feet at the shoulder and extremely muscular. Mine had black and brown hair, large fangs, and red eyes with yellow irises and black pupils. Even working at high speed, I was only half finished at the end of class. Summoning was interesting, but the teacher creeped me out. He was short and greasy looking, and was unclean in both hygiene and language. Ranged weapons was the probably the most fun thing I've ever done. It seemed like all we did is throw and shoot stuff at targets. It seemed that I carried my namesakes skill with the bow. Screwing around throwing knives at cutouts with the seniors was something that I looked forward to doing for the rest of the year.
When I finally got back to my room, I realized how tired I was.
I hope tomorrow is better, but I'll probably be so sore that it will be horrible.

Dvarek took one glance at my schedule and let out a low whistle.
"This is some very advanced course work."
"Really?" I asked, my voice betraying my worriedness.
"You're taking Light Weapons first period, Medium Weapons second, and Heavy Weapons third. And second semester you transfer to the advanced courses for them. Fourth period you have Stamina first semester, and... Advanced Stamina second? Only Stamina aligned people take Advanced Stamina, and if you were you wouldn't be in Heavy Weapons."
"Well, I--"
"What are you aligned to, anyway?"
Flesh magic is divided into seven branches according to certain abilities of the human body: strength, speed, stamina, which is also called endurance, mind, life, death, and creation. Any flesh mage can use any of the types of magic, but every one has a branch that they are stronger at, or "aligned" with.
"I don't know which I'm aligned with."
"What, your parents didn't know?"
"They wouldn't tell me."
Dvarek looked at me with a suspicious glint deep in is eye.
"Let's see... lunch, obviously, and fifth period you have an open period. Those are rare, cherish them while you can. Sixth period you have First Aid this semester, and... Advanced First aid second semester?! Why the hell is a freshman in Advanced First Aid?!"
Dvarek spun his head to me, fear and pity mixing on is face. The bottom of my stomach fell out.
"What's wrong with Advanced First Aid?"
"It's for seniors and skilled juniors. By then they've gotten good enough at blocking pain to take the course."
I gulped. "Blocking pain?"
"In First Aid you learn to reattach severed body parts. In Advanced First Aid they remove internal organs and have you reattach them."
The color drained from my face. I looked to Dvarek, scrambling for a way to get out. Dvarek smiled a weak smile in an attempt to reassure me.
"You wouldn't be in that class if you weren't capable. You'll be fine."
"I guess... what about ranged weapons?"
Dvarek laughed. "You don't take that until you are a senior." The grin vanished from his face. He flipped over my schedule and looked at the back. He glanced to me and then back to the schedule. "Night classes."
"Which ones?"
"First Creation this semester and Advanced Creation second, then Summoning first and Advanced Summoning second, and finally Ranged Weapons first and Stealth/Assassinry second."
"No martial arts?"
"Nope. Wait, what are these..."
He looked at the bottom of the page carefully reading something. He handed me the schedule.
"Read those."
Strange symbols were written across the bottom of the paper.
"What are those?"
"Runes," replied Dvarek.
"But I can't read r--" Suddenly, the runes resolved themselves into words that I could read normally: Please report to Proffessor Long's room fifth period.
I looked up to Dvarek.
"Proffessor Long is the martial arts intructor."
"So why write the note in runes?"
Dvarek looked up the table.
"Daniel, come here."
A tall, broad, muscular boy walked over.
"Yeah?"
"Can you read these?"
Daniel looked at the paper then at me.
"Yes."
Dvarek once again looked for someone at the table.
"Adam, take a look at these."
A medium build blond pretty boy lithely slinked to where we were sitting.
"Do these show themselves to you?"
"Yes."
Dvarek nodded his head, as if his hypothesis was being proven.
"J--"
"Already here, Dvarek."
Dvarek jumped about a foot in the air. "You have to stop doing that, Joshua."
If a flesh mage could look nerdy, Joshua did. His eyes betrayed a very advanced intellect.
"Yes, I can read those runes."
Dvarek quickly counted off on his fingers.
"George. Tjaden. Come here."
George was a skinny guy with bright eyes and a bounce in his step. Tjaden was thickly built with a strong German nose, and as he got close to me, I realized he smelled faintly of cooked meat.
"Can you two read these?"
Both nodded.
Dvarek turned back to me.
"Runes only allow themselves to be read by those the writer feels worthy to read the message. We represent all of the branches of flesh magic except death, of which there are no students at the academy right now. Whoever the writer of this message didn't want to read it, flesh mages are allowed to."

The rest of my day passed boringly enough. That night as I got ready for bed, I wrote in this entry in this journal.
I hope tomorrow goes well.

The boy slept quietly, his mother fearfully sitting at his side. The stranger continued his whispered conversation with the father once he had settled by the fire. "Well?" inquired the father, nervousness scrawled on his face, "where do his skills lie?"
"That's just it. The apptitude tests are inconclusive," replied the man.
"So he isn't skilled at anything?"
"No. He's skilled at everything."
"My God!" The man glanced at his wife, and continued in a whisper, "what does that mean?"
"It means he could be the one. He could be... the Arbiter."

I looked up at the huge stone building, stoic and overbearing. I approached the front gate, glancing at the latin motto: Sis Vivo, Instrou Morior.
If you want to live, prepare to die.
I entered the cold, stone courtyard, passing the loitering upperclassmen as I made my way to the front door. Etched in the arch above was the name of the school I was to begin my education at. Academy of Veneficus. The Academy of Magic.
The front hall, while brightly lit, appeared old and worn, like this castle had existed even before the Romans. Flesh mages like me, masters of the human body, walked quickly through the hall, their fit, muscular bodies exuding power form every pore. Spirit mages, masters of the mind and of the Aether, the nothingness between worlds, glided gracefully, some not hiding their disdain for me. Even though I had only been in this building a few seconds, I began to feel like I knew where everything was. I went through the second set of doors and into the Mess Hall.
Two huge tables ran down the length of the room, flesh mages sat at one, spirit mages at the other. At the far end of the tables was a much smaller table where a handful of runewriters sat. Using runes written on their bodies, runewriters wove many types of strange spells.
I sat down next to the friendliest Fleshies I could find which was more difficult than you might think.
"Hello."
"Hi there. I don't recognize you. Did you transfer here?"
"No, I'm a freshman. But the headmaster's letter asked me to come today and skip the orientation tomorrow."
"Ugh. Don't remind me. A whole pack of freshies all in one spot."
"I wish I could still learn about some of my teachers before class starts."
The upperclassmen grinned at me. "I'm Dvarek."
I replied, "I'm Bellerophon. Strange name, I know."
Dvarek laughed. "Well, Bellerophon, why don't I take a look at your schedule?"
And so I handed it to him.