It was a bright sunny day as Aslalo went on his usual morning rounds throughout the school. The sparrows singing their morning song, the sun shining through the large oak trees that lined the paths leading around the school, the wind gently kissing his cheek, everything was as normal as it always was until he saw a large group of students rushing over to the courtyard. Curious about the early morning ruckus as fights don't normally happen until after lunch and certainly without a Blessed's permission, Aslalo followed the group to see a crowd of students screaming "Fight! Fight! Fight!" and two bodies laid pummeled and bloody on the floor.
Chester "I told you already FUCK OFF!"
Dennis "Demon brat! Learn your place! I am a second year!"
Chester "And I already said I don't give a shit!"
Dennis "You better start."
Dennis, energized by the crowd and sheer frustration launched a haymaker at Chester that was easily parried sending him instantly to the floor. Before Dennis had a chance to even get up he was already in a perfect arm bar. The pressure Chester was placing on his arm made Dennis scream in pain as his bones cracked and crunched. A sickening grin came over Chester as his Aie's started to glow bright scarlet when the scent of blood wafted into his nose. His satisfaction and aggression grew as the pops and cracks in Dennis' arm grew. The sheer violence of what the student body was witnessing made them all quiet, the silence only being broken because of a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder.
Aslalo "Chafer style: thunder clap."
After noticing Aslalo was the one who struck the duo the crowd dispersed as fast as they could before they too were punished, leaving Dennis and Chester passed out on the floor. Later, as if dragging out the morning trash, Aslalo tossed the two boys into Cole's office.
Cole "Aww you brought gifts this time. What do I owe the pleasure?"
Aslalo "These two idiots were fighting fist thing in the morning. I'm going to get Julissa to heal this one's arm. Why am I doing such things anyway? I know you had to be watching."
Cole "I was and it was pretty entertaining. No one got seriously hurt or anything so what's the issue? Plus you were there so everything was under control."
Aslalo "So you were going to let them fight?"
Cole "ABSO-lutely. I only intervene when it become's life threatening."
Aslalo "You've got to be kidding me. What's the point of having power and doing absolutely nothing about it. You could've made a positive impression on the student body but now you stuck up in your office."
Cole "One me doing anything more than what I did would have done nothing but convinced the student body demons are evil. Two, we are a military academy. It's kinda expected they fight each other, at least they weren't using any magic and that's how the status quo is shifted. Three you were there and that put the fear of the blessed into their hearts and lastly it was entertaining and Chester has had no formal magic training it seems as he didn't even try to use it at all."
Aslalo "WOW…I'm genuinely surprised that you actually thought about this. The peasants can think."
Cole "ANd if you say anything about it you're dead, asslahole."
Aslalo "Whatever assCole."
Aslalo proceeded to drag Dennis out to the Nursing station to see Julissa while Chester sat inside Cole's office for a while until he woke up screaming.
Chester "Where the heck am I and where is that blonde asshole with the lightning!"
Cole "Oh goodie you call him an ass too."
Chester "How did I get here?"
Cole "Seems like you got on the wrong side of Aslalo."
Chester "So that's his name."
Cole "Well chester before you can go get that blond asshole you gotta finish your extra duty."
Chester "What's that?"
Cole "I'm going to assign a task to you and basically you gotta do it everyday after class."
Chester "Okay then I'll head off to class."
Cole "Not so fast MR. I'm pulling you out of class today. Follow me."
Cole led Chester down a long corridor to one of the training rooms. The inside was demolished with huge indentations inside, splattered blood stains and the pungent odor of sweat and dried blood filled the room. The lights flickered on and off as if to show how broken the wiring was.
Cole "SO! Your first job is to take a lesson. Your next one will be to help me train you and myself as a sparring partner and if you say anything about what I'm about to teach you. You'll get sent to the student lock up so fast it'll make your head spin."
Chester "Fine, ill keep it to myself."
Cole "Sweet. First you have to learn what exactly magic is. I don't know how you got to level three without learning any magic at all but hey YOU can tell me that right?"
Chester "I was born into a very prestigious family. I basically was born into being a level three demon but that's the lowest in my entire family. The next highest is level five. I'm really around level two or like a one point five.
Cole "Sweet so all we have to do is open your circuits."
Chester "We can't and before you say it. We already tried to force them open any further attempt will kill me."
Cole "Huh…I see…quite the pickle huh…Well how about I teach you something else from one burnt circut to another?"
Chester "like what?"
Cole "Spirit energy. Basically you take the magic from the surrounding area to replace what you should be doing internally and the Chi from within you and mix the two so you can freely use a much stronger and vastly more powerful energy source."
Chester "Wait what?"
Cole "Yeah I was surprised when I heard it too, but so far I havent found a single thing it couldn't do."
Chester "No…You're telling me there is another way?"
Cole "A demon taught me I'm surprised no one taught you? I thought that it was standard."
Chester "NO! We use magic like everyone else? What did you do to get this? Did you sell your soul?"
Cole "What? NO stupid. The power comes from God. It's just a really roundabout way of doing it. Basically magic exist inside the air around us all the time and chi is just your physical ability mixed with your life force so mixing the two makes a star inside of you. Too much and it becomes a black hole, too little and nothing happens. You need that perfect balance to it, but the thing is…"
Chester "WHAT WHAT!!! GET TO THE POINT."
Cole "The thing is you need to have faith in God. Like even I had to change my entire view point for it. Genuine faith is how it works or at least that's what I found out."
Chester "That's it? Does it have to be god?"
Cole "That I'm not sure? THe demon and angel said that faith in god is required to use such power but I suppose you could theoretically pull the faith from anywhere?"
Chester "TEACH ME IT NOW!"
Cole "Okay…hit me."
Chester looked at Cole with a confused but ready look in his eye.
Chester "Hit you?"
Cole "Yeah hit me."
Chester "say no more"
Chester wound up the strongest punch he could muster and swung at Cole with everything he had to no avail as Cole easily dodged his fist. Frustrated and confused Chester threw a flurry of punches that were instantly blocked or parried. Every attack Chester threw, as if Cole was reading his mind, was blocked or redirected up until Chester was tired.
Chester "What the hell! How are you doing that!?"
Cole "Quite simply I'm slightly increasing my speed relative to your body movements as to stay ahead of you. Honestly you ain't half bad, a couple weeks of training and you should be something near me to actually be a sparring partner."
Cole offered Chester a water bottle to drink from as he sat down next to him for a small break.
Cole "Now that I got a pretty good baseline for you, I think I can train you in my ways yet."
Chester "You sure?"
Cole "Yeah, it's mostly physical training as magic is already there. You just need a place for them to meet in the middle. Normally it would be the belly but it seems as though your blockage is in the nape of the neck."
Chester "How do I mix it! Teach me now!"
Cole "Sorry kid, your body is not ready for that. We need you to get much much stronger before we can even think about that. The way it stands now if I tried to teach you it would shred your body to pieces. I am just skating by and as a child I had some of the best in the world train my body and mind. Give me three months of solid training and I promise I'll teach you everything you need to know. Fair nuff'?
Chester "Whatever."
Cole "WHy are you in such a rush anyway?"
Chester "None ya. It doesn't have anything to do with you."
Cole "Jeez, I was just asking."
Chester "by the way my name is Chester Gayle."
Cole "Well you ready to get to it."
Chester nodded his head and the two began to train day in and day out, even going sometimes until half the night, and during school breaks. Eventually it became a regular spectacle for the students to bet on as they would randomly attack each other no matter what the other was doing. Going to the bathroom fighting, while Cole was in meetings they would fight, while Chester was in his gym period and thats how they were for a while. Chester forgot his punishment was over or maybe even he didn't care as a bond started to form between the two, one of friendship and mentorship. Over the course of the next five or so months Chester started his spirit training and that's when things really started to heat up. Every Other day there was a new repair request from their battles, much to the dismay of Aslalo who had to file all of them, but one thing made it all worth it…Chester was genuinely happy for the first time in a long while.
Aslalo "WILL YOU TWO KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY!!!"
Cole "What? He needs to train more. Besides I'M BOREED."
Aslalo "He is already out performing his entire class!"
Cole "Well, it's not enough."
Aslalo "And why is that?"
Cole "Because I decided the day I saw his battle spirit that he was to replace Angillina as one of the blessed."
Aslalo "How many times do i have to tell you, THOSE THINGS YOU NEED TO TALK TO ALL OF US ABOUT!!! YOU CAN'T JUST MAKE THOSE TYPES OF DECISIONS WITHOUT TALKING TO US!!"
Cole "It's almost as if i made his power public display and trained him personally to be strong so the rest of us who isn't on mars would see his strength."
Naiomi "I do have to agree with Cole on this one. We all have been watching his progress."
Shawnte "Yeah and I scouted him."
The rest of the blessed went around saying their agreement with the situation.
Cole "Come on man don't act like you didn't see this coming."
Aslalo "Fine but if he acts up it's your responsibility."
Cole "AYE AYE VP!!"
Aslalo "Now let's get down to our meeting. When are we going to train?"
Cole "AWW you like me…"
Aslalo "NO it's not like that. You barely send us out on missions and we've have been so busy filing your damage repairs that we don't get to train at all!"
Cole "Ah…I see your point. Dexter you got something to say to your lil' brother?"
Dexter "No, I actually agree."
Cole "That's not what you told me. If I remember correctly 'If you can't find the time make time.'"
Dexter "Eh…I did say that huh…"
Naiomi "I agree too Cole. We barely do anything. This has been the most laid back office to date in the school. While the school is running fabulously because of our constant presence we aren't getting much stronger doing so."
Cole "Okay. So the reason why I haven't sent anyone out on mission is because we are going to start the war. I got the email about seven months ago. That's why I have been training with Chester so closely. One to make sure he is loyal to the school and because of the information I just provided. Thank you all, because of you while the administration is the most laid back it is also the most powerful student body we have ever had. The average grade is a B+ the highest we have ever had. You guys are extremely powerful. The only way I can see you guys getting any stronger is by going on mission because you need experience."
Aslalo "Why didn't you tell us this?"
Cole "Look how you are acting right now. Pestering me with your training when all that you had to do was paperwork. I managed to get paperwork done, my daily chores done, and even got to train. What was stopping each of you?"
Justin "Don't give us that! YOU KNEW WE WERE GOING TO WAR AND SAID NOTHING?"
Cole "Stop yelling! We have one whole school semester before I start deploying to the front lines again. Charles is waiting there for us. Out of the student body each of you will lead a company of three hundred students assigned at random order. Ever since angillina died it's been a problem to establish a good genuine discipline. So over the course of the year we are to train our companies with me training you and Chester training my own company alongside his own. The only way we are going to win is together. That is all you are dismissed…Chester, Aslalo stay behind please."
Aslalo "This is strange."
Chester "Um..okay."
Cole "Chester from this moment on you are the head of the student news comity. Your duties are to fairly report the news of the school, dispel rumors of our doings, and to favorably share the school to anyone that isn't a student yet. I see you made a positive change so use our experience to help others…okay?"
Chester "Roger dodger sir!"
Cole "Drop the sir…Aslalo we have a mission!"
Aslalo "HUH!?!? A MISSION!"
Cole "Shut it will ya? It's a secret."
Aslalo "It's incredibly irresponsible for both of us to leave the school! Who will run it? And If it's such a secret why are you telling Chester?"
Cole "Naiomi is pretty smart and she probably already knows she will be head so her and Chester is coming with us. Come on man, I never send you out. Live a little."
Aslalo "No Cole this is not proper."
Cole "Fine, if proper you want proper you'll get. Aslalo Chafer I order you to go. Eden academy regulation two subsection three."
Aslalo "Any order given by a member of student council is to be obeyed."
Cole "And in the case of the order being given to another member the higher rank takes precedent. I need you for this, when you find out the mission you won't regret it."
Aslalo "Fine what's the mission?"
Cole "General Delton got a line on a demon prince, we are to locate and capture it alive for questioning. It's the first move in the war. You and me are the strongest in the school by far and Chester can get us into hell secretly. This is a critical mission that never happened. If we are spotted, it will start the war full blown and we will most likely die."
Aslalo "Why don't the arch angels go?"
Cole "That's a stupid question. They hold way to much power to step there unspotted and besides they are prepping for our failure."
Aslalo "I get the feeling Delton dosn't really like you."
Cole "Eh probably? Doesn't matter anyway…We have to. I was told to go by name and I c=got authority to take anyone I wanted…sooo I thought this would be good bonding time and give me a chance to learn your full capabilities."
Aslalo "Ugh fine…you win but the moment we leaving the moment it gets too risky."
Cole "Maybe…Did I forget to mention this is a no fail…option…mission?"
Aslalo "COLE I AM NOT GOING!"
Cole "Come oooooooooonnn man. Why are you so scared?"
Aslalo "You are asking us to take on a PRINCE of hell. Not only do we have to sneak into hell but CAPTURE THEM ALIVE. Do you not fear death or something?"
Chester "Cole I have to agree here. Do you at least have a plan?"
Cole "Were you not listening? What part of sneaking into hell and capturing him alive did you two not understand?"
Chester & Aslalo "THAT'S NOT MUCH OF A PLAN!!!"
Cole "STOP YELLING! Hell is a bit away right? We don't even have any information on him yet. It's top secret so I'm sure we will be told how when we get close."
Aslalo "How can you stay so calm?"
Cole "I dunno? Guess it's just a gut feeling? We are going in the cover of night, so hurry up and pack."
Later that night the three met up in the courtyard with all of their gear, each of them packing a medium bag with a small emergency flair pin on each of them, a small med kit, and a days worth of meal rations. Once they were set, Cole fastened a small pin in the shape of the school's emblem on each of their bags.
Chester "What's this for?"
Cole "Whenever me and my dad went training he would always stick our family crest on the bag as a good luck charm. I just thought I'd extend the gesture because of the gravity of this mission."
Chester could hear the slight hesitation in Cole's voice. Given the training and time spent with him Chester could tell Cole never wanted to go, he saw the fear of death in his eyes and the energy of despair trickling into the air from him but like a good and smart leader Cole smiled directly into Chester's heart and tried to put on his own show of false bravado as he ushered them onto their mission. Along the way Chester tried to ask Cole about his unspoken fear but was shut down by Cole patting his head before he could get the words out. He even started to feel as though he was making it up.
Chester "This don't feel right. I mean he is obviously terrified…"
Delilah "Did you ever consider he's being forced?"
Chester "But why?"
Delilah "Heaven is authoritarian."
Chester "I guess so… but he is so nice. He took me in."
Delilah "Don't be deceived by the voices of angels. They are just trying to send you back to hell. Why do you think he choose you."
Chester "He choose me to train me."
Delilah "Just like Alvin and Fredrick? Didn't they abandon you? Left you for dead hahaha Come on you think he is any different?"
Cole gave the halt sign took a deep breath and hugged both Chester and Aslalo tightly and began to cry.
Aslalo "What gives? Let go."
Cole "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…I'm Scared…"
Aslalo "Where is this coming from? Where was all that bravery? Didn't you make us go with you."
Cole wiped his eyes, turned around, and began walking off
Cole "You right. My bad…Let's keep moving."
Chester "Could he hear me?"