Fire and Miasma surrounded the place.
The lush forest of green turned to red and black.
She weakly walked over to where the others were, all of them were lying unconscious.
But a little red aura was surrounding their bodies protecting them from the miasma that was trying to infiltrate their bodies.
It was supposed to be a sunny beautiful day for an experience that could help them grow.
Yet here it was, it was indeed a bright day, bright with fire and dark with miasma.
She had seen it from atop one tree, how their little training on an abandoned island turned into a nightmare for all seven of them.
She had seen that person stab one of them and then killed the remaining five before an explosion came about.
A red aura protected the other six children from the miasma that exploded.
Her beast died and her body was reaching its limit, even her mana was about to be depleted.
She was breathing heavily as she looked at the red-haired lady in front of her.
The red-haired lady turned to look at her before a smile appeared on her beautiful face.
*****
(8 Years Later)
She was lazily leaning on the tree trunk, basking in the midday sunlight.
The trees are lush with leaves and the flowers are blooming everywhere.
Her figure basking in the sunlight is a picturesque scene, just that...
"SHRIEEEEKKKK!!!"
A few meters from her, a monster's head dropped and a droplet of blood went to her face.
She glanced at the head with its blood-red eyes still wide open and the mouth with its sharp teeth displayed towards her.
She stopped looking not minding how gruesome it looked and slid down the trunk sitting on the grass as she wiped the blood on her cheek.
The sudden scene didn't even cause any kind of reaction from her.
Instead, she even yawned and laid down on the grass instead of simply sitting on it.
"Tsk."
She didn't open her eyes when someone walked over and clicked their tongue upon seeing her current position.
"You are the one who told me not to do anything, what are you mad about now?" she asked still not opening her eyes.
She didn't hear a reply but felt an irritated look directed towards her before the footsteps of someone walking away followed.
More shrieks were heard not far from her, even the fast movements of people using their swords were going on.
Everything was happening within the proximity of where she was lying but she remained lying down lazily with her eyes closed.
Some demonic beasts would try and attack her but the people fighting them would fight it off and kill it before they get to her.
They weren't trying to save her or anything.
Instead, they just need every demonic beast head, that contains its core, for them to rack up profit to get higher grades.
They are students at the age of eighteen, who are sent to the forest to train harder and become better knights in the future.
But not everyone in the academy is aiming to be knights, some were aiming to be wizards. And most of them are those who fight not using any weapons but with their magical powers instead.
Some are capable enough that they fight both with weapons and magical powers.
Some were not gifted with such, that they could only rely on their weapons.
Some were so gifted that they had an inborn beast.
This beast is something that they were born with, ranging from all types of animals to even the mythological ones.
And most of those who received the mythological beasts were part of the nobles.
These mythological beasts are...
Vermilion Bird, who reigns over the Fire element.
Azure Dragon, the one who reigns over the Wood element.
White Tiger, the one who reigns over the Metal element.
Black Tortoise, the one who reigns over the Water element.
Qilin, the one who reigns over the Earth element.
Basilisk, the one who reigns over the Poison element.
And Roc, the one who reigns over the Wind element.
Some had a beast that was not inborn but was called an accompanying beast.
This matter shall be explained on another day.
She yawned as she waited for them to be finished.
But because it was a group one, they had to allow her to tag along and that didn't include calling her once everything was over. She would sometimes be left behind and she would simply go back.
Nonchalance was plastered on her face during those times.
A lot of her schoolmates wonder just why she would pass when she was not doing anything and that caused her to become an outcast and most of the time, teams didn't want her to be in theirs.
She did ask the teachers to let her be alone but the teachers would always berate her that she should learn how to fight in teams.
'How will I do that when they are the ones who didn't want me to fight alongside them?' was always the question in her head every time she heard what her teachers would say.
Even the teachers only see her as someone who can use her head.
The principal tried to appeal to the director of the academy to let her be at a different academy instead but the director was adamant that she was doing what she was supposed to do.
She opened one eye and looked towards her so-called teammates, they were doing just fine on their own.
Though she was not keen on helping out because they were dealing with the weaker demonic beasts, that was boring even for her.
Though she couldn't help but sigh, in the end, the treatment wasn't fun at all.
'Because of a miss in the entrance exam, everyone deemed me as someone weak who couldn't even lift a sword. Why the hell does the school grade you with a one-time enrolment?'
She had this complaint from the very beginning that she uses almost the same words every time she has something to complain about.
She closed her eyes once again while putting her arm over them to reduce the brightness of the day. She has decided to just sleep the boredom off even though she really wouldn't be able to sleep deeply.
"We've been searching for you."
Just as she was about to get the sleep that she wanted, a voice suddenly came from her side.
Though she knew someone had come close, she didn't expect that it was someone not part of her team.
"What are you doing here?"
She wanted to ignore him but he was persistent in asking her questions. Was he insensitive or what? She didn't say anything the first time he spoke but he still kept going.
With a sigh, she opened her eyes, the sun almost blinded her because the man chose to stand against the sunlight.
She could only squint her eyes to see just who it was that wanted to disturb her sleep by speaking with her.
Her frown disappeared the moment her mind registered the identity of the person in front of her.
A smile even blossomed on her lips, "Hunter!"
"It has been a while Saphira," Hunter replied with a smile seeing as she was genuinely delighted to see him.
Her red-orange hair had gone longer from the time he remembered, if he was not mistaken it was only shoulder length back then but now it was waist length. She also has some short hair that reaches only her chin emphasizing her small face.
Her red-orange eyes, sparkled as she looked at him but he felt that something was amiss with the color, it felt like it was darker than back then.
As he looked at her, she too was looking at the changes in him.
His brown-colored, natural medium-length waves, hair tinged with gold, and his golden brown eyes, are currently in a plain brown color. The golden tinge was not visible at all.
Other than that, nothing seemed to have changed except for the fact that he now has the look of a teenager as compared to back then.
Well, she did grow up and her looks matured, it is no question that he too would be the same.
She nodded her head, she knew he was handsome as a child but he looked more so right now.
"How long has it been?" she asked after giving him a good look.
"Before we talk about that, why are you lying here on your own? I assume that those guys are your teammates," he commented pointing at the people who were not sparing them even a glance.
He knew they noticed him but they allowed him to approach her as if she weren't a part of their team.
They didn't even know who he was.
The forest they are in is a forest bordering two Empires.
The Qillian Empire which was the biggest among all Empires and the Empire where her school is, the Scorpius Empire.