What Lies Beneath

Chapter 4

For the rest of the orientation, Asha felt like this entire situation was in a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from. Her eyes laid on the stage up front, but her vision was blurry. She saw mouths moving but heard no words. And before she knew it, the orientation was over.

     "Ash! You looked kind of spacy during the whole thing. Are you okay?"

     Asha looked down at her best friend in the canal in front of her. Her face wore an expression full of concern as she used her arms to lever herself onto the chair.

     Asha smiled gently. "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess the exhaustion from last night is finally catching up to me. I was so excited that I barely got any sleep."

     Lyra stared at her for a good minute before replying, "Alright I guess. If you say so..."

     She lets her eyes linger on her for a few more seconds before swimming off toward her friends. 

     Asha released a heavy sigh before looking around. Everyone seemed to be moving with purpose, but they were all going different ways. Her eyes darted from person to person, trying to find out which way she was supposed to go.

     She mentally facepalmed and sighed. It was unlikely that anyone here would answer her if she asks except these two boys. One—definitely out of the question. She wasn't going to test those waters. So instead, she turned to her left.

     She looked the wood elf in his eyes and awkwardly laughed. "Uhm, sorry but may I ask you what we're supposed to be doing? I think I might have zoned out for that part of orientation."

     His eyes crinkled in amusement as he chuckled. Then they darted between me and the other guy who was behind me. There was suggestion behind his green eyes but he let it go with a simple shake of his head.

     He smirked. "Only if you'll tell me your name and how you two know each other."

     "Well my name is Asha, but my friends—well my only friend—call me Ash. And I have never met this dude before in my life," she said, making sure to say the last sentence firmly.

     "It didn't look that way to me. It looked more like... Wait don't tell me!" He dramatically gasped threw his hand over his mouth. "Was it... love at first sight?"

     Asha sneered. "No offense, but definitely not."

     Ioko laughed before saying, "Well my name is Ioko and we're supposed to be breaking off into groups. Lower ranked magic users, actually like you and my friend here, are supposed to be going that way and meeting in the gym. You'll be starting off with combat exams just to see where you are."

     She followed his finger to the door she'd entered in and smiled. "Thanks."

     Asha doesn't say another word before trotting off in the direction of the door. Step after step, she sped up until she was barely walking at all anymore.

     As she passed through the door, she started following other students having realized she had no idea where she was going beyond the fact that her destination was beyond that door. She made sure to keep a few paces behind the group—if only to stay unnoticed. Yes, she's following the weaker ones, but she still remained the weakest of them all.

     Her pace slowed as they rounded a corner and the doors to the gym, she hoped, were standing tall at the end of the hallway. She waited patiently for the group in front of her to walk through the door before slipping in right before the door closed with a thud. And just as the doors came into contact with each other, a sudden pressure pulled on her ponytail.

     She gritted her teeth and murmured, "Shit."

     When she turned around to examine what caught her ponytail, or rather who, her eyes landed on a tall boy. Her eyes roamed down to the armband on his bicep and she knew what he was there for.

     'A bully already? And so unoriginal at that.'

     Asha glared up into his eyes and said, "Get your hands off of me. Right now."

     The boy smirked and took in her appearance. She wouldn't back down or even act intimidated. Instead, she returned the favor. Her eyes examined him from head to toe, taking in every disgusting inch of the stupid boy. He was tall—probably about a foot taller than her. His expression was full of arrogance with his basic brown eyes and crinkled eyebrows from his disgust. His uncurved ears showed how pathetically human he was. And his hair had so much gel that she wondered how much of his money went to hair products.

     "Ya know," she started, her tone full of judgment. 

     She continued roaming his body with her eyes. It looked like he spent way too much time working on his body and his image. Probably a huge narcissist.

     She sighed—long and dramatic.

     His voice was full of agitation. "What."

     She smirked. "Nothing really. You're just not as tough as you think you are."

     "Are you trying to pick a fight with me Zero?"

     Asha's expression didn't change. "No, not at all. I'm simply stating facts. I mean, strong people don't prey on the weak, now do they? What is there to gain from pulling my ponytail or calling me names? Absolutely nothing."

     "You..."

     She didn't allow herself to wince from the pain as he yanked on her hair to pull her toward him. He tugged until her back was plastered against him and he lowered his lips to her ear.

     'Woah! That's way too close!'

     His voice was deep and raspy as he whispered, "You're playing a dangerous game here girly."

     Her eyes darted around the room. She knew that this guy was trying to instate his dominance and show everyone who the toughest one in this group was, but she wouldn't allow that. Still, one thing perplexed her. The teacher was in the room and watching everything unfold, yet he wasn't interfering.

     She then closed her eyes. Right now, she knew that she could take this guy down and it seemed that the teacher wouldn't do a thing about it. However, that would destroy any chances of her flying under the radar and she didn't want that. It was either pride or discipline.

     A tough decision for sure. And luckily, she didn't have to make it herself.

     The door opened and the pressure on her ponytail was relieved not soon after. She turned around to look at what made the guy stop. In walked the very guy she'd been trying to avoid—late for class and without a care in the world. She used the opportunity to yank her hair from the guy's hand and scurry off towards the rest of the students.

     Suddenly, a raspy voice cut through the room. "It seems that everyone has finally arrived to class."

     Asha's eyes followed the voice, landing on her dwarven teacher. He was bald with a long brown beard and had many exposed scars probably resulting from years of battle.

     He continued speaking, "That means that we can finally start. I want everyone except Ms. Asha and Mr. Leonard to find their own sparring partner and take a mat."

     Both Asha and Leonard's eyes flicked to him, shock present on both of their faces while the rest of the class gets moving.

     Their teacher was completely unphased. "You two will be sparring each other. In my class, problems aren't solved through disciplinary action. They're solved through a good old fashion fist fight. If you have any problems with that, drop out."

     With that, the two were left with no choice in the matter as they begrudgingly walked up to meet on a mat in between them. They walked up to meet in the middle, eyes burning intensely into each other.

     Asha was pissed and ready to teach this guy a lesson. Caution and discipline be damned, she wasn't holding back.

     Once everyone had a partner and a mat, the dwarf shouted, "Alright, I want fair fights. No weapons are allowed but your own body. If anyone breaks this rule, they will be expelled. Stepping off of these mats is considered a loss. Am I understood?"

     A simultaneous, "Yes sir!" spread across the gym.

     "Alright. Now go!"

     Asha and her opponent took a few more steps forward until they were in the middle of the mat, and bowed deeply. Once coming up, she assumed a fighting stance and took a few steps back. The boy did as well, but she kept her eyes on him—on his footwork. He'd be advancing on her soon.

     As expected, he took quick steps toward her and threw a punch at her face all in one swift motion. She weaved to the right, finding his target all too predictable. Her words hurt his pride so it was only natural he would want to aim for her face.

    She teased, "Is that all you got big guy?"

    Those words seemed to light a fire under him as he started a flurry of attacks. He threw mainly punches with the occasional kick and that was enough to make her doubt that he spent much time on hand to hand combat training. He had no stamina control and was quite the basic fighter.

     She smirked at him—watching as he expelled his energy on punches and kicks he'd thrown in such a flurry without even taking the time to realize that his opponent was faster than him. She started stepping ever closer, deflecting the blows as she became closer to him. It was like a dance and only she knew the rhythm.

     Once finally close enough, she ducked beneath a kick carelessly tossed at her head and kicked the inside of his other shin—hard. As expected, he lost balance and fell back. But she wasn't done yet—and neither was he. He quickly regained his balance and sneered at her. She simply offered an innocent smile in return.

     She took a few steps toward him. This time, she decided that she would launch the assault. She quickly threw a kick at his face, only to stop short and uppercut him as he'd ducked away. She gave him no time to recover and grabbed him by both of his shoulders. She used them to bring him down and shove her knee into his chest.

     She watched in satisfaction as the wind was knocked out of his chest. Still, she didn't end her assault. She decided to end it by grabbing his hand and sliding between his legs. He landed on his back with a thud as she kept her grip on his arm. All it took was a threatening tug and he conceded.

     Asha rolled back and pushed herself into a handstand before gracefully landing on her feet—one after the other. It was her own way of doing a victory dance over him while at least trying to appear humble.

     After taking a deep breath, she started to feel countless pairs of eyes on her. She turned around and almost everyone in the gym was staring at her, seemingly dumbfounded.

     'Maybe I overdid it.'

     She nervously scratched her head before turning back and offering her opponent a hand to get up—as it was the respectful thing to do. He grabbed her hand and tugged, trying to pull her down. But he failed and she pulled him up anyway.

     The teacher walked over to them while clapping his hands. "Now that is how you settle a disagreement."

     Asha kind of felt the embarrassment finally sink in so she ducked her head down slightly as if it would somehow help her avoid the attention.

     "Now, I know that I have neglected to introduce myself so I will now. My name is Lord Darerfaes Goldhood," he said. Then his eyes darted to Asha, "But you young lady, can call me Lord Dar."

     She awkwardly laughed, not sure what reaction would be appropriate to what he said. She simply nodded her head a little in thanks. Admittedly, it was kind of rude but she was scared that her voice would betray her.

     "As this class goes on, only students who have earned my respect will gain the privilege to call me that. To earn my respect, you must prove more to me than simply that you can fight. You must show to me your strength of character, your skill, and your honor. This young lady has shown all three today so I hope that you'll accept her as your current top of the class," he said.

     Everyone looked at her—shocked. Then, they looked at her armband, then the guy on the ground beside her. That's when she realized what he just lost. He was one point away from being in the one-star magic user class. Now, he just proved that he couldn't beat the Zero.

     The teacher nodded before continuing, "Now, I will release the rest of the rankings for this class. Based on what I observe in this class and others, I will have a full ranking of everyone who's joined us today and it will be added to your armbands. It seems that the bar has already been set quite high as it stands."

     Everyone's voices resounded throughout the gym, "Yes sir."

     "Good. Class dismissed. Head to your ranged class in Gym B."

     Everyone gathered whatever belongings they had and shuffled out of the room. Asha waited until everyone was gone before advancing toward the door.

     Before she could leave, Lord Dar said, "Great work young lady. I look forward to seeing how you progress."

     She offered a soft smile before opening the door and walking out. Leaning against the wall next to it was the guy from earlier. She walked right past him, expecting him to follow. As she assumed, he did.

     It was silent before he finally speaks. "That was pretty badass, princess."

     For once, she didn't deny a compliment. Instead, she relished in it and embraced the feelings it brought into her stomach and chest. It felt good and hopefully, it wouldn't be too addicting.

     She smirked. "Thanks."