The large Drake next to Alex said something in a language he didn't understand. To him, it sounded more like guttural roars than anything else, but he knew she was saying something and not just making animalistic sounds. Once she deemed it safe enough to pass, she lifted her massive arm out of the way. They continued to stand in the opening, watching Aro fight the other student, or rather play with the other student.

  "What did you say?" Alex asked, not being able to resist the curiosity.

  "Hmm, no Draconic?" She asked in response, again raising a single eyebrow.

  Alex shook his head, hoping it wasn't too uncommon for a human to not speak Draconic. So far everyone had just spoken English, and he assumed that was the native language, however strange that may be. He was glad about it, though. If everyone were speaking Draconic, as Lailya had called it, he would be even more lost than he was now.

  "Hmm, just a normal human then," the large Drake said. What was that about? He wanted to protest that he wasn't, at least not anymore. But that would mean revealing his Otherborn secret to another person, and too many people already knew about it. If word got out... His mind raced back to everything Miss Philaxter had said — worshipped, dissected or hunted down by villagers — no, that wasn't going to happen. To her, he could be a regular human.

  "Sorry?" Alex apologized, unsure if he needed to.

  "No need, those eyes. Just expected different."

  Lailya didn't even look at him when she spoke. Instead, her focus was still on Aro and the other student practicing. It seemed the whole fight had become a spectacle as other students, who were also supposed to be practicing, just stood in the training yard watching the Kahrn dominate. Dust floated through the air as Aro pushed the other student through the entire arena, always on the move. Beads of sweat dripped from the student's head. The grin on Aro's face only grew wider.

  "Why?" Alex asked, seeing as the Drake didn't seem to intend on explaining why she had found his eyes strange. Most people had seemed to ignore his purple eyes, but a few others had commented on them as well, like Miss Philaxter, or that assassin. Alex's gaze snapped to the top of the wall surrounding the arena. He could have sworn he had seen something or someone standing on it from the corner of his eye. But there was nothing there. Had he imagined it?

  "Hmm, unusual color for a human. More common in other races."

  "Right..." Alex said. She had no idea how close she was to the truth. Even though it didn't seem like she was going to question it any further, he still wanted to switch the topic, so he asked his earlier question again. "So... what did you say in Draconic?"

  "Hmm, oh, that he improved, footwork still sloppy though," the Drake said in the same unmoving tone she had almost the entire time they had spoken. That astonished Alex. How could she not be impressed by Aro right now? He was dominating the other student like it was nothing. Alex's head flicked back from the large Drake to Aro. The ground tore up beneath the Kahrn's feet as he lunged at the other student. His tail swayed behind him lazily and relaxed while the other student scrambled to protect themself from Aro's sword.

  "Alright, enough!" a loud, masculine voice boomed over the entire arena, the sand on the ground actually flying away from the origin of the voice. Standing next to a rack of weapons against the wall stood another massive Drake. In contrast to Lailya's deep red scales, this new Drake was covered in emerald green scales. His golden eyes stared at Aro and the other student, a large scar under his left eye the only thing marking his face from looking like perfection. The Drake's presence hit harder than his voice, steady, disciplined and impossible to ignore.

  "There's no doubt, Aro of the Dawnpride is the winner of this bout. You did fine, Miss Pierce, but you rely too much on your own speed when fighting. So when you're faced with an opponent that is faster than you, you end up trapped in the defensive role. You need to find a way to break their assault and gain the upper hand again," the green Drake continued, his voice, while still loud enough to be heard through the entire arena, no longer containing that air of authority.

  "Alright, who's next!" Aro shouted, goading a nearby student. Most of the students surrounding him would rather look away than entertain his challenge after the display he had just put on.

  "I'll give it a shot," a familiar voice said from the crowd. Cynthia pushed her way past the crowd and twirled a curved blade in her hand. An ornate black bow held her bright red hair behind her head.

  "You sure, babe? I don't want to hurt that pretty face of yours," Aro joked.

  "You would need to hit me first, Ari," Cynthia teased back.

  Without warning, Aro pounced on the redheaded girl. An enormous cloud of dust remained where he had just been standing. In the blink of an eye, he was standing next to her. The loud clanks of swords banging against each other rang through the arena as the two friends fought. They started slow, exchanging blows the other blocked easily. Then Aro grinned. Alex knew he would be up to something; he secretly hoped Cynthia knew as well. He liked the Kahrn, but it would be extremely satisfying to see him lose against Cynthia.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  One moment Aro was there. Alex blinked, and he was gone. A second later he reappeared behind the redheaded girl. Alex's jaw dropped. He had seen magic in this world before, but that had been different. That had been calm and collected as Fillonia used some kind of magic to scan his body. Except, he had seen something similar before, hadn't he? The assassin had done almost exactly the same to him. Instinctively, Alex glanced behind him to make sure the assassin wasn't there.

  Unlike him, however, Cynthia had actually expected the move. As soon as Aro appeared, she swung her leg backwards and kicked him in the stomach. For a brief moment, the Kahrn was stunned. Using this opportunity, Cynthia turned around and swung her blade down with as much force as she had in her. It wasn't fast enough though. Aro had recovered and blocked the swing with his own blade.

  "Nice one, babe," the lion-boy said, a massive grin on his face, "almost had me there."

  "You should really use a move I don't already know next time." Cynthia responded, jumping back to create some space between them.

  The two upperclassmen continued to fight, seemingly evenly matched. Loud clangs continued to echo through the arena as their swords clashed against each other. The students surrounding the fight kept staring at it instead of training themselves. Even Lailya stared at the fight for a moment before she smiled and headed towards the emerald-scaled Drake. Seeing her move, Alex quickly followed her. He still didn't know exactly where he needed to deliver the box on his dolly to.

  "Miss Droor," the disciplined Drake said as he saw Lailya approach, "and Mister Vansteen." He added when he noticed Alex following her. How did he know who Alex was? Was it the eyes? It had to be the eyes, right? There were probably already rumors among the teachers about a new student with strange eyes.

  "Morning, Headmaster Whylk." Lailya addressed the green-scaled Drake, her posture straightening slightly. Did she just call him Headmaster? That meant he was part of the board. And that he knew exactly who, and what, Alex was.

  "You're back sooner than expected, Miss Droor," Headmaster Whylk said, for now ignoring the fact that Alex was with her. "How was the mission?"

  "Successful, sir. The herd was redirected. Danger to the village is gone," she reported in her usual short sentences.

  "Good, I'll mark another successful mission on your profile. Take a day of rest. You've earned it."

  "Will do, sir."

  With that, Lailya left the arena, and Alex was alone with the regal Drake in front of him. He stood there with his large box, and he wasn't sure if the Headmaster of the entire academy was the right person to deliver it to.

  "And what can I do for you, Mister Vansteen?" The look in the Headmaster's eyes felt like he was seeing straight through Alex and into what made him an Otherborn.

  "Uhm..., I took this courier job from the Notice Board and was supposed to deliver this to the training yard," Alex answered, motioning to the large box on the dolly.

  "Those must be the new training weapons that were ordered. Thank you, Mister Vansteen. You can leave them over there," the emerald-scaled Drake said, waving his clawed hand towards a door on the other side of the arena.

  Alex followed the muscled arm of the Headmaster, and his eyes grew wide when he reached the hand. The fact that the hands were more claw-like than human wasn't what surprised him. After all, what else would he have expected? And he had seen Lailya's hand before when she inspected the box. No, what surprised Alex was the fact that the hand was missing a finger. It looked cleanly chopped off, and Alex had trouble imagining what could have done that to the imposing Drake. He composed himself again. The Headmaster was not who he wanted to leave a poor impression on.

  "Thank you, sir," Alex said, copying the reverence Lailya had shown him. In return, the large Drake nodded and returned his attention back to the sparring students.

  After taking one more look at Aro and Cynthia sparring, Alex pushed the dolly towards the door the Headmaster had pointed to. From the brief glance he had taken, it seemed the two were still closely matched in skill, though Cynthia seemed to be getting exhausted keeping up with the relentless Kahrn. Beads of sweat were starting to show on her forehead, and her full head of hair that was once neatly tied up had returned to the wild state it was in when he had first met her yesterday morning. The look on her face said it all. She was going to lose, and she knew it.

  Reminding himself that he was here for a job, Alex continued to push the dolly towards the door. He was glad when the door opened inwards when he pushed the dolly against it and he could just walk it in. The room contained racks full of all sorts of weapons, like the swords he saw Aro and Cynthia use and large spears with strange spearheads. There were a few other crates tucked into a corner. So, Alex rolled the dolly over to them and gently heaved the large box off it. The weapons inside rattled as the wooden box hit the ground.

  Satisfied with his first delivery, Alex headed back out to the sand-covered arena. He stood in the doorway for a moment, staring at Aro and Cynthia. The two upperclassmen were still sparring, and it seemed the surrounding students had gotten bored with the even match and returned to their own training. Alex remained fascinated by the fight. The way both students moved with ease over the entire floor of the arena, other students getting out of the way as they got close. It looked straight out of a tightly choreographed fight from a blockbuster movie.

  It was at least another five minutes before Alex once again remembered why he was there. Back on Earth, he had this app on his phone that reminded him of things he needed to do, like drink more water, or go to the gym; basic stuff, but it helped against the procrastination. Out of all the things this world didn't have, that was probably one of the things he was strangely going to miss the most. He checked to make sure the sealed scrolls were still in the cotton bag hanging over his shoulder, before heading out of the doorway. The door to the weapon storage slammed shut behind him. A holographic blue box snapped into existence in front of his face.

  The last few letters of the text glitched, and the box disappeared again, flickering out of existence like it was never there. Before Alex could process what had happened, the scraping voice inside his head spoke up.

  Forced System Usage failed.

  Initialization Progress decreased.

  Current Progress... 80%

  The headache that came with the voice was too painful, and Alex dropped to the ground. He could hear some nearby students rushing towards him.

  "Runt!" Aro screamed before getting interrupted by a scream of pain. That was the last thing Alex heard before everything went black.