[centre][i]{Prophecy}
The darkness returns to the spiral, and ancient evil once again returns to take what it before could not. Two shall stand against it, one hero torn and one who is yet to know the truth. If the good inside comes out then spiral may yet be saved, or if the darkness corrupts then the spiral will see its last days. The prophecy shall be fulfilled soon, the dark one shall seek his heir.[/i][/centre]

“Don't be afraid Eric, this duel is merely a practice circle, no harm will come to you, I promise.”

Seraph was now silent as he stood across from the young boy in front of him, a rather timid newcomer by the name of Eric. Below their feet the ground was glowing a distinct blue hue, both of them were standing in a small circle with a symbol before it, Seraphs symbol was that of a dragon while Eric’s symbol was one of a cat. A much larger circle surrounded the two smaller circles they stood in, around the edge of the ring of blue other students stood excitedly as they watched. Seraph kept his wand raised as he was in a common battle stance, Eric however was shaking rather hard as he looked down at the trainer cards in his hand, no doubt trying to decide which one he wanted to try and cast. As Seraph watched Eric drew a card and slowly looked at it as the kids around the ring were cheering him on, trying to encourage him. When Seraph had learned of a new arrival this late in the year, he had been a tad hesitant given the basic lessons were already taught and past months ago. However Seraph would never reject a student if he could help it, it was nice to the other students cheering him on as well, it truly brought a smile to his face. There truly was no other place he would rather be in the spiral then right here, right now.

As Eric shakily looked up he moved his wand through the air trying to make the symbol on the card, however the trademark line of fire did not appear in the air to initiate the spell.

“Eric remember, you have to see the symbol in your head, concentrate your magical aura into the tip of the wand and then form the symbol. Don't be so tense buddy! Your going to do just fine, the first casting is always the toughest.”

Seraph watched as Eric’s classmates continued to cheer him on, he seemed to get a little more bolder as he looked at the card and then found a look of concentration. Slowly he began to draw the symbol on the training card, and slowly as he finished it, he brought his wand down to break the connection. The symbol he had drawn in the air made a hissing sound as it fizzled out and disappeared. Eric was dismayed as it disappeared lowering his wand with a slight look of defeat.

“Eric that was good! We all fizzle from time to time don't let that discourage you! Remember what I taught you, draw the symbol in the air and then I want you to raise your wand not drop it down and then I want you to hit the symbol like a hammer to a nail. You got this bud!”

Seraph saw the look of determination as Erics classmates got louder encouraging him, chanting for him to do it. Eric brought his wand back up and started to swish it with confidence, as the symbol appeared, he finished it then raised his wand and brought it down upon the lines of fire in the air. The symbol exploded furiously as a fire cat erupted from the center of the symbol hitting the field with a loud roar. Almost instantly there was a chorus of cheers and claps as Eric seemed almost beside himself as the fire cat slowly came in front of him, reaching his hand out he felt its head for the first time, it must have felt very warm to him.

“There you go Eric, that’s the way to do! Now remember our lesson about blades, or spells that strengthen our beasts.”

Seraph raised his own wand and within the blink of an eye he drew a fire symbol into the air, it exploded in a fury of fire as a sunbird erupted from the middle of the symbol. With a shrill scream it flew in the air and dived bomb back to the ground landing in front of Seraph. Eric seemed to become frightened again at the sight of Seraphs Sunbird, but with his fire cat in front of him he kept his composure and readied his wand, that was what Seraph loved to see. 

“Ok Eric now use a fire blade, remember when your casting it you must picture your firecat in your mind so it is correctly casted on your beast. Go for it Eric!”

Eric was a bit quicker this time as he looked down at the training cards in his hand and found the appropriate one. Averting his gaze to the fire cat in front of him he drew a shaky but complete fire blade symbol in the air an then raised his wand hitting it. Almost instantly the firecats trails of fire increased dramatically as it was pouring fire from its body. The cheers continued as Seraph gave a quick thumbs up to Eric his confidence returned fully once again.

“Ok Eric remember when I told you that when facing an opponent of the same element that you are able to use their own spells to power your beasts? This will show you the extent of exactly what I mean.”

Seraph waved his wand fast and then the the middle of the dueling ring exploded, a fire ring stretched from the center of the ring and quickly surrounded the entire blue ring in a circle of seering wild fire. As this happened, Seraphs sunbird grew in size as it lifted from the ground, fire trails appeared replacing its tail feathers as it gave another shrill squak. At the same time Eric's fire cat roared as the fire around its body intensified covering it in a blast of fire.

“You see Eric my fire circle not only increased my sunbirds power but the effects are applied to all fire types on the field. So your firecat has gained a power boost as well. Ok Eric its time, in your next move give me all you got and send your fire cat at me. See me in your mind and then command your fire cat at me! My sunbird will automatically try to intercept your fire cat being it is the only beast on my side of the field and watch what happens.”

Eric nodded determined as he raised his wand and had his gaze directly on Seraph, and then in a loud voice he yelled:

“Attack!”

Seraph watched as the firecat launched from its spot with a furious roar, it quickly covered the battle circle and jumped at Seraph, almost instantly Seraphs sunbird flew into the air, with a shrill battle cry and meant the Firecat head on, in an explosion of fire a small amount of heat flew in every direction, enough to feel like a hot gust of wind. Seraphs hair blew all over the place for a moment as the firecat landed in the middle of the battle circle, the obvious victor of the clash, returning to the other side of the field it took place at Eric's feet once and sat hunched poised for the next attack.

“Very good Eric, very good you are an exceptionally quick learned I am quite proud. It is important to remember that in an actual duel inside the battle circle, that you are allowed to summon as many beasts that you desire, however the more beasts you summon and lose, the more depleted your magical aura will be. Remember strategy is the true way to win a duel, strength alone is not enough to beat a seasoned opponent. A pyromancer has many spells that they can call upon, you must be prepared for anything Eric.”

Seraph was fast as he drew another fire symbol in the air, with an explosion the area above the circle instantly clouded up as the ground shook slightly. Out of the air a couple fire strewn meteorites came out of the sky and smacked the ground breaking into pieces, and then one last one came down and came like a missile, it smacked into Eric's fire cat hard, with a large explosion the fire cat was blown off the field as the clouds slowly departed and the battle ring returned to normal. 

“As you can see there are many different types of spells at your disposal, very much like instant attack spells such as Meteor strike which strikes every beast on the field. Now comes your first test, summon what ever you choose Eric, your only objective is to strike me directly and to stop me from directly hitting you.”

Seraph smiled at the confidence he saw in Erics eye's, all around the ring the students were cheering excitedly some for Eric, some for Seraph now. Watching Eric he chose a card from his hand, slowly he drew the symbol in the air and then with a hit he smacked it, however the symbol fizzled quickly hissing before it disappeared. 

“Remember Eric concentrate, always concentrate.”

Seraph raised his wand and quickly drew a fire symbol and in a fury of fire and burning feathers a large golden fire Phoenix erupted from the ground as it gave a mighty call for battle. As the Phoenix landed its fire intensified from the power boost of the wildfire around the circle. It was obvious that Eric was not a bit panicked having no beasts on his side of the field, it was a do or die moment for him. Eric set his gaze on the card in his hand, and then he drew the symbol in the air and hit it, instantly another Phoenix erupted onto the field in a fury of fire. Almost as soon as this happened Seraph saw Eric fall to one knee as if he was instantly fatigued, lowering his wand Seraph put his hand out, the battle circle slowly evaporated and the remnants of the battle disappeared as Seraph walked forward with a smile.

“Very good job Eric, very good job, not everyone can summon a fire Phoenix on their first day. However the fire Phoenix is a high aura costing spell, which your aura was not high enough just yet to cast.”

Seraph knelt down beside Eric putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I apologize for not telling you this, but it is crucial for you to know that magical aura can deplete it self or in some cases not be enough to summon and maintain certain beasts. I wanted you to learn this because aura is not only what gives us the ability to summon beasts in battle, but also because our aura is our very life essence.”

Seraph looked at every body as he continued to speak.

“Many witches and wizards have fought duels in the name of purity, in the name of evil, in the name of many different things in which they believed in. Some even dueled to the point of death, because if we deplete our magical aura in a duel, then our body starts to use our life aura to keep the duel going. This is why the three ABC's exist, the training battle circle, the dueling battle circle, and the black dueling circle. Two of these will not allow either caster to use their life aura to duel with, so once your magical energy is depleted the duel is over. However the black dueling circle, probably one of the most dangerous of all circles allows us to use our life aura as magical aura. It is important to know your limits and to strengthen, and even more so it is important to remember.. that any witch or wizard who fights in the black circle.. the duel is to the death.”

The entire rings of students was completely silent now as Seraph returned his gaze to Eric. With a smile helped him to his feet and gave him a small dust off.

“Remember Eric none of us can fight forever, never try to unless you have no other choice. For using your life aura takes away from your actual life. Now! I think its time for lunch, I think Eric here and all of us could use some replenishment, so consider this the bell.”

Almost instantly the entire circle of students yelled in glee as they started to talk to each other and laugh. Eric quickly joined them as Seraph looked over and saw Headmaster Ambrose watching on from across the practice field. Seraph slowly made his way over as he greet Ambrose with a respectful nod.

“Headmaster how can I help you?”

The headmaster seemed to give Seraph a look of urgency, Seraph knew instantly that there was something wrong, he had come to know that look.

“There is an urgent matter we must discuss Seraph, I have notified Falmea to resume your class after lunch. There is an important task at hand, please follow me, I will explain once we reach my office.” 

Seraph shook his head towards Ambrose to signal he understood, he started to walk with Ambrose unaware of the journey he was about to begin.

[hider=Headmaster Ambrose][img]http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/the-wizards-world-adrian-chesterman.jpg[/img][/hider]