[@Krinos Solstice]

Alexander had barely made it into the room before he stopped in his tracks eyeing the large sword being strapped to the General’s back. That was something the man didn’t put on often and if he did it certainly wasn’t before acknowledging his young pupil. Alex followed the man’s orders without hesitation, taking his position slightly behind and to the left of the General. Any idiot would’ve been able to guess something was wrong simply by the General’s lack of acknowledgement and the strain in his voice and Alexander was certainly no idiot. His mind raced around trying to infer what was going on collecting what data he could as his hand absentmindedly tightened around his wooden walking staff. The General gave little for Alex’s mind to work with, as they walked along at a difficult pace even for Alexander who hated how slow walking seemed. The silent general wasn’t going to be giving any clues as to what was happening so Alex turned his mind to where they were walking. Past the training grounds… this was unusual. Normally this is where the two would stop to practice whatever spell it was they were focusing on at that time. But Alexander wasn’t surprised by this, the General would never bring his own sword to something as trivial as the training grounds. There was a slight hiccup in Alex’s step as they made their way past the barracks. They had never gone farther than here in all of Alexander’s training and the young lad had been about to stop before he realized was still continuing on past the structure.

Alex could already feel his forehead begin to moisten, [i]curse this frail body[/i], though whether it was from the punishing pace the General had set or nervousness Alex couldn’t exactly tell. When they arrived a giant gate of steel Alex felt his stomach drop. He knew from listening in the dark and shadowy corners of where others congregate that within these gates were the monsters the military experimented with. Alex had dealt with monsters before during his time in the Wood but nothing worthy of this military’s time. The General’s explanation did little to calm the young mages nerves. [i]Steel yourself fool. Now is the time to show the world what you can do. Any nitwit can cast a spell unthreatened on the training grounds. This is will be the real thing.[/i] 

As soon as the gate began to open the destruction was evident. Scorch marks were everywhere, even along the steel beams that lined the walls. Even before the General began pointing out the signs Alexander knew the type of magic that could do this. The straightness of the scorch marks, the lack of explosive holes in the ground and no evidence of fire spreading. The fried machinery really gave it away as well as the tiny precise holes here and there the likes of which could only be done with, [color=007236]“Lightening based magic.”[/color] The young mage felt his nerves calm as he began to understand his foe. The whisper of magic beginning to creep into his mind as his thoughts turned to water, the natural enemy those who preferred this type of magic.

His thoughts were disrupted as he played through what the General had said a second time in his head. Looking at the General a quizzical look upon his face as he asked. [color=007236]“Do they know anything more useful of this spy besides the fact that he was here?”[/color] Alex fought to keep his usual condescending tone from his voice whenever he asked a question and expected a less than satisfactory answer. No wonder then General was in such a foul mood.