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[color=FFC0CB]"Attention first year students. Classes will begin in approximately 30 minutes. Please report to the Hall of Combat with any equipment that you require. If you do not have the appropriate equipment it will be provided for you on site."[/color] The sound of Athena rang out in each of the first years dorm rooms about an hour before the sun had risen. Her voice was loud, loud enough to presumably wake the students regardless of how hungover or deep asleep they were. 

The Hall of Combat was a massive arena. Bleachers went up nearly four storeys, allowing for thousands of spectators. The ground floor of the Arena was a large oval shaped pits, made mostly of stone and sand and was roughly 350 feet in length and 250 feet wide. A plethora of runes lined the walls of the Arena. It was safe to assume that these runes were responsible for ensuring the safety of any combatants, as well some other interesting changes that the arena could undertake.

In the center of the arena stood Sir Vermont. The man was covered in thick plate armor that shone as if it had been polished for hours. His hand-and-a-half sword was strapped firmly to his side. To his left stood Maya, her face always holding a pleasant smile, and to his right stood Dex, whose face was completely unreadable considering you couldn't see it. Behind the teachers stood a small army of strange wooden dummies. Each was roughly human shaped with their heads bowed slightly. On the wall across from the teachers and the dummies were two racks of weapons. One contained wooden training weapons, each one roughly in the shape of a different common weapon one might chose to use. The other rack held actual weapons. These weapons differed greatly in size and shape but each looked well made and strong. 

The first year students all stood between the weapon racks and the teachers. There was probably 30 or 40 of them in total. The students all appeared to be in different states of awakeness. Some seemed almost eager to up before the sun, while others looked as though they'd rather be dead then standing in the arena right now. 

[color=C0C0C0]"Morning students."[/color] Sir Vermont called out to them, his voice booming and commanding. [color=C0C0C0]"For those who do not yet know, my name is Vermont Baleth and it is my job to make sure you are physically ready for the life of an adventurer. Before we begin there are a few rules. First, no magic is allowed during these training sessions. We are here to train you bodies. There may be times that you will not have any magic to fall back on, a strong and well trained body may well save your life. The second, is that anyone who is late, will be required to work twice as hard. You must all learn the importance of punctuality and being where you need to be, when you need to be there. The third rule, is that anyone who fails this class will be removed from the school for at least a year. So don't fail. And the fourth rule....is that you'd better keep up."[/color] 

Without warning Vermont turned and began running along outside of the wall. He looked as if he was only jogging, but he moved at what a normal person would consider a brisk run. 

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[color=F08080][i][h2][center]Rodrick[/center][/h2][/i][/color]

Rodrick felt like someone had hit him upside of the head with a brick and had stuffed a pillows worth of cotton down his throat. Getting up when Athena had mad the announcement that morning had been one of the most difficult things he had ever done. He had also not managed to change out of his uniform the night before. Luckily another one had appeared in his wardrobe the next day. He somehow managed to arrive to the training field on time. He stood, slightly slouched forward, while Vermont spoke. He was only half listening when he heard Vermont tell them to keep up and started to run. 

[color=F08080]“Wait, what?”[/color] Rodrick mumbled to himself. He saw the confused looks on some of the other students faces as well. It took a moment before it dawned on him what Vermont meant. [color=F08080]“Ahh shit.”[/color] Rodrick said as he took off after the instructor. Rodrick was pretty athletic, if a bit on the skinny side right now. But Vermont was running quickly, and in full plate, which made him look and sound like some kind metal monster charging down the Arena. 

It didn’t help that every step made Rodrick want to vomit just a little. His stomach was not prepared for this kind of movement. Still the idea of failing on his first day felt unacceptable. His unwillingness to fail pushed him and he managed to stay just shy of 5 feet behind the tank of an instructor. 

It was on the third lap that Rodrick noticed Dex pull his bow off of his back. The sight of the man sent a fresh shiver down Rodrick’s spine. There was definitely something unsettling about the man. Rodrick slowed just a little as he watched the leather clad instructor pull out a large arrow with a thick blunted tip. [color=F08080][i]What is he doing?[/i][/color] With one swift movement the instructor nocked the arrow and let it fly at one of the students in the very back of the pack. It hit the student in the side with a powerful thud and the student cried out as the momentum of the arrow knocked them over. 

Rodrick’s eyes widened. [color=F08080]“SHIT.”[/color] Rodrick half yelled. He gawked for a moment, subconsciously slowly along with some of the other students. [color=F08080][i]Don’t stop you moron, run faster![/i][/color] A voice inside of Rodrick’s head screamed at him. Getting hit by one of those arrows would definitely make Rodrick throw up. Deciding that that would be a horrible way to start his first day, Rodrick ran faster.