Chapter 1

Introduction

I backed up to the wall. The sword was pointed right at my throat. I knew it was over. Sweat ran into my eyes, making them sting and burn. I dare not move at the hand of this man. He lowered his sword and bowed. I did the same.

“Thank you master” I said, my knees still shaking. It was so real; I believed that my master would strike me down.

He clasp me hand, “You better do better next time.”

I chuckled, “I’ll be saying that to you next time.”

We walked away from the swordplay grounds, back towards the school; I remembered the first time seeing this place. It was all so weird then. We walked past the sparring grounds to see large groups of kids fighting each other.

I told my master that I would be going to fight at the sparring grounds and walked off. This secret school took in many students to fight in a war. It may seem like a primitive way of fighting, but it solved much unnecessary bloodshed. The two armies would line up, and then charge at each other. Each army had a different color robe on. Each army would try to kill as many other warriors as possible only using their bare hands. We practiced sword play if we were challenged to a sword fight. That happened at the end of the war. Each army would select one champion to fight with swords against the other champion. Whoever won would win the war.

“Hey, Hawk!” someone yelled to me.

“Aye, What’s up?” It was my best friend Tiger, you see, the masters all give the students an animal name. We are to refer all other students in their animal names.

“ah, you know, this and that, checking out girls, beating the crap out of other students.”

I chuckled at that. Tiger was the worst at fighting hand-to-hand. I said goodbye to him and left

I went to my room and took a good look at myself. My brown hair came down to my eyes, dimming my vision sometimes. My dark Blue eyes looked like they could see you to your soul. I could see why they called me Hawk; my piercing eyes stared right through you. My athletic body was just as muscular as ever. I looked at myself, wondering how I get this way. I then remembered the pain-staking slow process of working out day after day.

I sighed. Remembering my old life and how I got accepted to this secret school. I flexed my muscles, thinking, do my friends and family remember me? I lay down in my bed and remembered coming to the school:

Chapter 2

The new school

‘A new school’, I thought. ‘I wonder what they teach there.’ We continued hiking up the mountain, All 18 of us. The one I recognized the most was the pretty blonde girl in the shorts and t-shirt. Her t-shirt said Blondes have more fun! I chuckled at the saying. Still, I could not deny that she looked like she was having fun. Her green eyes sparkled when she smiled, so they were sparkling all the time.

She turned and caught me staring at her. I walked over to her to say hi. She blushed red and darted away from me. I turned red and acted normal, but I still heard some snickering behind me.

I swung around to find out who was laughing at me. ME. Mathew “Hawk” Preston. I found a guy, about my age, but a little shorter and smaller. Right in the middle of a snicker, he stopped. I was a half a foot taller than him. I went up to him.