p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"Chapter 1: The Eventful First Day/span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"The boy balled his hands into fists, feeling scared, nervous, and excited all at the same time as he thought about where he was heading. His thoughts drifted back to before he left his family. He remembered feeling, at the time, as if he'd never see his mother and father again as he hugged them goodbye, tears threatening to fall from all their eyes./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;""Did you remember to pack some extra clothes?" his mother asked him./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;""Of course, Mom," he replied rolling his eyes./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;""I'm certain you'll do great, Blaize," his father said while grabbing Blaize in a hug and choking back a sob./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;""Me too, Dad," he quietly replied, "but please no crying you two, it'll make me start too, and I don't want to show up on my first day with red, puffy eyes."/span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;""Just don't forget the training you got at Signal and from us, okay Son?" his mother almost sobbed out, "and please at least try being sociable and make some friends."/span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;""I'll try, but you know how shy I am when it comes to strangers, even when they're around my age," he replied looking down dejectedly./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"His mother sighed, "I know, I know," before checking her scroll and saying, "oh, look at the time, you need to hurry or you'll be late, dear!"/span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"Blaize rushed and made it to the station with mere minutes to spare./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"He came out of his flashback just as an image of a stern-looking woman appeared on the monitors around the ship./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;""Hello and welcome to Beacon," she began, "my name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few with the honor of being chosen to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world," the speech ended with the woman's image disappearing and the view of the town of Vale appearing down below./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"Blaize turned as he heard the distinct sound of someone trying not to vomit followed by the sound that the person had failed in stopping it, along with a girl yelling, "Eww, eww, eww, gross, it's on my shoes. Ewwwww!" followed by several people laughing. Blaize looked around and saw a black with red highlighted haired girl trying to help clean the boots of an older looking girl with blonde, almost gold, hair, telling her to, "stop moving around so much, Sis". He saw a blonde guy running past that seemed to be the one who had vomited, and seemed about to again./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"Blaize chuckled at the scene thinking, 'So these are my new classmates, huh? This is gonna be an interesting experience then, I guess.'/span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"A few more minutes of flying, and the ship full of eager students finally reached its destination: Beacon Academy, the most esteemed academy of its kind./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"Blaize was still amazed he'd been accepted, seeing as he'd skipped ahead a year because of his supposed skills. He felt that out of all the people on the ship, except, maybe, for the guy that vomited, he was the least qualified to be going to Beacon. This thought made him shrink down into the mask that covered the lower part of his face, at the same time he pulled the hood of his cloak farther down over his bowed head, letting his shyness take hold./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"As soon as the ship docked and the door opened, the blonde guy that had puked ran out and puked again, this time into the pot of a plant. Blaize walked past, along with all the other students, trying not to draw any attention to himself. As he walked, he notice the blonde girl running off with some other people, leaving the red-head spinning and confused. Blaize stopped and watched as the girl tripped over a pile of briefcases, spilling the contents, which seemed to be vials of dust. A white-haired girl began to yell at the red-head, shaking a vial of dust she was holding for emphasis. A few seconds into the rant, the red-head sneezed, causing the dust to ignite and explode, the white-haired girl caught in the explosion. This made the white-haired girl yell even louder, before another girl, this one black-haired, joined the conversation, seemingly defusing it with a couple of sentences./span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"Blaize watched as they all went their separate ways, the white-haired and black-haired girls by themselves and the red-head with the blond guy from before, the one that had puked. Blaize decided that he should head inside as well and started walking towards the biggest building, lost in his mixed thoughts of his family, the events that had happened up until then, and his chances of doing well in the school. He was so consumed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the person standing right in front of him until he'd bumped into them, making them both fall to the ground./span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;""I-I'm so s-sorry," he stuttered out, as he lifted up to see who he'd bumped into./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; widows: 2; orphans: 2;" /p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"The boy balled his hands into fists, feeling scared, nervous, and excited all at the same time as he thought about where he was heading. His thoughts drifted back to before he left his family. He remembered feeling, at the time, as if he'd never see his mother and father again as he hugged them goodbye, tears threatening to fall from all their eyes./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;""Did you remember to pack some extra clothes?" his mother asked him./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;""Of course, Mom," he replied rolling his eyes./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;""I'm certain you'll do great, Blaize," his father said while grabbing Blaize in a hug and choking back a sob./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;""Me too, Dad," he quietly replied, "but please no crying you two, it'll make me start too, and I don't want to show up on my first day with red, puffy eyes."/span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;""Just don't forget the training you got at Signal and from us, okay Son?" his mother almost sobbed out, "and please at least try being sociable and make some friends."/span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;""I'll try, but you know how shy I am when it comes to strangers, even when they're around my age," he replied looking down dejectedly./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"His mother sighed, "I know, I know," before checking her scroll and saying, "oh, look at the time, you need to hurry or you'll be late, dear!"/span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"Blaize rushed and made it to the station with mere minutes to spare./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"He came out of his flashback just as an image of a stern-looking woman appeared on the monitors around the ship./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;""Hello and welcome to Beacon," she began, "my name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few with the honor of being chosen to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world," the speech ended with the woman's image disappearing and the view of the town of Vale appearing down below./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"Blaize turned as he heard the distinct sound of someone trying not to vomit followed by the sound that the person had failed in stopping it, along with a girl yelling, "Eww, eww, eww, gross, it's on my shoes. Ewwwww!" followed by several people laughing. Blaize looked around and saw a black with red highlighted haired girl trying to help clean the boots of an older looking girl with blonde, almost gold, hair, telling her to, "stop moving around so much, Sis". He saw a blonde guy running past that seemed to be the one who had vomited, and seemed about to again./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"Blaize chuckled at the scene thinking, 'So these are my new classmates, huh? This is gonna be an interesting experience then, I guess.'/span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"A few more minutes of flying, and the ship full of eager students finally reached its destination: Beacon Academy, the most esteemed academy of its kind./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"Blaize was still amazed he'd been accepted, seeing as he'd skipped ahead a year because of his supposed skills. He felt that out of all the people on the ship, except, maybe, for the guy that vomited, he was the least qualified to be going to Beacon. This thought made him shrink down into the mask that covered the lower part of his face, at the same time he pulled the hood of his cloak farther down over his bowed head, letting his shyness take hold./span/span/span/p
p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"As soon as the ship docked and the door opened, the blonde guy that had puked ran out and puked again, this time into the pot of a plant. Blaize walked past, along with all the other students, trying not to draw any attention to himself. As he walked, he notice the blonde girl running off with some other people, leaving the red-head spinning and confused. Blaize stopped and watched as the girl tripped over a pile of briefcases, spilling the contents, which seemed to be vials of dust. A white-haired girl began to yell at the red-head, shaking a vial of dust she was holding for emphasis. A few seconds into the rant, the red-head sneezed, causing the dust to ignite and explode, the white-haired girl caught in the explosion. This made the white-haired girl yell even louder, before another girl, this one black-haired, joined the conversation, seemingly defusing it with a couple of sentences./span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"Blaize watched as they all went their separate ways, the white-haired and black-haired girls by themselves and the red-head with the blond guy from before, the one that had puked. Blaize decided that he should head inside as well and started walking towards the biggest building, lost in his mixed thoughts of his family, the events that had happened up until then, and his chances of doing well in the school. He was so consumed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the person standing right in front of him until he'd bumped into them, making them both fall to the ground./span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 200%; widows: 2; orphans: 2;"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"span style="font-size: large;"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;""I-I'm so s-sorry," he stuttered out, as he lifted up to see who he'd bumped into./span/span/span/span/span/p