Lochwood-Ido Martial Arts Academy is a martial arts school on the planet Aeflia, in the county of Burronrose.

It’s actually a pretty famous school. Parents from all around the galaxy send their children here.

Initially it was only Lochwood Academy, a prestigious private school for elites with craaazy high tuition fees – that still exists in them darn fricking beautiful villas and castles and s**t on the other side of fence, but then they added our Academy, which is kinda the opposite.

What I mean is, if to get into Lochwood Academy you have to be rich, smart and well educated to get sent here you just gotta make your parents hate you.

If parents consider their children too stupid, troublemakers, future delinquents or just nuisances to deal with them they send them here to undergo a, allegedly, tough, terrible martial arts training to teach them discipline, strength and whatnot.

There’s no going outside the campus, no meeting parents until graduation, just training.

Tho, I gotta say, I quite like it.

It’s much more chill than I thought initially – I mean yeah, everyone here is kinda crazy, but I’m starting to enjoy life at the Academy.

For one, something fun tends to happen every day.

Martial arts is a pretty generic thing – what we actually learn here is En, the living force of the galaxy, an energy that can be channeled from nature and everything around you and used to strengthen and enhance the body.

Then, we learn techniques on how to use it to fight.

Usually, our day starts at the Carpa Pond.

It’s a big, perfectly round lake in the middle of a forest. It’s closed on one side by tall cliffs with waterfalls, while many small streams start from the other side.

There’s nature and trees all around it – like everywhere else, here – and it’s a lovely place.

We go there all together to meditate and learn to connect with nature to improve out ability to channel En.

We split in two random groups every morning. Here in the Academy there’s just so many different types of people and from so many different planets and whatnot that it would be silly to even attempt to divide us into categories – teachers also say we don’t get that luxury, that only kids at Lochwood get proper everything and we don’t cause we’re less important than them.

So, here we just kinda all hang together.

The other day I was at the Pond with my friend Mark.

I ain’t been here for long so I haven’t made many friends, but him and I get along great.

I like him because he is calm and serious, always positive, and he is smart and kind and listens and pays attention to everyone. It’s something I’m tryna learn too – I’m an only child, plus growing up I always changed schools, and also ever since my dad died my family hasn’t really cared much for me.

So, I’m kinda too used to care only about myself, and I wanna change that cause that’s not good (maybe).

Everyone, at the Carpa Pond, does what they want – the only teacher responsible to watch us there is Benny, who nobody knows how he even got here in the first place.

He is by far the least serious of all the teachers, as well as the youngest, and, honestly, we all think he’s probably just a stoner – he lays all morning on the shore or on rocks and things like that and sleeps, hums songs and plays a weird little guitar, without even looking in any other direction that isn’t the clouds.

We all love him.

Mark likes planets and stars and those kind of things – he’s one of the best students at Astronomy, here.

At the Carpa Pond he likes to make little spheres of En appear on the surface of the water, and draw constellations and orbits and things like that – I don’t have that much control over En yet, and I find it terribly cool.

≪ This is Meter-8b, one of the only 2 planets in the galaxy that orbit a binary star and are also inhabited ≫ he said.

A small blue sphere of En was spinning on the surface of the water around two bigger spheres one yellow and one, e little smaller, red, that were also moving around but more slowly.

Though it was our reality, the fact that all humanity was really scattered so far away from each other all around the galaxy was never-not crazy to me, and it always made me feel nostalgic and a little bit sad.

≪ My… grand-grand-grandfather’s was born there ≫ Mark said.

I followed the planed around with one finger.

≪ I wonder how life is there… ≫

Mark chuckled.

≪ Probably, pretty fun. All the land is only like five big islands, and the planet is 99.8% water- ≫

Taz and some guys were playing wrestling or something on a cliff near us.

Taz picked up a student like two times smaller than him and, shouting something, he threw himself in the water with him.

It drenched Mark and I completely.

We stared at each other for two seconds, then both sighed at the same time.

≪ Let’s go there… ≫ he said, pointing towards the closest shore.

≪ Yeah, let’s go there… ≫

Taz was the exact type of guy you’re probably thinking of – big, dumb, arrogant, always looking to prove how stronger and tougher and cooler he was than everyone else, and nobody actually liked him though somehow he was always surrounded by his little friends.

Mark and I moved towards the shore, walking up to knee-level water.

There, away from the cliffs, it was quieter, because we were further away from the waterfalls and there were less students.

≪ Hey… ≫

I tapped him on the shoulder.

≪ Look ≫

A girl was sitting cross-legged on top of a boulder covered with grass and flowers. She had her hair in a french braid and wore glasses.

I had never seen her before.

Her eyes were closed, and she was super focused.

Her hands were up in the air, at eye level. In between them, she was forming a sphere of En.

A bright, green light appeared.

The En was pulsing, moving and rippling and continuously changing shape, until it turned into what looked like a little bird.

First the bird was only made of light, then it started getting more defined and precise, like a drawing, until finally it looked perfectly real – or, rather, a perfect copy of reality.

The girl was frowning. Her hands were slightly shaking, and her lips were pursed. There was sweat on her forehead and down her temples.

The bird was beautiful – green and purple, with shades of golden on the wings. Every single detail, from the dark purple crest on top of the head to the dark gray, almost blueish beak to the little, softer feathers near the legs, looked vibrant, and full of life.

The illusion flapped its wings once, then it disappeared.

The girl slouched, closing her eyes.

She sighed, tired.

≪ Wow… ≫ Mark murmured.

His eyes were sparkling in amazement.

I was amazed too.

≪ That was En, right…? ≫ I whispered.

Mark nodded.

≪ I didn’t know you could do that… ≫

I poked Mark.

≪ You can’t do that, can you? ≫

He chuckled.

I looked at the girl.

≪ Who is she? ≫

≪ Dunno… ≫ Mark frowned. ≪ I think I’ve seen her somewhere, tho… ≫

The girl raised an eyebrow.

≪ If you two keep staring at me like that, I won’t do it again ≫