Michael Blackwood

The following morning, we all got up bright and early. I could tell that pretty much all of my friends were excited to start learning how to properly use their new powers, but I felt a little disappointed.

“Do you guys think we’ll be training in the same rooms as the other day? Where we awakened our threads?” I heard Levi ask.

Calvin was the first to respond.

“I doubt it. Someone like Dylan, who can control lava, wouldn’t be a good fit for a garden that looks like it was ripped from a fantasy book.”

“I agree with Calvin,” Skylar said next. “There must be a different room for us to actually train with our threads in order to be safe and not destroy anything that could be at risk.”

We all turned our heads to the hallway doors when we heard them open. The same attendant who led us to the garden room was here once again, and ready to guide us to where we needed to be.

“I see everyone is ready,” the attendant said. “I’m sure this first day of your training will be quite exciting for all of you, but don’t expect it to be easy. Now, please follow me.”

We all followed him through the hallway doors and we eventually came to a staircase leading down. The way down was barely lit, making the staircase look like something pulled out of a horror movie.

“Okay, this looks kinda creepy.” Rebecca said with a hint of hesitation in her voice.

Next to her, I said, “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’ll all be ok.”

“Y-yeah. Now you’re the one comforting me. Feels kinda awkward. Heh,” she said, and I could hear a hint of awkward nervousness in her voice.

I have to stay strong for her and the others. I can’t let my own insecurities override my brain.

As we proceeded down the staircase, we were all still on edge. We continued down for a few more minutes before finally reaching the bottom. There, a large metal door was closed, and had five separate symbols etched onto its surface.

“I wonder if that represents the five gods,” I whispered. “Or the five heroes.”

When the door opened, I stared in amazement. This room was nothing like the other rooms I had seen so far. In fact, this room eerily reminded me of a modern laboratory. Almost the entire room was white, from the walls to the ceiling. The floor was a dark grey.

Inside, stood the princess, as well as several people I had never seen before.

“Good morning everyone!” She began to say. “Today marks the first day of your training. This is where all of you will hone your skills and learn how to wield your threads with maximum efficiency. These people behind me are all people who work for the royal family and will be training each of you in different techniques as well as showing you how it may be to spar with someone who doesn’t have the same thread as you.”

The princess then turned to the people behind her.

“Please introduce yourselves and give them a small demonstration of the thread you wield.”

The first person, a man, stepped forward.

“Hello summoned heroes! My name is Stellan Finnhart!” The man said, then let a small stream of water surround his body. “My thread lets me control water. I’m looking forward to training with all of you!”

The second person, this time a female, stepped forward.

“My name is Amelia Finnhart. I’m this idiot's big sister,” she said, pointing at Stellan, “and I can control stone.”

After she finished speaking, a pillar of stone rose from the ground, lifting her into the air. When I saw this, I was quite ecstatic.

The rest of them proceeded to introduce themselves. One of them could control vegetation. One was a healer, like Skylar. And one of them could even use lightning. When the last stepped forward, he shot a wary look my way, which confused me.

“My name is Atticus. Atticus Resori. My thread lets me control fire.”

Atticus thrust his hand forward, and shot a plume of fire from his closed fist. The flame wasn’t too big, but the heat from it made me start to sweat almost instantly.

“Ok that was fucking awesome,” Dylan said with an air of excitement in his voice.

“Now,” the princess said, “Each of you will team up with one of these men or women. Michael, you will start with Rohan.”

I looked at the man who she was gesturing towards, and I realized he was the healer.

“Rohan here, since he has the vitality thread, has trained extensively in hand to hand combat. Once every few hours, you will all switch trainers in order to get a feel for your new abilities, and in Michael’s case, learn to fight without a thread at all.”

After the princess had said what she needed to say, she walked over to a small doorway hidden in the wall, and walked through it.

Training that day was no easy thing. While taking a break, I managed to watch everyone else while they trained. Levi was shouting in frustration, Rebecca looked disappointed and she was letting her shoulders slightly drop, Dylan was sweating profusely, and Calvin looked stressed out, a vein protruding from his forehead.

When I looked over to Skylar, she was learning how to heal severe wounds. Every time the trainer she was training with hurt her or themselves, she would have to heal the wound as quickly as possible. It seemed as though only me and Skylar were having an easier time.

As I was watching her, Rohan spoke, startling me.

“What was your name again kid?” He asked.

“It’s Michael.”

“I gotta say Michael, your technique is almost flawless. You’re quick on your feet and your punches have some serious power behind them. If you had gotten the charge thread, same as Levi, I think his name is, you’d be a force to be reckoned with.”

“I appreciate the compliment, but because I’m lacking one, I can’t help but know that they’ll all be far more powerful than I can hope to be.” I laughed, rubbing the back of my head.

Rohan gave me a serious look.

“Don’t put yourself down like that kid. You’re good at what you do. C’mon, let’s go again.”

I settled into a fighting stance, ready for Rohan to attack me. When he threw a jab, I leaned into it, and slightly to the side, then threw an uppercut at his chin, but he managed to pull back just in time before the hit connected.

“Whew, almost got me there, didn’t you? Like I said, you’re fast and good at this kind of thing.”

After about a minute, we took another small break. I looked around, and realized that pretty much everyone else looked exhausted. I on the other hand felt kind of refreshed.

“He’s dead set on not being left behind, isn’t he?” I heard Dylan ask.

“Yeah. And the way he moves. It’s almost like he’s completely different from the person I thought I knew.” Calvin responded.

“Hey I gotta keep up with you guys somehow,” I said while giving them a smile.

They smiled back, then Skylar spoke.

“Yeah this is something a lot of people don’t know about him. I’ve always thought it was impressive how quickly he could learn and adapt.”

After she finished speaking, Levi stood up, and started walking towards me.

“So? You wanna try and have that friendly spar we talked about yesterday?”

“If that’s ok with Rohan,” I replied, and looked at Rohan.

“Just be careful you two. Levi, don’t use your thread. I know it may be tempting to do so now that you’ve gotten a taste of what it feels like, but we can’t have Michael getting hurt.”

“Sure thing coach,” Levi said dismissively.

Levi then got into a fighting stance, and I did the same.

I looked at Rohan expectantly who was exchanging words with some of the other trainers, and waited for him to signal the beginning of the fight.

“Oh my bad,” he said, when he noticed me looking at him. “Alright you guys, keep this shit clean. Fight!”

Levi swung first, a large haymaker which I ducked under, then I threw two quick jabs into Levi’s ribs. Levi groaned from the hit, and tried to kick me, which I then blocked with my shin, making him grunt in frustration. He then proceeded to attack me relentlessly, swinging wildly, not giving me a chance to counter any of his attacks.

When he realized nothing he was throwing at me was landing, he screamed in anger.

“Damnit!”

Levi then threw one last punch at me, and I leaned off to the side, grabbed his arm, and threw him over my shoulder and onto the ground, to which he groaned in pain.

“Alright that’s enough.” Rohan said, looking at me, then at Levi. “You know where you went wrong, right? You let your anger get the best of you. Michael took advantage of that, and now you’re sprawled out on the floor. Next time, don’t be so reckless.”

I reached my hand out to help Levi up.

“Sorry man. I shouldn’t have thrown you like that.”

I was actually able to hold my own against a chosen hero. Then again, he wasn’t using his thread. Maybe I’ll actually be of some use to them other then just support.

“Nah man,” Levi started to say. “Rohan here is right. I got too angry. I could’ve ended up hurting you if I landed a hit.”

When I looked at the others, I noticed that Dylan, Calvin, and Rebecca were all staring at me in shock.

“Holy shit. He just beat Levi.” I heard Calvin say. “I always thought of Levi as the fighter but now…”

“Yeah that was pretty awesome,” Dylan replied.

Rebecca also said something, but I couldn’t hear what it was.

When I started to approach them, Rebecca blushed and looked away.

The rest of the day was spent training, with the occasional break, as well as longer breaks for both lunch and dinner.

As we all finished for the day, me and the others proceeded to head back to our rooms. Rebecca was walking next to me, and talking about my training.

“I really didn’t know that you could fight. It was quite impressive,” she said.

I gave her a small smile.

“Thank you Becca. It’s not something I like to tell others, but I’m pretty sure that as you and the others get stronger, I won’t be of much help.”

“Hey now, don’t say that. I think you’re quite important. Especially to me…” she said in reply.

I looked at her, saw that she was blushing, then felt myself blush.

“T-thanks. That means a lot.”