Late at noon, Ramien finally heard his name.
"Rado of Ember Talon Vs Ramien of the Ashen Line"
Ramien walked to the arena, hands in his pockets...he looked and mentally evaluated his opponent.
Rado stood opposite him, red-scaled markings faintly visible along his arms.
Ember Talon.
Fire-blooded. He looked ready, tense, heat already rolling off him in shallow waves. His eyes never left Ramien, wary of the calm that didn't belong in an arena like this.
Rado attacked first, swinging his fists which now had a red glow.
The heat hitting Ramien before the attack itself landed.
As Ramien swung, a sharp pressure bloomed at the base of his throat—sudden, wrong. His breath caught. Blue light flared along his veins, too fast, too bright.
His fist met Rado's.
The impact cracked like thunder.
Rado was thrown back violently, skidding across the arena until he slammed into the far barrier, unmoving. Silence fell so hard it felt physical.
Ramien stood where he was, blue fire crawling over his skin, his eyes washed in the same cold glow.
Then his hand trembled.
The flames flickered.
He realised he had pushed Rado too far out.
Ramien clenched his jaw and took a step back.
The blue light dimmed. His eyes darkened.
"Winner: Ramien of the Ashen Line"
As Ramien left the stage, his hand remained clenched at his side—knuckles white, pulse uneven—as though he'd walked away from something that had almost answered back.
"No way, Rado was defeated in just one move?"
"If it can even be called a move, I think Rado was defeated in one defense"
"Did you see how far he flew?"
The students discussed between themselves not noticing the fact that Ramien walked out of the class.
But the combat session continued.
Back at the dorm room.
Alpha was the first to open the door.
He found Ramien asleep on his bed, nodding, he went to take his shower and change clothes but as he passed by Ramien, his ears flattened back in suspicion.
Alpha then went to Ramien's bedside, placing his hand on Ramien's forehead, his consciousness appeared in a dark world, on a frozen lake filled with gray blue mists that moved from the ground to the sky.
In this place, Alpha felt suppressed, ahead in the mist, rattling sounds of chains could be heard which Alpha followed.
On getting there, he found a dragon chained from head to toe. The dragon was agitated, restless and impatient, struggling to free itself.
Then Alpha opened his eyes as he felt his hand being shifted, Ramien was awake and was staring questioningly at him.
This was supposed to be weird but Alpha smiled lightly and dashed to the bathroom.
Ramien was still a bit confused when the door opened and Damien walked in, not knowing Alpha was in the dorm.
"Ramien, You're losing control, I suggest we do the..." "Shhhhh" Ramien jumped on Damien shutting him up by covering his mouth as he whispered the fact that Alpha was in the room.
"I don't care, we need to get this done" Damien protested.
"Chill bro, I can handle this, just a slip, I assure you"
"And I will not buy that" Damien replied already pulling Ramien out.
"Woah, woah, woah" Ramien raised his hands in protest "fine, watch me for another week, if it happens, then you can do it" Ramien said, a dumb smile spreading across his lips.
Damien was dazed before wondering how the heavens had given him such a person for a brother.
Everyone returned from their first day of class and they continued their dorm drama.
Three weeks later, during combat class, the overseer (who had introduced himself to the students as Donald) asked them all to pair.
Damien remained motionless, eyes searching for a suitable partner before landing on a pair of dreamlike purple eyes staring intently at him.
Derian.
Silently, just like that, they chose themselves.
Ramien on the other hand was about to pair with a guy named Adam when someone else grabbed his arm.
"Hey Ramien....oh I see you are paired with the princess." Adam said as a matter of fact.
"Yes, he is my partner" Princess Reinna replied.
Partner?
Ramien looked to see the silver white royalty he met on the first day in Blackspire.
"Hi, I am Reinna, third daughter of the King of the Dragon Empire" Reinna introduced extending her hand.
Ramien took it in his usual carefree demeanor. "I'm sure you already know who I am" to which she replied correct.
The training commenced not long after, Reinna had a golden bloodline unique to the Golden line. Ramien could only try to ignore it since everyone knew the history between the Ashen and Golden Rulers of the Dragon Empire.
Damien on the other side walked in a circle as he studied Derian more. "No matter how much you try, you won't win against me" Derian broke Damien's chain of thoughts "Neither will you against me" Damien replied.
The more he engaged with Derian, the more he felt he couldn't see through him. Derian was like a purple mist that couldn't be penetrated.
Like this, they trained for a few weeks before their evaluation day.
Mr Donald was going to pick a block president, meaning the strongest person in the freshers block.
Just like the previous time, Agrath and Aisle were the first to be called.
But this time, Agrath won.
Agrath had 2 consecutive win before losing to a girl, Adriana.
After many fights, the winning streaks were.
Anders 122, Brian 159, Carlin 266, Ramien 279, Ethan 288, Damien 323, Derian 323, Reinna 390.
Like that, the scores went, but the overseer didn't approve of Reinna no matter what.
Everyone knew she was royalty, no one would dare to truly hurt her so most admitted defeat even before the battle started.
"You will not lead this block Reinna, your scores are not earned victoriously" Overseer Donald declared in public.
"The block president position will be given to either Damien or Derian." All eyes landed on the two people whose names rang out "but they need to fight" Overseer Donald concluded.
Damien walked to the arena, confident and ready.
After training with Derian for some weeks, he felt he could predict some of his moves.
Nothing could have prepared him for what happened.
On the arena, two dragons faced each other, one with a purple bloodline, the other, an Ashen bloodline.
The signal was given and Damien prepared to launch himself at Derian when a dreamlike voice sounded across the arena.
"I admit defeat"
Derian was calm as the winds whistled past his robe.
A ripple passed through the students, everyone knew, these two were the strongest in the block and had been contesting against each other.
"Why would Derian give up now?" Some of them felt agitated and unsatisfied.
"You are admitting defeat without fighting, that is not what the strong does" Damien said, his face serious.
"The strong don't always have to win, sometimes they need to leave for the weak to rise" Derian said with a shrug as he walked off the stage.
Damien remained where he stood.
'Sometimes, the strong need to leave for the weak to rise'
His mind subconsciously travelled to his brother.
Was his brother weak? No!!
Ramien just couldn't show off his strength.
Overseer Donald then explained the duties and responsibilities of the block president to Damien and once all was done.
Damien stepped out to the open grounds for cool air.
His fingers curled slowly at his side, nails pressing into his palm before he realized he was clenching his fist.
Then a familiar dreamlike voice sounded.
"I backed out of the fight because leading a whole block isn't for me" Damien found Derian perched on the tree he was standing underneath.
Together, one above, the other beneath, they watched the sunset, different thoughts running through their minds.