“…Water, and a blanket. …He’ll be OK in a m-…Ace? Ace you hear me?”
    “…Don’t look too good…maybe I should’ve…”
    “…look, he’s waking u-…”

    “Ace, you OK?” Alicia said quietly, her voice, soothing like a soft breeze. He couldn’t see very well, so 
he focused a bit better, the back of his head hurt and he found it hard to become aware of his environments. 
He looked up into Alicia, seeing his reflection on her glass lenses. Her blonde hair falling over her face 
gracefully in a way Ace’s platinum hair did as well. He longed to kiss her right there and then, but the 
pain…
     “I’m OK.”
     “No you’re not. Wex, where’s the water!?” she yelled into the voice badge on her chest. She closed her 
eyes and nodded. “Well make it fast k’?”
     “Seriously, I feel OK…” he said and stood up, he could feel the sharp sting on the back of his shoulder, 
and his head pounded with the throb of a migraine. He fell back again and laid still, whom was he fooling? 
It hurt, and even he couldn’t hide it. He closed his eyes and breathed sharply, resting up what he could. He 
opened his eyes again a few seconds later at the touch of someone’s hand on his bare chest. It was Alicia’s, 
a white glow surrounding her palm and falling into his chest like a soft mist. His body absorbing the magic, 
feeding, begging for more as it soothed the pain in an almost too natural way.
     “Rest easy Ace, it’s a healing spell.” She said. Ace knew what a healing spell was, but even if it were 
words he knew, anything from Alicia’s mouth he could take, for her words soothed him more than magic. 
The spell had morphine like effect, he expected it and lay back without a word, his headache leaving and 
leaving him with a sluggish, calm feeling. A rustling of footsteps was heard to his right, as a trio of 
uniformed teenagers walked into the room. “How’s he doing?” one of them said, carrying a bucket of water 
with clean white towels bordering the rim.
     “He’ll be alright Wex. Just gotta clean the wound. Turn him around.” She took her hand off his chest 
and grabbed the towel. She asked Ace to sit up and he did, finding it easier now.
     “Nasty fall there buddy. Thought you were a goner?” a young petite girl said. She looked 15, and had 
the Academy’s gray uniform on. A green border on her collar and a green triangle shaped badge on her 
chest, indicating she was a 2nd class fighter. “I didn’t even see the wall. When I pulled the suplex on ya, I 
used an adrenaline charge, I didn’t mean to thrash you like that.”
      Ace looked up at her. Jinx, it was Jinx. For the love of God. Jinx couldn’t suplex a gerbil. But nobody 
seemed to laugh or smile, it must be true. Wow, Jinx, she finally passed her test. “Congratulation Jinx…” 
he said and managed to smile. “I’ll pass you as soon as I watch the review.”
     “I passed!?” Jinx said, her face showed the lifting of 300 tons worth of stress. She thought she’d be 
kicked out of Academy for this one. But wow, accidents DO happen, but c’mon! “Alright! I was getting 
tired of green.” She grinned.
     “Hey Jinx, calm down. Ace’s like, hurt and shit…” Wex commented, kneeling by Ace’s head. Wex, 
Ace’s academy partner. A free-spirited young man. 17, with blonde, spiky short hair.  He was frowning 
where a grin should be. And he looked down at Ace with an upset look.
     Ace saw it and shook his head. “It’s a puncture wound right…? I haven’t seen it yet, but it feels like I’ve 
been stabbed.”
     “When Jinx here was fighting ya she was pulling evasives like a squirrel. She finally got to duck under a 
roundhouse and grapple you from behind when she used an adrenaline blast. I saw it right away, she pulled 
back to suplex you against the ground but you hit the wall instead, and with Jinx strength and the 
adrenaline, you tore right through the steel frame back first. You literally made a hole on the steel wall, and 
a fragment of steel got caught on your shoulder and left you hanging off it…could’ve been much worse. 
Y’know?”
     Alicia was pouring water over the wound and alternating between magic and disinfectant, not stopping 
until the wound is fully healed, though it was hard and very rebellish, the wound simply did not seem to 
want to heal with simple tricks like a healing spell. “You’re gonna have to go to the infirmary. I…can’t 
heal it on my own.”
     “Must be pretty bad.” Ace said and stood up suddenly to everyone’s amazement. They were the only 
ones in the room, oh, and the other one, Axl. He didn’t say a word, but he stood behind Jinx, staring at Ace 
but saying nothing. He had short, straight brown hair. Red brim on his uniform, he was a 1st class fighter, 
one step before Ace’s level. Freelance Pre-graduate. The highest you can get on an academy level. “If you 
can’t heal it teach, then it’s a tough one. Better get a move on before I collapse then…” Ace said and 
grinned. Wex stood up and grinned broadly.
    “Alright man!!! Excellent!” he said and slapped him on the shoulder….


     The infirmary worked like a dream, the doctor there. Sheryll Allendrix. Was the best of her kind, not a 
human, but a computer generated hologram that had every code a doctor should know programmed into her 
databanks, and that they didn’t know, was quickly recorded, and sent to every holo-doctor in the world 
within a matter of hours. Ace was free to go once his wound was bandaged up with cell regenerating cream 
and clotting agent. His arm would be healed within the day. Ace had some paperwork to do, write up an 
injury report and watch Jinx’s fighting review. He had another exam to give as a freelance pre-graduate, but 
he was “incapacitated” for the day. 
     He should have graduated, he should have been gone a long time ago, but he wanted to help at the 
Academy, joining a clan was not an easy decision, this world bent on war. Once you chose allegiance to a 
clan, there was no turning back. He had a year to make his decision, or he would be released to the moons, 
civilian territories that orbited the war torn planet of Thera. Each moon owned by a clan, but governed by 
the civilians themselves; any war that happens on a moon or toward another moon was their concern, but 
clan assistance may always be granted to those who are worthy.
     He looked around himself, his home since the age of 9. The academy was a rough reminder of how he 
grew up. Training, exercising, teaching. A routine that has made him and other battle hardened soldiers for 
the sole purpose of fighting. But why? A question so dilutable on the planet that it was like asking “Why do 
we breathe?” Because we have to, we were born this way. But Ace never got his answer, if Therans were 
born that way, why does every 5-year-old who learns this fact question it…why do they ask “why?”
     He always shrugged it off, it became natural to him. Though fighting didn’t kill the qualities that made 
one charming, happy, or sad. Those qualities were enriched with battle. You knew love when it was on a 
battlefield, with fire and explosions, and buildings tearing up around you. You knew hatred when you saw 
it in the arena, with your weapon drawn and foreign blood on your armor. You knew who your friends 
were, when you had to trust them with your very life in war…it made so much sense to Ace that this was 
the way life should be. It left no room for mistakes, but death.
     “Very nice…” he said as he saw the move that knocked him out, it was ugly. Jinx was only 5 feet tall 
and Ace was a good 6’3”.  But he saw what happened, Ace was pulling basic moves, moves a 2nd class 
fighter should be able to defend from easily, but Jinx failed every time he fought her. But this time during a 
spinning roundhouse, she managed to duck his armored leg and skit up behind him; grabbing him by the 
waist and arching backward like a bow. She had no idea there was a wall right behind her. Oh well, things 
like environments come second nature on a battlefield, but you never truly know sometimes. Pass Jinx, 
very well done.
     He picked up the tape and wrote down the paperwork. Damn it was annoying, signature here, stamp 
here, id here. Finally, finished. All Jinx had to do was send this form to personnel and do her own damn 
paperwork. Jinx already had a clan in mind. Ravens. A clan composed mostly of women, and the men who 
were there mostly protected the territory while the women were the scouts and hunters of war. There was a 
larger quantity of women any way so it made sense. He didn’t want to join, for a man to marry a clan 
member they had to break them, with whips, crops, lashes and tortures a man would go insane from. With 
his woman present. If beyond the trial his love is still strong, not only will he be worthy of her hand, he 
would be battle lord of his family line and eligible for high military status as a male, obviously, not many 
women are married in the Ravens. Such laws differed from clan to clan. Which made the choosing far from 
easy.
     Warlocks, LightBringers, New Haven, Shadow Lore…so many clans divided by so much territory. For 
the sole purpose of war,
     “How are things going?” It was Alicia, she startled Ace with such force that papers were flung into the 
air. Alicia screamed out and took a step back, being frightened herself. Ace looked around and spotted her, 
a sheepish grin slowly appearing on his face.
     “Sorry about that, guess I was daydreaming. How are you?”
     “I’m OK, how’s the wound?” she asked, dropping down to pick up some of the scattered pages.
     Ace got off his chair and began helping her, purposefully going faster than her in the process. “It’s OK, 
I’ll pick these up. Oh my shoulder? I don’t even feel it anymore, it’ll be fine. Don’t you have class today?”
     “I finished earlier today, you should know my classes are almost done. I have shorter periods now.”
     Ace looked up at her. A blank look on his face but she didn’t notice. Was Alicia already done with 
training? “Wait a minute, you’ve chosen a clan already?”
     “Of course I have, LightBringers, remember? With my father.” She stood up, pages in her arms. She put 
them on Ace’s desk and looked down, smiling brightly. Ace looked at her and was stunned by her radiant 
shine. Her sweet smile. Her deep blue eyes. Alicia…
     “When are you finished…?” Ace asked curiosily, putting the pages on the desk himself.
     “Later this month, after the live exam. You’ll be taking that exam too right? There is only one more 
after this one and if you fail that one…”
     “To the moons. No way, I won’t fail.”
     “Surprises do happen Ace, look at Jinx…I never expected her to do what she did.” She smiled. Jinx was 
a student of hers. Ace being a teacher himself, he knew what it felt like when a student won a battle. The 
rush of battle goes right through you, as if you were right there with them.
     “I wasn’t fighting my all there, you know that.” Ace meant it, though he never expected that to happen. 
Rarely is a teacher knocked out during an exam. Defeated yes, of course, but killed or incapacitated, very 
rare. “I wasn’t being careful.”
     “Of course not. It’s not your style.” She smiled, and Ace noticed her cheeks were blushing. He 
pretended not to see, but he smiled in return. “You chosen a clan yet…Ace?”
     “No…”
     “…oh, really? Why not?” she rose a brow.
     “None of the clans are aiming for anything worth fighting for. LightBringers fight for freedom of 
Shadow Lores slave trains and that looked good, but they also believe in the eradication of magic. Which 
makes Warlocks and the majority of the clans their enemy. I am a mage, you know that. LightBringers 
would frown on my use of magic. And I couldn’t quite live with myself. Warlocks believe in the 
destruction of technology, and Shadow Lore wishes to redesign the face of the planet. Of course, all dreams 
will fail, and only one clan will survive in the end. The rest will die…New Haven live in the skies, and 
beileve in peace, and wish for the clans to join in unison and bring the planet of Thera into a golden 
age…right. Sure, there will be chaos before peace, and whatever is left after that won’t be worth saving. I 
don’t know Alicia, I would rather not join anyone…”
     “Wow, but how about Tech?”
     “The youngest clan? Wex is planning on joining them. What about them?”
     “Their leader believes in the future of Thera as it is now. They don’t want to change nothing, and 
believe fighting is where it’s at. In fact, their codes stick to that of the Academy. It’s becoming rather 
popular with the graduates.” Alicia frowned, she didn’t like talking about the clans. They gave her the 
chills, all her friends would one day become her enemy, and she has already seen what the clan wars do. 
Her home country was shattered by the Shadow Lores so long ago, she never wanted to join the Academy, 
but although she was a peaceful girl, the blood of her father pulsed through her. Revenge was pushing her 
into the abyss and she has scared herself many times when she saw herself in battle, that wicked grin on her 
face. She enjoyed fighting and killing so much, why? Damnit, why…
     “Sounds nice…” Ace said, and grinned. Alicia frowned.
     “Well, I gotta go. I got to get some training…”
     “Will you go out with me?” Ace said, staring right into her eyes. Alicia was stunned, for a moment she 
thought she wasn’t hearing correctly. But Ace did, he just asked her out. But, how…
     “Ace…”
     “I know it’s against the rules, and definetely a no no if we’re not joining the same clan. But, I find it 
hard to close my eyes without seeing you there…”
     “…I,”
     “There is so much I want to know about you. So much I want to hear from you…so much I wanted to do 
with you. Have you any idea how it is to fight by your side, how it feels when you say my name. There is 
so much I want to tell you…and so little time left. Please…give me one chance, go out with me.”
     “Oh Ace…” she looked away. Her thoughts were racing like scenes on a film. One by one, her thoughts 
tortured her, played with her, leading to so many conclusions that might never happen. Ace, why 
now…god, why did you have to speak your heart now…
     “…I’m sorry. I didn’t want to.”
     “Ok…”
     “…really? You sure.”
     “I’ve never been so sure. Ace…there’s one week left. Why after all these years you ask me out now…”
     Ace could see the pain in her eyes even as she shut them. God, he loved her so much. But she was the 
daughter of a clan lord. It would never be. That’s why…
     “I couldn’t bring myself to it…”
     “Damnit Ace…”
     “I’m sorry…I am…if I could do it all over again I’d have kissed you when I was 13…”
     “Yeah, and I would have smacked you, and kissed you right back.” Alicia laughed, a tear falling down 
her cheek as she shut her eyes, remembering the times. Her cheek felt warm suddenly, as Ace placed his 
hand on her face, wiping the tear gently with his palm. She opened her eyes and was greeted with a kiss. A 
warm one that stunned her with a force no blow could muster. She fought it, with a fury that she could feel 
even within Ace. But she let go, embracing him suddenly, her lips fought his, her emotions ran hot like the 
sun. Until she finally let go, let go of her mental weapons and the shields she placed around herself. And 
for a moment, she lost to the warlord of love.