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The Power

The next morning came quicker than I expected. The sunlight shot down in my face from my new window from my redecorated room. I couldn't help but roll over to try to get away from the ray of light and I eventually fell out of my bed and hitting the floor hard. I got up rubbing my head as I looked around my new room. It was much brighter since the sun was up. Slowly getting up and dusting myself off, I opened my door and headed downstairs. It seemed nobody was up, yet. It was just me as all of the rooms downstairs were silent and empty. I quietly made my way to the kitchen and just made myself a quick sandwich. I had plans for what I wanted to do. Before I went to sleep, I couldn't help but think about how everybody knew my mother and father and knew that I was their child. Then, the thought occurred to me. My father was once the captain of The Hawk Warriors. He was known and respected all over the land and everybody looked up to him and admired him, including myself. That is my plan. I want to continue what my father did: Joining the Hawk Warriors and get to the top and protect the ones I love. Just like my dear ol' Dad did.

As soon as I finished eating, I went back up to my room and got dressed in my regular attire. I had forgotten that Shang was sleeping on the floor by my bed. He was knocked out from all of those grilled cheese sandwiches that he had last night. Poor mutt couldn't control himself. I shook my head and finished getting dressed and I left my new home to the Hawk Warriors Academy. I didn't really bring much with me, except my sword and even the pistol. The academy was actually a couple of minutes away from my new house and there weren't a lot of people wandering around the village. That will be less traffic that I would have to deal with.

I walked up to the building and it was bigger than I anticipated. On top of the building it read "Hawk Academy" and there were hawk wings on both sides of the words. I approached the huge door slowly and pulled the handles, pulling the doors ajar and revealing the insides of the place. There were students walking around in yellow armor and conversing with each other. I took a deep breath and swallowed hard as I took a few steps in. It was incredible and I didn't think I'd get a chance to see this place. It looked just like a high school. Well, I never been to a high school but it would probably be as huge as this...or smaller. I continued to look around until I saw the administration office. The door was wide open and I felt really nervous about going in. What if I don't get in? What would they think of me? There was only one way to find out. I sighed to myself as I slowly walked into the office. There weren't much people in there. Although, I did see someone working at a desk so I decided to get his attention.

I approached his desk slowly and cleared my throat.

"Excuse me, sir?" I said politely to him.

He looked over at me as he stopped what he was doing.

"Uh, what are you doing here, kid?" he asked me in a gruff voice. "This is 'The Hawk Academy.' You can't be around here."

"Oh? And why not? I do believe I have what it takes to be a Hawk Warrior."

"You must be joking. This is serious business, kid. This is not the playground. People train hard here, go on missions, and some die for our village."

"I am well aware of what goes on here. My father was once a Hawk Warrior."

"And who was your father?"

"Captain Nixon Hawkings."

His eyes almost came out of his sockets when he heard the name. Apparently, I hit something here.

"You're Nixon's son? Huh, you did seem familiar...though I never had the chance to see you when you were born." He cleared his throat as he rose up and I could see him fully and it surprised me slightly. He was a full grown wolf...only one thing: He had wings. He must be half dragon as well, like I am. "I am Shadowclaw Svent. 'Shadow' for short. Your father and I were very close friends...as well as rivals. We were quite skilled together... I even remember our scores quite well: 134 to 97. Of course... I had 97 wins... B-But that's another story." He looked down at me. "You really do look like him. Maybe one day you may be able to fill his shoes. Normally, I will not allow young ones to enter until they're 18, but you are different. Plus, I see you are equipped already. May I inspect your gear?"

"Oh, uh, well, it's not much of a gear, but I do have them to protect myself," I said to him as I put my sword and the pistol on his desk. His attention soon went to the gun and he gave me a funny look.

"Where in the world did you get that?"

"Nobody told you I was kidnapped 8 years ago?"

"You were...kidnapped?" He started rubbing his head and then his ears perked up. "Wait, you're the one who was kidnapped by those Masked Eagles and escaped from that fortress, weren't you? It seems like you handled yourself very well on your own for all those years."

"It would seem so."

He continued to look at the gun and the sword and then he turned to me.

"Well, let's just see how you can really handle yourself. How about we have a little spar to see what you're made of?"

"A sparring match? Alright then."

He smiled as he got from behind his desk, putting down my very small inventory on the desk and walks to the door.

"Leave your stuff here in the office. We'll be coming back here later to discuss your results after our little tussle."

I gave him a blank stare.

"Did you just say 'tussle'?"

"Yes. Yes I did."

"I have never heard anybody use that word so vaguely before."

He let out a soft chuckled and motioned for me to follow him.

"Oh, just follow me to the training grounds, will you?"

I shared the same smile that he had as I followed him out the door. We started walking down the hall and I couldn't help myself but to continue to look around and taking in all of the sights that this Academy had to offer. There were a lot of paintings of previous Hawk Warrior Captains and their successors and there were even a couple of paintings of the person who founded The Hawk Warriors. He was a human named Shugar Clogmed. It was quite an unusual name for a human. Nonetheless, he was the one who started it all.

Shadow took a couple of glances at me and shook his head at me.

"Geez, kid," he said, "you're looking like a little helpless tourist."

"Hey, can you blame me?" I said back to him.

It didn't take us long to reach the training area. It was only a couple of right turns from his office. I think whoever made the blueprints for this building fancied long hallways. I guess this makes for great exercise. The training area was really huge, like an actual arena and it was empty. The sun was barely peaking over the place providing some light to the area.

We took our places at each corners of the arena-like training place and he stood there with his arms folded.

"So," he started, "there will be a couple of things I will be testing you on to see if you're Hawk Warrior material, but I will not say what it is. There will not be any fun in that if I spoil you with all the details."

I had my hands behind my back and I just stood there.

"So, you're a secret hoarder," I chuckled at him and at my terrible joke. I saw his ears flick forward and he slightly smirked.

"Oh, a comedian, are we? Your father was indeed the class clown whenever he felt like he needed to be. But, let's keep our focus." He unfolded his arms and got into a boxing stance. His left foot and left fist was out, so I assumed he was right-handed. "Now, come at me with whatever you can throw at me."

"My, how kind of you to let me have the first move." I grinned and got into a fighting stance and he did the same thing. We stood like that for a while as I was continuing to feel the wind brush against me. I never took my eyes off of him and he never took his eyes off of me. It's as if we were reading each other's thoughts and anticipating what we were going to do before we even lifted our feet off of the ground. Then, in a sudden burst of speed, we charged at each other. I saw him pull his right arm back, winding up for a good sock to my face. I jumped and rolled to the right and out of the way. I then saw that he lifted his left leg up to kick me, but it wasn't going to work. As soon as it was about to connect to my chest, I quickly reached out to grab his leg. The look on his face was rather hilarious as his ears perked up. I smirked at him as I tossed him across the arena and he slid on his back. I picked up a nearby rock while he was getting up off the ground. As soon as he got up, I chucked the rock at him, expecting him to dodge. He did just that and ducked from the incoming rock. He stood back up and saw me rushing toward him. He snorted and raised his right hand up again as if he was getting ready to backhand somebody because they owed him money. I cocked an eyebrow and before he delivered down the slap, I slid under him and went between his legs, grabbing his tail in the process. As I did that, he became unbalanced and fell over on his back once again. That didn't stop him. He flipped back up on his feet and swiftly lunged at me. I wasn't quick enough to counter as he grabbed me from behind and put me in a full nelson. I couldn't move my arms at all. The only thing I could do was kick rapidly as he continued to hold me. I wasn't going to give up here. I bared and gritted my teeth as I started to move back and forth a little bit as I was building up momentum. With one more swing, I flipped over him and freeing my arms from his grip. While in the air, I grabbed his neck and dragged him to the ground.

We both panted as we laid there on the ground. He was on his stomach as he looked up at me. He sat up with a smile on his face.

"You sure do have some strength in ya, kid," he said to me as he was coughing between words. "That should be enough. Let's return to my office to discuss your results."

I nodded at him as we both got up and headed back inside. I was quite pleased with myself as I realized that I was stronger than I thought. And I haven't been training for the past 8½ years. Whether I pass or fail, one thing is for sure: At least I tried...sort of. There was one thing I noticed about Shadow that not a lot of people with his stern personality do when it comes to testing somebody: He was smiling. Throughout the whole session, he was smiling the whole time. I think he was having fun. I could be wrong on that, but I think he was enjoying himself.

We had returned to his office and he had sat back down in his chair behind his desk.

"You are, indeed, as strong as your father, little one," he said to me. "I haven't had a spar like that in years. Before your dear ol' dad retired from being the Captain and settled down with Monica. I don't blame him. But, enough about that story. What I was testing you on was your focus and determination; your will to keep going and to see how you can hold up your own in a fight. You're a pretty nimble little guy. You'll do well in the Academy."

I blinked as I stared at him. Did he say what I think he just say?

"Does that mean...?"

"Yes, it does. Congratulations, Guilbert. You have passed the test and are eligible to be a Hawk Warrior, even at a young age."

I thought it was too good to be true. I couldn't believe it. I... I was in. I was in the Hawk Academy. I couldn't contain myself as I hopped up out of my chair and reached out to shake his hand.

"Oh, thank you so much, Shadow!" I said to him excitedly. "This means so much to me!"

He chuckled as he shook my hand.

"It is no problem at all. We're happy to have you. As an added bonus, I will personally train you myself."

"What? Y-You don't have to do that."

"Oh, but I want to. I want to see how far you progress during your years here. Besides, somebody has to look after you."

I just shook my head as a response. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door as a person wearing the yellow Hawk Warrior armor on his body came in slowly.

"Captain Shadow," he said as he was still at the door.

"What is it?" Shadow replied.

"I just received a report from two of our men investigating The Greenshade Forest. They said that the village there has been burnt to a crisp."

Shadow blinked as he rose up from his desk swiftly while his hands slammed onto the desk.

"What?! How can this be? Who would've... Alright, I'm heading out there now to meet with them. Tell the staff I will be back in 20 minutes."

"Yes sir!" He nodded to Shadow as he left out the door.

I looked at Shadow with a worried expression on my face.

"What happened?" I asked him.

"We sent a team in to meet with a wolf named Ranger about the Masked Eagles," he said as he rubbed his head. "Apparently, the village they were supposed to meet him as was destroyed." He then turned to look at me. "How about you come with me? It'll give you a bit more of an experience as a Hawk Warrior in-training."

I smiled at him and nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I'm in."

We got up and exited the office. I grabbed my gear as we made our way out of the village and into the forest. Shadow was in the lead of course for he knew more about the village that got burned down as I do. As we were traveling to the village, we took the time to get to know one another. I had taken the liberty to ask how long he had known my parents. 28 years he had known them as they were very close. Both he and my father were one of the Captains of the Hawk Warriors. They have been on all kinds of missions and helped all kinds of people. They've seen a lot of deaths in their days and done some things that they have regretted. Most of it I can relate to. He and I actually had a lot in common. We both had fired our first weapons at a young age, we're both hybrids, and we're both really close to my parents. One thing he added was he has a larger appetite than most people, but I promised him I wouldn't tell anybody. I may or may not have had my fingers crossed on that one.

It took us 10 minutes to reach the village...or what was left of it. There were charred remains of buildings everywhere. There was still some smoke like it just happened recently. This was a mystery that probably the Scooby Doo gang wouldn't be able to solve. We eventually met the two Hawk Warriors that were supposed to meet Ranger.

"We're glad you're here," one of the Hawk Warriors said. "It's all been burned to the ground. We haven't found any signs of life anywhere. Not even a body was found."

"We haven't begun a thorough search yet until your arrival," the other Hawk Warrior stated.

"Well, we can begin looking around now," Shadow said with his arms folded. "Everyone split up and keep your eyes open for any clue as to who, or what, did this."

We all nodded as we all went in four different directions. Although, they were mostly on the far east side of the ruined village, I was on the far west side in a somewhat open area. I stood there with my arms folded as I looked around the area. Why was this section the only part of the village that was untouched? Was there a shop here or something? No, that's not it. If that was the case, there would be rubble everywhere. This was perplexing. There were no signs of anything in this part...and it was worrying me.

All of a sudden, there was rustling in the bushes to my left. I looked in the direction and something jumped out of it. It was huge. It looked like a rabid wolf, but it was too large and too...portentous to be a wolf. I had never seen a beast like this before. It stared at me with its glowing green eyes. I gasped as I pulled out my pistol, but the beast was faster. As soon as I was about to point the gun at him, it lunged at me and knocked the gun out of my hand. The gun smacked against a rock and I had reached for my sword. As I pulled that out, the beast lunged at me again, biting me on my hand and making me drop my sword. It jumped back a few feet as I fell to the ground and looked at my hand. It had two holes in it as blood was pouring out of it. I looked up and saw the beast drooling and approaching me slowly. I bet it was coming over to finish me off. What is this thing? Why couldn't I hurt it? This looked like the end as I felt too weary to yell for help.

Then the strangest thing happened as well as every other day of my life. My bitten hand suddenly had a black aura around it and I looked down at my chest. There was a light emitting from where my heart was. I felt really weird. It was hard to explain. It was like a tingling sensation coursing through me. I looked over and saw the beast lunge at me once again. I blinked as it looked like it was moving in slow motion. I took the chance to roll out of the way and reach for my sword again. Did the beast get slower or did I just get faster all of a sudden? The beast turned around and lunged at me again. This time, I clenched my sword as I struck the finishing blow: Shoving the sword right in its belly. It let out an ear-splitting howl as it fell to the ground. It wriggled around a little bit and then it stopped. It was dead. This beast's blood was black rather than normal animal's blood being red. What the hell did I kill?

Soon after, Shadow and the two Hawk Warriors rushed over to see what had happened. They saw the beast on the ground and they all looked at each other and then at me. I was still staring at the thing, a look of disbelief on my face. Was this the thing that destroyed this village? How was it possible and were there many others like this one wandering around the world? More importantly, what was with that strange black aura and that light coming from my chest? There were so many questions that I want to be answered.