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In a world of real magic, it's no wonder that we had competitions to see who really was the best. Oblivion was that bridge for fighting with dangerous magic, without killing the opponent. It's like a dream you can control, only with other furs... and much more painful. I hope you know what your getting yourself into... A voice in my head echoed.

I opened the cheap wand that my uncle bought me, and sighed, not wanting to see the price tag that dangled from its cheap case. I held it in my hand and the wand didn't conform to the shape of my hand. the flier for Northridge College and a few books they assigned me to get were thrown into my suitcase without care. After all these years of denying me a wand, he gives me the cheapest one he can find right when he sends me away. i thought

"Right then." my uncle said gladly "I'll see you when you get back from the College" and he left, happy to get rid of me for nine months.

"Good riddance" I said as I watched as he teleported away from me.

I sighed as I looked at the train as i would soon leave the warm capital of the empire, for a cold outpost, Northridge. Noticing that it was commissioned for military arms and artillery, it had been in and out of the war, taking on several slovenly coats of paint. The train itself had pine and spruce walls with a white and occasionally black exterior for camouflage. The train would be passing through the north mostly. There was a scanner at the entrance. The people were scanning their tickets here to get on. A light flashed green and make a "Bleep" sound, and I guessed it would be red if the ticket was faulty. The train ticket was in my left pocket, but I grabbed it with my right paw. 3-17 it read. Obediently, I scanned my ticket and the light bleeped green. Into the train I went. There were two numbers separated by a dash on the chairs of the vacant sets. 1-2 1-5 1-10, all 1's in the front. That must mean that this is car one.

_Geeze, its set up like a damn plane_I thought to myself as I went down the crowded hallway. Then, in the back was seat 1-17, and I went through the second cart until I reached the third cart. Then I continued to the end of the row and finally found seat 3-17. A teenaged dingo sat next to me, with his snout pointed up to the roof and his mouth wide open... Snoring. I put my luggage above me which contained a few personal things and my wand and I sat down next to the snoring dingo. Everyone seemed to be irritated at the dingo, and so I got glares too.

"All aboard!" the conductor shouted. What a cliche. The dilapidated train began to move. Good bye past, hello future I thought. I slouched on the leather seat trying to ignore incessant snoring next to me, pulling on my winter parka to muffle the sound. Even though the train went two ways, I knew there was no return. My uncle sent me away and I would likely never see him again. He also spared me the one way ticket to Northridge, but that was it. Get into Oblivion, never come back. Get into Oblivion, Never come back. I had to get in. otherwise, I would have nowhere to rest my head. If I didn't get a home at the college, I wouldn't get a home at all.

The run down television flickered to life and my eyes drifted towards its light. On screen was an advertisement. A news reporter was on, about to wrap up a story.

"This is one of 6 attacks on Oblivion Players across the continent. We seem to have growing evidence that these are more than just coincidences. The segment ended and a campus that was in the heart of the empire. My face turned into a scowl. My eyes flared and my snout opened to show my teeth.

"Katherine Armelda..." I growled through clenched teeth.

The advertisement started, "Here at Duke Academy, we will accept, train, and finesse all who seek knowledge in the Arcane Arts." I clenched a fist around my wand, hidden underneath my parka. I abhorred Kathrine Armelda. "We have top notch Professors as well as the best academic plan that has ever been created. We even have a Championship Oblivion Team!"

Crack! The screen shattered into dust and there was a cacophony of shrieks. Everyone turned to see me with my wand drawn and raised. I sat back down in embarrassment as multiple murmurs went around criticizing wizards. Then I put my wand in my main bag to prevent further temptation of embarrassing myself

"That was unexpected." The dingo next to me said suddenly "I like the unexpected. What about you?"

"I don't know really," I said surprised that he spoke "I haven't really thought about it until now."

"So what's your name?" he asked me

"My names Rin." I said with some hesitation "Yours?"

"Lucas." He responded warmly "I'm guessing not a lot of people have said your name, Rin."

"How did you know that?"

"Because you hesitated. Not a lot of people will do that, not unless they don't have it said to themselves a lot."

"I'm sorry, who are you?" I said leaning away from Lucas.

"Sorry, it's a bad habit I have."

"Right..." I sat normally, allowing silence

The train chugged on for the next two hours. I looked out the window, and then remembered the prodigious city that I got on the train at. The towns outside were nothing compared to that city and they whooshed past as the train chugged on growing ever diminutive until vanishing over the horizon. Then, the train stopped at one of the larger towns for the first time and the people on the train slowly drained out. Then, with one whistle, the train gained momentum and chugged on, and the towns that flew by the window thinned, from towns, to villages, to farms and the land become more feral. The window chilled, barely noticeable at first, but then, the outside window chilled the very window itself, making it more and more translucent. Every breath Lucas took was shown as his breath cooled due to the surrounding air. I was thankful to pack for this weather I thought to myself as I examined the broken TV began to turn icy cold

"Here, we should do something about this temperature" he said shivering. He pulled out a potion that was in his bag, and drank half of it, saving the rest for later. Lucas then drew his wand and a light illuminated from the end of his wand which warmed us in an instance. it then separated from his wand and dangled over us as if hung bu an imaginary thread "There, much better," he leaned back giving a contented grin.

"Lucas, I... Thanks" I stumbled, wishing that I had studied the books my uncle gave to me.

"No problem. It's for me to but I don't mind sharing. Sorry about earlier."

"Its fine, I'm guessing you're really smart" I said with a grin

He laughed "I like to think so. You are going to the Northridge College right? It was kinda obvious with your TV incident".

"Yeah, Kathrine Academy's more about show, and less about magic. She fools everyone, well, mostly everyone"

"Hey kid," Lucas asked me, giving up his amiable tone for a more serious one.

"Yeah? What is it?" I responded trying but failing to show my suspicion.

"You mentioned Oblivion." He said in a now cryptic tone

"Oh yeah, I must have been mumbling to myself when I thought you were asleep. What about it?"

His amber eyes looked directly into mine, his face contrasting the affable laughs earlier. He motioned for me to look at him directly and I deferred. "Are you sure."

I wanted to say "yes" directly, but now I remembered the reason why it was such a high paying sport. On TV, it was fabricated to look less real, but despite this, it was really a form or torture, capable of imitating death without dying. My ambition of getting onto the Oblivion Team blinded the fact of the matter. It wasn't a game. It was a competition of who was the best.

"You want to escape your past, Rin. Do you think that it will evaporate when you get fame and fortune?" He said, his eyes locked onto mine.

"How do you know that?" I asked him

"I know because I tried to escape my past too, and it got me nowhere," I wanted to be an Oblivion Player to escape my family, and I know you are running from something, or someone. My

stomach churned uncomfortably. My head felt weightless. And for some reason, tears welled up in my eyes uncontrollably "Why are you telling me this?" I sobbed trying to hold back tears. "I just met you an hour ago! Why?"

He looked to the front, with dead eyes, staring a million miles into the distance. The spell he had cast died out and the cold reclaimed what was rightfully theirs. The candles in the train seemed to glow dimmer, and time seemed to slow. "Because, I don't want you to make the mistakes I did" he said, unaffected by the change in temperature.

He casted the spell again, but there was a dearth of warmth regardless of the spell. Because of this he casted the same spell again, but not even the combined heat matched the warmth of the first one.

Are Lucas's spells dependent on his mood? I thought to myself something must have happened before in order for him to change that quickly. But I doubt that I will ever get it out of him. Though he didn't say that he was on the Oblivion Team, I think it's safe to assume that he is on it. Time had passed and the train was almost at Northridge College. I don't know how much time had passed, but Lucas's seemed to have recovered.

"Lucas," I said "I need to join no matter what. I have to."

"I was afraid of that." he said about to take the rest of the potion, "Argh!" he cried in pain, clutching his heart and dropping the potion on the floor where it

splattered.

"Whats wrong?" I said urgently

He picked up the spilt potion and cursed under his breath "Its fine."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded silently, still clutching his heart

"Lucas?" I asked him trying to talk in the most affable tone I could muster

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Are you on Oblivion?"

Lucas didn't respond, but his cold eyes gave me a clear yes.

There wasn't much to do. Lucas was either sleeping, or pretending to sleep to avoid conversation, or meditating on the situation, but there was no telling what when on in his head.

I didn't allow my mind to vacillate. I knew I had to get onto the oblivion team no matter what. I thought about what Lucas said about oblivion before. I don't want you to make the mistakes I did.

I slouched on the chair and I looked out the now frozen window. Looking out, I saw a plain, blanked with snow. On closer examination I saw one tree, all alone, and there not another tree in miles. The sight of the tree alone saddened me as is flew by the window, and i wondered if the train was the only light that ever passed it. The only life that had actually been close to it as its day drew nearer and nearer. Then, I wondered if it could even be alive because of the frigid cold. I looked away not wanting to see the morose tree.

"Lucas," I said trying to make myself forget the tree.

He gave me a tired glance and blinked a couple of times. his face appeared weaker and weaker for some reason, but i could not tell why. Then he focused his eyes and gave a yawn "yeah?" He responded tiredly.

"Why do you regret oblivion?" I asked him.

"Oblivion took away the one thing I had." He said apathetically

"What was that?"

"My innocence. Oblivion is a substitution of killing. Murdering without consequence." He said with as much apathy as before. "The world is twisted and repulsive, but oblivion was and is the most twisted magic invention yet. Have you seen a game on TV?"

"I have. Summerset, vs Hallows was one of the first game I've ever seen, and I've stuck with college games instead of professional ones." I said as neutrally as possible without adjusting the mood. "I think college students are more creative than just sheer power in the elite tournaments and competitions."

"Then you've seen them die too. It's not a game, it's a form of torture. It's evil.

"I guess, but the worlds not all good and evil. It just matters about the lens you look at it."

"And looking at the world from my lens, oblivion sure as hell is evil." He said with eyes full of scorn. "I had no choice, and I will never have a choice."

"You just have to look for them." I said

"I had a choice before oblivion. Before all of this. But I lost any sense of freedom the second i signed my life away. I don't want you to make the mistake I did."

"You chose, and that's better than not choosing at all."

"But what if you realize that the choice you made was wrong?"

"Then you can either regret it for the rest of your life, or learn to live with it. Its your choice." I finished hoping to give him a sense of freedom, but he lost his posture and began to sleep.

The train continued on for another twenty minutes, passing over frozen rivers and through mountains blanketed with snow. The twenty minutes did not seem like an eternity, but it didn't fly by like the world outside. Then, after the 5 hour train ride, the train approached a collection of glowing lights, contrasting the distance.

The train passed over a prodigious bridge, at least a quarter of a mile long and twenty feet high. The bridge spanned over the frigid waters below which separated Northridge from the rest of the world. One only gets to Northridge by train. Planes cannot fly because of the wind, and even galleons cannot safely navigate the merciless waters without exorbitant effort and luck.

The breaks screeched through the night as we approached the station. The train lost considerable speed until it approached a complete stop. I'm finally at Northridge I thought to myself

Lucas got up easily despite being half asleep and he flicked his wand in a triangular motion which dispelled the two heat spells. The doors opened, and the cold rushed in belligerently to purge any remaining heat.

I collected my things at first but was force to get up because I would be blocking Lucas if I stayed. Wanting to find some means of heat, I dragged my suitcase hastily out of the train.

"I know you want to go onto oblivion," Lucas said "and I'm not stopping you. But I want to know why you want to get on."

"I don't know..." I lied

He put a hand on my shoulder and looked directly into my eye. "Rin, please tell me."

"It's... It's my uncle." I said truthfully. "He thinks I'm a waste of his research time. He sent me here to make sure his research is not interrupted. You said something about your family?"

"Let's focus on getting to the college." He said changing the subject. "I'll tell you later."

"All right, I won't force it out of you." I said trying to not thing about it.

We walked out, but the wind and snow was too oppressive to examine the buildings well. Snow coated our coats, Lucas's gold coat of fur which was only visible on his wrists and neck, the rest was confined under a thick layer of cloths, became unrecognizable.

"Are you all right?" I asked concerned.

"I'm fine. I just." He stumbled

"Your cold" i said feeling his forehead

"We need to get to the hearth wood tavern."

I nodded and we walked from the train station down the cobble street. The streets coated with ice, I better not slip. Lucas trudged on, every step he took looked unstable. From the moment that I met Lucas on the train to now, his life waned. I noticed that the wind started to pick up

"Where is this tavern?" I asked

"What?" Lucas asked shouting it over the storm

"Hearth wood tavern!" I shouted "where is it?"

"The large bright building close to the town's center" he shouted back just as loud. "We should be there..."

Lucas clutched his heart and fell down to one knee, gasping at every breath. "Ill, be fine." he shivered "lets keep going..."

A bang like a gunshot cut him off. Red light illuminated from behind us, and it hit Lucas, singeing the back of his coat, and He fell face-down onto the snow with a cry of pain. "This is one of 6 attacks on Oblivion Players" the news story echoed in my head. Lucas laid there, With arms spread out wide, shivering and hurt.