THESE HIDDEN WINGS

[16.1] ORIGINS CLASS 521: RED (part-two)

•|•|•

"The Curser."

•|•|•

ONE GIRL WAS dark-skinned, her short hair in an afro while the other looked Indian. Her head was shaved clean, reminding me of Ari, the rude girl from before. The major difference was the deep black tattoos that run across her head and down to her neck disappearing in the suit.

Symbols were marked everywhere but the most evident was the one on her head. I couldn't see what the tattoo was or the symbols, because of the distance, but all in all, it made her look unapproachable. The coldness in her brown eyes didn't help either.

A buzzing noise filled the air calming the whispering audience into silence.

The male teacher that had been seated to the left of Mr. Ogustus stood up. He seemed younger than the two teachers beside him but still seemed to fit in perfectly for some reason. His pitch-black hair was jelled down, accompanied by a smart maroon shirt and black trousers.

"Reds are you ready?!" He roared.

The audience roared in reply,

"I, Mr. Rudra Rahsad," he introduced, "Would like to welcome this week's Origins class to the Reds level one practice. In the Dom to the left, I would like to introduce Thandiwe Sithumbile."

I was surprised by his flawless pronunciation; I knew firsthand how tongue-twisted South African names were.

"Also known as Dementor," he continued. The girl in the afro raised her right hand, and a series of woos and claps arose coming from a group of students seated directly opposite us, on the other side of the dom.

She maintained a warrior-like stance, fiercely directed to her opponent,

"And to my right, Miss Raskei Oberoi also known as ...." He trailed off looking around, "The Curser."

The crowd was silent with only Lira clapping and hooting, making me reluctantly clap alongside a confused Clair,

"Yeah! Show her Curser!" Lira hooted, causing all the teachers, including Mr. Ogustus to turn back and glance at us, accompanied with the gaze of the rest of the student body, "Woo!" she cheered throwing a fist up in the air.

Claire threw me an apologetic look.

Once again, I had managed to be made visible. Lowering myself in my seat, reducing the sound of my claps I watched as The Curser raised her right arm, dropping it down after a second.

"You know the drill ladies," Mr. Rashad continued after turning back to the Dom, "the first to be disarmed loses. Recite your oaths, fair, just, and true."

Both knelt on one knee like they were about to be knighted, one hand over their heart,

"Fair Just and True," only Thandiwe's voice was heard through the speaker, heavy on the accent, whilst I noticed Raskei's mouth only moved over the words, "for Kingsland and honor," Thandiwe ended as Raskei mouthed along, lifting their heads and taking what seemed like a warrior stance.

Mr. Rahsad took a seat, crossing his legs,

"Begin," he casually motioned like it was nothing.

My eyes trained on the two figures circling each other in the dom. Their gazes focused solely on their opponent. I noticed two wooden handles were sticking out from Thandiwe's belt, resembling daggers, whilst Raskei's came empty-handed.

I knew there would be some sort of convert ability displayed here, as this arena and Dome display were certainly meant for just that. The infrastructure at Kingsland was unbelievable. I still couldn't understand where on earth the funds came to build this place.