Wren was sat on the in the Dead Fields enjoying the last of the sunshine for the day. He sat with his body angled back and his head up towards the suns. He’d always enjoyed being in the sun, it somehow made his mood better, and he looked good with a tan, it showed off the chocolate brown of his eyes well, or so he’d been told once upon a time. He wondered how tanning worked with there being two suns, would he tan twice as quick, or was each sun half the strength of the one on Earth; he didn’t feel like Ventus was particularly hotter than Earth. Maybe he’d need a special alien sun cream to deal with it, then again it was probably just normal sun cream, it did the same thing didn’t it.

He was sat in the middle of the fields, he’d thought about going to the edge of the cliff to look out over the picturesque view of the floating island but he didn’t want to risk it. One close encounter with a Dusk Vulture was enough for him, and he didn’t want a repeat, even if there was a protective barrier surrounding the entire island. The ground was dusty as not much life grew there, hence the name ‘Dead Fields’ but he didn’t mind getting dusty, it wouldn’t be too hard to clean his uniform off. He would be getting a lot more dirty soon enough anyway he thought, no point fretting about it now.

He wondered where Chadwick was. He’d left his elemental abilities class as soon as they were dismissed, much to the shock and confusion of Anastasia. He’d actually been waiting for about an hour, there was nothing like turning up to a possible beating early.

“I wonder if he’ll actually turn up.”

He heard voices coming from the forest behind him. The wind blew from behind so it carried the sound quite well.

“Well if he doesn’t we’ll just pay a visit to his dorm and drag him out here.”

The voices grew louder as they approached the break in the forest. It seemed Chadwick brought friends, obviously he needed help to beat up Wren. If that was what he was there for. People like Chadwick weren’t complicated. They needed people like Wren to feel powerful; he’d met plenty of his like over the years, but Chadwick was the first elemental. If he wasn’t careful, Chadwick could do some serious damage.

“Don’t worry fellas, I’m right here. You turned up right on time.” Wren called out to the group of boys walking out of the forest.

He stood up and dusted himself off a few times, making sure most of the debris left his grey robes. There were five of them in total; he recognised Top Knot from his martial arts class, and of course Chadwick Pound himself, but the other three were strangers to him. Probably some low level Legacies trying to climb the social ladder by satisfying every wish or whim that Chadwick had. They made their way over to Wren as a group and stood opposite him. This was wildly unfair, five against one, he had no chance.

“So what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting Chadwick? Couldn’t get enough of me after our little debacle on the Ark?” Wren asked sarcastically.

“I’m hearing you cheated on the tests yesterday.” The boy said, looking down his nose at Wren. It was a long way to look down, the height difference between the two was staggering. If he thought Liam was tall, it was even more so with Chadwick.

“That is a horrible rumour going around. You should know better than to listen to rumours. I didn’t cheat. I just ran. What’s it to you anyway?” Wren said, levelling a look at the boy.

“I doubt commoner scum like you know who my family is but they’re on the surveying council that run this academy. We don’t take kindly to cheaters.”

“I think you’re missing my point Chad, I didn’t cheat.”

“You did cheat, you didn’t cheat, it doesn’t make a difference, I still have to make an example of you.”

“And you do everything that mummy and daddy want you to do? What did you not get enough hugs as a baby?” Wren said mockingly contorting his features into a mocking sad face. He stuck his bottom lip out and raised his fists to his eyes simulating a crying face.

He regretted the action as soon as a fist came flying to his face, busting his lip instantly.

“OUCH!” Wren shouted, stumbling back.

A chorus of laughter rose up amongst Chadwick’s lackeys, obviously finding Wren’s pain hilarious.

Ignoring them, Chadwick took a step forward and threw another punch at Wren, this time landing straight into the shorter boys gut and winding him. He fell to the floor and clutched his stomach, trying to will the air back into his lungs.

Chadwick took a step back and looked down on Wren, assessing his handiwork. He smiled smugly down at him.

After a few seconds Wren could breathe again. He rolled back onto his heels and stood back up. He hadn’t been expecting those two blows, but now he was ready. This would be different to how it went down on the Ark, he had been trapped in a tight corridor then, with nowhere to run or dodge to. This time they were in an open field. Chadwick had the strength, but Wren had speed. That was the true reason Chadwick was mad, Wren had beaten him in the speed test, he couldn’t stand to hear that some no named upstart from the slums of Earth had somehow broke the academy record for speed.

Chadwick stepped forward and threw a right hook at Wren’s head. He saw it coming and stepped underneath it, it sailed over his head harmlessly. He quickly backpedalled, making some distance between the two.

Chadwick looked up, shocked that his punch had missed. His goons were silent.

The fight was just beginning.