Uthra hesitantly walked out from the archway. His name had been called and this declared that it was his time for the test. The ground felt almost bouncy under his feet. Every step slightly compacting the bright green moss that spread across the arena field. On the far side, it met the walls of the outer grounds. To his right, Uthra felt the anticipatory glare of the crowd, at first he tried not to look but temptation overwhelmed him. The stands stretched in both directions connected to the towering academy building. Uthra was pleased to see there were only thirty or so people that made up the crowd. At the forefront of the stands, temporary seats were laid out where three of the judges sat and a forth was set for Iteroah, the head of the academy.
          Silence, the crowd did not cheer or clap as Uthra approached his starting point. Nervousness started to overflow and he fought with it, struggling for calm by taking a deep breath. Unnatural red dies marked the floor indicating where he should stand and led towards his opponent. It was then that he looked at Yui.
          Yui was clad in armour from head to toe, the boyish nature that was normally spread across his joyful face had been stripped away, hidden beneath the seriousness of a warrior. This metallic tight suit curved around his body leaving little for the imagination, every contour of his muscle was pronounced giving him the look of a gladiator. Though this was not what drew Uthras eyes, the full-faced helmet had been demonised, twisted and darkened so that even on this beautiful and bright day it still held the shadows. And from beneath this gloom, two blood-red slits glared out at him, piercing through to his core. A shiver arose from deep and for a second Uthra had to stop himself from reacting in a way that could only be called fleeing. He reminded himself that behind the diabolical visor was Yui, his friend. Still feeling uneasy Uthra took another step forwards. He was handed his own dreaded helmet, noticing that while apart from the rest of the armour it was not quite so terrifying.
          Uthra was then handed his sword, long, thin and comfortably light for its size. The grip felt so natural now. Like it was an extension of his own body. The man nodded to Uthra as if to say good luck, Uthra could see in his eyes that he thought no amount of luck would help. He then quickly vacated the area.
          It was just a test Uthra reminded himself, he did not have to win. All he had to do was show the judges that he could duel. The lengthy days and extensive training with Yui had prepared him well. Although he had never come close to winning a duel. Uthra put on his helmet, a satisfying click as the neck and helmet locked into place. From within, the face was transparent. The visor came to life immediately scanning Yui and highlighting the weapon he was pulling from his sheath.
           Moments were passing slowly now. Iteroah raised both his hands indicating for them to ready themselves. Instantly nervousness turned into adrenaline, the shocked moved through his body putting him in a state of readiness. Yui nodded, knowing it was time. Uthra nodded back out of respect. He calmed his mind, no thoughts only one goal. Iteroah’s hands came together with a tremendous clap that rang about the arena.
           The flicker of light was the only sign of a sword travelling in-perceivably fast towards his neck, this quick glimmer gave Uthra the time to react, not quite a reaction, but more of a fluid instinct allowed his sword-arm to raise. With a metallic singing noise, the blades met. As the sword and arm came up the body moved down, deflecting the blow and redirecting the force to narrowly miss the top of his helmet. Uthra would have thought that was close if he had time to think before the attacking sword was withdrawn and instantaneously thrust towards his chest. Again the two blades met as Uthra twisted into the blow. Now it was his turn to attack, using the twisting motion his sword arched towards the closest vital point. If Uthra could have seen through Yui’s darkened visor he would have seen Yui’s eyes widen in surprise but instead, all Uthra saw was the quick step back putting him out of range of the blade. This made Uthra overreach which he regretted immediately. Yui put his full force behind a swing, but instead of striking Uthra, he attacked the sword. Sparks flew as no amount of grip training could stop his sword from being disarmed. A reverberating shock ran down his arm as the blade flew into the air. Yui came in for the final movement. The flicker of light came whistling towards him. Uthra did not hesitate though, moving faster than ever before he threw his knees into the ground, sliding under the slicing metal to where his sword was about to land, he caught it and spun 180 up to greet another attack. But this time it was not deflected. Both swords clashed to a halt, sparks flew again. A battle of strength started as both parties pushed against each other with all their force. Blade on blade, visor to visor they both blindly stared each other down.
          Uthra realised Yui was serious when he had said he would not hold back. That this was going to be nothing like the hours of training. The outcome of this battle was going to decide his future and Yui was not going to make it easy. These momentary thoughts filled Uthra with conviction. He would not be defeated easily. Knees bending to lower his centre of gravity Uthra with all his might he pushed. He heaved with everything in his body his legs, his chest, his back, and as he did his mouth opened up with the roar of a battle-cry. The sudden strength must have shocked Yui because Uthra felt a momentary distraction. This opened up a weak point in Yui’s body alignment and Uthra took advantage of this. suddenly he withdrew his power putting Yui off balance. The swords parted and Uthra kicked at his opponent’s leg. Yui dropped to one knee as Uthras sword sung its way to his neck. Yui did not react as the blade came to a halt gently kissing his armour. Uthra tried to relax not believing it was over.
          He was still standing above Yui as a victorious wave of excitement rushed through his body. Yui’s hand went up to press a button on the side of his helmet allowing the visor to retract. Terror was in his eyes. That was when Uthra realised Yui was not looking up at him, but rather had his gaze fearfully fixed to the sky. He turned, looking up and immediately saw what had taken his attention away from the duel. A glowing dot substantially larger than a star was growing in size. In the few moments it took Uthra to try and wrap his mind around what this could be, it had grown threefold. It was becoming more apparent that this was an asteroid, a burning devastation hurtling towards them at an unholy speed.
          “Take cover!” Uthra heard Iteroah shout from behind him. With only seconds to react, Yui was up and running in an instant, heading for the academy archway. Uthra rapidly followed him.