Flintwood Crest
At school, Mason passes Priscilla in the corridor and they briefly make eye contact. Priscilla cannot look Mason in the eyes, nor can Mason look at her. All Mason can see is what she did to Geese. Cole is speaking with Mason.
“So, like I was saying, Timber isn’t someone you want to go against in the weekly tournament. I didn’t stand a chance.”
Suddenly, Tim Sawyer gets in the middle and puts his arm around both of them.
“Now, that ain't fighting talk. Gentlemen, it’s been a while.”
Mason and Cole look uneasy.
“If you don’t mind us Cole, I need to have a word with Mason, privately.”
Cole hesitantly leaves
“Alright, Mason, see you later.”
Tim turns his attention to Mason.
“Your crest, you figured it out yet?”
Mason thinks about the comment from the headmaster before responding.
“I have a general idea I think, but I haven’t used it.”
Tim Sawyer looks uneasy.
“Well, from what I gathered, we’re the last two students to not know our abilities directly. Our next class is with Hamlin Haemish. He seems to know things when nobody else has a clue what he’s talkin’ about. Honestly, I don’t wanna fall behind more than I have to. Let’s ask him.”
Mason nods his head in agreement. They both attend Hamlin’s class and as it ends, Tim looks over at Mason.
“That’s all for today's class.”
Tim and Mason wait for everyone to leave and then approach the professor.
“Professor.”
Hamlin looks at them both as Mason continues to speak.
“Well, me and Sawyer. We’re the only students that haven't figured out our crests yet. We were wondering if you have any idea how we could figure it out?”
Hamlin seems confused.
“Isn’t that Professor Norman’s job?”
Tim begins to get mad.
“We don’t know a damn thing about our crests. How the hell can we use somethin’ that we don’t even have a damn clue about?”
Hamlin seems uninterested.
“Well, I don't know either. Half of the families in this world have their own crest. Do you have any idea how time-consuming it would be to memorise each one?”
Tim gets annoyed and begins to leave the room.
“I'm outta here.”
Mason begins to leave also but is stopped by the door at the sound of Hamlin’s voice.
“Flintwood.”
Hamlin makes a gun with his fingers at Mason and pretends to shoot it.
“Weapons exist, even outside of our world. Think about that.”
Mason seems confused by the professor's remark as he leaves the room.
Eventually, Friday comes and it’s time for the weekly tournament. Mason looks around at those in his class today. He notices that Professor Norman and Professor Hamlin are overseeing this particular group here this week.
“Mason!”
Mason turns around to see Cole. Cole seems enthusiastic.
“We’re in the same class today. From what I've heard, you’ve been on a bit of a win streak lately. I wonder if it’ll be time for our rematch.”
Mason’s attention is drawn to Priscilla who is also here. He considers approaching her but he is quickly distracted when he notices a student who isn't in any of his usual classes. A well-built student of ginormous size who stands out. Cole notices that Mason has spotted him.
“That’s Timber. His family crest is a zoning type, meaning he can manipulate the combat area.”
Mason seems confused as he hasn't encountered any crest like this before.
“What do you mean?”
Cole begins to elaborate.
“I mean, he can manipulate the world around you. Imagine fighting and suddenly you’re both surrounded by fire or something similar. They’re a scary type of crest.”
The class begins and everyone takes their seats. Norman begins to speak.
“Welcome to today’s class. Many of you today have been placed in this group due to your rankings ascending rather fast. We have a lot of students facing each other today, so let’s get to it!”
Norman checks some of his notes.
“Firstly, we’re kicking it off with an interesting match-up. Timber will be facing Flintwood.”
Cole looks nervously at Mason.
“Good luck out there.”
On opposite sides of the arena, Mason and Timber face each other. Norman speaks.
“Begin!”
Timber instantly activates his family crest.
“Swinging girders!”
Suddenly the entire arena changes. The combat area is surrounded by iron girders swinging on ropes from the sky, in a violent construction-esque fashion. Mason is caught by surprise and looks to the right before seeing a girder heading towards him and quickly ducking.
‘That girder nearly knocked my head clean off. I’ve never seen anything like this.’
Timber dodges the girders effortlessly before beginning to close the distance between himself and Mason. Mason is too focused on dodging the girders to focus on offence or defence. Suddenly, Mason notices Timber right in front of him.
“3-point block!”
Timber coats his fist in an aura and punches through the block and then punches Mason with his other fist, who goes flying backwards.
Professor Norman looks at Hamlin.
“That’s it. Let’s call the match.”
Hamlin raises his hand towards Norman to stop him from calling the match.
“Just a moment.”
They focus back on the match as Mason stands up. Suddenly, Timber rushes towards Mason again. Mason’s expression changes to a serious demeanor that has never been used by him before. Hamlin looks entertained. Mason begins to think to himself as Timber closes the distance.
‘Come on, Mason. I’ve practised this for weeks. Time to finally try it.’
Timber gets incredibly close as Mason begins to push his arm towards Timber.
“Push!!!”
Timber gets forcefully pushed backwards and nearly has his head knocked off by the swinging girders until he ducks at the last second. Professor Norman seems surprised.
“That’s a second year spell. Flintwood sure is surprising.”
Hamlin smirks.
“I would expect no less from ‘his’ son.”
Timber begins to run around the girders again. Mason prepares himself. Suddenly, Timber jumps into the air with a giant rock in his hand and launches it towards Mason.Mason changes his focus from Timber to the rock heading at him.
“Push!”
The rock goes flying away but this leaves Mason open to attacks and Timber has already closed the distance, hitting Mason in the chest once again and causing him to go flying backwards once more. Mason begins to think to himself.
‘I can barely stand. One more hit and I'm going to black out.’
Mason looks around and has noticed that Timber is heading around the girders and is holding a large rock again.
‘Damn it, he knows how to counter that spell already. If only I could use my own crest.”
Mason glances at Hamlin before recalling both his remarks and the remarks of the head master. Suddenly, the closeness to death alongside the heat of battle awakened something in Mason.
“Flintwood crest: Master-at-arms.”
Suddenly a pistol materialises in Mason’s hand.
Priscilla and Cole look surprised as Hamlin smirks. Mason aims the pistol at Timber and begins to fire but the bullets are blocked by the swinging girders. Timber begins to think to himself.
‘A gun. That’s troublesome. That leaves me no choice.’
Timber throws a rock into the air and it gets hit with a girder, turning into rubble over Mason. As Mason looks upwards at the rubble, he loses sight of Timber.
‘What the? Where did he go?’
Suddenly, Mason feels someone grab him from behind and throw him to the floor.
“Match over! Timber wins!”
Timbers crest deactivates. Mason lays on the ground as Cole and Priscilla rush over to help him up. Cole begins to speak with Mason as they help him back to the stands and the next two students prepare to fight.
“That was crazy! You were like a whole different person when you were fighting Timber!”
They sit Mason down on the stands as he is approached by Timber.
“That was an interesting duel. Let us fight again in the future!”
Mason is so weak that he can barely stay conscious.
“Sure…”
