A Life Beyond by Mark Church (ebook reader web TXT) 📕

stories passed down over the years about how we will become workers for evil. But I assure you there is nothing to fear' Lady Willo spoke, trying to confuse Daniel with another tale,

'So there's no truth in what you are saying then?, we are all safe here?' Daniel replied hoping to catch her out,

'I swear to the King that no harm will ever fall upon this land or you children' said Lady Willo as she smiled back in Daniel's direction,

'Right..I sort of get it...but if that's true then what is the purpose of that big arena thing outside and why are people training. Or whatever it is they are doing in there? There seems to be a lot of noise coming from it' Daniel said as he pointed out of the window to the huge structure that engulfed the whole courtyard and left most of the classes around it in darkness,

'Oh yes...you've seen that have you?' her face turning slightly red now as she was getting slightly flustered,

'Well you can't exactly miss it can you' Daniel replied smartly ' I mean

it's huge and it always seems to be full of people and stuff' as he said that a large army of armour wearing soldiers marched past the window in perfect unison and around the side of the arena towards the front gate, ready for whatever challenge lay ahead.

'Oh you're talking about that arena Daniel' replied Lady Willo 'well that's nothing more than our outdoor activity area, it's somewhere we go rather frequently after lessons are completed, it's normally used for physical exercise and general training but it's being used for something completely different at the minute'

'So it's a place for training soldiers then...I mean you did kind of just tell us miss' Daniel said as he could see Lady Willo getting more and more flustered,

'Yes...I mean no….it is used for many things Daniel, including the three yearly competition we stage here' Lady Willo said hoping to throw Daniel off its real purpose,

'Oh what's that then?' he asked when, Finn, the boy sitting next to him spoke out loud,

'It's a competition to find the most complete warrior to join The Circle, we call it ‘The Tri-Yearly-Night-Games’...'

'Ooooooo' the class called out in unison as Daniel laughed out loud

'The TYNG….ha-ha, oh that so reminds me of home!!' he sniggered as the word took on another meaning for him,

'This competition is no laughing matter' replied Lady Willo 'it represents a chance for people from all over the world to participate in these games and hopefully for a lucky few to be able to join the ‘Kings Circle’ which is his army of most complete and trustworthy soldiers',

'And do we get the chance to try out for the circle thing?' Daniel asked inquisitively, which caused a few of the children to laugh quietly amongst themselves,

'Oh no…' Lady Willo said 'this is only open to entrants from across Vaymia who have completed their own pathway through their town or village where they live and have been put forward in the hope of winning a place here'

'Oh right..' replied Daniel 'so there's no chance of any of us getting in there to do that at all?, or has anyone from here actually managed to get into the Circle?'

'Well there has been one from here...quite a few years back, but it took him quite a few years to finally realise his dream of fighting alongside the King' Lady Willo smiled as she thought about the person who had won their rightful place 'Garin of Arrowbrook. Ahhhh he was such a strong competitor...no person could match him for strength or heart but then without any notice he just...vanished, only to appear a little while ago with no recollection of where he had been'

'Garin??' exclaimed Daniel 'Oh he never said anything about that!!', Lady Willo shot Daniel a confused look across the room,

'Oh so you know of Garin do you Daniel?' she replied back,

'Well yes...he was my d…' Daniel looked round to see everyone now staring at him '...doctor?....yes he was my doctor back when I was a small boy, he was always looking after me and my family, but I didn't know his secret until now, he kept it hidden he smiled Daniel as he knew of his REAL secret but knew the class didn't,

'Well I didn't know he was so medically trained, but I guess everyone has something to hide don't they children' smiled Lady Willo 'Anyway enough of that...so as I was saying...with the night games almost upon us we shall, as we always have done, go and support the competitors at some point' a loud cheer went up when Lady Willo announced that 'but as I have said many times before you must NOT distract any of them while they are competing, we don't want a repeat of last year when Hammond of Baggothill was distracted by a pupil causing him to be brutally taken out of the competition….oh it still gives me nightmares!!' she shuddered at the thought of it 'but the class were warned just like you have been so I expect total cooperation please'

'YES LADY WILLO' the class replied as she looked round the room smiling at the children,

'What did happen to that man then Miss?' asked Daniel 'it couldn't have been that bad surely'

'Daniel..' she replied 'it was horrific in every way, he was one of the favourites to join The Circle but as it proved that when in the Arena total concentration is required at all times, I don't wish to dwell on it any longer'

'I'll tell you later' smiled Tobias, a small boy with a rather dishevelled look about him who was sitting to the other side of Daniel

'Its gruesome trust me' he smiled, Daniel's face grinned as wide as it could as he couldn't wait for the story,

'Oh great, can't wait!' he said before his attention was caught by the sound of shouting outside,

‘GET HIM….TAKE HIM DOWN…’ were the raised voices coming from inside the Arena walls,

'It sounds like it's coming from in the Arena!' someone said excitedly

'Is he here?, he's my absolute favourite' said another voice closer to the window,

'Settle down children!!' Lady Willo said loudly 'I'm sure we will get to see them all in action soon'

'See who?' Daniel replied looking slightly confused as to what they were all talking about, Tobias turned to Daniel and said quietly,

'Don't you know Daniel?, Tahmidius of Banglashera is here this year!!', Daniel was now completely lost,

'Who?, sorry Tobias I haven't a clue what you're going on about' he replied,

'Oh yes I forgot you were new, Tahmidius is sort of a celebrity around the world, most of his family have been successful in joining ‘The Circle’ so he has been following in their footsteps and trying to join them,

'Oh right' replied Daniel still looking totally lost 'so what's so special about him then?'

'Well..' replied Tobias 'this isn't the first time he has been here, in fact

he's been coming here for about twelve years or so, every Tri-year he has managed to earn his place here but fell just short in the final test, I think it's been dirty tricks stopping him but that's my opinion anyway, He's everyone's favourite now and we all want to see him win it this year'

'But what makes him stand out though? He sounds sort of average to me' Daniel replied still totally not understanding about any of this, Tobias looked shocked that Daniel could come out with something like that and angrily answered back,

'He is the best competitor ever!!!, his skills are legendary around these parts, his strength and speed are better than any other competitors here, he can do things we can only imagine and his magic is...well, just out of this world, we can only dream of being as good as he is!!'

'Well he didn't actually win it yet so I hope you all get what you want' Daniel replied

'Also this year there's talk of him taking on a child from the school to mentor, he has taken time off from his home life to stay here for a while and teach a child his ways, from what I hear it's the winner of the Inter-Class Cup that gets the place' Tobias said proudly

'The what?' replied Daniel 'this place gets even more confusing!'

'The Inter-Class Cup!!, you haven't heard of that either?' Tobias said now looking at Daniel as if he was from another planet or something, 'Nope..sounds great though' replied Daniel sarcastically,

'The Inter-Class Cup is basically a series of challenges set during the class year and at the end of it the child with the most points gets to go into the Arena to face the final challenges against the two other highest scoring classes, then the winner of that becomes Inter-Class champion' Tobias said enthusiastically as he enjoyed the competition every year,

'To be honest I'm not the sportiest of people so I guess it won’t be me' laughed Daniel as he could think of nothing worse than physical activity,

'Oh no Daniel I assure you it's more than just that…' said Tobias happily 'the physical part of it is called ‘The Proving Test’ and that is the last event, everything before that is made up of a series of class challenges and general yearly tasks set by the head of each department, oh they are such great fun!!', Daniel slunk back onto his seat thinking to himself ‘Oh great, school work and sport, I so can't wait for that’.

So as the children's first day wound down slowly Daniel had a feeling of Deja vu, him sitting there in a class he didn't want to be in surrounded by people he thought would never be his friend's, his real friend not even in the same class as him, it was feeling like being back at Longmeads all over again but the one difference was that in this world he had found his family and more importantly his father, he was learning about things he never knew were possible and was looking at a brand new future which was unknown to them all apart from a select few who knew something wasn't right but had no way of knowing for sure. Daniel's mind started wandering again while he was sitting there in class as Lady Willo carried on with the lesson, images of his possible future swirled round in his head, things he had never seen before involving all his new family, then his mind focussed on and image speedily approaching him, he could see a woman in the distance, her hair blowing in the wind covering her face, as the image moved closer to Daniel he thought he recognised the woman, someone who he had seen somewhere in his past, someone familiar…….but then his attention was taken by a loud knocking on the door of the classroom, Lady Willo stood up and strode over to answer the door, as she pulled it open she beamed happily at whoever was there, all the children started whispering excitedly amongst each other,

'He's here!!!' one girl shouted loudly as she had seen who was there,

'Oh wow!!, I need to tell mum!!' shouted another as Lady Willo escorted in the person at the door.

All the children screamed with delight as they saw the figure of a man at the front of the class standing there chest puffed out and hands on hips, his armour glistening in the afternoon suns and his long flowing hair hanging behind him, he sported a cape emblazoned with a crest not seen before, it showed the two suns of Vaymia shining down onto a sword held by a silhouetted figure which looked uncannily like the man standing in front of them.

'Who’s the big guy?' asked Daniel, not a clue with anything that was going on here now,

'You don't know??' Tobias replied looking very surprised by his answer 'It's Tahmidius!!! He's my hero'

'Oh right' said Daniel, not really bothered by his presence 'wonder why he's here Tobias?'. Then Tahmidius spoke…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Twenty

The Challenge Awaits….

 

'Good afternoon children,