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

As the lessons in all the classes drew to a close for the first day a low murmur was filling the halls as all the children grew excited at going to watch Tahmidius and the other soldiers training for the games which were due to start, it also gave Lillie, Daniel and Harvey a chance to meet up after being apart all day but Daniel knew he had to tag along with Tobias to watch his ‘hero’ in action. So when the school horn blared out signalling the end of the day the classroom doors were flung open followed by scores of children eager to get into the Arena to get a good look at whoever they were rooting for in the Games.

Harvey was the last out of his class, Pontus and the others had sped out due to Harvey's weird behaviour, Mr Scoot was just getting his paperwork in order which had been piled up on his desk when he saw that Harvey was about to leave,

'Ahhhh Harvey, do you have a second?' he called out, Harvey swung round to face him,

'Why yes sir, what can I do for you?' he replied casually,

'I would just like to say a massive well done on your first day here, it seems like you are well ahead of all the other students in the points stakes including Mr Polder, which I'm sure will only make him try harder' Mr Scoot smiled at Harvey as he could see someone eager to get the most from every lesson 'So how have you found your first day here then?'

'It's been...educational' Harvey replied 'I'm looking forward to learning as much as I can about this place AND the history of the castle, I feel there's so much I need to learn, It can only help my mas…' Harvey stopped suddenly which Mr Scoot picked up on

'You’re what?' he replied inquisitively

'Err...my mask...I'm making a mask for the upcoming cup we are in, purely for the physical element you see as I have seen lots of people wearing them' Harvey had to think quickly on his feet for fear of his dark side being revealed,

'Oh yes..' replied Mr Scoot 'That's a wonderful idea, and it certainly helps towards those final points let me tell you!!' and with that Harvey turned and walked out of the class, his eyes still flickering the purple colour that had taken over his normal eye colour, and off he walked down the corridor towards Lillies classroom where she was standing talking to one of her classmates, as Harvey was still slightly in a trance he didn't notice Lillie standing there,

'Harvey…' she said as he kept walking on 'Oi clumsy, are you ignoring me?' she stepped behind him and slapped his arm hard causing him to come out of the trance,

'OWWW that hurt!!...oh sorry Lillie, I totally didn't see you there, how was your day?' He asked as he shook his head to clear it of the fuzziness he was feeling,

'I'll catch up with you later....' said the girl Lillie was talking to as Lillie strode over to Harvey,

'Had a fairly odd day today' she said 'bit of an unusual class, but I think I'll be ok, It's just all new to me' just as she said that Mr Flora poked his head out of the class door and shouted down the hall,

'Oh Lillie, a good solid start today, well done, just remember that every action taken goes towards your final points tally for the cup so remember to make the right choices!!'

'Yes sir...I'll do my best' she smiled back as Mr Flora disappeared into his class and shut the door behind him,

'What's he like then?' asked Harvey,

'Seems alright so far, the people in the class are a bit odd though, I can't quite work them out yet' Lillie said as they continued up the corridor towards Daniel's class 'What's your class like then Harv?, are they as weird as you!!' she said as she let out a laugh,

'Not funny Lillie' Harvey replied 'To be honest I can't really remember much of what went on today, it's all a bit of a blur' as he rubbed his head which to him still seemed hazy,

'So what about this competition thing that's going on throughout the year?, are you that interested in it?, seems like a good opportunity to me' Lillie asked Harvey who had both hands on his head now as if trying to keep his brain still,

'What competition?, I haven't got a clue what you’re on about?, as I said I can't really remember much about the day, my head's been spinning all afternoon' he replied as he stopped to lean against the wall,

'Oh really?, you don't know about what's going on even though you've been sat at the desk all day!!!' Lillie seemed confused by what was going on 'did you actually listen to anything in class?' just as she said that a couple of Harvey's classmates walked past him and patted him on the head before saying

'Nice going Harvey!! Looks like Pontus is fuming with your points score so far!! Said one boy,

'Reckon you'll beat his record points score, that will show him!!' laughed the other boy,

'Errrm...thanks I think' replied a confused Harvey as the boy's walked off down the corridor,

'And what were they going on about?, the beating his points score thing I mean!!' Lillie said as Harvey just stood there totally confused by everything 'hold on here one minute Harvey...I'll be back in a sec', and with that Lillie sped off down the long corridor and ended up at the door to Harvey's classroom, Mr Scoot was putting the scores up on the board and right at the top was the name

‘H.JONES-1573pts’,

'What the….' gasped Lillie as she saw just how far ahead he was from the rest of the class. So she shot off back up the corridor to where Harvey was standing,

'Well...what did you see??' asked Harvey

'It seems to me you are actually a class superstar!!, you are about 600 points ahead of the next student in the class!!' exclaimed Lillie who saw the oddest look stretch across Harvey's face,

'Who’s in second place then?' he asked 'and what the heck is going on??'

'It's a student called ‘P.POLDER’ he's just under a thousand points, so what IS going on??, where did all this brain power come from?' Lillie said grabbing hold of his head and pretending to look through his ears for any signs of life,

'Get off me will you you're hurting me!!' replied Harvey angrily 'and as for the class thingy I haven't a clue, I must be just good a something for a change..I do actually listen sometimes!!', and with that he stormed off down the corridor towards Daniel's class, Lillie just stood there laughing and mocking his voice,

'I do actually listen sometimes….yeah right!!, something seems a bit fishy to me...I'll get to the bottom of it !!' and off she strode down the corridor with Harvey looking nervously over his shoulder as she got closer.

As she neared the door to Daniel's class a huge roar could be heard from inside, Lady Willo had kept the class behind for a few minutes just to let the children know how the daily points were coming along,

'So children..' she started 'It seems that Tobias has taken an early lead this year. Wow very well done to you, and the rest of you….please let's make more of an effort tomorrow, It's looking very close in the middle part of the leader board after the first day...and Daniel?'

'Yes miss?' Daniel sighed as he turned to face her

'You seem to not have many points, if you fall too far behind you won't be in with a chance of winning this most wonderful experience that we have been so kindly given by Tahmidius today' she calmly spoke back knowing he was proving hard to get through to,

'Oh whoop-de-doo!!' he said quietly to himself but was loud enough for a few pupils to hear who started sniggering,

'What did you say??' Lady Willo asked,

'I said OK miss I'll give it another crack if it makes you happy' his sarcastic answer hitting a cord with her,

'Daniel...this school prides itself on doing the right thing and always making great decisions with regards to its pupils but it does actually mean you need to be involved and helping everyone out before you help yourself, We only want the best children in these classes which are VERY hard to get into, so for your own sake please start afresh tomorrow ok' Lady Willo could see she had got through to him a little bit and smiled a huge smile in his direction,

'Fine…' he replied 'I'll see what I can do tomorrow, I'm not promising anything though' Daniel let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair, Tobias on the other hand was literally dancing in his seat as he knew it was time for class to end, his hand shot up in the air as high as he could stretch,

'Yes Tobias...I see you are desperate to ask something as usual' Lady Willo said,

'Is it time for class to end now?...you see I'm desperate to get into the Arena to see Tahmidius in action and I don't want to miss a single second!!' came his over excited reply,

'Well class. Seeing as it is finally that time then yes you may all leave the class, those of you who are heading into the Arena to watch the training do remember to sit in our own class seating area, we don't want a repeat of what happened between Eldrin Finch and a few of the older boy's from ‘Phantom Flyers’, that poor boy will never be the same again!' Lady Willo said as she stood by the door, opening it so the children could leave 'Oh and before you go do remember that when the practice is over could you all make your way to the King's Chamber, where you will all be given instructions as to what room you have been designated for the term'.

What followed was almost a stampede as the class rose as one and charged towards the door excitedly at the thought of going to watch their favourite soldier training.

'Blimey..' Harvey said as he was almost knocked over by the sudden wave of children leaving the class,

'Where's Daniel?, have you seen him come out yet?' Lillie asked craning her neck over the onrushing children's heads, just then she spotted him slowly walking towards the door with an excited Tobias tugging at his robes,

'Come on Daniel...we can't be late otherwise the best seats will be gone!!' Tobias said as he pulled Daniel along,

'Yeah yeah I'm coming Toby!!' said Daniel as he saw Lillie and Harvey were waiting for him at the door to his class,

'Alright Dan….who’s the new kid?' Harvey said with a hint of jealousy as he saw his friend with someone else,

'Toby...this is Harvey, my friend, and my sister Lillie' Daniel replied sheepishly,

'Actually it's Tobias. And I'm Daniel's class friend...we are off to the Arena to watch Tahmidius training so we can't hang about' Tobias replied slightly snootily,

'Oh right...fair enough…can we come too?, I mean there isn't really anything else for us to do now' Harvey answered back looking slightly put out that Daniel had a new friend,

'Oh ANYONE can go but we can't sit together...you do know the rules don't you?' Tobias replied still tugging at Daniel's robes,

'No not really…' Lillie replied, so Tobias went on to explain about the way you had to sit with your own class otherwise you would get bad things done to you,

'Oh great...thanks for clearing that up. Well Dan I guess we will be seeing you later maybe' laughed Lillie as she started to walk off,

'Oh and don't forget to go to the King's Chamber after the practice session is over' shouted Tobias to Lillie who had set off at a pace now,

Harvey was looking totally dejected now as his best friend was being taken away from him by