Beginning of the end Chapter 2

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Finally, I got home a few minutes later, I stopped for a breather and look at the house, the place always gave me a feeling of safety and harmony, ‘go long son’ boomed my father’s voice I heard a whooshing noise through the air, it had to be a ball being thrown and instantly seconds later a loud thud and a grunt at the other end of the garden indicated Varak had caught the ball. I came through the house and watch the pair sat on the back doorstep.

‘Wow, that was fast but can you put more into it,’ Varak sarcasm would cost him
‘Ok, here’s the next one’ this time there was no way of tracking the projectile, a loud bang and dust blew into the air showed the ball lodged in the large reinforced wall which surrounded our estate,
Mother, step outside ‘if you like to stop playing destroy the home, then we can eat’ she jested
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Varak and father chorused rushing past me into the house, I looked at the wall damage it was two meters across. The repair bots already working to make the wall solid again.

Walking from the courtyard back into the house. The place had a modest look. From the outside, an ordinary home just like the others in the neighborhood, but just like grandma's place, it had extra underground sections for private work and training. Moving through the doors of the backroom leading to the kitchen. I heard brother and father talking about the Gravball game today, plus the leap across the gorge
‘Tell our father, brother, I’ve made it further than you now’ Varak was excited, he hadn’t factored in that I made the jump also, but I should let him have the moment
‘ I couldn’t believe it myself’ I put enough of a surprise in my voice to convince the pair, father smiled with pride.

Mother called for us to sit at the table for the evening meal there was something in the serious look meaning it wasn’t to be the usual dinner, our future would be the foremost on our parent’s mind. ‘Your grandmother wants to see you,’ we both smiled ‘now before you get any ideas, it’s not the usual party that she hosts from time to time, your grandmother is looking to test you for Station One.’ Now Varak and I had a different look the one of concern and bafflement.
‘Wasn’t the test for the Praetorian a few years away,’ I said ‘we haven’t been taught anything,’ I wasn’t enjoying being caught off guard ‘we haven’t even completed our studies.’ Mother, look silenced me then she spoke again
‘Grandmother thinks you could learn a lot from the experience in the next couple of days we will head over after school’ I lost my appetite even though it was my favorite meal catfish. Varak seems to take the news with a half-smile deep down, we both could feel each other dreading the thought of the exam. grandmother could be serious at times this thought scared us both.
Later that night Varak and I had trouble sleeping. ‘What will happen’ Varak said using Kensei.

‘I don’t know, tests for station one is a few years away, taking them early could be disastrous,’ I said, rolling over in my bed focusing on the wall connecting to Varak ‘if we don’t get killed, then I can live with that,’ a long silence grew between us.
‘Why is she interfering again and having her examine them years before they are ready,’ Father's voice always carried through the thin walls
‘I don’t know she has been pushing to see them for a month now I don’t have a clue of the motive,’ mother sounded worried
‘Strange they don’t know the answer either’ Varak cutting in I sent a mental image for quiet to silence him, we should hear them, but it was too late, they had closed the door to the room and the rest of the conversation, damn.

The morning after a somber mood was around the breakfast table instead of laughing and light conversation,
All of us wondered what will happen today, I and Varak both ate methodically leaving early for school for the first time in a while.
Nothing was said while walking through the streets. The local shops were opening up letting in staff others place smelled fresh food being prepared for their customers, I smelt freshly baked bread it filled my nose making my mouth water. This made me wish I had eaten a little more at breakfast.
Finally arriving at school, we saw the gates were just being opened ‘we are early today, don’t you think,’ Varak said, breaking the silence, I smiled ‘look it can’t be all that bad with grandma, I mean both parents survived and we are in the greatest family ever in this galaxy.’
The confidence Varak exuded uplifted my spirits a little, for all his moments in life he liked the positive twist on events
‘Yeah,’ I said nervously the horror stories about the test when it goes wrong is terrifying. All the information in reports, books, and the odd story father friends talk about never gave it a bad rep. Sitting down on the grass outside waiting for the school to start both of us watched the growing traffic of students come in. I spotted our teacher and gave Varak a nudge, we both waved at our teacher,
Mr. Raven was about to walk past, then stopped ‘what happened, you two are here before me, has something gone wrong’ we both looked at him trying not to show surprise, saying nothing ‘ok, I guess it’s weighing heavily on your minds I guess, don’t be late and if you need to talk, you know where to find me,’ with that he walked away.
‘I don’t think grandmother would hurt us, do you think we should learn more about the praetorian arts before we get there to at least impress her,’ Varak said, my mind went to the library I could learn something new and useful there
‘We can learn something great from the library am sure of it,’ I said feeling optimistic,
Varak face looked like he chewed on something that didn’t agree with him, ‘sorry brother learning in a library is not how I do my best work, you are right though tonight I’ll ask mum and dad what would be the best way to pass the test, that’s where all my good sources come from’ smiling away he stood ‘come on let’s go to class on time for once.’

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About the author.
Albert is an ex-royal air force photographer. He is passionate about novel writing and creative arts, his work can be seen on Amazon and Opensea. Albert enjoys gaming with his son and records them to replay on YouTube.