"You're wasting your breath," [i]Zach sighed as he got low into a stance that would make for easy acceleration. He waited until Marcia was done showing off, which, if he was to be honest with himself, he thought wouldn't be for a while. He took one look at Marcia's magic and sighed inwardly; to Zach, magic was an obstacle he had to overcome if he was to ever be good at combat, as he had no mage blood inside of him whatsoever. Brandishing his sword, he tapped its tip twice on the dirt ground of the courtyard, taking slow, steady breaths. The same butterflies in his stomach that came right before anything competitive started, including duels, came to him; would he win? Lose? Would he tragically mess up? Would he do a single thing well? These questions flew through his mind, and Zach forcefully shut them out, telling himself to focus.[/i]