Glitters of dark power twine through Alex’s fingers, guiding the redacted light and bending it to his will. It vanishes, and he stands with his broad shoulders locked. He now wears a fitted workout shirt, black gloves, and charcoal color sweats to match his shoes.
He instructs me to do the same and watches as my aura layers over my Hawaiian Roll skin. Crimson light sparkles and vanishes in a blink, leaving a full set of workout gear in its place, a sweatshirt and tights, with no sign of my House’s emblem.
“Once again, good job.” He claps. “If you haven’t noticed, your magic went from surrounding you, to covering just your skin. Remember this sensation when creating more precise objects.”
“Understood.” I relish in his admiration.
“Practice more in your room, and for now, we’ll start the next step,” he says behind a dark expression. “You’ll need more than knowing how to change your appearance if you plan on surviving.There’re enemies lurking around Rebirth with your name written as a death wish. So, we fight and hone your skills.”
My pulse shoots for the stars as I take in his logic. I can’t argue. It makes sense, but Ethan beat me up and down this floor. What does he expect me to do against him? And I’m still unaware of his House or the scale of his abilities.
Basing it off the one encounter against Gina, I know I’ll be seeing Elizabeth in my near future.
“Can we start slow?”
“No.” That single word births an extreme amount of unease. The confidence I once had shatters at viewing him stretching his head from side to side as nerves cause my hands to shake. “You’ll learn offensive and defensive magic in tandem. Forget your lessons and focus on creating. I’ll attack, you defend and try countering.”
Alex draws close, dark magic pouring from the twitch of his fingers.
“Wait, wait–wait. Wouldn’t it be better to learn one first?” My throat bobs against the vein in my neck.
“Ideally, yes, but we don’t have time. You need to learn the bare minimum of both and practice until it’s second nature. Do you need a demonstra–”
“Yes.” Responding in haste, I try to be honest, but I’m tangled with dread. “I’m a visual learner.” Widening my eyes, I attempt using innocence to sway his answer. He leers a bit longer and huffs.
“Very well.”Yes.“Whenever you’re ready, attack me with your strongest magic. I can take it.”
He grins, taking up a defensive position, one hand behind his back and eyes alert to my every movement. I’ve never used magic for attacking and botched it in Yasmine’s class, so this will be a first.
Alex readies himself, yelling for me to concentrate, to feel my creation and transition it from my mind. I remember other students using their magic as weapons, but I don’t want to recreate their abilities. If it’s even possible.
I’m without any of their traditional magic.All four flames were extinguished by my aura, so we’re trespassing into unknown territory. But he insists I won’t hurt him, and as the fay of creation, who better to practice on than a fay strong enough to take it?
When conjuring an ability, light surrounds us as though it’s an extension of ourselves. What if I can somehow sculpt it into a weapon,chiseling away to construct the perfect tool?An idea lands, and my aura expands at the image reflecting my thoughts.
A bright flash of surging energy flows out of me, casting four ruby, crescent blades of pure light, and I gasp at my own creation, feeling their energy pulse as they hover, surrounding me with protection.
I look for Alex’s response, snaring him with a prideful stare, when my blades fly towards him at an alarming speed. Covering the distance in under a second, they detonate on impact, not giving him a chance to defend.
“Alex!” My lungs burn from an exaggerated gasp, and I race his way before the smoke clears. Pleading with whatever God will listen, I beg I haven’t killed him. “Can you hear me?” I search frantically as hysteria takes root. “Alex!”
“What…Did I say about yelling?” His velvety tone slides past a cloud of smoke, subduing my excited heart from turning into a full-on panic attack. He steps beyond the soot, smirking. “I’m fine.”
The sight of him soothes my pulse yet sparks a rage of fury within me. “Why did you take so long to answer me?” Pushing against his chest, I yell, “Don’t play like that. I was worried!” I don’t apologize for caring if he lived or not.
“You’re still yelling, Kyra.” He straightens the wrinkles from his shirt and exhales, eyeing where my hands landed. “What an impressive and explosive attack.” Turning around, he gestures a flick, and lightning sparks. A slit opens, ciphering the smoke, and it closes once it rids the room of any traces from my attack.
So that’s what happened to Gina’s clone?More questions with zero answers. At least not yet.
“Which means, you can only use this attack when planning todestroy your opponent. Unless…” Alex faces me, his lips shifting into a mischievous grin. “You meant to destroy me.”
I squint at his audacity, boring a hole through those argentine eyes. “Shut up. You told me to come up with an attack, so I did. I didn’t know it would explode.” Feeling traces of his magic dance along my skin, I shiver, raising the hairs along my arm, and vibrations shoot down my spine.
“True, but it took one of my largest and strongest shields to defend against it. I sensed how much aura you pushed out, and luckily for me, I’m not a weak fay, bringing back the reasons why you can’t use this attack on anyone outside a thousand-point ranking. You’ll kill them on top of not having control over how much aura you use. I’m sure you felt the tug from your creation draining your energy.”
I shudder. My intentions were never to kill anyone. Not again. There must be another way to win battles without becoming a…murderer. But I nod, agreeing my stamina drained from one attack and to not using the large crescent blades.
Alex returns my motion, waving a hand and replacing his stainless shirt for another.Right, he hates being touched.I plan on apologizing later. “Good, you understand. Now, try again. This time, bring it down a notch.” He chuckles.
