I gathered my aura into my fists. I should freeze the space around me, even if it's for a second. Even if I can't pull it off. At least I won't regret not trying. At least I would leave a mark on someone like Aurelian.
Aurelian looked at me, low-key amused, while I saw panic in Arxia 's eyes.
"Viktor, what are you saying?" Arxia started wide-eyed.
"FAST FREEZE!" I yelled, unleashing my aura, freezing the space around me for a few feet.
I grabbed Arxia 's hand and started to sprint. But I couldn't...
Arxia stood there frozen, not with ice but like time had stopped.
What in the world is happening here!?
I started to shake him back to reality, but nothing worked. It must be that I stopped time, right?
Is it humanly possible to manipulate TIME with aura?
"It is," I heard. I started to frantically look around me for the source.
"Over here! Look above ya," I whipped my head up to see a blue light.
It was a PHOENIX, a blue one at that! Why is the rarest mythical beast here?
"It is a long story, I assume you wanna run first?" the phoenix tilted its head. A bird is making more sense than I am.
"What should I do?" I asked, completely surrendering.
"Try to concentrate and break your spell. I will hold this kid back, and you and the dragon boy can run," the phoenix explained casually, like we were talking about the weather.
I tried to recalculate the aura output and snapped my fingers. Aurelian and Arxia were brought back to reality with a jerk.
"What just happened?" Aurelian asked, holding his head.
I zoomed past him, grabbing Arxia, pulling him along, and he stumbled from the shock and ran with me, without a question.
"What in the world is happening, brat?" Arxia breathed out, two corridors later.
CLANGGGG
The guards were running towards Aurelian. The chaos started to brew before I knew it. We have to somehow escape without being noticed.
"How much aura do you have?" I asked Arxia hurriedly.
"I don't know if I can do shit without going ballistic" Arxia explained scratching his head.
"If getting out of here alive is our goal, you going ballistic will be counterproductive. Let's keep it as the last option. Now we have to move quietly, hiding our aura signatures. I don't know how long the phoenix can keep Aurelian at bay if all the guards go there." I explain quietly with my arms crossed across my chest.
SILENCE
I looked at Arxia, he was looking at me, amused, like I was performing a skit.
"What?" I asked, low-key annoyed.
" Now I understand why you didn't talk much," he stated like he had some divine revelation.
"I am happy your sense of humor is intact, unlike your aura," I shot back, looking for an escape route.
"This whole pace is a fricking Labyrinth, we cant use aura to navigate. I'm trusting my gut, Something is better than nothing, I guess. You use your dragon sense, tell me if you feel any presence near us." I said, walking forward, pulling Arxia along.
"Never in my wildest dreams, I've imagined that I'd be walking around prison, following a kid." Arxia let out a snort but complied.
"You can't be picky when it comes to death." For some reason, that hit home.
We walked, navigating through cleared-up paths, and avoided the route even if a single soldier was guarding it.
ACHOOO
"What is wrong with you!?" I asked furiously as Arxia wiped his nose.
"I couldn't control it!" he tried to reason.
CLANG
A horde of guards were running towards us.
GREAT!
"SHIT! What do we do?" Arxia said, looking at me. Why is he weirdly calm!?
THINK! Lucas THINK!
"Can you transform and create some chaos while I think?" I asked, looking at Arxia desperately.
"Let's try our luck, shall we?" Arxia said, stretching his arms like he was about to run a marathon.
I have to control ice, without freezing the time, OR I have to freeze the time for certain people and not for everyone. The latter seems difficult, let's pick option one. I had reduced the aura output for all the elements, assuming I only had affinity to wind and water. I don't think that's the case any longer.
SWOOSH
Arxia transformed into a dragon and started wreaking havoc, attracting more attention. Now there is NO going back!
I think I have to concentrate on the specific elements and calculate the aura output I require to make just ice.
"Arxia, move!" I shouted, putting my palms out, gathering my aura. The air around me turned cold, I could feel the chill move through my veins, and a silvery aura started to envelop my hands and fingers.
"Ice Arts: Freeze Wave!" I froze the entire pathway. I was surprised, to say the least. I am no longer surprised that Viktor could freeze a corridor with just a sneeze.
The guards stood frozen in the ice that blocked the entire pathway like a big glacier.
Arxia and I looked at each other and started running at the same time.
"I didn't expect that!" Arxia said, half excited.
"Me neither," I gave him a shrug.
"Arxia, why don't we break all the walls, till we see the exit?"
We ran across the corridors, breaking through the walls. Whenever a horde approached, we executed the same strategy. I knew this was NOT going to end well for me. I could feel the aura draining out of me.
"I don't think I can do this anymore. Just one more time left!" I made my limits known to Arxia.
"Tch! I was excited for nothing," Arxia replied, grabbing me to run faster.
The last wall broke, revealing the tree-filled mountainscape.
We are FREE
Something told me I was rushing to conclusions, and I was right!
"We are in a rush, aren't we?" Aurelian appeared in front of us, all burnt and bruised.
I don't know where the phoenix went, but it sure did a number on him!