"Averin, duck!!" Syla yelled from behind me. I almost kissed the grass trying to get low. The heat of a fireball grazed my neck as I tried to duck, my ponytail smoked as the smell of burnt hair streamed to my nose.
Draken had given us the 'Go' command, to make it to the gold gates. Immediately after we paired with teammates, those fire-bending a**holes started launching flames like they were nukes.
"We have to get on the trees. We'd have a greater advantage there," Nevan, the third and final member of our team, panted as he dodged a fireball. His flame sputtered weakly in his palm. Even my farts could do more damage than him.
"You should really listen to your teammates," Zevian blurted while dodging fireballs like they were a walk in the park. The way he moved, like he knew the attacks before they were carried out. I knew he was trying to annoy Syla, who was on spell-casting duty, trying to save our heads. I didn't need to look at Syla to know she was giving him the death stare.
The seniors picked teams they'd pair with, we didn't have a choice in the matter, and just our luck, Zevian picked us. He'd said something about wanting to see the look on Syla's face when we lost. Honestly, he wouldn't be completely wrong. Every other team had up to eight members if not more, each team member with an outstanding ability.
Whereas we had a very determined assassin, a weak fire elemental, a confused human (yours truly), and a sarcastic senior who wasn't supposed to help until he felt like it. Dream team.
Syla argued it'd be better if we were fewer; the other teams with larger members would be easily slowed down and disembodied if one of their teammates was injured. So fewer numbers meant fewer people to keep up with.
It sounded convincing but as Zevian pulled me out of the way of a spiteful fireball, I was really starting to question the sales pitch.
"It'd be too dangerous to climb with these attacks," Syla said in between spells.
"We don't all need to climb. We just need someone who can attack from above while we cut them from down here," I shot back. The smell of smoke and the snapping of grass as we sprinted through in the dark was starting to feel too much. What kind of school lets its students kill each other on the first night?!. Un-freaking-believeable.
"Uh, newsflash," Zevian drawled, "you guys can't pull that off, even a garden gnome would tell you that." I was trying to be grateful that Zevian had actually intervened a few times and saved our asses, but he was making it really hard.
"You do know if we lose, it only makes you the shitty senior who couldn't lead three students to the gold gates in time" I was so sick of his shit.
"Preying on my pride won't get you far..ave…aviary. Was it?" He said running in front of a tree to dodge a wind spell casually, "you know what I don't care," as if his nonchalant character wasn't annoying enough, that smirk he had on his face made him look so punchable.
A blade made entirely out of water, cut my arm as it flew past me. Shit, now they have water Bender's?.
What season of Avatar did I fall into?.
"I spotted a place where we can hide," Syla piped, bouncing off a tree, but before she could make it to the ground, she was hit.
Immediately, she hit the ground, and the smell of charred clothes and burnt skin hit me. Rushing to her I saw that she'd been burned on her back. Nevan started panicking; his pacing was more distracting than the attacks we were looking out for while trying to figure out how to help Syla.
"Is there nothing you can do?" I asked Zevian, who leisurely rested on a tree, watching our despair like it was entertainment. Syla was in pain, I could feel it not only from the way she gritted her teeth but the look in her eyes, the tiny whimpers she let out when she tried to move. "Please help us" my eyes were leaking again. My hands were shaking while Syla lay on them. The sound of my voice startled me. It was raw, in pain, commanding, like it wasn't just me speaking, exactly like that night.
"PLEASE!!".
"Fine," Zevian said, lifting Syla like she weighed nothing. "We'll have to move fast. There are healers at the Golden gates, for situations like this." Zevian's eyes went crimson red, all humor gone.
"You'll move with my speed. I will not turn back. I will not wait. If you slip, if you lose your footing, I will not come back for you. Keep your eyes on me and let my voice be the only thing you hear." His gaze moved to Nevan, "Are you ready?". Immediately, Nevan and I nodded, Zevian moved. His figure lost in the dark, the only thing helping us tell where he was, was the gold trims on his uniform. My legs moved, faster and faster. Nevan was three steps behind me while I was five steps behind Zevian. "Nevan, move right," Zevian yelled. Nevan barely moved out of the way when the big ball of flames hurled past him.
"The faster you are, the less likely you are to be hit by one of those" Zevian yelled.
Unconsciously, my pace increased. Now I was one step closer to Zevian; he turned to look at me, confusion boldly carved into his face.
Just as I was trying to understand his confusion, I felt it. Pain like never before, squeezing every inch of my chest, like something was pulling my heart. Slowly, my own heartbeat flooded my ears, no sound got in and the only sound getting out was my heart, failing. It got harder to breathe…I'd never felt like this before. This felt like death. I didn't know which one was happening, was it my eyes losing touch with reality, or was reality playing tricks on my eyes? The flash caught the side of my eye, the biggest fireball, going straight for Nevan, it burnt every tree in its path. My vision went pitch black but I could feel it. The strain on my limbs, then I heard that voice again. The Air around me felt stale, like nothing had moved
"Ignis rediat cor suum...na'ar sehen"
My mouth flooded with the taste of blood, as if the words clawed their way out of me. I felt something leave me, something light and foggy. I opened my eyes slowly to see fragments of light coiling my fingers. It moved like water but felt so much like air. When I raised my eyes, I realized I was in the fireball that was headed for Nevan.
"Averin?" Nevan's voice rolled from behind me, he was in here too but we weren't burning up, the flames weren't hot. Suddenly it burst, like a big bubble, releasing a harmless flash that swept through the woods. I looked behind me to see Zevian and syla staring at me like I had somethi
ng on my face.
zevian's lip parted but no words were coming "We need to move" he finally said.