Awakened

XXXVI

"You're supposed to be dead," Sam growled, stepping towards me angrily.

"I told you she wasn't that easy to kill. You're too overconfident," Caesar said casually, sizing up everyone before resting his gaze on me.

I recognized where we were. It was one of the arenas they used for skill assessments. I walked past it on the way to my own skill assessment. It couldn't be a surprise that they chose an arena of all places to kidnap Tom. They were expecting a battle.

"I'm overconfident?" Sam asked, incredulously.

"We'll finish this conversation later. Now's not the time," Caesar said, rising up from his seat, dismissing Sam's remark.

After a long distasteful look, Sam turned to face us.

"So who wants to die first?"

"I could ask you the same question," Zion replied, his voice dripping with ice.

"Cocky. Seems you've met your match," Caesar remarked.

"Caesar, if you call me cocky one mo-"

"Are you done bickering? I'm getting bored," I interrupted, faking a yawn.

"We should've killed that bitch when we got the chance," Sam said, forgetting his squabble with Caesar to direct his annoyance at me.

"I'd like to see you try," Star piped up, releasing her wings as she held her gaze with Sam.

"This shouldn't take too long. Let's get started guys," Joel said, confidently.

Caesar and Sam looked at each other in pure astonishment, failing to believe that we weren't trembling in fear. After waiting for an attack that never came, I decided to make the first move.

Charging forward, I flitted towards Sam, landing a hard punch square to his jaw. Surprised, he didn't react in time and went flying back, scrambling up off the ground before roaring so loud the ground beneath us shook. He began to shift as his limbs became replaced by his werewolf counterparts. I looked behind me, seeing Zion start to shift behind me too as he growled at me. Understanding, I gave him a nod, letting him know Sam was all his before searching for Caesar.

Star was circling him from above as Joel were advancing towards him. Caesar was planted on the ground, still an unmoving as a fire grew in his eyes. I knew that look. I'd seen it in dragons before. He was about to release a massive burst of fire and Joel, no doubt was going to be burnt by a crisp judging from how close he was approaching him.

"JOEL, RUN!" I warned, reaching inside of me and guiding my magic to collect in my hand as I could feel the fire start to emerge from my finger tips. I flitted as quickly as I could to Joel, pushing him out of the way as hard as I could as I could see the wave of fire start rushing towards me. I released my magic in a burst of fire back at his own, stopping it for a brief second. That brief second was what I needed to plant distance between us as I flew up darting as quick as I could away before his fire consumed mine. I felt an arm grab my leg and I looked down to find Caesar, smiling up at me as he opened his mouth again. I had forgotten dragons have wings. His were smaller than my own, but thicker. They were fat and short, blue with hints of grey. I might've even said they were cool if they weren't attached to him.

Knowing there was no way I'd dodge his frontal attack this close to him, I reached out to the Earth. Suddenly, I felt his grip on my foot loosen as Star crashed into him causing him to release my foot and go tumbling through the air. He caught himself, flying back towards me at an alarming speed. I reached out my hands towards him, entreating the Earth to do anything to help me as he opened his mouth, releasing another wave of fire that was fast approaching.