Soul Stone

Fight Club

"You're actually going?" Kael asked, shocked "What does Sara think of this?"

Zeke had just finished detailing the situation he'd been put in that morning to his roommate, and he was finishing up the last of his homework before going out to meet up with Kyle. Kael was just staring at him in shock, clearly unable to believe what he was seeing or hearing.

"I haven't told her" Zeke replied, with a shrug "She's not exactly my babysitter"

"So you're going into the woods with someone you KNOW has a soul stone, alone, and you're only telling me because you know I don't care enough to stop you?" Kael asked, shaking his head.

"That just about sums it up" Zeke replied, with a slight nod.

"Do you know how stupid that sounds? What part of not trusting anyone are you not getting?" Kael asked, exasperated.

"I don't trust him," Zeke replied "I just think I'll be able to protect myself alright."

"You're an idiot." Kael replied, rolling his eyes.

Zeke shrugged, and headed out the door, off toward the woods. He saw Kyle, and a couple others kids he didn't know standing in front of a dark, haunted-looking trail. Kyle was the most prominent, with his blond buzz cut, and tall frame. The way he was built, Zeke couldn't really tell if Kyle was fat, or muscular. Not that it mattered either way, considering the soul stone basically took physical conditioning out of the equation. Kyle waved lightly at him. "Ready to take a little walk?" he called out.

"Where are we going?" Zeke called back.

"Just a spot we found not too long ago..." Kyle explained, gesturing to his friends.

As they all began walking, Zeke noted somewhat uncomfortably that he was in the middle of the pack, almost as if they were preventing him from making an escape. The trees even seemed to glare down at him, casting shadows over the path they traveled, and seemingly hiding a myriad of potential dangers. After a few minutes of walking, they stopped in an empty clearing. It was now completely dark. Kyle leaned against a tree, and it was with a degree of discomfort that Zeke realized that a few people in the group had more than one soul stone. "What we've got going on here," Kyle explained "is a bit of a club. See, we'd sort of noticed that these stones are designed for fighting with. They're like an incredible sword, and shield rolled into one little rock. It kind of occurred to us that with these attacks going on lately, it's kind of important to be able to use these things to defend ourselves, right?"

"...and you decided to pay it forward?" Zeke asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Why not, right? We're all in the same boat." Kyle pointed out.

Zeke lowered his guard slightly, with a relieved sigh. "Okay, so how do you guys usually practice?"

Kyle laughed at that point. "Well, we usually kind of just have a bit of a free-for-all until everyone gets tired, bored or unconscious." He admitted "Sound like a good idea?"

Zeke nodded. Before he could say another word, he was sent flying across the clearing. He smashed face first into something, but he couldn't see what. He looked up, and bolts of various colors were flying around the clearing. He was still slightly dazed, but he noticed one guy off to the side holding his stone against a tree. It was then that Zeke's gaze went from the tree to the area around the combatants. They were trapped in a shimmering, almost-transparent cage that was joined by the trees encompassing the clearing. Zeke shook off the daze of being blindsided, and stood back up, deciding to test the skills he'd been so busy honing for the past few nights. Kyle threw a bolt of dark red lightning in his direction, and Zeke ducked it, pulling his stone from his pocket. Immediately, he could feel his speed increase. He used his leverage and speed to simply ram into Kyle, knocking the both of them over. Kyle placed a hand n his chest, smashing another firework-like burst of energy into his chest. Zeke flew about five feet into the air. Before he could come down, another blast dinged off the side of his head, sending him spinning into a tree. He could feel the tree crack slightly. Kyle sent a couple more blasts in his direction, and the flashes of light blinded him for a moment as he went airborne again. Kyle stood over him, confused. "Do you not know how these things work?" he asked.