Twist of Fate

Chapter 26: Almost Over

A/N: Yo. I tried something new this chapter in preparation for my new book idea. Its not until near the end, but whenever you see [] these, brackets, it'll be in third pov. It may even be over full chapters. Well, I hope you enjoy!

I charged through the trees as quickly as I could, eyes darting in every direction possible without falling. I doubted the others of my team needed my assistance, but what Coel said had worried me. He said that it might have already been too late. Too late for what? And why had he been sent to occupy me? I was the weakest and least experienced of the team. That was the reason why I'd fallen so easily for his distraction.

Just as I gritted my teeth for falling for Coel's trick, the earth rumbled, almost like an earthquake, and the trees shook violently beneath my feet. The trees trembled so much I had to cling to one and suddenly I felt a wave of aura sweep through the mist.

It was EM. Someone was using elemental manipulation. Deciding quickly on how to react, I honed in on the aura's source and changed direction. The aura was strong and whoever it was radiating it wasn't even trying to conceal it. I easily located its source and found a battlefield. I leapt silently to a branch where I could see clearly and watched.

Rolen was at the center of battle, as usual, against two opponents. One of his opponents wielded a long double-edged blade and the other was the EM user, earth from the looks of it. The ground around them was cracked and fizzured, odd boulders were scattered everywhere among the grass, including embedded in trees, and though he was slightly bloody, Rolen was grinning. He was enjoying himself again.

I crouched as I analyzed his current position. He was fighting the double-edged sword wielder barehanded as he dodged and skirted away from rocks shooting out of the ground in the shape of sharp spears.

It seemed to me the battle was a little unbalanced. Rolen was clearly having fun, but he was also being reckless. Again. I had no doubt he could handle them, but it would be much faster if I were to just take out the earth EM user.

I set my eyes on the EM user and prepared to leap, but saw something glint in the corner of my eye. I leaned back sharply and dropped to another branch below me. My eyes fastened on the object that whizzed past my eyes in a blur. It was an arrow, I realized in alarm, almost as long as my arm. I dropped to another branch to get even further from where I was almost shot before.

I scanned my surroundings with narrowed eyes, the arrow had come from the treetops, not from below. As I looked around, another arrow shot out of the mist and peirced the tree less than a foot from my head. I felt the blood rush through me. The one who was shooting at me was the Arrowsman of Team Two, the one who had easily shot three arrows at a time in the first round with almost complete accuracy. His aim was still true even in the thick mist around us? I could tell he was holding back though. He was only shooting one arrow, possibly because of the mist, and hadn't even hit me. It was obvious he could, yet he appeared to be only shooting close enough to scare me...almost like a distraction.

My eyes narrowed even more. The Arrowsman was just another distraction to stop me, like Coel was. Again, I was being held back and I felt a surprising amount of irritation at the prospect. There was no way I would allow myself to be distracted again.