The Raven Flame [The Crown Saga III] (First Draft)

Star Blessed

My knees buckled.

Pain skipped across my bones like sparks threatening to set my entire body aflame. Bruises covered my arms and torso, my blood had gathered into small puddles scattered around the arena, and I could barely look through my left eye. Everything hurt, yet a wide smile still exposed my blood-stained teeth.

"Focus, Will."

I detected the shadow from the corner of my eye before it struck. I rolled sideways, clenching my teeth to push through the stabbing pain. The smoking fist slammed into the ground instead of me, the brittle earth cracking open.

That would have hurt.

I grunted as I pushed myself to my feet, struggling to remain balanced. I shook my head, clearing the misted dizziness shrouding my mind.

The frame of the humanoid shadow before me appeared a little fuzzy, but that didn't matter. I didn't need a detailed view to fight.

I wiped the blood from my lip and raised my fists to prepare for the next attack.

The shadow man rose from the ground and turned its featureless head toward me. Its movement was eerie—like that of a doll.

It charged, moving so fast it looked like a black blur shooting through the air. I stepped back to gain better footing, but the action caused a jolt of lightning to travel up my leg, paralyzing me for a moment as my brain struggled to grasp the pain.

An inky smear painted the air before me pitch black. I dropped to the ground in the final moment before the fist collided with my face and rolled backward.

My shoulder screamed from the trauma, but I pushed myself to my feet, poised for a counterattack.

The shadow man struck again. This time, it went for my throat. Again, it missed by a measly inch as I bent backward.

Three weeks ago, that attack would've hit me. I hadn't had the necessary reflexes to react in time, but I had those now.

I'd spent the mornings with Pangea and Art, honing my air abilities, and every afternoon with Caiden, Apollo, and Reza, working on my physical abilities.

The mornings were still somewhat awkward. Art and Pangea still hadn't spoken about their issues, so the atmosphere was always rather tense. Eos had stopped showing because of it.

They acted like moody teenagers, and if not for my efficient training, I probably would've followed Eos' example long ago.

The afternoons had become tolerable. Apollo and Caiden had started working together. I'd like to think their battle may have bonded them more than either care to admit.

Reza, however, was as hostile as ever. She sat in the same spot as always, atop her favorite stone, carving a new wood figure or drawing in her notebook. She'd been particularly moody since I beat her animations a few days ago.

Reza's star-blessed powers worked like that of a magical animator. Whatever she drew on a surface, she could lift from the page and offer it limited life.

However, the power of her animations was restricted by her creativity and the intensity of her power at the given moment of an animation's birth. Once Reza tired or canceled her magic, the drawings reverted to their original form—a splatter of ink, sand, dust, or whatever medium she had used to draw the particular animation.

She was also limited to five to ten simultaneous animations, depending on their size and skill.

Her animations had been rather strong initially, so it pleased me immensely when I finally beat those things. However, Tarkan's ring was still stuck on my finger. I may have beaten Reza's animated puppets, but I had yet to land a sufficient blow on her physical body.