Tarragon (v1)

Chapter Eleven: Three for Three

-Mantis

-March 13th

Tomorrow, was what quite possibly could be the round that would make or break our entrance into the tournament. We would fight against the Cloudrazers, on offense.

They were wind and water mages. We were a much more balanced team than them. Once again, lightning magic countered water magic. Hermes and I would be the ones with the speed to match the wind mages. Monica and Adrian would help to occupy the water mages, Felix and Hester would make cover for us when we were taking the flags.

I ran the precision course once again, and noticed I had beat everyone else's time. I was number one, now. I had a time of 0:59:132, just barely two seconds faster than Hermes's fastest time. (1:01.362 if you don't remember.)

In the arena, I was on equal footing with the other team members. I incorporated teleportation into my movement, and got extremely good with it. In half a second, I could go from full combat, to teleporting, and I was sure I would be able to trim that down to be completely instant. And, while I was in control of a fight, I could do it almost instantly.

I walked into the arena, with Hermes, ready to go for a few rounds before switching to another team member.

I kicked off of the ground, as the countdown hit zero, firing off three lightning bolts. It was a simple enough attack, predictive in four directions. He dropped down to the floor, dodging it, clearing the distance between him and I in a few strides. I feigned a defense, forging a small sword and hexagonal shield from lightning, before teleporting behind him, and stabbing him in the back with the sword.

He dissipated in a cloud of blue mist, and appeared back at the bench, "That's cheating,"

"There's no rules against combining teleportation, feigning attacks, and stabbing people in the back," I joked, "So it's perfectly legal."

We went at it again. He got off the ground first, and as he was flying towards me, I teleported onto one of the walls, leaping off of it, grappling onto the ceiling, and swinging towards him on an arc.

He tried to predict where I would end up, but the moment I saw an attack forming, I dropped to the ground, summoning a spear of lightning. He backed away, just out of reach.

Unluckily for him, he forgot I could manipulate the solidified lightning items. I made it just a bit longer, and thrusted forwards.

Only halfway, though. I felt a sudden, immense pain in my chest, which spread to my arms. I fell to my knees in pain, and pressed the emergency ejection button on the Tarragon armor suit. The armor folded back off of me, and through gritted teeth, I looked at my arms.

My veins were discolored to be yellow. There was a faint glow coming off of them, and my arms were shaking from the pain.

An Energy hemorrhage is a very rare condition, linked to either Parasites, diseases, or overuse of magic. To put it simply, the main energy channel breaks, even slightly, and the next time energy flows through it, it spills out into the bloodstream.

While your body can correct small hemorrhages in less than five minutes, major ones may take weeks to heal. The severity can be determined by how much your affected areas are glowing. If the glow is faint, it is a mild hemorrhage, if the glow is bright, it is major. Both require hospitalization to survive, and cause immense pain, but major hemorrhages often cause permanent, severe damage.

Hermes picked me up off the ground, and carried me out of the arena. He shouted for help, while pressing the 'Panic Ambulance' button.

I was confused why it was there at first, but now I understood. Adrian, Monica, and a few others crowded around. I wanted to be alone, but couldn't speak through the pain. It felt awful, being this helpless, and having this many eyes on me. I wanted to just be alone in a dark room, without having so many people crowd around me, and worry about me.