Aurelia the Rebellious

11: Ability Mishaps

"Why didn't you say anything while we were watching Sierrah and Storm fight?!" Adriel yelled incredulously as we were walking through a tunnel that would lead us to the arena. "You had so many opportunities!" He was obviously very frustrated with me, but he kept making angry arm motions with his hands and arms. I had to dodge them, because he could hit me by accident. And he wasn't even paying attention, he was only focused on his frustration. I winced for the third time that day.

"I didn't want to disappoint you, I haven't figured out how to use my ability on command yet." I dodged a jab that might poke me in the eye, "It only happened once, and that was only when I was asleep" I replied sheepishly.

"Kindly figure out your own ability fast." Adriel snapped but quieted down after he saw my look of surprise. "M' bad." He gruffly apologized. "I just-" Adriel got loud once again, "I really need to earn the best performance award for my parents" he muttered as we stepped onto the arena. I wasn't mad at Adriel, just surprised at how passionate Adriel was about this, and a little annoyed. We were both passionate about winning, dammit! Not just him!

After Adriel and I finished our short walk through the tunnel, we eventually stepped out into the tiled arena. I heard a few cheers, but I assumed most of those cheers were for Adriel and not me.

I saw Oscar standing next to another boy who I presumed was Tazo. Tazo was tan and had swoopy dark brown hair with amber red eyes. Which didn't help with the dangerously eerie aura the boy was giving off. Tazo and Oscar were both grinning, like brothers who were up to a mischievous prank. I supposed they were brothers, but I still didn't like it. I sharply reminded myself to be respectful of my opponents before a competition. I offered my hand for them to shake because I wanted to show respect, but to also show Oscar that even though we were friends, "There's no holding back here, yeah?"

Oscar was the first to take my hand and shake it. "Yeah, of course." Oscar promised confidently.

"Fair," Tazo added. "And good luck to you." Tazo smirked, then quietly added. "You'll need it." Oh boy, we got another confident brat here. No Aurelia, you musn't judge too quickly.

I looked at Adriel. He was just standing and crossing his arms waiting for this whole thing to start. I couldn't blame him for being grumpy, it's not his fault that he got paired with someone as useless as me. But-

"For Gaia's sake, where are those royal manners of yours?!" I scolded Adriel. Adriel huffed in response before glaringly glancing at Oscar and Tazo in acknowledgement. Good enough. I rolled my eyes.

"Fun Fact: Tazo, Oscar, and Adriel were brothers in their past lives. This should be interesting!" Ms. Mara proclaimed. No, this wouldn't be interesting. You wanna know why Aunt Mara? Because I have absolutely no clue on how to use my ability whatsoever! I thought to myself. I didn't want Adriel to do all the work for me, I didn't want to be a liability at all. Then I soon realized, Aunt Mara hadn't mentioned me! Why? I hoped it was because she didn't want to reveal much about me.

I looked at Adriel again, wondering how he felt about working with me. I shouldn't have looked away from my opponents, that was the one of the first rules Coach Coby had told us.

Tazo lunged towards me, I whipped my head around at the sudden movement. But Tazo didn't lay a single finger on me. No, instead, Tazo touched the area I was standing on. The ground beneath me began to crumble and reveal hot, smoldering lava. I jumped back in shock. And even though I jumped back, I could still feel the heat radiating from the lava. But once again, that wasn't what I should've been focusing on. I honestly don't know how I even fell for their trap, it was a classic thief trick that involved a classic technique: distraction. Oscar was now holding me in an iron grip as I struggled to break free.