Hallor Chronicles

CHAPTER XXVI. - COMMANDING THE SKIES

Someone bumped into me and I lost my balance. Stumbling through the crowd, I almost get stompted on. Everyone is running to a spot and I watch the chaos unravel as I am propelled into the air, then fall on the road with a thud and roll to the side. Air gets pushed out of my lungs and I don't know which part of my body hurts the most that I should focus on.

When I stop moving, only thanks to hitting something soft and warm, I push myself of the ground to see what happened. Reilly is lying next to me, her clothes disheveled and dirty from the dust. I wanted to argue with her, but when I hear the girls check up on us, I calm down.

Nima: That was close one. Nice reflexes, Reilly.

I realize that Reilly only pushed me away to save me from the insane crowd. Students are going through bodies on the road or fight each other. The whole scene looks like a bunch of bulls running through a field. We are forced to move close to the wall and wait out the chaos.

I bend down, supporting myself with hands against knees and try to catch a breath. Reilly adjusts her hair into a ponytail and has to yell out for us to be able to hear her. She tells us to go fast and not waste time, but I got no idea what the first stage is.

Me: What the hell is a sigil race?

Reilly: You don't- ah shi- okay fast version. We have to run towards the sigil field, pick one, summon it, race. Got it? Great, let's move.

I didn't have time to even nod and the girls are already back on the road, running like the rest. The space cleared out a little bit since most of the students have already arrived to this sigil spot or whatever.

There is no time to waste and I decided to just go, then figure out the rest later by copying people. My body is surprisingly cooperating and I can run easily. I am still no match for Reilly. She is fast like an Olympic runner, leaving us all in dust. Nima is athletic too, but she is staying back to help out Gaia.

We arrived to the spot in no time and it looks like a blasted mine field. Holes in the ground make it hard for us to move around. We have to jump over them to find a free spot with a solid undisturbed piece of asphalt. These spots have circles drawn on top, with a weird symbol in the middle. You can barely notice them, but when you step on one, it starts to glow. The more you stand on it, the brighter it shines. I paused on one to see what's going to happen, but nothing does. I immediately look around to check what's Reilly or Nima doing. Gaia is talking to Nima who is looking on the road and then tells something to her as she points on the sigil. When I try to find Reilly, she is already standing on a piece of the road, floating on it in the air. She yells at me from the distance, but I can't hear her at all. Noticing my confusion, she gets close, flying on the piece of broken road.

Reilly: You have to stomp on it twice to activate it.

Huh is my thought and genuine reaction. Reilly stands on top of the small floating inverted island and stomps twice. Nima and Gaia already have their own sigils as well and I am between the last people to find one. I have no idea if there is any difference to them besides the weird symbols. For some reason I don't like the one I am standing on, so I quickly look around to pick another one. It has a letter in the middle, like someone started writing a cursive Z, but their hand slipped and they messed up at the bottom, twisting it towards the loop, then give up. A small dot is left at the top loop of the letter as well.

I had to navigate through the running crowd, dodge people who are trying to get sigil of their own. Arriving at the one I chose, I stand on it and wait for it to light up. The student next to me gives me a weird look, then laughs. She activates her own sigil and drives away. I lift my foot to stomp, but another girl starts talking to me.