I feel the blood rushing through my veins, my heart pounding in the heat of the battle. My entire focus is on one target: the enemy. My brain is racing at a thousand miles an hour, deciding on its own what to do next. Fight or flight instinct kicks in, but it isn't necessary. For me, it's always fight.
My magic energy is at its peak. I can feel it coursing through me, giving me the added power I need to continue the battle. My body moves naturally, in rhythm with the earth, as I take my stance to aim an attack at my target. I hear myself shout the name of my attack, and a burst of magic power flows from under my skin; my opponent is down and my hand is being held above my head in victory.
"Alright, good practice today!" a voice echoes from next to me. I shake my head from the intensity of training. I'd really gotten into it today. "Nice work, Aiden," Erza Scarlet praises. "Knocked down Elfman on your first try. You've really improved."
"Erza's right, you fought like a real man!" Elfman Strauss chimes in, clenching his ginormous fist and grinning.
"Thanks," I say, rubbing the back of my neck, a little nervous from the unnecessary praise. I don't think I had done that well. It had felt like just an ordinary practice.
"Keep that up and you'll be making S-class in no time," Gray Fullbuster tells me, patting me on the back as he walks past.
"Yeah, alright," I say evenly. "Thanks for training with me today. I'd better get back to the guild; I promised my friend I'd meet her for lunch."
"Sure thing," Natsu Dragneel says. "See you later."
I exit the training area and head back to the guild hall. "Where have you been?" my friend Kage scolds as I sit across from her. "I've been waiting almost 2 hours."
"Sorry," I apologize, wincing. "Sorry, I was training all morning," I say. "Time got away from me."
She sighs. "That's alright. I know how much making S-class means to you. Have you improved at all?"
"Everyone says I have. But to be completely honest, I don't feel like I have at all," I admit glumly, shrugging. "Maybe my magic type isn't cut out to be as strong as S-class."
"You're a dragon slayer. I think it's impossible for you not to make S-class," she points out.
"I understand fire dragon slayers, and pretty much every other type of dragon slayer magic can be powerful, but ice? Even Gray's maker magic is stronger than mine will ever be."
"Don't say that," she tells me. "I'm sure you're stronger than over half the people in this guild."
I scoff, rolling my eyes. "Sure, whatever you say."
-
After lunch, I go back home to my apartment to rest. After training pretty much nonstop since the nomination of the S-class trials a week ago, I haven't been able to catch my breath. Not to mention I was chosen along with the other seven strongest members of Fairy Tail who haven't made S-class yet. Which, I have all challenged before, and lost to all of them. I could tell this was going to turn out fantastic for me.
After a while, I begin to doze off but I jump awake when I hear a knock on my door.
"Aiden?" a soft voice calls from the other side. I look out my window. It's already nightfall. I'd missed a whole afternoon of training.
"Come in," I say, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.
It's Shiro. She steps in and closes the door behind her gently. "You weren't at dinner in the guild hall," she points out. "I wanted to check to make sure you were okay."
"Yeah, I'm fine," I say. "I guess I just fell asleep during my break."
"Oh, okay. How's training going for you?"
"Okay, I guess?" I sigh, picking at the bandages wrapped around my wrists and forearms under the sleeve of my sweatshirt. "I don't know. I don't feel like I'm improving. And if I don't improve, there's no possible chance I could ever make it through the first round of the trials."
"That's okay," she says sweetly. "You'll get there eventually. And even if you don't make it this year, there's always next year. By the way, you should stop picking at those bandages. You'll make them bleed again."
I drop my hands down from my arms and sigh. "Yeah, I guess so. If not this year, maybe I can take you on next year," I smirk. Shiro hadn't been nominated for S-class this year, even though it's obvious she's stronger than me as well. She's a white dragon slayer and quite frankly could beat the snot out of anyone any day. I think she gets it from her dad, Sting Eucliffe. But her personality doesn't match her power at all, which probably comes from her mother, Yukino.
Shiro Eucliffe smiles. "Thanks, but it's not in my biggest ambition to make S-class, unlike you," she says.
"I guess you're right. Well, I have training tomorrow morning, so I'd better get to bed," I say, as an indirect and nice way to say she should leave. I'd prefer to be alone.
"Alright. Good luck, Aiden." She turns around and closes the door softly behind her as she leaves.
I pull off my sweatshirt, revealing my wrapped forearms. Shiro was right, I'd made them bleed again. I soak a cloth with water and unwrap them, revealing my scars and burns from a mistake made two years ago. I set the cloth on one of my arms, relaxing at the cool relief. Only several people know about this; Shiro is among one of them, of course.
When my dragon, Koriyu, disappeared when I was little, an S-class Fairy Tail wizard named Iyamai took me in. She was pretty much my new mother. One day, she went on a job by herself and never returned. Being my stupid 15-year-old self, I decided to take it upon myself to go look for her. Unfortunately, I'd run into the problem she was supposed to solve, and I'd barely escaped with my life. And to make it worse, about a month ago was when the news came that Iyamai had been killed on that job. That's when I officially joined Fairy Tail and made it my goal to make S-class to avenge her, even if I die trying.
Don't worry, Iyamai, I think to myself. I'm coming.