Fyra (First Draft)

Twenty Four

Fyra was jolted from sleep as the door to the room swung open with a crash. A petite woman passed through the doorway, her slim hips swaying back and forth as she walked up to the bunk bed.

She smiled, giving her choppy, dirty blond hair a toss. "You must be Fyra." She held out a hand smudged with what appeared to be ash. "I'm Tori."

Fyra took the hand, reciprocating the smile with another. "It's nice to meet you." Fyra held back a yawn. It felt like she had hardly slept at all.

"You're a fire user too, huh?" Tori said, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "I'm glad of it. It'll be nice to practice fighting against my own element."

"Fighting?" said Fyra with uncertainty.

"Course, love. How are we supposed to improve if we don't spar once in a while?" She winked, sitting on the bed beside Fyra.

She nodded.

"If you want," Tori continued,"we can go practice a bit now."

"Mariah told me--"

"Oh, don't bother with what she says. Mara's been way too uptight lately."

When she finished speaking, Tori grabbed Fyra by the hand, leading her outside the barracks and towards the castle. They were heading to the same training grounds where Athan had been sparring Cirian.

"Come on; you're so slow," said Tori, who, despite her lack of height, was moving at a pace Fyra couldn't follow while lost in thought.

They made it to training grounds in minutes, and Fyra held in her awe when she saw what was happening in the middle of the thin circle of people.

Was everyone here a magic wielder? If so, there were many more that Fyra had thought. She shoved down the unanswerable questions that gnawed at her mind once again, focusing on the sparring partners.

Mariah and Elias stood in the pitch of earth, circling each other, both poised and ready to strike.

"She'll wait for him to strike first," whispered Tori, who's ever were as full of excitement as the two in the sparring pitch.

"What element does Eli use?"

"Earth. He--"

Before Tori could finish, a vine of some sort shot up from the ground to Eli's left, darting toward Mariah with impossible speed. She jumped in the air to avoid it, soaring higher than she would have been able to had she not used the wind to boost her. She landed on her feet like a cat, a wicked smile finding its way to her face.

The runes on their dominant wrists glowed white with power, and Fyra stared. They both seems so in control of their powers, their emotions.

They dove for each other in a flawless dance, neither missing a step. It was a mix of hand to hand combat and application of magic. It was if the sky and the earth were fighting as Mariah pushed with the wind and Eli's greenery rippled around him like an ocean of plant life.

Tori leaned toward Fyra. "You know neither of the are fighting at their full strength, right?"

Fyra didn't reply, for she was lost in the beautiful brutality of the fight. The feral smiles of the two opponents was terrifying and enticing, and she watched them, unable to see herself in their shoes.

A vine trapped Mariah and she freed herself with a gust of concentrated air; Elias took a hit to the face after Mariah launched herself at him. It was tug of war that ended with blood and bruises. Eventually, Mariah pinned Eli to the ground, and he surrendered with a laugh.