Phoenix Reign

Chapter 6

Elysia Pov

I dodged as Ria shot an arrow that went whizzing by my head. Today is sparring day and I was paired up with Ria. It was a strange match for me because I had never fought an archer one on one.

Because of my limited range, it seemed as though I couldn't get close enough to hit her. At this rate, I was going to lose the sparing match, since it was only to first blood. I rolled my lips into my mouth. I needed to distract her somehow.

As I rolled to dodge her attacks, I started loosening the dirt that we stood on. This made the air a heavy dust cloud and her cough. With her distracted, I ran around her, scraping my feet against the ground to kick up more dust. This made it nearly impossible to see.

I then creeped up behind her and tackled her. With her pinned down, I sliced a little cut on her forearm, signifying the end of the match. Once the dust settled, a small applause burst through the stone training hall.

I got off of Ria as Leeca approached us, "That was very clever to use the dirt to distract your opponent. I applaud you for it; however, you need to work more on you range limitation. That is the reason I paired you two together."

I helped Ria off, "Are you okay?" I asked.

She smiled at me, "Yeah I'm fine. That was a good match."

"Alright that's enough training for today. We will need our strength for tomorrow because Celina told me that we have a mission tomorrow evening." Leeca ordered.

"Finally, we get some action!" Iwulf remarked.

"Yeah it's nice to get out in the fuel every once in a while." Leeca replied, "So get a good sleep tonight. We can't afford any mess ups or we will not get any more of these."

We nod in confirmation and head to our rooms.

***************
The next morning, I was assigned to a special room to train specifically with Incendia for the morning session.

The room was deep underground, deeper than even the rest of the base, to limit the sound and energy from reaching the upper levels and ultimately the surface. One of its walls was covered in iron fencing that protected the people standing on the other side that examined me.

I stood in the center of the bare room awaiting instructions from the testers on the other side of the fencing. The door opened to reveal a man in his middle thirties and a woman about the same age.

The man had jet black hair and a weathered face, revealing that he had been working for a long time. He had warm, intelligent bronze-brown eyes and olive skin. He wore a long green robe and held a tall wooden staff with a pulsing green gem on top in his hand. The woman had honey blond hair and hazel eyes with a small amount of green in them. She looked to be simply beautiful and wore a cute blue dress that showed it.

The man shook my hand, "My name is Ceol. I am a sorcerer that works at the Great Library and I support the Phoenix Resistance."

The woman chimed in, "And my name is Mascwenra and I am witch here at base camp. I use my specialty of lightning to train others like you to use their powers to benefit our rebellion."

"We are going to be running a few tests to discover what exactly your powers are. I see your famed phoenix mark. Do you mind showing me the phoenix?" Ceol asked.