War for the Skies (completed) (Book 1 of the Heroes of the Realms series)

Chapter 13

I didn't understand what was going on until a thick vine sprouted from the ground and wrapped my whole body so I couldn't move.

"No using weapons," Ms. Flora said.

Then what am I supposed to do? I thought.

I squirmed around in the trap with no luck. Ms. Flora was standing a yard away from me, still smiling.

"Aren't you going to just win?" I asked.

She frowned. "We're not having a competition. I'm waiting for you to get out. Remember this is training."

I frantically tried to get out by rolling around, but the vines just hugged me like I was its long lost baby.

Then I thought that this was power training. I had to use the wind to my aid.

I focused on the wind again. I imagined it inside the vines, wanting the break out. I focused the wind inside, seeking for the outside. I finally concentrated enough wind, so I let it loose, which made the vines fly off of me and out of the coliseum.

"Very good..." Ms. Flora said and then she brought up her hands from her waist.

Two more vines sprouted on my left and right sides, but they weren't quick enough to wrap around me. I jumped forward, doing a somersault when I hit the ground, got back up and used the wind to push Ms. Flora to the other side of the arena.

It had happened so quickly, I didn't even need to focus. I just went with the flow. The vines that sprouted were still trailing me, however, and were about two feet away.

I felt the sharpness of the wind. How hurricanes can cut through trees and buildings. I slashed out my hands in the air, making two air waves which floated at the speed of sound toward the vines. They were chopped in half, then disintegrated into green dust.

I was slowly getting tired since I continuously wasted energy.

Ms. Flora got back up and started limping towards the middle of the arena.

I didn't do anything, which was a mistake, since she found the chance to attack herself. She started muttering in a language I didn't understand, which made me guess she was using a spell. My feet were starting to get tickled, so I looked down and saw green glowing dust seeping into my shoes. Some sort of nature spell?

I danced around, first doing the running man, then the moonwalk, when I looked at Ms. Flora laughing uncontrollably.

"How are you doing this?" I asked.

"The ruler of Aspenbarrow not only had nature powers, Leon!" she replied. "He was also the best magician in all of the realms."

"I thought that was the Ravager."

"He's more of a trickster than a magician."

I started doing the sprinkler and pointed all around the arena uncontrollably. It felt as if something was in my body, tickling me to do these things. As I continued moving my arm around in a sprinkler motion, I had an idea.

I focused the air to move as my hand did. When I was sure it was following, I started to sprinkle with more speed, as my hand reached Ms. Flora, the wind knocked her toward the left, making her lose her concentration, so I finally stopped grooving.

I looked back at Ms. Flora, who looked just as tired as I felt. I could barely lift my foot, let alone summon another gust to end the match.

Ms. Flora smiled and got back up, which stunned me for a few seconds. Suddenly, she had all of her energy back, spinning and dancing.

Her index finger started glowing yellow when she had stopped dancing, and she pointed it in my direction. A beam of light flowed out of it and toward me. It landed on my chest, causing a mini explosion, and made me feel the same way I had with the lightning bolt, only less painful.

I was launched back to slam on the wall of the coliseum.

I groaned in pain. I barely had the energy to stand up, while Ms. Flora looked like she had just drank fifteen cups of coffee. I pushed myself up, but then noticed that she had placed a giant tree trunk on top of me.

"I win," she smiled and suddenly disappeared, along with the tree trunk.

She reappeared behind the console and pressed one button. The whole coliseum disappeared, as well as the walls and ceiling of the iron room. We were back on the platform which had the three dummies, but without the three dummies.

I tried standing up, but slammed back down on the cold, iron floor. My body felt even more tired than the time I had exploded the three dummies.

She opened the little door of the console again and grabbed another glass of the Aspenbarrow juice.

She limped towards me, so I stood up with the last bit of energy I had. She didn't make the straw appear this time, probably because she was just as tired as I was.

I drank it from the glass and felt the same pain and explosion of energy as last time... and then I was fine... again.

She grabbed a sponge from the console door and squeezed it. Water poured down from the sponge, which helped her rinse the glass, which she then stuffed back into the console.

"So um-" I was cut off when she stuck out her hand in a gesture for me to wait.

She opened the console door again and grabbed another glass Aspenbarrow juice.

"I don't need anymore," I said.

She shook her head, then pointed to herself.

"Oh," I instantly felt stupid.

She drank up, but didn't have the same reaction I did, which was screaming in pain. She just took deep breaths and then finally sighed when the process had finished. She didn't even bother placing the glass back in the console. She just tossed it off the side of the platform.

"Well played," she smiled.

"Thanks."

She strolled back to the controls and pressed a few buttons, which summoned a two couches across from each other. "Sit and rest up," Ms. Flora said as she sat on the couch farther from I was.

I groggily walked over to the couch. No matter how much of the juice she gave me, my legs still felt wobbly. Not as bad as it was before, but they still felt asleep.

The couch was brown and it shone like it was made of leather. I dropped myself on it, not even bothering to sit. I was shocked at the texture.

It was so soft I felt as if I would sink straight through it.

"Hey, don't fall asleep!" Ms. Flora said.

I didn't realize it, but I was slowly blacking out until she had woken me up.

"Sorry," I said and blinked the spots out of my eyes as I sat up.

"Relax, but don't fall asleep. We have more training to do," she said.

"More training?" I mused. "We already almost blacked out."

"You almost blacked out. I just didn't have the energy to speak."

"Ha-ha. What training?"

"Well, your private training is now over. Now it's time for group training," she explained, and stood up to press some buttons on the console.

"So with the rest of the group?" I asked.

"Yeah. We'll have a little competition!" she beamed.

"We just did capture the flag!" I complained and leaned against the couch.

"Don't be such a downer. Hey, do you see the irony?"

"What irony?" I asked.

She pressed one more button and we started plummeting downwards at the speed of sound. I was starting to see the irony in it, and it was not funny.