The Promise Path

~ Chapter Thirteen ~

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The dragons all fly through the partially cloudy blue-grey sky with Cassius on Arno leading. The other three dragons all fly quite a bit behind Arno, mostly because that's where Agni is flying and Lucy and Daniel both wanted to fly next to Avery. Agni flies between Terra and Anil, getting slightly annoyed by their close proximity. Fire dragons are quite solitary creatures, especially since they're one of the rarest types of dragons. This means Agni isn't used to flying with other dragons and finds it uncomfortable, but the situation is especially uncomfortable since the other two dragons are so close to him.

Feeling lonely, Cassius puts his hand in his pocket and focuses on Anil, the air dragon, and mentally orders him to fly next to the dragon he is on, Arno. Anil, against his own will, flies a bit faster in order to catch up to Arno before slowing down again and staying in line with the water dragon. Daniel snarls in anger and frustration at his dragon's movement before trying to direct Anil back to Avery, but Anil won't budge. He's not allowed. However, Daniel has no clue that Cassius controlling his dragon. He thinks Anil is just being stubborn. Daniel huffs and decides not to fight against it, since there's really nothing he can do against a dragon that's at least 5 times bigger than him.

"So, Daniel, why have you been spending so much time with coal-face and her stupid Earth friend?" Cassius questions, honestly curious. He also wants to know why Daniel only ignores them in school instead of going after them like basically everyone else in the school, but Cassius wants to ask that when Daniel is closer to him than he is currently.

"Don't call her that." Daniel mutters under his breath. Cassius squints at Daniel, getting more confused. Does Daniel actually care for those idiotic, useless girls?

"What did you say?" Cassius replies. Daniel bristles and practically shouts, speaking loud enough that even Avery and Lucy can hear him,

"I said, don't call her that!" Cassius jolts back in the saddle out of surprise and fear. It causes him to freakout when he feels like he's falling off of Arno's back. His arms flap wildly in the air as he desperately rights himself and clings onto Arno, clutching the spike on Arno's back in front of him while squeezing the dragon with his thighs so he stays on. Daniel smirks in satisfaction. Lucy sniggers at the sight while Avery looks away, fighting the urge to laugh. Her power would be too weak to fight back against Cassius up here if he decided to attack since it's cold up in the air. Avery wouldn't be able to conjure a strong flame, and she wouldn't be able to hold it for long either.

"Shut the fuck up Lucy." Cassius snaps at the still laughing Lucy. She immediately grows serious and sharply glares at the boy flying in front of her. She retorts back in a venomous tone,

"Or what, Assius?" Cassius snarls at the nickname and smugly says,

"You don't want to taunt me, not when we're in the sky you little bitch. Your Earth Controlling power is useless up here," He swirls a bit of water in his palm, taking it from the air around him and causing the clouds in the area to become smaller as the amount of water he's controlling becomes larger, "Mine, however, is very easy to use." Cassius smirks at the brief look of nervousness in Lucy's eyes. He rapidly launches the water in Lucy's direction like a whip but right before it can strike her skin, it evaporates at the same exact time that Avery screams,

"No!" The others' gazes all fly to Avery, the silent Fire Witch. They see her panting with her right arm outstretched in the air. Her dark skin looks a bit paler than usual and she looks drained of energy. She slumps forward, placing her hands on Agni's wide back in front of her so she doesn't fall forward on his large spike. Lucy immediately grows nervous as she looks at Avery, since her slightly paler skin and her exhaustion are all reminiscent of that moment not too long ago when Lucy found Avery in her bathtub with cuts in her wrist.