The Trials

Fire and Ice // Chapter 13

It's crazy, the whole thought of this entire thing. I still can't wrap my head around the idea of me being able to wield some sort of power, and then again, for what purpose? Nobody has been asking questions pertaining to the idea as a whole. We're going to begin training, but again, for what cause? Before I can really get to think further into this, I feel myself pulling out of these deep thoughts and wake up.

Avalon isn't in the room when I get up, so I assume he's out, probably getting breakfast. I head to the bathroom, and brush my teeth and examine myself in the mirror. My white hair is messy from sleeping, and I gaze back into my icy blue reflected eyes. What am I doing here? I head towards my small dresser and find an outfit to wear. I change into a pair of black skinny jeans, a white shirt with a denim jacket on top, and finish it off with a silver thumb ring, from my parents. I got it for my 18th birthday, for when I was going to move out in a year, a symbol for our family and the bond we have. I debated on taking it off as I don't want it to get damaged, but I kept it on anyways. It reminds me of my family, and that's a part of me I don't want to lose.

I head out the door, and close it behind me, and look out over the ledge of the 2nd floor, examining below me. I see a big group of people in the cafeteria, I'm guessing the rest of my class. I turn to head towards the staircase, and behind me a door opens and then closes. Maia stands there, looking at me, with her soft eyes, and friendly smile.

"Good morning, Orion" Maia says with a cheery attitude and passes me and heads down the staircase. I follow pursuit, and mentally prepare myself for whatever's going to happen on today's agenda.

"Orion! Good morning!" Cameo greets me at the entrance to the cafeteria, with a bright smile. Geez, why is everyone morning people? I say hey back, and proceed back towards a larger table where I join the rest of my class. I sit between Evan and Reyna, and serve myself some food. I spot a few other people walking around, but I don't recognize them. Evan's talking about a party he threw last summer when Cameo approaches the table, and Zoe hovers near him.

"Class 8, I believe it's time to get some training done, eh?" He suggests and we all go quiet. I guess we all feel sort of nervous about this whole ordeal, and I feel the same. "Hey, you guys are going to be just fine." He reassures us, and even though I still feel nervous, I have to trust him.

"Orion, Avalon, Evan, Jack, Reyna, Maia, Arin and Amalia, let's head upstairs" Zoe says in her eerily friendly robotic voice, and we all nod in approval. We all stand up and follow Cameo and Zoe upstairs, and head down the back hallway we haven't explored yet. We reach a set of double doors, and we emerge into a rather large room, with hanging lights from the ceiling, a set of bleachers on one side of the room, and a boxed off room on the other, surrounded by glass. In the room, I see Clint there, and he's standing and smiling at us. Miles is standing next to Clint, unhappy as ever. I guess he's still angry.

When entering the room, as well, there are eight small tables, each with a weapon on them. I notice a rapier on one, and bow on the one on the end. I assume there is a weapon for each of us.

"Alright guys, pay no attention to them" Cameo tells us softly, using his eyes to direct us towards Clint and Miles. "Focus on the task at hand. Each of you need to head towards a table with your own respective weapon" He tells us and we do as instructed. I head towards my table, and glance over my rapier. The same old one as usual, and I'm happy it's the same one. "Alright, your first task is to make sure you can still bond with your element. Just a double checking precaution" He says with a nod, and I start to do as told.

I pick up my rapier in my right hand, and tighten my grip around the hilt. I take a deep breath and feel my hand go cold and the hilt become frosted and very very cold. A thin layer of frost covers my fingers and part of my hand. Alright, weapon and element are still in tact.

Next to me is Maia, and I see her put on a thing black glove, and immediately, a purple aura glows around it, and she brings it to a fist next to her. On the other side, Reyna is holding two small daggers, and her hands and the daggers themselves are engulfed in flames. It still seems like we have our powers.

"Excellent, all of you still have your powers. You'd be surprised how many times people actually fail this part" Cameo jokes and I none of us really react. "Tough crowd?" He says again and Zoe flies up into the air.

"Ready when you are Cameo!" Zoe says and buzzes around again. Ready for what?

"Let them have it!" Cameo instructs and he walks towards the enclosed room, and walks inside. We all await for what Zoe does, and it's not exactly what I was expecting. With another spin, a blue light emerges from below her and a shadowy figures appears, not able to tell any of it's details. Zoe then flies behind us, and floats by the door.

"Your task is to defeat this thing, together as a team" She tells us and I think it seems simple enough, but I spoke too soon.

The figure is fast, one second it's in front of us, and the next it's hanging upside down from on of the light fixtures. With a quick motion, it throws something and it directly hits Reyna in the chest. It's some sort of black goo, and within a few seconds it starts to engulf her.

"Get OFF ME" She yells and tries to break free but it's wrapping around her arms. "Someone do SOMETHING" She screams and I rush towards her side.

"Watch out!" I hear Maia yell and the figure shoots another black blob towards me, but she throws up her hand with the glove and it stops in mid air, floating there. She throws it back towards the figure and it quickly disappears out of the way. "Orion and I will figure out how to remove the goo, the rest of you keep the figure distracted!" Maia orders, and we all follow pursuit. The rest of the group runs out into the room and Maia rushes towards me.

"Reyna, relax" Maia tells her and Reyna does not like that response. She's on the floor now, and the goo is almost covering her whole body.

"Relax? I'm going to die if you guys don't help me!" She says and tried to break free from her restraints. There's got to be some sort of way to get this off of her, but how?"

"We can't touch it, but our weapons might be able to" Maia says and stands up. "Try using your ice to freeze the goo or something Orion" She tells me and I tighten my grip around my rapier.

"How?" I ask her and Reyna is growing impatient. She struggles and almost yells at me but the goo covers her mouth and her eyes grow wide.

"Try something!" Maia says with urgency, staying calm under this pressure. I hear the others yell behind me, we're running out of time. I take my rapier and push it into the goo gently, and my ice does the rest. It flows from my hand onto the goo and quickly spreads over the entire goo surface and it stops right before it reaches Reyna's nose. I see her eyes go narrow and two red spots emerge by where her hands were and within seconds, the black good explodes off of her, and her daggers and hand on fire. The frozen goo breaks off into pieces and evaporates into thin air.

"Thank you guys" She says honestly. "Now, let's go kill that thing" She runs off towards the rest of the crowd and Maia and I follow closely behind. We've got another training trial on our hand.