A Perfect World

Chapter 23

“Strike then.” Lewis taunts, two large stones shooting up behind me and another falling on top, effectively cornering me on the ground. The two of them stalk towards me, Syven playing with fire and Lewis breaking chunks of rock out of the ground. I step back into the stones, laying my hands flat on them, feeling the rough granite underneath my fingers.

“Oh, be careful. You’re fighting a master with a pebble.” I smile, throwing the rocks around them, the one from above me dropping between them, cornering them separately.

“Did ya hear that, Lewis? She thinks she’s a master.”

“Oh, I heard, Sy. Let’s prove her wrong shall we?”

“Let’s,” Syven calls back, dashing out from between the rocks, a wall of water slamming me into the rock, soaking me through. With a casual wave of my hand, I’m completely dry. I jump into the air, flipping backward to land on the rock slabs, and decide to try something. I make them both look like me, and watch from my vantage point, invisibly, as they battle themselves. They jump between different elements, trying to outmatch the other when a burning pain on my back, just to the right of my spine, breaks my concentration. My hand shoots up to it, breaking both spells, and I almost lose my balance but catch myself in the last second.

I jump down off the stone, a black cloak flapping behind me as I meet my enemies. At least, for now they’re my enemies. They finally figure out what I did and turn to me, flames in their hands, stones, and water washing up around them, wind whipping our hair around. With a snap of my fingers, all of their weapons vanish from their hands and I spread my wings, shooting into the air to meet a silver dragon, their scales edged in black.

The dragon dives down next to me, swiping at Syven and Lewis, gold flames spraying from their mouth and my hands. I switch to air for a second, focusing on my dragon ally’s fire and creating a fire tornado, directing it at Syven. At the last second, I realize I don’t know where Lewis is, and a wave of cold water slams me to the ground, the dragon flying into the darkness above until they vanish.

I pull myself up, a slight stinging on my back distracting me.

“Oh, you haven’t won yet,” I say in response to Lewis's smug grin, “I can still fight,” I growl, a stone wall of my control slamming into his side and sending him flying. He lands a few meters away, taking a few seconds to stand and join me and Syven again. I summon a crystal from the wall surrounding us and hold it in my hands, muttering a spell under my breath.

“Tayake Marayala Jemenakrei Sca’atar, Makafi.” The stone glows hot and melts into my hands, and I can feel my feet lift off the ground. I open my eyes and see Syven and Lewis watching me, curious and worried.

I can feel the power of whatever it was that I had done coursing through me, and I summon walls of black flames around us, stretching 10 or 12 feet high, shrinking our arena to only 9 or 10 feet in diameter. The flames stretch towards them, forcing them into the middle of the circle. The burning on my shoulder suddenly spikes, dropping me to my knees. The power I had felt only a few seconds earlier suddenly gone. The ground is no longer stone, but a thick, plush rug, my hands sinking into it. The pain subsides after a few seconds and I open my eyes. Syven is pacing a few feet away from me and Lewis, who is kneeling next to me, asking if I’m okay.

I nod, about the only thing I can manage without incapacitating myself, though it does cause my head to start pounding. “Yeah, I’m okay, I think. What’s Syven so worked up about? And don’t say me, because he could probably care less.”

Lewis sighs, “Sy, can you explain what you’re so worried about?”

“Later. When you meet with the dragons.” Is all he says shortly.