GLASS || The Catalysts Series, #1

V || Death Seal

"D-duel?"

Is this the test? Lena wonders.

Lena hardly hears the stirring conversations in hushed tones all around her as her heartbeats drown out every sound there is.

"Wow." Reyes's sudden comment jerks Lena away from the depths of her fear and back to the classroom. He studies Lena intently. "Hardly anyone ever receives a duel invitation from Azalea. She only ever gets challenged; not the other way around. That and the fact you transferred here in Arcane Academy like no other student, you..."

"You talk a lot, Reyes," Neesha interrupts. He continues muttering behind her even as she shoves him aside. "Azalea, what brings?"

"A duel," Azalea replies blatantly, "with her."

She nods over to Lena, unmoving, still with her arms crossed. Her firm stance and stern expression tells all the stories there are: that she is not approachable. Even when she smiled earlier as she voiced out the request for a duel seems like a confident challenge.

On normal circumstances, after meeting a girl like Azalea, Lena will probably mind her own business.

Except the duel is intended on Lena, and the fact that a 'duel' sounds like death.

This is surreal. Once again, since entering the City of Leatia, Lena pinches herself hard. It isn't a dream; sometimes she wonders if she once wished too hard. She has once wanted all these to happen to her — being important, living in the City of Leatia, enrolled in a not so ordinary academy to becoming a Catalyst — but she may have not thought it through.

The road beyond isn't paved with pre-laid stones; she'll have to make her own. And it isn't going to be easy.

Apparently, Lena isn't the only one feeling oppressed by the recent arrival. Mika and Rika both back away quietly to their seats at the other end of the room, Rika looking back over her shoulder uneasily at Lena, as if worrying for her.

"Uhh..." Lena begins, tongue-tied. "Why me?"

Azalea smirks. "Sure, you. I've heard of you from Arcana. I can't wait to see why he seemed so confident in you."

Arcana. Lena should've known — so this is the test, after all.

"You're the test," Lena mutters.

Azalea seems to have heard Lena, yet doesn't seem to confirm it. In fact, she raises her brow. If she is in question, she doesn't let on.

What is she doing here challenging Lena if she isn't the test? She even mentioned Arcana — she has to be the one. Considering the stunned looks on everyone upon her arrival and Reyes's comment on her never really issuing a duel — whatever that is — at all, the conclusion seems obvious.

"Right." Lena clears her throat, trying to sound brave despite her shaking legs. Hopeless. She finds her own voice diminishing with the second. "About this, um, well, duel..."

"Azalea." Neesha tries to help. She looks between Lena and Azalea, a look of alarm in her eyes. "She's new; go easy. If you insist so much, I must propose a partner —"

"Do you accept?" Azalea asks, interjecting as if fearing Neesha's following words, impassive but obviously slightly agitated.

Neesha steps forth, intercepting the two physically this time, trying to argue. "Azalea, we already have a problem as it is. We can't —"

"A duel isn't a problem," Azalea insists. "I hardly ever challenge anyone, you know." She eyes Lena warily. "She should be proud."