Essence

Chapter One

"Christi, watch out!"

The heavy weight of Kingston Nguyen landing on top of me was enough to knock the wind from my lungs. Were he a second later, and I would've gotten decapitated by the flying tree that now crashed into the forest terrain behind us.

"Hey! Watch it, Jeanne." I shoved King off me and straightened. "I'm not the target, remember?"

"Sorry, Cris." Jeanne pulled big eyes at me and turned back to her opponent.

It was cruel and ruthless to set a newbie up against Dwayne; who was undoubtedly the best Able fighter we had in school. I would've defended the poor girl, but it was way more fun to see Dwayne in action.

She wanted to prove she was worthy of Kings of Emerald, our underground boxing club, and we didn't want her in it. Jeanne Baker's parents were very high-up Council members and socializing with her would only bring trouble our way.

"Sure you don't want to give up, newbie?" Dwayne taunted, circling the girl like an animal on a hunt. "No harm no foul, right?"

Jeanne snarled viciously. "Wrong."

Dwayne was an excellent Able, with many powerful skills; one of which was hand-to-hand combat. It took him only a moment to send her to the ground, and she quickly lost all patience.

With a few twists of her hand, Jeanne make a bunch of pebbles from the cliff break off and fly at Dwayne like mini-missiles. He dodged it easily and used her own weapons against her. Now, the mini missiles were heading back around to Jeanne at an invisible speed and, unfortunately for all of us, she didn't dodge them.

Her loud shrieks echoed through the silent midday as the pebbles found its target. Shallow cuts formed on her fair skin and she crumpled on the ground with a whimper, cradling her arm which had taken most of the damage.

Our many spectators busted into loud laughter and cheers for Dwayne's unsurprising victory. He'd yet to meet his match in a magic-to-magic combat.

Being able to copy most powers had a big impact on his undefeated record.

I made a face at Jeanne's blood and rushed closer, looking carefully at her wounds. The cuts were simple gone-in-a-week injuries, but my guess was that this girl hadn't gotten a lot of bleeding time on her chart. To us, this was a walk on the beach (one that Headmaster Bolt did not know of). Though, sadly Jeanne was very protected, even.within the school grounds.

"Are you okay?" I asked, crouched in front of her.

Behind me, our friends continued to mock and taunt her with laughter. No one in our club cared much for injuries, especially not ones like Jeanne's.

"He did that on purpose." She sniffed, tears stainimg her cheeks.

"Oh please, it's not that bad." Dwayne snorted irritated. "Besides, you knew the risks when you agreed to battle me."

I gave him a warning look. This was going to cause a lot of trouble with Bolt of Jeanne spilled her guts. He was going to be pissed - with a capital P-I-S-S-E-D.

While I was thinking of a magical solution for this problem, Jeanne came up with her own solution. Before I quite knew what was happening, Dwayne went down like a pillar; agony written all over his pale face.

There was a thick branch sticking from his gut, blood leaking down his bare torso. It was a horrible sight to see.

"Hey! That's cheating!" King exclaimed angrily and, suddenly, Jeanne was the one in pain.

She screamed bloody murder, withering on the sandy beach.

Trees began to shake and cliffs began to break, as both of them lost complete control in their agonized states. In a moment of panic, I did the only thing I could currently think of - I elbowed her at the base of her neck and sent her limply to the wet sand. Unconscious.

"Everyone, scramble!"

There was no hesitation on the silent crowd's part and they quickly disappeared into various directions.

Angrily, I turned a glare towards my friend. My friend who had the power to either provide great happiness or great pain on a whimsical glance.

"What the hell are you thinking? You can't use your ability on her."

"You're the one that knocked her out!" King quickly defended.

"Uh, maybe because she was about to uproot the entire forest." I argued, and even so the guilt was seeping into my limbs.

This was a very, very bad idea.