Atoms- Darkling X Aethra Kuznetsov

I am an idiot

Aethra was in the trackers' tent when her friend Carina came up to her.

 Carina was by far the best friend Aethra had ever had but they weren't that close. Their friendship extended only to jokes, help whenever one of them needed it and consolation.

'Aethra, this is getting ridiculous. I heard that you refused Nika's attempts to court you.' Carina said looking at me incredulously

I just shrugged, putting all my things into my bag.

'The head tracker will be here soon and we have to be ready for any mission that he gives us.' I reminded her

'Why did you refuse? He's handsome, tall, nice, and everyone likes him!' she said ignoring me

Ugh, why was she so bothered! Nika was an annoying brat who I didn't like!

'He's not nice! He has absolutely no manners, no idea how to treat a woman and he's such a big-headed pig that I'm surprised that his body can bear the weight of his head!' I said furiously

'Such things are to be expected from handsome men, and you have to adjust' she said as though whatever I had just said wasn't important and I was just being ridiculous

'If you like him so much, then you adjust and you marry him!' I said walking out of the tent

'Hey, Aethra wait up for me!' She said jogging to keep up with my fast pace.

'Look that's the darkling's tent' she said once she had caught up, pointing to a huge black tent.

I knew about the darkling, the people in my village feared him greatly. There are a lot of stories about him using the shadows to slice people into half and about how his ancestor- the black heretic- created the fold.

Outside the tent stood two of the general's personal guards. They were wearing black uniforms.

What was the general's obsession with black? So what if he's the darkling? Doesn't he get tired of it?

Carina nudged me, pointing to the Infernis, tidemakers, and squallers practicing in front of their general's tent.

Show-offs.

I don't know exactly what happened, but a minute later, I was drenched. The tidemaker who put water on me looked apologetic, so I think it was an accident. The remaining people around him began to laugh at me, I felt so angry at that moment.

Carina seemed to sense danger because she quickly took my hand trying to pull me away. I muttered 'Idiots' under my breath and began to walk away with Carina, but they heard me.

'Hey sweetheart' a tall guy called me. I turned back to look at him in an arrogant way.

I shouldn't have done that.

'You shouldn't talk to your superiors like that. Especially superiors who can control fire, you'll get your pretty face burnt' he threatened 

'Oh please, you wouldn't have the guts to even touch me' I scoffed, ignoring Carina's attempts to pull me away

The Inferni guy looked furious and sent a blast of fire at me. Who even does that? What if he killed me?

I wasn't expecting that, and I did what first came to me...I raised my hands and used my powers. I always use them when I'm in danger, so I forgot who I'm using it in front of

The air wove together, forming a solid barrier in front of me, stopping the fire and protecting me.

The Grisha and Carina looked shocked. They all stood there and stared. 

Oh no. I thought as I realized what I had done.

'Hey you!' said a man wearing a red colored kefta standing a few meters away from us. He was a Heartrender. The heartrender was standing next to a woman wearing a blue kefta. I think she's a squaller. And behind them stood...............

The darkling

He was looking at me with interest, and a little bit of surprise in his eyes. He said something to the guy in red and the heartrender began walking towards me. 

I panicked and ran as fast as I could, away from him.

'Hey, stop!' he shouted running behind me when I took off.

My secret was out already, so using my powers wouldn't make much of a difference.

I moved my hands and a chunk of sand hit him in the face. He spluttered and stopped, giving me time to control the water that the tidemakers had with them for practice, making all of it fly towards the heartrender. I felt relieved for a moment when I didn't see him running after me. That relief was gone by the next minute when black shadows surrounded me, chaining me to the spot where I was standing. I tried to move and run with all my strength and energy, but I couldn't. The heartrender guy and the general came into sight. 

'Whats your name? the general asked

'It's none of your business' I replied angrily, struggling against the chains that held me down.

'Stop struggling' the darkling said coldly

I just pulled at the chains harder, trying to escape. .

I tried to use my powers but they didn't seem to work.

Why did things never work when I needed them to?

 I tried harder, making sand explode, things around me at the camp began to throw themselves at the duo.

I felt something warm trickle down my chin. I couldn't touch it but somehow, I knew it was blood.

The general looked worried.

'Stop' he told me urgently but I didn't. I couldn't.

'Ivan, make her stop ' he told his heartrender, who was standing there trying to avoid all the things flying at him.

Ivan did as he was told and I felt myself losing conscious. I fell onto my knees as my nose kept bleeding and black spots danced in front of my eyes.  I tried to keep my eyes open but I couldn't as everything went black.

I am such an idiot. I can't believe I was stupid enough to let them find out.

Thank you @zainrod22 for adding Atoms to your reading list and @Imeralrs and @1adelin1 for voting for Atoms!!