Rise Of Faeries Book I : Ascension

Chapter 28 - Challenge

Kairo barely slept at night. Her sides ached from the force of being punched twice, her heart ached from the blatant rejection and her dreams haunted her. She jerked awake at the incessant knocking at her door.

She groaned as she got off the ruffling sheets. It was the first time she got an idea of the room she slept in. The walls were a dull yellow, there was a single bed and a small studying table at the corner with a chair. The room was depressing, kind of like her mood.

She opened the door slowly, dreading what was on the other side. She had no clues as to find out what time it was, the room didn't have any windows either.

"What the hell happened to you?" Amaira exclaimed. She was already dressed and prim-looking, she looked utterly shocked at Kairo's appearance.

Kairo however wanted to cry. She must look horrible, she cried until she slept so she was sure her eyes were puffy and red. "Didn't sleep well. Must have trouble adjusting," she lied. She has been doing that a lot lately.

Amaira sighed. Pushing the girl back into her dorm. "You are lying to me, again. Since last night at the sorting, you have been acting weird. I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

Kairo opened her mouth to speak, but the words wouldn't come. She felt ashamed for being bullied the first day she arrived at school, after a rejection from an unlikely ally that she had thought would be a friend. It made everything worse when the brother of that former ally was her escort to her room. How could she share that amount of humiliation?

So she pasted a huge smile on her face. "I am fine, Amaira. It's been a long journey and I didn't come from happy bursts of sunshine and rainbows, stress is bound to catch up to me."

Amaira stared at her for a long time. She recognised the stubborn glint in her cousin's eyes and realised she would have to lose this round. "Alright, then. Go and take a shower. I will fix your uniform for you. Down the hall. Make it quick."

It didn't take long to find the showers. They were ordinary, they had four stalls of showers, four washing basins and four mirrors. All were made with white tiles. Kairo picked a stall at random and opened the tap.

The plumbing was very much earthian, that she was sure. The shower head and the tap were modelled differently but it was the same concept. The water was warm enough but she hissed when it came in contact with her abdomen. It was only when she looked down, that she realised the purple bruising. A fiery rage burned within her as she bathed.

She hurried back to the dorm to find Amaira patiently waiting. Her cousin offered to help her dress but Kairo adamantly refused. "I will be right with you, let me dress up, alright?"

Amaira raised an eyebrow but complied. Especially because Kairo had been acting weird again since she came back from the bathroom.

Kairo hurried to dress up and hissed when she put on her shirt and pants, that bruising won't heal anytime soon. She met up with Cassian and Amaira down the hallway, it was clear they had been talking about her by the way they shared glances thinking she wouldn't notice.

They joined the rest of the students and Professor Mariana, who beckoned them without a word, leading them towards the outdoor passages.

Kairo gasped, the moment she stepped out of the door. The cold wind bit into her uniform and she realised in bewilderment that the ground was frozen and filled with snow, that some of it fell. "It's snowing?" her question had been rhetorical, of course.

"Ah!" Professor Mariana exclaimed, "The school has five enchanted seasons that are determined by which door you have opened from the five main doors. This door is one of the five and it leads to the arena. Now let's move on before frostbite gets a feeling."

It was all so fascinating to learn about. Kairo hurried alongside the group towards the arena. The arena was easily expansive and could house around 12 hundred spectators give or take. It was chilly within the arena with a few staff members and a few students who sat on the first row of chairs. They exuded an air of elegance and superiority. Kairo averted her eyes when she recognised Xaden among the group.

"Now, we are to begin with the KAIST novices in the group." Professor Mariana grinned, rubbing her hands together, it made everyone uneasy to see that expression on her face. It just didn't fit.

"Why don't we match them up with some of us, ordinary students?" someone spoke up.

Kairo glowered when she realised it was the barbie from last night. She felt her energy rise within, like a volcano ready for eruption.

Professor Mariana sneered, clearly not liking the disruption and the suggested idea. She was about to say as much when someone else interrupted her.

"That is a great idea!" a short bald man in a sea green uniform agreed. He walked forward, with the help of a brown staff.

"Marone, stay out of this," Professor Mariana snapped.

Ignoring the furious Professor Mariana, Professor Marobe clasped his hands behind his back and regarded the new students. "KAIST is the pride of this school. They have to be nothing short of the best of the best. That goes for the novices that registered to be part of them. I understand there are four of you?"

There was a glint of excitement in the man's grass-green eyes. "Come forward please."

So they did. Cassian, Amaira, Kairo and another girl who seemed withdrawn. Her saffron eyes darted everywhere and her honeyed hair was neatly combed into a ponytail. She was beautiful with milky skin that glistened.

"Right. Joseline, Brandon and Luc." Professor Marone pointed the trio out with the hilt of his staff, "The three of you against, Princess Kairo."

No one protested or showed any surprise. Except maybe Amaira and Cassian, and Kairo herself. How was that fair? Is it because of this KAIST position she applied to?

Regret swelled within her. If she had known how things would turn out, she wouldn't have joined. She faced her competitors and scowled. The same trio that assaulted her last night.

"The first one to meet the ground is out. Do not fatally injure one another. You may begin!"

Kairo eyed them critically. Joseline stood a little further away while the two boys approached her stealthily with utmost confidence.

"It's that weakling from yesterday." Brandon mocked,he had been the first one to land the punch yesterday.

"Did it hurt?" Luc asked. Encircling her as she stood still, her eyes pinned on Joseline.

Kairo's energy power spiked up. Its radar picked up the energies of her opponents, she could feel their every move and that led her to be able to anticipate their next moves.

"You don't know me. You shouldn't have done that." Kairo's eyes never left Joseline's.

"You are a parasite in our home. We don't care who you are! We don't want you here."

Amaira frown's deepened. She didn't know what they were saying but she knew Kairo's stance. Her cousin has changed dramatically ever since the poison incident and even she was unaware of her abilities. "This is not going to end well." She whispered to Cassian.

"We missed something last night," he agreed.