Origin (Book 2)

Chapter 14

Sage's arm bounced off a misty blue Athenian shield, just like the voice described.

She grunted in anger, then struck her hand across the surface of my shield again. When it didn't do anything, she smashed both of her hands down on top of it.

It was an extension of my thought, I noticed. As long as I could focus on it and sustain it, the shield would still be there.

But that was two-sided. My other senses were dimmed as a result of concentrating so hard on the construct.

Sage's fists were a blur hammering down on my shield. I felt each pound resonate in my head.

With great, sudden effort, I pushed up. Sage was forced to get back or fall down and expose herself to get hit.

I got into a standing position, letting the shield protect my torso.

Sarah's eyes started to glow, but I wasn't dealing with that again. Before I knew what I was doing, the shield was thrown from my hand and collided with her temple.

"Ow!" she hollered. "Shit, that hurt!"

She was back to normal. I reached out my hand, but the shield wouldn't return without me touching it.

I ran towards it to scoop up the manifested item, but Jason ran into my side before I could get a good grip. And with the way he snapped my head around on impact, I couldn't keep my concentration. The shield dissolved into empty air as I was wheezing on the floor.

I wanted to make it again, but my mind was scrambled. I still had another power to fall back on, though.

Before Jason could land a hit on me, I conjured up a plume of fire from both hands. I pumped it onto him, watching the metal skin heat up.

"Argh!" He shouted. He stumbled away, equally in as much pain as Sarah.

Sage was too fast to give me an opportunity to recreate my shield. I watched her lightning streak towards me.

I set my body alight, knowing exactly what to do. Before she could touch me, I hopped to the side. She changed course just as fast, though, ramming into me and knocking my jaw loose in the process.

My head was swimming with nausea. The world was spinning.

I shook my head to clear it out.

Now, I could do it again. I summoned another shield like the last one to help me, taking extra care to secure a grip, determined not to let it go.

Sage skidded to a halt when she saw me coming for her. I slid under her, predicting that she wouldn't see that coming, and hit the back of her knee with the side of my shield. She went down.

I flipped up and over and pushed off of her back, taking out her legs for the present time.

Hoping she had some resistance to attacks, I grabbed her head and made a downward motion with it. She escaped before I could get it on the ground and elbowed me in the ribs.

I was aiming my shield at her temple, but I couldn't take a shot. I had to use it to protect myself as she revealed another one of her powers: water.

A deadly stream of it jettisoned from her hand, and it almost ripped my shield from my arm.

I moved closer to her to get a better chance. Knowing I wouldn't survive by using one power at a time, I held a fireball in my other hand.

We did a dangerous dance. She shot water bolts at me, to which I barely blocked with my shield, and I swiped at her head with it. She would dodge it by an inch, then use her speed to return an attack with a hard punch or kick.