Let It Burn

9 ~ Warrior

A girl fell into the room.

"You're the Hahai?" Cora said skeptically. She didn't look like anything special. Brown hair, brown eyes, light skin, and freckles.

The girl looked at Cora. She blinked, then lifted herself off the floor. Once she was at eye-level with them, she said, "Yes."

"So how'd you escape?" Kittria asked.

"No," she said.

"Wait, is she illiterate?" Lumin asked.

"I don't think so," Cora said. She looked at the girl. "What is your name?"

"Jennifer."

"And how old are you?"

"No."

Cora put a hand on Jennifer's shoulder. "Look, don't go thinking you're anything special. I've heard of how you like to manipulate people. You don't answer questions you don't approve of. Then, if they try to push for answers, you threaten to cut off their flow of magic energy."

"And who says I won't do it to you?" Jennifer said. Her expression transformed from being blank to threatening.

But Cora stepped forward. "Who says that's a valid threat against me?"

Jennifer's eyes narrowed. "Who says I haven't heard this before?"

"Heh. Funny. You don't realize who you're standing next to. And I'm not just talking about myself," Cora said.

"I do know who I'm standing next to. Three low-class Dreamers trying to gain power in this hell of a war."

"You wish. I myself am a high-class Levian, and am more than happy to take you down. Because as far as I know, you can't touch Levians. We're immune to your 'magic' or whatever you call it. To me, you just have an ability, not real magic."

"I can't affect you directly, but I can do something worse. You Levians are always so proud of your rankings. But I can strip your wings away and turn you completely human if I see it fit."

"Now, now, no need to go to extreme measures. It's all okay. Cora, back off. Stop trying to show your dominance. And Hahai, please forgive us for our rudeness. We understand that there is very little opportunity for you to ease up, and we probably aren't helping your stress. I'll call Angel and Iesane here so they can indict you." Kittria now stood between the two girls. Jennifer was clearly not pleased. She looked at Kittria as if she were dirty.

"You don't tell me what to do, human. I refuse to meet your leaders," Jennifer said.

And then she fell to the floor.

Olive stood in the doorway, her tubes retracting from Jennifer's neck. "That should hold her for a good day or two. It'll inhibit the usage of any ability for two days, but she's on the floor simply because it hurts to be pricked in the neck. So I'm just gonna leave now..." Olive said, then started sprinting down the hall.

"Well hell, I guess the tides have turned against you. You're our equal now," Cora said with a smirk.

"How dare you do this to me? Do you know what this means? You won't have magic for two days. The world will not have magic for two days."

"False. Your ability is to control magic energy. That's what was erased. Your life creates magic. That hasn't been erased. We're all going to be fine," Cora said. "In fact, based on the rudeness you've displayed to us, there will be one person who will not be fine. You."

"Cora, wait. You need to give her a fair chance, considering that she probably feels threatened, scared, and likely alone. Just don't hurt her yet," Kittria said. Her eyes glowed with something that was not sympathy. It was the look of mercy. She had, in all honesty, saved the girl's life.

***

Haydn laid in the infirmary bed, waiting for the blonde boy, Maiwin, to return. Eventually, he did come back, and this time with a small charm in hand.

"Hey," Haydn called. "Is personality change a side effect of using magic?"

Maiwin looked at Haydn dead in the eye. Haydn returned his stare. It was the first time Haydn noticed how incredibly blue his eyes were. "Yes. It's actually a very common side effect. It's much more prominent in humans like us, but Levians get symptoms, too. Having a personality that matches your magic helps you to grow, and since you seem to be steering towards offensive style, you're very likely to  develop a fiery personality."

"And what kind of person are you?" Haydn asked.

"Well I'm a healer, so I'm caring and calm, I suppose. But since I use air magic, I could've become an airhead if I chose offense. I had actually considered being offense at first, but I would notice myself getting sidetracked a lot. So I switched."

"What about people like Kittria? And Cora? And Lumin, and Ace, and Olive?" Haydn asked. He found himself naming off only the people who struck him as being 'different' from the rest.

"Cora, Lumin, and Olive are all Levians. They're all weird. Cora's pretty violent for a water user, Lumin is just a normal dude, and Olive has massive mood swings as well as loyalty changes. Ace can change the probability of events happening, so she's very rebellious and you'll find that she does some pretty insane stuff in her free time. Kittria, she's just, I don't know, nice? She probably should be colder, but she's probably faking her personality," Maiwin said.

Haydn nodded, which surprisingly didn't pain him. "Am I healed?" he asked.

Maiwin nodded. "You're good to go. It was nice talking to you, but, and I say this to everyone, I hope I don't see you around here too much. And also, you'd better get someone to instruct you or something, because if you don't hurry up and get stronger, you're gonna feel a lot of hurt two Fridays from now."

"What's happening two Fridays from now?" Haydn asked.

"You haven't heard? Oh god, where do I start?" Maiwin asked himself. He took a moment to think, and then began.

"In two weeks, we have an event called The Realm. It's a test of strength amongst the four classes of students. We're all divided into sixteen teams, then we are placed in a pocket dimension created by one of the older Dreamers. We all fight each other with no rules, no boundaries, and no restraints other than the fact that we have to keep the enemy alive."

"What does the winning team get?" Haydn asked.

Maiwin laughed. "The teams never stay together. In fact, the teams tend to attack themselves first, and then the strongest within each team either ally with each other or run from each other. I've never seen more than one victor."

"How often does this Realm thing happen?" Haydn asked.

"Once a year."

"And who won last year?"

"Well, she won't be able to win again this year since she's out of classes now, but last year, the winner was none other than the Ace of Hearts."