Cyber Mortality

Chapter 25:

The days flew by as the tournament edged ever closer. Training with Zephyr and DeNyle started to pay off.

"Look!" I exclaim as I peek my eyes open. My training robes flutter as I hover two inches above the ground.

"Yes, you are floating. Wonderful," Zephyr sighs. "But can you maintain it?"

As my concentration breaks from my excitement I plop back down into the bushy grass.

"Oof," I groan and let out the breath I had been unconsciously holding in.

"Up," Zephyr commands and takes his usual fighting stance. One leg back holding the bulk of his weight while the other stretches out front with his toes pointed toward me. He holds his hands out before himself almost like one exalting a god, palms up and arms outstretched.

I, on the other hand, stand rather like a boxer with my legs ready to spring and arms up to block my face.

Zephyr shakes his head at the tight stance he has been trying to break me out of, but it is how I feel most comfortable.

"Show me your air slash!" Zephyr shouts.

I take a deep breath, imagining a scythe of wind, before swinging my arm toward him as fast as I can. A blade of wind emerges, making my hair stand on end, and the scent of mint fills my nostrils.

Zephyr brings up one arm, commanding the wind to form a shield of wind to block my puny excuse for a wind slash.

"Alright, lets see your wind shield." Quick as a snake striking, Zephyr summons his own wind slash and sends it barreling in my direction.

I cross my arms in front of my chest in an X and quickly imagine the wind forming into a shield. 

His air slash smacks into my wind shield with the same amount of force of one of DeNyle's training slashes with his sword. I lock my knees and clench my abs to keep from falling over.

"Good," Zephyr nods and returns to his fighting stance. "Now, let's race." He takes off with a puff of air which makes his robes billow out behind him. He takes large bounding steps which vault him forward with tremendous speed.

I push off with my toes. Running with wind feels almost like ice skating, slipping and sliding across the ground at a high rate of speed. My eyes narrow on Zephyr's cloak which twirls around daring me to go faster. No matter how hard I try I can never catch up to Zephyr. I push my legs harder despite their protesting. Zephyr's cloak twirls nearer and I reach out, beckoning it into my grasp. Just as my fingers are about to snatch the damned thing he pulls away with a quick glance over his shoulder.

His body drops for a second before he soars up above my head height. His cloak fwips in the wind and he turns to look at me with amusement in his mint green eyes.

Unaware of the reason for his amusement, my foot slams into a bush that would normally be at my knee height. A shriek escapes from my lips as the ground rushes up to meet me and I throw my arms out in front of me. At the last moment I summon an air cushion to slow my fall.

"Well," Zephyr glides down to stand before me with his arms crossed over his chest in his normal patronizing manner. "You handled that surprisingly well for not paying attention."

"Gee, thanks," I blow a strand of purple hair out of my face and shove it behind my ear. "Are you going to teach me any more offensive magic before the tournament?"

Zephyr sighs and sits in the air.

"May, you know you can do anything you put your mind to, but you need to be careful with wind magic," he says. "You remember my teacher, right?"

I nod and join him sitting in the air.

"There's something off about wind magic here," Zephyr shakes his head. "Not only are wind magic users rare, but they are often banned for doing terrible things."

"Banned? You can get banned from the game?" I raise an eyebrow.

"My teacher, she sought to learn as much as she could about her abilities. She went down every avenue. Including dark ones. She began to experiment on people until she could stop a mans breath with a look to kill them. Many people will say that magic is controlled by the wielder, but my teacher almost seemed as if the magic wielded her. It's obvious that a fire can burn you, but my teacher would take the air right out of someones lungs."

"That's awful," I shake my head. "Did she get banned?"

"She did," Zephyr sighs. "It took one hundred people to get her banned. And once you are banned there is no way back in. The game scans your brain, you can't exactly just put in a new email. You'd have to put in a new brain."

"Do you think we could become like her?" I ask and slowly lower myself to the grass.

"I don't know," Zephyr shakes his head. His green eyes gaze down at me. "I had hoped I would never have to be asked that question. People won't outright confront us, but we are outcasts in the magic community. All the mages who came before us went crazy and got banned."

"All? How many have their been?" My brows knit in concern.

"You are the tenth," Zephyr replies. "Eight came before us, and they are all gone now. My teacher mentioned feeling as if a storm was brewing inside her. Her magic wanted out..." he trails off and looks down at the ground below him.

"Are you nervous for tomorrow?" Zephyr inquires and plops down onto the grass beside me.

"Tomorrow?" I blink away what he has just told me and try to remember what is tomorrow.  A soft breeze blows the sweet smell of the apple blossoms from the tree across the clearing. "Oh you me the tournament. I'm not sure. I do not want to screw things up for my team, but at the same time I know I've worked hard."

"I can agree with that," Zephyr nods his head.

"You're being unusually kind," I snort and draw my knees up to my chest, resting my chin on them.

"I could remind you that you tripped over a bush because you weren't paying attention to where you were going," he raises an eyebrow, which nearly blends in with his pale skin. "But that would take too much effort."

"Mm, of course," I chuckle and close my eyes.

"Good luck," Zephyr whispers softly.

A gentle touch soft as the wind brushes my cheek, but he is gone before I open my eyes. I close my eyes and enjoy the warmth of the sun and the wind across my face for another moment. Then I call forth the menu screen and log out. Tomorrow will be a long day and sleep is a must have. The familiar feeling of falling tugs at my body and then I feel my flannel sheets across my bare legs. My fingers work the helmet off my head and I pop off the electrodes before stepping up to the mirror. My cheeks are nearly gaunt, all traces of fat I had been insecure about are gone. My chin looks sharper than normal. I brush the changes aside and climb into bed.