The Last of Sansora

THE ESCAPE

[TWO DAYS LATER]

[ACE'S POV]

I circle around Otis with tentative steps as he struggles in the dust to get back on his feet.

"Always stay down when your opponent is attacking from the air." I tell him, beckoning him to try again.

He winces as he stands upright. "What if he rams into me?" he asks, lifting himself up to levitate in the air.

I stay down on the ground anyway. "When you're on the ground, you have an advantage over the person in the air."

"That's not true," says Otis, moving higher up in the air.

I tilt my head and smirk readily. "Attack me." I say, not necessarily assuming any posture. I just stand there and wait as he shoots across the air downwards with his fist aiming for my chest. That is when I push him back to the ground with my telekinetic hands and he falls with a thud.

His friends, who are circled around the training ground squeal with shock.

Otis spits sand out of his mouth. "I guess you're right. My abilities are not always advantageous." he admits.

"No. Whether in the air or on the ground, you have advantage over your opponent. You just need to think smart and act fast." I say.

"But when I was on the ground, you rammed into me from the air. When I was in the air, you pushed me back. I failed either ways. Maybe I'm not good enough." he says sadly.

This time I rise into the air. "No matter what position you are in, Otis, there's always a way." I say. "If you want to ram into me from the air, you have to dodge my telekinesis. And to do that, you don't have to plummet in a straight line. You have to do that in curves, because I can only push you to the ground in a straight line."

"Plummet in curves? That sounds difficult, Your Majesty." Otis complains.

"Attack me. From the ground." I command. I rise up higher in the air and dive down the fastest I could towards Otis, who is ready to attack. He stretches his hands towards my plummeting body attempting to push me back into the ground, but I sway away from the position of his hand very quickly, move behind him and plunge into him from behind.

Once he's on the ground, I try to pin him and put him in a headlock, but he shoots off from under me like a bullet from a gun, maintains a good distance and then rams his fist into my face before I could think properly.

He positions himself atop me and puts me in an arm bar. His friends cheer, urging me to tap out. Otis' hold is quite strong for his age, but even though I could easily squirm out of it, I tap out and he lets my arm free.

He stands to his feet, a proud smile settled across his face. I chuckle as he stretches his arm towards me to help me up. If I took his hand, I'd sending him crashing down to the floor because of my weight.

So I smile politely to decline and get up using my own supernaturals abilities. I pat him on the back with a grin.

"That was great, Otis. Where did you learn to do that?"

He stares back at me looking confused. "Do what?"

"Escape from under me like that. No one has ever done that before."

Otis shrugs and draws lines in the sand with his toe. "It's just my abilities. Besides, Nyx can do the same thing. We train together." he says, pointing to his friend with blond hair. He's much older than Otis, and is one of the kids who lost his parents to be disease. It's good I kept these kids here with me in the palace. I could train them to be Exyclottan warriors.