Aether Academy

A Dress and a Death

I'm sorry is all I can say. Even I hate to see her go. *sighs*

"Get up!"

The voice boomed with barely repressed anger and Lillian cringed inwardly. She looked across and Karen didn't look any better. Professor Sam was beating them in every single battle since the morning of the first day of their training. They were supposed to team up against her. How were they supposed to beat her, Lillian didn't know. Nevertheless, she got up and went close to where Karen was. She offered her hand but Karen ignored it and got back up. They nodded to each other and began again.

Before they could even summon their element, a burst of wind landed them back on their butts.

"You two are too slow!" Professor Sam shouted at them. "If you go out like this, you will get your asses whipped. The Users will kill you before you can blink. Not only that, you will put your team mates in grave danger as well. Get your act together."

"This is hopeless." Karen told her.

"But she's right. If we can't even give her a fair fight, how can we even hope to stand against a User?"

They stood back up again as Professor made her way towards them. Her blue eyes held disappointment and Lillian hated that. Anger was one thing, but disappointment was another: it was something that she couldn't handle. Lillian had had enough of it when she was a child.

"Take a break you two. I'll see you again in a while." she said and left them.

"This sucks." Karen said as she sat back down. "We have been going at it for two and a half hours and we haven't landed a hit on her while she has sent us flying on our asses so many times."

"It does suck. But then she's our professor. We can't hope to beat her. What we can hope to do is work together and manage at least one strike on her." Lillian paused. "Do you remember our duel? Did you feel as if you were going to lose control?"

Karen shook her head. "I felt strong, almost as if I was the wind. But it didn't feel like I was going to lose control. It took up more energy than usual, that's all."

"Exactly. May be if we can do that again, we might hope to strike her. Even if does take up more energy, out there I don't think we will need a lot of it. We would take down what? Two Users at once? Three may be? Even the other Aethers would need the same amount of energy more or less, right?"

"So what you're trying to say is that we should let go?"

Lillian smiled, "What else is being an Aria about?"

Karen smiled back and Lillian realised that that's why Karen was famous. When she smiled, she looked really pretty. She stood back up again and summoned a strong gust of wind which spiralled around her, whipping her brown locks from one place to another. Lillian stepped back and marvelled at her handiwork. The tornado was strong, swift and a sight to behold. Lillian could feel her own affinity calling, beckoning her to become one with it. So she accepted her calling and did just that. Wind whirled around her and she felt it. Felt it as if she was a part of it. The two tornadoes became one and it grew bigger. All she could feel and hear was wind. A couple of moments later, it died down. When she looked down, she found Professor Sam looking at them with pride in her eyes.

"Now that's what I am talking about. I had almost lost hope but I can see that you still have it in you. Are you ready to have one more go?"

They looked at each other, then at the professor and said, "Yes."

"Well then, take your positions. We'll do this one more time."

They took their positions. Lillian looked at Karen who asked her, "Ready Red Nerd?"