Sora Brontarion
Malicious cosmic energy filled the air, making my skin crawl.
"We're in trouble, aren't we?" Voen asked, teeth chattering.
"Voen not now. How much cosmic energy do you have left?"
"Enough to use my flute two more times."
Looking at the totem storage, Nerena was still working on the cosmic lock.
"We gotta give Nerena more time."
The ground beneath us began to rumble, cracks split the earth as the surface started to rise. The rocks flew toward Mira as she frantically gasped for air, while trying to break free from the War Titan. Two rocks slammed into War Titan's head, causing him to stagger.
Taking advantage of the titan's weakening grip, earth protruded from the ground enveloping Mira. Standing fifteen tall, Mira donned a rocky armor resembling a golem. With her cosmic energy erupting from the golem, Mira charged toward the Titan.
Hurtling through the air, the War Titan met Mira's attack. The shockwave from their clash made me stumble, forcing me to brace myself against the jagged boulder beside me.
Mira's rocky armor was clunky, but it provided a needed barrier to the War Titan's immense strength. The Vortaris were known for their prowess in hand-to-hand combat. It was rumored that their toddlers were sparing as soon as they were walking age.
No clan came close in that aspect.
I'd never seen a Vortaris fight close up. But now I understand why our father and the elders insist we change our combat curriculum. We were falling behind.
I wanted to help Mira, but I couldn't tell if it was because of my disdain for the Vortaris or to win her over.
Suddenly, desperation crept into my psyche, but it wasn't mine. Before I could find the source, shadows loomed over us. Two of Stravos's lackeys were descending on us.
Voen and I darted away from the impact zone and went on the offensive.
Sprinting toward the boy, I had my hand charged with electricity, imbuing the feeling of sadness. But just as I was about to land my strike, the boy's arm changed color while blocking my attack.
Our eyes met for a moment. Pain radiated from my palm down my entire arm. It felt like I hit something made of steel.
Before I could fully understand what happened, another metallic arm came swinging for my face. Jumping backwards, I barely dodged the attack.
Now that there was distance between the attacker and me, I understood what I had struck earlier. The student I was fighting was a starbound connected to the Iron Warden Constellation.
This was a mismatch for me.
I was going to have a difficult time getting through that defense. But I couldn't let myself falter.
"Leaders have to shine through adversity," I whispered.
Taking a deep breath, I donned a full cowl of lightning and attacked my opponent. This time it was a head-on assault.
The advantage I had was speed.
With an aggressive forward lean, I let my hand coated in lightning drag against the ground as I circled the Iron Warden user. Debris and rubble flew into the air, creating a wall of dust that blocked the students' sight of me.
Using the cover, I darted back and forth, attacking the joints the iron skin didn't cover. But the kid was sturdy. He was used to the punishment. No, he relished it.
"That tickled. Is that all you got?"
In this moment, I felt like an embarrassment to my family. A branch member of the Vortaris was stalemating me. I continued to circle my opponent, until I caught a glimpse of Voen; he was struggling to stand on his two feet. His opponent was too great a combatant for him.
I darted toward the back of the boy fighting Voen. Voen's eyes grew wide when he saw my approach.
His opponent caught wind and turned toward me, preparing to counter with a backfist. I ducked underneath and threw all my weight into a kick aimed at his knee.
This member wasn't reinforced by iron, so he buckled, opening him for a strike to the face from Voen's flute.
"Thank the Pantheon Sor-" But before Voen could finish, I was sent hurtling into one of the boulders. A rib cracked. My entire chest tightened up. I could barely breathe.
"You Brontarions are really weak. Stravos was right." The lackey said, approaching me, ignoring Voen. My wrist started to vibrate. I didn't know if I was hallucinating, but when I looked down, it was my watch. Our Totem count was growing.
I quickly scanned the terrain, and finally, my eyes landed on Nerena's flickering camouflage. She was low on cosmic energy. We had asked a lot of her. Maintaining that state on top of keeping the bubbles manifested in the river took a lot of focus and cosmic energy.
"Voen now!" I yelled while evading the branch member's attack. Rolling out of the way, a concussive wave of sound blew past me and slammed the Iron Warden starbound into a nearby rock.
Grabbing my hand, Voen pulled me off the ground. "Come on, let's get out of here."
With haste, Voen and I chased after Nerena to the river.
I looked over my shoulder, knowing I shouldn't. Part of me couldn't believe our plan was actually working. But when I looked back, the War Titan had slammed its fist through Mira's golem, causing it to crumble.
Before I knew it, Mira was slammed into the earth, then the Titan turned its attention toward us.
"Sparks! The Titan is on us Voen" I yelled, pointing back at the living armor.
"Voen, when I give the signal, use your last shot," he nodded as we continued to the river. I looked ahead, and Nerena had jumped into the water and started creating air bubbles for us.
Timing was crucial. If I had Voen use his last shot too early, it wouldn't have the effectiveness that we needed. The closer his sound wave is to the target, the more damage it does.
The time finally came. "Voen now." As Voen used his last shot, I charged an orb of electricity and launched it at the defenseless living armor. Not waiting to watch the Titan hit the ground, I jumped into the bubbles Nerena created.
The world turned blue as Nerena pulled us through the river.
"We did it," I yelled to myself, "we really did it."
There wasn't much time in the game. Only fifteen minutes left. I let my body relax; no one would be able to catch up to us. The idea of winning the very first challenge at the academy made me feel electric.
My group and I weren't the strongest physically, but we worked together and overcame odds to prevail—something I wanted to prove to myself and to the rest of the students at the academy.
If I were going to change the ways of our clan, I needed to gain the respect of others. Something the clan elders, along with my father, did not have towards me.
I took a glance at Voen. I expected him to be relaxed, but he wasn't. He was frantically pointing down.
I couldn't understand why, and there was no way to hear him over the roaring waters of the river.
Voen was a jokester, but this wasn't one of those times. I could feel it.
Paying attention to the dirt of the riverbed. I started to understand what he was saying.
Something was coming, and it was coming fast.
Before we knew it, the ground started to bulge.