People are ridiculous. We survived the preliminary and now the school can't stop talking. I scrolled through the chat forums. Rumors. Gossip. Wild theories. Astounding.
Information is power, and that was the only reason I checked. Somebody grabbed my arm and forced me to a stop, I turned to see Jin and Lara breathing hard as they waved at me to give them a moment.
"What on earth do you think you are doing?" Lara gasped and I frowned, wondering what she was talking about now.
"You can't be here!" Jin gestured wildly at the deserted hallway, I turned to look at him in confusion.
"It is empty." I muttered impatiently, ignoring the tension that crawled up my neck and tugged my arm from his grip. Lara palmed her forehead.
"Exactly! The student council always passes through here after evaluation briefings. Do you have a death wish?" She hissed frantically, and Jin was going to add something when the door ahead opened up, and the council stepped in, all six of them.
They were majestic to look at. Tall and confident, with different levels of auras surrounding them.
In the middle was Luciene Crowe, the president. Beside him stood Arin Vale, vice president and Aegis Academy's ice queen with her straight black hair and expression equally frozen.
Kael Draven stood by her side, imposing and cunning. Perhaps I should have listened when I was told to make a strategic exit.
Turning abruptly, I moved for the door, or at least I tried.
"Kairo!" Kael laughed out as he disengaged from his band of merry men and gestured me forward.
I could leave if I wanted to, but Lara and Jin would be punished for it. Not that I cared, but it was not worth it, so I stepped forward. My face in a frozen mask.
"How nice to see you!" Kael continued, and the strength of his aura was almost overpowering. I could see it reaching for me, a black flare of energy. My frozen shadows struck back. Shards of pale light slicing through his aura. Kael grunted and doubled over. And the remaining council turned icy eyes on me.
Arin Vale removed the pin in her hair in a move that was impossible to see, and held it against my throat, the sharp end sticking into my neck, and she watched with what looked like morbid fascination as a bead of my blood ran down the length of the pin.
I would have been able to incapacitate her, but that would mean taking on the entire council in my weakened state. It would activate the dormant fragment in me, meaning that I would die a two way death. So I held still.
"You are the one who survived the rift. Kairo Sable." Her voice was gentle, belying the violence of her actions as she leaned into my space, blue eyes watching my every move.
The council is now trapping Jin and Lara as well. I forced myself to remain calm, emotions were fatal.
[Emotion regulation commenced]
"I didn't know the almighty council cared about rejects like us." I smirked down at her, causing the sharp end to stick into my skin, and her eyes narrowed at the sight.
"Let him go, Arin" Luciene spoke for the first time, his eyes running over the three of his, his dismissal clear.
"Okay!" Kael's voice interrupted the tension that was brewing and slid his arms across my shoulders again. "Why do I always catch you in the midst of a conflict?" He grinned.
[Unusual emotions detected. Disentangle from suspicious party]
I didn't need to be told twice, I untangled myself from him immediately.
He chuckled as he was forced to release me, and Arin kept looking at me with Venom in her eyes, Luciene spoke again.
"Division F has never passed the first round before, do you have something to do with this change in patterns?" He asked, and Jin spoke up for the first time. I wished he was mute instead.
"Yes, Kairo guided us through. So what?" He asked with fake bravado, and Lara groaned as she fixed her glasses and looked around nervously.
"Division F is not going to qualify for the trials. Giving up now is wise." Luciene sneered, the disgust in his eyes for us clear.
"We have never gotten to this stage before, what makes you think we'll give up now?" Jin asked again, but this time, I knew his bravado would not go unpunished.
"You'll not defy me!" Luciene yelled, sweeping his hand behind him, he flooded his fist with black shadows and electricity, and in the beat before he struck, I consulted the system.
"What are the chances of withstanding this blast?"
[The claw of fear: Suppress your emotions and the shadows are powerless]
So I shut it all off. Fear. Anger. Pain. And the world went eerily still.
I put a block on my emotions and let the blast rain over me even as my head spinned from the force of it, and bile rose up my throat. Around me, Jin and Lara writhed on their knees, the council stood behind a shield staring at me in shock, but I ignored them and focused on Luciene.
"Why are you so concerned about my division?" I asked, my eyes fixed on him. Frost against fire.
"Because chaos chews through power. Your class qualifying for trial is a disruption to the system." He was so calm as he made it clear that we were never supposed to rise from his oppression. So fucking calm.
Beside me, Jin clenched his fists. He looked more angry than scared as he sat on his knees.
"Well then, let me make myself clear." Moving closer, I made sure he could see me. Really see. "I will do whatever I want. Whatever. I'd like to see you try to stop me."
Arin gasped. The rest of the council stared at me like I was something that shouldn't exist. But Kael smiled, curiosity in his eyes, the sight infuriating. Luciene was calculating. Scheming.
"Conceal."
Waving my hands, I wrapped us in invisibility. The world folded in on itself. Air warped, and light bent.
The council's eyes widened as they tried to search for us, and Kael tried to undo my spell, but we were already gone.
~~~
Hours after we arrived and Jin was still having a field day retelling the event that transpired to the shock and intrigue of division F. Ignoring them, I brought my finger up to caress the wound on my neck.
I might not have been particularly concerned with the trials before, but I am now. It was the key to integrating the volatile core in my system. I didn't anticipate such an opposition, but it was alright. I meant to crush them anyways, those tyrants on the student council.
I will overturn the order they loved so much, they will beg for mercy. Every single one. All that is left is the Ascension Trials, then the real chaos begins.