Lyan
Before going on blindly into the forest we held a meeting, mostly because I kept annoying them and telling them we should do it, but a victory was a victory.
" I think our best strategy would be to leave two people guarding our flag and the rest can go search for the other one in peace" I proposed.
" But what if they all come here? Two people won't be able to fight against five" Eren was right, but I wasn't about to admit it.
" I'll stay behind with Ly..Arun" Orus corrected himself on time, but I was already side eyeing him, ready to hit him in order to silence him. " and the rest can go search for the flag. And don't worry about ours being taken. I'm strong enough to protect it."
Everyone agreed. Jack, Eren and Frock disappeared together through the forest and Orus and I were left alone.
" How long is the time limit?" I asked Orus.
" Three hours. It by then no one has the flag it's a tie"
" Well, now we wait" I mussed.
" How was your childhood?"
" What was that about?" Orus's question had come out of the blue.
" We're not doing anything and I want to get to know you better"
He seemed sincere, so I decided to go with the truth.
" My parents were mages, but they died when I was little. Then I was placed in the human foster care, but I couldn't stick to one family. They always gave me back. I spent my entire childhood going from place to place"
I couldn't whitstand the pity on his eyes, and that wasn't even the whole story, so I kept talking.
" I didn't dislike it or anything" lie " I actually liked going around, and I don't even remember my biological parents" That one was the biggest lie yet. I still remembered the blood dripping from the chandelier, where my dissemembered mother's head laid. I could still smell the blood, so much blood, and in the middle of it all was. ' Don't think about it' I chastised myself.
" The foster families were very good. They treated my like their own daughter" Another lie. The best ones just ignored me, but the bad ones.... I still carried the scars on my back, proof of all the lashings I had gotten throughout my life. Luckily they had enough common sense to only leave the marks on my back, where no one could see them, and since they had been placed there only I had ever seen them. Those families never bought me toys, or even clothes and food, and the moment they had a biological child they kicked me out.
I had been living better since I turned 18 than in all my childhood, and now at the academy I was living even better. I didn't have to steal to eat and had regular food on my plate. It was so good it made me think that staying wouldn't be so bad, but I was on a mission, and I would see it through no matter what. They needed to pay.
The look of pity on Orus's eyes finally disappeared after I said I didn't really care. When he had discovered I was a woman I had thought he was sharp, turns out it was just luck and instincts, he wasn't sharp at all.
" My childhood was boring" Orus began talking unprompted " I had two older brothers and we spent all the time together, but they died when they were 50. The demons at the frontier killed them"
" I'm sorry"
" Don't be, I almost don't remember them now." I knew that lie better than anyone, so I leaned against him to give him some comfort. Then we fell into a comfortable silence.
I wondered what kind of demon had killed his brothers, but knew I shouldn't ask, so I kept my mouth shut and wondered instead.
They were four main classes of demons: big, bulky ones, magic users, the sly commanders and the high demons. The last ones were the most powerful ones. They could shapeshift, use magic, resurrect from the dead, thought when they ressurected they came back to Jinasia, the demon world, or how we called it, their name for it was unpronounceable to us, probably because we had different languages, and some could even bring back the dead.
The war with the demons had been going on for God knows how long. No one even remembered why it started, well, maybe the higher ups, but we still fought.
It was a pity that Orus's brothers had died so young. Most mages could live past a thousand years. They had had their lives cut short too soon, as did lots of mages nowadays.
Orus suddenly jumped up, turned and held me in his arms. Next thing I knew an arrow head was inserted deep into his back.
" Orus" I tried to look at his face, but he was already turning to face our attackants. They were five boys, all wearing an uniform similar to ours, but with a different crest. They were the competition.
Aether began to gather in their hands and one of them looked at me. Next thing I knew there was water all around me. I tried kicking to get out of the magic water bubble, but it moved with me. I was running out of oxygen and out of time. I was panicking, kicking around desperately in the hope of getting out, but to no avail.
Through my blood shot eyes I saw Orus, now shifted as a dragon, trying to get to the blond guy who had imprisoned me here, but the rest of their group protected him. 'They planned this. We should've been more alert' was the last thing I thought before everything went black.
Orus
I saw Lyan kick and kick the bubble, trying to get out and I was doing my best trying to reach the caster, but I feared for the worst when, through our mate bond, I felt her heart stop.
I went ballistic. I had been holding back before, fearing I might hurt Lyan, but now there was no other way. I breathed fire on the guys and their clothes began catching on fire. Then, groaning the words more than casting them, I cast the most powerful spell I knew. One that could even destroy their artifact's defenses. They had cheated and brought forbidden artifacts that made the caster stronger, but I doubted the dean would do anything about it, so I had kept shout, but if I wanted to destroy them I'd have to try my best.
Feeling as one of their most powerful attack artifacts, which were also forbidden, pierced my chest I finished the spell.
Lyan
When I opened my eyes the first thing I noticed was that I could breathe. Taking a big gulp of air I looked around. All the guys that had attacked us, including the blond one who had almost killed me, were dead on the floor, their skin a deadly blue. I was sure that was the work of a very high class spell we hadn't been taught yet. One in which your enemies would die form within, all their entrails liquified. It was brutal, but better than being dead.
Getting up slowly and testing to see if my legs would hold my weight I walked wobling towards Orus, who laid on the floor, no doubt exhausted from casting that big spell.
" I'm okay" I said outloud, but no reaction followed. I started to worry and hurried to him. I saw the arrow on his back, but that shouldn't be enough to take him out. Then I noticed the blood....so much blood.
" No, no, no, no" Placing all my strength into my legs I turned Orus around and saw what had cause all that blood. He had an enormous slash all over his chest, and it wasn't shallow. It was a very deep slash. I could see the white of his bones, and blood kept pouring out as I watched.
" Hurry up and take the flag" I prayed the guys were close to finding the flag, because Orus didn't have long, and as Jack had said, the faculty didn't care about us, if they did they wouldn't have allowed this to happen. They would have stopped it, like they always did when fights got bad. They had just watched through the spells that were cast into the trees and let them see, not hear, the whole area sorrounding the flags, and still they hadn't done anything.
They had seen everything and hadn't acted. Now my only hope were the guys.
Just as more blood flowed out and I tried to stop it with my hands, which was useless, but I had to do something, I heard the dean:
" Jacksonville academy wins" that was our academy, but I couldn't care less." Nurses have been dispatched to treat the wounded. The next combat will be....."
I tunned her out. Orus was going to be fine. I relaxed a little bit. He was going to be fine.
I was still holding onto him when the nurses arrived and after performing some basic healing magic, which I was still incapable of, healing was among the highest classes of magic, they put him in a stretcher and ran with him to the infirmary.
I was going to follow when Jack, Eren and Frock appeared and Jack grabbed my shoulder.
" What's wrong?" He looked panicked, no doubt because of all the blood I had on me.
" It isn't my blood" Jack visibly relaxed " it's Orus's" He tensed again.
" Where is he?"
" Infirmary"
We both ran there, but the nurses told us to get out.
We were both so worried we didn't utter a word and when they finally let us in we both breathed a sigh of relief. Orus was covered in bandages, and didn't look very good, but he was stable.
I sat on a chair, exhaustion flooding in after everything that had happened. I was so relieved to see Orus was alright, or as much as he could be, that I answered all of Jack's questions about the incident without being annoyed.
" Don't worry. He's a thought guy. He'll be back up in no time" Jack told me after he finished his interrogation.
I decided to wait in the infirmary until he got better, but Jack wanted to go to the awards ceremony.
" We won, after all, and he's gonna be alright" He said.
In the past I would've believed him and gotten mad, but after all this time I knew he couldn't stomach seen his friend like this and just wanted to go out.
" See you later" I waved him goodbye and that was when I noticed someone else laying on a nearby bed, but the nurses hadn't brought anyone else. This was the half dead facility, so everyone else with small injuries was taken to the infirmary on the East wing.
Curious as to who could have gotten that badly hurt before the tournament even began I got up and walked to that bed.
" Freaking psycho. He really did it" I muttered.
Miss Maura laid on the bed. All her limbs were broken in different places, she was missing one of her eyes and her tongue. She must've figured Oscar was the attacker and he wanted to silence her. ' She can still write' I thought. Oscar was going to get punished for this. I was about to turn around when I noticed she had her hand's tendons and ligaments missing. Where flesh should be there was a cavity, skin broken, but otherwise intact, only that now she would never move her hands again.
A notification sound came from my phone on my jacket pocket. I had asked Jack to take care of Orus for a second and had picked it up after going to the bathroom.
I took out my phone and saw that Oscar, whose contact I had only because Jack had figured out my password and added the three of them as my contacts, had sent me a message.
Hope you liked my little masterpiece.
Beautiful, ain't it?
But not as pretty as you.
If you ever want another one just ask.
PS; tell me how you are and if anyone messed with you. I'd love to add another eye to my collection.
Love, your one and only eye collector, unless you're also into that, we can share the hobby, it'd be great.
" Freaking psycho" I said again, but I was smiling.
I sat back again, deciding to wait here until Orus woke up. He had saved my life. That was the least I could do for him.