"Bring me my bow of burning gold,
Bring me my arrows of desire,
Bring me my spear
O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire."

-William Blake

~

AUGUSTUS

"Admit it Princess, you wanna feel me up under this armor," I smirk at Rachelle, who scoffs in reply. We are standing at the starting point, prepping the chariot up as other Aurae racers are doing as well.

And I'm proud to say that we have a better looking chariot than all of them, thanks to Victoria. The goddess of victory. Name checks out.

"In your dreams, Golden Boy," she says, rolling her eyes at me.

"How did you know you visit me in my dreams?" I smirk again. She just gives me a disgusted expression.

You saw that, she has the hots for me.

She walks off to talk to Avalkyra who is sharpening the tip of her staff.

All of us, except for Valerie of course, were dumb enough to not put on armor before walking through the portal. Maybe I should learn a thing or two from her. But I am then risking to get bitch-slapped in the face. Is it worth it?

Suddenly two bottles of nectar appear in front of me, followed by the small girl with the delicate yellow wings.

"Drink up, Gus," Lia says, handing them to me with care. I chug them down, ignoring the burning sensation they leave in my throat. And I instantly feel energy course through my veins, and my vision sharpen as well as my muscles go taught.

I read somewhere that human bodies have something similar in them, which their mind gives out in emergency. Something called andrealin or something. I don't know ask Kai of Elle or someone.

But they can't control it. How sad.

But I can't believe they even considered giving up Rey's wings. It's so cruel. How could they?

I thought Zarren was different than what he lead the others to believe. Guess I was proven wrong. And Kai and Val? I thought they fought for what is right. And this definitely wasn't.

I don't know what to think of them anymore.

"All the best!" Lia's voice jarrs me out of me thoughts, "My wings are counting on you."

I smile down at her, "Don't worry, I don't let anything bad happen to those pretty fliers."

She smiles, before lifting herself up with her wings and giving me a kiss in the forehead.

What was that about?

"Ahem," Augustine walks in front of me, "You still have to find the key."

I furrow my eyebrows, "The only question is, how do we know where to look?"

He tosses something at me, which is catch immediately in my right hand, the coin which Atticus gave him.

"General said it would help find the way. Time to test it. And all the best, Golden Boy."

I stop him as he tries to leave, "Hey, do you think we should have just given up the wings?"

Augustine shakes his head, "I understand that their wings define them, it's a part of who they are. It would be cruel to take it away from them without trying to prevent it first. Though it would have been a much easier way out. But no, I don't think we should have crippled Rey or Lia like that."

"Glad you understand," Lia says, from next to me. August nods at her before moving away to the spectator stands, next to where Aurelius and Victoria are sitting.

I climb into the chariot after Meena, which at the moment is resting on one of the flying marble things. I grip the edge title as I try to balance on the sloping surface.

Avalkyra climbs in after me, wearing two sheaths on her back, forming a cross. Both holding two broadsword. She has a mace in one hand, and a javelin in the other. Plus she has that cool bracelet Atticus gave her.

All in all, the redhead looks like a blaze of death. Remind me to never cross her path.

All I have with me is a shit ton of nectar and a staff in one hand. I must look so uncool next to her.

Meena is just decked out in armor because the only movement we want from her involve her hands. She at the moment, is petting the horses lovingly, as Kaito reins them in. Her thick brown hair is sticking out from under her helmet.

"You sure you're ready, Meena? Don't want Kaito to do the driving?"

"I have rode horses before, Gus. I know what I am doing," she says in an irritated voice, before gripping the leather reins tightly in her arms.

"Wait," I say, before hopping off running up to Mikaello who is holding my bag-pouch thing and pull out two long pieces of white cloth. I run back to Meena, grip her hands, and begin wrapping the cloth around each of her knuckles.

"Wha-" she begins.

"I used to use them for boxing, they'll help your knuckles to not get bruised."

She smiles brightly at me, "Thanks Gus-Gus!"

I groan at the nickname. Avalkyra let's out a light laugh, then chugs a bottle of nectar like she's drinking water.

Suddenly Victoria walks to the center of the track.

"You know the rules...Well there aren't any. Follow the white flags along the track to know where you're going. And try not to die! And don't get too distracted by our Faerie guests. Good luck!"

The eight other chariots with the Aurae clank their weapons against their chariots as a response.

Avalkyra mimics them.

Victoria holds up her hands, "On your mark...Set..."

I didn't even hear her say 'Go' before our chariot took off at blinding speed, along with the other chariots.

I begin to lose balance almost immediately, swaying from side to side, "I'M GONNA FALL!"

"Keep shifting your weight from side to side, opposite to the direction of motion!" Avalkyra shouts.

"I'M GONNA FUCKING DIE AND THAT SILVER FAT FUCK IS GOING TO TAP DANCE OVER MY DEAD BODY!" I shout back at her, flailing around.

That is when Minakshi pulls the reins hard and we make a sharp turn, among the clouds.

I feel the world shift from right to left, and then back to right.

I cover my mouth, "The eggs I ate are threatening to come up!"

We enter a bunch of cloud-things and everything around is just haze for a moment.

"If you throw up on me, I'll saw you in half!" Avalkyra yells.

"I don't think she's lying!" Minakshi says wisely.

When we come out of the haze, I see ourselves surrounded by rows and rows of floating waterfalls. The water is sparkling in the sunlight, and there are thick tendrils of fog surrounding each waterfall. It looks like a dream.

And well my moment of appreciation is shattered when an arrow zips past my head and grazes Minakshi's helmet.

"Stop dreaming!" Meena shouts.

"Sorry!" I yell, before closing my eyes and summoning an earth shield around us. A green sphere surrounds us, and all the little arrows coming at us hit the shield and then plummet downwards.

We find the culprits to be the chariot racing a little behind us. Currently there are three chariots in front of us and five behind us.

"Slow down Meena," Avalkyra says all of a sudden.

"Why?!" Both Meena and I shout over he rustling winds around us.

"Just trust me."

Meena slows down and the redhead pulls out one of her broadswords. I maintain our shield as I watch her swipe the blade.

After hearing a shnk, I see the reins of one of the horses of the chariot break, and the horse runs farther ahead, away from the chariot. The chariot goes off path with the Aurae in it flailing wildly.

We cheer loudly.

Meena pulls the reins and we go faster than before, me trying to ignore the wind whipping my face, or the fact that Meena's hair kept slapping me and it really hurt.

"Damn you're good," I say to her as I shift my position a bit to her right. And instantly I feel a stinging pain as an arrow embeds itself into my right bicep.

"Pay attention to the surroundings you oaf!" Avalkyra shouts before throwing a javelin to the chariot moving on our right, injuring their driver. The Aura let's go of the reins and the horses loose control

Was the attacker thinking of doing the same thing? To attack Meena? And I came into the way?

I unintentionally saved our chariot.

That is not the exact story I'm telling the others.

I lean on the chariot as I carefully pull the arrow out, wincing at the pain I felt at every tug I made.

That was when Avalkyra stepped in, made two shallow cuts on either side of the arrow and yanked it out.

Pain like acid shot up my arm and I yelled out, then fixed the girl with a glare.

And then I toppled onto her as we made another sharp turn. My injured arm is pressed against her staff as I let out another cry of pain.

The redhead pushed me off of herself, grunting with visible disgust on her face, "You are supposed to warn us Meena!"

"Sorry!" The brunette yells.

I close my eyes and focus on my throbbing arm. And when I open my eyes, I see the gash left by the arrow quickly patching itself up. I gaze out at the beauty of the waterfalls around to distract myself from the pain.

I down a bottle of nectar and am about to get our shield back on when one of the Aurae from the other chariots jumps onto ours, slashing their sword towards Meena's head.

I bring my staff up, blocking his attack , but then the chariot rocks to one side, and both me and the creature fall into an unfortunate embrace on the left side.

He looks into me eyes and I squirm in discomfort before his body crumples on top of mine because Avalkyra butted his head with the hilt of her broadsword.

She pushes the body off the chariot and one of the chariots around us dives down to retrieve it.

"I feel violated," I mumble, and Meena laughs at my misery.

Our shield goes back up and I see more arrows and javelins getting blocked off.

"Why do I have a feeling that they are only attacking us and not each other?"  I question, as I watch more arrows pelt my shield. The chariots in front of us are moving in harmony, no one attacking each other, but attacking us.

Talk about fair play.

"Make us invisible," Avalkyra says.

"What about the shield? They will still aim here and I cannot do two things at once!" I try to reason with her.

"Meena stay low a little," and our chariot immediately goes downward as our invisibility wall goes up.

"Merge these two together," Avalkyra orders, holding up two long wooden javelins.

"Can't do two things at once," I grumble.

Meena sighs, puts the reins in one hand and grabs the ends of the javelin with her other hand, making some vines appear on them, entwining with each other to hold the javelins strong.

"What are you doing with those?" I question incredulously, looking at the now ten feet long javelin in her hand.

She smiles a sinister smile, "You wait and watch."

We get back up to our previous position, and I chug a bottle of nectar before putting our shield back on. Arrows and javelins begin pelting the shield again.

A few moments later, Avalkyra shouts, "Duck!"

Immediately both Meena and I crouch as the javelin swings above our heads and I'm barely able to watch as it hits two of the charioteers on our right squarely in the chest and they fall off their chariots.

The javelin swings to the other side and we hear some surprised horse sounds to tell us that she had taken down another chariot.

I get up and stare at the girl standing behind me, who is grinning widely.

"I'm enjoying this so much!" She bounces a little on her feet. I smile at her in awe. The moment was cut short when the coin Augustine gave me flew out of my breast pocket and towards one of the waterfalls, which now that see, us glittering brighter than the others surrounding it.

"The key!" Meena shouts, after giving the coin a quick glance, "Follow the coin!"

"But our shield!" I argue. Yes we are here to get the key but I can't leave these to find them with a dozen arrows sprouting out of their backs.

"I'll put a shield up!" She says, "We'll go a little slower, but we still got a lot of distance to travel. Go. Get. That. Key!"

I spread my wings and veer out of the tracks towards the waterfall. I hear a few arrows whiz by my side and put a shield around myself.

I rocket towards the waterfall then go through it, just to collide headfirst with a marble wall.

I clutch my head and wait for the world to stop spinning. And then I look around in a daze to find myself in a white coloured room. I must have collided into the back wall.

Augustine's coin is lying right next to a...thing in the middle of the room. It looks like it's made of marble, with a curved triangle tip, sort of a like a two dimensional eagle's talon, and thin strip of...I don't know what the material is, connected to it.

This does not look like a key.

I pick it up and immediately, my birthstone, stored in my breast pocket begins to grow excruciatingly hot.

This must be it. I mean the birth opals never lie.

I smile to myself before turning around to head out, only to find a large group of Aurae soldiers blocking my path.

"The chariot race was entertaining to watch, too bad you won't remain alive to see the finish," a voice echoes in my head.

"Feels so good to have fans, can we have this meet and greet later though?" I drawl.

"Surrender and I might put in a good word for you in the dungeons" another voice echoes in my head.

"What if I don't?"

"Your little Air Powers can't protect you against us, you imbecile," a hear a third voice sneer in my head.

Wait a minute, they think....

My mouth curves upwards as I stare at the waterfall gushing behind them, "Oh but you see, Air is not the only element I control."

As I finish the sentence, I will the water to rush in. I feel the water fall's  presence in my mind, an endless flow of crystal water. And I command it flow up each soldiers throats.

They clutch their neck with their hands and begin writhing on the floor, and I can feel their anguish as they experience drowning without actually drowning.

I smile to myself as they squirm, but then the cruelty of the situation hits me.

I will the water to stop and walk up to them, placing my hand on each of their eyes and put them into a deep slumber.

Time to win this race Gus.

I tuck the key...thing into my breath pocket along with my birthstone and August's coin. And I fly out of the waterfall with strange confidence.

And that's when I feel the most excruciating surge of pain as an arrow hits my right wing. And another hits my bicep.

I close my eyes to try and heal it, but... nothing happens.

I feel myself drop, and lose consciousness bit by bit as I fall downwards along the length of the waterfall. My arm throbs and my wings feel dead.

Why am I not able to heal myself?

My vision is blacking out, as I feel my weightless self fall faster and faster by each passing second.

No.

I spread my wings, ignoring the intensifying pain in the right one and shoot towards the chariots. The chariots may be fast but they are one-third as fast as my wings even though one is dysfunctional.

I neared the chariot and felt more arrows come my way. One embeds into my left thigh before I put up the strongest shield I could manage. Which was not that strong as I felt another arrow strike me in the waist between the chinks in my armour. I stagger in the air, flying in the most distraught manner as I dodged the arrows before finally reaching our chariot.

As soon as I landed on the chariot, scaring the crap out of Meena and Avalkyra, I fall at their feet while keeping a hand on my breast pocket, a bloody shot up mess as I slip into unconsciousness and feel the darkness swallow me, satisfied that the key is fine.

~

Hey hey! How was the chapter? Yes I know it's an early update, I just felt like posting, idk. Hope y'all enjoyed. I loved writing this one.

I LOVED AVALKYRA IN THIS ONE WHAT ABOUT Y'ALL?

Anyways next chapter entirely in Rachelle's POV.