User: infinitywordlover

Name: Crysalis

“That was AMAZING! That’s exactly what you have to do! Now, I think you’re ready,” my personal trainer, Ariadne is saying.

“Ready for what?”

“You’re ready to spar.”

“No,” I say adamantly. I am not about to force myself through the embarrassment of a public fight.

“Yes, it’s the only way you will find out how you match up against the others,” she says equally stubbornly. “You’re going whether you want to or not.” Her eyes sparkle with electricity and I realize too late what she’s about to do. A bolt of electricity slams the air next to me and I can feel a couple of hairs get singed. Then a ball of water comes hurtling toward from out of nowhere and my eyes widen.

“Ok, ok! I’m going!” I say holding up my hands in panicked surrender. The ball of water stops a few inches from my nose, and I back away hastily toward the exit. The water follows me, herding me toward the exit, and only when I leave does the ball stop.  Sticking my tongue out towards Ariadne in an incredibly immature action, I walk down the hall towards the sparring room. My stomach feels like it’s playing cat’s cradle and I wonder in fear at my competitors.

What if the person I sparred beat me to dust? What if I didn’t get allies? What if…

I’m so immersed in my thoughts that I don’t notice the figure that had appeared from one of the other doors. Slamming into what felt to me, a rock solid wall, I fall flat on my butt. I sigh thinking that I haven’t even made it to the sparring center and I’ve already been knocked down. Squinting upwards at the rock wall, I realize that it was not a rock wall but in fact a person.

“Woah, are you alright?” a tall, blond boy says holding out a strong, muscular arm.

“Yeah, haha, I’m just really clumsy.” No I wasn’t. Why did I say that?! He pulls me up easily, when I’m standing, I realize just how tall he is. I’m at a perfectly decent height, but even so he stretches far above me. “Sorry,” I say again, embarrassed ducking my head. I feel a blush growing on my cheeks and it gives me a shock when I realize why. He is incredibly good looking.

“It’s fine. Er…do you mind me asking, do I know you?” he asks uncertainly. My head jerks up and I meet his gaze. His eyes are a shocking shade of blue-grey. They remind me of the clouds that roll in right before a spring storm, and a chill of familiarity runs down my spine.

A little girl cowers in front of lockers—little-me, her eyes wide in fear as the bullies approach.

“Freak!” one yells. “I know you caused that storm!” 

“I-I d-didn’t!” the girl squeals. Now, I remember the odd times when storms and freak weather would happen when I was in a high temper. Even if my powers didn’t come in until I was ten, my power would still burst out of me unpredictably and uncontrollably when I was younger.

One boy steps forward slamming his fist into jaw and she falls sideways her mouth bleeding.

“Show us again!”

“I didn’t do it!” she yells.

“Liar! This always happens when you get mad. I’ve noticed.”
She screams again as he advances, his eyes deadly. Suddenly, he stumbles and gives out a yell. The little girl watches in awe and confusion at the events taking place. She knows that she is not responsible for the spell.

“My eyes! What the—what’s happening?!” His hands clutch his face and he crashes into the wall. The other bullies exchange frightened glances, and back away from the little girl afraid of what could happen to them. But just then, the leader regains his vision and storms angrily towards the girl. This time, there’s no mercy.

“How dare you! I’ll kill you, just wait!” he says, face purple with anger, then he stops rigid. A curious expression overcomes his face, and he backs away. The other bullies are confused, but they follow their leader anyways. The girl slumps to the floor relieved, but still very, very confused.  She glances around for her savior and slowly someone fades into view. A boy about ten years old with bright, blond hair, and shocking blue-grey eyes is smiling at her from across the hall where previously, there had been no one. He winks and leaps away, cheerfully bounding to class.

I stare up now, into those same shocking blue-grey eyes. He’s staring at me curiously and I realize he’s waiting for an answer.

“I think so. You went to Rowling, right?”

He smiles triumphantly and nods. “Hi, my name is Zander.”

“I’m Crysalis. Thanks for saving me all those years ago.”

“Ah, no problem, it’s just a day in the life,” he says grandly. I raise my eyebrows doubtfully and he bursts into laughter. “Just kidding, I don’t save people very often. Mainly, just myself. Anyways, since you’re not in your training center, I assume you’re going to the sparring room?”

“Yeah, my trainer’s making me,” I sigh.

“Well, you can fight me! I promise I’ll go easy on you.”

“Chuh! You won’t need to. I’ll give you a run for your money on my own!” I say defending my pride.

“Oh, it’s ON!”

“Definitely.”

“So, what environment?” he asks as we approach the electronic pad.

“Hmmm, how about forest?”

“That’s so unfair! That is completely elemental!”

“Everything on here is ‘completely elemental’!” I say staring at the choices.

“No they aren’t!” he says bending over closer to the screen. But a moment later he huffs in exasperation. “I hate it when you’re right, but let’s do one where you have the LEAST advantage possible.” He points to one on the very bottom of the list. Desert.

“You’ve known me for exactly 47 minutes and I’ve been right exactly once. So you can’t just generalize and say you hate it when I’m right.”

“Technically, I’ve known you for 13 years, but even if I’ve know you for 47 minutes, I can still hate it when you’re right.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, why?”
“Well, you saved me when I was eight. I’m right. Do you hate me?” He glares at me for a moment, but then rolls his eyes in defeat.

“No. Now, let’s get to the actual fighting shall we?”

We walk into the heat and immediately, I start sweating. I slip off my shirt off revealing my sports bra to avoid excessive sweating. He does the same and my eyes widen slightly at the perfectly toned muscles and abs. I blush and look away trying to concentrate on my surroundings.

“Enjoying the view?” he asks winking suggestively.  
In reply, he gets a faceful of sand.

“Hey! Now you are REALLY getting it missy!”
He dives towards me knocking me over into the sand.

“Deprive Oxygen,” he says.

I gasp, as the air seems to be stolen from my lungs. Protection spells can only last for 30 seconds so I calm myself and wait for the time to pass. The minute it does, swirling wind picks him and up and flings him twenty feet to the left. 

He picks himself up groaning slightly. I grin but a strange feeling comes over me. The next thing I know, I’m stuffing sand into my mouth without control over my body. The feeling slips away and I spit out the sand disgusted.

“What was THAT?!”
 
“Hypnosis,” he says winking at me. I glare.

“Absolutely unfair.”

“Tragic.”

“You can CONTROL me?!”

“If I want, so you better be nice, Miss Mighty Elemental.”

“Shut up.”

“Sure, would you like me to help you?”

“No tha-,” I try to say but my tongue is stuck. My entire body is stuck. Damn.

My mind isn’t stuck though. A bolt of lightning zigzags down from the sky, and this time Zander is too busy laughing to notice the danger. He cries out in shock and crumbles, but a moment later the desert fades away and I help him up.

“I could have beat you if I tried you know,” he says dusting himself off. 

“Mhm…”I reply disbelievingly.

“Shut up.”

Eventually he leaves back to his room, but I’m still feeling restless so I wander around watching different pairs spar. I wander into an empty room and I examine the walls wondering what the room was for when the door opens. A pretty brown haired girl walks in looking a little overwhelmed. Immediately, there’s something about her that I like and I smile.

“Look who showed up!” I smile showing her that I meant no harm. She relaxes a little and I walk over to her introducing myself as I do so.

“I’m Crysalis!”

“Loira,” she replies. I grin.
“Is this crazy or what! This is so weird,” I say. Her eyes light up and she replies with enthusiasm.
“This is insane! I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that this is happening to us!
Finally! Someone, who felt the same way I did. There’s a feeling of companionship now as we both seize on to the only other person who seemed to understand how we feel.
We chat about our past and how we got here and we laugh at the different ways Thomas had showed up in our lives. Eventually, I grasp her arm in excitement.
“You know, I like you. Allies?” I ask. I feel as if there’s no point in waiting, but when she hesitates, I worry that maybe she felt differently. I gather up breath to say that I would understand if she says no, but she smiles.
“Yea, that sounds great!” I breathe a sigh of relief. We wander out of the empty room, talking about the exams and what strategies we can use and whatnot. We spot a tall, blond boy in the training room and Loira bends toward me.
“What about that tall guy? The one with the blond hair?”
I consider him for a moment before vehemently shaking my head.

“He looks like a pedophile!” I say back a little too loudly. She bursts into laughter and a warm feeling spreads through me. I hadn’t had a friend in well…I don’t think I ever had a friend. Now I did. I smile but something catches my eye. I slap my hand over her mouth dragging her down behind a bag of equipment. The shadows of a boy and a girl pass, and I get a hilarious idea.
“Let’s follow them!” I expect her to say no, so I pull her to her feet before she has time. They disappear into a sparring chamber.
The boy and the girl twirl around each other punching and slamming each other with powers. The girl however doesn’t seem to use her power and I wonder why, but there’s no arguing it. They’re good.
“Wow,” I breathe
“They’re really good!” Loira murmurs next to me echoing my thoughts. We leave before they can spot us watching them and immediately, I speak my thoughts.
“The four of us would make an amazing team.”
“You think?” Loira looks a little nervous, and I think I know why, but the fact remains, to increase our chances of survival, we need more people.
“Let’s ask them at dinner!” I say. Loira looks even more reluctant and I feel a little bad, but we need more allies.
That night after hours of Loira trying to convince me not to, we stare around the cafeteria looking for our victims…oops…I meant potential allies. I spot them easily and I nudge Loira, pointing.
“There.”

I plop down next to the boy and try to gather my thoughts. Eventually, I decide that I would skip the tact and dive straight in.
“We saw you fighting earlier.”
Loira looks embarrassed at my bluntness, but she’ll learn that this is the way to handle things in the hybrid world.
“And?” the boy asks raising his eyebrows.
“We want to ally with you.”
“We don’t even know your names!” the girl says laughing. Well, that would be quickly amended.
“I’m Crysalis, and this is Loira.” I stare impatiently at them. “Now, will you ally with us?!”
“Maybe,” he says infuriatingly. He raises his eyebrows drawing out the pause. I sigh at the dramatic gesture. “I don’t believe you have powers. You have to prove yourself.”
My first instinct is to punch him, and fight him right then and there but Loira pulls me back as if sensing it.
“How?” she asks louder than I ever heard her. I smile approvingly. She’s getting it.
“You have to fight. Then we’ll decide,” he says. I groan internally, but I nod at Loira. It’s the only way.
“Deal,” she says closing it. I chow down some food before dashing off to get some rest before the fight. The spar with Zander had seriously drained me.

We wait in the sparring room that night for Jace and Sabrina. They’re late and glare at the door willing for them to appear. Eventually, they show up and Jace nods to us saying,”Well, ladies, let’s see what you’ve got.”
She smiles at me apologetically and I grimace back in the same way. Then we charge. I conjure a ball of water and throw it over her trapping her in it. She twists back and forth fighting it and at last the ball falls apart washing over the ground. She runs at me with incredible speed and knocks me into a tree. Her fist collides with my jaw and my nerves scream in pain.
Rolling over, I knock her into a tree root. There’s an ominous crack and I hope she hasn’t broken anything, but she has. I expect the simulation to dissolve any minute but it doesn’t. She runs her hand over her broken leg and a moment later she launches herself at me again. I’m unprepared, and she easily gets upper hand. 
“Impressive!” I say.
“Thank you!”
I call down another bolt of lightning, but it misses. Her hands are on my throat now, and I realize I can’t do anything to her now without harming myself. The pressure increases and I gasp for air but there’s none. Just as I black out, the scene melts away. 
She helps me up and we walk to Jace and Sabrina for the verdict. Jace leans lazily against a table and barely reacts as we approach.
“You guys did ok,” he says lazily. Anger flares inside me.
“JUST OK?! Do you have ANY idea of what we just did?!”
“Yeah, I watched. Anybody could do what you guys did.” He laughs.

“Why you little-” This time, I can’t stop myself. I punch him. I hear a gasp from Loira but Jace merely laughs again.
“You’re feisty aren’t you? We could use someone feisty like you. You’re both in.”
I let myself smile a little, but I can feel a yawn coming. I should sleep. The others are looking tired as well and wander off to the rooms. I think over the day and decide that despite the circumstances, it was one of my best.

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User: Mermaid1211

Name: Serena

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User: harrop01

Name: Teresa