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"The Curser."

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ONE GIRL WAS dark-skinned, her short hair in an afro while the other looked Indian. Her head was shaved clean, reminding me of Ari, the rude girl from before. The major difference was the deep black tattoos that run across her head and down to her neck disappearing in the suit.

Symbols were marked everywhere but the most evident was the one on her head. I couldn't see what the tattoo was or the symbols, because of the distance, but all in all, it made her look unapproachable. The coldness in her brown eyes didn't help either.

A buzzing noise filled the air calming the whispering audience into silence.

The male teacher that had been seated to the left of Mr. Ogustus stood up. He seemed younger than the two teachers beside him but still seemed to fit in perfectly for some reason. His pitch-black hair was jelled down, accompanied by a smart maroon shirt and black trousers.

"Reds are you ready?!" He roared.

The audience roared in reply,

"I, Mr. Rudra Rahsad," he introduced, "Would like to welcome this week's Origins class to the Reds level one practice. In the Dom to the left, I would like to introduce Thandiwe Sithumbile."

I was surprised by his flawless pronunciation; I knew firsthand how tongue-twisted South African names were.

"Also known as Dementor," he continued. The girl in the afro raised her right hand, and a series of woos and claps arose coming from a group of students seated directly opposite us, on the other side of the dom.

She maintained a warrior-like stance, fiercely directed to her opponent,

"And to my right, Miss Raskei Oberoi also known as ...." He trailed off looking around, "The Curser."

The crowd was silent with only Lira clapping and hooting, making me reluctantly clap alongside a confused Clair,

"Yeah! Show her Curser!" Lira hooted, causing all the teachers, including Mr. Ogustus to turn back and glance at us, accompanied with the gaze of the rest of the student body, "Woo!" she cheered throwing a fist up in the air.

Claire threw me an apologetic look.

Once again, I had managed to be made visible. Lowering myself in my seat, reducing the sound of my claps I watched as The Curser raised her right arm, dropping it down after a second.

"You know the drill ladies," Mr. Rashad continued after turning back to the Dom, "the first to be disarmed loses. Recite your oaths, fair, just, and true."

Both knelt on one knee like they were about to be knighted, one hand over their heart,

"Fair Just and True," only Thandiwe's voice was heard through the speaker, heavy on the accent, whilst I noticed Raskei's mouth only moved over the words, "for Kingsland and honor," Thandiwe ended as Raskei mouthed along, lifting their heads and taking what seemed like a warrior stance.

Mr. Rahsad took a seat, crossing his legs,

"Begin," he casually motioned like it was nothing.

My eyes trained on the two figures circling each other in the dom. Their gazes focused solely on their opponent. I noticed two wooden handles were sticking out from Thandiwe's belt, resembling daggers, whilst Raskei's came empty-handed.

I knew there would be some sort of convert ability displayed here, as this arena and Dome display were certainly meant for just that. The infrastructure at Kingsland was unbelievable. I still couldn't understand where on earth the funds came to build this place.

Shifting my attention back to the two, I noticed the Dementor took more of an assassin approach, she had skill. I knew nothing about combat past that of action movies and a few Chinese martial arts movies, however, the crouch stance that The Curser had taken seemed to be different, lowering herself down as she shifted with her opponent.

Thandiwe's brown orbs turned into a clear glassy mix, with no irises or pupils' insight, seeming to glow as she reached her right hand down and took out one of the handles from her side, revealing it to be a hand mirror rather than the dagger I had previously thought it to be.

She began first with a move I had never thought existed, charging for Raskei, tapping the surface of the hand mirror once, then sliding her palm across it, releasing a charging grunt as what seemed to be a shard of dimensional glass elongated from the mirror so fast, I fell back in my seat, hand over my racing heart watching as just in the nick of time, The Curser dodged it, barely slicing her tattooed cheek.

"Oh my god, what in the heck was that?!" Claire blurted out, eyes as wide as mine, mimicking my exact expression.

"Thandi can uh..." Lira trailed off her focus still on the match, "she got a thing for mirrors," she grunted, barely giving it another thought, her eyes steadfast on the match before. I didn't see what was enjoyable about this whole ordeal, I could have witnessed a murder.

A bloody murder. This was soon voiced out as Claire exploded,

"Are you kidding me?! Raskei-curse or whatever could have died and the teachers aren't doing a thing!"

Lira spun round to face her roommate rather harshly,

"Shhhhhhh!" she hushed sending her a glare, "just watch! If anything, remotely dangerous was going to occur it would have been stopped. Ugh...newbies." she grunted turning back to the Dome, groaning "shit, I've missed the action."

I didn't know how Lira or the rest of Kingsland defined danger because in my books this was the epitome of it. She sighed glancing at us,

"They're only mirrors." She begrudgingly explained, " Look, she's breaking through them, see?"

My eyes traced back to Thandiwe who was releasing streak after streak of her dimensional mirror daggers, that Raskei dodged and then shattered with her fist. She moved around the pitched-sized island, dodging with backflips and side rolls. One of the daggers came straight in our direction but suddenly shattered when it hit the glass of the Dome.

It was then I realized the importance of the glass Dome that engulfed them like a protective egg.

One of the mirror daggers came dangerously close to slicing Raskei in half but she sidestepped gracefully, grabbing the edge of the mirror dagger, which I'm sure must have cut even through her glove, as I noticed the light trail of blood that stained the mirror dagger.

Her pursed lips suddenly turned to a light smirk, and her light brown eyes blackened into a misty darkness.

Her lips began to move, forming words without sound as the mirror dagger began to turn to dust. Thandiwe immediately dropped her mirror handle a second before it turned to dust, taking a few steps back in shock, eyes shifting to the streak of dirt that had made a daggered line from where Raskei was standing to where the handle had dropped.

"Yes!" Lira yelled, "Go Curser!" My jaw was touching the ground at the display that I had seen. How something went from existing to simply not being there took me by surprise. Hell, it would have made anyone doubt their sanity. But I was on Island surrounded by converts. This was possible.

"How did-" Claire stuttered eyes fixed on the Dom.

"Raskei can curse anything she touches; however, she wants from what I've studied," Lira explained as the girls in the dome went back to circling each other. Dementor seemed to be looking at her foe in a whole new light, wiping her dusty cheek with the back of her gloved hand, "she speaks the tongue of The Unspoken, an ancient language with vast magical abilities, yet to be studied to its full extent," she trailed off as Thandiwe blasted a mirror dagger with lightning speed, not giving Raskei a chance to catch it unless she wanted her hand sliced from her wrist.

"Like seriously," Lira continued tuning to Claire, "there's like zero information about The Unspoken anywhere on the internet, and the library has only one copy of the book that they don't allow taking out and even that copy has very vague information," she turned to me her voice lower, and I could tell Claire had one eye on the fight and both her ears listening to whatever piece of information Lira was about to drop,

"Rumor has it, Raskei was found in a village in the heart of India where she was treated like a god. She would curse the village if they didn't worship her, and also did personal favors for anyone with... scores to settle," she glanced at us both ways, "she was only twelve."

My eyes widened at this information.

"Is that true?" Claire whispered, her eyes going big as she glanced over at Raskei who was dodging lightning-fast mirror daggers.

"I did say rumors have it, if I recall," Lira clarified, sighing as she put her legs back up, her head rolled to face Clair with a smirk, "but I'm sure Andrew Myers would beg to differ," she grinned.

"Who is that?" Claire asked.

"The boy she cursed for being annoying." she sashayed, "the poor boy started growing gills in his sleep. Her curses are mostly irreversible, well at least she can't reverse them. He had to stay half-fish for a week, waiting for Miss Almulese to fly back from Jamaica to fix him up. He was almost all fish before she arrived," she huffed pointing a finger at the black woman with dreadlocks seated beside Mr. Ogustus, "shoot, she can't keep that up for much longer, she's getting sloppy," Lira grunted eyes watching the dome.

I turned back, noticing that Thandiwe's strikes were losing heat, arms probably getting tired. That wasn't ideal because the next moment the mirror dagger was caught and this time she let go with a scream, dropping the handle that was now melting like it had been thrown into a volcano, stumbling backward with a hole burnt through her glove.

"She's screwed," Lira chuckled, "Thandiwe is exceptionally talented but she's only trained her dilect, her mortal self, however..." Lira trailed off as a gloved fist collided with Thandiwe's face, "agh well..."

She managed to dodge the next attempt, blocking it with her right arm as a team of girls cheered her on from across the Dome. She got to her feet blocking a high kick from Raskei but completely missing the hit that got her stumbling forwards and into the grass.

Raskei stood up to her full height breathing heavily as she had admittedly been through a workout, ripping off a gloved hand, the one with the rip from earlier before. She approached Thandiwe slowly, her mouth moving in those strange soundless words, whilst her opponent crawled away from her with a bloody jaw but a fierce look in her glassy misty eyes.

Pieces of shattered glass came together forming a shield around her that was immediately turned to dust as it collided with The Curser's bare fists, breaking through each of the three shields that shielded Thandiwe from her view and any including ours who were seated on the right side.

With the dustification of the last shield, I was surprised to see an army of water giants surrounding a smirking Thandiwe, the fist of one of them came collided with Raskei's chest sending her flying, back first into a tree.

Lira's smile was wiped off her face as she suddenly got to her feet, eyes wide at the sudden change of events,

"Fucking hell!" she screeched, eyes on a fallen Raskei who was spitting out blood from the base of the tree, evidently tired and hurt, Her gaze was fixed on the water army that was now heading towards her, a fierce-looking Thandiwe moving amongst them.

"I thought you said she had a thing for mirrors..." Claire asked eyes on the match.

Lira shut her eyes in frustration, "Technically," she hissed, "it's any reflective surface of any kind, including water it seems."

I watched as Raskei breathed in and out harshly leaning against the bottom of the tree, teeth a bloody red.

I for one, couldn't believe how violent this fight was allowed to get. It was clear to see that Thandiwe had won, I mean how many water giants could she possibly touch and curse at the same time? she struggled to her feet, words being mouthed as she looked at the mass army, spitting dark blood into the ground.

I honestly didn't know where she got the energy to charge, her mouth open like she was releasing a battle cry, one no one could hear, her motion was thrift, yet bulky due to her obvious injury, her bare fist coming into contact with the water giants but before they could touch, the water merely separated dodging her fists and recuperated.

Thandiwe chuckled, "try harder bitch," she mocked as another water fist sent the curser flying a good foot away.

"What a bitch!" Lira hissed collapsing in her seat, "She can't win... according to my precise calculations, Raskei has to win. The probability is in her favor," She muttered to herself.

"I don't know about that..." Claire replied eyes on the barely moving figure of Raskei. Lira's gaze lingered on the curser figure murmuring beneath her breath, "Get up, get up, get up."

At this point, I was fully invested in the fight, that's until I felt a sharp jab in my lower region. My hand clasped around my stomach as I hunched over.

"T?" Claire called over, "Are you okay?"

I paused for a minute but didn't feel anything. I nodded, sitting up straight wondering what that was about before another sharp jab inflicted my lower region, I breathed out, clutching hold of my armchair.

"T?"

"Hey redy, is there something wrong with you?" Lira asked, turning to me, but I could barely hear her through her muffled tone.

It didn't exactly hurt but it was discomforting, and then.... the strange quiet.

I looked into the Dome as if something was telling me to watch.

Raskei was sitting up painfully as she watched the water giants approach her, my eyes traveled to her bare hand that was touching the earth on a patch of bare ground. Her lips were barely moving but I knew she was saying something, she was talking to the earth, cursing it.

My lips moved as hers did, feeling the disturbing feeling inside me grow as the ground cracked from beneath her hand, the grass that surrounded her retreated into the ground, as did the water, being soaked up by it.

Soaking each drop of the water giants and those in the moat until nothing was left but muddy puddles. She struggled to her feet, standing opposite a shocked Thandiwe, jaw open at the sight of her muddy buddies.

Raskei spat out blood with a smirk, wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve, and charged toward her,

Thandiwe took unsure steps back and for the first time, I saw what resembled fear in her brown eyes, creating protective dimensional mirror shields elongating from the glass dom.

But like a bull with his eye on the prize, The Curser broke through each one, smashing through the last one that sent Thandiwe down on one knee, The Curser's bare hand wrapped around her neck.

The crowd was silent, everybody was quiet as Thandiwe raised her right arm, her fearful now brown orbs staring back through the misty dark shades of Raskei,

"Looks like we have a winner," Mr. Rashad's voice came breaking through the silence.

Lira's jaw dropped, turning to face Claire and me,

"THAT WAS THE MOST EPIC ONE YET!" she screeched standing up to her feet in a series of resounding claps. Claire and I exchanged looks and shrugged standing up to our feet, clapping our hands for the winner.

Raskei, The Curser.

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I hope you enjoyed the update! Leave a comment on your thoughts on the chapter, vote to boost the book if you're enjoying it! Feel free to leave me a comment or a question on my discord channel, (link in bio)

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