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"Don't look at it, Look at Me."

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ALBERT DOREN MADE his way down, taking position in the same place that Naala had previously taken, rolling his shoulders with a heavy sigh as Talon moved to the center of the court-like dojo

He glanced up at Harvest momentarily who did nothing but lean back in his seat, an elbow over the empty chair, ringed fingers, brushing against his square jaw, eyes trailing between the boys, seeming to be waiting.

Talon's gaze concentrated back on Albert, clearing his throat,

"This will be a quick test of your dilect, show us what you can do," he said taking a step back and motioning him to take his position.

Stepping away from him seemed like a good idea to me. The boy was built like a mean house, and since he was an Orange, he probably had some sort of elemental power or energy converter.

He nodded rolling his head around his shoulders seeming to be stretching before moving into the center, turning to face Harvest and the rest of us, lowering his head down, and when he looked back up I jutted backward at the sudden change from his brown eyes to blazing orange, red sparks seeming to dance through them.

He tilted his head to the side and his skin hardened slowly turning into a brick kind of Lava, cracks forming up his skin, his bodysuit changing with him to my utter surprise.

His hair seemed to harden given the effect of a bald head, cracked-filled lava forming over it until all I could see was a volcano-looking boy, glowing a low red.

Talon threw a ball over to him and he caught it, immediately turning into molting lava and it spilled on the ground immediately hardening. 

I watched all this with one eyebrow raised, seated at the edge of my seat, unable to register the lava man that stood before me. I visibly gasped, he was not something to mess with or even touch.

No wonder the outside world was so afraid of Converts.

Just one boy could do that, and so many more here in different colors could probably achieve even more.

I rubbed my wrist momentarily eyes following his as he looked straight at Harvest now, reminding me of a soldier who was going off to war, saluting to his sergeant.

His arms were placed behind him, standing shoulder-width apart, tilting his head to the left once more, his skin returning to normal as did his bodysuit.

The familiar dark blue and the horn symbol with the Leviathan print appeared moments later until he was fully human.

There was a haunting silence that passed, everyone seemingly waiting for Harvest, who hadn't moved or changed any single form since the show started.

"Attacker," he finally said, barely loud enough to hear as it seemed he was only talking to Lira who then nodded, writing something down in the book she was holding.

Talon turned to Albert, "You can take your seat."

Albert nodded with a short grunt, his jaw clenching momentarily in what seemed like frustration.

I watched as he made his way past me, plopping down on the seat behind me with a huff, grunting lowly as he folded his arms, his eyes momentarily meeting mine sending me a rather rough look that made me immediately turn right around. I uncomfortably shifted in my seat, before trying to refocus on what was going on now.

It only came to my realization that I was up next, knowing I had printed my name right after Mr. Bulldozer over there.

The palms of my hand became sweatier as I watched Talon's gaze travel down the paper. He then looked up, eyes trailing the crowd and I took in a sharp breath awaiting my doom-

"Omkara Taylor, yellow," Talon announced out loud and my heart stopped drumming, surprise taking over my features, as well as being grateful.

I turned to see a slim boy who seemed like he was from India or a country near there.

He stood up seemingly distraught over something, he didn't seem very confident for a yellow, and in my experience with Yellows, "Daya and Harvest," they seemed to be quite confident people, maybe even too confident.

He moved down the bleachers making his way to the selected positions, breathing out heavily, a hand sliding into his pocket. He stood there seemingly very unconfident and I felt pity for him.

I could only imagine the pressure.

"Stand at the center, and you may begin," Talon cautioned him, to which he replied with a still very uncomfortable, and uncommitted nod.

Walking to the center, right in the Horizontal axis of Harvest, he stood there, rubbing the sweat off the palm of his hands by the side of his bodysuit which seemed to not fit him too well as he was exceptionally slim.

He stood there like a robot, mouth slightly agape.

"We do not have all day, Taylor," Harvest barked out, seemingly irritated.

I noticed one thing about him.

He seemed to hate time wasters, not that anyone liked them in particular, but I noticed he paid extreme attention to it, completely loathing people who were wasting time.

Maybe that's why he hated me because I had to write to him before he could understand me, and of course, that meant he had to wait.

My mind flashed back to the scene in his room, the same look of irritation in his eyes when he realized he would have to wait for an answer.

A scowl formed around my face, looking right down at him.

What an impatient brute!

The least he could do was show a little compassion, but if he was in this kind of mood, I could only fear for myself at this moment

How was I going to get through this day?

I could already feel it weighing me down like an elephant.

"Uh- I-I'll need a subject- I-I mean v-volunteer," the boy replied to him.

"Take your pick," Harvest stated plainly with a sigh, his hand casually gesturing to the rest of us, before moving to tap at the arm of the chair impatiently.

Omkara paused at this for a second, before looking up at the rest of us, his eyes trailing around the bleachers. I lowered myself in my seat to not be seen.

I was tiny- he wouldn't pick-

'Uhm-Her,' he said out loud, pointing in my direction.

My eyes widened at this and I noticed Harvest's hand stopped tapping in the armrest. He didn't look back at all, his voice coming clear through the room.

"Get down," he stated, "you've been pointed at for the second time today-" he grunted.

I swallowed at this but never the less helped myself up.

All my fellow students' eyes were on me, Lira giving me an apologetic gaze and I could only wallow in the fact that I was seriously unlucky.

Finally reaching the bottom of the court I stood a few feet away from Omkara and his eyes trailed over me like I was some kind of scientific study.

I frowned at this, folding my arms to keep them from revealing to everyone that I was shaking.

"Is there anything else you need or are you just choosing to keep me waiting?" Harvest grunted, eyes meeting that of Omkara.

Omkara seemed to snap out of whatever haze he was in abruptly stuttering all over the place.

"Uh- No Alpha," he replied curtly with a deep swallow.

He turned to face me and I looked at him unconvinced. Whatever he was going to do I knew it would be something to do with my mind and it scared me.

I didn't like it at all when someone messed with my brain and who could blame me? I hadn't exactly had the best experience.

"Uhmm... I'll need you to take off your band for a moment and stand a little to your right,' he gestured slowly.

My eyebrows arched looking at him momentarily like he was crazy then looking at Lira for confirmation, eyes trailing to Harvest who didn't seem to care much.

"You can take it off, mind and body magic is altered by the bracelets, but for this instance, we need to see this work," Talon replied from behind me, "just for now," he added.

I looked up at him as he spoke, gaze traveling down to my wrist momentarily, breathing heavily.

Something felt wrong about this, and my heart was beating uneasily inside me.

I glanced at Lira once more and she calmly nodded my way. Taking a breath out, I took the band off, handing it to Talon, before moving into the spot Omkara had suggested.

He stood a foot away from me, his breath barely fanning my face.

Taking another step even closer,,my eyebrows arched at this, feeling uneasy with each step. I looked at Harvest this time, my heart beating fast, our eyes connecting but he remained void and emotionless.

"I'll need you to focus on me," Omkara stated, my eyes snapping back to his, and it was almost like a photograph, like a short flash of light encasing me into his eyes, those big enormous eyes.

I felt funny, emotions that had never known before traveled through me in currents, only feeling like a breeze whisking against my skin.

Skin? Did I have skin? I couldn't feel it.

There was nothing, I was nothing.

What is nothing? Me. I am nothing.

I am everything. I am everywhere, but not here.

I can see, but I have no feeling.

"Laugh." A command strutted past what I could only assume was my eardrums, seeming so close and yet so far away.

I smiled, chuckling, and then laughing to the point I felt like crying.

"Stop."

And everything faded. I could see him now. I could see Omkara and yet he looked blurry but visible. I couldn't wrap my head around it.

I stood there like a dummy and watched his blurry figure circle around me.

"You're cold," he spoke and I immediately shivered, a cold gust of wind blowing past me confusing me. I rubbed my arms trying to keep warm.

"You're freezing."

My teeth started chattering and my body went numb in a matter of seconds. My breathing became drastic and I could feel the cold chipping away at the air in my lungs, until I was visibly chattering and shivering all over, gasping desperately for air.

I felt like I had been transported to the tip of the Himalayas. I tried to blow on my hand for warmth but when I looked at them they had already lost color and I couldn't feel anything.

I immediately started to panic, my heart racing through me when I couldn't get a finger to move and the cold buried me under in the desert snow, cold winds blowing past me and chipping away at my warmth and I gasped, watching my fingers fall off one by one, the true panic settling within me and then in a second,

-It all suddenly changed to fire, burning all around me and I felt myself scream, and yet nothing was coming out.

No voice to cry for help and now in ultimate panic mode, my hand was suddenly set on fire, excruciating pain traveling through me in waves.

I fell to the floor in pain hearing muffled voices all around me but couldn't get anything over the burn, only managing to catch a few words when they seemed to shout louder.

"STOP IT NOW, YOU'RE HURTING HER!" Lira's voice broke through.

"I-I can't, I-I'm TRYING!" Came another panicked voice and I screeched once more as the heat tunneled through me, fire all around me, consuming me in a never-ending flame, "i-I Can't control it- I-m sorry!"

Tears filled my eyes rolling down my cheeks and I began to wish for death, anything to get me out of this pain and the torture.

My eyes shut instinctively unable to bear it all.

Suddenly, I felt someone touch me, but with the pain, I couldn't register where. I kept pleading for death or relief but I knew no words were coming out of my mouth.

A cool feeling took hold of just one spot right below the side of my face.

"Open your eyes," a familiar voice said.

The pain was immense but at the sound of his voice my eyes fluttered open and there he was in the middle of the fire, his hands cupped my face, electric blue eyes imprisoning me.

"There is no fire." He calmly stated, no panic whatsoever in his eyes, whilst tears fell from my face, my gaze traveling away from his the fire all around us still eating at me.

"Don't look at it, Look at Me," he ordered.

I breathed out heavily trying to ignore the pain, my eyes trailing back up to him, gritting my teeth, immediately being imprisoned in his own. I never thought I would ever be grateful to be behind those eyes.

It was like stepping out of a fire and into a cool room even if it was a prison, the fire melting off me to my relief.

White surrounded us and I was finally able to makeshift the shadowy figure of the training room, and him right there before me physically guiding me back to reality. I breathed out calmly, my skin cooling but my eyes shifting to the back of my head.

Cue to black.

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That's wasn't fun.
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