"Kind." Caleb spat the word like poison. "Is that what you call it? Because from where I’m standing, you’re just another predator looking for vulnerable targets."
Alaric’s patience snapped. "Watch your tongue boy."
"Or what?" Caleb stepped closer, the flas growing brighter. "You going to do sothing about it? Try to charm your way out of this too?"
"I don’t need to charm my way out of anything. I didn’t do anything wrong."
"You made her cry!"
"She was already crying before I—"
But Caleb wasn’t listening anymore.
He lunged.
Closing the distance in a heartbeat. His fist drove straight toward Alaric’s face.
Alaric jerked back instinctively, the punch missing by inches. He felt the heat sear past his cheek.
"Are you insane?" Alaric hissed, backing up, hands raising defensively.
Caleb didn’t stop. He pressed forward with a combination, jab, cross, uppercut, each strike enhanced with fire essence that made the air shimr with heat.
Alaric blocked the jab with his forearm, wincing as fla scorched his sleeve. Dodged the cross. The uppercut clipped his shoulder, sending burning pain through the joint.
He’s serious. He’s actually trying to hurt .
"Stop!" Alaric snapped, essence gathering around his own hands now. Lightning crackled, defensive, warning. "Don’t push your luck!"
"You stay away from her!" Caleb’s voice was raw, almost desperate beneath the rage. "You don’t talk to her! You don’t touch her! You don’t even look at her!"
He threw another combination, faster now, fire intensifying.
[Static Field!]
Lightning spread outward in a do, disrupting Caleb’s approach, making him hesitate.
But only for a mont.
Caleb adapted, and began to circle around the field, coming in from the side. His fist drove toward Alaric’s ribs.
Alaric caught the wrist, lightning surging through the contact. Not enough to seriously injure, but enough to disrupt essence flow, make muscles spasm.
Caleb grunted, pulling back, shaking out his hand.
They stood facing each other, both breathing harder now, essence crackling around them.
"Listen to ," Alaric said through gritted teeth. "I didn’t do anything to your sister. She was hiding in the gardens. She fell when I found her. I helped her up and we talked. That’s. It."
"You’re lying."
"Why would I lie?"
"Bullshit!" Caleb lunged again.
This ti Alaric didn’t just defend. His patience was gone. His shoulder burned. His sleeve was ruined. And this overprotective idiot wasn’t listening to reason.
[Jolt Step!]
Lightning crackled. Alaric moved, faster than Caleb expected, appearing beside him rather than in front.
His palm struck Caleb’s solar plexus.
[Static Shock!]
Electricity discharged directly into the body, disrupting muscle function, making breath seize.
Caleb gasped, stumbling backward, his fire guttering as his concentration broke.
Alaric didn’t press the advantage. Just stepped back, maintaining distance.
"We’re done," Alaric said coldly. "Next ti you want to attack soone, get your facts straight first."
Caleb was bent over, breathing hard, hand pressed to his chest where the shock had hit. But his eyes—those lazy-looking blue eyes—were still full of rage.
"Stay away from her," he wheezed. "Last warning."
"Or what? You’ll attack again? Get yourself expelled for assaulting another student?"
"I don’t care about expulsion." Caleb straightened slowly, fire reigniting around his hands despite the pain. "And if you beco a threat to her, I’ll deal with you. Consequences be damned."
"I’m not a threat to anyone."
"Everyone’s a threat." Caleb’s voice was flat now, dead. "Everyone."
They stared at each other for a long mont.
Caleb hissed and lunged again.
Damn it.
Alaric sidestepped, but Caleb anticipated it this ti. His burning fist grazed Alaric’s ribs, the heat searing through cloth.
He’s faster than he looks.
Alaric needed to close distance. Caleb was dangerous at mid-range where he could use fire-enhanced strikes with full extension.
But up close, in grappling range, fire beca harder to control without burning yourself.
[Jolt Step!]
Alaric closed the gap instantly, driving his shoulder into Caleb’s chest, disrupting his stance.
Caleb grunted, stumbling back, but recovered faster than expected. He grabbed Alaric’s arm, heat flaring.
Pain shot through Alaric’s forearm as cloth and skin began to burn.
He twisted, breaking the grip, driving an elbow toward Caleb’s jaw.
Caleb ducked under it, his own elbow coming up toward Alaric’s ribs.
CRACK!
The sound of stone splitting made them both freeze.
A section of the garden path beneath them had fractured, spiderweb cracks spreading outward from where their combined essence output had stressed the underlying structure.
"Essence fluctuation detected in Sector Seven!" A distant voice called out.
Guards?
Patrol must have sensed the combat.
"Shit," Caleb muttered.
"Move!" Alaric hissed.
They broke apart, both running, not together, but in the sa direction away from the approaching guards. The path ahead curved toward a more secluded section of the gardens, older structures that weren’t part of regular patrol routes.
Behind them, voices grew louder. "Two signatures, this way!"
Alaric’s lungs burned. His shoulder and ribs throbbed. But getting caught fighting on Academy grounds ant disciplinary action neither of them could afford.
They rounded a corner into an overgrown courtyard, abandoned maintenance area, stone walls covered in vines, old storage structures half-collapsed.
The mont they had cover, Caleb turned and attacked again.
"Are you insane?" Alaric blocked a fla-wreathed punch. "They’re right behind us!"
"Don’t care!" Caleb’s voice was raw. "This ends now!"
He pressed forward with renewed aggression. The lazy deanor was completely gone, replaced by sothing feral and desperate.
Alaric gave ground, blocking and deflecting.
Then suddenly—
His foot caught on sothing.
He stumbled backward, arms windmilling for balance.
Caleb’s montum carried him forward, unable to stop—
They both crashed into what looked like an old stone wall covered in vines.
Except it wasn’t solid.
The wall gave way with a grinding sound. So unknown chanisms activated, triggered by the sudden weight and essence discharge.
The ground beneath them simply disappeared.
And they fell.
Not far, maybe ten feet, landing hard on packed earth in darkness.
Thud! Thud!
Alaric groaned, pain flaring through his already-injured shoulder. Beside him, he heard Caleb curse, coughing, also hurt by the fall.
For a mont, they both just lay there, disoriented.
Then essence lamps began to flicker on automatically, responding to their presence.
Weak light revealed they’d fallen into... a room.
Stone walls, low ceiling, clearly very old. Not part of the Academy’s standard architecture.
A forgotten basent? Hidden storage?
Alaric pushed himself up carefully, assessing for serious injury. Bruised, burned, but nothing broken.
Caleb was doing the sa a few feet away, his fire essence dimd to nothing, breathing hard.
Then Alaric looked around more carefully and froze.
There was soone else here.
At a table in the corner of the room, illuminated by one of the flickering lamps, sat a figure with ssy brown hair.
Oliver?
He looked up from whatever he’d been studying, old papers, scattered docunts, his expression cycling rapidly from surprise to alarm to sothing like panic.
"Alaric?" Oliver’s voice cracked. "What are you... how did you—!"
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