Chapter 25 - Part 2

Haiden and Maree took their place inside the trench at the start line. The others joined shortly along with Tasgal. Haiden tried to ignore his presence and look straight ahead planning his actions along the course, at least the part that was visible for now, but it was more difficult than he thought. Tasgal stopped besides the two young Wielders and greeted them as always with a smile on his face.

"Hey Tas." Maree replied. "Ready to get your ass handed to you?"

"As if. I should remind you that we train for this every day." His smirk sickened Haiden. "Haid, are you alright? You don't look well." Tasgal asked.

"I'm good." He kept it short, turning his attention back at the course ahead. There were many obstacles to go through, walls to climb, pillars to dodge, tall steps to jump and tunnels to go through, all that through water and while being attacked from every which way not only by the Masters but also by the other competitors, including Ashen.

"Alright..." Tasgal felt the tension in Haiden's reply. "I don't believe that one bit. What's the matter with you?"

"He's chickhog shit, scared he'll lose like a little baby." Bras said out of nowhere with a smirk.

"Shut it, Bras!" Maree glared at him. "I'll show you who's scared!" Haiden ignored what the entitled young man said. He wasn't interested in him today.

"Calm down!" Tasgal raised his hands between the two wielders to stop any hell breaking loose before the race even started.

"Looks like you grew a pair of balls, Mar." Bras licked his lips. "Can't wait to tear them right off."

"The only thing that you'll tear off is my first from your face!" Maree tried to push past Tasgal's hand but couldn't.

"Mar, let it go. You'll have plenty of time to knock some sense into him during the Trial." Haiden said calmly. Although on the outside he had a neutral face, on the inside he was burning with rage from both Bras and Tasgal. Even so, he was glad to see him uninjured. But the question: Where did he go? Still rang in his head.

Maree listened to Haiden and retreated, focusing his attention forward on the obstacles. O, Bras backed off too, smiling from ear to ear.

"Don't let it swallow you again, Nobody." He said under his breath.

People began to gather on the sides, cheering and yelling names. He spotted Camila in the right holding Maree's bag with Alva who peaked sneakily through a hole.

What are you going to do? Screech asked, he could feel the curiosity in his presence.

Use everything I got to get the upper hand and finish this as fast as I can. I'm starving.

No! About the big idiot!

Oh. I don't know. Haiden answered truthfully. An unsettling feeling crept within him. He didn't know what to think now that Tasgal was here, unharmed, not one bruise. It meant that there was another reason for why he was not in his room last night, and it ate at Haiden for not knowing why. So many other potential scenarios flashed through his mind, but this time, instead of worry, it brought jealousy and ire. What else could he be doing so late at night? And with whom? Why risk it with Haiden if he had someone else? Soon inadequacy bloomed within chipping at his resolve.

Just forget about him now. He finally said, taking a deep breath and slapped his cheeks to wake himself up. We got a trial to win.

"Haide- " Tasgal began but was quickly interrupted by the Headmistress clearing her throat.

"I have only one piece of advice to give you, that you should commit to heart once the Trial begins. Ruthless attacks will be coming your way from both Masters and your fellow competitors. Always watch your back." She emphasized each word to make sure they understood. She looked down at both Ashen and Wielders and saw the nodding. "Good!" She said satisfied. "Get ready!" she boomed and everyone shuffled in place.

Haiden's gaze was pointed forward, concentrated on avoiding and defending while moving as fast as possible. He first created a barrier around himself, taking some inspiration from Camila but adding more finesse. He was confident that no one could break through, aside from an Ashen sword.

"On my mark!" The Headmistress paused again. Haiden could feel the energy flowing off of his fellow Wielders, especially Maree. He was releasing a great deal of energy, his skin prickled. "Go!" With that final word, everyone began running as fast as they could through the shallow water.

The Ashen were incredibly fast and agile, running with their swords drawn while carrying the heavy armor was astounding. They left the wielders behind jumping and dodging the obstacles with ease and grace. They were the first ones to be struck by a barrage of force blasts from Master Parvel. Not a single blast landed, all were dispelled by their Ashen swords with a single swing.

Haiden was falling behind with Nolan and Justinia. He looked around and saw Maree running at very high speed, his torso very close to the ground and his arms motionless. He was right up there with the Ashen. Haiden stopped for a moment in awe. He felt the energy coming off Maree even though he was now hundred of paces ahead of him.

"Hurry up, you freak!" Matlicia began laughing as she ran past Haiden. "You're worse than I thought." A sudden build-up of energy caught his attention but he paid little mind to the dozen icicles that smashed into his barrier, the vortexes turning them into a flurry of snow.

"Malticia!" Haiden yelled back. "What the fuck?"

"What!? Headmistress said to attack each other, you freak!" With that she sent another row of icicles, but these did not phase Haiden.

"Oh yeah?" He said and with a flick of his hand towards her direction and a slab of earth broke from the side wall smashing directly in her shield, sending Malticia flying a few feet right into the water.

"You little shit! You ruined my hair!" She screamed in anger. Haiden sensed she was going to do something big and braced himself. A wave of frost covered the water freezing everything in sight towards Haiden, but it couldn't penetrate his barrier. Malticia groaned in frustration, but took advantage of Haiden being distracted to run away as fast as she could.

Haiden sighed, it wasn't worth chasing her, and let her go. His barrier destroyed the frozen water as he began running again towards the others. He saw Maree right up there with the Ashen, running incredibly fast, avoiding their attempts to slow him down and even dodging the force blasts from Master Parvel. Tasgal was also among those in the front.

Alright Screech, just as we practiced! He said in his mind, he was now about to let them get too much ahead of them.

Yesss! Screech said with excitement.

Haiden began running, building up speed. Up ahead he concentrated his energy on a slab of rock and the moment he touched it with his foot, a column of stone ejected diagonally from the earth launching him high in the air. His cloak fluttered wildly behind his back from the speed. In seconds he had advanced a few hundred feet, just behind the Ashen warriors and slightly ahead of Bras.

Now! Haiden ordered and Screech funneled his energy and slowed his descent using the same spell Haiden had used to break into the Headmistress office. The crowd gasped at the display and went wild.

The idea had come to Haiden the first time he realized that Screech could cast his own spells, albeit very limited because he only had the borrowed energy from him. And so Haiden decided to allow Screech to take as much Fios as he needed in order to cast. If he had been a run of the mill wielder his energy would have depleted immediately, but to him this was just a sip out of a river.

Good! It will work perfectly. Haiden laughed as he deflected the forceblasts in mid air. He landed gracefully in the shallow water next to Maree and broke into a jog. Maree looked at him with his mouth ajar.

"Since when can you run so fast?" Haiden asked with a smirk.

"Alva showed me a mobility spell, took a while to get right but..." Haiden had passed him and kept running. "Hey! Wait up." Haiden felt the same build up of energy and Maree quickly ran ahead.

Screech. Again! Haiden ordered and again he built momentum and a column of stone propelled him into the air, then slowing down to descent. This time he landed in the midst of five Ashen warriors taking them by surprise.

"What the fuck!?" Said one, and instinctively swung his sword at Haiden. It cut through his barrier with extreme ease, but Haiden swiftly manipulated the water from below into a thick ice sheet and slammed it into the side of the man's sword, missing his face by a few inches.

He then froze the water around him, locking the legs of the warriors in place, after which he bolted out avoiding their swings as best as he could.

This gave Haiden a few seconds of a head start as the Ashen broke the ice with their swords like it was nothing. They began chasing him. He was now in the lead, but they were catching up to him quickly. Even though he had been training with Tasgal as well, he could not match their stamina and agility. They jumped over obstacles with ease and were approaching him fast.

The Trail barley just began and his legs were on fire from the excretion. He didn't look back but he could hear another Ashen right on his heels. With a heavy groan between breaths, the Ashen raised her sword and put it through Haiden's cloak that flustered behind him as he ran.

The fabric ripped stopping at the hem pulling Haiden back and choking him where the cloak clasped around his neck. The young wielder fell on his back in the cold shallow water, soaking his clothes fully.

He saw the Ashen woman raise her sword to strike again. Haiden quickly prepared the stone from the ground to parry the sword with solid bars of granite, but the clank of the sword striking the hard stone never came.

Haiden got up as fast as he could only to see Tasgal had tackled the woman. The ashen warrior raised the hilt of his sword and knocked the woman unconscious.

"You're welcome." Tasgal said with a grin.

"I had it." Haiden said unimpressed. He saw the others giving chase and broke into a run.

"Hey!" Tasgal followed. "What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing!" Haiden replied, deciding that this was not the place or time for this.

"You're being unreasonable! Just tell me what's wrong." Tasgal insisted.

"It's nothing, now leave me alone." Haiden slightly raised the stone tripping Tasgal, landing face first in the water.

Screech! And another column of stone threw him into the air leaving Tasgal behind. He felt a pang of guilt in his heart. I shouldn't have done that. He looked over his shoulder as he descended and saw Tasgal looking at him in pain, his blue eyes were darkened by his creased brows as he stood defeated in the cold water. Haiden forced himself to look away and continued to run once he had landed.

He had now taken the lead in the Trial and continued to jump over the geometrical obstacles made of stone. Up ahead the trench ended in a wide tunenl. Haiden cursed under his breath, he won't be able to advance as fast in there, he had to run on foot for now.

Inside it was too dark and Haiden conjured a light sphere, pushing it ahead of himself so that he would not stumble on something. Inside the tunnel there were more obstacles that he had to jump or duck or dodge as he ran. He took another look behind his shoulder at the entrance that was shrinking with distance, but there was no one on his trail. He pushed away any thought of Tasgal and moved forward. He had to stay focused and win this. It was his only chance to get away from Bras, once this was settled his life would no longer be in danger. Were it not for Master Rwoy's intervention Bras would have killed Haiden one way or the other and no one would be able to stop him or hold accountable. He could not understand how someone could treat another life like it was disposable, a cheap toy that can be discarded. It made him sick to his stomach. Because of people like Bras, like Master Coner, Mara had to die, and countless others, only the Creators knew how many but he was certain it ranged in the hundreds of thousands or even more.

He soon met a bifurcation in the damp and dimly illuminated tunnel. Haiden didn't give too much thought into it and chose the right side. He feared that if he slowed down even for a moment the other Ashen or Bras would catch, or even Tasgal. He didn't know if he could look him in his summer sky blue eyes ever again. He was ashamed for what he did, although he thought he was justified to do so, he couldn't help but feeling like he had betrayed Tasgal. His stomach churned from the guilt.

The tunnel opened to a spacious room where the ground was uneven and broken. Up ahead, on the other side, there was a simple small opening into another tunel. Haiden slowed his pace and began to jog towards it, trying to catch his breath as much as he could but before he could take a deep breath something caught his leg, the momentum providing him with enough force to topple over and fall face first on the stony ground.

"Fuck!" Haiden said in pain, rubbing his nose.

"Always watch your sides, kid." Master Rwoy said laughing.

"Let go of me!" Haiden yelled and tried to pull his leg free. A vine had wrapped itself around his leg and would not untangle. He tried to rip it away but it didn't break.

"Try as you might, these are Steelvines. I'm hoping you can guess from the very on the nose name that it's impossible to cut. Right?"

"Rwoy! Stop screwing around! They'll catch up." Haiden pleaded struggling with the vines.

"Tsk tsk tsk, kid. You thought that because you are the only one amongst those brats that has a shred of soul and that I am very fond of you I'd cut you some slack?" Master Rwoy asked, amused.

"Well... yeah." Haiden replied as a matter of factly.

"Wrong!" Master Rwoy laughed again.

"I thought you'd help me stop being targeted by Bras! Wasn't this whole thing your idea?"

"Yes, that indeed it was. I was surprised you got it, if I'm completely honest. But, even so, I cannot treat you any differently than the others. Fair is fair, and I think that it's a great opportunity to grow."

"Cut the crap!" Haiden yelled. "This isn't a game."

"Snappy, snappy. Glad to see the old you back." Master Rwoy smiled. Haiden looked at him in anger and screamed.

"You asked for this! Not every day I can go against a Master." Haiden responded with a smile.

"Oh? You think you have a chance. I'm telling you, kid, you crack me up."

"You asked for it." Haiden said with a clenched jaw. Energy flowed around Haiden, his skin prickled from the static. He reached deep and bathed himself in the river of Fios from within. He won't hold back, he's going against a Master Wielder after all. Strands of his black hair stoop upright, charged from the intense energy.

Master Rwoy sent another vine to wrap around Haiden's arm, but he deflected the tough tendril with a localized force blast.

"You said it won't cut?" Haiden smirked. "I'll see about that." Haiden placed a quick barrier around himself. Vines quickly surrounded the bubble and twined itself around it in layers upon layers. Concentrating intensely, Haiden created a small bubble of plasma that he then shaped into a very thin blade that started to vibrate.

"Inventive as ever I see. I love how your mind works." Rwoy applauded.

Haiden sent the blade right through the vine that caught his leg, releasing him completely. He quickly closed the barrier to prevent any other vines from reaching in.

"Your little plants won't get to me now." Haiden spat, he called over his blad of plasma back and reshaped it into a sphere. With that he sent a few strikes of lightning bolt straight towards Master Rwoy which instantly got deflected into the wall.

"Is that all you got, kid? Disappointing."

Haiden didn't want to use all the tricks he had under his sleeves, but he had to. He smiled to himself and thanked the Creators that no one else was with them and it wasn't in an open space. Haiden raised both hands and as soon as he pulled them in two pillars of stone came crashing towards Rwoy. With a simple flick of his hand the pillars stopped and retreated back.

As soon as he saw this Haiden condensed the moisture from the earth and sent a thousand small blades of ice towards the man. They crashed into his own barrier in a burst of snow.

"One more shot. Then it's my turn." Master Rwoy added.

This angered Haiden. His professor did not even flinch at his attacks. The closed space was a limitation and had to work around it. While the room was spacious compared to the tunnel, it still felt claustrophobic.

The young wielder stomped his foot on the ground with all of his force, sending energy through the earth, collapsing the platform of stone where Master Rwoy sat. He lost his footing and before he could find his bearings Haiden began his assault. He used the snow that pooled at his feet, manipulating it around Master Rwoy's barrier and with a clench of his fist ice spices penetrated the barrier from multiple angles with great force.

Master Rwoy grunted as he fell on his back. Haiden took advantage of the momentary daze and sent his energy towards the incapacitated man. Rocky spikes jutted out all around him, weaving a tight snare.

"Impressive. I must say." Said Rwoy, his voice was calm and collected. Haiden took a step back. His trap turned into dust right before his eyes and Master Rwoy levitated back to his feet without even a scratch on him. "My turn," he said and grinned. "You weren't paying attention." and pointed down at his feet.

Around his barrier a different type of vine, ticker and red, surrounded him among the Steelvines. It quickly wrapped around the barrier multiple times. With a snap of Master Rwoy's fingers, thin needles were expunged from the plant in quick succession, obliterating Haiden's shield.

"Two can play at that game." Master Rwoy followed up. And the moment Haiden's barrier was disabled the steel vines wrapped around him in a tight cocoon.

"Shit! I can't move!" Haiden screamed. He struggled but they wouldn't budge.

"I thought you'd learn something from your friend Camila, her shield wouldn't have been weak against such a lame attack." Master Rwoy pointed out.

Haiden stopped his struggle and mentally slapped himself. He did learn that from Camila. He used it moments ago, and yet here he was. One slight mistake, misstep, miscalculation, had brought him to the end of his journey. "Fuck!" He screamed and he began to spasm and pull and grab, trying to break free. The vines began to wrap even more around him until his mouth and eyes were fully covered. He couldn't see, couldn't yell, and could barely hear as well.

"It won't work, the more you try to escape the more you will hurt yourself. All you have to do is sit there patiently for the next...40 minutes. I somewhat expected more, kid." Master Rwoy said and turned his back to Haiden and proceeded through the other entrance of the room, leaving him all alone.