A high-pitched whine signaled the incoming strike. The sharp shock reverberated through my sword as our blades clashed. The force of the impact made my hands feel numb for just a moment. Before the feeling could subside, a new swing was on its way. This time, the same piercing sound, but from the left, prefigured the attack.
"Gotcha!" Her voice brimming with confidence, her face a wide grin, until I dropped
to the ground. Her strike shot over me, a gust of wind the only reminder of how close she'd come.
I turn my wrist, positioning the sword upward, her movement still bound to her momentum. The opening in her defense clear, I surged upward, my sword moving swiftly, ready to end this battle.
I cursed under my breath, the force of my missed strike sending a jolt through my arm. I quickly reset my stance, my eyes narrowed, refusing to let her see the frustration that gnawed at me, before the dust her wind magic left behind, settled.
"Resourceful," my voice dripping with mock admiration.
"Why, thank you," not hiding the slight amusement she had from the immediate retaliation.
While engaged in a contest of sarcastic wits, I was preparing for my next move.
"So, you gonna do anything or are you just going to admire my brilliant fighting style?"
There was no hiding the smile through her burst of laughter.
"When your jokes stop getting old, and you are finally able to beat me, maybe then I will appreciate your 'brilliant fighting style'"
Her words echoed through my head, stinging with every reflection. I forced myself to stay sharp. Today was the day I would finally beat her.
Losing was not an option; I had to win this and settle the score once and for all.
"You know I'm aware of your little plan, don't you?" she mocked, noticing I was preparing to strike. "Your stalling tactics won't help your chances of winning."
Without warning I jumped forward and rushed towards her. My legs moved as fast as they could, my heart rate elevated, my spell ready to fire.
I thrust my right arm forward, the charged Aether giving it a purple-ish glow, the light tracing the intricate pattern of scales along my forearm. Dark elemental particles flowed across my arm to the palm of my hand like a stream of magic, leaving a tingling sensation in its wake.
"Sordiva!"
Aether gathered together, a volley of small aetheric projectiles bursting away from my hand as I called out the spell's name. Small smoke-like trails left drifting through the air for a short moment before disappearing, as if nothing ever happened.
With a certain grace, she looked like she was dancing around the projectiles, her tail swaying rhythmically with her movements. She was fast, but I anticipated it. As she stepped to the side, evading my initial attack, I changed my direction. My trusty sword at the ready, I prepared myself for the final strike. For real this time.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
As she moved away from the attack, a faint flash of light told me she had seen through my trap and was preparing to counter. A narrow beam of light erupted from her hand as I erected a barrier of dark elemental Aether around me.
The light beam hit the barrier, and the air was filled with the crackling sounds of two opposing magical elements colliding with each other. The barrier broke, the beam of light disappeared, the sounds of nature returning.
The collision sent dust swirling into the air, visibility was poor. Not wanting to be on the short end of a surprise attack, I tried to sense where she was, gripped my sword, and pierced the dust in a final, desperate attempt, for that winning blow.
"Nice try," she mocked me again. My strike was on point, my speed and motion were clean. Yet still, I only managed to strike the air as in an ironic course of events, she dropped herself to the ground, twisting her wrist to point her sword upward, and striking. A carbon copy of my earlier plan.
"Damn you," my sword slipped from my grasp, while hers was on my neck. "You win... again."
She withdrew her sword and let herself drop back. Sweat was rolling down our backs, and our breaths were shallow as we tried to take a moment to recuperate.
"I have to say, little brother..., you found some fine ways to surprise me."
I reached out, and she took my hand, pulling herself up. Her usually pristine silver hair, long and straight, was now a tangled curtain, only the tips of her small horns peeking through the disarray. We stood there, leaning forward, our breaths ragged, until finally, they began to slow.
"And you... used one against me." A slight rush of frustration went through me, though I had to accept it was smart.
"You are still too fast for me, sis... I can't even get a single hit in.".
The suddenly raised voice of our mother piqued our attention as we turned around to see the cause of the commotion.
A figure had appeared, and even from a distance, he radiated a palpable sense of unease. He was cloaked in white, a stark, almost aggressive white that seemed to absorb the light around him, leaving him strangely shadowed. The cloak concealed his form, making it difficult to judge his size or build, but the way he stood, perfectly still, was more unsettling than any overt display of strength.
Though there was quite a distance between us, we felt an ominous feeling and a strange tension in the air. Mom and Dad were, from what we could see, demanding the man to leave.
We decided to go meet up with our parents to see what caused the commotion, only to be met with a chill jolting through my spine. My body tensed more and more as we got closer. Aria must have had the same feeling as she grabbed my hand tightly.
"I don't trust this, Zeph." A scared whisper reached my ear.
She wasn't alone though. My whole body was tense, every step felt like an uphill battle, words didn't come out anymore. The closer I got, the more I noticed the man had his gaze fixed on me. We both froze as Mom shouted something, but we were too scared to hear it.
The man seemed to disappear into nothingness. A moment that felt like an eternity passed when a nearly blinding flash of light announced his reemergence from the void. The man was now before me, armed with an immensely bright spear-like weapon in his right hand. The spear alone gave a noticeable sense of power as small light aetheric particles were emitting from the weapon itself. It was as if the weapon had no physical form as a pure aetheric object.
For a split second, I caught the man's gaze, his eyes having a disturbing pure white glow, devoid of fire, no malice, only a cold, unblinking focus. I wasn't a living being, I was a target, a problem to be eradicated.
The realizations spread from me to Aria as we both froze in place, our bodies unresponsive to the incoming strike.
Trapped within my own body, I could only watch, a silent observer, as the inevitable strike drew near. My life, soon to be cut short without ever knowing the reason. A weird kind of acceptance settled, time regaining its momentum, the spear on a collision path.