The rest of the day had gone by with a blur. Layla had caught the flying bus home. She really wished her brother had come so they could leave in his vehicle instead. Her mind wandered to earlier in the day and how lightning shot from her hand during that argument. It shocked her. She was sure Caspian was going to give her hell again. He always did. It was his life mission to rub his powers in her face and how he was superior.

She eventually reached her stop. The bus floated down and let her off. Her house wasn't the most beautiful as some of the other ones, but it certainly was eye-catching and unique among the other houses around her own. It was a two-story light pink house that gave off a similar shine that gel nail polish on fingernails gave. The windows varied in size but were all heart-shaped with the windows opening outwards and slid up into the infrastructure. A pebble path led to floating stairs, that took people to the front porch. A large driveway rested just meters away. It had led to the underground garage but not everyone had access to it aside from Layla and her family. Her home seemed to defy gravity as it seemed to simply float on a cloud.

She walked through the door and was instantly greeted by her mother who asked about her day.

"It was great!" Layla replied.

She promptly ran up the white floating stairs and ran down the hallway. Excitement flooded her as she thought about when she would get her marks and what they would be. Her room wasn't small, but it wasn't large either. She had a large double bed with golden posts that had white curtains hanging from them. Her bed sheets and fur rug were white to match her wardrobes, desk and mirrors.

A black shirt and maroon pants hung where she left them on the door of her wardrobe. She quickly got changed and sat on her desk, staring at herself in the mirror. A few red circle-like marks were prominent on her cheek, but they were painless especially to the touch. She wondered how long it would take till they were completely out. Her mind wondered to her brother and what kind of trouble he would bring. She thought back to when she was a child and the little golden box her mother had. She had told Layla it was a special magical box that had been in the family for over three generations. Her grandma had told her the story about how a goddess had come down to her great, great, great grandmother and told her to guard this box with her life and to keep it in the family line until a special child was born. Layla didn't know what that mean but she did wish she had that box. It was a stunning rectangular box with delicate and Intricate spiraling patterns engraved across the box's surface, making it look like a sea with ripples of waves from what she remembered. She did notice that the box did seem to be locked or welded shut.

She had decided to use the bathroom but by the time she had come back, something odd had happened. On her bed, something glowed in gold. She took a few steps forward to see a rectangular golden box, the same one her mum had. The exact same one her grandma had told her about. Her feet felt like they were very heavy as she stood there frozen, her eyes wide and her mouth hung open. She was confused. It wasn't there when she had left the room. There was no way anyone could have come in during those few seconds she was gone.

Quietly she walked to the door of her room and peaked out into the hallway. "Has anyone been in my room in the past few minutes?" she called out.

Both her parents and her brother had declined being in her room, but she had found it odd. Someone must have come into her room. How else would the box have come into her room. It wasn't like the box could have just magically appeared there.

She picked the box up and rested it on her desk. A long glance at the lid had revealed a small screen that was like a timer of sorts. It had a lot of different numbers, and she didn't know what it meant, nor did she remember anyone telling her about a timer on the box. Several attempts at opening the box had failed her so she decided to leave it.

A knock on her door made her jump from her seat.

"Who is it?" she called out.

"The King of Otosephere," Caspians voice called out with annoyance and sarcasm. "Who else would it be?"

She ran and opened her bedroom door. "Haha. Very funny. I'm rolling on the clouds with laughter. What's up?"

"Myself and boys are going to practice our skills out in the open field of Elk Meadows. Dexter told me he offered you to come and watch. You accepted. So, I'm here to take you with me," Caspian said with a sly smile. "It'll be fun sis."

She could only nod.

–

They had reached the field after what felt like an entire starlight to get there. She had never been to Elk Meadows, but she did hear stories from her brother. Just like her home, this too seemed to defy gravity and float in the air, almost invisible to everyone below. The only way to get there was to fly by car or hover bike. As they got closer, it was shaped like a large rain drop. When they entered the invisible force field, what surrounded them amazed her. A line of trees with beautiful white large leaves lines around the entire perimeter. White grass made a lovely wide circle, leaving enough space near the trees for a black path around. Layla had never seen anything so beautiful before, but she really enjoyed it.

What she didn't expect was there to be another place past the trees on the other end. The ground on that side looked like an icy layer but it felt soft under their steps. Dexter and a group of other boys stood in a circle, chatting away. They had stopped and turned to face Caspian and herself when they had gotten close.

"Caspian. Layla," Dexter started. "How lovely of you two to join finally."

"Thank you! It's lovely to see you again Dexter," she said with a big smile.

Caspian only nodded beside her then rested his arm around her shoulder. There was no sun inside the force field, but she felt like it didn't need any as it was perfectly lit as it was.

Dexter half his hand flat, palm facing up as a water drop hovered a few centimeters away from the center of his hand. "Pretty cool, hey?" he said with a smile.

Layla nodded enthusiastically. "Yes!"

Dexter laughed and closed his hand, the water drop disappearing into thin air just like it had come. "Alright, let's get this show on the road, shall we boys?"

They all cheered. She recognised a few from Dexter's friendship group but she didn't know who the rest were, but some were scary looking. They looked just as books described the mafia gangs. A few of them had tattoos all over their arms, one even had some on his neck. She went with her brother and sat on the outer ring at a safe distance away from where the others would practice.

"Everyone fights in pairs or trios," Caspian explained. "I usually watch because when I practice, I almost kill someone, but my skills come in handy to stop things going south."

Layla nodded.

She watched as Dexter and a man with tattoos all over his arms walked towards each other, shook hands then backed away, facing each other. She was quite excited. Everyone's powers seemed really good, but she was eager to see them in action.

"Dexter versus Adrian," Caspian whispered to her. "Fire vs lightning and water."

She nodded again and looked ahead. A while had passed with neither boy making the first move. Minutes went by as both boys stood still in their place, both taking up an evasive stance, ready to move out of the way in case the other attacked. Neither of them attacked and they were both stuck in an unintended staring competition.

Adrian dropped his shoulders down before re-collecting himself, taking up an offensive stance, hips squared, and right arm thrusted forward with his left holding his right forearm in place. Adrian is initiating the attack now.

Wisps of ember sparks gathered around Adrian's palm before igniting forward and launching itself out towards Dexter. Wisps of ember sparks gathered around Adrian's palm before igniting forward and launching itself out towards Dexter, the force of the fireball knocked Adrian's arm out of stance before he repositioned it with his left arm.

Dexter readied himself just until the cracking ball of fire was up in his face, lucky for him, he was still in his evasive stance. All Dexter needed to do was step to the side slightly to avoid his face getting burnt off, at the cost of the grass fields behind him burning to ashes.

Dexter decided to go on the counter-offense, changing his stance to the exact same stance Adrian had taken. Crackles of lightning manifested from his palm before a ball of plasma grows on his forearm, the ball then shatters out into several thunderous rockets hurling themselves out to Adrian.

Layla watched the entire exchange play out several times. This is what live magic combat looked like, none of the slow, mediated magic exchange that was shown in her classroom that the teachers repeated with cutthroat safety regulations. It was her first time watching a real-life element battle, even if it was for fun between friends, it still mesmerised her watching them move and fight.

The battle ended when Adrian was weak and surrendered.

"Dexter wins this round," Caspian yelled out with a smile. "Well done! Good effort Adrian."

Dexter and Adrian walked off in opposite directions with Dexter walking over and sitting next to her. The next pair had walked up. She didn't recognise either of them nor did she know what their skill was.

"The red hair is Thomas. He controls earth. The black-haired man is Alex who is a fire wielder," Caspian said as he looked ahead. "They don't have great accuracy with their shots, so my deflection is needed more often than not."

Layla swallowed the lump in her throat. "Comforting. Very comforting, brother."

"You'll be fine. Caspian is great at block defense," Dexter said, smiling towards her brother.

Both men immediately took offensive positions, a far cry from the previous group who had anticipated each other's attacks by beginning with an evasive stance. These two were going to fight it out by throwing as many attacks as they can at each other, Layla thought it was only going to end in one way. Disaster.

It was as Layla thought, both of them started firing at each other as soon as Caspian gave the mark. The fight had only begun for a few moments but both men had missed every single shot they produced. Layla saw it as two kids in a ball pit hurling plastic balls at each other, recklessly shooting fireballs and shards of the earth in an attempt to hit the other party without much care for accuracy.

It was all a reckless display of bravado that Layla had no interest in. To her, this match was nothing short of two children arguing, she found the match boring and almost decided to lie down flat on the ground and nap away while waiting for the two to finish.

She watched as the black-haired boy whom she didn't care enough to learn his name abandon his shooting stance and arch his right arm back as if he was holding a baseball, completely ignoring the safety regulations of shooting a magic spell properly out of frustration, and throwing it forward, but the ball of fire instead launched itself to the side as it was accelerating full speed at Layla.