Julian had a hard time stifling his impatience. This whole thing was so inane. Why stick a bunch of young Mages in a room together, tell them to prove themselves, and see what they would do? Clearly the only result would be destruction.

Something about the situation didn't quite add up, but Julian couldn't bring himself to care. He had grown bored quickly and was now sitting back watching these kids show off to each other, torturing defenseless humans.

Frankly, Julian had no qualms about the humans. They were just as boring as the rest of this charade. Not deigning to try to impress an unknown power, he watched chaos begin to break out around him.

Perhaps watching other sorcerer's work would be interesting. Sorcery was individualized to each person. Julian liked to think of it like he was an author. With the right combinations of words, he could do anything. It was all a matter of vocabulary and creativity. Of course, there were limits. If the amount of magic in the spell was greater than that of the user, that person would flare out. When the magic ran out, the spell would feed off the Mage's life force.

Julian's father had always warned him about the limit. There was no precise way to tell when a spell required too much power, it was more like a feeling. Julian had only ever felt it once. The tightness in his chest when he spoke the words and the pounding pressure in his ears had told him if he didn't let the power of the spell go, it would end him.

Julian scoffed at one sorcerer who pulled a small notebook from his pocket and flipped through it, seemingly looking for a spell to cast. What a dope, he didn't even have the mental capacity to spin his own spells? He had to rely on someone else's work?

His father had schooled him in the Latin language since he could speak. He would have been disowned if he wasn't able to come up with spells on the spot. His training had involved a host of deadly situations, in which Julian only had his words and his power to come up with creative solutions to escape. Some training sessions had ended with broken bones and a long list of other painful injuries.

He watched the fight between the Barrick brothers escalate, until the younger one finally goaded Ansel into losing his cool. Not that the fire elemental had any 'cool' to begin with. He lashed out at the two closest humans, pinning them to the wall in cuffs of chains.

Usually, Julian wouldn't have bothered interfering, but he recognized the small human girl. Her clothes were stained with a dark ashy substance that had come from his own smoke cloud. He frowned, as he realized it was the girl from the street.

How had she gotten tangled up in this? Perhaps this was why she hadn't seemed scared of him, she was used to dealing with Mages, perhaps worse ones than him.

"Virtute vacui," he said, plunging the room into a dark, powerless void. He could only hold the spell for a few seconds, sucking all magic out of a room full of Mages was already quite a feat. It was enough though, to stop the attack.

He released the spell, and the room broke out into quiet mutterings, although no one looked at him as the source of the disruption of their madness. No one, except Lyla Fenix, who was staring at him quizzically. She was probably wondering why he had bothered saving those humans. He was actually wondering that himself.

He was sure it was because he wanted to know what the human girl's connection with this organization was, he told himself. It definitely wasn't because he was slightly intrigued by her.

He snorted, disgusted with himself. What did it matter what happened to one human. He started to make his way to the door, ready to get out of this hell-hole.

He only spared one last glance to the girl. She had escaped Ansel Barrick's notice for the moment, and was wisely staying to the edge of the room, creeping her way to a bolted door that was half hidden behind drapery.

He shook his head, there was no way she would get through that door. He was sure it would be spelled shut. She would burn with the rest of them. A pity.

Julian made it to the stairs that lead up to the grungy neighbourhood, and made it halfway up before pausing.

He looked down at the carnage from his perch on the stairs. The room was on the edge of collapsing from fire damage, Lyla and the human boy were struggling through the smoke, looking like they were on the edge of toppling over, and the rest of the humans were trapped behind a raging wall of flames.

He turned his back and walked up the stairs.

~

It was a strange feeling, having her power flicker out for a few seconds. It was almost like she couldn't feel it inside her at all. No one should have the ability to take away other's magic.

She locked eyes with Julian Strom, and cocked her head. He was gazing at the girl that had been pinned to the wall next to Wes. Any sort of emotion seemed out of place on Julian, and she couldn't place exactly what he was feeling. He was hard to read.

She shook her head, dropping her gaze from Julian. She rushed towards Wes, going to help him up from where he had crumpled onto the ground when he was released from his shackles of flame.

The fire around them had started to get out of control again. Now, instead of focussing on them, it seemed Ansel was now making it his duty to bring the whole building down around them.

Before she could reach him, she was stopped in her tracks by a hard wall of wind. It seemed to be trying to guide her towards the door, towards safety. She gritted her teeth. Archer. She didn't know what his deal was, didn't know why he kept trying to save her. She clearly wasn't the one who needed saving.

"Enough!" Lyla cried, trying to fight her way out of Archer's shield of wind. "I don't need your protection. I'm not leaving him behind."

"But he's human!" Archer protested, beginning to look panicked as the fire continued to blaze out of control.

Lyla snorted in disgust. "You're going to do great in this competition." With that she turned away and hurried to Wes who was still leaning heavily on the wall. Lyla caught the nasty look Archer sent Wes after she rushed back to help support his weight.

Smoke surged into her lungs as soon as she broke free from the wind shield, and she tried to stifle her coughs so Archer wouldn't hear. Doing her best to support Wes' large frame – he had at least half a foot on her – they slowly made their way to the rickety stairs.

Too slow, their progress was too slow, Lyla fretted. The flames had now engulfed most of the room, and heavy smoke was pouring out in every direction. Still, they pushed forward, trying to stay low to the ground.

She could hardly see through the smoke now, and she had lost sight of Archer. He had probably gone on ahead without them.

"Just leave me," Wes choked out. "I'm gonna get us both killed."

"I will not leave you," Lyla said haughtily through her laboured breathing. "You said you have a family to look after, and I already saved you once. It would be a waste if you died now."

She fell silent, realizing she was wasting precious air.

Their pace was maddeningly slow. As they pushed their way towards the exit, she noticed the other burns on Wes' legs. They looked excruciatingly painful, and Lyla wished she had done something about them earlier. Not only that, but he seemed to have some sort of old injury of his ankle. He was limping, and it wasn't because of burns. This was something more permanent.

Black spots flashed around Lyla's vision and she began to truly panic now. If she passed out there was no way either of them was getting out. She pressed forward, more urgent now. She could see the stairs.

She saw Julian staring down at her, and she stared right back, sending him a silent plea for help. She almost sobbed when he turned his back. She didn't know what she had expected, she hardly knew the boy, except by name and reputation.

Wes moaned, on the edge of consciousness. She couldn't leave him. She wouldn't. She didn't care if the people running this contest wanted them to get rid of the humans.

She yelped in pain and Wes slammed to the ground, his large body limp. She dropped down beside him, desperately trying to move him. Glass from the chandelier was cutting into her skin, and blood blossomed across her hands and arms.

Darker and darker her vision became, and the screams of terror around her began to fade into background noise. She fought for consciousness, making one last desperate lunge towards the stairs. Towards help. Towards anyone.

Suddenly, a pair of strong hands wrapped around her arms and pulled her to her feet. The smoke was pushed away by a strong gust of wind, and her eyes cleared. She looked up at Archer's grim face. He had come back.

"We don't leave him," she said hoarsely, nodding down at the slowly stirring Wes.

Archer nodded, tight lipped, but resigned to the fact that she wouldn't leave the human behind as long as she was still conscious.

"Can you stand?" he asked her, waiting for her confirming nod before releasing his firm grip on her waist.

She braced her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath, and watched as Archer heaved Wes to his feet. He pulled the larger boy's arm around his shoulder.

Archer looked exhausted, his face was pale, although his clothes and skin were untouched by the smoke. She took one last look at the building, and noticed the creaking roof and swaying pillars. It looked like all that was holding them up was some sort of invisible brace.

Her heart sunk, Archer's magic was keeping the whole building standing, and he was draining fast. If he flamed out, the roof would collapse on them, and everyone else who had been trapped by the fire.

She tried her best to hurry them up the stairs, and only when she could see the dim light of the rising dawn did she allow herself to have any hope. She shook her head; all these people with magical gifts, and no one did anything to stop this. Their magic was what caused this chaos in the first place.

The last few stairs were an effort, but she kept pushing, reassured by the sound of heavy footsteps behind her.

Finally, they reached the top of the stairs, and she stumbled her way out of the groaning building. As soon as she saw Wes and Archer safely outside, she twisted around to go back in. Most of the humans were still in there, many too injured to even move.

Before she could get outside, a violent gust of wind shoved her back, sending her flying to the ground. She whipped her head around, ready to yell at Archer. To demand why he wasn't trying to help.

He wasn't even looking at her, his eyes were unfocused and he was deathly pale. His knees buckled from under him and he fell heavily to the ground, head connecting sharply with the pavement.

The second his eyes closed, there was one last, insistent groan from the walls, and the building collapsed behind them. It caved in on itself and toppled onto the ancient temple of Magnolius Blackhorne, humans still inside.

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Hey thanks for making it to chapter three! I'll be posting the next chapter soon so stay tuned for that!

-Emma