The initial reaction to the humans stumbling into the room was stunned silence. Although Mages weren't friendly with humans and the two races usually stayed apart, there had never been any outright aggression towards each other. One of the main goals of the Council was to keep the peace between humans and Mages.

There were separate schools for Mages and humans, although they received the same education. Parents were generally in charge of schooling in the magic arts, although some had other Mages teach their children.

Lyla quickly scanned the faces of the humans, none of them looked too badly harmed. Her gaze caught on one peculiar looking girl. For the most part she appeared normal, short and blonde with a pretty face. But her clothes were covered in a black, ashy substance. She was coated from head to toe in the stuff. She also noticed the gleam in her eye, and saw how she was scanning the room, probably for an escape route.

There was an uncomfortable silence, as the young Mages looked around the room at each other, waiting for someone to make the first move. It was odd that whoever had brought them here hadn't given them any instruction. She supposed they were interested in how they would react.

Eventually, Ansel Barrick stepped forward towards the humans that cowered against the walls. Lyla wondered what had been done to them before this to make them so terrified.

Ansel flicked his hand with a grin, and a burning wall of fire sprung up between the two groups. Screams echoed around the hall as the people on both sides scrambled backwards.

Elementals had almost complete control over their specific element, although just like all Mages, they did have a limit of the amount of magic they could use before burning out.

That one attack was all it took for chaos to break out amongst them. Gone was the hesitation, it was a full on magical free for all. Lyla looked around frantically. She had no real magic to protect her; she had to get out of the crossfire.

A huge wave sprung up from nowhere, crashing over the fire and causing it to go up in a wall of burning steam. Sorcerer's spells shot around the room in burst of colourful light, most aimed towards humans. The beautifully decorated temple was being completely trashed. Lyla coughed at the smoke that was slowly creeping across the room, the result of Ansel's flames.

A soft hand landed on Lyla's shoulder and she shrieked, jumping back in fright. Her heart was pounding out of her chest as she turned to meet the eyes of the wind elemental who had flipped up her dress.

"Come on, don't just stand there," he urged her. He grabbed her hand and began pulling her towards one of the back doors.

Lyla yanked her hand out of his.

"Get off of me!" she snarled, glaring at him. "You may want me out of this competition, but you're going to have to do better than that. I don't need to be saved."

He cocked his head, looking bewildered. "That's not what I-"

Lyla clenched her jaw. "My power is healing, and that's what I'm going to do." She turned on a heel and hurried towards the statue in the middle of the room. She kept her head up, wary of the spells flying around her.

When she reached the statue she knelt down, digging through the pile of offerings. If Magnolius Blackhorne had any power left in the after-life he would give her hell for this. She shook her head, trying not to think of the heinous act she was committing. Magnolius Blackhorne was the closest thing Mages had to a God, and she was completely disrespecting him.

After frantically tossing aside useless offerings for a few minutes she found what she was looking for. Deep in the pile was an ancient looking figurine. Just running her hand over it she could feel the power it possessed. She was lucky she was able to find anything with power at all. Most of the offerings seemed to be more of personal value. It should be enough to let her channel the energy it held.

Lyla continued her trek across the destroyed temple towards the huddle of humans who were trying their best to shield themselves from the magic. She could already see many burns from the wall of fire, and others had been hit by nasty sorcerer's spells, and had itching hives and puss covered boils.

She was immersed in thought, considering how exactly she'd heal them, and she'd failed to notice the spell of bright red light shooting towards her. Just as it was about to slam into her chest, she was pushed to the ground by a strong gust of wind.

Pain shot through her arm as she landed awkwardly, but a quick look at it told her it wasn't broken. Gritting her teeth, Lyla pulled herself off the ground, resisting the urge to thank the person who saved her. It could have been anyone, she told herself. There were plenty of wind elementals present.

Finally, she reached the humans. Grateful that the wall of fire had been extinguished, Lyla hurried towards a boy with painful looking burns across his arm, and she could see more through his smouldering shirt. She winced at the ruined flesh of his once smooth, chocolate coloured skin.

The boy sat stoically against the wall, not whimpering like many of the other injured. He met her gaze warily, the look on his face quiet. It was the look of someone who had accepted his fate.

Determination coursed through Lyla's body, she would save this boy.

"I'm going to help you," she said, in a soft, reassuring voice. A voice she mastered after eighteen years of sitting at patients bedsides while her parents worked.

The boy grunted, and had the gall to look slightly amused. "Do what you have to do," he said, his voice deep and smooth despite his obviously painful wounds. "I have a family to get back to."

Lyla furrowed her brow. He had a family to get to, yet he was sitting here not fighting back against any of this.

"My name is Lyla," she said. "Lyla Fenix. I'm a witch."

"My name's Wes," he said simply. She couldn't tell if revealing her name had any effect on him. He rested against the wall, seemingly drained of energy.

She didn't have any medical supplies with her to lessen the amount of magic she had to expend, so she would have to do this by channelling the pure power of the figurine into her healing.

Kneeling down beside him, she set the figurine on the ground.

"This is going to hurt," she warned. Wes just grunted back at her in what she hoped was approval.

She laid her hand softly on his arm, directly on top of the peeling flesh. He hissed, but maintained his stoic posture. Placing her other hand on the small statue, she almost smiled as she felt the magic flow through her. The magic coursed through her body like a river, and she felt it all the way to her toes.

She closed her eyes, pulling the magic to her hands, and focusing on pressing it into Wes' arm. Visualization was the most important part of her form of magic. Although the amount of power she had access to was limited by her source, the way she chose to use it was up to her. As long as the magic was focused on the human body, a witch could perform any healing magic.

She supposed there were some witches and wizards who used their power to inflict pain, but living above her family's healing clinic since she was born made her repulsed by the idea of using her magic to do harm.

She could feel the flesh below her fingers pulling together slowly, and new, clean skin expanding over the injury. It had to be excruciating for him, but he didn't make a noise and just took the pain with gritted teeth.

The magic of the object was fading, so Lyla sat back to examine her work. It wasn't perfect, the flesh was still red in places and there were parts that were uneven and bumpy, but it would be enough to prevent an infection.

Lyla shrieked as fire shot towards her, narrowly missing her. She looked around, once again taking in the chaos. The once beautifully decorated temple was now in ruins. The crystal chandelier lay shattered across the floor, creating a deadly maze of glass. The curtains and drapery around the room had caught fire and were slowly burning up along the walls and tables and chairs were overturned around the room.

Heart hammering, Lyla turned back to Wes. "How did you even get here?" she asked, looking around as the rest of the humans. It was something that had been bugging her since she'd arrived. Humans had been disappearing from the city for weeks, she'd heard as much from her mother. Was this where they were disappearing to?

"A couple of nights ago a letter arrived at my house," he started, "it said that if I showed up at this abandoned building tonight, they would help my sister. There was no name or anything, but at this point I'm pretty desperate, so I came."

Lyla frowned. They were promising things to the humans too, not just whoever won this competition.

"What's wrong with your sister?" she asked quietly.

"She's sick," Wes slumped, visibly upset. "None of the human doctors can figure out why, and we can't afford to go to your kind. She's getting worse everyday."

Her stomach turned. It was something Lyla hated about her family's clinic. They charged extravagant fees for their services, and made no exceptions.

Another line of flame shot towards them, this time Lyla had to duck to avoid it, and she still felt the searing heat against her skin. She looked up, meeting the flashing eyes of Ansel Barrick. He had his hands out in front of him, and aimed towards them.

She could see the anger that flickered in his eyes as he registered that she was helping the humans, rather than attacking them.

"Maybe this isn't the place to have this conversation," Wes said, his voice low and humourless.

"If we get out of here, I'll find a way to help your sister," Lyla said solemnly, turning back to look at Wes. She didn't know why she felt the need to help him. Maybe she had formed some sort of connection to him because she healed him. This was the first time she had ever healed someone without her parents' help and supervision. She frowned, looking at the messy job she had done on his arm. Her mother could have patched up his skin perfectly, without leaving a trace of her work.

Lyla's head shot up as she noticed the wind elemental approach Ansel, who was still glaring at her.

"That's enough, you're going to seriously hurt someone," the boy growled. "Everyone gets the point, you've proven how powerful you are. Now stop."

"You're just feeling overshadowed by me like you always have," Ansel sneered back. "I'll stop when I'm ready to."

Lyla grimaced, as she realized the boy who had tried to get her out must be Archer Barrick, the younger brother of Ansel. He stepped forwards confidently, not afraid to stand up to his brother.

The two boys faced each other, both tensed and ready for attack. Lyla glanced back and forth worriedly. Archer was taller than his brother, but also much leaner. He also didn't have the vicious looking snarl to match Ansel's intensity. He also was the only thing standing between her and a painful blast of white-hot fire.

As fast as lightning, Ansel struck, sending a spear of flame towards Archer. Her heart leaped, it would be over that quickly. She was prepared to rush over to Archer to heal him, when the fire winked out of existence mere inches from Archer's face.

Lyla blinked. Archer extinguished his brother's flame that easily. He hadn't even flinched.

A wry, taunting smile danced across Archer's face.

"Come on brother, you can do better than that. I know you aren't the sharpest egg in the attic, but at least give me a challenge" he goaded, giving himself over to the fight.

"That's not the saying," Ansel barked out, looking even more infuriated at Archer than he had been at her.

Ansel clenched his fists, flaming red hair standing on end. The brothers were complete opposites. Archer with his fair, blonde hair and lanky frame, paired with an almost goofy looking smile; Ansel, stocky and muscular, not a hint of warmth or kindness on his face.

Again, Ansel moved to attack his brother, this time sending a barrage of fiery arrows towards him. Archer flicked his hand, and a gust of wind blew the flames harmlessly to the side.

Over and over Ansel sent fire blasting for Archer, and each time Archer calmly deflected. With each failed attack Ansel grew more agitated.

Finally, he dropped his hands in defeat, his mouth turning down at the corners. Before anyone could react, Ansel turned away from his brother and lifted his hands towards the two closest humans.

Strands of pure flame shot towards each of them and wrapped around their wrists and ankles like cuffs, pinning them to the wall. The small blonde girl let out a piercing scream when the flame touched her skin. Wes only let out a grunt, but bore the pain in relative silence.

She shot to her feet, not sure what she could do to stop it, but needing to do something.

"Virtute vacui," a hollow voice said from behind her, and the room winked into darkness.

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Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying the story, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Let me know who your favourite character is so far!

- Emma