"Now, we fight," Paris declared.

I gave him a what-the-hell look, "Excuse me?" Paris raised an eyebrow, "You know what fighting means? Fighting is the-" I stomped on his foot, "Yes, I know what fighting means but how?"

He grinned, his eyes sparkling with mischief, "You've called on the magic of fire, now you must know how to wield it."

He clamped his fingers on my wrist and Jumped us. As the wind and shadows vanished, I open my eyes to an arena. I had never been to one myself, but from the legends and the stories told by many in drunken taverns, it seemed close enough.

The stands were empty, but the field? It was large and barren. Nothing but sand. Stars, I hated sand. It got just about everyone, and was as annoying as Paris.

Paris turned, walked ten paces, and whirled back, the grin still fixed onto his face. "Great. You ready?"

"No."

"Too bad," Paris called, "Shoot at me with fire."

I summoned the fire easily. Compressing the wild flames into a ball, I hurled the blazing fireball at the arrogant jerk.

A wisp of shadow easily put that fire out, "Really, darling, is that all you can do?"

I contemplated deeply and fired another fireball as I thought. I examined the way he summoned the shadows, and how it seemed to extinguish the fire like mist. Paris smirked, and his shadows danced, obscuring my view of him.

The flames were gone...but what if he didn't see the fire?

An idea popped into my head. It was crazy, reckless, and stupid, but it was worth a shot.

I hurled a stream of fireballs and set a firewall in front me like I was afraid he could attack- a mere distraction. And then, I plucked the heat from its flames and shot it at Paris's shadows, allowing the heat to build up.

I heard a swear from the darkness and it immediately vanished.

The High Prince was no longer smirking when my eyes fell on him. He threw his hands up and the winds picked up the sand. With a glare, he flicked his hands at me, and instantly, the entire arena was a sandstorm. And some instinct, deep inside me, sprung up, taking control.

I thrusted my hands up and instantly, a ring of hellfire appeared, the heat burning away the sand. I raised it higher, and threw my hands out apart. An earsplitting explosion echoed as I shot hellfire's heat everywhere.

When the purple mist finally vanished, I spotted Paris, his eyes gleaming with.... Pride? Despite his clothes tattered from the explosion and burn marks on his perfect body, there was definitely a smirk on his lips.

"You still think you're average. Even some of the most talented can't do that, honey. What are you?" He mused.

Paris didn't give me a chance to answer before he grabbed my hand and Jumped us back to the manor. We appeared in the dining room and he snorted, "Well, thanks to that performance you put up, have the day off."

I turned to look at Paris, but he had disappeared.

~

NaNo is killing me, I have only 2K words and it's already 10 days. How the hell am I supposed to finish this shit in time? *cries in misery*