Icefall Academy
Icefall City
Arktis Skyland
Northern Space

Ignoring the blaring sound of the audience in the arena, Areisha forced her mind to focus on the game and forget all distractions. She sat on a bench found in a room of the arena, where the other representatives for Flame Defender were. Their coaches and some of their teammates were in the room with them, all giving last moment good lucks and reminders.

She looked down and flexed her hands. The special gloves she wore fit well enough that they felt like a second skin. It was also enhanced by crimas to allow her to summon her Flame without the material hindering it, all the while keep her hands from freezing.

Gael stood in front of her, a smug smile forming on his lips. Areisha squashed the urge to roll her eyes at him. The older man was too confident in her abilities, and it was annoying her. It made her feel pressured and she doesn’t do well when she knows that people are expecting quite a lot from her.

Alec was the only person who wasn’t expecting much from her. Oddly enough though, she wanted to please him more than anyone.

She felt warmth rise up to her cheeks as her gaze went to Alec, who sat on a bench talking to Krizton and the others.
Ever since that night, when Alec directly admitted for the first time that she was one of the strongest people he knew, she started having weird thoughts and even stranger feelings. She couldn’t forget how he held her and tried his best to comfort her, the tenderness in his voice as he spoke to her, and his smile as he gazed at her with softness in his pale eyes.

She hated being weak. It made her feel like the child crying alone over her mother’s death or the shaking child trapped in a hole with a giant snake. Hearing someone she considered her rival say that she wasn’t such was a big boost on her self-esteem, which had been crumbling the last few days.

With a shake of her head she looked away from the young man. Both her hands rose and slapped her cheeks. The sound cracked the air around her, stunning the other occupants into silence. She ignored their gazes and once again tried to shake every distraction off of her mind.

“Are you alright, Roselintine?”

Speaking of distractions, she thought.

She heaved a sigh before looking up at Alec. She nodded, instead of uttering a word.

One of his brows arched at her silent answer, scrutinizing her with those beautiful crystal eyes. She didn’t have time to even scold herself for the word she used to describe Alec’s eyes, when Gael leaned down and spoke.

“You sure you’re fine? The cold isn’t starting to get to you is it?”

“I’m fine, really,” she said. “Just trying to focus myself on the game.”

Gael straightened and sighed, before ruffling her hair. “Tie your hair up now.”

“I’ll do it!” Solana said as she stood. Areisha handed her the black ribbon, and waited as her friend gathered her brown locks into a high tail. She managed to mumble a thank you before Solana crushed her into one of her tight hugs and knocked all the breath out of her lungs. “Good luck! Even though you have the skills, everyone still needs a little luck, don’t they Knox?”

Their gaze fell on Knox who sat next to Alec. Areisha’s brows rose when they found him staring at the floor, unaware that he was being addressed.

“Kosmiks to my sugar-crazy brother! You’re beautiful sister is calling you,” Solana said, annoyance in her tone.

Gael, Alec, and her chuckled when Knox’s mind returned to the present and he nearly fell off the bench.

“Are you okay, Knox?” Alec asked. “You’ve been out of it since the day before yesterday. Did something happen for you to look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

Knox’s eyes flitted from each of their faces. He stood in an abrupt motion, and startling them when he spoke.

“I have to tell Kreis something,” he said. “I’ll be right back.” He disappeared out the open door before they even had the time to react.

“What was that about?” Areisha asked Solana.

“Don’t know,” she said with furrowed brows. “Maybe I should go and make sure he really is all right.”

Moments later, the younger twin had gone off to follow her older brother.

“Please tell me you’re going to leave too,” she said to Alec.

He rolled his eyes before flashing her a small smile. “I’m going to be stuck here with you guys for a while.”

Her brows rose. He sounded a lot more playful than usual, and the smile had come easily too. Something about the way he said those words made her think that he had a deeper meaning to it.

Apparently, Gael shared her thoughts.

“You’re quite happy today,” he said. “Care to explain?”

Alec only shrugged. They looked to Krizton who raised his hand, asking permission first if he could join in the adult’s conversation. He was such a polite child.

“Eouno, won’t tell me either,” he said with a pout. “All he said was it was for him to know and for me to keep wondering about.”

Alec laughed while pulling Krizton to his lap, later on placing kisses on his forehead. Areisha turned when she thought she heard a couple of dreamy sighs, only to find most of the women in the room were looking at Alec. Some were furrowing their brows at Krizton, probably wondering who he was. The younger ones looked on with admiration.
She shut her eyes. Focus, focus, focus, she thought. Not a good time to deal with this strange feeling of misplaced anger. They’re not even doing anything!

She managed to clear her thoughts, just as an announcement blared from the sound-crima found on one wall.

“Flame Defender is to start in 10 minutes. Participants, please make your final preparations and head for the venue.”

The message repeated one more time before the people in the room, who weren’t players and coaches, started for the doorway.

“Good luck, eaana,” Krizton said. Alec had him cradled on one hip as his little hand clung to the young man’s shoulder, while the other reached out toward her.

She stepped closer, only to freeze when the child bent and kissed her forehead. She chuckled and reached up to pinch his cheeks while saying thank you.

“What about you, Alec-uno?” Krizton asked. “Give Isha-ana a good luck kiss too.”

Both she and Alec froze. She managed to stop her jaw from slacking the same moment Alec locked gazes with her. His mouth opened and closed, fumbling for words. Areisha couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t just blatantly say no, like she was sure he would.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Gael covering his mouth with a fist and fake coughing. He was obviously hiding a grin.

When her attention returned to Alec, she caught sight of him kissing his thumb. As quickly and as gently as he could, he pressed the thumb to her forehead before scurrying out of the room like the Eimion hounds of Blazen were after him.
The entire time, she saw the crimson color on his cheeks that would put the color of the reddest tomato to shame.

She felt three things: shock, disappointment, and amusement. Shock, because he actually made an effort to do it. Disappointment, because…she didn’t dwell on that thought. Amusement, because of his discomfort and shyness.

She let the amusement overpower the others as she let out a laugh at how adorable he and his actions were.

———

Flame Defender was relatively simple. As the name suggest, the main goal was to protect their own Flames from dying out. All over the large oval of the arena, multiple obstacles cover the snowy ground. They must run three laps, avoid the obstacles that would threaten to put out their powers, and cross the finishing line. If the Flame died out before the three laps were over, the player is out.

Areisha’s forest green Flame hovered above her, just the size of Krizton’s head. They were not allowed to change its size, only to move it around as they please.

She looked to her left and spotted the other players, all female like her. First she saw Philisa, the Parythian Alec saved from the Water Conqueror and told him about his mother, who stood with her yellow Flame hovering over her head. Sierra, the girl with the rogue Drae from the opening ceremony, was the representative of Icefall Academy, tossing her teal Flame from one hand to the other. The two smiled at her and gave a little wave. She did the same and gave small nod of as well.

“People of Icefall Arena, are you ready for some action?” A female voice floated across the arena, earning loud shouts of approval from the crowd. “Who do you think among these three young women will take the title of Flame Defender?” More shouts came from the crowd, all shouting their names. She took a deep breath. “Without further ado, welcome all to Flame Defender! Players are you ready?”

The crowd shouted the countdown.

“Three!”

Areisha bent and put her left foot forward.

“Two!”

Her hands lowered. Her eyes darted to the tall wall, the first obstacle, searching for the footholds that would help her get over it faster.

“One!”

She took a deep breath.

A horn blared.

She dashed forward. She leaped from the ground. With precise movements, her limbs landed on footholds half way up the wall. It took a second to ease in the small amount of air she lost from the impact, before she started climbing. Climbing was her favorite activity, and she had been doing it for years. Getting over the wall was as easy as when Solana bribed Alec with some strawberries to scare away the blonde’s suitors, who had stood in front of the Star Dorm doors.

A length of rope trailed down to the other side of the wall. Once she reached it, she slid down, using her feet to push against the surface every few intervals.

When on the ground, she noticed that the other two were only half a wall behind. She turned and moved on to the next challenge.

Three rows of hoops hang three feet above her head on metal poles. Below, was a large puddle of stinky mud—it smelled of Drae dung to be more precise.

She ran and jumped, her fingers curling on the first hoop. The moment she did, balls of water started shooting across her path from either side.

Flames were technically not fire. They were called as such because the physical manifestation of a Draeyer’s power looked like fire. They can't be put out by water. The aim of the waterballs in the game was to throw off the player's concentration.

As she dangled there, she watched and counted the interval of the water balls before the cannons on the side released them. Three seconds, she thought. She needed to be quick, but careful.

Due to the weights that Gael had made her lift for the past few weeks, she had built enough strength in her arms to lift her entire body.

The distance from one hoop to the other was too far for her arms to reach, so she opted for another tactic.

With a swing of her body, her legs went through the second loop, a moment after a ball of water flew past her face. She clenched the back of her knees on the metal, letting go of the first ring in the process. She dangled upside down, the tip of her ponytail a few feet above the foul “mud.”

She swung her body, arched her back, and hands reached for the next hoop. She released her legs from the second hoop, right on time before two water balls sailed through the air on either in front and behind her. With her command, her Flame soared toward beneath her dangling feet.

From there, the timing of her swings went smoothly. Her agility and flexibility were two of the things that she was better at than Alec and Knox, which is why she focused on making improvements. Competition was good motivation, in her opinion.

She somersaulted twice, before landing on the ground with ease. From her crouch, she wasted no second and dashed for three rows of spinning horizontal bars. The roar of the crowd increased, as well of the chanting of all three of their names.

They bars were about half a meter thick and one and a half-meter long, and covered with a blue padding. Sprays of water rose up every few seconds in the space between the contraptions.

A flash of red dashed passed her. A mop of curly ink hair soon caught her gaze as Philisa hopped on top of the spinning bars. Areisha followed suit.

Sierra’s figure darting past her, startled Areisha out of focus. Areisha’s foot landed on the edge of the bar, throwing her off balance. Her body landed on the spinning bar, earning a loud groan from her lips. Reflexes kicked in as her hands clenched on the block’s edges, almost falling to the ground. The tips of her boots aligned as she pushed herself to stand.

The bar continued spinning as she pulled herself into a crouch.

Think, think, think, she told herself. She needed to make up for that mistake.
The spinning picked up speed, right at the same moment she started getting dizzy. Water sprayed below her. She called her Flame in front of her chest and shielded it with her hands. She watched as the momentum of the bars pushed some of the freezing water to the next rotating block. It gave her a crazy and dangerous idea.

She braced herself for a jump. The bars spun. Its momentum threw her forward as she made a jump, giving her extra force. She sailed over a bar and to another. Steeling her focus, she landed on a spinning bar on a crouch. She timed the spin to assist her in making another long jump. She went like that two more times, forcing herself to focus and ignore the crowd’s excitement over her stunt.

She landed with a roll on the ground, propped up on to her feet and ran, passing Philisa with her speed.

The next couple of minutes were filled with grunts of pain and avoiding almost-life-threatening situations. Sweat poured down her body despite the level of cold of her surroundings. Her limbs ached, especially from her legs due to the running and jumping she was forced to do. Philisa and Sierra were never far behind, sometimes gaining the lead, only for her to take it back.

Somewhere in the background, she could hear Krizton’s shouts as well as Rei’s from the balcony. She had three seconds to wonder where the twins were, when a ball of water came hurtling to her face. She threw herself to the ground, head first and the Flame beside her head. It flew over her as she rolled, stood, and continued running like nothing happened.

Final Lap. Last obstacle.

Of all the hindrances in the track, the final obstacle was the most tiring and difficult. She almost sighed in relief that it would be the last time she was going to go through it.

The last obstacle had more water than any of the others. A cluster of pillars rose and fell in front of her, looking like smaller versions of the rippling cylinders Knox had moved around on during Knowledge Hunter. Constant movement was the trick to pass it. If one stopped, they’d be thrown off to the pool of water below. It was also slippery—another thing she dreaded about the obstacle.

All the early morning 20-lap runs around the Draeyer Academy Skyland’s Edges, which she spent putting up with Alec (because they were still chained then), for three weeks finally wore off. She had a lot more stamina than Sierra and Philisa, which was now quite obvious from her distance from them.

She shook her head. It was not a time for her to have overconfident thoughts. Focus on the game, she told herself. Nothing is over until it’s over.

Just as she told herself that, her attention went to her father’s balcony. The lord wore a huge beam on his face as he sat on his chair. If he wasn’t holding such a respected position, she was sure that her Papa would be shouting along with the crowd. To his right, there was an empty chair where her stepmother was supposed to be. To his left, she saw Eila looking at her. She wasn’t sure because of the distance, but it looked like the girl had a small frown of concern on her face.

She ignored the look, and used a stone block as leverage to leap on top of the moving pillars. She landed for a second, before jumping on to another. It was tiring process—physically and mentally. She had to choose the next dry pillar to land in the spilt second she makes a jump.

Something whizzed past her face while in the air. She flipped and landed on another pillar. While in the air once more, a sting came from her nose and right cheek. Thinking it was the cold, she ignored it. She felt the sting on her temple, her brow, and then her lips. She ignored those too.

Before she could land, a wall of water appeared before her. She called on the floating Flame to in front of her chest. She spun, her back cutting through the torrent of water, soaking her from head to foot.

She landed, although stumbling a couple of feet forward before regaining her balance.

She was shivering by the time she crossed the finish line. She didn’t even look as she threw her Flame to the pyre in a large black bowl with the emblem of Draeyer Academy on it. She ignored the green light that bathe the area as she met Gael, who had come running toward her with a thick cloak.

“Congratulations!” Gael said. “I knew you could do it.”

She just smiled, her lip hurt and shivering from the cold for her to utter a word.

As soon as Gael wrapped her in the robe, she saw his eyes widen at her face.

“What happened?” he said as his thumb pressed to her temple, the same part that stung earlier. “Where did you get these scratches?"

When he pulled his hand back, she saw a dribble of blood on it. Her own hand went to her nose, lips, cheek, and the one on her brow dangerously close to her right eye.

“I don’t know,” she said. The shock at the wounds momentarily helped her forget the cold.

She saw how Gael’s face hardened when his eyes fell on something on the right sleeve of her jacket.

Something had cut through the fabric, leaving a small tear behind. Her brows furrowed when something glinted on the tear. She held up her fingers to touch it.

A piece of grey metal got trapped between the layers of her attire. It was so thin that it could pass as a piece of hair. The moment she touched it though, it created a tear on her gloves.

A weapon. She gulped. The same weapon that she saw embedded on the entirety of her mother’s back. The weapon that ripped her mother away from her.

Gael’s large hands on her shoulders snapped her out of the maelstrom of thoughts and rising panic. He led her inside, while looking around them with cautious eyes.

She ignored him, even the people who had rushed to congratulate her. Her mind flashed to the conversation she had heard about the needle during the investigation of her Mama’s death.

“This is the first time we’ve seen a weapon like this,” the Detective Ryder had told her Papa. “There’s none other like it, so it will be hard for us to get a lead on who made it.”

When she was alone, she found herself whispering as she looked down at the floor with her head in her hands.

“It can’t be. It can’t be,” she said. “My mother’s murderer can’t be alive. It can’t be.”

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Hey guys. Sorry if I haven't updates lately. Life got in the way. I also don't want to be an author who makes a crappy chapter just to update. This series is my baby. And even though its far from perfect and its still in the first stage, I want to make it great already. I hope you'll understand.