I clenched my fists by my sides and wine red colour curled around my hands climbing up to my elbows in swirls of colour. I loosen my fists and daggers materialize in my hands, small, sleek but sharp.

But I waited for him to show any movement, anything that says he is preparing himself too. He just holds a deck of cards in his hand. Two cards slip out and float in the air on each side of his head.

I stared for a moment at the peculiar sight. Surely he has something more than this to stand against an offender. I shake the thought off and concentrate on the fight. But I don't know what to aim for. He is not a defender and he is not wearing a suit, how can I aim at him without the risk of causing an injury.

My thoughts are cut short as Zane places two figures on the deck of cards, I watch as he flicks the cards from the deck at the speed of the wind and within a few seconds, all 32 cards are in the air.

Lining up all before me in an army of soldiers hiding their general behind them. The cards are not even in symmetry, just placed at random positions.

I look him in the eye, at his arms and shoulders. Nothing moves, not even a twitch and I am left wondering, what will he do next.

A card from the arrangement shoots towards me. Slicing through the air, faster than a knife. Acting with quick reflexes I swung my arm, releasing the dagger. It impales the card in the centre, tearing through it.

And I flick my hand to pull it back. I feel the stress in my muscles as I stop the dagger mid-air. The dagger disappears from the card and materializes back into my hands.

One careless move and I may end up hurting him.

The next second I am bombarded with a whirlwind of cards with razor-sharp edges slicing towards me. I am summoning my daggers and shooting them at a speed to match the cards. Aderenilanien pumping in my veins, boosting my movements. I swing my daggers to impale two cards.

A card sailing through the air brushes off my ear and I stumble back.

They are thin, faster and difficult to see. I summon small darts in my hands. One goes to stab a card. The thin sheen of sweat on my body cools with every moment I make, cooling down my overheated body and I push myself to work faster.

They are too fast, too many and coming from all the direction. I jump on my heels, shifting right and left to dodge the cards I can't tear. Twelve down. The muscles in my arms scream in pain as the overuse fatigues me. But I push past it and continue to swing the darts. I can't stop even for a second. A blink and I can miss one, rising a cut.

A bead of sweat collects on my upper lips and I take in a breath to concentrate and continue to swing, duck, step and slice. The cards that I dodge makes an arch, curving back to attack me.

It is like invisible hands shooting cards at me. I took the lead and stepped forward, stabbing three cards at once. Through the haze of cards, I see Zane stepping forward but I can't focus more. Within seconds the cards aimed at me take notice and I bend back to save my nose. The card swipes in an arc, just where I was standing less than a second ago.

I regain my balance and summon three darts clutch in between the fingers of my right hand. I swing my arm with deadly precision stabbing three cards.

Zane is stepping forward continuously, I keep an eye open for him and keep my darts under control. I send batches of three darts, swinging my arms, again and again, to hit the target. I abruptly stop the darts, making a motion of pulling them back before they cut him. He is inching closer.

4 more cards to go. But they are dispersed in different directions. I take a second to take in a deep breath before I jump into action. I stab a card and the other comes for me. I didn't see it coming but it stops millimetres away from my cheek. I took in a shaking breath. Making eye contact with Zane.

He suddenly leaps forward, swinging a leg to knock me out of my feet. I jump up avoiding it in the last second and stumble back a little not expecting the surprise attack.

He pounced again, swinging a fist at me and I duck. He continues to shoot punches at me and I sidestep, swinging right. Punches after punches and my ducks become sloppy. I can't use my knives in a hand to hand combat, I can end up wounding both of us.

I step back and bypass another fist. Swinging my leg I tried to knock him, but he jumps through it with practices precision. I took that opportunity to send punches flying at him but they are weak and he evades them with ease.

He swung his legs and it contacts with my leg. I am too late to elude the blow and am swiped off my feet. Losing balance I land on the mats with a thud, the fall shaking up my bones as my shoulder takes the burnt of the fall. Adrenaline mutes the pain.

I don't even have a second before Zane is on me again, she punches at me and I cross my arms to block my face. I clench my eyes together anticipating the pain to shoot through my arms and bruise it blue.

But nothing happens. And I slowly bring my hands down.

Zane is standing back, fist froze mid-air in a motion to deliver a punch. He is breathing heavily, like me. Shirt clinging to his body and dark with sweet, eyes focused on me. He steps back and lowers his arms, offering me a hand to pull myself up.

But I don't take his offer, instead choosing to stand up on my own. My muscles are heavy with fatigue, but it is a good kind of pain. Like loosening my muscles after a long time.

"You can't rely on your colour too much Ariel, you need to improve in hand to hand combat," Zane remarks, folding his arms to look intimidating, like a trainer approaching his student, and I narrow my eyes at him.

" I can rely only on my colours" I snap at him, getting defensive over my colours. He has no right to say that, they are the only thing consistent in my life, always with me no matter where I am. Even if I have to constantly hide them.

" But you are right I need to train more" I quickly rushed out to take the attention away from my previous sentence. I waited, studying his reaction and hoping that he won't direct my words.

" You need to learn to throw better punches" He replies, I nod at him and drop down on the mats. Zane follows my example, sitting down before me. I prop myself on my hands to keep me from falling back as tiredness washes away the adrenaline. I take in a deep breath and after some time my breathing comes back in control.

Zane motions to something and the basket comes floating to us. I chuckle at the sight of the basket dancing in the air. It places down between us and I open the lid.

" Orange or apple juice?" I ask him rummaging through the contents.

" Orange" I pass him his juice and pop my box with the straw.

I take a sip and sweet taste busts in my mouth, and I sigh feeling my muscles relaxing with every sip of the glucose.

My phone starts ringing and I groaned in annoyance.

" Can you please" I pleaded to Zane in an overly sweet voice, batting my eyes at him. He gave a sigh and I phone was handed to me. Perks of being a colourless.

Kaydens picture flashes on the screen and I abandon my juice box, sitting up straighter as I press the phone to my ear.

" Ariel? I found something." Kaydens voice filtered through the phone laden with grim seriousness.

The smile is wiped out of my face as I take in a breath, waiting for him to continue. "I searched through the records for anyone named Kay Azon, every admission within these ten years. But I couldn't find his name."

" What" I breathed out in a whisper, his statement weighing like stones.

" I checked the same for all the other ten officers from the bios you sent me. Still nothing. These officers don't exist on paper." My grip tightened on the phone.

"What does that mean?"I want to hear it from him because the realization seems too sharp to be real. Too manipulated.

" They are not the real officers, they don't have an allowance or a degree. They are imposters"