"Wha—" Adahlia started as the final traces of Avanth's dark magic left the room, black swirls flying out the window.

"I—I thought you were going to sleep . . ." Avanth said quietly. She glanced at the disappearing wisps of dark smoke drifting on the lake and turned back towards Avanth.

"What was that?" she asked.

Avanth dropped his gaze and watched the dark wood floor, "It's just my magic." She glanced back out the window where there was only moonlight reflecting off the surface of the lake and back to Avanth's downward gaze.

"Black . . . smoke?" she asked, knowing the expression on Avanth's face would lead to something bad if she said anything wrong. 

"Um, no," Avanth glanced at the half-washed plate of spaghetti and sighed. "It's—I'm not really sure how to explain it but it's . . ." He took in a deep breath and Adahlia could see how much this was bothering him.

"If you don't want to tell me, that's ok," she said and Avanth glanced up at her.

"You sure?" Avanth's face was washed over with relief when she nodded. "Yeah, sorry, no huge dramatic reveal moment."

Adahlia laughed, breaking the tension, "Yeah, that would have to happen when I know you for more than ten minutes." Avanth cracked a grin at that. He turned back to the sink and scrubbed at the plate stained with tomato sauce.

"Well, good night then." Adahlia started for the doors.

"'Night," Avanth said, still facing the window.

When she finally got to her cabin and opened the front door, she felt the small reverberation of a small earthquake and the faint sense of otherworldly eyes upon her.

. . .

"What—what is that?" Daxelle asked as Adahlia entered the training ring.

She shrugged at her unicorn headband, "This headpiece is the embodiment of mythical beings and as we are currently practicing the art of magic, unicorns are the perfect spirit . . . bringer."

Iaelie snorted and stretched out her arm to touch her toe, preparing for a physically painful day it seemed.

Daxelle rolled her eyes but rolled out her head and wrists.

A quick glance around the ring showed Zadyn leaning against one of the supporting beams. He caught her eye and offered a half-smile.

Deciding not to abandon her fellow Fae-person, she walked across the sand-based floor of the ring and leaned against a neighboring pole that surrounded the training field.

"How's your leg?" she asked.

Zadyn shook out his leg and only winced slightly, "It's better." Adahlia nodded. She was about to say some random inspirational crap but saw Avanth walking with Gwydion towards the ring. Zadyn stood up straighter and tried to hide his grimace when his arm knocked into the beam he was leaning against.

She decided not to comment on it and squinted towards the two approaching figures.

"Alright, you're all here. Wonderful," Gwydion glanced around the training ring and met each of their curious eyes with a reassuring gaze. "Why don't we start off easy. Choose a leg and raise the opposite one to hip level. Zadyn, you can lean against the pillar if you wish."

Adahlia wasn't sure how this was going to help them control their powers, but she lifted her left leg in the air and poorly balanced on her right.

Beside her, Zadyn had a death grip on the wooden beam as he slowly raised his right leg.

Gwydion smiled as all five of them wobbled around on a leg, "Great. Now rise onto your toes."

Iaelie and Daxelle swapped curious glances, but obeyed Gwydion.

On the other side of the ring, Avanth cursed his leg. He wasn't the only one struggling though. Zadyn was heavily dependant on his pole and Daxelle's arms were flailing around.

Iaelie seemed to be the truly centered one. Her eyes were closed and her arms upraised above her head. Her focus didn't seem to waver and she was pretty much still. The stillness of the fae.

Gwydion walked around, giving small corrections to their form that lessened the amount of wobbling and made them all seem much less like those air dancers in front of all hovercar dealerships.

When Gwydion reached her, he checked her posture. "Have you done meditation or sports before?"

"No, just dance as a kid," Adahlia said, her leg starting to hurt from not balancing out her weight.

Gwydion nodded, "Builds good form."

He scanned the Fae group with contemplating eyes, "Alright, now slowly lean forward and raise the leg in the air behind you. If it helps, you may extend your arms." He quickly demonstrated the position and his posture was unwavering. He was purely still in the T-like position.

He got more than a few incredulous looks, but everyone wobbled into their positions.

For the rest of the morning, the small group tried varying positions at awkward angles and trying not to face plant in the sand. When Gwydion announced the first lesson over, Iaelie wiped a sweaty hand over her forehead.

"What was the point of all the balancing?" she asked, bending over her knees.

"When one finds true control, one can therefore control themselves," Gwydion said ominously.

Avanth rocked back on his heels, "Yeah, I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you just said."

Gwydion laughed and directed them towards the dining hall, "You should eat lunch now, I promise, the afternoon lesson will be much more fun." Adahlia could hear Daxelle grumbling about brain-leg coordination and practically made a mad dash towards the food.

"Food is mwah, chef's kiss," Daxelle said, blowing a kiss as she bit into her peanut butter and ham sandwich.

When their food was gone, Gwydion walked into the mess hall with immaculate timing and announced, "I want you all to tell me one thing you want to learn the most with your magic."

Everyone seemed to all mentally agree to glance at Adahlia and she froze in her seat, "I—um, maybe, combine elements? Or—uh, I don't know."

Gwydion smiled, "No, no that is a wonderful goal. Combining elements is hard, but definitely something to work towards. Anyone else?" Adahlia felt like she was back at school with the teacher calling out random students, but Iaelie tentatively raised her hand.

"Maybe, like, channel the strength to a certain part of my body and . . . I don't know, maybe jump higher or swing harder?"

Gwydion nodded, "Wonderful, a hard goal to reach, but a good one. That will definitely help in battle."

Daxelle glanced up at the ceiling for inspiration, "Maybe break into multiple people's heads?"

"Good, good. Mind control can also reach as far as mind damage, but an achievable goal. I like it, start small and work your way up," Gwydion encouraged.

He glanced at Zadyn patiently.

Zadyn shifted under his gaze, "Shield people and . . . use pointy things as weapons. That could help, right?"

"Yes, of course it would, that would make you in the front lines, an honorable warrior." Gwydion turned to Avanth. "Do you have any goals regarding your magic?"

"Uh," Avanth looked around him and his gaze settled on Adahlia. He was practically begging for help.

Maybe, say something about darkness? 

Avanth couldn't hear of course, what she said in her own brain, but he shrugged and said, "I'm not entirely sure, but something with the dark and shadows."

Gwydion nodded again, standing up, "Alright then, I'll see you in the ring."

. . .

It seemed like their magic would only come out when Adahlia didn't want it there. The entire afternoon, she tried to summon anything, anything but lightning and clouds, but not a hint of a sprout grew or a spark of fire ignited. It was like her magic was feeding off her bad mood.

She reached deep into her well of power and tried to blast out enough energy to ignite a flame or even stir the wind, but nothing happened.

She might as well have been screaming at a block of cheese for all her magic listened to her.

Avanth seemed to have a similar problem, but his eyes were clouded and there was not a hint of darkness.

She knew he could summon it like he did last night, but he wasn't.

Daxelle and Iaelie were playing some sort of game. If Daxelle could guess what Iaelie was thinking, she had to crush a rock. So far, Daxelle had guessed Iaelie's thoughts about brownies and she had been trying for the past five minutes to crush a small boulder.

Zadyn was just . . . sitting there. He stared into space and didn't move a single muscle—which was impressive considering his injured limbs.

She didn't know if it was a concentrating technique or what, but he seemed . . . lonely.

So because of her current failure and the fact that she was not making a single bit of progress, she went over to Zadyn. He glanced at her immediately—so he wasn't in his brain or whatever.

"How's telekinesis going?" she asked, sitting next to him.

Zadyn shrugged, "It's alright."

He was staring out past the ring again and because Gwydion was currently monitoring Iaelie and Daxelle, the rest of them were unwatched.

And because somehow—completely contrasting her normally nosy self—she knew not to push so she just nodded along. Instead, she squinted at the small grains of sand lining the floor of the training ring and willed a small sprout to grow.

She imagined the green shoot absorbing the sunlight quicker, running on her powers. Nothing happened.

She blew out a breath and tried to do anything remotely magical.

She closed her eyes and pretended she felt a gust of wind on her face—trying to manifest the breeze, but all she felt was a figure sitting down on the opposite side of her.

She cracked open an eye and found Avanth tracing a finger in the sand, pushing all of it into a small pile.

"How may I deign to help you, sir?" she asked, closing her eyes again, diving deep into her well of power. She only went down a few feet, only deep enough to bring up a speck of power.

Avanth snorted, "Are you meditating?"

Adahlia shook her head, "I'm practicing."

Avanth raised an eyebrow and she amended, "Sort of."

"So, what exactly is your magic?" he asked propping his elbows onto his knees. Adahlia copied his position and tilted her head.

"It's anything that's nature-y, like wind and fire and stuff, I don't really know how to explain it because when I was younge—" Adahlia shut her mouth and shrugged, hoping the slight pause sounded natural enough. "And I haven't practiced at all so, yeah."

"Can you do the magic? Or . . ." Avanth waved his hands in the air in imitation of a sorceress chanting a spell. " . . . can you not?"

"I can do certain things like . . . summon lightning, but I can't do much besides that," she shrugged.

Avanth cocked his head, "Why lightning?"

Adahlia held up her palm and used a drop of power to summon the lightning that hissed over her skin, glowing an unearthly gold, "I'm not sure. I guess there are just more . . . electrified atoms in the air."

Avanth snorted, "But air is everywhere, can you summon wind?"

"That's true and no I can't."

Avanth nodded and stared into space contemplatingly. He rubbed at his arms and his face was blank. Like his mind was elsewhere.

"My real magic isn't the darkness," he said randomly, but still on the topic of magic. "I mean, technically, I can summon darkness and shadow-y shit but it's not the main thing."

Adahlia kept quiet, letting him tell her on his own time.

"But I mean, I guess what you saw last night, you would think my powers have something to do with the dark, but it's more like, uh, so you know your life force right?" Avanth was thinking again when Adahlia shook her head. "Ok, so I don't know shit about physics or life theories, but, I guess it's your soul. Oh my gods, I sound like a philosopher."

Avanth sighed, "Ok, to put it simply, I control your life force—your soul or whatever. All life forces bend to my will and I guess if you put it mildly, I have death magic."

Adahlia's eyes widened, "But you're not a necromancer?"

Avanth shook his head, "I can't bring people back to life, I can only take it away, or . . . send them into a slightlife."

"Slightlife?"

"Half a life—you're not actually living but you're not dead anyway. It saves my energy because enforcing death on someone . . . you're messing with serious crap." Avanth's hand flooded with shadows and it swirled around his fingers.

"Is that just shadows or is that life juice sucker?" Adahlia asked as the shadows crept up his arm and spilled into the sand.

"Uh, life juice sucker, I think. I'm not really sure, I avoid summoning my power when I can," Avanth's life-taking shadows dissipated in the harsh afternoon sun and he brushed his pants off before standing up.

"Is Zadyn ok?" he asked.

The male on her other side was still staring into space, apparently not having heard anything. His eyes were unfocused and his fingers twitched.

"I think he's just processing everything," she said quietly.

Avanth also lowered his voice, "Do you know what happened?"

"He was attacked by something, which was also how I met him." As if mentioning the beast triggered some memory, even with his mind drifting, Zadyn's eyes darkened.

"Through the attack?" Avanth assessed Zadyn's bandages again and shuddered at the thought of a human beast pursuing him.

"The leader of my . . . friend group called him in to ask him a few questions," Adahlia didn't want to talk about the gang that had been her biggest bad decision right now. Linking her very own lifeblood to Crescent's had been a very bad idea. She was now eternally in her service and would remain that way forever. No way out. Short of killing herself of course.

"Did your friend group leader know him?"

"No, to her, Zadyn was just a kid on the streets. All of us were, I doubted she cared about any of us," Adahlia lowered her eyes.

"Weren't you friends?"

Shit. "We weren't close friends."

"Ah," Avanth nodded. "Do you know what happened with the attacker?

Adahlia glanced at Zadyn, still unresponsive beside her, "I'll let him tell you on his own time." Avanth nodded again.

"I'm going to practice the suppressing part of the training. After all, I'm sure we need to learn how to keep it in or we're going to be killed under government orders."

. . .

For the next five days, the little group's days consisted of strange balance exercises in the morning and magic training in the afternoon. Adahlia managed to strengthen her lightning, but that was all she accomplished.

Daxelle had no trouble breaking into minds, but Iaelie only was able to channel energy into her arms, allowing her to swing a sword harder, slicing through iron.

Zadyn and Avanth didn't seem to progress, though both of them didn't try. Throughout the week, both of them struck up a friendship and together, they procrastinated training.

Adahlia walked with Daxelle toward the lake, getting ready for their only day off—or afternoon off. Every morning, training was mandatory, but on Sundays, afternoons were optional. Avanth and Zadyn had ditched immediately after lunch, but Iaelie planned to work on her powers.

Daxelle didn't need much practice, so she and Adahlia decided to have a picnic on the shore of the lake.

"What are the chances Zadyn and Avanth will see us and come hijack our food?" Daxelle asked, swinging a bag full of bread around.

"Pretty high, especially if we eat in plain sight," Adahlia replied.

Daxelle grinned, "Then bon appetite, Lia." They reached the sandy beach area and sat down near the lapping water of the lake. Daxelle handed Adahlia a baguette and some cheese, taking some of her own.

"We shall dine like the French tonight!" she announced.

"It's high noon."

"We shall dine like the French today!" Daxelle amended. Adahlia laughed and they knocked baguettes before ripping off a piece to eat.

From their spot on the beach, they could faintly make out Iaelie on the far side of the ring, lifting a huge rock above her head. It seemed like her response to not being able to crush things as well as the Hulk was to exercise—a lot.

A few minutes later, Avanth and Zadyn crashed their picnic and plopped down on the sand in front of them.

"Aloha, weirdos!" Avanth grinned.

Adahlia rolled her eyes and tossed them a piece of bread from the bag before they could ask for it.

"Did you know, apparently if you can see air, you're considered psycho?" Avanth asked, biting into his baguette.

Daxelle raised an eyebrow, "Isn't that common sense?"

"Why wouldn't you be able to see air? It's constantly in your face, but you just can't see it. It's translucent, but it's still there. You're just looking through it, so you're still looking at it," Avanth explained.

Daxelle stared at him for a few seconds, "I guess common sense isn't so common."

"Ok, but if I say I can smell places and taste them, you'll think I'm weird right?" Avanth tilted his bread to the side, the portrait of irreverence.

"Uh, yeah."

"For example, this baguette tastes like the cathedral back home," Avanth said, emphasizing his point by ripping off a piece of bread with his teeth.

"I—I don't think that's normal," Zadyn mumbled.

With a mouth full of food, Avanth replied, "For you, maybe. But I just think it tastes like a cathedral."

Daxelle muttered something along the lines of why do I associate with complete psychos?

They finished their lunch quickly and prepared for the hike back up to the camp. When they were all up and ready, Zadyn's arm over Avanth's shoulders, they caught sight of Gwydion on the hill overlooking the lake, scanning the camp.

His gaze swept over the beach and caught on the four figures standing there.

Gwydion started down the hill, someone in tow. Adahlia squinted at the person behind their instructor and saw a dark-skinned young woman hiking down to the lake.

When they were closer, Adahlia noticed the woman's unusually pale pallor. Her eyes bulged out of her head and her irises were void-black. Her fingers were crooked and veiny, skin like paper. She walked with an uneven gait.

Gwydion didn't seem to notice anything wrong with her.

Was she sick?

She exchanged a glance with Avanth and his face was equally troubled. Were they the only ones seeing this strange female.

When Gwydion and the woman reached the bottom of the slope, he gestured to the human trailing him, "This is my sister—"

The woman turned her dark-as-hell eyes onto Adahlia. Her face lit up and she opened up her mouth, black smoke drifting out. A preternatural stillness crept over her, even if she was clearly human, or half-human if he was Gwydion's sister.

In a deep voice, the woman rasped, "I now wish Destruction upon you. For you are here and so am I. I summon the demons, I summon the Sin. You Fae will not live another day."

And with that charming message, the female's eyes turned completely black and her gnarled hands slashed the air, a rip appearing in the space. And a pair of red-veined eyes glared out at them.

february 27, 2022
𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖍𝖊𝖊, 𝐁𝐚𝐢
© azalyme ₂₀₂₂