The wind roared in my ears at an almost deafening volume. I felt my hair fly backwards off my forehead. The noise of the plane’s engine slowly got quieter. Opening my eyes after subconsciously closing them, I saw the streets of Paris getting closer and closer.
I snapped my wings out from my back. Their pitch-black feathers shone marvellously under the morning sun as I gave a great flap to slow my descent.
Glancing up, I saw what the residents must have been seeing. And, Gods, would I have hated to be in their position.
Dozens of planes flying in perfect formation darted through the sky, and each and every one had people parachuting from it.
I raced to my right, following A1. Two people had already jumped. As I got closer, it was clear that they were Ethan and Peter.
They both raced below me and opened their parachutes with ease. I briefly watched as they began to glide towards the Eiffel Tower.
It looked smaller than I had expected, but that may have been because I was still a few thousand feet in the air.
Someone else jumped. Asbel.
A huge grin coated his face as he raced past me. He, too, opened his parachute easily and began to follow Peter and Ethan towards the Eiffel Tower.
Then came Natasha, who did not look so happy. Then Ali. Then Stephen. Jay. Isaac. Harvey. A bit of a longer wait. Cecilia. Then Charlotte. Then, finally, General Woodward.
Everybody opened their parachutes when they were supposed to and they all began to follow the route to the Eiffel Tower.
I had never known that it sat right next to a river. Ethan, Stephen, Harvey, and I could all use that to our advantage.
Surprising absolutely nobody, I gently glided down until I was side-by-side with Cecilia. Her hair was a mess, which I knew she would not be a fan of, but she looked weirdly beautiful with messy hair, so I was definitely not complaining.
‘How was it?’ I said, grinning.
She glared at me. ‘Shit! I’m never doing that again! Carry me next time!’
‘My pleasure!’ I joked. ‘But you can watch me do some tricks while you go down!’
I folded my wings in tight against my back before she could even formulate a response. This, of course, caused me to begin to plummet to the ground.
I raced past Harvey, Isaac, and Jay – who all gave a roar of approval – before snapping my wings back open and performing a few spins.
‘Good one!’ Isaac shouted. ‘Now get to the fucking ground!’
I rolled my eyes at him. ‘If you insist!’
I pressed my wings against my back once more and dived toward the Eiffel Tower. There were few times that I had flown so fast. Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I zoomed past the rest of my friends. I seemed to surprise Natasha, as I am sure I heard a yelp as I shot past her.
As I reached the Eiffel Tower, I angled my body perfectly so that I was parallel to its edge. I glided down, mere inches away from its metal structure. I was so close that there were a few times I had to be careful it didn’t scrape my toes.
Once I was about ten feet away from the ground, I snapped my wings out, causing my descent to halt. Every nearby tourist gawked up at me, and very few seemed to realise who I was.
Pretty much everybody looked from me to the sky above, and that meant that they saw the planes. Most people gasped. Some covered their mouths. Very few had no reaction at all.
I didn’t even grin.
I lowered myself onto the ground below, wondering what to do while I waited for my friends.
There were certainly a lot of tourists for this time in the morning. A lot of people trying to sell things as well. I counted at least three men sitting on the ground next to white sheets covered with souvenirs of the Tower and what I could only guess were other iconic French monuments.
The trees swayed in the wind and the grass seemed to dance. It was such a peaceful day.
The Eiffel Tower loomed over me from behind. Turning to look at it, I found myself thoroughly disappointed. It looked smaller than expected on the ground as well as in the sky. An impressive piece of architecture nonetheless, I decided.
Some people who had been sitting on benches around me had gotten up rather quickly upon my arrival. I didn’t blame them. If I were French and a strange winged man descended from the clouds, I would be pretty spooked too.
‘Paris!’ came Ethan’s booming voice from behind me. For the record, he had shouted ‘Paris’ with an absolutely horrific attempt at a French accent.
I turned slowly on the spot.
His hair was messy and his glasses were slightly askew, but that didn’t really matter. The biggest issue was the parachute that was dragging on the ground behind him.
‘Help me get this off, would you?’ he said, dropping the ‘French’ accent. ‘It’s ann-’
‘Who are you?’ came a shrill voice from behind me.
Turning around again, I saw a rather angry-looking Frenchman. He was only about an inch taller than me, with an absurdly long nose and pointy chin. His blond hair was swept to the side, but I doubted it to be from the wind like Ethan’s was.
Cold blue eyes stabbed into my skin from in his rather large eye sockets.
‘You have wings!’ he continued, waving a spindly index finger at me.
I raised an eyebrow at him. ‘Do I?’
Come on, I could at least have fun.
‘Yes! Great big black ones!’ he shrieked. ‘Why are you in France?’
‘I don’t know about the wings, sir,’ I said slowly. ‘But I am simply here to view one of the greatest feats of architecture in the world.’
He nodded approvingly before turning to Ethan. ‘And you! You have a parachute!’
‘Don’t mind him,’ Peter said, striding up on my right. He, rather comically, also had a large parachute dragging behind him. ‘He’s copying me. He’s a fan.’
I looked down to hide my grin, elbowing Peter in the side as I did so.
‘‘Fan’?’ the man spat. ‘Are you a celebrity?’
‘Am I not big over here in France?’ Peter gasped, in mock disbelief. ‘I was beginning to think it strange that nobody had asked for an autograph yet…’
‘I have never seen even a photo of you in my life,’ the man said angrily. ‘Who are you?’
‘Ever heard the name ‘Dwayne Johnson’?’ Peter replied cockily, causing Ethan to choke. ‘Give it a Google if you haven’t.’
Natasha landed rather clumsily a few feet behind Ethan.
‘She just came from the sky!’ the man roared. ‘What is this?’
‘Alright, jokes over,’ Ethan said sternly, striding over to the man. When he was only about a foot away from him, he said quietly, ‘Turn around and look up.’
I think the last thing that man expected to see was more teenagers falling from the sky. It was either that or the fleet of military aircraft that prompted his scream.
‘You…You…!’ he spat. ‘British! You’re British!’
I saluted. ‘God save the Queen.’
‘Wh-What is this?’ he roared, staring at Ali as he landed a few feet in front of him.
‘This is…how can I put this…?’ Peter mused.
‘Our turn,’ I murmured. ‘This is our turn.’
The man’s eyes widened. ‘You…you won’t get far!’
I stepped towards him.
He glanced down at my waist, which caused his eyes to widen more.
‘Weapons!’ he shrieked, which caused the few heads that had not been looking our way to immediately do so. ‘This boy has swords!’
Stephen and Jay landed.
‘Hands in the air!’ a voice boomed from behind me.
Just my luck that the police would be here.
Turning around, I saw a rather large policeman pointing what looked like a taser at me.
‘Hands in the air!’ he repeated, looking me and my friends up and down.
Isaac landed.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
‘That won’t be necessary, sir,’ I said calmly. ‘We mean no harm. We are merely here to-’
I knew what tasers sounded like from my time at The School. A pop rang through the air, setting my nerves alight.
Faster than anybody expected me to move, I ducked and blitzed forward, placing myself mere inches away from the policeman.
With my left hand, I grabbed the taser. With my right, I grabbed his shoulder. I leaned in close to whisper in his right ear.
‘Fire that at me again and I’ll show you what this sword can do,’ I breathed dangerously.
I felt his muscles tense.
‘On the ground! Now!’
‘Leave him be!’ General Woodward’s voice rang from behind me. ‘He’s just a kid dressing up!’
The General bounded forward and separated me from the policeman. But we did not break eye contact. If I had to make a guess, I would say that it was fear flowing through my veins.
Surprisingly, General Woodward seemed to have already disposed of his parachute. But I did not have time to consider this, as General Woodward was what made the policeman realise what was going on.
‘That is not French military uniform!’ he barked, pointing his taser at General Woodward.
‘I thought they were all the same,’ I heard Ethan say quietly from behind me.
‘You’re from RoCity!’ the policeman shrieked, glancing up at the sky. ‘You’re-’
‘Shush,’ I said plainly, gently shoving him to the ground. ‘Go on, call for backup. They won’t help.’
He stopped reaching for his communications device.
‘We have soldiers positioned everywhere in this city!’ the policeman yelled, but it was much less impressive considering the fact that he was looking up at me. ‘What could you possibly hope to do?’
‘This,’ I snarled.
I tightened my gut. The ground began to tremble. Fear flashed across the face of the policeman in front of me.
Tendrils of dirt rose from the ground on either side of me. They continued to grow skyward until they were at least seven metres tall. Then, they shot forward like darts and ploughed through the side of a building in front of me.
The towers of earth exploded, showering the surroundings and nearby people with rocks and dust.
‘Let’s go!’ Ethan cheered. ‘I was waiting for someone to do something!’
In a move so unpredictable it almost made me laugh, Ethan darted through the air above my head towards the building that I had hit. He disappeared through the leaves of the trees for a few seconds. I saw a flash of orange light, heard a few screams, and then he reappeared above me.
Smoke was rising into the sky.
‘Leave now and call for backup,’ I said quietly to the officer on the floor, who was beginning to get to his feet. ‘That’s the best chance you have for survival.’
He spluttered a few times before silently admitting defeat. He got to his feet, turned his back to us, and sprinted away.
‘He said there’re soldiers everywhere, be careful!’ General Woodward bellowed, turning to the group. ‘Don’t die!’
‘Don’t you have a squad you need to get back to?’ Ethan asked as he made contact with the ground again.
‘I do, Mr Brown,’ he replied. ‘I will see you all soon in what I hope will be a victory celebration.’
I performed the RoCity salute. I closed my fists and placed my left one behind my back and my right one over my heart. Ethan and the General copied my move.
‘See the two of you soon. Do me proud.’
He began to walk towards the Eiffel Tower, as did Ethan and I, but he continued past the group whereas Ethan and I stopped to meet them.
Nobody was wearing their parachutes anymore.
‘How was the jump?’ I said, smiling.
‘Fun!’ Jay roared without missing a beat. ‘I can’t wait to do it again!’
Cecilia silently stepped forward and stood next to me, taking my hand.
‘Now what?’ Isaac said rather awkwardly.
‘Who’s gonna be the first to wreck something?’ Harvey asked, grinning and evidently ignoring the wailing and screaming coming from the building behind me.
As it turns out, the trouble found us, as it had a way of doing.
‘Albert, behind you!’ Ethan roared.
Without even thinking, I let go of Cecilia’s hand and darted around to the other side of her. Glancing up, I saw a shower of rocks – and bricks? – flying towards me.
I grabbed my swords and unsheathed them in the blink of an eye.
‘Fire Breathing, Third Form,’ I whispered. ‘Handled Fire.’
Orange flames appeared over the surfaces of my blades and I swung them around rapidly, expertly deflecting and slicing through everything that was rushing toward me.
Focusing hard to see through the smoke, I noticed a squad of about five soldiers running towards us. The most surprising thing was that not a single one of them was holding a gun or any projectile weapon. The only one who wasn’t holding a sword was holding a wand.
‘Charlotte!’ I roared. ‘Help everyone get their weapons and sheaths on!’
I shot forward, bounding towards my opponents.
The one with a wand shot a blue spell towards me, but I simply cocked my head to the left to avoid it.
‘Wind Breathing, Fourth Form,’ I said quietly as I reached the group, time seeming to slow. ‘Whip of the Wind.’
A sharp gust of wind shot from behind me, boosting my power output. My right blade glided down the chest of the central attacker with terrific power and speed. He was dead before he had even registered that I was attacking.
I leapt back to avoid an attack from one on my right. But someone came to my aid.
‘Ground Breathing, Second Form!’ Ethan bellowed, leaping into the air. ‘Grounded Hammer!’
He brought his sword down with horrifying power, carving through the body of my would-be attacker as though it were butter. His sword crashed into the ground below with so much force that the earth cracked.
‘What even is a ‘Breathing Technique’?’ came Cecilia’s voice from my left.
My head snapped to look at her.
She was standing there calmly, a bronze sickle in each hand. My heart began to race.
‘Immi-’
‘No,’ I snarled, swiping my sword to the right.
It slid across the chest of the wizard that had presumably sent the debris towards us, but it wasn’t a deep cut. I slashed left, down, up, down, and right again before finally stopping the onslaught. He was dead.
Now it was a three-against-two, and Cecilia was giving one of the two a pretty good fight. She was blocking every hit he threw her way, and even making a few light cuts on his body. He hadn’t hit her once.
The other guy came for me.
‘I’ll let you handle him,’ Ethan said, patting my shoulder before jumping into the air and gliding away.
As my newest attacker swung his sword around to try and decapitate me, I said under my breath, ‘Fire Breathing, Fifth Form: Flaming Wheel.’
Flames appeared on my blades once more, and I slashed across my opponent’s chest powerfully. He was dead with one strike.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cecilia try the same move against the person she was fighting. She slid her right sickle across his chest, creating a deep gash.
He spluttered and stumbled backwards. Cecilia seemed disbelieving. She didn’t look as though she had it in her to finish him off.
Quicker than anybody could react, I shot my left sword out and stabbed him in the throat. He dropped.
Sheathing my swords, I turned to Cecilia. Then, I hugged her.
‘Well done,’ I breathed.
‘I couldn’t kill him, I’m so sorry,’ she said quickly. ‘I’m gonna be so useless if I can’t even kill-’
I, after a mere second of self-debate, placed my right hand on top of her head and began to gently stroke her hair.
‘Don’t worry about it, Cecilia,’ I whispered. ‘Just don’t leave me. I’ll finish off anybody you don’t want to.’
I pulled out of the hug.
‘Don’t worry about it,’ I repeated soothingly.
‘Oi, lovebirds!’ Isaac roared. ‘Get your asses over here! We have a bit of a situation!’
Glancing back at the group, I saw them engaged in combat with another enemy squad.
‘Watch this,’ I said cockily to Cecilia. ‘They’ll drop like flies.’
I bent my body low and perfected my breathing.
‘Smoke Breathing, Fifth Form: Invisible Strikes; Godspeed.’
I closed the distance in less than a second. Swinging my blades rapidly, I hit every single enemy with a devastating blow in what would have seemed to them like a blink.
Invisible Strikes was a very deadly move on its own. It was insane. You hit them multiple times without them noticing. But with Godspeed, it was practically unstoppable. There was nothing anybody could do against it.
A few of the enemies gave out quiet yelps as they fell to the ground. They were the ones that had survived. I doubted they took even three more breaths before my friends finished them off.
‘Gods, I didn’t think Maltor’s forces would be stationed here,’ I commented calmly as Ali and Peter strode up either side of me.
‘It’s insane how many there are,’ Peter said, nodding.
‘How are you two finding your new weapons?’ I asked, surveying the area. ‘Two more squads coming from either side.’
‘Spear’s cool,’ Ali replied sternly, turning to face the oncoming enemies on the right.
‘This cleaver’s killed two people already,’ Peter snarled. ‘Nobody can stop me.’
I nodded. ‘Good to hear. Ali, help me with the squad on the right. Peter, fight the one on the left with everybody else.’
‘You got it, boss,’ Peter said, charging forward.
‘Come on, Ali.’
The two of us ran toward the squad of seven. Ali roared with anger and threw his flaming spear at them. It impaled one at the front straight in the chest.
As we reached the group, he yanked the spear out of the chest of the dead soldier before immediately using it to battle two others.
I, too, had two soldiers trying to fight me. I expertly weaved, ducked, and jumped out of the way of all their attacks before even throwing one myself.
Grunting, I ploughed my right blade through the gut of one of the attackers and then swung him around and into his friend.
‘Ali!’ I called, hoping he understood.
‘Got it!’ he shouted back.
***
Albert’s ex-opponents flew in front of him. One of them was evidently already dead. Blood was spilling from a hole in his stomach and was unmoving. But the other one was still struggling, even as he was flying through the air.
Ali grunted and smashed the butt of his spear into the living opponent’s head. The pair crashed to the ground at Ali’s feet.
Ali, for less than a split second, considered what to do. Then, he stabbed downward. Straight into the head of who he was now calling Guy B.
There were three members of the squad left, and two of them were engaged in combat with Albert.
‘Ali!’ Albert called. ‘Get rid of the other guy!’
The ‘other guy’ charged at Ali.
His long black hair flew behind him in the wind and his cold blue eyes showed nothing but determination to kill.
He swung his sword around, and Ali caught it with the body of his spear. The two swung at each other rapidly, blocking every hit that the other threw.
At one point, a rather nasty swing came around towards Ali, perfectly poised to take his head.
Fear immediately shot through his veins, and it was that sudden shot of terror that gave Ali the strength to jump back just in time. Without missing a beat, Ali stabbed him in the chest. His body went limp over the spear.
Ali slowly turned right to face Albert and his attackers.
He could use one of his powers to help. He knew that Albert wouldn’t tell a soul if he asked. His grandfather would still be secret.
No. He couldn’t risk it. No matter how beneficial it would be to use even one of his powers, he didn’t want to. Not after what had happened to his father.
Roaring once more, Ali slashed across the face of one of Albert’s opponents with the tip of his spear. Immediately, the man rounded on the spot and began wildly swinging his sword at Ali.
He slashed diagonally downward, catching Ali off-guard. Pain shot through Ali’s chest and midsection, and it took every single ounce of willpower he had to not cry out in anguish.
‘Ali!’ Albert screamed, his voice filled with rage.
He quickly disposed of his remaining challenger by slicing across their stomach, chest, and neck.
‘Get off him!’ he yelled, sounding completely enraged.
Ali’s attacker swung his sword down, trying to catch his chest again, but he blocked with the body of his spear.
Grunting and groaning, Ali stabbed him thrice in the stomach rapidly. Blood flew from his new wounds as he finished the combination by ploughing his spear through the man’s left shoulder.
‘Albert!’ Ali yelled weakly. ‘Finish him off!’
***
‘Water Breathing, Fifth Form,’ I whispered, my voice dripping with anger. ‘Striking Tide.’
I shot forward, swinging my sword out as I did so. This move cleanly decapitated the final enemy squad member.
‘Ali!’ I shouted again. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’ll be fine,’ he grunted, placing his left hand on his chest. ‘Don’t worry about me.’
‘We’ve gotta find the nearest medical squad,’ I said quickly. ‘I think there’s one by the river.’
‘Albert, I’m fine,’ Ali insisted. ‘You’ve got way bigger worries.’
‘What could be more worrying than one of my best friends having a giant gash in their chest?’ I retorted, trying, and failing, to keep my voice from rising.
Ali’s face softened. ‘I appreciate it. But let’s just keep fighting.’
‘We’re too close to the Eiffel Tower,’ I said, sheathing the sword in my left hand and then grabbing Ali’s wrist. ‘Everybody else is back here.’
I began to drag him back toward the group.
‘I’ll go back with everyone else, but I don’t need healing,’ Ali began, but he was beginning to sound a bit cheerier.
‘I’ll let Charlotte be the judge of that,’ I replied quietly. ‘Chest wounds aren’t a joke, man.’
All of a sudden, I noticed something. Something rather strange. As I became aware of this thing, my movements felt sluggish. Everything around me seemed to slow.
For what would have only been half a second at most but at the same time felt like multiple minutes, the sky around the Eiffel Tower seemed to darken to the point that the clouds above it turned black.
The ground shook. I heard Ali yelp. I let go of his wrist in favour of grabbing my other sword.
‘Albert! Be careful!’ Ali roared as four lightning bolts struck the legs of the Eiffel Tower.