“I don’t have time for this,” Ezo said as he turned his back on Voth. Ember flew down the hallway, and Ezo watched as she veered left at the next intersection. He knew she wouldn’t help anymore. She’d disappeared to be at Kammon’s side.

“You don’t get a choice, spell-shade,” the War-Sworn said as the wind ripped around Ezo, trying to entangle him.

Ezo never doubted his ability as an elementalist or his right to the title. He wasn’t some charlatan, claiming powers he couldn’t control to steal people’s money. Voth didn’t know the first thing about him.

He responded with his own force, pushing the air back against the other elementalist and using it to shove him down the hall. “I didn’t come to the University, but I damned well earned my title. Have you, War-Sworn?”

Voth scowled, but before he countered, Ezo pulled the stone floors up between them, creating a hole in the floor on the other side and blocking him from any further attempts Voth made.

As much as Ezo wanted to put the War-Sworn in his place, he needed to find Kammon. If someone at the University were stupid enough to fight his lover, they wouldn’t do it alone. Kammon might have the power to take on half the Imperium on his own, but he didn’t have the stamina without Ezo.

He ran down the hall in the direction Ember had gone, pushing people out of the way as he fought to get to Kammon quicker.

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“Ezo!” Voth screamed behind him. Ezo would have cursed if he didn’t get distracted by the fresh burn marks on the stone on the wall.

Ember had left him a trail.

He turned down the hallway and was grateful it was devoid of people. He dashed to the next burn mark and kept going straight at the intersection.

Kammon wasn’t in a fight yet, but Ezo felt the power held tightly on Kammon’s end. He nearly collided with a wall as he took a corner too fast.

He was halfway down the hall when a gale ripped into him. He lost his footing and dropped hard onto his knees as the air turned against him.

“Damn it, I need to get to Kammon!” Ezo yelled as he reached for the air and fire around him. He released a blast of flames into the winds that Voth had tried to use against him.

“You can’t do that!” Voth called out as he raised a shield of air to protect himself.

Ezo smiled as he looked at the other man. No one but Zera had seen him use magic to know he could wield more than one element. “You think I’m limited like you are?” Just for the hell of it, he created a whirlwind around the War-Sworn and fed his flames to it. “I’m not like you, and I never will be. And I have more important things to do than to stay here fighting you.”

The other man’s lips curled, and his eyes were cold as he glared at Ezo. Ezo couldn’t keep the tempest going once he walked away, and there was no way to stop Voth from following him. He looked around and saw a large cabinet on the wall. He hoped there was nothing valuable in it because he used his magic to push it down and set it on fire. The flames took to the wood and blocked the hallway between Ezo and Voth. His whirlwind would die quickly, but it would take time for Voth to put out the blaze.

Ezo ran down the corridor, back on the hunt for Kammon.