We began sprinting, the trees hanging down low, blurred by as we zipped past them. The leaves brushed against our faces as we charged through the middle.

“Alright, stop here,” the ‘leader’ of the group said, a tall boy with glasses and dark hair, he had a slender frame. He looked like a toothpick.

“Why, Damian?” a short girl with medium blonde hair and braces replied.

“We need to split into two teams.”

“Um, Damian, that didn’t work last time,” I said, referring to the previous round.

“Not like that. I mean we pretend like it. Sara,” the blonde girl, “and Katelyn,” a girl with a darker complexion than Sara and long brunette hair, “will sag off behind us, behind those trees and make it seem like they’ve separated from the group so the other team will let their guard down,” Damian replied.

“So a diversion?” I uttered.

“Exactly!” He responded in a confidence that was not warranted.

“That has got to be the dumbest plan I have ever heard in my life,” I responded, giving him a dumbfounded look.

“Do you have a better one?” Damian asked, eagerly waiting.

I shrugged. I ran north, away from the team. I looked around, making sure there were now enemies around me. Or at least, I kept my guard up. I did wanna fight someone.

“Lucky me, fresh meat!” a tall handsome guy with a lean build yelled.

I chuckled, cracking my knuckles.

He put his hands up, palms facing forwards.

“Earth Blast!” he chanted, as giant rocks began to materialize.

“Just my luck,” I said, sighing while getting into a running stance.

The stalactites whizzed past my head as I dodged side to side to avoid being eliminated by them.

I closed my eyes and shouted, “GAUNTLETS!”

Metal fists began to appear around my hands.

He looked at my hands and started running. I gave him a smile and ran faster towards him. His eyes were wide as he ran away, somehow dodging everything in his way. I chased him through the woods, the low hanging trees allowed him to gain more distance away from me. He turned around suddenly with a smug expression. He raised his middle finger at me.

“Gotcha. DEVASTATE!” he roared.

“Oh, shit!” I uttered as the ground began ripping apart beneath my feet.

I ran. And I ran.

BOOM

The ground reverberated as it collapsed underneath me.

Ow, my head. I grabbed my head as I looked around to the void that surrounded me.

“Damn it, dude,” I winced as I grabbed the back of my head. I felt a liquid coming out from the back of my head.

I think my head hit the ground and the impact caused me to bust my head open and lose my consciousness for a few minutes. I attempted to stand up to find some help but was unsuccessful.

I’m pretty sure my ankle is broken…

I crawl and grab along the wall, attempting to find a foothold or anything I can use to support myself to get up.

Then there was a weird sound.

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Is someone digging?

The light from the hole made by whoever came to save me illuminated the abyss that I thought was my end.

“Nic, are you okay?! God, you’re all busted up,” A familiar voice shrieked.

I squinted my eyes to see Carolyn hovering above me. I never got a good look at her but she’s really pretty. Her black hair and her hazel eyes glistened as the fake sun made her radiate.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Never better,” I uttered. I attempted to stand but I fell right back down.

“SHIT!” I winced, as my ankle started to throb in pain.

“Calm down, I’ll get you out of here,” she draped my arm over her shoulder.

“Pillar.” She chanted. A pillar made from the earth under us rose from beneath us and brought us to the surface.

“Who did this?” she looked at me and asked.

“Some tall guy, smokin’ dude,” I answered.

She chuckled.

“But that was probably Marian. He’s honestly not worth the hype but he’s all the girls talk about,” she explained.

“His name is Marian?” I cut myself off as I saw him sprinting across our field of vision.

All of the pain suddenly disappeared. I could walk because I needed to pummel the shit out of that dude. I pulled my arm off of her and started sprinting.

“HEY, NICOLAS, STOP! YOU NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION!” she yelled out, chasing after me.

I ignored her and rushed after him.

Eventually, I lost her and caught up to Marian.

He heard the twigs snapping underneath my feet, he turned around and faced me. He wore a cocky smirk. My metal gauntlets appeared around my hands once more. He put his palms out, facing front once more.

Our battle was a performance. I understood my role and he understood his. This isn’t over until one of us can’t move.

I can’t feel anything. Right now, I’m numb. Only thing I can feel is this burning desire to beat the living hell out of Marian.

His rocks kept hitting me but I didn’t care. They were pebbles to me. I fought through them and charged at him. His look of smugness quickly turned into one of fear as I was face to face with him. He began to tremble.

CRUNCH

My gauntlet connected with his jaw, causing it to dislocate on impact. He fell down, shrieking in pain. I charged my gauntlet into his ribcage. I hovered above him. I punched him again. And again. And again. And again.

“How’s that?” I said, taunting him.

“Here’s something for you. Serpent Fang.” I chanted.

I can use two types of magic but it’s only the singular spell and it takes all of my mana to do it.

A large serpent aura appeared behind, towering over me and Marian. It began to lower its head and charge towards the fallen boy.

“NIC, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” She watched the snake charge toward him. It bared its fangs at his neck and bit down. He was teleported immediately.

I turned to look at her.

“this is what he gets,” I muttered, slowly losing consciousness.

“I told you, Nic. You need medical attention,” she said, coming over and hugging me.

She was the last thing I saw before I collapsed.

Carolyn held my hand and cried as I was knocked out for a few hours in the medical wing. The doctors told me that Carolyn stayed the entire time. I was also informed that the only reason I was able to move the way I did despite being in that state was the adrenaline. I suffered a minor traumatic brain injury (concussion), an ankle fracture, and a rib fracture. Marian suffered a mandibular fracture (broken jaw), a nasal fracture (broken nose), a periorbital haematoma (black eye), and a rib fracture as well.

The staff swung by after that and informed me that I should be aware of the consequences next time I do a dangerous spell like that. Screw it, I’ll still do it again but that brings us to this issue. I look over and Carolyn has her head laid down and she’s fast asleep. I contemplated waking her up or not waking her up.

It didn’t take me long. I shook my legs up and down furiously. She jolted upright and stared at me.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” I said, smirking at her.

“When did I fall asleep?” She answers, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

“I don’t know. I just woke up too.”

“Right and I forgot to tell you that you and Tyler made us all have to stop. You boys and taking things too far, I swear.”

“How bad was it?”

“He broke a major portion of the playing field and that made things difficult to say the least,” she sighed, “plus there’s the fact that you beat him to a pulp and you aren’t doing so great yourself,” she said, pointing at me.

“Well, it seems like we were kinda even,” I said, chuckling.

She did not find this amusing one bit. She grabbed my hand and looked me in the eyes with a dejected gaze.

“We may have just met and I shouldn't be telling you what to do but you have to be careful. This isn’t something you can just do on a whim. The only reason you aren’t seriously hurt is because of these doctors,” she scolded me.

She let go of my hand and walked out of the door.

The doctors walked back and informed me that I could be discharged.

“Don’t be reckless like that again,” the doctor said.

I didn’t need help walking because the doctors healed my leg up while I was unconscious.

Carolyn was waiting outside of the infirmary to help me get to the teleporters outside. She wrapped my arm around her shoulder and helped me walk.

“She was my light when I was trapped in the darkness. Look at us now,” he looked at the house and me.

“We've had our ups and downs and we’ve gotten through them. You have plenty of time, son. It took me and your mother 2 years to start dating after we met each other. After that, we were inseparable. I love your mother more than anything in this world and I love you just as much, son. I didn’t know that your mother and I would be together when we first met. I didn’t expect us to have a kid, to buy a house, to make a life that we could be proud of. Love takes time and you have to be careful with your heart. That doesn’t mean to not let anyone in. Here’s a quote for you son, “Love is a lot like a fart, if you have to force it, it’s probably shit,” he started laughing and I joined him.

“But you were kinda violent. You went overboard for something as small as that?” I added after we stopped laughing.

“Yeah, for a while, I guess she thought the same way. Maybe that’s why she waited 2 whole years. I was a bad person and I can’t take back some of the things I did but your mom changed me. I wouldn’t be who I am without her, Dom,” he sighed.

I patted his shoulder.

“Wow, Dad. That was a long story. Look, it’s already dark out.” I pointed up to the sky where the stars began to fill it up like an artist painting their canvas.

“Although, you could’ve shortened it,” I said, snickering.

“Alright, you. You have school tomorrow. Get inside and go eat. Don’t stay up too late.” He said, punching me softly on the shoulder.

I looked up at the sky, sighed, then smiled.

It’s a beautiful night.