The staff's pole felt molten as Anna swiveled the activator across her back and swung it at her opponent. It missed the other girl, who had bent backward and nearly fallen off the podium. In return, she went low with her activator, a long chain of sorts, shooting towards the dark-haired girl's legs. Anna tried to move out of the way, but by then the chain wrapped itself against her knee. With her staff gripped firmly in her hands, the teenager let out a scream as a current of flames erupted throughout her body.
This pain didn't stop her from taking her staff and lifting it in the air. Her would-be torturer couldn't react fast enough as it came, and Anna used it to swipe a large fireball into her shirt collar. It burnt and before either girl could go any further, a lard whistle screeched in their ears. They looked to the side to see their teacher, Priestess Aurora, red in the face as she marched over.
“Calla!” The classmate she had been fighting face dropped as she screamed at her. Anna felt every word reverberate spit into their faces. “What have we told you about cheap shots? This is a training exercise about disarming your opponent!”
Calla quickly released Anna's leg and mumbled an apology. The teenager winced as even with the burn-resistant clothing and her pain tolerance; it hurt. The bigger girl tended to use her flames as electric shocks, which were more potent. They were hard to do more than a handful of times, as each current required about a quarter of your energy to produce. But when successfully created, they were very painful and could cause some nasty swelling to the affected limb.
This was why a good chunk of the class didn't want to be the brat’s training partner. She claimed everyone was just jealous that she was the only one who could use electricity instead of plain old fire. Anna saw some truth in the jealousy Calla spoke of. But she still was reckless with it and Anna had groaned when told she'd have to partner with her. It would be this way, every day until Lizbeth was ready to rejoin active combat classes.
Rubbing her leg, the teenager slipped her mask over her enraged face. “It's alright Priestess Aurora. I overreached and aimed my staff at Calla's side when I meant her legs. She most likely attacked me through instinct instead of being careless.” Anna spoke with a tremble in her voice as she hobbled over to the older woman.
Her leg would be fine the next day, but for now, it was a solid melon. Everyone in the class could see this, with murmurs filling the room. Priestess Aurora saw the swollen girl and her face crumbled into a snotty mess. “Oh, by the Goddess!”
“It's alright,” Anna lied through her teeth as the woman began to examine her. Priestess Aurora was new to the combat course, so she became woozy at their wounds and injuries. The woman was even averse to blood, turning green when a student had cut herself on her weapon once. “I just would like to sit down if that's alright.”
“Go on! Go sit on one of the gym mats over there!” The woman nodded her head and covered her mouth with her arm. She used her free hand to point at the other side of the room, which Anna found annoying. “Calla! Go help her walk NOW!”
While she was irritated that the girl hadn't followed the instructions and injured her, Anna couldn't help but feel bad for her. It was obvious that she was the outlier in the combat course. Calla was frumpy and came from a family that had pumped out a dozen kids each generation for the academy. Her older sisters were priestesses who studied in their final year for the traditional course and were revered. Her younger brothers all had aced the entrance exams for the educational course.
Calla was known as the failure and everyone made that fact clear. She shuffled over to help her classmate up with an angry snarl. When someone was inside, that isolated wave of bitterness tended to set in. That stink of self-pity and haughtiness made all the other girls avoid her like the plague. Having that uncontrollable electric whip with her at all times made the isolation and lack of respect worsen over the years.
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So now Anna was faced with the girl having her nostrils flared as she looked her up and down like a pile of trash. She reaches out a hand, her black gloves glistening from the leftover residue of her weapon. “I'm sorry for hurting you, Eliana.”
“It's alright,” Anna started to smile only to freeze as she saw the hate in Calla’s gaze. A chill went down her spine and she twitched. “Thanks for helping me up.”
“I hope your legs are okay. Sometimes I don't know my strength.” There was a thick layer of…something over those words.
Calla sounded like she wanted to spit on her. It amazes the midnight-haired girl that a girl bullied so brutally could be a bully herself. The girl would throw her weight around when they'd do some basic sparring as a first-year helper. Anna had heard that had hurt numerous smaller, more timid students in this position. She didn't know if these rumors were factual because they just seemed too extreme. It made zero sense that she would get away with such behavior for so long. But now she felt like there was some truth in what was being said.
She accepted the open hand and winced at how roughly Calla pulled her up. Anna managed to disguise her pain from the bigger girl as she helped her sit on a mat. The whole walk was a struggle with her boy practically being dragged the entire way. It was a wonder that Ana didn't “accidentally” smack her in the head with her staff. By the time she sat down and Calla gave another fake apology, she was seething inwardly.
The entire class let out a collective groan, and Anna couldn't blame them. The last time they did hurdles was years ago, and they'd all been bruised by the end. Anna had been forced to jump higher and higher for hours until she was sore. Lizbeth had even split her eyebrow by the end of it as she had to face-planted at three feet. Doing physical examinations was rarer now that they were closer to finishing their schooling. But it did still happen, and you were expected to remember your mistakes from before.
She had to thank the bratty Calla for injuring her now that this was happening. Her head wasn't in the game for her to have passed the hurdles test. Anna kept thinking about Lizbeth and how she hadn't been allowed to visit her. The redhead’s parents had been made aware of what happened leading to them icing her out. They didn't hate her presence per se but found her to be too attached to their daughter as a friend. She believed they blamed her for what happened.
They hadn't said anything to her face to make this the case. But the teenager wasn't stupid and could see the way they acted around her. In the past, they had praised the dark-haired girl for being so dedicated to her studies. They had asked her to help Lizzie get better and encouraged the two girls to get close. When she voiced to them that she thought Lizbeth was this way from pushing herself, they turned cold. They spoke to her with a stilted tone and made a show of stating she was just a classmate.
Not a family member who was allowed to see the redhead whenever she wanted. It made Anna feel sick, but she remained respectful. The relationship between the two girls in their eyes had always been transactional. Everyone knew Lizzie pushed to take her on their family vacations and end-of-semester birthday bashes. Her status had been elevated from her just hanging out with the ditzy girl all those years. And in return, she helped their daughter survive the cutthroat world they spent the majority of their teenage years in.
The tight-wearing older woman directed the girls like a drill sergeant. “Yolanda! Calla!” Her voice was booming as she slapped the ruler in her palm. The girls had finished stretching while Anna had drifted off. “You two will be the first to go.”
Anna has to bite her lip to keep from gawking. Out of line walked a slender girl who looked to be in her early twenties because of her height. She was one of the more popular students who always aced her exams. In the combat course, she was ranked number one in everything besides textbook-based assignments. That's where her reign of terror fell apart, as she wasn't very book-smart. The thin teenager was more so than the muscle as her small frame didn't mean anything when you saw her skillset.
Calla being put against her was an obvious punishment. To make sure the brat knew her place when against any of the other girls. While Anna was irritated that she had injured her out in a petty fit of rage, she didn't feel this treatment was right. It was incredibly childish and served no other purpose besides bullying the girl. Her stomach was twisting as she watched the two stand in front of the starting markers. The despair in the brat’s eyes was a dark abyss. Calla was crumbling.
Like the Goddess herself had heard the teenager's thoughts, the gym door opened. A familiar face appeared. Standing in her usual robes, Priestess Adsila bowed to her colleague, who stared in confusion. Quickly she hurried to follow, as did all the other girls in the room besides Anna. She looked at the clock on the wall and was facepalmed. The teenager had forgotten that she was supposed to meet the woman to talk about her sage session. It had been pretty standard, with no memories of being removed from Morwenna or the original Eliana.
Anna lied to her new parents about the fact claiming she remitted some things, but they were blurry. It was one of her weaker excuses, but her mind had blanked. She couldn't believe how off her game she was. The Priestess was looking at her with a frown, her gaze directed straight at her leg. This wouldn't go over well, but Anna had no desire to talk about it.
“Oh? Are you here for Eliana?” Priestess Aurora asked, to which Adsila nodded. The woman quickly glared at Calla. The words she uttered were blunt, like a knife. “Calla got too excited and injured her during practice, after ignoring my rules.”
“I see.” Priestess Adsila's frown deepened as she sighed. “Well, Calla, your mother and I will speak about this later. This is a pattern of behavior with you that I feel cannot go unpunished.” She rubbed at her forehead. “You'll be put on probation.”