The Order of the Elements 01 - Breaking Point (31 page)

As Ethan and his friends stepped down to get in line for food, they all stretched out their stiff limbs.

“You know some of us are going to have to fight one another, right?” Evan said, suddenly looking solemn.

“It’s not like we haven’t before,” Cynthia pointed out. “We spar all the time during training.”

“This is different. When we step out there, it will be different,” Ethan said.

Phoebe frowned. “He’s right. If one of us is going to win, or even just make it to the next round, it has to be fair. We can’t hold back on one another. We’ll have to view each other as threats, not friends.”

Evan suddenly smiled and threw his arm around Phoebe’s shoulders. “I’ll try not to make you look too bad.”

Phoebe rolled her eyes. “Thanks, I’ll remember you said that when you’re lying on your back later.”

Everyone laughed. Ethan could see Jade walking through the crowd toward them.

“Finally,” she said as she spotted them. “After the Second Order Trophy is awarded, you all are to make your way down to the center of the arena.”

She waited for a fraction of a second for them to acknowledge that they understood before she moved on. Then they all grabbed plates of food and settled down to eat. Phoebe had her eyes closed and her head bowed as she slowly ate. She tensed and twisted every now and then, as though she was going over combat moves in her head. Cynthia hugged her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth as she scanned the tiers for no particular reason. Jared surveyed everyone who passed. Ethan could read his expression; he was sensing them to distract himself. Lucy’s thoughts flew by too fast for Ethan to catch anything in particular as she ran over strategies in her head. Meanwhile, Evan ate normally, completely at ease with the coming competition.

Dorian turned up after a while and settled beside Phoebe. The corners of her mouth turned up as Dorian silently traced the side of her arm, but she remained focused on whatever she was doing. A high trilling voice floated over the crowd in our direction. Phoebe and Cynthia stiffened, but otherwise gave no notice of the attention-drawing voice.

“This is completely a waste of time. It’s obvious that I am going to win. No idea why anyone else even bothered to show up.”

Kali droned on and on as she passed by. With each degrading sentence, Phoebe’s look of determination and fierceness became more and more defined. If Kali knew what was good for her, she would have kept her mouth shut. Phoebe was now channeling all her anger and irritation into her coming matches. When they had to send their plates back and Phoebe opened her eyes, even Dorian looked a little intimidated by the expression on her face.

The others seemed to be dealing with Kali in much the same way as Phoebe was, and they continued in silence as everyone returned to the arena. Dorian wished them all good luck and returned to his seat with Cassius. The third round of matches then began for the Second Order, and Ethan’s attention ebbed as he began to mentally ready himself for the matches ahead. Before he knew it, the last two competitors were sizing each other up in the middle of the arena for the final battle. It was two boys this time, and they were pretty evenly matched. The fight went on for nearly ten minutes before one of them was pinned to the mat. Cassius then awarded the trophy to the winning boy, Anthony, and once more took his seat to await the last of the matches.

Ethan was again dreading standing in front of all these people and performing. He knew that they were putting a good deal of hope into him and Phoebe, and he would hate to let them down by performing badly. He was glad that Lucy was so focused that she didn’t hear his worries. They got up and made their way to the middle of the arena where Jade waited for them.

“All right, listen up; your matches will take place one at a time so things don’t get out of control with too much power being thrown around at once. Here are the first eight pairs: Evan and Brit, Daniel and Maria, Orin and Kali, Jared and Kiera, Spencer and Lucy, Ethan and Julia, Phoebe and Aiden, and lastly, Cynthia and Leo. Evan and Brit, you’re first.”

Evan and a small, timid girl named Brit stepped forward to the middle while the others stood off to the side, waiting. Ethan could tell his friend was disappointed with his first opponent. There was little doubt that Evan was going to win this match. Brit was very small, had opted out of combat training with the elves, and didn’t have a talent. The match lasted less than two minutes. Evan shook her hand and made his way back to the rest of them. Next Daniel and Maria stepped forward, and Ethan felt sure that this match would be a toss-up. Daniel was fairly good, but Maria had an impressive talent, aside from her Elemental powers. She slowed him down to half his speed, which gave her an advantage for a minute before she lost her concentration and he overtook her.

Next were Orin and Kali, and Ethan didn’t even pay attention. He knew Kali was going to win; she was very good. He just hoped that someone was better so they wouldn’t have to listen to her gloat later. Jared and Kiera then stepped forward. Kiera had a good talent of speaking to inanimate objects, but that was no help to her in a battle, and Jared easily beat her.

Spencer and Lucy were next, and again, Ethan didn’t need to pay attention to know who would win. Spencer was still very scared of everyone and everything to do with his powers, and although Lucy felt sorry for him, she was easily the best and beat him in less than thirty seconds. She lost none of her concentration as she moved back to Ethan’s side.

Now it was his turn to go against Julia. Her Element was Wind, and she had also studied with the elves, but he just realized that he didn’t know what her talent was. Ethan mentally kicked himself. He should have had the sense to ask Jared before coming out here, or he should have paid attention during all the hours he had spent sitting around during class while everyone was studying their talents.

Lucy watched, but her thoughts were preoccupied. Oh well, it would be good practice for facing the unknown later. When Ethan arrived at the middle of the arena, everyone else in the room seemed to disappear as he concentrated on his opponent.

Julia seemed hesitant to attack him, so he threw a vine at her, which twisted around her and squeezed tightly. Just as he thought it was going to be an easy win, a sharp rock shot out of her hand and flew around her as it cut the vine, and she was free. She was a Conjurer. Her talent wasn’t very strong, she could only conjure rocks, but it was useful. Another sharp rock shot out of her hand at him, and he threw up his shield just in time to block it.

She was getting ready to throw another rock at him when he raised his hands, which caused the earth to shake, and she lost her balance for a moment, giving him enough time to take her down to the ground and pin her. The whistle sounded, and suddenly he was again aware of the noise in the room, and he looked around. He had won his first match. He walked back over to the others, sure that a ridiculous-looking smile was plastered on his face, but he didn’t care.

Lucy squeezed his hand and smiled as he made it back to her.

Phoebe and Aiden were next. Once again it was clear who the winner was going to be. Phoebe was the best out of the entire group and defeated Aiden within a few minutes. Kali looked dejected; yet another member of her group had proved less than adequate in her opinion. Lastly were Cynthia and Leo. Leo was very good with his Element and his talent of absorbing the fireballs Cynthia sent at him. Unfortunately for him, he was no match for Cynthia when it came to hand-to-hand combat, and she pinned him to the mat.

With the first elimination round complete, the eight remaining competitors were sorted into groups again. Evan was against Daniel, and they went first. Evan was very good, but Daniel wasn’t too bad either. Their match lasted for ten minutes before Evan finally triumphed over Daniel by knocking him out cold. Daniel was taken up to the infirmary to be revived.

Ethan could tell that Evan was exhilarated by the intense fight he had just been through; it was amazing that Daniel was the first one to have to go to the infirmary. Next Jared had to go against Kali, and while Jared competed well, he became distracted when she astral-projected a copy of herself beside him, which engaged him in combat before the projection disappeared. Kali threw a fireball at him and caught him off guard, causing him to lose the match. It seemed Kali had benefited from training with her talent, despite her earlier claims that she had nothing to learn. Now she was able to fight from her astral projection and her own body at the same time.

Ethan could see Phoebe and Cynthia quivering in anger. Lucy’s jaw tightened as Jared was taken to the infirmary to treat his burns. Evan almost left, but stayed in hopes that he would get his shot at Kali. Ethan didn’t have much time to think about it as his worst fear was realized: he was next and going against Lucy.

Ethan, you do your best. I fully expect you to beat me because I know that you can. Don’t hold back on me, Lucy warned.

He nodded but didn’t answer. He felt sick to his stomach. His tiny, beautiful piece of perfection was encouraging him to fight her. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t fight with her.

Ethan! she scolded. You will fight me. You will do your best. Or I will not speak to you for a very long time.

That’s it? She just wouldn’t talk to him? He could handle that. As long as she remained unharmed, he could handle anything.

Dorian spars with Phoebe all the time! Please, Ethan, you can’t let your feelings interfere in this. You have five seconds before Piper blows the whistle. You better be ready by then.

He sighed. She would be very angry if he let her win. He would do his best, but he wouldn’t do anything that would cause her harm. She would not be going to the infirmary because of him. The whistle blew, and a fiercely cold wind hit him right in the face. His shield went up, and his instincts took over. A vine flew out of his hand and wrapped around both of her wrists. She used her Telekinesis to unwrap the vines, and another wind forced him back a few steps. She was beside him in half a second. He barely had time to block her arm, which would have brought him to the floor. He grabbed for her arm, and she was gone.

She kicked his feet out from under him—she was so fast he hadn’t even seen her move. He caught himself on his hand, and with his other, he grabbed her leg. He twisted it and tried to force her down, but she held herself up by her talent. Another vine flew from his hand, and for some reason Lucy got distracted and fell to the ground. He pinned her before she had time to think. She mentally cursed.

Stupid, self-absorbed, selfish, little brat!

What? What happened?
Ethan asked, alarmed. He didn’t think he had hurt her.

Not you. Kali. I saw a flash of fire out of the corner of my eye. She was conjuring fireballs to distract one of us.

Ethan turned to glare at Kali, but thankfully Jade was already berating her for interfering.

I’m going to the infirmary to check on Jared
. Lucy’s thoughts still had an extremely angry edge.

Lucy, I’m so sorry. Maybe we can get a rematch. I didn’t know you were distracted!

I’m not mad at you. You did very well; thank you for that. But I need to get away from her, and I’m sure Jared could use some company, she replied, defeated.

She left the arena. Ethan was now determined that Kali would get what she deserved. If it didn’t happen in this tournament, well, there would still be plenty of time after it was over.

Phoebe and Cynthia were next, although it was clear that they would much rather have battled against Kali. They fought well with one another using their Elemental powers for a few minutes, but with Phoebe’s talents, Cynthia was no match for her and was overtaken when they fought hand-to-hand. Ethan could tell that Cynthia had purposely refrained from using Kali’s favorite Elemental attacks. Neither she nor Phoebe wanted to give Kali any advantage if one of them were to fight with her. Cynthia, although worried about Jared, stuck around, hoping to see someone beat Kali and wipe the smirk off her face.

The next elimination round started with the last two pairs: Evan and Kali, and Phoebe and Ethan. Phoebe gave Evan some encouragement before he stepped into the middle to face Kali, who was smirking a good deal now. Evan smirked right back. He fought well with her, countering her every attack and nearly taking her down during combat. Unfortunately, just as he was about to pin her, she engulfed herself in flames, which severely burned his arms and chest. Phoebe screamed in fury and begged Cynthia to go up to the infirmary with Evan while she promised either she or Ethan would take care of Kali.

The crowd was almost silent now. During the last battles of the Second and Third Orders, there hadn’t been any injuries and no one had looked quite as angry as Phoebe did right now. Ethan was sure that if her Element were Fire instead of Water, she would have been breathing flames right then. He was scared to step in the middle with her. Not only was he sure that she was better, but she was angry, and that was bound to raise the intensity with which she fought, even if it wasn’t him she was angry with. He felt Lucy watching through their mental connection, but she was silent.

As he stepped in the middle with Phoebe, he very much considered just letting her win. She looked very intimidating, her eyes flashing and intense breathing, but then he realized he had to be ready to face things much worse outside these walls, and he resolved to give it all he had. Plus, Phoebe would probably be angry with him next if he just let her win, because she would know if he did.

Do your best, for me. Pretend she’s Kali if you have to,
Lucy sighed. She was still upset about the fact that she had been distracted.

You did amazingly well, love. Don’t be depressed. I will do my best, for you.

Lucy didn’t reply. In fact, she seemed shocked about something. Ethan didn’t have time to think about it as the whistle sounded. He decided it was best to hit Phoebe with the best he had first. Once again he raised his arms, causing an earthquake. This time it was much more violent and people started screaming and holding on to one another in the stands. A crack appeared in the middle of the floor and went right in between Phoebe’s legs and started to spread apart. Phoebe thought quickly and filled the ever-increasing gap and the floor around it with ice, which caused him to slip. Phoebe slid over to him—her balance impeccable on the ice—and engaged him in combat.