Lux Academy

Safi could feel herself starting to really feel the toll today was taking. She'd been running a lot more than she did at training. Well maybe it was about the same amount of running. Just that usually she wasn't being chased by a literal nightmare.

It didn't help she couldn't stop looking behind her. It had been a few seconds since she'd taken off and Cyra still hadn't come into view. She was starting to get just a little bit worried now.

Right before Safi turned around, Cyra came barreling past her. Their face looked paler and there was a certain uneasiness to their steps. She breathed a sigh of relief, a smile breaking out as she did her best to keep pace with Cyra. She wasn't reassured by the unease though. That nightmare was definitely still behind them.

"We need to hurry. That thing..." He shook his head.

Safi nodded. "Either we get away or..." She let that hang in the air. Cyra knew what would happen. Safi knew what would happen. They all knew what would happen. They'd all felt that. Just. Just draining on them. On their magic. Their very life. She wasn't sure, but it was almost like it fed off of it. Or she was delusional because it had scared her senseless. It was hard to figure out which.

"Or nothing. You're gettng away."

"And so are you," she said firmly.

"We'll make it work." Cyra avoided her gaze.

"What do you mean by that?" Safi's lungs were burning as they kept running. It was the sheer fear of what would happen if they slowed down that kept her going. They had to lose the beast.

Cyra shook their head. "Focus on running."

"For now I will, but you better remain within eyeshot my knight!"

Cyra nodded.

"Thank you!" Safi breathed a small sigh of relief at that, the overwhelming feeling that something horrible was going to happen just a bit less if Cyra was going to maybe not try a sacrifice play.

Cyra gave her a small thumbs up. She smiled back as she felt the ground underneath her start to change a little. It was going from the thick underbrush in the sort of forested area back to the broken cobblestones and dusty roads of the city of sorts they'd been in. They'd somehow circled back.

She didn't slow down though, not yet. Maybe once they were in the city proper, with a few more people around. She'd even take enemies right about now if it meant not being just the two of them up against Bubbles back there.



She slid to a stop beside a decently intact building, leaning against the wall as she tried to catch what little breath she had left. "T..think. S..stop. For. Bit. Far. Enough."

Cyra stopped beside her, barely looking winded. They patted her back.

She smiled lightly at fae, still too winded to really produce any more of a smile than that. "Th..ank. Y.You."

Cyra nodded, crossing their arms and leaning next against the wall next to Safi. Safi let herself fully relax, collapsing a little onto the wall and sliding down slowly to the floor. She didn't even try to stop it.

Cyra snorted. "Dying... princess?" Okay, maybe he was more winded than he let on.

Safi pouted before allowing herself to dramatically collapse all the way to floor. Her upper thighs did not fully appreciate that. "May.. maybe I. I am."

"Alright. I'll dig the grave."

She clutched her heart, dramatically flopping her hair. It was maybe a tiny bit childish, but childish seemed like a great plan right about now, especially to forget that horrible thing. She was going to have nightmares for months.

Cyra got on her knees. "You okay?"

She nodded, smiling, still a little pained. "Ye..yeah .Just. Drama." She let out a little huff.

"I think we lost Sylkalyn and Kynina." He sighed.

Safi frowned slightly. "Ohh you think so too?" She was starting to think that too, They'd run a long, long way at this point and Safi hadn't spotted either of the girls once. She wasn't entirely sure what that could mean. Hopefully they'd just had that much of a head start and taken a different turn. They were probably fine.

"Didn't see them on the way here. No Sylkalyn to lecture us on being slow."

Safi nodded. "Yeah. I was hoping we'd run into them but looks like they went a different way. I just hope nothing bad happened to them." She straightened herself out a little. She was starting to catch her breath finally. She could take in complete sentences now at least.

"I guess we'll see later." Cyra held out a hand to help her to her feet.

Safi took it, grunting slightly with the effort of leaning out. "Yeah. I hope they make it. Kynina should right? She got the crystal. And I'm Sylkalyn will find one soon. They weren't that rare right?"

Cyra shrugged.

"What do you think of their chances?" She managed to haul herself roughly to her feet, still leaning a little heavily on the wall. "Thank you for helping me!"

"I'm not sure. It could range anywhere from one to fifty-seven percent."

"Hmm that's very specific?" She giggled. "You sure about that one?"

"You have a better guess?"

"Uhhhh....seventy..five percent is my guess. Yup. Calculated to perfection with the power of BS Calculus of course." She tried to look as convincing as she possibly good.

"You really think the Academy is that generous?"

Safi sighed softly. "Considering what I've heard no..they're lucky if its five point seven percent to be completely honest."

"Seems more likely." Cyra clapped her shoulder. "We'll be okay, though. We're better than that."

"We're going to make it." Safi nodded. "You especially. I mean you have that crystal on lock and everything too. You got this Cyra."

"We'll find you a crystal too." Cyra stretched her arms. "Come on. We need to get moving."

Safi nodded with a small smile. "I hope soo. Alright, let's get going. Crystals aren't going to just magically present themselves I guess."

"Unfortunately." Cyra started walking deeper into town. Safi nodded again and followed along. She was slowly regaining the ability to remain upright now. She was starting to realize it was much more of a terror thing than an actually being winded thing that was keeping her from sitting up straight. Well it didn't help how winded she was, but she could definitely run a bit longer than that if it wasn't for what was chasing her.

Cyra's gaze was sharp as they glanced around the city. There was more wear and tear than was previously present. Piles of rubble, sickening red stains. Cyra seemed to take it all in stride.

Safi shivered slightly. It just looked... she didn't even really know how to describe it if she was being completely honest. It was. It was like a warzone. Not that she had seen any of those, but this was what she imagined it was like. Broken buildings. Crumbling tapestries of destruction. Damage from all manner of affinities and spells and everything else in between. She didn't even want to know what some of the random objects were. And she defintiely weren't questioning the red paint. Someone just had a paint affinity. Yup that was it.

"Which direction do you think we should go? Towards the rock and mining sort of area that way, or just sort of into the center of the city? I'm guessing we don't want to go back to the forest."

"I'm assuming the center of the city is just going to have more fuckers."

"Yeah, if our little fun conversation from when we first landed is anything to go off of. I mean I'm guessing since this is kind of where most of us landed, that's also where most of them remain." Safi shuddered. "Especially if they got a few crystals. You know those morons are just walking around trying to ruin people's day or maybe steal a crystal."

"Yeah. So heading towards the mines should give us a chance."

Safi nodded. "I vote the mines too. Shall we then, my knight?"

"Let's go, princess." Cyra veered to the right.

Safi followed suit, a little sobered up now. This was all too serious now. Especially amidst all the rubble and wreckage they had to walk past. She did her best to keep pace. This was proving to be much harder to navigate than even the thick brush of the forest. There was just jagged debris everywhere.

Cyra kicked a chunk of rock, watching it as it skidded across the floor. Safi sighed softly, scanning their surroundings as much as she could, trying to spot anything that could maybe be a crystal. Besides a glowing light from someone's weapon in the distance, she didn't spot anything remotely close.



Safi was starting to tire all over again now. They'd been walking for what felt like a good half an hour now although there was no way it had been that long. Surely the area down here wasn't that cavernous. The mines ahead of them still seemed a fair bit further away.

A glowing light.

She instantly turned. This was different. Not like the glow of fire in someone's palm, or the shimmer of a weapon about to unleash its magic. Not this was much more like what she'd seen twice now.

A crystal.

Cyra stopped, pulling out their crystal. "There's your ticket to school."

Safi nodded, almost reverently. "Am I going to actually make it this means? We'll both be safe."

"We'll both be safe." Cyra walked towards the glow. "Come on."

Safi nodded again, still just a tiny bit overwhelmed in the moment. She'd been distracted both times they'd run into crystals earlier, but now, here, it finally seemed like the one for her and it felt like... so much. She didn't know how to put it into words. She'd been wanting to get into this academy for so long, had worked so hard and despite the surprise setback with the big pit, here she was. Closer than she'd ever been before.

Shaking herself out of the sort of trance she was in, she walked closer to the crystal, following in Cyra's footsteps. This was it. The big moment. As long as it wasn't trapped worse than the other two had been. A pool of water and a creature that was a living nightmare. Surely it couldn't be much worse than that.

"Want to shoot an arrow at it? Make sure it's not going to eat you?"

Safi nodded. The bright yellow was almost blinding, and very, very tempting but something to test it would be good.

"Given the track record we've had with crystals we should probably toss a full barell of gunpowder at it before we approach it but an arrow should be enough in a pinch."

"All yours." Cyra held up their hands and took a step back.

"Thank you," Safi nodded, pulling out her bow. The perfectly white wood was taking just a little staining, despite the artificed wood being much more resistant to it than most woods or white colored things should be. She carefully pulled an arrow out of the quiver, taking a calming deep breath.

Every other arrow she'd fired today had been in a rush of adrenaline but for once she had a moment to think and calm down and she took it with both hands. Nocking it gently, just like she'd been taught, she lined it up with the crystal, accouting just enough for the distance. Wind wouldn't really matter down here.

She took another deep breath, before gently releasing it through her mouth. She let go, the arrow flying true and pinging right on the crystal. It bounced off, unlike what she'd been expecting, the crystal remaining firm on the little pedestal it was on. The arrow fell into the ground and sank into it. Odd. It was solid concrete wasn't it?

Nothing else happened.

"Well what do you make of that?"

"Don't touch the ground it's on." Cyra shrugged. "Other than that, we're home free."

"Sounds like a plan." Safi nodded and inched closer to it, avoiding the circle of land it was on as best she could. "Do I reach out with something? Or try to like climb above it somehow?"

"Maybe you use your light? Can you?"

"Oohh yes that would be a wonderful idea," Safi flushed. She hadn't even thought of that. The simplest solution. And here she was trying to figure out the most complicated way to finagle herself into grabbing it. "You're like the coolest. I'll be honest, I completely forgot that was an option that was way easier than any other way of getting it."

"You've just ran for your life. It's fine."

She pouted. "Allow me to blame myself just a lil' bit. Or you're going to sound like my family." She was more than grateful for the reassurance she wasn't messing up but she had to at least make an attempt to hide it.

"Maybe your family is right." Cyra shrugged.

Safi groaned. "Uhh. Uhh. But. But. They're rich assholes? Like me? Surely you can't be agreeing with them."

"Princess, you're not an asshole. Maybe your parents are, but I don't know that yet."

Safi fishmouthed a little. Was that another compliment from Cyra? Was she going to have to get used to this? If she was being honest, she didn't completely mind the thought of getting used to it.

"Alright. I'll be nice to Safi. But only if you're nice to Cyra?"

"I'm plenty nice to Cyra. I'm better than most people here. Now get your cyrstal before some Nepo Baby gets the wrong idea." Cyra crossed their arms, kicking at the ground.

"Alright. Okay time to crush some Nepo Baby dreams!" She grinned, reaching out with one arm as she concentrated.

Her aura had been active in some capacity for some time now, gently draining away as her eyes adjusted more and more to the light from the big lamps up at the top of the arena and no longer needed it, but now it brightened it. Her chest lit up bright, creating a shining little beacon in the dim city as the veins on her right arm glowed white, flaring happily to life.

A tendril of light formed, wrapped around her arm before it descended down onto her palms, coalescing at the center, arcing and hissing with power as it formed into a more coherent shape. Safi concetrated.

The light bent, forming into a circle and loosely into something of a noose before flicked her wrist, sending it flying over to the crystal.

Her aim was true, the noose landing right around the crystal, the tendril tightening around it almost like it was somehow ever so slightly drawn to it. She gave it a gentle tug and to her susprise given how resistant it had been to the arrow earlier, it came away flying toward her. Lunging up, she just about managed to catch it, her tendril dissolving into the air as her concentration shifted into catching the crystal.

She held the crystal reverently, using both her hands to hold it up. It gleamed a brilliant yellow. One of the most beautiful things she'd seen in recent memory. Her ticket into Lux. Along with Cyra.

It was perfect.

"There you go. You're getting in too." Cyra grinned. She grinned in response.

"I'm getting in too. I'm getting in too." Safi felt warmth rush through her. They could look at getting out of this hellhole now. Maybe Kynina and Sylkalyn would be waiting wherever that happened to be.

"Nice and easy. Let's find the way out." Cyra gestured behind xem.

The ground opened up underneath them. Safi screamed. This was not okay. Thank you very much. They'd falled down into the ground once already.

Luckily, this time it was hardly a few seconds before she felt herself hit solid ground. She immediately looked around for Cyra, trying to figure out what had happened to xem.

Cyra coughed as they sat up, dirt rushing off their face. They wiped their face, only succeeded in covering it in more dust. They coughed louder.

"Are you okay Cyra?" Safi looked around frantically. She could see dusty walls around them. Looking up she realized they'd fallen into a pit. It wasn't too big. Cyra could probably reach the top of it just by jumping. They had to get out. They had to get out. A pit this short meant the fall was clearly not meant to be the danger. Something else was going to go down. Something bad.

Cyra stood up, nodding. Behind them was a vaguley Cyra-sized dent in the walls. They probably weren't supposed to have joined Safi. "Come on. I'll give you a boost up."

Safi nodded, with a small bit of relief. Cyra could get her out then she could get a tendril down to Cyra if absolutely needed. This would be absolutely fine.

"Okay, let's do this. Calm, cool, and collected. Calm, cool, and collected. We got this. We got his."

Cyra bent down, holding out his hands. Safi reached for Cyra, carefully lifting her foot when suddenly the ground fell again.

Safi was thrown on her back once again. She groaned loudly. That was definitely going to leave a mark. Several marks.

Cyra groaned, thoroughly squashed by Safi's weight. "Princess... I'm giving you thirty seconds to get off of me."

Safi squeaked and scrambled off of him as quickly as she could. "Sorry. Did not realize I fell on top of you." Adrenaline was already coursing through her from the first fall, but that felt like a second shot had just whizzed through her veins.

"Wow. That used to feeling my chest already?" Cyra sat up, wincing slightly.

Safi's face was burning brighter than her aura as she stammered, momentarily forgetting where she was as she groaned and promptly hid her face in the wall. If she couldn't see Cyra, Cyra couldn't see her embarassment either right? That's how this worked?

"N..n.no..nooooo."

Cyra stood up behind her. "Get up. We need to figure something else out. You can day dream about me later."

Safi squealed louder and tried her best to just burrow into the wall. "S..sound..s g..good. Yup. Not day dreaming. Not day dreaming. Getting out. Getting out. Like immediately. Before it burns us to death. This pit is so hot. Must be a trap. Burn us alive. Desert stylez."

Cyra picked her up by the shoulder and turned her around. "Okay. So what happened. How did the pit get deeper?"

Safi squealed but managed to resist the urge to immediately cover her face, taking long deep breaths as she tried to think back on the situation they were in. They were deep in a death pit. They were deep in a death pit. They had to get out. Danger. Danger was ongoing and it wasn't Cyra's chest.

"Uhh I don't know honestly. I reached for you and then the world just fell out from under me."

Cyra nodded, looking around. "Let me try something." He took a couple of steps back and jumped, grabbing the top of the pit.

Safi stepped back a little, watching it unfold. She wasn't entirely sure what was going to happen here, but at least it looked like it was still not so deep that Cyra couldn't get up to it. And there was always her tendrils. This would be fine.

The world went blurry as a sickening crack filled the air. Safi's vision was clouded by dust as a white hot agony shot through her ankle.

"Fuck! Fuck!" Cyra growled. "What the fuck?"

Safi screamed again, for the, she honestly had completely lost count at this point time of day. Oh her ankle was not doing good. It was so much. It was so much. She couldn't even make out what had happened. All she knew was that she was no longer on her feet and the world was a very dusty blurry place.

"C..cyra..y..you o..okay?"

"Safi? What happened? What was that scream?" The dust started to clear, revealing Cyra. Her palm was bleeding again and there was a cut across her cheek.

Safi tried to stand up, groaning as she put weight on her hands to try and stumble onto her feet. Her right foot was fine, a little bruised from the feel of it but okay, but the second she put any weight on her left foot, it gave away, the pain in her ankle doubling as she screamed again.

"N.n.othing.g..good."

"Stay down. Stay down." Cyra knelt beside her feet. "Your ankle's broken. Don't move. I can fix it."

Safi felt herself tear up, groaning. She wanted to get up and be more useful but knew better than to contest the claim about her ankle. It was hurting so much. Just so, so much. It had to be broken. There was no other way.

"O..okay. O....okay. Than..thank you. So..sorry."

Cyra pulled out a bottle. "This is going to feel... weird." He put his armor over and hands and shattered the bottle, a trail of mist covering Safi's ankle. He picked up all the glass and buried it.

Safi felt...soothed. Cyra was right. It was weird. The mist was... damp and warm, like a green house. It settled on her ankle like a hug. Her skin seemed to soak it up. A sense of numbness overwhelmed her injury, but she could see the ankle shift back into place, the bruising vanished. The numbess lifted, only a now slightly cold damp remaining. All traces of pain were gone.

Safi let out a small breath she hadn't even realized she was holding. "O..oh. W..wow. That was. That was so... so fast. So..good. A..and. I feel like. Wow. That's just amazing Cyra. You're amazing."

Cyra snorted. "No big deal. Just some minor artificing. Now up you get."

"That's some incredible artificing!" Safi huffed. "Just minor work is not going to be that smooth and that effective." She tried again to get to her feet, very carefully putting her weight onto her legs one at a time. Her left ankle felt a little wobbly, but not in pain.

"Whatever. We need to focus on finding a way out. Touching the walls at all causes us to take a tumble."

Safi nodded. "Looks like it. It doesn't want us to just climb up or jump up." She glanced up. It was about three Cyra's tall now. "Now that we even could anymore."

"It doesn't like tall people." Cyra shook ther head.

"Yup. Should I try my tendrils?"

"Maybe. If there's a way to do it without touching the walls."

"Uhh. I'm not sure. Maybe I can throw it high an wide and hope it clears the walls or would you rather not be taking that risk?"

"I trust your judgement."

Before Safi could respond, the ground rumbled as a hole opened on the far end of the sinkhole. From it, a snake emerged, eyes gleaming and tongue flicking the air. It drew back, ready to strike.

Safi stepped back immediately in horror. Oh this was not happening. This was not happening. They were not about to be trapped in a pit of snakes of all things. No. No. No.

Almost like it was in reply to Safi's pleas, a second snake emerged from the hole. Oh they were both so long. And bright. Safi hated how bright they were. There was almost no chance they weren't poisonous in some way shape or form.

Safi glanced back. She'd almost backed up right to the wall. She froze. Go any further back and this pit was just going to drop them all right down, probably on top of the snakes or...she shuddered... the snakes on top of them.

The snakes were eyeing them way too hungrily, both of them poised to strike. She risked a glance at Cyra right as she heard a loud hiss and something flying through the air.

One thing that Merry most certainly wasn't expecting from his first day at Lux Academy was the ground falling out from beneath his damn feet, but he had to give it to Headmisster Fea. She certainly had a way with words. And magic. So there he was, hurtling towards a dimly lit underground city at a speed that would certainly be unnerving....if he didn't literally step through space as an Afffinity.

He scanned the desolate expanse of city beneath him for a moment, trying to think, to plan. His gaze skimmed over several rooftops, some collapsed and broken, others more or less intact, before he spotted a decent one to step to. Merry activated his Aura and pulled it in tight, then let it flare out brightly. Between one blink and the next, he focused on the roof and stepped though cloud and thunder onto said roof.

Merry stumbled a few steps as he landed on the roof, accompanied by a loud crack of thunder that echoed. He winced and immediately crouched low, moving to hide behind a crumbling chimney. Merry took a deep breath and then exhaled, before he decided to scan his surroundings. He could just make out several other students in the dim lighting supplied by rusty old lamps. He eyed the other students for a moment, then checked out the backpack he'd been given. Standard survival supplies. That'd work. Merry slung it back over his shoulder, considering his options.

"Okay, Merry," he mutterd, studying the surrounding area again. "Where would you find a crystal?"

He scanned the crumbling city again and sighed. He could see several auras flaring up inside city limits, but he could also see a few outside of it. He tracked the blinding white glow of one such aura as they descended, then glanced away. Merry was pretty sure he was safe up on the roof at the moment, but probably not for long. He had to move, and soon.

A blood-curdling screech echoed through the underground city. Merry froze. That could not be a good thing. It could only mean one thing, actually. Voidborn. How was he not surprised? He'd heard rumours about Lux Academy and their introductionary period....

Merry swallowed thickly, trying not to think of the worried looks his mother and step-father had given him when he'd told them about being accepted into the academy. But there were also so proud of him, too. He sighed and shook his head, peering out from behind the half-broken chimney. It was time to move. He gave the area one last scan, spotted several others chasing another through the streets and grimaced.

"Time to go," he muttered and stood, moving to storm-step off the roof and down into the street below. Then he turned and took off running towards the forest surrounding the city. It seemed like the best bet at the moment.



Merry skidded to a halt, eyes darting to the explosion somewhere to his right. He could hear yelling and running. He was even pretty sure he heard something collapse. Merry glanced towards the edge of the city, where paved street met forest and darkness. Then he glanced back towards the general vincinity of the explosion. He could just...go find a cystral....or he could go towards the explosions. Ugh.

"Damnit," he hissed and pivoted towards the sounds of fighting. Merry sighed and ducked through a partially collapsed doorway. He stayed low as he inched closer to the sounds of fighting--and what was apparently now arguing.

"Fenton, you idiot," a girl was hissing. He peered out into the street and nearly snorted at the way the girl was shoving at the boy with dark hair. There was a bat resting on his shoulder and he didn't seem bothered at all by the girl's shoves. She had brown hair, braided in a crown across her circling her head and down her back. Merry's gaze narrowed as he watched her--she seemed whiny as hell. "You lost her!"

'Fenton' shrugged. "Not my fault you can't aim for shit, Hill."

'Hill' screwed up her face in annoyance--or disgust. Hard for Merry to tell, really. He adjusted his stance. He could only see two but that didn't mean there weren't others around. "You're such a dick. Besides, someone broke my slingshot!"

"Hillary. Fenton." The two of them whirled around to face the larger girl with a big sword. Crap. "Cut it out. Montrelle's still looking for the runt." She marched up to the other two and grabbed them, hard. Fist in hair. Fuck. Merry knew her--Leighann Morton. An absolutely bully and ruthless to boot. She was always trying to get his attention at the parties his step-father took the family to. She never did get his attention. Too cruel. "You're both idiots. Go do something actually useful, would you?"

"I would if you didn't break my weapon," Hillary whined, and Leighann hissed something too low for him to hear. Hillary whined again, but this time it wasn't whinging, it was fear. Ah, shit. had Leighann threatened her?

"Fix the damn thing," Leighann told her sternly and Hillary muttered something like an affirmation.

Merry exhaled carefully, ducking back out of sight. He couldn't take Leighann on her own. But Fenton and Hillary? Yeah, he could probably deal with them. He turned to put his back against the wall, staying crouched and ready, and listened as they argued a bit more before Leighann left. Merry waited a beat or two before he slipped back towards the collapsed doorway. He could still hear Hillary and Fenton making snide remarks at each other, so he knew where they were. But if Leighann was around, then....there'd be a fourth. He didn't remember Fenton or Hillary from the parties, but he wouldn't be surprised if they recognised him. He was, afterall, the adoptive son of an upper class mage and it wasn't exactly a secret. Shit.

"Okay," he breathed, slipping back into the street and stretching. He needed to move. "Gotta get moving. Find a crystal. Get out." He nodded, glancing up and down the street. "And avoid shitty people, obviously."

Merry turned and started to slowly and steathily make his way down the street. He made it about five feet before something thunked into the stone behind him. He glanced back, spotted the danger, eyes going wide. It exploded and flung him into a nearby wall, which collapsed and sent him tumbling into an empty building. He groaned and rolled back up into a crouch, cursing. That would probably bruise later.

"Found something!"

He looked up to find someone with black hair dropping onto the street outside the crumbled wall. Merry bared his teeth and watched them, wary. He stood carefully. Sturdy footing, Merry, he told himself, reaching for the fans hanging from his belt. He didn't unhook them yet, just rested his hands on them. That had to be the fourth person in Leighann group. What had she said? Montrelle, right?

"Did you now?" he asked calmly, tilting his head a little. Their gaze narrowed.

"You're not the runt," Montrelle said, sounding amused. They had diamond patterned tattoos trailing up their neck. Fenton stepped into view beside them. Merry figured Hillary wasn't far away. "Hey, Fenton, isn't this Zareen's little pet project?"

Fenton squinted at him from the dimly lit street. It seemed to take him a moment to register where Merry was standing. "Huh. So it is."

Merry grinned and unhooked his fans from his belt, raising them into a ready position. He was going to enjoy the next part.



He ducked beneath Fenton's bat and spun around to put his back against the slightly taller boy's, gaze darting towards Montrelle. They'd flung a dagger at him, so Merry deflected it right back at them. He brought a foot up and back into Fenton's knee before shoving off him and storm-stepping behind Montrelle. Fenton yelped. The short burst of thunder disorientated them both. Merry took advantage of it, sweeping Montrelle's legs out from beneath them and then storm-stepping away. He aimed for the roof and was a little surprised he'd actually made it considering it was quite high up and looked a little unstable.

"Argh!" Montrelle growled, rolling up onto their feet and turning to face him. "Stop doing that!"

Merry shrugged. "Doing what?"

"Dodging!" they exclaimed, clearly frustrated.

"Deflecting," Fenton added. "It's rude."

He snorted. "No, it's not," he said, pointing one of his folded fans at the pair. "It's called fighting. I'd be an idiot to let you guys hit me on purpose."

"I got you once," Montrelle hissed and flung another knife at him. Merry batted it away with a deliberately effortless gesture. "Stop doing that!"

He smirked at them, winked and crouched down. "Why don't you come up here and make me, hm?" He added a small come-hither gesture to really push the point. Fenton glared at him. Montrelle bared their teeth, clearly annoyed. "No? Pity."

"Stop gawking and hit him!" Fenton yelled, and Merry's gaze darted towards him.

"Shut up!" Montrelle growled back, but they tossed a knife at him again anyway. Merry sighed as he deflected it again. What he wasn't expecting was the explosion that flung him backwards onto the roof, flattening him. He really should have expected it. He tried to remember it was a thing and hopfully wouldn't be caught out by that again.

Merry groaned, laying there stunned for a moment. Shit, that had hurt. Not as bad as being flung through a wall, though. He heard footsteps and scrambling, and sat up just as Fenton appeared at the edge of the roof. Merry slowly climbed to his feet at the dark-haired boy hauled himself up onto the edge of the roof, gaze narrowed. He stood, brandished the bat and smirked. Merry hissed, adjusting his stance. Okay, definitely gonna have a few bruised ribs later.

"I'm going to enjoy this," Fenton told him. Merry straightened up a little and avoided touching his now-bruised ribs.

"Two on one?" he asked, head cocked. "Not very fair, is it?"

Fenton snorted. "Eh, it's more fun like that."

Merry rolled his eyes. Bullies, he though sourly. They never learn...

Something pinged off the back of his head and he frowned, turning to look for whatever it was. He spotted the girl, Hillary, on a roof behind him. When the hell had she gotten up there? "Really?" he asked and she sneered at him. He glanced down, spotted the projectile and then gave her a disapproving look. "A pebble?"

"Three on one," she yelled, and threw another stone at him. Merry dodged, straight into Fenton's bat. Bat met ribs and Merry went down with a gasp, all the air shoved out of his lungs. He lay there for a second, trying to catch his breath and spotted the bat headed for his head. He barely rolled out of the way, straight off the edge of the roof and down into the street, where he hit hard. Merry was left breathless again for a moment. He lay there, gasping, and hissed when there was a soft clink. He glanced up to find yet another knife in the broken wall above him.

Ah, shit.

It exploded and sent him rolling across the street. Someone planted a foot on his ribs, right where they ached, stopping him abruptly. He moaned lowly, eyes squeezed shut. The pressure hurt. He wasn't sure if his ribs were broken yet or not, but he was sure he'd be finding out. When he opened them, he found Montrelle peering down at him, flipping a knife over and over in their hand.

"About time you got back down here," they said, tone causal. "I was missing out on the fun."

Merry snorted weakly, grabbing at their ankle and shoving. It didn't budge so he shoved again. "And let you have all the fun?" he asked, a little breathlessly. He got enough leverage to get out from beneath Montrelle's foot and rolled away, gingerly climbing back to his feet. "Not likely."

"Aww, c'mon," Montrelle wheedled, sly. "We're just playing with you."

He huffed a weak laugh. "Doesn't feel like playing, kid."

Montrelle just sighed, seemingly disappointed and pointed the knife at him. Merry heard someone drop into the street behind him. He didn't have to look to know it was Fenton. Hillary was probably still up on the roofs, aiming her little pebbles at him again. Merry exhaled very, very carefully and tried not to wince at the little twinge of pain in his chest. Okay, maybe his ribs were broken now. Crap. He dropped into a ready stance anyway, one fan raised above the head, the other in front his chest, both closed.

"Shall we, then?"

"Ooooh, let's."

It had taken another twenty minutes but Merry had managed to get the upper hand. The fight had been taken back up onto the roof and he'd sent Fenton flying. He hadn't seen where, but the knife from Montrelle that had followed made sure he'd be down for a bit. Then it was just Hillary taking pot shots at him and Montrelle's explosive daggers. He managed to dodge most of them, though he'd taken a knife to the thigh at one point--luckily, that one didn't explode. When he'd finally gotten Montrelle to go down and stay there, Hillary had screamed and run for them. While she was distracted, Merry had taken off. That was right before the entire city block exploded. Which, damn.

Now he was in the forest, limping from tree to tree. He was pretty sure he'd put enough distance between himself and the other three to finally stop and maybe deal with the thigh injury. He eyed the knife thoughtfully for a moment then gingerly sat down on a handy nearby rock. It had to come out before he could wrap it. Merry slung the backpack down off his shoulder and dug through it, noting the supplies carefully. Two bottles, one full and one empty. Merry frowned at them for a moment then set them aside. Rope. Flint and steel. Flashlight. No, not helpful. Two glowsticks. Thin blanket. Flare. Whistle. No, none of it was helpful. He sighed, put everything back into the bag and set it aside. He was mildly surprised he'd managed to keep hold of it, to be perfectly honest. There'd been a moment when he'd lost it during the fight but he'd found it as soon as Hillary was distracted.

"Great," he muttered, looking from the bag to his clothing and back. Merry groaned, rubbing at his face. He'd had to tear some strips off his clothing. Probably the shirt. He sighed and shrugged his jacket off, then eyed the knife. He'd have to rip a few strips off the bottom and wrap his leg, but first... He reached for the knife but as he made contact with it, it started glowing. He yanked it out and flung it away, where it hit a tree and imploded, shaking the tree and showering him with splinters of wood.

Merry cursed, covering his face until they stopped hitting him. Then he looked around carefully. Nothing seemed to have noticed him. Yet. At least he'd gotten away from Leighann and her little gang of bullies. Merry was dreading having to face Leighann. There was no way he could take her on, not when it was four on one. Maybe if he had backup, he could. He kept pondering that as he started tearing strips off his shirt and carefully laying them out on the rock by his hip. Merry tilted his head, studying the injury and hissing when he pulled at the fabric of his pants. He had to figure out if it was deep and wound need stiches or not--which it thankfully didn't. Maybe. Probably. Hopefully.

He huffed and turned to pick up one of the make-shift bandages, carefully folding it and pressing it against his thigh, over the wound. And hissed. That hurt. But he had to do it or it would keep bleeding, and then he'd probably pass out from blood loss. He kept it there with one hand and reached for more bandages with the other, carefully wrapping it. Tight, but not too tight. That was what his mother had told him. Fuck, but it ached now. Dully, but he had a feeling it'd get worse.

Thigh bandaged, Merry leaned back a little on the rock, propping himself up with one hand and looked around. He wasn't sure where to go now. He hadn't exactly been paying attention while he was running into the forest. Merry groaned. He felt like such an idiot. He'd miscalculated, forgotten to get his bearings before taking off. Such a stupid move.

Suddenly, there was a flare of light and sound. Something roared. He could hear fighting and yelling. Merry scrambled to his feet, grabbing his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder. He could see the flaring aura off to his left a little. More flares of aura--fire and.... Was that paper he spotted? What the hell? Merry stared at what he could see above the treetops for a moment. Another roar and---oh shit. The shudder that went through him made Merry feel cold and lost. He tried to shake it off, but it took him a moment--too long of one, too. Because now the forest was dark and quiet again. Well, not quiet, exactly. He could hear something snarling and clawing at something--it echoed. Shit, was that a voidborn? Fuck.

Merry swore softly and skirted around the rock he'd just been sitting on. He darted behind a tree and stayed there, listening carefully for a moment. He coudl still heard the voidborn clawing away at something. Shit, shit. He had to move. It didn't sound like it was close, but it was still too close for comfort. Merry pushed off the tree and slunk towards another one, wincing with each step. That was going to be a problem later. But for now, he'd have to deal. And get away from the voidborn.



The boarded up mine entrance did not look inviting, but it was better than being out in the open like he was. Merry didn't care that he was surrounded by trees, he still felt exposed. And with the voidborn around.... He didn't trust it to stay away. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if it was actively hunting him now. Or if it wasn't the only one in the area. Merry wouldn't put it past Headmistress Fea to have way too many down there. He glanced about, making sure it was clear, then ducked under one of the boards and into the mine. He'd rather take his chances in a mineshaft than in the forest or the city. Especially the city. He didn't trust Leighann to play nice.

The tunnel he found himself in was way too dark so Merry dug out the flashlight. He had to knock it against his palm a couple times to get it to work without flickering, but it'd do. He brushed the fingers of his free hand over his fans and then got walking.

He felt like he spent ages wandering through tunnels, following the vague yanking on his aura that he picked up on every now and then. He followed the vague pull, frowning and limping through tunnel after tunnel until he reached a small cavern. A small shaft of light illuminated it, shining down on an odd stone statue--some kind of vague humanoid shape with no definied phyiscal form--and reflecting off something in the statue's hands. Merry limped closer, eyeing the statue for a long moment before glancing about the cavern. Something flickered and he glanced back, noticing what the statue was holding. It was a crystal. He'd found a crystal.

"Huh," Merry muttered, tilting his head. "Would you look at that... a crystal..."

It was glowing a soft greenish colour. Merry shifted just a little closer, eyes on the crystal. He wasn't going to just grab it. That'd be stupid. The statue was probably trapped. Merry honestly wouldn't be surprised. There were, most likely, a lot of trapped things down in the arena. Merry sighed deeply and stopped short of the statue. He still needed to get the crystal. He just wasn't sure what would happen if he did.

"Guess I get to find out," he said, very quietly, and slowly reached out for the crystal. He jerked his hand back before he made contact, considering the crystal again for a moment before glancing over the statue--it looked humanoid-ish. There wasn't really a defined shape, but he could see horns and what seemed to be wings, and one hand was covering the eyes while the other held the crystal high up in from of the chest. It was easily several inches taller than Merry, and that was....a little concerning. And were those claws on the hands? Geez, way to be creepy as hell. "Come on, Merry, stop stalling..."

He took a deep breath and then reached out to snatch the crystal out of the statue's hand. Merry clutched it to his chest for a long moment, breathing heavily. For a long moment, nothing happened. And then the statue's fingers twitched. Merry yelped and stumbled back a couple steps, eyes widening in horror as the statue;s fingers twitched again and then it moved. Merry, now several feet back from it, stared at it with wide eyes. Slowly, like it was waking up from a long nap, the statue flexed stone fingers and lowered the hand from its eyes. Then the wings flared out oh-so-slowly.

Oh, shit.