Collaborated with @Spearmint
At first, Railyn only heard the wind rushing in his ears. He thought he must have passed out somehow when he felt the floor beneath his feet vanish. Maybe it was a dream, and he hadn't actually woken up yet. He tried to open his eyes, but nothing had changed. It was complete darkness. Screams rang out and echoed over and over again in his ears, and that was what finally got him to realize this was real. He didn't know which way was up or which way was down, and his stomach tossed and turned because of that.
In the void, a burst of light flew up into the air, illuminating everything and nothing at the same time. It got faster, and then Railyn realized it was not rising, it was falling, and it was falling to illuminate the floor below them. Whoever conjured that light was certainly more on top of the game than Railyn was.
Finally, the orb of light crashed into the ground below and exploded in a flurry of sparks. Was that a city below him? Where did they drop them into? No, no time for those thoughts, he had to get to the ground without killing himself. Surely the staff at Lux Academy would stop him before he splattered all over the floor, right?
Railyn didn't want to take that chance. He tried to reorient himself, now that he knew which was down. In the corner of his eyes, he could see some other students in his peripheral igniting their auras. Somehow, they had gotten much further apart than they were standing around before they dropped.
He did the same, reaching within himself to find that familiar trigger to jumpstart his aura. He knew it was a novice way to do it, but it was the only way he had learned. It was a memory, and as soon as he thought on that memory, his aura roared to life, surrounding him like a storm of dead autumn leaves, picked up by an angry wind.
Wind! Okay, that was a way to slow him down. He channeled his aura down to his arms, charging his dragon tattoos as well as highlighting his two forefingers. He could sense the air around him as his aura enhanced his connection to the natural forces. The connection was slim, just the tips of his fingers, but it was enough to get almost shell shocked by the force and fury of the wind around him.
Railyn twisted his wrists around and opened his palm out. At first, the wind accepted the challenge of his mind and body and almost bent his fingers backwards completely, but his aura and the beginning of his Primal Sense struggled against its might. Spreading his fingers apart slowly, excruciatingly slowly, he forced the wind to bend to his will. While most of the wind still pushed against him, he was able to grab ahold of a fraction of the air and began circling it around him, acting as a buffer against him and the remaining wind. He could feel the effects instantly; the rushing of wind in his ears lessened and he was able to open his eyes completely.
As he slowed his fall, he glanced around. He could now faintly see a rough, rocky wall behind him. He feebly attempted to like, swim in the air to get closer to it and maybe grab ahold of it, but that was absolutely fruitless. The ground was still both fast approaching and seemingly taking forever. He didn't know if his little trick with the wind was going to be enough. If he had to take more than a moment to think about it, he guessed it wouldn't be.
The Primal Sense on his fingertips vanished and his aura in its entirety burned brighter. He shoved the rest of his aura into fueling his dragon tattoos. The storm of autumn leaves vanished and the spiraling inky scales on his forearms glowed maroon. Manipulating both the air and fueling his Affinity had started to make him lightheaded, but he had to get enough fuel to burn his Affinity for more than a few moments. If he could not use someone else's magic, his own would have to do.
The ground sped up to meet him, and the remnants of that orb of light from earlier started to vanish right before his eyes. His grasp over the wind around him faltered, and in that moment, he began to hear the wind warping around uneven terrain. It was now or never.
Imagining the maw of the dragon inside him opening, he shoved his hands down, palms open, and let his Affinity loose. Fire erupted from his hands, billowing in a large arc below him. This was no ordinary fire, it was Dragonfire, and it danced at the opportunity to be let out. His aura flickered back to life to protect his body from the flames he was producing, and he felt himself rapidly losing speed.
The ground met up with him too fast, and he realized almost too late that it was the roof of a building he was careening into. Swiveling his arms, he shoved his body to the side to narrowly avoid the building, Still, one leg got caught on the edge of the roof, and he went spiraling into the wall of another building. His aura absorbed the impact, but his concentration was shattered, and the fire vanished from his fingertips.
Shielding his hand with his aura, he half fell, half slid down the side of the structure with his gloved hand scraping the wall to try and slow his fast descent to the ground. Railyn mustered up what he could to his other arm and blasted flickering fire. With all of that, he was tumbled off the side of the wall and onto another, lower roof, rolling onto the cool stone and stopping the landing on his back. The impact sucked the air out of his lungs, and he just laid there gasping his breaths for a moment. At least he made it to the ground alive.
He had to say that, because in that moment the roof he landed on crumpled under the impact and his added weight, and he fell into the story below. He rolled to the side just before meeting the ground, and thankfully he didn't knock the air out of his lungs again this time. He groaned softly as his body protested his maneuvers back there.
Eventually --he didn't know how long-- he got himself to a sitting position. Snapping his fingers, a small light flickered an inch above his fingertips. He studied the newly lit room he landed (well, crashed) in. Besides debris and rubble, there wasn't much occupying the room. One corner wall was gone completely, and three huge windows adorned the three remaining sides. Through those vantage points, Railyn could make out other students making their way down to the city, judging by the sparkling auras in the pitch blackness.
Railyn flicked the fire to the ground and it stayed there. He pulled the backpack off of his shoulder and dropped it in front of him as he crossed his legs. He finally had a moment to process what just happened, but he still needed to busy himself as he did. So, he inspected what the school gave him in this backpack more thoroughly.
Pulling out the items one by one, he registered them in his mind. Two water bottles, one seemed empty and one seemed full. He chugged the water in the full one. The heat he produced through his tattoos often left him parched, so it was nice that they gave them some water before, y'know, dropping them into a gaping chasm with no warning whatsoever. There was also some rope --which Railyn couldn't even think of why he would possibly need that--, flint and steel for starting a fire --as if they didn't have magic, a flashlight, two glowsticks, a thin blanket that was rolled up and super itchy, a thin rod thingy, which was a flare upon closer inspection, and a whistle with some small writing on the side. Railyn moved closer to his fire and squinted to read the whistle. "For extreme emergencies ONLY". Huh, okay. How extreme are things going to be down here?
Railyn then remembered Headmistress Fea mentioning that there would be monsters down there with them. Goodie. He sighed and shoved the supplies back into the backpack, keeping the flashlight, the water bottle, and the whistle on top -- in case he needed them. He ran his fingers through his curly hair, sighing. He really should have eaten a bigger breakfast.
As he sat there, he heard a huge clank and the city around him lit up, well, barely. He scooted over to the edge of the building and looked up. Four large lamps, the ones you'd find in a huge stadium for a local ceremony, except these looked old, old and rotten; Railyn really couldn't think of a better name to describe them. They weren't much use as light, but he was able to make out definitions and shapes, and if he focused hard enough and kept still, he could see a bit more. It was just enough to allow him the ability to not trip and fall on any little thing. However, he would still have to use other sources of light if he wanted to actually see anything.
He couldn't stay where he was. He had to find one of those jewels Headmistress Fea mentioned. There were a limited number of them, and far more students fighting for them. He had absolutely no clue where to start.
Railyn opened his palm and summoned his chakrams to him. It obeyed and flew from his holster on his back to his hand. One of the handier Artificing skills he developed early on. Once he had fully caught his breath from the landing, he slipped down the building and out into the open.
"Okay, Railyn," he muttered, "what would a bigshot battlemage do? Whaaaat would someone who knew what they were doing... do?" He glanced around, doing a complete circle. "Well, I would find someone who knew what they were doing." The only trouble is, he only really knew of three other people down here with him. Thane, Edalyn, and...
"Pel!" Railyn exclaimed as the very boy he was thinking about rounded the corner, his expression turning joyous when he saw Railyn.
"Ri, I was looking for you," Pel said, a bit out of breath.
"That's funny, because I was just about to look for you. Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Pel winced. "Just a bit bruised from the fall..."
Their conversation was cut short by a deafening screeching sound, followed by Headmistress Fea's voice. "Hello potential students. Please be advised: The Voidborn have been released." With that, only silence followed.
Railyn and Aapeli glanced at each other. Railyn hid a gulp with a smirk. "We got this. Say, did you happen to see a fancy little jewel on your way here? Or two?" Pel shook his head. "If only it were that easy." The two of them stood awkwardly there, but their trance was broken as eerie screeches sounded from somewhere beyond their location. Railyn couldn't guess where it was coming from or how far away it was, but he wasn't risking the chance to figure it out.
Railyn slung his backpack around his shoulder and glanced around. They were in the middle of a ruined city, with crumbling buildings all around them. Back the way he fell into the arena was a dead end, just brick wall and water. The screeches seemed to be coming from one of the lamps dead ahead, so he looked left. There was a natural road there, perhaps it used to be made out of brick or something or... whatever roads were made out of. A toppled building blocked its path, but it looked scalable.
"This way," Railyn said, pointed to the cut-off path. He was desperately hoping he wasn't leading them into more danger.
Pel nodded and started down the path, clutching his pack with white knuckles. He gulped and said, "So... where do you think the jewels are likely to be? Is it random, or would they deliberately put them in dangerous places...?" He clutched his pack even tighter.
"Well," Railyn began, huffing from trying to keep his breath, "judging from the fact that we were dropped into an arena of death with no warning or way to get down safely, I'm gonna say it's random." He wheezed out a laugh, but it was a poor attempt at a joke.
Pel smiled weakly. "A-alright then... guess I'll just keep an eye out for anything sparkly..."
Railyn chuckled at that. Now there's something he could hope for.
He jumped up to a ledge, holding onto bent rebar and he pulled himself up, twisting his body to give a bit of leverage as he wrenched his arm to hang on the rebar by the groove of his shoulder. He struggled for a hold, but finally he curled the ends of his fingers on a groove of the concrete. His legs flailed for a moment as he struggled up, but he finally climbed up and gasped out a sigh of relief.
Aapeli stared at that for a moment, then walked around the collapsed building. There was an audible "oof," and Railyn noticed Pel struggling up a series of cracked ledges. Pel appeared to rest for a moment on the one closest to the top of the structure. "Ah... I didn't expect... this much of a workout... on the first day..." Eventually he pulled himself up with Railyn's help and brushed himself off.
Railyn stared out to what must have been the edge of the city, which was about two blocks from their location, and completely pitch black. "So, to stay in the city and meet up with one of those Voidborn or venture out into the black?" He glanced at Pel.
"Hah... well, the darkness definitely sounds like a better option than getting devoured by those things..." Pel shuddered.
"True." Railyn slid down a leaning wall to the ground, the momentum trying to make him stumble. He slowed to a walk.
Pel hesitated for a moment, then slid down as well, trying his best to make it a controlled descent by using his shoes to create friction. Halfway down, though, a hidden fragment of stone caught the side of his shoe, and Pel flailed into a half-slide, half-tumble. Railyn instinctively reached out and caught Pel before he planted face first into the mud. He lifted Pel just enough for his feet to find even ground.
"Whoops... sorry about that." It was hard to tell in the semi-darkness, but Pel's face looked a little flushed. "Looks like I'm getting a great start to this whole Lux Academy thing... Um. A-anyways! Any gems nearby?" He glanced around.
Railyn smiled softly, even if Pel couldn't catch it in the darkness, and he patted Pel on his back. "We all have our strengths. Mine is climbing trees." He turned his attention ahead. Beyond three or four buildings lay a wall of complete blackness. He stepped out to the edge of the city, facing the void face on.
He lifted his hand up and puffed into his palm. Fire sparked to life in the dragon's maw gaping out at him, etched into his palm.
Pel's eyes widened at that, reflecting the firelight. "That's a neat Affinity."
Railyn smirked at him. "Heh, thanks. Not as neat when you're climbing trees, though."
"Makes sense." Pel smiled, then turned to face the void. "Do... do you hear the void whispering to you?" He gulped and shifted his feet nervously.
"Wait, wha--" his words were cut off as he saw a glimmer in the corner of his eye. He had just enough time to pull the both of them out of the way as something whistled past, impacting the ground with a thud.
Pel stared at the thing-- which looked awfully sharp-- for a moment, seemingly in shock. He and Railyn exchanged glances, and Railyn scrambled back to his feet. He narrowed his eyes, struggling to see what the Thing was.
As soon as he got close enough to see that it was an intricate throwing knife, it glimmered again, and the ground around it exploded.
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