Dontae's Battle with the Past Chapter 3

Chapter 3

We finally came to complete stop after about a half hour of running. We stood breathing hard in the center of a meadow. To the west of us was a large beautiful lake. “What are we doing here?” Veronica asked after we had caught our breath.

“The Meadow of the Volk was a large battleground between the Volk and the Monis in the 1850s. Some say this land has power,” Kevin said reciting the words from our history textbook perfectly.

“Know-it-all,” James whispered to Veronica who giggled.

“We are here to train. While we were running, an idea came to me. We are going to have a three round one-on-one tournament. After the final match, we will take a break to gain our energy back. Then, the winners will go head-to-head to decide the winner. It’s basically a way for us to train like we’re in battle,” I explained.

“It seems simple enough. What are the lineups?” Maddison said.

“First, it will be me and Kevin. Then, Veronica and James will go. Finally, it will be the duo, Margaret and Maddison,” I said.

“First, everyone go in separate directions and try to teach yourself some basic moves. I’ll send up a flare when it’s time to begin,” Kevin said before walking away.

Veronica headed for the lake, Margaret went towards the trees, James went towards a rocky area, and Maddison headed further into the meadow. Watching them leave, I turned and went the way we came. After I thought I was away from prying eyes, I closed my eyes.

When I closed my eyes, my body automatically went into a sitting position. A bright a light seemed to pull me away from the field. When I opened my eyes, I stood in front of a statue. Looking at the plaque, I panicked and was confused.

Here lies Kevin Chen. Born in 1996, but died in 2012. He and his friends perished at the hands of Mack and his son... After that, the words were hard to read. Looking around, I only saw four more graves. I could tell it was my friends by the saddened elements around their graves.

I turned to look for my grave when I was engulfed in darkness. I opened my eyes just as I saw the flare fading. Grimacing at myself for sleeping, I ran back. As my foot touched the meadow, the words begin echoed throughout the air. A fireball shot through the air at me. A curved wall of darkness materialized in front of me.
The fireball hit the wall, before being launched back towards Kevin. I jumped over the curved wall, launching a ball of darkness at him. A horizontal whirlpool of flames formed in front of Kevin, absorbing both the balls. Frowning, I crouched watching Kevin closely.

Kevin placed his palm on the whirlpool, unflinching. What are you doing, I thought to myself narrowing my eyes. The whirlpool moved, till it formed a table size fireball. My mind quickly started forming a plan to reflect it. I formed a ball of darkness in my palm before throwing it at Kevin. His fireball shot through the air, straight at me. Smirking, I put my hand outwards and his fireball slammed into it. I slid back a few inches before tossing it aside.

My ball of darkness expanded into rope tying itself around Kevin. Kevin collapsed the ground and frowned. “I give,” he said. I cheered laughing when Veronica and James were standing by the lake gesturing us to come over. Helping Kevin up as the rope disappeared, we rushed over to them. Margaret and Maddison sat under a tree watching. “Begin,” Kevin said.

The water in the lake began to move as it began to be choppy. James picked up a nearby boulder and launched it at her. A Wave of water shot up slamming into the boulder, causing it to sink. “She’s going to kill me,” I heard James mutter. Veronica sat on the surface of the water looking bored as a tsunami roared in front of her towards James.

I stared wide-eyed as it slammed into James. As the water washed away, I noticed James was under a cracked dome of rocks. “That was a close call,” I whispered to Kevin. I think I saw Veronica raise an eyebrow as the dome crumbled. James pointed at Veronica and the small pebbles around him floated and rocketed through the air towards Veronica.

Veronica smiled and she sunk below the water just as the rocks passed over her. My mouth dropped as she just floated under the surface breathing normally. As the final rock shot by, she floated back till she was back on the surface, and she wasn’t even wet. “Did she just breathe water, and come out not even wet?” I asked Kevin. He nodded and I turned back to watch.

There were three tsunamis roaring towards James before slamming down onto him. There was a loud cracking sound as the first one hit, a loud boom as the second one hit, and a loud gurgling sound as the final one hit. The water washed away revealing a soaked James. “The winner is Veronica! Next up, the duo,” I said.
I turned around to see Maddison jumping up and down under the tree, while Margaret sat under a different tree looking bored.

“Begin?” Kevin said like he was asking a question. Maddison threw a simply ball of electricity at Margaret, which got blown away by a gentle breeze.

“This is boring,” Margaret said sighing. The wind began to blow more violently and blew the bouncing Maddison into a tree.

“The winner is Margaret?” I said.

“So, me, Dontae, and Margaret are going to the finals?” Veronica asked. Nodding, I collapsed lying on my back taking a break.

“You have five minutes to rest,” Kevin stated. Nodding, I ran off to an empty part of the meadow. Lying down, I didn’t realize how fast five minutes could go by. I sighed, taking my time.

I closed my eyes, the gentle breeze blowing through the air. It had become oddly peaceful after the first three rounds. I took a deep breath, calming myself. It was quiet around me, which made me worry a bit. Suddenly, the birds in the trees were chirping loudly. The sunlight was warming my face, making me want to start singing and dancing.

“Your five minutes are up. Dontae, Margaret, and Veronica, please get ready for the final round,” Kevin said interrupting my peaceful equilibrium.

“This is going to be interesting,” I mutter standing up. I stretched, before walking back to where the others were. Margaret and Veronica where already there, waiting.

“Two girls going up against one guy; looks like one of us is going to win,” Veronica said to Margaret. Margaret sighed in response, looking as if she did not want to be here.

“Begin,” Kevin said. Instead of immediately charging at each other, we stood there analyzing our position and possibly techniques.

I am going up against Veronica and Margaret; water and wind. Before I could continue, it began to get colder. Veronica’s blue eyes were glowing dimly. I exhaled my breath I did not know I was holding in. Fog escaped my mouth and I could tell how cold it was getting. I began to shiver, but I forced myself to stay calm.

Behind Veronica, the lake water began moving, as if Veronica was pulling it. I glanced in the direction of Margaret who was gone. I looked around seeing she was sitting on a tree branch looking bored. I looked back at Veronica just as a wave of water slammed into me.

The temperature dropped below freezing. I was submerged, the water a foot taller than me. “Freeze!” Veronica’s gargled voice commanded. No, I thought. An aura of darkness appeared around me just as the water solidified into ice.

The darkness aura kept me warm. How to escape was the first thing in mine. I looked at my arm seeing the aura was fading. I was running out of time. Fire! Fire melts ice, it was so simple. But, where was I going to get fire.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated on my power. I was floating around in what must have been my sub-conscious. Ahead of me, there was a small orb of light. As I floated towards the orb, warmth was instantly filling me as I got nearer. I grabbed the orb and concentrated.

I opened my eyes and yelled. The black aura around me exploded with the force of a missile. The ice exploded into shards that rained down. I stood hunched over in the center of a pit, breathing hard.
I climbed out of the pit seeing the shocked faces. “I am not going down that easily,” I said to Veronica and Margaret. I ran at Veronica when a gust of wind blew me off my feet. I slammed into a tree, but landed on my feet. Margaret is joining in, I thought.

“This is boring. Let us finish this,” Margaret said. The wind began to blow. The clouds in the sky began to rotate forming a funnel.

“I am not going to let you do that!” I shouted. Crouching down, I concentrated an explosion of darkness in the balls of my feet. I jumped, propelling myself into the sky with the explosions. A rotating ball of darkness materialized in my hand as I flew above the clouds, just as the tornado touched down.

“Take this!” I shouted throwing the ball down the eye of the tornado. Luckily, my ball was rotating in the opposite direction. My ball of darkness slammed into the ground, exploding into a mini tornado. The mini tornado spun in the opposite direction, stopping Margaret’s tornado.

A gust of wind slammed into me. I fell back through the clouds. I turned myself around to see the ground racing up to meet me. I forced a ball of darkness into my hand and held out my hand.

The ball of darkness exploded on impact with the ground. I was knocked into the air, and landed on my feet. Pain pulsed in my right arm from the source of the explosion. Margaret landed beside Veronica and sighed.
“Why do we have to drag this out,” she said. I smiled and made a fist. The darkness I had spread out from the shadows exploded under them. A cloud of dust was thrown up in the air. When the dust cleared, Veronica and Margaret both were in a cage made of darkness.

“I give up. I am out of energy,” Veronica said.

“Ditto,” agreed Margaret.

“Finally,” I said making the cage vanish. The darkness the cage was made out of retreated back into the
shadows. I heard the faint sound of a helicopter above us. I looked up to see six things floating down. Minutes later, we stood around six boxes that were addressed to us.

“What do you guys think is inside?” James asked shaking his box.

“Let us find out,” Maddison said opening hers. Inside was a bow and an empty quiver. “Really? A bow and no arrows; they have to be kidding me,” she said.

“Make arrows of light,” I suggested before opening mine. Inside was a sheathed katana. When I touched it, a jolt of electricity ran up my arm. Without even saying anything, the rest started to open theirs.
James had gotten a hammer, Veronica had gotten two daggers, Kevin had also gotten a katana, and Margaret, bless her, had gotten two katanas.

“So cool! We finally…” Kevin started to say before the air around us literally began to shake. An invisible force pushed me to my knees. My insides felt like they were on fire. I let out a scream as my heart exploded with pain.

“So, you six are the ones?” a voice said calmly from behind us.