Chapter 8

RAIN

"READY?"

I looked at Rey and nodded with a smile. "I've never been this ready in my whole life. Only now can I experience this one."

She frowned at what I said. "Just to remind you, this is just the first time we've been together."

I laughed at what she said.

Eventually, our team was called and we were guided towards the arena. It was artificial and had different areas. There's a desert-looking place, a rainforest, a body of water, a ring of fire, and there's a maze in the middle.

Today’s the big day. I could finally experience being a part of a team. I could also sense the excitement in every student inside the arena.

"Shucks! My hair stands on end because of their excitement and fear." Erin complained.

I'm thankful I'm not the only one who could feel it. Erin's also an empath. So as Sere and somehow, Storm. But I knew he could handle that.

I adjusted the thin cloak on my face my face and looked at our leader. He just looked seriously at the other teams.

And since we were already inside the arena, the students’ powers were automatically sealed.

We did not even carry a shield for ourselves because it was forbidden except for the earpiece and the tracker provided by the event organizers. All of the weapons we needed can be found inside this vast place.

"Good luck to us, guys. Remember, stick to the plan. If something happens, notify us immediately." Diego said while adjusting the zipper of his hoodie.

We all agreed.

When the game began, we split up.

Storm's plan was to split into pairs. And since we were ten, five pairs were formed to easily find the flags. And if luck is with us, we could get the black flag.

I was with Storm so I was comfortable that nothing bad would happen. They all feared to be associated with the council president.

"Do you think we can get the black flag?" I asked him as we entered the maze-style road.

"Of course. I trust them all."

I was left behind so a quickened my pace. "What about me? Do you trust me, too?"

He stopped walking and stared at me.

"You don't have to ask me. Because you know I do."

I smiled broadly. "Okay."

"Come on. We've got to find lots of flag." He said he started walking again which I followed.

-----

LUCY

"Why did you even became my partner?" I uttered loudly enough for this guy beside me to hear..

Nero snickered beside me. "Because we're meant to be?" He replied that made all the hairs on my body stood on end.

"Yuck! What are you saying? That’s so gross!"

"For all I know, you’re in love with this handsome face of mine. I’m right, right?” he sheepishly replied that made me want to puke. If only my power had not been sealed, I would have lost sight of him earlier.

The nerve of this guy to say that!

I just pushed him away and turned on my earpiece.

After maybe an hour of walking around, we already gathered lots of red and yellow flags.

Good thing he got serious and he fought the students who wanted to get flags from us.

-----

ERIN

"Watch out bitch!" Reya shouted at me while looking behind me.

I quickly crouched down when I got almost hit by a baseball bat on my head.

I first threw the flags we got at Rey and faced the smiling woman looking at me.

"It's a pity you dodged it. That would have been the end of you. Tsk, tsk." she said that made me raise an eyebrow.

We couldn’t deny the fact that some of the lower ranks in the academy hated us because of the special privileges the school had given to us.

If only we had no power and we were not strong, they would probably have beaten us as well.

And I was sure this woman was one of those who hated us secretly.

Was it our fault that we belong to the elites?

"Grabbing this opportunity to hurt us I guess." I didn't care about what she might inflict in me.

She lost her grin and was replaced by irritability. "Yes! And if I am going to be lucky, I will kill you one by one! You do not belong to the elites. Without your cursed powers, you will probably not be in this world for a long time!"

Rey and I looked at each other. "How did you know about that?" I asked seriously.

The grin returned on her lips. "Surprised? Well, we did everything just to find out all about you. And my daddy is a member of the court," she said and nodded her head, "and I'll make sure the nine of you will perish in Casa del Crea! " she shrieked then attacked me.

She tried to punch me but I easily dodged it. What happened was she got on the place I was earlier. I grabbed that chance to strike her at the back causing her to fall.

"I want to play with you more. But we still need to find the black flag so," I hung up what I was saying and bowed close to her while holding her neck, "bye for now, bitch. I'll deal with you when we are out inside the arena, "I added and I put her to sleep.

When I stood up, Rey spoke. "Let me deal with her, bitch. Let's see if she can still do what she dida while ago. I’ll make her see why we belong to the highest rank."

By the look on her face, I know a storm is coming.

I smiled at her and continued searching.

-----

DIEGO

"Do you want us to rest first?" I asked as I heard the heavy breathing of my partner.

We had already been wandering for hours in this jungle and we only got yellow flags. There’s still no sign that the black flag is here.

She stopped and faced me. "It's a good idea. I’m tired already from walking for hours. And thirsty too. No sign of water around."

I just smiled and handed over the water bottle I took at the starting point earlier.

She playfully glared at me. "You do have one."

I smiled sheepishly at her. "You didn't ask."

She laughed and sat down at the root of the big tree we stopped at. Good thing the school made this artificial arena sun-free. Not hot and not too cold.

I was just looking around when Derene spoke.

"Did you hear it?"

I frowned at her. "The what?"

"The hissing sound."

My eyes widened at what she said.

Shit! I'm scared of snakes!

My eyes widened even more when I looked at her head.

"Rene?"

"Huh?"

I swallowed. "D-don't move."

She got scared of what I said but she obeyed what I told her.

I slowly approached her and pulled out the snake just above her head.

I immediately cut off the snake's head but to my surprise, the spot where I cut its head emitted smoke.

"Poison!" We shouted together.

But it's too late. We already inhaled the smoke.

-----

PANTHER

"GUYS, we need help ---"

Sere and I looked at each other and hurried into the woods.

Carrying the first-aid that I had just snatched from a student I was fighting with earlier, I followed her.

She's the healer so I knew where to look for the two.

"Diego! Derene!" She shouted as she ran.

She stopped on her tracks when a bird flew on her shoulder then she began talking to it.

"Hey, little creature. Can you tell us where our friends are?"

I almost forgot Serenity's fond of all kinds of animals.

As if understanding her words, it flew ahead of us and we followed.

It stopped flying when we reached a big tree.

We immediately saw the two unconscious.

Sere moved quickly and tore the sleeve of the long dress she was wearing.

"Give me the kit, Pat."

I quickly handed her the first-aid and started taking the poison from the bodies of the two.

Damn! The school really made sure it's not gonna be easy for us.

"The poison spread quickly in their bodies. This might not be an ordinary poison," Serenity said as she finished healing the two.

"The faculty has many surprises. Do they want to kill us?" I asked annoyed.

The one in front of me sighed. "I might not want to believe what my gut is telling me. But something strange is happening. They let us join this competition when they didn't let us in the past challenges. I hope Storm felt this from the very beginning. "

"I know he did. He just didn't want to tell us."

"Guys, you know we can hear you right?"

I was surprised when Lu spoke to the earpiece.

Everyone else except Storm laughed.

He just spoke when needed and this was one of those times. But what made me shocked was that he's using telepathy. And he could connect to all of us.

'Go back at the entrance.'

'Huh? Eh we have not seen the black flag. We are in different corners of the arena but still nothing.' I heard Erin complained.

'There’s still one place that we haven’t been to,' Rey said. 'The middle of the maze.'

'Let Rain and I take care of that. Gather at the entrance. Now. '

'What's happening, Isaac?' Reya asked seriously.

'Just do as I say. Don't let anyone near you or else you'll regret it,’ our leader warned.

‘Panther take care of the two. Now, move. '

I was not the only one got shocked by the coldness of Rain's voice. Even Serenity.

Her voice also changed. It’s frightening to hear.

I don’t know what was in her voice that she made us obey her. We just saw ourselves walking towards the exit of this artificial arena.

-----

RAIN

'ARE you sure about it?' I asked Storm anxiously as we walked through the middle of the maze.

We also had a lot of fights with other students. But what puzzled me was that they have no emotions. They were just like robots when they act. They also carried syringes that they try to inject to us.

It was there that we confirmed that someone else was controlling them. And since we did not lose our powers, we were able to communicate with our companions with our minds.

After that, we planned on taking the path up to the middle maze.

We still met a lot of students but we quickly put them to sleep.

We were close to the center when we encountered a creature with horns and burning eyes.

Demons.

I quickly attacked the demons with my katana and every demons I slashed immediately turned to ash.

And as we get closer, they became more numerous so I can do nothing but use my power.

"Illusionatu."

With just a snap of my fingers, we lost everything in our path.

"What are you doing?" Storm turned annoyed with me.

"Don't worry. No one knows except the two of us. All they see is that we fighting with these creatures. Now, let's go. We need to know what is in the middle." I assured him

He believed with what I said so he continued walking until we reached the center the center.

It was just a turn and we were about to arrive when he stopped. As I looked around I bumped into his back.

"What-"

I didn’t finish what I was going to say when I felt weird.

A very strong energy that's coming in front of us.

When I took a peak I was surprised.

"Well, well, well. If you're lucky. The leader of the elites will be able to track me down here," smiled the man in the cloak and bowed.

My companion's fists clenched and I could feel the anger coming from him.

"What did you do with the others?"

Gradually it lifted its gaze and grinned at us. "I just controlled them to get blood at least one of the nine of you. Too bad no one ever succeeded that. And I should have killed you," he said and looked down, “ But it doesn't matter. You're here now. And you still have someone with you, "he said, smiling and looking at me," I can smell her blood. It smells so good and I'll make sure I can taste it." He retorted then laughed.

"You have to fight with me first before you can have a taste of her blood," Storm said angrily and quickly attacked the creature who quickly evaded the attack.

It just laughed as Storm attacked.

"Is that all you can do, son of Chaos? As I could clearly remember, you can destroy this world. Just like you did in the world of humans that caused the death of everyone. You are a murderer. You are one damned creature! Because of you, your brothers and sisters died and so did your best friend! " He said that made Storm even angrier.

He was starting to release very strong force that got me worried.

"No Storm! You will destroy the academy!" I tried to stop him but to no avail.

He continued to destroy the place where we stand and most likely the academy as well. His enemy very pleased at what he’s seeing.

I looked at him and frowned. "You're not funny anymore." I uttered.

I snapped my fingers and his figure gradually disappeared.

He screamed in pain and full of hatred as he looked at me. "What did you do to me!?"

I grinned at him and I showed him my true form then stared at him seriously. "I'm making sure you disappear in this world." I answered coldly and looked at him.

"W-who are you?"

I grinned again at him. "Who am I? I am your worst nightmare. You just triggered chaos. But I am death," I replied and suddenly my smirk faded, "And I'm going to kill you for what you did to him."

When I said that, I clasped my hands and locked the creature that caused the destruction of the place.

I heard him shout but I did not care. When he disappeared, I immediately approached Storm with his clothes torn and the black veins on his face continued to increase. His eyes were the same as mine so I immediately hugged him tightly. Even though he was fighting me I did not lose him. I also felt pain all over my body when he used his power on me.

And even weakening, I was able to speak. "Sh .. Calm down now, Storm. That's enough. He's gone. Everything will be fine. Sh ... It's me, Serena. I'm just here next to you. Please, hear me. Please. You are not that monster anymore. Please come back. "

He seemed to hear me so he slowly calmed down.

"Rain ..."

I smiled when he got back. And before I lost consciousness I saw a very handsome creature with red and gold eyes.

Storm.

-----