"Madam, would you like the claymore, the twin sabers or the spiked whip?" James asked as the corners of his lips twitched upwards. "The twin sabers James." The Countess smirked and proceed to start stretching out her arms.
"As you wish." James said with a bow before he walked away towards the armory. "Mother what are you planning to do?!" Lady Zula shouted as she approached her, Tillie, Roland, Leigh, Roderick, Gregory and Zachary following closely behind. "I want to see her limits." The Countess said nonchalantly while most of the others paled.
"Lidia are sure that is wise? That dark golem destroyed the targets to the point that they can longer regenerate!" Tillie shouted as she pointed to the arena. "She has quite the control over it though. Look, the targets are gone but everything else the equipment and machinery are all in tact." The Countess causally nodded before James returned with two beautiful sabers.
The steel of the blade looked like it was dyed blood red as a murderous aura lingered around it. "Lidia, I'm going in too." Roland said sternly but he could barely keep a straight face. "Not you too!" Tillie shouted in exasperation. "Fine, the both of you. I swear the two of you are two peas in a pod. Go have your fun!" Tillie shouted with a humph.
Ariana was happily cuddling her giant squishy. "I think I'll name you... Charoite! Yes I think that suits you, Charoite." The shadow golem lightly roared at it's master's words. Ariana giggled, she felt relieved, as time slowly ticked by she was getting a better grasp of her mind.
"Charoite, will you disappear the moment I stop using my darkness blessing?" Ariana asked. The golem looked upwards and with it massive arms shrugged. "I see... well I guess I can always call you when I get lonely but then again there is no real chance to feel lonely with all I need to do." Ariana said with a small sigh. Charoite responded a small roar.
Suddenly a giant flaming bird appeared above them. It flapped its massive wings before it pointed its beak towards them, as if it was locking onto its target. It let out a loud war cry before sky diving towards them.
Charoite brought up one of his hands to block the attack but the flaming bird was stronger. His hand suddenly shattered, causing purple, pink and black particulars to disburse into the surrounding area. Charoite roared in pain and Ariana jumped into action. The flaming bird landed a few feet in from of Charoite, Ariana drew her claws and nose dived towards it.
The bird erupted into dancing flames causing Ariana to expand her wings to stop her from going forward. The flames started to spin elegantly and soon it turned into a giant, flame tornado. Ariana knew she had to retreat but the flames seemed to cause her to slip into a trance.
She froze and watched as the tornado approached her, sucking up all the oxygen in the room. Ariana brought her claws up to her throat as she gasped for air. Her wings started to shake and she could barely keep herself suspended in the air.
Charoite roared even louder making Ariana break out of her trance. He then brought down his remaining hand overtop of the tornado, in an attempt to extinguish the flames. Ariana was getting weaker by the second and landed on the ground with a giant thud. She watched helplessly as she struggled to breath.
Charoite's hand was slowly being destroyed as he tried his best to smother the flames. He failed, he lost his hand and arm to the tornado. Charoite let out a gentle roar as he looked down at Ariana. Her eyes were wide as he opened his mouth and swallowed the tornado in one giant gulp. Oxygen finally entered Ariana's lungs, tears stung her eyes as she watched rays of lights spread out from Charoite's belly.
"Nooooooo!" Ariana screamed and watched as Charoite's body exploded causing the different coloured particulars to scatter and gently float down to the ground.
Ariana felt her blood boil as she slowly stood up. Her eyes were wide with anger and brimming with tears, she kept her gaze locked on the sole figure standing in the center of the arena. The Countess had a smug look on her face. She had her arms extended, her eyes looked positively murderous as she slowly started to straighten her back.
"What's wrong Ariana?" The Countess said with a mocking laugh. Ariana jumped forwards as she started to slice the air around the Countess. With every block she made with her sabers, a trail of flames followed behind every movement.
"You're allowing your emotions to cloud your judgement." She said with a disappointed tone. Ariana roared and her attacks started to pick up in speed. The Countess kicked Ariana in the abdomen and sent her flying upwards. She could feel the wind knock out of her and a trail of saliva was escaping her mouth.
"And I was looking forward to a good fight!" Roland shouted as he appeared next to her mid air. She turned her head just in time to catch his broad grin as he started to bring down a giant sword that was easily three times bigger then his body. Ariana's tail reacted in time, blocking most of the attack but it sent her plummeting back to the ground.
Dust shot up everywhere and a massive creator was now in the arena. Her body laid limp in the center, Roland and the Countess leisurely approached the edge of the creator. "I thought this would have really pushed my skills but this.... this was pathetic." Roland said as he stabbed the ground with his dragon slayer sword. "Can you really blame her? She lacks battle experience, beside we can have fun training her in the mean time."
Ariana suddenly opened her eyes and flew upwards. She shot spikes from her tail, the Countess was able to block the attack while Roland jumped back, successful dodging every shot. "You let go of your weapon Roland." The Countess laughed.
Roland sneered as he started to run forward. "Shut it Lidia!" Ariana moved in spurts of speed and was now face to face with the Countess. "You're distracted." Ariana said with a sly smile and started attacking with her claws.
The Countess was barely blocking the new attacks as she was being pushed back. As Roland reached for his sword, Ariana hooked her claws into the Countess collar, she fell backwards and in one swift moment, the Countess was flying over Ariana's body. Ariana then used her powerful legs and placed them on the Countess's stomach. Her eyes grew wide as Ariana winked at her before sending her flying into Roland's direction.
Roland forfeited his sword and caught the Countess instead. The force was too great and they both went flying into the wall of the arena. Ariana slowly stood up and looked at the damage, Roland was knocked out and the Countess's body was shaking as she slowly stood up.
"Ahhhh!" A scream was heard from behind Ariana and she was barely able to block a punch and kick. Her eyes grew wide when she came face to face with Tillie. "Good job kid but hand to hand is my specialty." She said with a sparkle in her eyes. Ariana could feel a chill run down her body before Tillie went into warrior mode.
Fists, legs, knees, tosses and body slams were done throughout the whole ground. Ariana had no room to fly away as Tillie made sure to keep her close. The ground beneath them started to split under their pressure and Ariana was breaking out into a sweat while Tillie looked like she could keep on going.
"Let's take this up a notch!" Tillie shouted as she arched her body and brought her leg up. She twisted her body and brought her leg back. In one swift swing of her leg she twisted her body completely around, feinting a roundhouse and wiped her braided hair across Ariana's face.
A jolt of lighting ran through her body, paralyzing Ariana for a second while Tillie took the opportunity to spin herself around again and landing four rapid punches on Ariana's body. Ariana was tossed back and landed a good 10 feet from where she was standing.
Ariana moaned as she slowly stood back up. Her blood ran cold as she realized that she could no longer see anything in front of her. "Any other person would have been knocked out for days with the amount of electricity I sent your way but you... it looks like you could still fight another round!" Tillie laughed in delight.
Ariana could hear Tillie cracking her knuckles and turned her head towards her direction, hissing as she bared her fangs. "Come on!" Tillie yelled. Ariana extended her wings and roared as she dropped to one knee.
Ariana could feel an electrical current binding her wings shut. "Too slow!" Ariana heard someone laugh loudly just as Ariana successful bent her body backwards. A gust of wind passed over over her body. Ariana stabilized herself with her tail, brought her legs upwards and kicked. She made contact and heard a thud not too far from her. She quickly got up and decided to change tactics.
"What the?!" Ariana heard people exclaimed from up above and refused to let her focus go as she strained her ears to pick up Tillie's movements. A small dragging sound was heard as Ariana's foot moved across the ground, giving her location away. Ariana smiled as she lifted her legs and used them to make direct contact with her attackers.
Every once in a while Ariana would feel the temperature change around her and she would move away from the heat. Ariana's tail blocked almost all attacks but not having sight was starting to hinder her, especially when she felt another presence join the battle.
"Look out!" Lady Zula shouted from above but Ariana couldn't hear where the attack was coming from. She felt a massive blow strike her from behind. She could feel a burning and wet sensation on her back as a loud thud echoed through the arena.
Ariana's mind couldn't comprehend what just happened, her heart was thundering in between her ears and in the background she could hear noises, specifically she could her her mother screaming. Ariana then dropped to her knees, she could feel the wetness on her back run down her body. She started to cough and felt another wet sensation come out of her mouth. She could hear more muffled shouts as her head became heavy and started to go down.
When Ariana woke up she was first greeted by a giant canopy that was originally in her room on the estate. She started to squirm and brought her hand up, relieved that she could properly see and that her hand was now back to normal.
Ariana turned her head and saw that everyone except Gregory was sleeping in her room. Her mother and grandmother were closest to her, clutching the comforter as they slept in their chairs. Ariana's stomach grumbled, she brushed her hair behind her ear and felt the stones along her ear lobe.
Ariana quietly crawled out of bed and snuck out of the room. She tip toed down the hall, down the stairs and made it in to the kitchen. She turned on the stovetop then called her Lumas but they didn't come out. She thought it was strange and decided to start making breakfast instead.
Everyone must have been worried and forgotten to eat so it was pancakes, omelettes, hash browns and sliced fruit for breakfast. The air smelled heavenly as she started to put the food onto serving trays.
Soon she could hear what could only be described as rampaging elephants shouting her name as the raced down the stairs. Ariana waited until they rushed into the kitchen. She gave them the brightest smile as she extended her arms out. "I made breakfast!"
Lady Zula ran up to her and caught her within an embrace. "Ariana!" She cried as other joined the giant hug. "I'm okay!" She shouted from within the pile up. "Just really hungry! Can we eat?!" Ariana asked. No one was willing to let her go until they heard someone grab a plate and some utensils. They all finally let her go and looked at the person serving himself breakfast.
"Honestly, you're all over reacting. The girl is fine, get over it and let her eat." Gregory said as he cautiously poked the hash browns. "How can you?!" Lady Zula started to shout but Ariana grabbed her hand. "Mom, I'm starved let's eat." She said a little pathetically and Lady Zula let out of a sigh. "Fine, food first."
Everyone ate quietly, Roland excused himself and decided to wash dishes instead of eating with everyone else. Ariana felt it odd that the Lumas didn't come out to even eat their favorite pancakes. "Mom...." Ariana started to say but she became horrified when she saw how Lady Zula reacted to just one word. Her body became stiff and she could see a droplet of sweat roll down from her temple. Ariana swallowed back her initial question and decided to ask something else.
"When am I going to meet the High Council?" Ariana asked. Lady Zula put down her fork and grabbed her glass of juice instead. She avoided the question and just drank her juice so Ariana hand no choice but to look at Zachary. He swallowed his bite a little to fast and started to cough. "5 weeks from today. That was the best we could do." He said pitifully as he avoided her gaze.
"So that means I need to speed up my plans." Ariana said as she poked at her food. "There'll be some modifications to your plans." The Countess said before she sipped her tea. Ariana silently watched her as she finished her tea. "You're not going anywhere near the Thunderbird and you'll be taking your exams for the Academy in two weeks." The Countess stated firmly.
Ariana dropped her fork and stood up. "What?!" She shouted in disbelief. Everyone else was completely silent as they averted their gaze. "That's not enough time to study and build a model of my innovative idea!" She protested.
"There's no changing it!" The Countess shouted back. "You do the best you can on the exams and we'll try to keep the High Council from taking you away from us!" Ariana turned her gaze towards Lady Zula. "Mom, please at least another 9 days!" Ariana pleaded. Lady Zula brought her hands down and clutched her dress. "If you don't like it we can always keep you here, locked away until this is all settled!" Lady Zula shouted without looking at her.
Ariana's jaw dropped. The betrayal she felt was more painful then her transformation. "You said Evangeline was her happiest at the Academy... she made friends, felt normal, had freedom! How can you take this chance away from me?! I've been hiding away in the cafe since the first kidnapping, I was trapped in a chrysalis for two years... when will I get to be normal!" Ariana shouted.
Lady Zula stood up and slapped Ariana across the face. "You are not normal!" She shouted back. Ariana couldn't stop herself from tearing up, she stubbornly blinked away any tear that tried to escape. "You died, your little colourful friends had to save you. Something about giving up some of their life force." Gregory said flatly. Ariana's eyes grew wide as she slowly turned to face Gregory.
"What did you just say?" Ariana whispered but Gregory just shrugged his shoulders. "Those weird animals that are always with you, limbo, lambies, you know the whatevers. They went into hibernation after saving your life. Complete waste if you ask me but I thought I should let you know. Now we're even for breakfast. Please excuse me, everything was edible. My dear aunt, I'll see you at the office." Gregory said nonchalantly before he left the room.
Ariana slowly reached and touched her earrings as her face paled. "Davita, Duko, Aroha, Loralei, Rahul... Vasu?! Vasu, Vasu, Vasu, please come out! Lumas!" She cried before sitting herself down in her chair. "What happened?!"