The array of bullets leaving the weapon in rapid succession is beautiful, mesmerizing, and deathly loud. I take a break to set up my foldable table and layout a tea set. After a soothing cup of peppermint tea, I return to shooting at the very suspecting and ever-moving targets, but this time imbuing a little bit of magic in each one. I have to do this quickly because I will soon become a target myself. You see the thing is, regular bullets don't kill most people in our realm, they merely momentarily incapacitate them.
I started with the regular bullets to weed out those with little practice, and then magic to solidify the harm done to those with stronger wills. Outside this large arena, it might be considered cruel, but if there's one thing I have learned so far, real life is not so far off. Besides, it's kill or be killed. I really need to get a hold of my magic before I can no longer control it, and this school is the best.
Soon there is a large pile of bodies, on the lower ground in front of the convenient cliff I set up camp, and others notice. I sense other people trying to make their way up to me, from behind, and I have to take another break to create an impenetrable magical wall. It will be nightfall in a few hours and the higher ground will be easier to protect in the nighttime, I just have to keep it as for hidden as possible, for as long as possible. Once my little hill is mostly impossible to pass through, I take a backpack with a few supplies and the light blue staff from earlier. I can't use my unstable magic on its own for small-scale magic without causing chaos, but I can try to transfer it through the staff, just like the bullets. And it should be fine, but if it's not, oh well… It's the will of the gods then.
The staff does almost feel like it was made for me, and I move through the forest with steady movements and find unsuspecting targets. I also avoid Pan. The man might have just lost all his friends, and barely got away with his life, but he is following me with quickness. I have to admire his tracking skills because five minutes after I got off the hidden cliff, I sensed him following me. I confronted him about it, "why?..."
He steps out from behind a tree and walks forward, saying, "I've watched you move through hundreds of people, and I can sense your power from here. I want to form an alliance— a real alliance this time. We can help each other.
"And what help can you bring to the table?...", I reply.
A few amusing exchanges later, we decided to join forces with the brave new acquaintance, not that he knew just how brave he was. We've fought and killed and protected our shelter, I can taste victory. I remember my father's last words before I left home, "complete the alliance or don't come back.", not only was I not completing the stupid alliance, I was going to learn how to use my secret powers, and pave my own path.
Third-person POV…
Soon, the competition is over and the tired few are gathered again in neat rows at the center of the large arena, which now looks like one again. A techno-magical scoreboard appears in front of each and every one of them, showing their tallies, then they all come together in someone's impressive show of creative influence, to show scores that are awesome of them and shock quite a few.
She succeeds in the trials and is eligible to attend school. Some people, however, do not agree with the verdict. A few hours after the stressful ordeal that was the trials, Xan finds herself at a tribunal, with the three school leaders sitting in a semicircle at the front of the room.
She sighs and thinks to herself, what now?...
After a few moments, the trial starts, with no information given to her on why she was on trial. But, they all knew, Xan included, what this was about. Even Xan's own adoptive father did not believe she was fit too, or should at all, attend the school. She was going to prove them all wrong, for a symbol of her breaking free, as well as the safety of everyone. And, she didn't care which reason got her in.
"She is a wee little lass, she can't…" a dragon shifter, who looked like he just left the coast of Irish coast speaks first. He is sitting in the middle of the three. She, however, does not really listen to him. Xan's eyes are glued to the third creature to the right.
"Look at it, you can't really tell it's a she, let it try, you know…", a sexist succubus says next. The audience of people, a jury maybe, watching on the left and right, yell in support of the first two. It is not a nice turn, and this gets Xan's attention snapping to the other two again.
"Respectfully shut up both of you. She has passed the test, what do we do next?" a vampire-witch hybrid, who is also six feet of sex, says to the other two.
"Ooh, looks like I have one and a half people in my favor", she thinks to herself. In the end, there is a long augment, which has Xan gripping the hand railing of the small box space she is standing in.
And then they decide.
"No, no you may not attend this institution, come back next year after more training, you have done well to make it this far. I am afraid we have to send you home.", the vampire says, and Xan starts to feel herself lose control of her powers briefly. She came prepared for this, and let the power seep out.
All her life she had been trying to control the chaotic magic that was constantly welling up inside her. Now, she needed them to see a glimpse of why she needed more knowledge on how to do just that. Especially, if they found out too late that death was not an option.
The gray light seeped out of my skin, and spread out on the ground, farther and farther away from her. But something was happening that she did not expect, the island on which the school was situated was shifting in a very slow clockwise direction.
The students sat on the floor-to-ceiling wall chairs that were frozen in place, and two of the three school leaders looked angry. Xan needed to make sure they knew it was her. So, she attempted something risky.
A storm formed.
"Nooo", she thought internally, as right then, things went out of control.
…
…
…
Three weeks later Xan attends the institution but lives life awaiting the one person who can take her powers from her, and is also her mate to come.