The three of us ran as far away from Thorne as we could, taking full advantage of his pain induced state. The problem was that he recovered quickly and immediately went into full pursuit after us, screaming for someone to hold us back. I was the closest target and a giant hand roughly yanked me from my sprint and pulled me towards him.
"ARIEL, CALLUM! KEEP RUNNING, I'LL DEAL WITH THIS BASTARD!" The two of them nodded and continued to run away, hopefully to get a teacher and end this clown show.
I tried to twist free from his grip, but it proved to be impossible as he simply tightened his fingers and squeezed harder than necessary. I gave an indignant cry as his fingernails dug into my skin.
My mouth opened slightly when Thorne raised his hand, bringing it down hard. His hand collided harshly against my left cheek, knocking the air out of my lungs.
Everything happened in slow motion, my vision blurred and distorted, but before I realized what had occurred my vision cleared, allowing me to fully see the sight before me. The impact of Thorne's hand sent me flying through the air and into the nearby wall, knocking the wind from my lungs. I wheezed softly as my lungs seized momentarily, my vision growing hazy.
Just as Thorne stepped closer the impact of his foot slammed into my stomach, forcing a sharp gasp from me as blood trickled out from the wound, my eyes fluttering open momentarily before slamming shut, my body too heavy for me to stand. I gasped as I coughed up blood, my ribs aching fiercely.
"Thorne, if you continue like this... then I'll lose control again. I'll give you one more chance to leave me be, and we can go on with our lives."
He spat right in my face. "HA! You think that was the worst thing you'd experience in your life? Well, I'm going to beat the shit out of you in front of the whole student body and make sure the entire academy knows what a sick FUCK you are."
"There are monsters roaming free in the forests, why in the world do you want to fight one so bad?" I remarked snidely, trying to distract him with my words while attempting to calm myself down.
The darkness loomed, its shadows beginning to stretch further across my face while an unfamiliar cold seeped deeper inside, filling every fiber of my being. I could feel the familiar chill seeping through me again, I would rather not release whatever monster lurks inside, that being, it just felt way better to do it, in my opinion. I can't let my Aether take control once again; I'm afraid that I will be expelled if I kill Thorne right here and now.
"You have no right to even be living right now; you're just the ramification for the wrongdoings of humanity in the past. You are not supposed to be someone who saves others." Thorne spat, venom laced in his tone, "We should've never listened to Professor Ego and believed he could do something so good with such evil, you're nothing more than a mistake. Don't delude yourself into thinking that you mean anything other than chaos. Because in all honesty you do, and I am going to fucking break you."
Even through all his malice-laced thoughts, he was right. I didn't deserve to be here, after all, I am just a shell of a man who happened to be reincarnated into a prodigy child. What does that make me?
A hero? Hardly. It's as though these people were blinded, believing I am anything but a threat. As a man who fought tooth and nail just to live, it made the rage that burned hot in my stomach almost unbearable, and I nearly reached a boiling point. In that moment, my blood ran cold as it boiled over, rushing through my veins furiously like a wild torrent, threatening to escape my body at any second.
However, as I took in a deep breath, my anger ebbed, being replaced by fear and anger. No matter how angry Thorne gets, there was no doubt that if he pushes my buttons far enough, I will kill him. No one deserves death, not even him. He is one of those annoying arses who never grows up and would always resort to violence. That being said, he is not the bad guy. He just comes off as an insufferable idiot that does nothing but try to look cool when, in fact, he's a moron.
"Look at me Thorne, what are you trying to justify in trying to tear me apart? Are you trying to accomplish a heroic deed, or is this something to inflate your shattered ego that was absolutely crushed when I beat the shit out of you in the tournament?" I taunted, ignoring the pain in my bruised torso, along with the heavy throb that coursed through me whenever I inhaled.
Thorne froze in place, clenching his hands together tightly as his head lowered and a low growl emanated from deep within his chest, his breathing slow and ragged. "This has nothing to do with my ego or a sense of heroism... This is because I HATE you Cyrus."
Before I could retort, a boot slammed directly into my ribcage, sending a white flash of pain blasting throughout my entire body, causing my eyes to burst wide open and a gasp to erupt from deep within me. I writhed slightly under his foot, clutching my sides weakly and trying desperately to suck in a deep breath of cool air. Before Thorne could continue, Ego stepped in to end the fight.
Ego shook his head, an amused grin upon his face. "Looks like I won't be getting anything to read anymore after all, too bad I guess." I started coughing again, and blood splattered on the ground, dripping onto Thorne's shoe. He had cracked or bruised one of my lungs... Probably both. "Thorne, you understand that fighting an unthreatening student on campus is strictly forbidden, am I correct?"
"Unthreatening? Have you not seen what he did to me after he lost control of his powers? Or even the sudden switch in his personality after he lost control; the guy's a psycho." Thorne stammered.
I chuckled and held my injured lung before giving Thorne the middle finger. "At the end of the day, you were in no danger that day; there were multiple teachers on standby if the situation escalated more than it did. We are quite aware of the situation that Cyrus faces, and we are there to help him through it and make him into one of the most powerful mages that Elyria has ever seen."
I spat on the ground and wheezed painfully once again, more blood and bile staining the concrete below, although some did splatter onto Thorne's shoe as well. A thick silence fell over us for several heartbeats as Thorne stared into my eyes. His dark, stormy blue eyes showed no signs of emotion. Only his fists, white as bone, betrayed him, but they quickly loosened up as he gazed around him. "There is no threat that he brings; his existence has caused an already turbulent region into even more chaos. Look, let me put it in simpler terms for your arrogant self to understand. If you kill this kid, there will be problems. Therefore, I do not want anyone messing with Cyrus until we figure out a way for him to not hurt others around him." Ego ranted for a good while on this topic. Thorne was completely speechless.