Safeyya downs her water and shrugs. “He says he’s trying to fight. He thinks that he’s actually putting effort into this. He’s just too tired from evading all our attacks to realize he hasn’t tried to hit us once.”
Aethyr laughs wholeheartedly at this. “Of course he hasn’t been trying. He has no idea what he’s doing. He’s never been in a real fight. I don’t think that I took those sparring sessions seriously either. Well, aside from the fact that everyone I went up against cowered before my affinities.” Aethyr notices Safeyya rolling her eyes at his speech. “What I mean is that I didn’t think battle simulations were really crucial until that time I was ambushed by three foe Zicarna from Prestoyan. That really made me wake up.” He looks toward our eldest sister. “Honestly, if Aislynn wasn’t a few minutes behind me that day, I may have been killed.”
“Well, I only fought them because I didn’t want you to die, Aethyr.” She walks over to me and tousles my hair lovingly. Then, to my brother, she says “Why don’t you and Safeyya go warm up again, and we’ll be right over.” Aethyr walks away, still yammering to Safeyya about something. Probably his wonderful affinities. She trudges along slowly behind him. Aislynn lets go of my hair and sits in front of me, passing me the rest of her water. She looks at me with those familiar brown eyes. “Here, you can finish mine as well. I’m not that thirsty or tired.”
I accept the water from her graciously. “Thanks, Aislynn. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up for. I’m not strong like you all are; we should just face it at some point.”
She cocks her head to the side. “I’m not so sure about that, Selvyn. I’ve seen you toying around in the fields. You can conjure up some pretty strong winds. You just do it when you think no one else is watching you.”
I glare at her. “How do you know that?”
She pats me on my wing. “I’m your sister. I worry about you, and I’ve followed you once or twice just to make sure you were okay. You know, when you seemed depressed. Looked to me like you were letting off some steam.” She kisses me on the cheek and then stands before me. Her three sets of wings sure do look intimidating. I wonder how long it will take me to get my second and third set, if I ever do... “Why don’t you use that steam and go on the offensive in battle? I want to know something: what runs through your mind when you’re sparring? No, what was running through your mind ten minutes ago? You know, right before I tossed that tree limb at you.”
I put my hands behind my head and lounge on a lone patch of grass. “I don’t know. I mean, I guess I just keep thinking that I need to do this or that to evade the next attack. I don’t think about an offensive; I don’t want anybody to get hurt.”
She looks at me inquisitively. “But if you get hurt instead, then that’s okay? It’s okay for us to live without you? What if a rogue or someone from another city tried to hurt Aethyr, or Safeyya, or me? What would you do?”
I’m dumbfounded, at a complete loss for words. Safeyya yells at me from the distance. “Hey! Get up! No relaxing.” My left wing tingles again. She tosses a strand of electrically charged hair at me and I roll over to dodge it, then sit up.
Aislynn continues to berate me. “Well, maybe that’s something you can’t answer right this second. But I sure hope that one day you can. I know what I think of every single time I’m in a fight: I think that I need to stay alive so that I can take care of the three of you. I raised you after Gran passed away. I’ll always take care of you guys as long as I am still breathing.” She turns away, tossing her blonde hair behind her. She extends her wings. But before she takes off, she looks back at me and narrows her eyes. “Hey, Selv. How did you dodge that strand of hair Safy tossed your way? I didn’t see it or even feel it until it passed me by. She’s quite adept at throwing those.”
“Oh. I don’t know, Aislynn. I just got this tingle in my left wing,” I reply.
She turns back around to face me. “You mean your wind wing.”
“Yes, that’s what I just said. My left wing tingled a bit and I kind of sensed some small projectile headed my way. I guess I can just pick up on subtle changes in the wind around me.”
“Well, obviously. That’s just you getting in tune with your affinity.” She flaps her tertiary set of wings behind her. “I can feel the same thing whenever there’s metal around me. Well, a significant amount anyway. I’ve learned to tune out the trace amount of metals in the earth when I’m not fighting, otherwise, that would be annoying. Though it took me a long time to train myself to do that.”
Randomly, a thought pops into my head. “If you can sense and tune out trace amounts of metal in the earth, then can you also sense iron in blood?” I ask her.
“No.” She shakes her head. “I only have one set of metal wings so I can’t hone in on blood. That’s a bit different.”
“Oh,” I respond. “Alright.”
“You know,” she continues. “We can sense and we can also manipulate. You’re aware of that, but instead of dodging, you could probably utilize the wind to your advantage. What about your water wing?”
I shrug. “What about it? I haven’t really felt it tingle that much.”
She walks over to me and tousles my hair again. “I mean, perhaps you should use it. You’ll figure it out, little brother.” She flies off and joins in on Safeyya and Aethyr’s conversation.
I try to think quickly about what she just said. How can I use it? There’s no water nearby, except the fountain that we just drank from. Even if I use that right now, that doesn’t necessarily mean there’ll be water in the field with me. But there will always be wind. Aislynn also said that I shouldn’t have dodged Safeyya’s taunt. I guess that if I really try, maybe I can deflect it. It’s worth a shot when she does it again.
“Come on, pipsqueak!” Safeyya calls, waving me over to them. “Time’s up!”
The three of them are already poised for attack. I better be ready for them this time.
They’re really good at coordinating, and Safy looks like she’s done going easy. I pick myself up off the ground and stretch out my limbs. I crack a few joints to relieve some of the pressure built up within them, and roll my neck around, easing the tension. I take off into the sky with Aislynn’s words echoing in my head. She’s right. I need to learn how to protect myself before I can protect my family.
As soon as I reach them, I am intimidated by the sheer magnitude of power they wield. Aislynn has the tree limb suspended in the air underneath her and is juggling a handful of rocks behind her back; Aethyr has a ball of fire in his left hand and a more concentrated ball of lava in his right hand; and Safeyya’s taken her hair out of her ponytail and it’s glowing brightly, hovering around her face. I’m mesmerized by the sheer beauty of it for a second too long, and they use that moment as an advantage to strike.
The tree limb comes soaring toward me from beneath Aislynn, so I fly higher, tucking my legs in just in time. Judging from their history, I’m thinking this is a diversion. My left wing tingles and I look to my right. I fold my wings in and turn just out of reach of the first strand of electrically charged hair. But the second one hits me right in the center of my left wing, sending a small current through my body. I already forgot about attempting to deflect them. This is harder than I thought.
I gasp loudly as the pain continues to course through me. I hear Safeyya shout, “You shouldn’t have looked! First mistake, use your intuition.” The pain begins to dissipate and I feel my left wing tingle again. I turn to my right and see one of the rocks soaring toward my face. This one isn’t too large, so I muster up my strength and send a punch at it. It connects with my fist and it hurts, but the rock breaks into a few pieces and I’m not too frazzled. I hear her comment again. “What did I just tell you? You’re smart, but you’re not learning.”
Ugh, I think. It’s so difficult to concentrate when I have three of them attacking me at once. Fine, let me try to just listen to my wings.
Just as I make this decision, my wind wing tingles again and
I twirl to my left to dodge something. I definitely missed getting hit, and judging by the whoosh of air past me, it must have been one of the larger rocks. But they don’t give me much time to think, and I fly in a circle around them as Aethyr’s lava ball chases me. My wind wing tingles again, this time it actually feels like a vibration spreading throughout my body.
That’s different.
I sense the wind and note something big is coming, but it’s not the lava ball that’s still chasing me. I’ll just have to listen to my body and trust in myself. I pull in my wings and dive headfirst toward the ground, spinning as I go. I swerve left and right, missing getting hit with something. The hair on my arms and the back of my neck stand on end as electricity gathers in the air around me.
Each time I move, I feel a jolt shoot past me. I don’t have time to dodge the next one, so I whip up a small wind current to try to deflect it.
I’m a little shocked, but I look over my shoulder and notice a single strand of hair fall to the ground. A current of sparks discharges into the earth as the scent of mold tinges the air. It worked!
I take a quick peek to what is now northwest of me to where my siblings are and note that Safeyya has her hands extended and the tips of her fingers are glowing. She definitely just sent a barrage after me. I think I missed them all, so I right myself and continue flying away from the lava ball. I take a quick right and get a sensation in my wing again, but I’m hit with one of Safeyya’s hair projectiles and I reel in pain. I want to just sit still for a minute, but I can’t. The lava ball is still coming after me.
I do a somersault backward in the air to avoid the lava and notice that the tree limb is nowhere in my range of sight. I also see that Aethyr still has fire in his other hand, and Safeyya’s hair has stopped glowing. She must be tired of using it to taunt me, or maybe she just doesn’t want to rip all of her hair out.
Jeez, it’s getting hot, I think. Then I realize how close the lava is and I feel my right wing tingling. My water wing? That’s… new. I feel that I should head southeast, so I make a quick circle to distract Aethyr and head that way. It’s allowed me to put a bit more distance between myself and the lava, but it came so close that I’m sweating profusely.
Oh! My sweat has water in it. I can utilize that.
I draw all of my sweat toward my hands and combine it into one form. I have a small water bullet in my hands, and I don’t think it’ll be enough, but it’s worth a shot. I keep heading southeast and do a forward somersault, this time attacking as I go, and I send the water bullet flying at Aethyr’s lava.
I don’t stop flying, but I take a glance behind me just as my sweat hits the lava. Nothing. It just fizzled out.
My water wing tingles again, but I ignore it this time.
The lava picks up speed and I swerve right past the fountain quickly to avoid it. Darn, the fountain! My wing must have sensed the water nearby. I chance it and land above the fountain.
Aethyr comes closer to control the lava better. He’s looking at me quizzically, but I don’t care. I place my hands on the ground and feel the stillness of water beneath the surface. There’s a lot under my feet, but I definitely don’t have time to pump any of it out.
I tap my water wing to the ground as well and try to imagine a current within the body of water. I feel the air to my left sizzle as lava brushes past me. He’s toying with me, but I maintain my concentration. I see a few drops of water trickle out of the fountainhead, but that’s definitely not enough. I try to communicate with my wing, and I think it’s ridiculous, but it honestly feels like something’s been triggered.
A small stream of water gushes out of the fountainhead, and Aethyr’s lava is now only about twenty meters away. I concentrate more on what I’m doing, but part of me keeps looking at the lava. Something clicks again, and it feels like time has stopped. I don’t know how else to describe it, but I feel in tune with my wings. My left wing is outstretched toward the lava and I can feel the extreme heat, but I can also sense the speed of the wind surrounding it, and I instinctively know I have enough time to finish before it reaches me. But still, I calculate the distance with my eyes.
Nineteen, eighteen, seventeen meters now. I try to concentrate even more on my right wing, the tip of which is still maintaining contact with the ground. The stream of water pouring out of the fountainhead gets more powerful. Sixteen meters, fifteen, fourteen. I close my eyes and count the seconds in my head instead. The heat intensifies and so I pull my left wing closer to my body, but I preserve my connection with it.
I hear something loud and odd, but I ignore it. I feel a cold sensation on my legs. The lava must be ten meters away at this point. The heat is blistering, but the sensation in my right wing soothes me, and I feel at ease. I open my eyes and jump off the ground, using the initial pump of my wings to elevate me into the air. I look at the ground as I ascend and what I see is incredible. The fountainhead has broken in half, knocked over onto its side with a mass of earth still connected to it. There’s water all over the place. I feel bad that I broke it, but there’s no time to care right now.
I feel a vibrating sensation in both of my wings and see that the ball of lava is soaring over the water, about to hit the spot where I was two seconds ago. I tap into my water wing’s abilities and I weave my fingers in and out, pulling the edges of the water in and up. I continue working quickly and efficiently, trapping the concentrated lava in this large sphere of water I’ve just created, which is now giving off a lot of steam. I take advantage of the brief respite and quickly tap into my wind wing’s sensation, and I accelerate the wind circling the water ball. I notice the orb of lava begin to shrink and I put more power into the wind, and the water begins swirling counterclockwise. The water starts to splatter all over the place, but I concentrate and it maintains its form. I increase the velocity of the wind a bit more, and after a few seconds, the lava’s completely dissipated.
The tingling in my wind wing intensifies, but I think nothing of it. I can’t believe I just did that! I turn around to confront my siblings, and as soon as I do, I’m hit in the chest and abdomen by the giant tree limb. I go flying backward and I hear Aislynn yelling, “Second mistake! Don’t forget to pay attention to your surroundings. You’re still on the battlefield.”
Ugh, I think. That friggin’ hurt!
I wave my arms at the ground as I fly, taking some of the water with me as I go and press it up against the area where the tree hit me. The cooling sensation soothes my pain a bit, but they don’t give me much time to process what I’m doing. Safeyya raises her hands to the sky and sends three bolts of lightning toward me. They strike the ground with three loud zaps as I fly out of range of all of them. But I end up flying into the last rock Aislynn was holding onto.
I put my hands out and use it to my advantage, pushing the weight of my body up and over it. Aethyr comes back into play and throws the ball of fire in my direction, but I dive to the ground again to avoid it. As it circles, I send a gust of wind at it, but this only increases the size of it.
I hear Aethyr yell in the distance, “Third mistake! Pay attention to your elements. You just added oxygen to my fire.”
The ball of fire’s gotten massive and I need to fly faster than usual to evade it. It singes the ground and I catch the scent of fresh lavender. It triggers my sense memory from that day after I got out of the lake a few weeks ago.
I soar over the pool of water on the ground once more. As I pass it by, I tap into my affinity and pull a portion into the air. I double back around and fly into the thin sheet of water. I allow it to coat my body and wings, remembering how natural it felt that morning at the lake. I hover above the remaining water on the ground as Aethyr approaches me.
“Nice party trick, Selv.” I can’t tell if he’s trying to taunt me or not.
I just wait for him to make the next move. I feel the heat in the area intensify and take a cursory glance behind me. His fireball is accelerating toward my back, but it doesn’t seem so threatening
now. I turn my head back to him and smirk caustically. I siphon a small stream up into the air behind me and create a faux shield between my wings.
Aethyr gives me a questioning look and shrugs. “That’s probably not going to help you, you know.”
“Ah,” I shrug back. “Why don’t you let me worry about that.” The blow pushes the shield into me and wets my back. I turn around as the significant impact continues to push into my water shield. The cool sensation of the water on my body protects me from the heat of the fire, but I have another idea for it. I put my hands on either side of my shield as the fire creeps closer toward me. I use my remaining energy to push the water off of my body and draw it to my shield. I work carefully, directing the water from my hands into a small trickle which then turns into a steady stream.
First, I have to strengthen the integrity of the shield, since it’s started to weaken from the sheer force of Aethyr’s power. Once I do that, I move the remaining water from my body and wings into the same stream. This time I move the water into a connecting sheet above and below my shield. I’m beginning to sweat from the heat I feel radiating over my body. But another minute and I’ll be done. I have a top and bottom layer now, and I use the last of my water to close off the square, creating a box of water around the fire. Aethyr’s now frantically throwing the fireball around, trying to have it break through the box I’ve trapped it in.
I don’t know why Safeyya and Aislynn haven’t picked back up on the assault, but I’m grateful to not be dealing with them as well right now. Aethyr shouts at me. “Hey! What are you doing?” I ignore him and concentrate on the task at hand. I am starting to feel lightheaded from being in the heat this long, but I need just a little more time.
I hone in on the corners of the box and send some more energy into them. My water in the corners begins to seep inward, forming into malleable liquid spikes. They reach the fireball and start leaching into it. After a few seconds, the fire begins to diminish, and I shrink the box around it as a result. Aethyr rushes toward me and sends more energy into the fire. I can feel his approach and sense the change in the atmosphere inside the box.
Underestimated Affinities Page 5