☆•°♚°∵ 𝒜𝑒𝒹𝓇𝒾𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝐵𝑒𝓁𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓉𝑒 ∵°♚°•☆
Something was wrong.
That was the first thought that cut through the haze as Aedrianna stumbled back a step, boots scraping softly against the stone of the lane. Her breath came faster than it should have, chest tight, heart hammering too loud in her ears.
She reached instinctively for her magic.
Nothing answered. No warmth. No familiar pull in her chest. No resonance in her throat or along her fingertips. It was like reaching into still water and finding only empty air.
Her stomach twisted, and she swallowed. Forcing herself not to panic.
The arena around her felt muted. The mana lines etched into the floor still glowed faintly, but their light seemed distant, unreachable, as though separated from her by glass. Even the air felt heavier here, pressing in, dulling sound and motion alike.
Aedrianna backed away again, careful not to trip, one hand lifting defensively while the other slipped into her satchel.
Leather creaked softly as her fingers fumbled inside. Glass clinked and her pulse spiked, but her hand did not hesitate.
The masked judge stood only a few paces away now, posture relaxed, almost casual. The polished gold of his mask caught the arena’s light in a way that made it difficult to focus, as though the surface refused to settle in her vision.
“What is it you’re hoping to achieve here?” she demanded, forcing her voice not to shake.
“Do you even know what that symbol is?”Her fingers closed around something cool and cylindrical.
He laughed, a muted, self-satisfied sound.
“Oh, little songbird,” he said, tone warm and indulgent.
“You think we don’t all know?”He took a slow step closer.
“We’ll collect all the souls we can. Devour half the continent. Yours too, of course.”“And then Insurmountable power will belong to the ones who collected the most. Power in a new world, once He has purged the land.”Aedrianna retreated again, boots skidding as her heel caught on a shallow groove in the stone. Her free hand brushed the barrier behind her and recoiled as it refused her passage.
Her chest constricted as she realized just how trapped she was.
He circled her unhurriedly, hands folded neatly behind his back.
“But you see. I am what you call a connoisseur. You cannot consume something at its peak,” he continued conversationally.
“Not without ruining the flavor.”A slight tilt of his head.
“Pride must be softened first. Broken down.”“Tenderized.”Her grip tightened inside the satchel.
“You're talking about killing people, Only monsters can think so hideously.” she spat, forcing steel into her voice.
“You should run now, before people start seeing you for what you really are.”His laughter came again, richer this time.
“Leave?” he echoed.
“No. This is the most important part.”He stopped, and for half a heartbeat, everything was still.
Then he lunged.
The world snapped tight around her throat as his gloved hand closed there, fingers cold and unyielding. Aedrianna’s gasp tore free as her feet left the ground, satchel swinging wildly at her side.
“Go on,” he murmured.
“Sing. Cry out for help.”Pressure crushed her airway.
Stars burst behind her eyes.
Her fingers closed around glass.
With the last of her strength, she wrenched her arm free and slammed the vial upward. Not at the mask, but beneath it.
Glass shattered against the exposed line of his jaw and neck.
The potion detonated on contact.
A violent hiss filled the lane as translucent liquid frothed and burned, smoke curling instantly where it struck exposed skin. The reaction was immediate and vicious, eating into cloth and flesh alike with a sharp, acidic bite.
For the first time, he screamed, In pain.
His grip loosened reflexively.
Aedrianna tore free and dropped hard to the stone, lungs dragging in air as she scrambled backward on hands and knees. Her palms burned. Her throat ached. But she was alive.
Mana surged back into her like a dam breaking, rushing through her veins, into her fingertips, her throat, her voice. The familiar resonance bloomed all at once, dizzying and overwhelming.
She gasped, half in shock, half in relief.
The barrier surrounding the lane flickered violently, light fracturing across its surface in jagged lines. Only once the barrier had fallen, did Aedrianna see the others that had just entered the lane. A look of hope spreading across her face as she rose and started to try and run towards Edwin, Noelle and Brandy.
The impact came from below.
Fingers locked around her ankle, yanking her off balance as the world pitched sideways. Aedrianna hit the stone hard, breath driven from her lungs as she cried out, palms scraping painfully against the floor.
The masked man was on her in an instant.
He dragged her back with brutal force, one knee planting between her shoulders as she struggled. Something cold and heavy was wrenched from beneath his cloak and forced into her line of sight.
A medallion.
Its metal was dark, edges sharp, etched with a seven-pointed star that pulsed faintly with sickly light. The symbol throbbed as if alive, heat radiating from it in waves that made her head spin.
“Not yet,” he hissed, voice tight with pain and fury.
“You don’t leave before the lesson is finished.”
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