Long Live the King || unOrdinary

Turf War

John twitched and jerked in his sleep. Flashes of old memories flew across his closed eyes. He saw the trio of kids that used to pick on him when he was crippled. Then he saw Claire's outstretched hand.

"H̶̥̾́͐e̴͙̬͓̿̽r̵̨̃́ĕ̴̞̦,̸̭̭̱̐̎̏ ̴̰̼͑l̷̬̹̦̂ë̶̜́̋t̶̥͊̒̈́ ̸̨̼͚̀̍̏m̷̡̻͈͒͊ë̵̡̬́͒͝ ̶̪̕h̴̺̩̹̍̏ĕ̷͎̈́͘l̵̤͋̈́̎p̴̱͓̿ ̴̡̤̄͋y̴̳̒̂̑o̶̠̍͛u̷̗̇̋̒."

He jolted upright in the sleeping bag and panted heavily. He took his phone on the floor next to him and looked at the time.

5:23 AM.

He was awake, there was no going back to sleep now. So, he got up out of the bag, took a quick look at Seraphina, and then walked out.

As he walked out of the room, he felt the scars on his forearm.

Damn things. Starting to hurt again.

He rubbed his forearm a bit while he slipped on his hoodie and opened the door.

He walked out of the house, and cautiously walked towards the nearby market where he got food for the house and bought a couple of breakfast sandwiches.

He sat down on the curb and took a bite. But, he was so depressed, he couldn't handle it, so he put the sandwich back in the bag and made his way back to the house.

When he opened the door, he saw Seraphina walk out of the bedroom, wiping her eyes and adjusting her sweater.

"You're up early," she said. "Couldn't sleep?"

"N-no," John said, rubbing his forearm. "I've had a lot on my mind recently."

"Well, I won't pry," she said, shrugging. "What's for breakfast? Whatever's in that bag smells good."

"Breakfast sandwich," he said, reaching into the bag and handing her the sandwich. "We should, uh, think about getting ready soon."

Seraphina took a bite of the sandwich and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I should get back to the dorms so I can change. I'll see you at school."

He nodded and rubbed his arm again. "Yeah, see you later."

- - -

Blyke took a deep breath. It had been a while since he and Isen had a match like this. The trick to Isen was avoiding his punches and keeping distance away from him, which was easy for Blyke.

Isen dashed toward him with a punch reeled back. He launched his fist directly at Blyke's face.

Just under a second was all Blyke needed. He dodged out of the way quickly and charged up a small beam. He shot the beam, which he aimed at Isen's leg.

The shot connected and Isen winced as his leg gave out. Blyke charged up another beam and aimed for Isen's side.

Isen noticed the movement and focused all of his energy on his good leg and jumped out of the way, just as Blyke shot the beam.

The shot landed on the ground below as Isen shot backwards into the air, directing enough energy into his leg to absorb the impact of landing from that height.

His other leg was still basically useless and he had no choice once Blyke began charging a massive beam from both hands.

He raised his hands. "I yield," he said.

Blyke stopped charging and lowered his hands. "Come on, can't handle a big beam like that?" he said, chuckling.

"Shut up!" Isen chided. "You never know how to hold back with those things, you can't blame me for being a bit scared of what could happen."