Charlie Hill was a perfectly normal sixteen year old boy - if you consider being in the closet and dealing with crippling social anxiety 'normal' - until he managed to stop a bullet with his bare hands. Confused and afraid, Charlie struggles to gain...
I trained every spare chance I got in the lead up to The Clash. The closer I got, the more anxious I felt about it, but Hunter, Olivia and Az were great in helping me to prepare; Olivia often sparring with me, while Az and Hunter helped me look up spells that might be useful.
By the time October rolled around, I had been able to master channelling and shaping elemental magic into orbs I could toss, and I could create and move two medium sized wards from my hands. I wished I had had more time to learn more advanced magic from other Disciplines, but as it was, I had limited time and Evocation and Abjuration were probably my best bets for winning.
Three days before The Clash was due to begin, they posted the brackets for the matches. Each year from Second to Fourth has their own separate tournament and written on each sheet was the name of the competitor along with their Foci, and who they would be facing.
I looked at the list, found my own name and read what was written: 'Charlie Hill (Evocation/Abjuration/Conjuration) VS Adalrik Nilsson (Illusion)'.
"Who's Adalrik Nilsson?" I asked Hunter.
"He's an Illusionist, pretty decent at it too from what I've heard." Well wasn't that just perfect.
Az interrupted my train of thought with a yell. "Olivia? Your name's up there!" He pointed to where it said, 'Olivia Lewis (Divination) VS Kevin Coleman (Evocation)'.
"Oh, is it?" she asked airily, "Fancy that."
"Wait, you entered?" Hunter asked.
"I did," she replied, smirking.
"That's great!" Hunter exclaimed, "You're gonna kill it! But why didn't you tell us?!"
"Because the looks on your faces were priceless."
"And why don't you look this surprised, Charlie?" Az asked, a single eyebrow raised.
"Because I s-sorta knew."
"You traitor, you should have told us," Az chuckled.
"N-Nah, this was too g-good an opportunity to p-pass up."
"You're a sly one," he murmured, slugging me gently on the shoulder.
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I didn't sleep at all the night before the The Clash; I was way too terrified and anxious. Sure, I knew who my opponent was but there was no guarantee my magic would be stronger than Adalriks'. Not to mention he probably had some illusionary tricks up his sleeve.
Eventually, I got out of bed, dressed and decided to go for a walk. But before I got through the dormitory room door, I heard hurried footsteps behind me. Hunter, looking sleepy and dishevelled, was running towards me.
"Hey," he gasped when he reached me, "Where you going?"
"Oh, um. I thought I'd go for a w-walk or something before..."
