APRIL SYLKRANA IS DETERMINED TO RISE. After the devastating news of her mother, the Imperial High Queen's, death, she only has one job before she can take what is rightfully hers: kill her half-brother, June. Not only is he elusive and serious about...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
April had never felt like an outsider as the girl turned to her friends and argued with them. Eventually, she was able to get the human to stand up and get June away. April growled. They wouldn't take her brother from her. She had to save him in the way she knew how. But she couldn't, not when this new witch stood in her way.
Her hand shook despite her effort to contain it. When their blades met, she felt a different kind of power travel up her arm and stayed there. It might be unconscious—this girl might not know it herself—but foreign magic exuded from her form, twisting the currents around her and tainting them with its mighty blaze. If the girl wasn't careful, she might fry the nearest critter who wandered in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Still, April wouldn't lose to her. Not now. Not ever.
She looked down on her dagger. It wouldn't do anything against the sword the girl carried. Her gaze landed on the scattered pile of metal she shed. A spare sword lay among the mess of things. It wasn't made of Dwarven metal, but it'd have to do. She needed protection more than the stress of caring whether she'd step over the natural laws.
June and the human reached the point in the undergrowth where April would lose sight of where they went. If they went further, she wouldn't have any idea how to follow. Her gaze landed on the girl whose hand never loosened around the hilt of her sword.
She didn't look like she knew how to use it as efficiently as April did. Her stance was too wide, filled with too many holes in her defense which April could pierce in five minutes. She didn't look like much either, with her messy khaki hair all over the place, streaks of mud and blood staining her skin and clothes, and weapon of choice a bit too heavy for her scrawny frame and small stature.
April wasn't any taller, but at least she spent most of her life sparring with dummies and the occasional soldier.
That raw power curling off the girl was something she had to be wary of, but no use in hesitating. This ends now.
She lowered herself to a crouch and dashed forward, using her magic and her wings to propel her speed with additional bursts of wind. The girl matched her lunge with her own charged stance, her blade aimed for April's soul. Not so fast. Their weapons met, the clang reverberating across the entire forest of Komery. Pain leashed up April's arm, her blade quaking under the force of the girl's blow. That's...
It shouldn't be possible. No one could overpower her with a single strike in a long time. Every air sprite in the Falkirtan army fell underneath her force. This girl. She's not normal.
She's certainly not to April's level. She's above it.
April gritted her teeth and swiped her sword in a wide arc. The girl ducked before putting her blade up to block April's slash. Embers flew in the air as metal shrieked and clattered against each other. Something flickered in the girl's face—could be awe, dread, or something—but it's enough of a distraction. She twirled out of the girl's thrust only to double down and pierce one of the girl's openings. Then, she hammered down on the girl, grunting and exhaling breath after breath. With one slash, the tip of April's blade ripped through the girl's tunic, the sound of threads snipping loud in her ears. She dodged that? What a lucky witch.
The girl skidded back, chest heaving. Her sword arm hung low, affecting her blade's angle. She's tired. That's April's chance.
Her bare feet thumped across the scorched forest floor, rushing towards the girl. To her surprise, something lashed around her leg, knocking the strength off the back of her knee. She hurtled to the ground, her face in the first lane to slap it. Again. She angled her sword so she wouldn't fall on it, but the girl's heel slammed into her wrist. Her grip went slack against the force.
Damn. How was this girl winning?
Something happened in the distance causing the girl to look away. First mistake. One should never look away from a fight. April rushed towards her, throwing her arms around the girl's chest. They went down with a thud, stunning the girl into stilling. What's the commotion anyway? Her gaze landed on the human and June still not far off. There they were.
April spread her wings and gathered the air around her. She was about to take a step forward when a white-hot spell leashed her ankles together. Her world spun and whirled as she fell. She had been doing that a lot today. What's wrong with everyone?
"Whoever you are, step out of the way or I'll have to kill you too," April hissed, clawing the dirt as the girl's spell dug deeper into her skin.
As an answer, the girl pointed her sword between April's eyes. "I kill people who hurt my friends," she said. The resignation in her voice registered when she added, "Run before I lose my patience."
A smirk pulled apart April's lips. Who did this girl think she was? She wouldn't go down like this. "What can you do?" she spat. "You're just a pathetic brownie girl."
April didn't even know for sure, but from the girl's bland looks and short stature, she looked like one. It seemed to have hit a cord, because the girl's face crumpled into a raging frown. The magic around her thickened until the air crackled with the soil's moisture. A gasp flitted out of April's lips as something leashed around her soul and cut off her magic. Cold seeped through her veins. She called to her magic. Nothing responded. Panic laced around her form, closing her throat off. Her magic—
A strong grip yanked April up and a sword tip whizzed straight to her gut. That's it. She's going to die here. She's—
Fabric ripped, and a stinging pain shot up April's arm. A gentle warmth pressed against her, telling her she's alive. By the gods, she was alive. But...how?
"If I ever meet you again," the girl growled in April's ear, fingers locking April's head against her shoulder. "I'll make sure you never survive."
A force knocked April backward. The girl pushed her, withdrawing the blade she thrusted into April. It occurred to her that the girl willed her sword to pierce through the gap between her side and her arm, missing all of the parts that'd ensure April's end. It didn't make sense. Why would she spare April? Why...
"Run," the girl's weary voice told April enough. Both of them had seen so much bloodshed over the recent years that they didn't want anything to do with it.
April didn't want to. She wasn't a coward, but she wasn't a fool either. This fight wasn't something she could win with just a sword. The girl had some control over people's magic like April had to the air around them. Not to mention that overwhelming but foreign magic rippling from her like another protective layer. It's...
Time to call it quits here. She needed not suffer because of her ego. Not when she had June to help. With him suffering from a drawback...what life awaited him even if April stepped in and acted as his savior?
She cast one last look at the three people who had given her hell in just one afternoon, spread her wings, and soared to the sky. Instead of running back to the Acosan palace and to the Heiress, she steered her form to the west.
The Heiress couldn't help her now, but there was another one who could assist April in the next leg of her plan.
April Sylkrana must give the Sovereign a visit.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
