One Life

ONE

. . .

. . ."KEEP PUSHING, VAL," Nox mutters so only I can hear. "I could do this without you, but I really don't want to."

I snort. While the brutally honest boy I call my training partner grunts in his effort to pull a nearby door off its hinges, I send a flame barrelling toward him, cancelling his attempt prematurely. He just about dodges it. Scowls. I've gotten under his skin far worse than his pathetic attempt at a chide did with me—perfect. Let him use it.

Nox barely blinks when he reaches a gloved hand out for the door once again. It flies towards him and lands in a steady orbit around his body. Behind us, the judges gasp, and the guards protecting the mangled gap where Nox's metal victim once stood glance at each other in shock. I barely suppress a grin.

My turn.

My fingers curl skyward as I ignite another spark in my palms. Nox paces a few feet away, allowing the door to continue its orbit. Silence envelops the Sol Academy's training gym. Over fifty people are sitting in here watching the pair of us, but to me, there are only ten: the Aura's OLC Evaluators. I wait for it to pass his front to shoot a ball of fire outward, but he reverses its path and uses it as a shield. Just as I'd hoped.

I lurch out and send a firesweep to nip his ankles, and with a yelp, he goes crashing to the floor.

A shout comes from the spectator seating behind the judges' panel. "Yeah, Val!" That familiar voice eases the adrenaline in my chest some. Tala Adryk, ever the supporter.

Nox might be a Praeta, but flashing his orbital abilities with door shields won't get him a spot in the OLC. He will have to be tooth and claw to impress these Aura judges. So will I.

Nox gets the message. Sweeping his brown hair out of his face and swatting at the flames on his boots like a bothersome fly, he thrusts the door at a nearby pillar and sets his sights on me instead.

"Let's make this fun," he says.

In an instant, a force I can't resist seems to pull me towards him like a magnet. I curse myself for not expecting this sooner. With a grunt, I'm knocked off my feet and being dragged across the concrete. I reach out for one of the pillars, trying to calculate the best way out of this before he flings me across the gym like he did the door. My fingers inch off the pillar slowly.

Sparing a brief look back, I can see that Nox is using his dominant hand to pull me towards him. If I let go right now, there's a chance that I'll have enough time to fire at his weak side. It's a small possibility, but it's something.

The judges look between Nox and I, waiting. The spectator zone is silent. I have to give them something fast.

The official One Life evaluation is something both Nox and I have been waiting for our entire lives. Here, in the gym of the academy I and dozens of others have spent years training for this very moment, I have one shot to prove that I am worthy to enter the national competition that allows its winner entry into the Aura; the opportunity of a lifetime. I can't waste it.

With a hastened breath, I let myself be reeled in.

Nox isn't quick enough in veering me on a different course—I'm hurtling towards him just long enough to shoot a fireburst at his arm. He howls and releases me. I fall to the floor.

A white ringing sounds somewhere in the back of my skull, morphing with the buzzer sounding from above. Clapping, echoing from the judges' table and the surrounding seating. They've made their choice quickly.