Nightfall

Chapter 24: Family

Adam went into a frenzy at the insult and viciously attacked with needle-like icicles. Anya immediately whipped up powerful winds and knocked them to the side, still holding onto her ball of lightning. More came from her side, but she changed tactics and formed a small tornado around her, protecting her from all sides. As she did this she leaned down and etched something into the dirt below her in the eye of the storm. When she'd finished she stepped back and seemed to chant some sort of incantation. Although it was impossible to hear over the raging winds swirling in the arena its effects were easy to see.

As she chanted, a pillar of fire shot from the ground in front of her and combined with the winds surrounding her. She had made a freaking fire tornado.

The sight of it made my jaw drop and I yelled incoherently, energized by the epic display of power. She walked forward towards Adam, who was protecting himself with a dome of ice. He was barely keeping up with the melting ice, and seemed to notice the direness of his situation as she approached. However, as she closed in he smiled and clapped his hands together. From inside the tornado I could see Anya struggling, and suddenly the torrent of flames stopped. Anya's legs had been frozen in much the same way mine had been in Lincoln's mansion. The only difference was the ice was building up several times faster than it had back then, she only had a matter of seconds to figure out some way to break it or she would be a block of ice herself.

I held my breath. She arced lightning into the ice, but it just flowed in without any effect. The ice was grounded, her lightning wouldn't work. She struggled, pulling at her legs, obviously becoming overwhelmed by the situation.

"Use your fire spell!" I yelled across the field.

She stopped struggling and immediately positioned her daggers. She thrust the tip into the ice at her feet and quickly etched out a symbol. Seeing this Adam accelerated the ice forming as much as he could, and as Anya began chanting the words to trigger the spell the ice made it to her chest and began suffocating her. Her mouth moved, but no words came out as the ice quickly climber over her shoulders.

Then, moments before the climbing ice froze her head a pillar of flame erupted from her feet. I tensed as I watched the pillar of fire eat away at the ice. If this didn't work then it was over, that ice spell was not easily broken. The fire ate a hole in the ice, but everyone could see that it wasn't going to be enough, and defeated sighs sounded throughout the crowd. But Anya wasn't done. Adam had stopped building ice to focus on the melting spot, giving her time to think, and what she thought of worked beautifully. As the last whispers of the flame pillar shot out a wind whipped up and swirled around. It picked up and spread the flames around once more, creating a spout of flame. She focused the small swirling vortex of heat on herself and surrounded herself in flame.

Adam visibly struggled to keep is trap together, but the flame spout turned out to be more than he could handle. The ice melted around Anya, and eventually she broke out, disbanding the flames as she did.

"Yes!" I yelled in victory. She did it!

She heaved for breathes of air as she fell out of the ice, but Adam allowed her no time and launched huge icicles at her. She dodged, but just barely. She was gassed, if she couldn't find time to recover then she wouldn't last much longer.

Rolling, she tried to form another lightning ball in her hand, but it was too much to ask of herself. Adam was furious and launched a volley of needles at her. She blocked most of them, but a few got through and pierced her wet clothes. She screamed as the ice imbedded itself in her, and fell back onto the ground. Adam laughed as blood leaked out of about ten different spots on her, and slowly formed an icicle above her many times the size of the others.