The Air Out Of [Wattys2018 shortlist]

09

"Alright," Louis says. "Let's do this."

Scar smiles to himself, stifling a yawn in between his applause. Sometimes, someone has to take the lead and drag five half-asleep anarchic teenagers to the brink of another world, but by the time he's convinced everyone to go for a swim to Covia, Aspyn's disapproving face is the first thing he sees, her eyes pointedly glancing at her watch as she taps it for the dramatic effect.

"We're going to have to start setting ground rules." She mutters to herself, as she commands the waters to carry them to the castle, once more.

Be grateful we actually chose to help you, Scar mutters in his mind. I mean if five teenagers with no knowledge whatsoever of what was happening offered their lives to help something they were introduced to only a few days, or weeks ago, then consider yourself lucky if they didn't wave you off.

This wasn't the Scar speaking out of the pure exhaust, it was more of Scar in general when he spoke about ungrateful souls.

Strangely enough, it had dawned on him that he was wearing the anklet instead of Jess so that she didn't have to hand it over to him every time they came to Covia.

"Today's going to be grand, for you and I both," Aspyn says in her comforting British accent. "It'll certainly take time, but I'll show you the ropes."

They were standing outside the castle now, giving Scar a better view of its' eloquent features. It was grand in a royal way, it wasn't covered in fancy taperings and pointy towers. Instead, it was covered in coral decorations and even carvings. Nothing looked mechanically operated from the outside, and so, he assumed it was just one really, really old building. An out of this world, heritage site.

"First of all." She says as we turn the corridor and enter a room to find a boy looking similar to Aspyn but younger. "Avine is our enemy. He is my mother's adopted brother, banished from Covia for several unspeakable violations."

She nods at the young boy, "This is my brother, Mason. Master of strength, and agility. On the contrary, I am the master of controllability and tactical analogy." Mason smiles.

"Hold up." Scar says, his thoughts interrupting hers, Leo looks at him warily from behind. "What's your plan regarding Avine?"

Ellie sucks in a breath.

"We don't know when or how Avine is planning to attack, but we know he's coming personally to watch us die. And for a man so dangerous he had to be exiled for eternity and still managed to escape, we need you guys."

"Can we possibly die in Covia?" Jess says ghastly.

Although Aspyn's face stays neutral, her eyes tell a different story, distorting into a stormier color of silver, almost gray. Scar is taken aback, what? He was really starting to hate this girl, what kind of psychopath keeps this information from people. Oh, you can die, whatever. It felt like a slap in the face. "Anyways." Mason clears his throat trying to change the topic to something less gory, "We're going to be splitting you into two groups based on your abilities."

"To more important matters," Aspyn adds, "Your names?"

"I'm Scar." He introduces himself, "This is Jess, Leo, Ellie, and Louis." He says pointing to each one as he said their names.

"Okay." She smiles. "Jess, Scar, you'll be working with me, Ellie, Louis, and Leo, please follow Mason." She leads Jess and himself to another room, where Scar is taken aback. It's more modernized than the predicted scientific improvement of Earth fifty years from now.

Scientific equipment covers the perimeter of the room, leaving the middle portion empty. There's a small desk and a computer on it, which Scar readily assumes, given the camera in the corner is for Aspyn to analyze their body movement and brain capacity. After all, it was their tactical ability.

Peeking through the tiny crack in the door separating him from the rest of his friends, Scar recognizes a whole new side of Mason who is currently ordering the trio to run fifty laps around the room's court whilst floating on water. Around his neck is a whistle capable of creating an ear-piercing scream, which served as motivation not to be the slowest.

"While the others will be trained for strength, which is the hardest of the four core aspects, You two will be handling the other three at once, so I suggest you listen." She presses a button on an electrical keypad which automatically boots up the devices in the room, "Agility, tactics, and endurance."

"Ready for Analysis." The computer speaks, as Aspyn nods in their direction.

"They will be able to handle taking the hardest of punches, you will be the one uncatchable, you're everywhere. They are the shield, and you are the gun."

"Okay." Scar says, nodding. He isn't sure what to expect, and he certainly doesn't trust Aspyn either, but, his gut tells him it's right.

"We're going to start with a simulation to gather your strong and weak points."

All in a day's work.