Her Dawning Empire: The Prophecy

Chapter 56

"So, you can expel fire just from your hands?" I asked, curiously as we walked across the hallway towards the courtyard where Bomani had asked us all to come after breakfast.

"Yeah, it seems so." Maya said with a shrug, finishing off the banana she was eating and I nodded at her words. It was so odd to think of expelling fire from oneself.

"Why do you think Ustaaz has called us all for special training?" I asked randomly, looking to Maya who shrugged yet again.

"Ustaaz always has something up his sleeve." She let out with a small chuckle as we neared the entrance and walked down the steps and I looked down in confusion at the different arrangement of the training grounds.

There was a large circle drawn in the ground with chalk and Ayla sat on a bench and the three boys sat on an adjacent bench. Bomani was stood in the centre of the circle as if he was waiting for our presence.

Maya and I settled ourselves down next to Ayla who gave us a small smile and then Bomani began, looking to us all.

"As you can probably tell, today's training will be slightly different. I advised, yesterday, for it to be combat training for a specific reason." He began, looking around at our faces before he walked over to the weapons shelf at the side, regarding the weapons.

"You have been assigned a combat partner by random selection who you will fight against to test your strength, agility and strategy. The weapon you choose must be on this shelf." He explained, gesturing to the shelf and I tensed at his words.

"There's no bow and arrow on that shelf." Ayla whispered to me, frowning and I held on to her hand. I looked over as the boys smiled to each other, making me roll my eyes at their competitive nature.

"But there is a condition." Bomani called out, silencing the whispers as he looked around. His gaze lasted on me for a small second.

"You will be able to use your abilities and, considering all individuals are aware of their powers now, this shall be fair." He announced and I tensed at his words.

Ayla held to my hand with a smile and Maya tapped my back in pride. I looked to both Emut and Abrax who looked to me in half surprise and half confusion before turning to Demir who kept his gaze on Bomani.

Bomani cleared his throat as he pulled a paper out of his robe.

"The opponents will be as follows..." He began and I clenched the bench, a knot of nerves building in my stomach.

"Abrax and Emut." He called out to which Emut slapped Abrax's back, making him smile.

"Maya and Demir." He listed and Maya let out a snort.

"Finally." She muttered, her challenging gaze on Demir who merely sported a ghost of a smile.

"And, lastly, Hanna and Ayla." Bomani finished the list, placing it back in his pocket and Ayla squeezed my hand yet again with a squeal.

"You're going down." She said jokingly and I nudged her with my elbow, making her laugh.

Bomani made his way over to a chair on the top of the stairs as he looked to the courtyard. He ushered Abrax and Emut forward to which they stood up with Emut whispering something to Demir.

They walked over and picked up their infamous longsword and axe, respectively before stepping into the large circle. It was silent for a moment before Bomani cleared his throat.

"Begin."

That was all he said and all hell seemingly broke loose. Emut moved towards Abrax at an astounding speed before hitting his sword against Abrax's shoulder, making me gasp. But, Abrax had seemingly foreseen that and the sword merely bounced off his body, leaving no wound in its place.