Why is everyone panicking about Adam losing his sunglasses? That was more just him asking out of habit and low-key panicking about someone somehow seeing his yellow eyes and freak out. There's nothing significant about that.
Well, not in this book at least.
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Autumn, as in its habit, had a confusing mixture of both hot and cold days. More often than not, the recruits would be sweltering during training under the sun for a week and then suddenly become freezing the next day as many were caught out by the sudden weather change. It was one of the most inconvenient things, Adam thought, because it meant you were never sure whether you should put on the regular jumper or the thick jumper. Today, he had been lucky with his choice of clothes: long pants and a short-sleeved shirt. The sun was hot but a slight breeze eased the heat a tiny bit, meaning that training was uncomfortable but not unbearable.
Ty and Mitch were coaching two archery groups to the south of the training field, just visible from where Adam now stood. Jason was in deep discussion with a small group of recruits, making gestures with his hands as if moving things around. Jerome was training a group of newer recruits, most of whom barely knew one side of a sword from the other while Senior Commander Red and two other Commanders coached a full division. Adam, meanwhile, had a much simpler job of training the more advanced warriors. Even though he was more just supervising them, they knew what they needed to work on and how to work on it.
Adam watched his group of recruits train, eyeing their technique and speed just in case there was something they were struggling with as a group. The world suddenly tilted and spun and Adam put out his hands a little to steady himself, waiting for the world to go back to normal. But with the tilt had come a horrible nausea and a headache at the base of his head that pounded with his heartbeat. He rubbed the spot, keeping his mouth firmly shut and then froze, glancing around at the training ground full of people.
"Not now," he muttered to himself through gritted teeth. He glanced at his group. They wouldn't mind if he disappeared for a few minutes. He silently excused himself from the ground and walked quickly to and past the weapon sheds, trying to not draw attention to himself. He made it to the first row of buildings before the headache and nausea forced him to stumble into the relative shadows and sink to the ground, holding his pounding head and clenching his jaw.
"Uh, are you alright sir?" a female voice hesitantly asked. Adam opened his eyes just enough to see that she had brown hair and was wearing a blue jacket.
"Get Seto," he told her shortly. "Fast."
Thankfully, the recruit didn't ask questions but sped off instantly. Adam took deep breaths, trying to either ignore the sickness or to push it away. He couldn't afford to lose it here, with so many people he could hurt. He had to at least push it back until Seto got here, Seto could sort it out.
"Sir, are you okay?" a male voice asked worriedly.
He blanked out like a switch had been flicked.
Seto was just opening the door to the alchemy building when the female recruit ran up to him, breathing in short gasps. She had obviously run the entire way and before Seto could ask what the problem was, she gasped "Ad- General Adam said that he needs you, he seems really sick or..."
Seto had started running before the girl had even finished her sentence or tell him where Adam was, but a sudden collection of shouting and loud calls coming from the training centre directed him. Lots of people were running from the firing range but they all parted for him, many staring after him over their shoulders. He heard Mitch and Jerome's voices shouting for people to get clear and when he burst into the training ground, he saw why.
Adam was walking calmly down the middle of the training ground. His hands were wreathed in yellow flames and when he raised his hand, the fire roared forward and destroyed training dummies, weapons, anything that came into their path. The area was still full of people and very soon, they would also be in the firing line. Seto sprinted forward, throwing a small ball of purple magic to get Adam's attention.
The ball never reached him. Seeming to sense Seto, Adam spun around, hand out. A stream of flames shot forward, devouring the ball and burning out only a few metres in front of Seto. The heat burned his face and he rapidly took a few steps back, ready to cast a shield. Adam's full attention was now on him now, his blank expression and glowing yellow eyes sending shivers down his spine.
"Please snap out of it Adam, or this is going to get very ugly," Seto said, just loud enough so that the other could hear and no one else.
Unfortunately, Adam didn't hear or if he did, his only reaction was to bring his hands together and then slash them apart, sending a huge roaring fire wall racing towards Seto. Seto yelped and cast a quick shield around himself. The fire washed over it, the heat held back by the shield. Before the fire had even disappeared, something yellow slashed down the front of Seto's shield and he hastily jumped backwards as Adam stepped through where the shield had been, a long golden sword in his hand.
He slashed at Seto's side, the blade snagging his cloak as Seto jumped backwards. Sword fighting had never been his strong point. Adam's sword came down again, this time going for his neck. Seto summoned two discs and he blocked the strike, quickly moving backwards as Adam lashed out again for his chest, arm and shoulder. His moves were getting faster, meaning that Seto could barely keep up and in a desperate bid, he changed his discs to short ropes which wrapped around the sword as it came yet again. He ripped it from Adam's grip with all the force he could muster and with a wave of his hand, sent the man flying backwards.
The purple ropes wrapped tighter around the sword and trapped it to the ground. If it was magical, then Seto didn't want to risk the notion that Adam could control it remotely. Purple magic spread into the air around him and solidified into long daggers, all aimed at Adam who had flipped back up to his feet. Electricity sparked a few times across his hands and up his arms and Seto's stomach developed a sudden sinking feeling. Sweat was already starting to run down his forehead and the heat wasn't making anything easier.
Jerome grabbed Mitch's arm as Adam ran towards Seto, electricity sparking out as Seto's daggers spat towards him. "We've got to help!" he yelled over the noise. "Seto can't hold him off forever!"
"We can't go in there, we'll be killed," Mitch shouted back. "You really want that on Adam's conscience?"
"We can't just do nothing, Adam's not himself, he'll kill Seto!"
Mitch chewed the inside of his lip and looked over his shoulder. Jason and Quentin were now on the scene and were ushering the last recruits away, keeping everyone back. Jason caught Mitch's eyes and his expression was full of worry, fear but also a sort of acknowledgement that you only get when you know that something radical has to be done and that it could kill everyone. It was the same feeling that Mitch had.
"Go around the edges of the grounds see if you can find anything to distract Adam," he told Jerome quickly. They split up, Mitch moving to the right while Jerome went to the left. Mitch kept his head down, moving quickly and keeping his eyes on the fight. Seto seemed to be doing okay, but his movements were slowing and he only just avoided Adam's attacks several times, his reactions sluggish.
Adam kept moving forward, getting inside Seto's defences to fight close range, meaning that Seto had to keep pushing him back to use his magic properly, having always been trained as a long-range fighter. Each time it was harder and harder and Seto's thoughts move from trying to incapacitate Adam to just staying alive, dodging those streams of fire and yet another sword and the electricity that spat out and the yellow aura that danced around him, solidifying into so many things that Seto stopped trying to figure out what they were. His legs were shaking and he was struggling to breathe as he cast yet another shield to protect himself from a flurry of yellow daggers.
He put down the shield, a horrible thought coming to him just as Adam's foot connected with his chest with more force than what should have been possible and he flew across the training ground, landing with a painful thud. His shoulder was aching from the last fight he had had with Adam and he could barely find the strength to push himself up as Adam slowly strolled towards him, sword in hand, expression blank. He didn't even show pain, although his right arm was bleeding and his leg was scorched. It seemed like nothing else would stop him, but the spell was strong and the last thing Seto wanted to do was kill him. He gave a heave, pushing himself up to his knees but the move sent the world spinning and he fell back down, Adam still approaching. With no options left, Seto's right hand glowed purple and it spat forward, a ball growing in size and light intensity as it flew towards Adam.
Adam's left hand moved up as if he was going to swat the ball to the side. Someone gave a grunting yell and one of the heavy exercise balls that the recruits sometimes used flew through the air, coming up just behind Adam, to his left. It glanced off his head but the weight of it was enough to distract him and making him stumble. The purple magic slammed into his chest with a resounding boom that made the ground shake and Adam flew backwards, skidding across the ground several times before slamming into the wall of a weapons shed, several metres from where Jerome was standing, another exercise ball in his hands.
Mitch gave a huge sigh and sheathed his sword, rising from his crouch. He had been ready to run out to defend Seto just before he had thrown that explosive. Seto was breathing heavily and Mitch ran to his side, gently helping him to sit up. "Hey, you okay?" he asked quietly. Seto shook his head weakly as Quentin and Jason ran onto the scene, Quentin running towards them while Jason went to where Jerome was cautiously approaching Adam.
The sword Adam had been holding had disappeared but he was still conscious, blinking his eyes in a dazed fashion as Jerome hesitantly knelt next to him. "You okay?" he asked, unknowingly echoing Mitch's words.
A strained "Ow" was the only reply he got, but it was a satisfactory one. Jason reached the two of them and he and Jerome helped Adam to sit up. He held his pounding head, muffling a groan as Jason checked the back of his head, which was bloody. Jerome ripped part of Adam's sleeve away from his bleeding arm but the only wound he could find was a thin dark pink line which was lightening by the second.
"That was way too close," Jason muttered. "I thought you were gonna kill him."
"What?" Adam mumbled. "Kill..." His brown eyes surveyed the surroundings, suddenly remembering the sickening feeling he had had what felt like seconds ago. Across the other side of the training ground, almost directly opposite Adam, Seto was sitting with Mitch and Quentin on either side of him and shaking his head to something that one of the two were saying. Jerome and Jason glanced at each other. Jason tilted his head to the side and Jerome nodded.
They helped Adam away from the scene, both helping to support his weight which his shaking legs struggled to hold. Seto glanced their way just in time to see them go. Recruits were slowly beginning to trickle back into the training grounds, whispering among themselves and glancing at the three Generals.
I don't know if you can hear me, Herobrine, Seto thought with a sinking feeling, but if you can, we need help. Adam's magic has come back and I can't keep him down any longer.
By a sheer miracle, no one had been killed in the sudden attack. Only two people were confined to the infirmary for a few days although many sported small cuts, grazes and burns from either being too close to the flames or from falling over and scraping themselves on the cobbled streets. Very little talk of the event happened around the Commanders but among themselves, news and ideas raced between the recruits. It soon became very clear that there were two sides; a minority who were angry and blamed Adam for what had happened, and a view taken on by all the rest of them. The ideas of this group were varied, but one thing they agreed upon without question: That wasn't Adam. There was something else going on here.
Three magical battles in a row?
Yes, yes I just did that.
Don't worry, it won't turn into a fourth. Next chapter, we're gonna be meeting some new faces.