Zylah bolted upward with a gasp. Her heart was racing, cold sweat drenching her sheets and making her pajamas stick to her uncomfortably.
That same nightmare.
It had been weeks since the mysterious figure had attacked her, and she was still having nightmares about it. She could still feel the hopelessness and the fear as if she was right there. And for the past two weeks, she relived it every time she closed her eyes.
Sighing, she swung her legs out of her little cot and lit the oil lantern. She glanced at the old and cracked clock on the wall. 5:45. She suppressed another sigh. She'd have to go to school soon.
Opening the little cupboard in the corner of the one room in the house, she pulled out the jar of tea leaves she kept in there. It was nearly empty.
She quickly made herself some tea and sat down at the rickety wooden table that was barely tall enough for her to sit at. She had been drinking tea a lot more lately, courtesy of the nightmares she kept having. Blinking, Zylah shook herself out of her thoughts and looked at the clock. Somehow almost an hour had passed. Getting up, she drained the last dregs of her tea and started getting ready for school.
The school day passed in a blur, like all the other days the past weeks. The school year was almost over. Zylah would have to look for a new job until school opened up again.
Now, Zylah was sitting on the bench in the dustfield, observing a fight between Ken and Rillo. Murnak sat next to her, arms folded and lip out in a pout. He wanted to fight, but Zylah wanted to make sure he was completely healed before he began again.
"Watch your side, Ken!" She called. Ken took her advice and protected his ribs from a kick coming to his side. He uppercutted Rillo in the jaw, and Rillo stumbled out of the chalk ring. Zylah called the match, declaring Ken the victor, when she spotted someone coming across the field, coming towards them. The haze above the ground distorted the image, but the white hair was unmistakable.
Shade stopped in front of the ring, silently staring. His heterochromatic eyes were a bright blue and bright green, unusual colors in the small town of Jenoah.
Vental broke the silence. "Shade!" He exclaimed, approaching Shade jovially.
"Hey, Vental." Shade smiled slightly. He looked at the rest of them, his gaze lingering for a moment on Zylah. She bristled and looked away pointedly.
"What are you doing here?" Rillo asked. "I thought you didn't know where we practiced."
"I knew. Just couldn't find the time to come visit." Shade replied. He made his way over to the bench. Murnak stood quickly to allow Shade to sit down. Zylah suppressed a sneer at his willingness. "Just forget I'm here."
"O-ok." Diego stuttered, surprised. They looked to Zylah.
"Diego against Ken." She said simply. "Winner goes against Vental." They nodded and took their positions.
"3! 2! 1! Fight!" They chanted. The battle started. Occasionally, Zylah called out a piece of advice.
"Do you fight?" Shade asked suddenly, keeping his eyes on the fight.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Reasons. Things you wouldn't understand." She said waspishly, effectively cutting off the conversation. His hands tightened around each other, the little scar below his first knuckle whitening. She noticed the bandage on his left wrist. "What happened there?" She nodded to his wrist. He looked at her and smiled faintly.
"I was burned."
Zylah blinked, the cogs in her head turning. He had phrased it so oddly. Not 'I burned myself' but 'I was burned'. As if someone had intentionally burned him. Why had he...wait.
Her mind flashed to her attacker the night a few weeks before, the scar below his first knuckle. How she had burned her attacker, precisely where he was injured.
She stumbled back, losing her balance on the backless bench and falling backwards. She hit the ground with a thump and her breath whooshed out of her. She lay there frozen, eyes wide and mouth slightly open at her discovery.
It all made sense. Why she hadn't realized it when she saw his scar was beyond her. Jeez, she was so stupid.
"You." She seethed, her fire roaring inside of her, leaping to her feet. "You were there. You were the one who attacked me!" She could feel everyone's eyes on her.
"Are you ok, Zylah? You fell pretty hard from that bench. Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Rillo worried, his hand outstretched as if he wanted to put it on her shoulder.
"Zylah, I don't' think--" Ventral started, unnerved.
"Yes. It was me." Shade interrupted Vental casually and stood, smiling. "Took you long enough to figure it out."
"Wait, I don't--" Vental trying to enter the conversation, but neither of them were paying attention to him anymore.
"Turd." She spat. "That's awfully suspicious of you, attacking someone for no reason then showing up several weeks later!"
"Maybe."
"Maybe?! I haven't gotten a single night of decent sleep in weeks because of you!"
"Well that's not entirely my fault, is it? It's not my fault you can't control your nightmares."
"And you can?" She snapped, her anger flaring.
"Course I can. Its a simple trick."
"Why'd you attack me?" She asked, her anger suddenly calming into something much stronger and much more dangerous. The rest of them flinched. They knew what was coming.
"I needed to prove a theory."
"And so you attack me?" She glared at him, her red bangs wet with sweat from the dense and dusty heat.
"It was the only way. I knew you would deny it, so I had to put you into a position that forced you to use it."
She let out a frustrated yell, punching with her left hand. He caught it, precisely the way he had caught her fist that night. But this time, the fight wasn't going to go the way it had last time. She threw a roundhouse kick to his left side, but he let her fist go to block it from hitting his floating rib.
But she wasn't done. She launched forward and delivered a double horizontal strike to his shoulders, right on the nerves. He stumbled backwards and hit the ground. Zylah knew what he was feeling when he pushed himself up into a sitting position. When you were struck directly on the nerves in the shoulder with that much force, his arms would be numb for several hours and gain feeling only after at least four or five hours. Right now, he must be feeling extreme pain in his shoulders, and he shouldn't be able to move very well.
"Zylah!" Vental exclaimed as she advanced further. "Stop!" She ignored him.
Shade made his way to his feet. "That's quite some strength you've got there." He rolled back his shoulders, shoulders that he shouldn't even be able to feel. "But I've felt it all. All but that thing you did to me last time we met. Would you mind showing me again?" Rillo covered Tokan and Nikans eyes with his hands.
"There are children present!" He shouted. A flush crept up her neck as she realized what Rillo had taken it as.
"Not like that, Rillo!" She exclaimed, cheeks flaming.
"Zylah, what the heck is going on?!" Diego stepped in front of her, stopping her advance. She looked at him. His eyes were wide and confused. Not only that, but in them shone a glimmer of... fear. He was scared. Whether it was for her or of her, she couldn't tell. "Why are you fighting Shade? I thought you said you don't fight? And what the heck is he talking about, you doing something to him?"
"I don't." She realized she was still in her fighting stance and relaxed a little. "I... can't tell you." She looked down.
"What do you mean, can't tell me? You can tell me anything! You can tell us anything!"
"In most cases that is true, but not in this one." She told him sadly. Her power buzzed, begging to be let out in the tense situation. She grit her teeth and swallowed the tingly taste of her power, pushing it down deep in her stomach. This time, it was a lot harder to push it down.
"Of course you can, Zylah. Why not?" Shade spoke mockingly, spreading his hands wide and grinning.
"Shut up." She snapped at him. He only smiled that infuriating smile. Resisting the urge to burn him to a crisp, she turned heel and began walking away.
"Zylah, where are you going?" Nikan asked, tears evident in her voice. Zylah didn't look at any of them and didn't respond. If she did, she would for sure lose control.
So she walked away, leaving both friend and foe behind.
