Friendly competition

===Skotos===

Using the Element like that seemed very difficult, and he was ashamed that the boy had done it within seconds while it took him a couple of minutes.

The first time he focused on using his Element, it took him that long since it was his first time. Even now, he didn't know more than before, but it seemed more challenging. He had detected his Fire Element within him, which he envisioned as an everlasting flame, but when he tried to reach it, it disappeared for a split second, and he could feel it to be somewhere else.

Once he reached it, though, he quickly controlled part of it and let it out, but his control needed some work.

He wanted to ask Elder Gareth or Lady Pyre if that was common, but he left those questions for later.

"So let's move on to the next test of yours since you both succeeded on this one at a degree," said the Elder.

Both Skotos and the werewolf boy nodded, as they both seemed eager for the next test. He had to admit that making and controlling fire like that was pretty cool, and he was interested in seeing what he could do with his Dark Element.

"We had tested your control over your Element and how to summon it near you, but that isn't enough. It would be best to learn to control it at a distance and keep that control while away from you. I will demonstrate, so pay attention."

Gareth held another ball of fire in his hand, this timeless, smooth one. Then he made a throwing motion as the ball of fire left his hand and exploded after a few seconds.

"For this attack, just making a ball of fire and throwing it won't cause the explosion when letting go of your control, but we will go through that later. So, make a ball of fire as before and try to move it away from you. You don't need to throw it as I did for now, but if you want, you can try. And to make it more interesting, how about a competition?"

Everybody in the room looked toward the Elder Vampire, as they seemed intrigued by what the competition was about.

"First, both of you should keep a distance from everyone else. If your Element explodes, it won't hurt its owner, but the rest won't be protected. As for the competition, each of you has three tries. You will be at this wall and try to reach the wall across with your ball of fire. The winner is the person who reaches the wall first or closer to it if you both use all your tries. Of course, you must stay where you are and only move your ball of fire."

Skotos enjoyed being part of the competition, so he was ready to be part of it. He turned towards the boy, who seemed not to fear him as he had Gareth. He remembered Gareth saying they knew each other but didn't remember the boy. The boy seemed familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint why since his time there messed up all his memories.

Since they both accepted, they moved to the wall that Gareth pointed them to stand on and stood a couple of meters from each other. The rest of the people in the room kept their distance, too, but they had a good view of what happened, as it was an open space.

Skotos focused once more on summoning some of his Fire Element, which this time didn't take too long. I didn't start moving around this time and stayed in a place. He didn't know why that was the case, but he didn't mind as he focused on controlling and throwing it. But the moment it left his hand, the ball of fire started dissipating, and before covering a meter, it had disappeared entirely.

"Throw 1 Skotos. Eighty-two centimeters, " the Elder Vampire shouted.

Skotos was impressed that Edler calculated the distance he covered, and he didn't doubt that he was correct. Moreover, he noticed his senses had improved, so the Elder's senses should have been even better, and he had adjusted to them a long time ago.

"Throw 1 Rubert. 147 centimeters."

That shout snapped Skotos out of his thoughts. The boy once more beat him, but he still hadn't lost the game.

He created one more ball of fire but didn't throw it. Instead, he mentally tried to move it forward this time. It took him a few seconds, but the ball of fire started moving slowly, but he kept it in control.

As he had made it a little more than a meter away from him, the boy completed his second try by covering 204 centimeters. The wall across was a little less than 3 meters, so the boy was getting close to reaching it, but he had only one try left.

Skotos continued his way, but his control slipped up at a point

"Throw 2 Skotos. 203 centimeters."

He was one centimeter shorter than the boy, so if he didn't improve with this try, he would lose, and he didn't want to do so.

"SKOTOS"

The voice of his new Master, Lady Pyre, was in his head loud and clear.

"Hit. The. Wall."

By hearing those words, a new determination appeared within him. Now, he wasn't just part of a game for himself, but he was doing it for his new master. He swore never to disappoint her and didn't plan to break that promise so soon.

If one paid attention to him, he would notice that his ordinarily brown eyes, which stayed the same after he turned, were now completely dark.

He summoned his fire Element, but the flames were black this time, but he paid no attention to it. Instead, he only focused on the task at hand.

When the ball of black fire was ready, he didn't mentally control it to move on his second try, but he tried throwing it again.

The ball of fire left his hand, and he kept his concentration on keeping its shape as it continued traveling, getting no smaller. He kept watching it go, and it looked to cover distance slower than it should because of how much he focused on it.

Half a meter, one meter... one and a half meter passed, and then the sphere seemed to lose its shape but kept going.

Skotos closed his eyes so that he could focus on controlling it better.

And then he heard an explosion happening, followed by nothing but silence.

When he opened his eyes, he noticed that the wall across had a large hole in it, which was in the shape of a smooth hemisphere, making it look unnatural.

"Final throw Skotos. Wall impact. We have a winner."

Skotos was so happy that he made it, but he felt his body getting heavier and everything getting darker.

Everyone ran towards him as he fell to the ground unconscious, as the last throw seemed to have taken more from him than the rest.