12 12: Orientation Final Four I

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" I screamed as I hurtled to the ground. I flailed my arms trying to stop myself from twisting and tumbling.

'I'm going to be sick!' I thought. I flowed mana into my hands and imagined it turning into wind. Wind gathered in my hands slowing my fall enough that I could correct myself, I felt a wave of exhaustion come over me. I'd used too much mana and was feeling like I was about to pass out.

"Chase!" Jane yelled. Jingles was diving toward me, Jane had her hand extended for me to grab. I threw my hand out trying to grab hers when a bright red flash caught my eye and a fireball came flying at Jane. Jingles rolled away trying to dodge the attack.

"No!" Jane and Iris screamed.

I looked toward the ground, it was getting way to one for my liking. I was over the coliseum and falling toward the center of the arena. Jingles was trying its best to get to me while dodging attacks but he was getting farther and farther away.

'Fuck! I'll have to save myself then!' I thought.

I forced mana into my arms, every drop I had left. Whirling it around my arms like a cyclone I imagined it turning into wind. Two small tornados formed around my arms and I pointed them at the ground. The twin cyclones touched downed and the force of the wind slowed down my descent until I was hovering only a few feet above the ground.

The tornadoes suddenly dispersed and I landed face first into the dirt; though I was thankful it was only a few feet instead of a few hundred feet.

"I think I hate this collage." I wheezed then rolled onto my back. Jingles was in a nose dive toward the coliseum arena, it snapped its wings open and soared over my now exhausted body. It landed on the other side of the coliseum and Jane and Iris jumped off it's back and ran toward me.

Jane was the first to reach me with Iris a moment later. I could see that they were both were talking to me but all I could hear was the deafening sound of my heartbeat. My vision started to blur and my eyelids started to feel heavy.

'I've passed out way too much already…and it's just the first day.' I thought before everything went black.

***

The first thing I noticed as I started to come to was a low droning sound that seemed to surround me. Without opening my eyes I could tell that I was lying down on my back with some kind of mask strapped to my face.

'I must be in a hospital.' I thought.

I opened my eyes expecting to be laying in a hospital bed looking up at dull Grey ceiling tiles and bad florescent lighting, surrounded by machines. Instead I saw the ceiling only a few inches away from my face. I blinked a few times and looked around. I was laying on a soft cot that was slightly raised, a pale blue light shined from under it illuminating the space. I realized I wasn't on a bed and was instead surrounded by stone walls and a stone ceiling. It suddenly clicked why I had a mask strapped to my face.

"AM I IN A FUCKING COFFIN?!" I hollered. Frantic I started pushing on lid of the coffin and seeing that it didn't budge. I started kicking at the foot of the coffin and pounding on the lid, making as much noise as I could.

"LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT NOW! IM NOT DEAD YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!"

There was a loud click and the lid of the coffin slid open, a man in a lab coat stood over me with a confused look on his face. I immediately sat up and yanked the mask off then jumping out of the coffin.

"What are you doing? You need to rest." The lab coat guy said.

"Too small! Too small!" I gasped and tried to control my breathing. The guys eyes opened wide as realization hit.

"You're claustrophobic! Crap!" He exclaimed then rushed out of the room. I laid on my back and stared up at the ceiling, which oddly was a mixture of stone tiles and several steel beams for support. The room door open opened again and I heard two pairs of feet rush in.

"Chase!" I heard Jane and Iris exclaimed. The both rushed over to me she and knelt down beside me. Oddly enough seeing the two of them calmed me down a little.

"Are you okay?" Jane asked.

"Who put me in a coffin?" I asked. Jane and Iris shared a look then looked toward the coffin.

"That's not a coffin." Iris said.

"Sarcophagus then!" I groaned. Jane frowned.

"It's a regen chamber. You ran out of mana saving yourself and passed out from the mana shock. They put you in the regen chamber to help you regain your mana quicker." Jane explained.

"I don't like tight spaces." I said softly then sat up and stretched. I was surprised that I was still dressed in my clothes, I figured they would have taken them off to make sure I wasn't injured but I was a little glad they didn't take off my glove.

"Let me help you up." Jane said and stood up extending her hand. Iris did the same but refused to look at me. I took both their hands and with their help stood up. I was really unbalanced and nearly fell back down again. They had to catch me and keep me steady. I really hated using too much mana.

The door opened again and two men in lab coats rushed inside. They saw me standing up; with the girls help; and rushed over to help them. They started asking me a bunch of questions as they lead me over to a seat. Realizing they were doctors I answered the questions and then waited with the girls when they left. An hour later we were walking out of what Jane told me was the infirmary of the coliseum.

"So what happened with the contest?" I asked as we walked down one of the coliseum's corridors. Iris was leading the way as we walked.

"A lot." Iris said. "Five teams got disqualified for fighting back at the library. And two splicers were expelled for attacking us and putting our lives in danger. Both were from the same team so currently there are only three full teams able to go onto the next round."

"What's Baset going to do?" I asked. Jane shrugged.

"We'll soon find out." She said. We turned a corner and walked into a large meeting room. There was a long wooden table down the middle if it with over a dozen chairs along both sides of it. There were seven people seated around the table already. At the head of the table sat Baset, Nigel and three other people I didn't recognize standing on either side of her whispering to her.

When the three of us walked into the room all whispering ceased. Baset looked me up and down and seeing me unharmed smirked.

"Good, I see you're unharmed." She said addressing me.

"If by unharmed you mean pissed off, hungry, unbalanced from using too much mana then yes. I'm unharmed." I replied. Baset looked surprised by my response and while I felt like I should have been respectful nearly dying kinda tempered my response.

"Chase!" Iris hissed and slapped me on the arm. I just gave her a sideways look and shrugged.

"Chase she's a Paragon, show some respect." Jane whispered. I just grumbled then walked over to to the closest seat and sat down. Jane and Iris gave Baset apologetic looks and sat down next to me.

"Well now that everyone is here I will explain what is going to happen next…" Baset said. All eyes were turned to her as she leaned forward in her seat to address all of us. "…as most of you know five teams have been disqualified and two students have been expelled Astrid Folders team."

She motioned to lone splicer sitting by herself. She looked away from us and looked down at the floor.

"Obviously you are all wondering what is going to happen next, I've decided to shore up Astrid's team so we can continue to the next stage as intended."

"Shore up her team with who? You just said you disqualified or expelled anyone else could fill in those spots?" One guy asked. Nigel coughed to get everyone's attention.

"Let me explain, The ten teams were the top thirty students of the freshman class. There are still those that almost made the cut but didn't. We offered the students in the thirty first and thirty second position the opportunity to take their places."

Baset snapped her fingers and a evo slithered onto the table in front of her. It was a evo-viper, a funny looking evo it was cobra but instead of a hood it had a bird wings tucked behind it's head to make a feathery hood. It snapped open its wings and flew out the room. A few moments after it flew back inside with two people in tow. I almost groaned when I saw one of them.

"Not you!" I groaned and slumped into my chair.