13 Normal (Tyler)

Dinner was nice. As the four of us ate our pizza, everyone either asked me questions or gave little stories about their lives. Bianca talked about her meet up with Josh. Diana explained how she can do basic life element casts. Ben described his studies throughout the entire day.

Afterwards, as I was washing the dishes, I analyzed everybody's slang. Is that too much?

I finished washing dishes and was able to coordinate a group chat with our phones. Ben wasn't too good with technology, but Bianca and Diana were naturals at it.

I was in the kitchen when I heard Josh walk in. I followed him upstairs and talked with him.

When we were done talking, I sat on the floor, rested my head against the wall and closed my eyes.

What am I doing? I'm making excuses for myself. Why can't I be honest? I don't have a plan. Put an end to this endless war? How?

I felt tears begin to form under my eyelids. I held them back.

"Tyler?" I opened my eyes and saw Bianca.

I rubbed my eyes and said, "Yeah?"

Bianca bit her lip. "Are you... alright?"

I sighed. "Yeah, just need some sleep."

"Alright," she replied before going back into her room.

I got up and went out. The cool night air was comforting. I looked around and realized I could quickly travel by jumping from building to building. Let's just hope I can be quiet enough and won't get any noise complaints.

As I dashed on the rooftops, I saw the city skyline in the distance. I'll be there one day.

I finally made it to my destination: the training grounds. I've been trying to create a new cast. One so powerful it could counter Josh's Milia Avium. I was going to call it Glacies Sphearam. Ice aura.

One more time. I casted the cast signs I had thought of and spread my hand out. It glowed with a blue aura surrounding it. I thrust my hand into the ice dummy I created earlier, and it immediately shattered. A jolt of pain flooded through my arm as ice surrounded it. It stopped spreading and I snapped my left hand. The ice exploded and I was blown backwards. Needs more work.

I felt a presence nearby and immediately went into battle mode. I dashed out of the training grounds and towards the grove of trees where I felt someone's presence. I hid in some trees nearby and waited.

I heard talking, but I wasn't able to make out the words or who was talking. I jumped down and walked into their little meeting.

"You all better have a good excuse for being out after curfew." Though it was dark, I could still see them all clearly. There were six of them, but two were hiding. "Who's hiding?"

Someone came out of the shadows. "You happy Tyler?" Justin.

I looked back into the area where he was and said, "There's still one more."

"That's none of your concern!" Justin snapped.

I tilted my head. "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way."

I snapped both my fingers and everyone else started doing cast signs.

Two of them used fire projectiles. Two of them had close combat water. Justin stood in the back. I blocked the projectiles and lashed at the melee fighters with my sword.

The melee fighters fell back, and I threw my sword at them and snapped my right hand. The explosion created a smokescreen that I was able to see through, but others cannot. I ran into the smoke and hit everyone unconscious with my shield.

The smoke settled, and Justin was the last one standing. Intentional, of course.

"I'll ask you one last time. Who's your friend back there?"

He snickered. "I won't answer that. Simply because she isn't my friend."

She? I cast my sword once again and Justin casted his. He had earth elemental casts.

We waited. He was a worthy opponent for sure, and older than me as well. I smiled. This should be fun.

We both dashed to each other, immediately clashing with our swords. I used my shield to break the clash and we were both forced backward. Justin kept his momentum going and dashed toward me again. I parried his attack with my shield, then he went in for a thrust. I locked his sword with mine as he casted a projectile with his left hand and knocked my shield out of my hand. We broke the clash and continued in a flurry of attacks, blocks, and parries. I was waiting for him to make a mistake.

Then, he did. He went for a straight thrust, that I easily dodged and slashed his sword downward so powerfully that is shattered into pieces. I then put my sword onto his neck.

"Well played," he said. He was smiling. "If you ever need a sparring partner, you know where to find me."

"And why would I want to spar with a weakling like you?"

He shrugged. "I guess it would be me who would want to spar. Till next time." He jumped into the air doing a backflip and immediately took off as soon as he touched the ground.

I sighed. He was a powerful caster for sure, just lacks strategy. I threw my sword to the ground and snapped both hands. It dissolved into a mist.

I walked to the area behind the trees where someone was hiding. Bianca. She was unconscious but it seemed like there were no injuries.

I picked her up. The house is a bit far away. To be honest, I don't think I could carry her all the way.

I decided on a location and started heading toward there. As I dashed from tree to tree and rooftop to rooftop, I realized how peaceful she was while sleeping.

We finally arrived and I rested her against a tree. I sat right next to her. She should wake up soon.

We were on a cliff overlooking the wall and the skyline. Our campus is in the middle of the center island of the infinity ring. Though the school is connected to the city known as "Idyll," the students aren't allowed to leave the city. We are, however, allowed to visit some stores, restaurants and even get a job.

The sun began to rise. To be entirely honest I prefer sunsets over sunrises. I guess it's just how the sky gets darker rather than burning my eyes out.

"Tyler?" I glanced over at Bianca and sure enough, she was awake. "What happened?"

"Justin and some of his friends somehow got a hold of you. I was able to beat them and get you back. What were you doing last night?"

"Oh. I was just… out for a walk."

"You need to be more careful next time."

"Yeah…"

We then watched the sunrise in silence. This is my friend. I need to do whatever I can to protect her, as well as Ben, Diana, and even Josh.

"Wanna start heading back now?" I asked.

"Yeah."