Another Day in Paradise

I quickly analysed the blade, it was not Aurora's signature weapon, it wasn't her rapier. Thus, I felt a lot less bad about doing this… I let the blade of the sword hit my body. I saw the horror on Aurora's face when she thought she would cause harm to me. Instead… "Clink!" Her eyes flew open as she looked flabbergasted by what she saw in front of her.

The blade was aimed dead centre of my chest. It hit its mark. But nothing happened. I felt nothing. In fact, she felt like she was lightly poking me. I noticed out of the corner of my eye how Mr Singford was still caged up, jaw open like the floodgates. I grabbed the blade with my hand, including the sharp edge. "Nice toothpick." I heard Aurora gasp as I did. As proof of my new powers, I bent the blade, snapping it in half like a real toothpick.

I looked at the blade in my hand and tossed it aside. I tilted my head sympathetically to the stunned Singfords. "Come on…You'll have to do better than that." I saw Aurora smirk. My playful attitude was dropped immediately. What is this fox of a woman planning.

I heard a sharp cutting sound in the air as Aurora slashed with her rapier from behind her back. It caught be totally off guard, but this is not my first battle. Using my forearm, I blocked the slash and stretched out my other hand. Rainbow light coalesced in my palm an shot out like a cannon. Prismatic beam. The rainbow light threw her to the wall of the room with a thud sound. I winced a little. Perhaps I was a little too violent. "Um, you ok?" I called with concern.

Aurora stood up once more and stumbled. Her footing was not exactly very stable, but she was still raring to go. A ghost of a smile appeared on her lips. Now I was worried…Why would she still be smiling? I moved my legs to run. To my surprise, I went nowhere. It felt like the muscles in my legs were disobeying me. I looked down to see ice, ice that completely encapsulated my feet.

I had no time to react, Aurora dashed forward once more, thrusting forward with her blade. I opened my palm to catch the blade. I felt the contact, however, Aurora was crafty. There was no pain. Ice began to slowly creep up my hand. She channeled a beam of ice instead of using a physical attack!

With the ice on my feet and hand, they both started to crawl up my body like a swarm of ants. I panicked, realising what was happening. I had to do something quickly or I would turn into a popsicle. I still had one free hand. I had limited time, I had to focus.

The ground rumbled slightly as it started to break. Crystals sprouted from the ground, appearing at seemingly random locations. Aurora looked around frantically. With my free hand, I fired a prismatic beam at one crystal. It reflected and hit another. This chain continued until Aurora was trapped in a rainbow cage. If she were to move, she would be pushed back by the beams. The final reflection was towards me, melting the ice.

Free from the frosty shackles, I wringed my wrists, feeling slight irritation in them. "That was good. My turn." I shot her a smug smirk as I said it. I gathered the energy of the land in my hand, balled my hand into a fist. Brown energy of the earth was emanating off me, and with all my might, I smashed the ground with my fist like a hammer. "HAH!"

Tremors and rumbling of intense proportions off-balanced Aurora. Cracks began to form. The ground opened up hungrily. From the hole, a pillar emerged, directed straight at Aurora, hitting her and launching her into the wall once more. I still felt bad for hitting her so hard, at the same time, I'm sure she would be mad if I took it east on her.

To my surprise, she rose one last time, trembling as she did. I steeled myself and smiled at her tenacity. She grit her teeth and tapped her blade to the ground. In an instant, a neon blue circle surrounded her. I had no words, I felt like I was frozen. I noticed runes on the outer layer of a circle and the pattern of a snowflake in the centre, right below her feet.

"Land of cold and neverending winters heed my call, descend upon this world and my enemies will fall, your fate has been preordained... By eternal ice, I will freeze the blood in your veins!" A storm began to form. I could do nothing but stand there and watch in awe. The wind howled and swirled in a vortex around me. I was caught in its epicenter. My feet were rooted to the ground in a case of ice.

The horror began to sink in, Aurora never uses chants of incantations. This is a first. I saw her in the fercious snow storm, standing tall and proud like a queen. She was unfazed. The storm made her look even colder than she normally does. She raised her blade, pointing it at me. I saw her cold, piercing eyes, like staring into the abyss. It was like she was someone else entirely. "Niflheim!" She recited the incantation. My eyes flew open as a bright blue beam flew at sonic speeds toward me. Snow and wind gathered around that beam, rushing at me like a vortex.

Niflheim... the land of ice, the land of the dead. It is one of the highest level Ice magic spells one can execute. I was about to intercept it with my face. Or I would have if I was any weaker.

I was pleased by the power she is showing me. Knowing that her father cannot see me, I willed the gauntlets to my hand. Energy swirled onto my hand, encasing it as I doned the dragon heads. I felt power rush through my veins. My chains have been broken.

I stretched my hand out, a crystalline shield formed around me, encasing me in its gem-like structure. The deadly beam hit it and was reflected in a million different directions. I could see the shock on Aurora's face as the beam was deflected, losing her focus. Seeing a small window. I acted immediately.

I raised my hand high. "Tectonic Tide!" In an instant, rocks and terrain appeared from nowhere, combining and fusing to become a single entity, a dragon. I brought my hand down, pointing at Aurora. The dragon made of rocks was held by a brown aura. It flew straight for her, like a real dragon would. She was too stunned to react, being swallowed up by the rocks and rubble, and was pinned to the wall, a cage of earth preventing movement.

As the dust of the battle settled. I saw the weapon of Aurora laying at my feet, and her stuck to the wall, panting. I dismissed the gauntlets and quickly ran to her in a panic. I was afraid that she was excessively injured. I waved my hand and the earth trapping her released her. I caught her and made her lean on the wall, checking every part of her.

Seeing my panic, she gave a weak smile. "Don't worry. I'm not made of glass you know."

I chuckled and held her hand. I was doing it unknowingly, but she didn't seem to mind. "Um..." I heard from behind me. I looked down, realising what I was doing and quickly released her hand, standing at attention like a soldier. I faintly heard giggling behind me, but I was not too sure. I saw Mr Singford behind me, he had been sweating profusely, he face looked shiny. "What on earth was that Kaler?"

"Oh... Well... I might have gotten stronger..." I said while scratching my chin.

" 'Might' is not how I would put it, my boy..." Mr Singford started fawning over my abilities. "You literally summoned crystals form the ground. You not only have earth control, but terrain and crystal manipulation as well. Only high level Earth magic users could do something with such ease! Also! Prismatic beam was it?! Incredible! Simply incredible!" I only laughed and scratched my head. Perhaps living here for a while was going to be more fun than I expected.