Chapter 4

For the past few days I have successfully avoided Julie. I have ignored her attempts to contact me as well as taken to the forest to rest. The only time I was in my dorm room was to retrieve clothes needed to go to class. And that has also become affected. I have missed a few of the classes that I am to attend due to my avoiding of Julie.

With all this happening, I still knew that it would come to an end soon. Soon I wouldn"t have to worry about the avoidance. I wouldn"t have to worry about Bo or his followers trying to bully me. It takes a lot out of me faking being hurt by Bo"s flames. To this day, he still thinks that they can actually hurt me.

You would expect that within a magical arts academy that the bullying and the physical torment would come via magic, but you"d be wrong. Most of it is purely physical as if we were normals and not mages.

When it was time to go to the arena behind the school, I became a little nervous about the fact of what I was going to do. I let my guard slip as I walked towards the overly large open domed arena.

"Victor!" I heard the familiar voice shout behind me. How could I have let this happen. I was so close. So close to finally having some freedom. I turned slowly not letting any emotion show on my face. I saw Julie running towards me.

As she came to a stop in front of me she bent down slightly trying to catch her breath. When she did she stood up with a heavy sigh as she gazed into my eyes. I could see the hurt and pain within hers trying to understand why I saw such things.

"Where have you been?" She asked as the hurt made itself ever present on her face. "I have been looking everywhere for you."

I kept quiet as I continued to hold her gaze. I really did not want to talk to her. I did not want to relive the pain filled days of my past. I just want it over.

"Why won"t you talk to me?" She asked as she took a step forward, followed by me taking one back. I did not want her touching me. She saw my movement and tears began to well up in her eyes. "What did I do?" She almost begged for an answer. "Why are you acting this way?" As a tear rolled down her cheek another familiar voice sounded out behind her.

"Hey Jules." Bo said loudly as he came up behind her. He was wearing dark trousers with a light blue shirt that was covered by the academy robes. His short dirty blonde hair slicked back with ease. "Why are you talking to the freak?" He asked as his followers behind him began to laugh.

"What?" Julie asked obviously confused at why he referred to me as the freak. Of course she didn"t know. That is what Bo wanted. He wanted her to be oblivious as to what he did. That way he could do what he wanted without her constant glare and meddling.

"Why are you talking to him?" He asked as he turned towards her, using his left arm to turn her towards him. "You shouldn"t talk to him. You are already engaged to me. You should know this." So they have made it official. They were finally a couple. I turned around and began to walk towards the participant entrance when a rough hand grasped my right arm. Stopping me in my tracks. I turned slowly to find Bo was the one who stopped me.

"Why are you going to the participants entrance?" He asked before a smile adorned his lips. "Are you actually participating?" He added as he began to laugh along with his followers. "You are weaker than dirt, and yet you think you have a chance."

I could feel his hand begin to heat up and I instantly knew what he was trying to do. He was using his internal flame to burn my arm without Julie"s knowing. But this time I couldn"t care less about what was going to happen. I noticed how slow he is to get his hand up to the temperature that would actually hurt me and I finally knew of a way to shut him up.

I brought my skin directly under his touch to an even higher temperature than his almost instantly. But I didn"t stop there. I wanted to hurt him as he had hurt me. I doubled the temperature as I watched the pained expression cross his face.

He instantly let go of my arm with a loud whelp as he clutched his burned hand to his chest.

"What the?" He asked as he looked back at me. I let my dragon take over my eyes as the pupils turned to slits and the dark brown irises turned a vibrant bright red. I knew he saw this and quickly changed my eyes back so no one else would see.

"You shouldn"t anger those that you have no knowledge of." I said as I turned and continued my journey to the entrance off to the left of the main student entrance.

I ignored the calls of my name as I disappeared around the corners of the building. I needed to focus. I needed to get my mind on track for what was needed today.

I made my way into the waiting area that overlooked the wide open arena where the fights would be held. The area I was in was elevated by a few meters that gave us a well needed view of the proceedings. I glanced around me and noticed quite a few five and four years were here as well as most of the third years. There weren"t two years and even less first years.

My hopes were still slightly elevated when I heard the familiar chuckle of Bo behind me.

"So it seems that you have decided to enter this tournament." He began as his face turned sour. "Just know, that I will show you no mercy for what you just did to me. If I don"t kill you in the arena, then I will make sure you come very close to it."

I wanted to chuckle as the little fire mage just declared that he intended to kill a dragon. A fire beast.

I waited for the proceedings to begin when I noticed that at the opposite end of the arena, right beneath the judges box, was a large magical hologram brightly displaying the fights that were to be held.

It looked to be twenty two fights in total. I looked for my name to see who I was going to be fighting first and was amazed for it to be a fourth year, by the name of Grey. I have heard of his name before but I couldn"t place his affinity.

But I knew that there wouldn"t be many here who could match what I could do. Although I have yet to master my dragon side, I knew the raw power it held was more than enough to deal with mere students.

The first fight was finally up. It was Bo going up against a second year by the name of Roy. Bo, of course the fire mage, while Roy was a shadow user. To be fair, it was an unfair match up for Bo, but he would always take what he could get even if it meant the easy road.

Both walked out to the arena and took their places facing each other on either side, with ten meters between them. A hovering magical hologram appeared between them. It was large enough to be viewed by the audience but it wasn"t bright enough to blind the combatants.

The hologram counted down from 10 as each number shattered into thousands of pieces as the next number took its place. The numbers started off green and then when 6 came on it turned orange. When 3 came up, the colour shifted to red, indicating the match was about to begin.

As the 1 shattered a loud gong could be heard starting the match. Shadows appeared behind the tall lanky Roy, covering the grounds of the arena. A loud laugh could be heard from Bo as he just stood there and watched. The shadows covered Roy and began to make its way over to Bo as the laughing grew louder.

Suddenly Bo lifted both his hands and shot over large columns of fire towards the shadow. Dissipating them on contact. Bo increased the fire as he let it envelop Roy. Loud screams could be heard as shadows tried to break free of the fire. Ultimately the shadows lost to the fire and Roy ended up unconscious with burns covering most of his body.

"The winner is the first year, Bo." Came the announcement over the arena. It was loud but almost crystal clear. The crowd erupted in cheers as Bo gave them mock salutes showing the little appreciation he had for them.

His eyes found mine and I could see his eyes turn dark as they watched my every movement. He was angry at me for what I did. It confused me slightly wondering how he could be angry. After all he did to me, what right did he have to be angry?

The rest of the fights that followed were along the same lines. The powers I saw today included: fire, water, shadows, electricity, magnetism, telekinesis, air, earth, shapeshifting, energy, as well as illusion. It was a sight to behold watching these fights, but I knew that with this group and their mastering of their powers, that I would most probably win this tournament.

But I wanted the end to come now. Putting this off any longer is going to take its toll on me.

Then I noticed my name being displayed across the ranking board. It seems my next fight is up. And it looks to be another shapeshifter. Well this is going to be fun. I thought sarcastically. I knew from the various animals I had seem over my short life that all animals knew what I was and they instinctively knew who to respect.

I wonder if it will work against the shapeshifter.