Chapter 5

I walked out to the arena and took my place looking towards Grey. I could see his veins rippling beneath his skin as he prepared to shift. But he knew he was not allowed due to the rules in place.

I stood still watching the numbers count down. I let my dragon take over slightly as I felt the power flow through me. I never felt this powerful before and to be honest, I could get used to it.

As the number one shattered, I watched as Grey quickly began to shake violently as transform himself into a very large wolf that was a big as a car. To be honest, even though I knew of my power against his, I still couldn"t help but feel some fear when I saw those eyes look back at me. It was mainly due to its size, but the fear was still present.

As he began to move, the fear dissipated as I felt me dragon roar within me at the disrespect. I haven"t felt this way in a very long time. It was one of the reasons I had buried him so deep within me.

The wolf quickly darted to the right gaining speed quickly as it began to run circles around me. When it thought I had begun to lose my focus, it jumped at me. Opening its jaws as it came closer to entrap me within.

I let the jaws close around me as I felt the sharp pings of pain that erupted on my right arm and my chest. The teeth digging deep into me. I let my dragon surface as my eyes changed once more. I could feel the instant stop within the bite and the hesitance that followed.

The wolf slowly began to retract his teeth as he let me out of its grip. I let my power flow forward through my eyes, and I controlled it enough to not let it leak to anyone else. I wanted it to be a surprise when I unleashed my true power and this puny match did not fit the bill.

Grey backtracked as he kept his tail snuggled tightly between his legs. His wolf bowed to me with enough fear to make him shake. I could hear the gasps coming from the crowds as well as the screams for the fight to continue.

"Shift back." I said with more power within my voice. I kept my dragon near the surface ready to act if need be. And Grey knew this. He knew how close I am to destroying him.

His wolf slowly began to shrink and as the fur receded his bones began to shrink. Soon enough Grey was kneeling in front of me with evident fear in his shaking form.

"I-I-I"m s-s-sorry." He said as he kept his head lowered. "I-I didn"t mean the d-d-disrespect." He stuttered as he tried to regain his composure but failing to do so.

"This is the only time, I will let this go." I told him and I could hear the elation in his breathing. His fear lessened somewhat but he was still shaking. "I will not be this lenient again." I added as the gong sounded and the announcer"s voice boomed over the crowd.

"And the winner is the first year, Victor." He said as the crowd sat there stunned. I could imagine the thoughts running through their heads. How could a first year do this? Why would Grey just submit? What the hell is this Victor person? How can he make a fourth year submit?

I walked back to the waiting rooms, as I kept my gaze in front of me. As soon as I turned, I returned my eyes back to what they were previously. Again, I wanted to make one final display of power before everything comes to an end.

I sat in the back of the waiting room with my head hung low. Although I liked not having to hide my power, I still couldn"t get over the fact that I had nothing left. The only thing I had was power and Julie"s friendship. But how could I be friends with someone I loved so much. How could I be friends with her knowing she would tell me anything and everything in regards to her potential husbands as well as her "dates" with Bo. I just couldn"t bare it anymore.

A couple of fourth years tried to begin conversations with me after the fight, but with my mood still as it is, I ignored them. They soon got the message that I did not want to be bothered. I could feel the loathing eyes of Bo watching my every movement from across the room.

I lifted my head when it was Bo"s next fight. As I watched the participants walk across the arena, I noted that his opponent was the only water user in the tournament. I wonder how he will be able to withstand this.

As the counter counted down from ten I watched the two fighters closely. The water user, Trent, seemed to be slightly nerved at his opponent but Bo himself was giving off the same egotistically aura he always did. Did he not know that he is at a disadvantage.

Trent tensed his muscles as he prepared for the fight. He was the same height as Bo but the had soft curly light brown hair. I could see his fists clenching as he watched Bo closely.

As they counter hit one and shattered I watched as Trent pulled the water from the air and let it form around him in small orbs of water. They floated around his form as he shot orb after orb at Bo.

Bo on the other hand let the fire surround his entire body, causing the water to instantly vaporize upon contact. Interesting that Bo could master something like this. I thought to myself as I watched the long ranged fight continue.

Suddenly Bo lunged forward, using the thrust of the fire to carry him faster and faster towards his opponent. As Bo neared Trent. Trent through up his arms making him look like Da Vinci"s perfect man. Water pulled form the air as it collided with Bo. However, this time the water was far to much for Bo"s fire and quickly surrounded him.

Bo was in the middle of the giant water sphere struggling to breathe. He grabbed at his throat and struggled to leave the water sphere. After a minute of the struggling, Bo suddenly stopped struggling and turned his gaze to Trent. An evil smile plastered across his face.

The water suddenly burst outwards as steam began to cloud the arena from view. A loud bang could be heard throughout the arena making everyone wonder what had happened.

As the vapor disappeared it was obvious who the winner was. Bo had his hand around Trent"s throat watching him struggle to free himself. He was lifted about thirty centimeters off the ground. The worst part was that Bo had his hand surrounded by flame that was causing Trent damage.

Everyone was quiet as they watched Bo basically torture Trent until he passed out.

"And the winner is first year, Bo." The announcer"s voice boomed above the crowd.

Everyone was quiet except for the very few of Bo"s supporters. They didn"t care at how he had won, just that he did so. The fact that he relished in Trent"s pain meant nothing to them.

The rest of the matches once more finished in ease. The match ups although random, always gave someone the advantage. It seemed to help keep the tournament to one day. The matches I was a part of were even more so. I had to fight an earth manipulator as well as the electricity user.

Both of them didn"t give me match of a challenge to the sturdy nature of my dragon. Using the speed it allowed me I managed to escape most of the damage and in turn deal some of my own. Throughout all those matches I only showed the affinity for fire and speed. Nothing more.

It was now my penultimate match that if I won would place me in the finals against Bo.

I stood watching the illusionist, Nate. He was smaller than the rest of the fifth years, but his stocky build gave him tough aura. His bald head, shining against the afternoon sun. He stood watching me with a smile on his face.

I couldn"t see what he made his opponents see, as he decided to keep it private, but everyone knew he could involve everyone with the view of his illusions. The counter continued as I readied myself for whatever he had decided to show me.

As the counter shattered the one, my vision became black. Then out of the center of my vision came the illusion Nate wanted me to see. But something was different. It felt real. It didn"t feel like an illusion. But it also gave me the feeling like everyone was watching what I was. They could see his illusion.

I don"t know how Nate could know the details he showed me, but somehow he knew. Somehow he researched my past.

My foster parents came into view as they sat around the dinner table. Marcus, my foster father placing the spaghetti filled fork in his mouth as he ate. His glasses laying beside his plate as to not let them get dirtied by the food. Beatrice, my foster mother, sat to his right. She still wore the bright pink apron that she cook in as she forced the spaghetti onto her fork using her spoon.

I stood watching them as they ate. Then they turned to me for a brief second and then back to their plates. What I didn"t expect was my thoughts from that day to be shared with everyone.

Again? My thoughts boomed above the image. They made food without letting me know. They didn"t even make some for me. How could they do this again? Do I mean nothing to them? Am I just a waste of space? A source of money to these people?

I saw the image of a twelve year old me walk up the stairs defeated. You could see the pain in my eyes as I walked up the stairs to my room in the attic.

I opened the door to see the small mattress that I called my bed lying in the corner. My body walked over to it and then curled the thin blanket around myself, crying myself to sleep.

"What parents they are." I could hear Nate laugh above his illusion. "Even then you meant nothing. Even then your parents knew that you shouldn"t have been born. You don"t deserve to be here. You don"t deserve to be loved."

Suddenly my anger erupted forth. I was barely able to hang on to my dragon as it began to seep form my essence. I could feel the heat in my eyes as I knew they changed once more. I could feel my hands trembling as they began to change into claws. My nails elongating and forming talons.

Smoke began to leak from my open mouth as I breathed in and out. I could see illusion begin to falter as I began to suspect that fear was beginning to fill Nate.

A fire crown began to form above my head. It was a seven pronged crown with darkened spots to indicate a gem like substance. The tips of my shoulder length blonde hair caught fire as if it was normal.

My eyes were able to track Nate through the illusion as I speed my way over to him in an instant. I could see his face widen in shock and fear as I closed my claws around his neck. I squeezed tightly as I lifted him off the ground. As he began to struggle, I let out a loud roar that shook the stadium. The audience stood awed at what I had become. It seemed only the judges knew of what I was.

I twisted my body to the left and threw Nate into the wall just to the right of the participant entrance. He cratered the wall underneath his impact as he hung from it limply.

The stadium was silent and after a few minutes the announcer"s voice came through.

"The winner is the first year, Victor." Again, the crowd was quiet. I made my way to the waiting room as I let my anger disappear. My form returned to normal as I sat down on my seat near the end.

I could feel the uncertain eyes coming from Bo as he watched me intently.

But he hasn"t seen anything yet.