"Miss Kira, you will go first," Miriam said.
Panic surged through me instantly. My heart began pounding so violently that I was certain everyone could hear it.
"I–I..." The words tangled in my throat.
I didn't have an excuse. Not a real one. Every possible lie collapsed before it even formed. The room had gone silent, the air thick with anticipation as dozens of eyes fixed themselves on me.
My breathing grew shallow.
What was I going to do?
I couldn't fight. Not like this. Not in front of everyone.
Before I could force my legs to move, someone stepped forward beside me.
"I'll go first," a familiar voice said firmly. "Kira seems nervous."
I turned my head in surprise.
It was the earth elemental from my village.
Up close, I could see the same fierce determination in her dark eyes that I remembered from before the attack. She carried herself with a kind of confidence that made you believe she had never known fear in her life.
Relief flooded through me so suddenly my knees nearly buckled.
Her interruption was both a blessing and a distraction.
Miriam frowned slightly, her lips pressing into a thin line. "Everyone is equal here," she said sharply. "Kira is capable of—"
Before she could finish the sentence, the earth elemental raised her hand.
The ground beneath us trembled.
A deep cracking sound echoed through the massive room as stone split apart. Dust rose into the air as a jagged slab of rock tore free from the floor, rising upward as though pulled by invisible strings.
Gasps erupted throughout the room. Mine included.
With a sharp motion of her arm, she hurled the massive boulder directly at James. The rock shot forward with terrifying speed and James was knocked backward, his boots scraping loudly against the stone floor as he skidded several feet across the room.
The humans watching from the seats burst into cheers and excited murmurs.
I stepped back instinctively, my chest loosening as the attention shifted away from me. Despite the fear still coiling in my stomach, I couldn't help but admire the earth elemental.
She was powerful, confident, fearless. Everything I couldn't be.
James straightened slowly, brushing dust from his shoulders. His expression had darkened, irritation flickering across his features.
He rolled his neck once, then lifted his hand and the air around him shifted.
A sudden roar filled the room as wind gathered violently around his arm, swirling into a tight, spinning vortex.
Before the elemental could react, he thrust his hand forward and the blast of wind struck her like a battering ram. She was lifted clean off her feet and thrown across the room, her body slamming into the stone floor with a heavy thud.
Several people gasped.
For a moment, she didn't move. Then, slowly, she pushed herself up. Everyone held their breath.
Determination blazed in her eyes as she wiped a small trail of blood from the corner of her mouth. The crowd leaned forward in their seats, and the real fight began.
Chunks of rock tore free from the ground, spinning through the air as she launched them toward James one after another.
He countered each attack with violent bursts of wind that shattered the stones midair, sending fragments raining across the floor. Dust filled the room as the battle intensified.
Wind howled while stone crashed and splintered. It was chaos.
The humans watching cheered loudly each time the elemental landed a hit, their excitement rising with every exchange. Eventually, both fighters slowed.
James raised his hand one final time, releasing a concentrated gust that slammed into her chest and knocked her backward. She fell hard, sliding across the floor before stopping.
For a moment she lay there, breathing heavily. Then she lifted a hand weakly in surrender.
The room erupted into applause.
Miriam stepped forward. "Grade Ten."
The announcement sparked even louder cheering from the humans. I watched the elemental as she stood, slightly unsteady but smiling faintly as she returned to her seat.
Grade Ten.
That was incredibly high.
And just like that, dread was back in my chest because my turn was still coming.
One by one, the other hunters stepped forward. Each revealed their abilities by fighting James. Some controlled fire, others commanded water. One hunter moved with impossible speed, striking James multiple times before he could react. Another summoned blades of smoke from thin air. With each display of power, the tension in my chest tightened.
Each of them earned their grades.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Even the weaker fighters were far stronger than I could ever hope to be.
Through it all, James never seemed to tire. He fought each one with the same focused efficiency, taking hits and adjusting. He was not cruel, he matched each opponent at a level that tested them without destroying them. Except when he had thrown the earth elemental across the room, but she had asked for that by starting at full power.
The point is, he looked as though he had barely broken a sweat. Which meant when my name was finally called again...
He would still be just as strong.
The earth elemental caught my eye from the side of the room. She gave me a small nod. I did not know what it meant exactly. Encouragement, perhaps, or solidarity, or just the acknowledgment that she could see what was about to happen and she was sorry for it. Either way, I took it.
"Kira."
My stomach dropped. I'd never been more scared of hearing my name. My legs felt heavy as I stepped forward. Each step toward the center of the room felt like walking toward my execution. My fists clenched tightly at my sides as I forced myself to keep moving.
His expression held a mixture of boredom and mild curiosity. He didn't even bother raising his guard.
Miriam stepped closer. "How old are you, Kira?"
"Twenty," I managed, my voice barely more than a whisper.
"What power do you possess?"
The room went quiet. I glanced at Devon, who was standing beside Miriam with his arms crossed, watching me. I looked back at Miriam.
"I...I..."
Nothing came out.
The silence stretched painfully.
"Miss Kira," Miriam said firmly. "We don't have time."
My mind raced desperately. "Can I answer after this?" I asked quickly, clinging to the only delay I could think of.
Her eyes narrowed slightly. For a moment I thought she would refuse, then she gave a short nod. "Very Well."
I stepped forward into the center of the room. My legs trembled. James cracked his knuckles loudly, the sound echoing across the room. It also didn't help that the other hunters had taken their seats, meaning, I had a full audience patiently watching.
James' towering form cast a long shadow over me.
I raised my fists weakly.
Even I knew how pathetic it looked.
James scoffed loudly. Then he moved, crossing the distance between us in less than a second. His fist drove straight into my chest.
Pain exploded through my body, the force of the blow lifted me off my feet, and sent me flying backward. My back slammed violently into the stone, the impact knocked the air from my lungs.
I collapsed to the floor, gasping desperately for breath. The room spun. My ribs burned with every shallow inhale.
"Use your powers, Kira!" Miriam called out.
I tried to stand, but my legs barely held her. The world blurred around the edges as I forced myself upright.
I could feel everyone watching. The humans, who had cheered for the earth elemental and the other hunters, were silent now. The hunters were silent. Even Devon, somewhere behind me, was silent. The only sound in the room was my breathing, which was far from steady.
James didn't give me time to recover.
He lifted one hand slowly. At first, nothing happened. Then, a strange sensation washed over me and my feet lifted off the ground.
A startled gasp escaped my lips as my body rose into the air like I weighed nothing. My arms flailed instinctively, but there was nothing to grab onto.
James clenched his hand slightly, and the air tightened around me.
Fear gripped every cell of my being. I knew what he was about to do.
He was going to slam me into the ground.
Hard enough to shatter my bones.
Hard enough that the question of my gift would stop mattering because I'd be dead.
I opened my mouth to scream, but the floor rushed toward me. Time slowed. My heart pounded wildly in my chest. I braced for the impact, but it never came.
Instead, firm arms were catching me before I reached the floor. I registered the warmth of them before anything else, and then Devon's voice above me.
"That is enough."
I felt his arms tighten around me as he held me close. My head lolled weakly against his chest as darkness crept into the edges of my vision.
Through the haze, I heard Miriam's voice.
"Devon, she—"
"She needs medical attention." His tone did not invite a response.
The world tilted. I recognized the feeling. That second of disorientation, the ground falling away. When it stopped, the room around me was white. Devon had teleported us to the clinic.
"Devon, shouldn't you be at —" A voice I recognized, the doctor.
"She needs your attention," Devon said curtly.
I was aware, distantly, of his arms still around me. I was aware that I had not pulled away, that I lacked either the energy or the objection to do so. I filed that information away for later, when I had the capacity to be annoyed about it.
The voice receded. The last thing I felt was the steady rise and fall of Devon's chest beneath my cheek.
Then the darkness swallowed me whole.