by Bob Dattolo
“Motivated or not…”
A knock at the door interrupted. Headmaster Anderson was there. “It’s time, Maddie.”
“They sent you to come get me? Who went to get Daniela?”
He looked past me to Parece and Samantha, “No one. She’s been at the circle since classes ended.”
“Oookay? Why?”
He stepped back as I exited the room, Parece and Samantha following. “Why? Because she seems to think this isn’t going to plan.”
Samantha snorted, “That’s for sure. She wants to take out someone weak, but that someone just chased her down and lifted her up. With one arm. She has to be thinking that she missed a ton.”
“Exactly. Given your prior interactions, I’m impressed that you’re here with her?”
No blush, but I think it was close. “We’re not exactly friends, but…I have…concerns, maybe?”
“Because she left you a wide-open opportunity to challenge her?”
Damn, he calls it without holding back.
She nodded, “It made me think through things. I’m still not sure what’s up, but…I’m cautious.”
“She wants to get into my pants, too.”
Parece hit my arm, “She does not!”
“Nah, she does.”
Samantha laughed quietly, “I’m not against playing, but I have to figure things out first.”
“See? Told you. She wants some Maddie-vag.”
Headmaster Anderson’s laugh stopped our back and forth, and we fell into a nice little bit of silence as we exited the building for the challenge area.
Huh, would you look at that? No one is there.
Or maybe everyone is there.
My fellow classmates are arrayed around the circle, with teachers in their own little huddle to the side. Daniela is inside the circle already. Naked.
I can see that. She is a dragon, so she’d want to have shifting as an option for her. She can do it while dressed and just wreck her clothes, but why bother? It’s not like she’s embarrassed.
My path stops at the edge of the circle as I look around at everyone. So many hate-filled faces. Some look excited. A few look scared? For me? For Daniela? Because they will be seeing someone die here soon? I can’t even begin to tell which.
A huge wall of sound shuts down all of the catcalls, and heads turn off to the side as I hear, “Where is that little bitch! It’s time for her to die!”
Half of the circle clears like fucking magic as Alison arrives at the head of what I think is every third-year student.
She sees me on the edge and smiles, “There you are! Nice to see you didn’t make me come hunt for you. Now maybe you can die easily.” Her smile went wider, “Nah! I’m gonna make you beg!”
“Hey, unpopped kernel! Nice of you to drop by! Did you get your presents?” She stares in rage at me. “How did your call with your parents go? Did they like the book I sent to them for you? I thought Why Don’t You Love Me? was a perfect book. Considering it mirrors your relationship with them.”
She stepped into the circle, “I’m gonna fist you like a fucking puppet!”
Headmaster Anderson flared a huge wash of light, stopping her in her tracks. “You will do no such thing, Alison. You are in the circle, interfering with a challenge that is about to begin.”
She looked down, “What? Challenge? Of course there’s a challenge, me against that whore!”
“I’m sorry, but no. There is a challenge that precedes the one you want to set up.” He nodded towards Daniela, “Daniela Norton against Maddie Stricken.”
I swear, if Alison were a volcano, she’d be like two seconds from erupting. “What?!? You can’t do this! She’s mine to kill!”
Daniela held herself and didn’t answer.
“We’ll see about that, won’t we?” I stepped into the circle. “Here’s the funny thing. She forced me into this first. She has a slightly better reason to do it than you do, which is that you’re entirely fucking mental. I also just learned that I get 30 days free from being challenged after this?” I clapped, “Yay! Now I get to look for so many gifts for you! Did you use all of the tissues crying at night? I can get you a case this next time.”
Red filled her face, “You have no clue…no clue…the things I’m gonna do to you!”
“Save it, unpopped kernel.”
The headmaster was saying something behind me, so I turned to listen to him and maybe ask him to repeat it, only to see him step out of the circle.
At which point a spell I didn’t even pick up being triggered hit me like a fucking hammer and rammed me into the ground.
Daniela ran at me, more magic pouring out of her. I barely made it up out of a completely prone position when she grabbed me by the throat and lifted me, “You think you can threaten me?!? I’m a dragon! You’re prey! I’ll drain you dry!” Then she rammed me into the ground and laid into me with kicks that literally picked me up and shot me backwards each time.
The first hit broke something in my hips, I think, so I couldn’t get up. Her kicks were fucking me up. Then she leaned over me and began punching as more and more magic rose around her.
In desperation, I grabbed at some magic and began working it as hard and fast as I could. It triggered in between hits from her, and my healing shot through the roof. Her next punch shattered my nose, but it healed before the next hit came down.
She caught it, and her blow faltered, narrowly missing my face, and crunching bone in my shoulder.
Which healed as she stared at me in horror.
So I kicked up at her, sending her flying up and back as I shoved my way to my feet.
Fuck, she tore into me. I have to give her credit for that.
“I didn’t want this, Daniela!”
She’s holding her stomach as she gets up. She has vomit on her face, which I didn’t see happening at all. I must have really kicked her hard as hell. “It doesn’t matter what you want, you got it!”
Alison yelled from the side, “If you kill her, Daniela, I’ll eat your fucking eyes while you’re still alive!”
“Leave her alone, unpopped kernel. We get it; you’re a fucking psycho. Do you have to spew your bile everywhere you go?”
“Stop calling me that!”
“How about UK for short? That sounds better. Easier to work with. You can get one of those initial rings with it. Bring someone with you when you order it, though, because I know you’re still working on learning the alphabet.”
Daniela moved at me and began to hit. Hard. With me standing, though, I was able to hit back. Going for more desperate slaps that just so happened to stop her from hitting me with more than half of her attempts. I’m not a fighter enough to be able to stop all of them. No matter how strong I am. Plus, I’m still trying for kinda pathetic here.
“Don’t do it, Daniela!”
My opponent looks desperate, and more magic flares, as I’m hit with balls of fire that eat through my clothes.
That has them somewhat coming off in a hurry as I slap at the spots. Shockingly enough, being set on fire is a good enough distraction that I miss her coming in and hitting me with an uppercut that sends me flying again.
Fucking hell, my face hurts. That’s what I think as I hit the ground and tumble again and again, finally coming to a stop as I stare down at my bare boobs.
Dammit, those fucking fireballs wrecked most of my clothes, even though they’re still somewhat on.
Alison is right there at the edge as I stand, “Hey, UK! Fancy meeting you here! I didn’t know they had any pole dancing contests for syphilitic anal babies. I’m so proud of you for willing to go out on a limb and show your hard-won skills to the world.”
She stopped right at the edge as her magic built, “Fuck you, dead girl. You’re so God damned stupid that it pains me to think that we’ve talked. Or, more likely that I’ve talked, and you’ve grunted at me.”
“Must feel like the times you tried to talk to your parents and get them to treat you like a loved daughter
.”
“Fuck you! You have no clue, none, what my life has been like!”
“I can guess, though. You come here and lord it over people. Gain as much power as you possibly can. All so you can be big and bad and recognized by your parents. And you call me pathetic. Given what happened to me at my parents’ hands, I’m starting to wonder if I got the better end of the stick compared to some of you.”
“You’re a fucking stricken! You’re not even human. You just have delusions of it.”
“Don’t we all?”
“I’m gonna tear you to pieces!”
“Get in line, UK. I told you before, I’m not afraid of you and your brand of crazy.”
A smile formed, which I wasn’t expecting. “Maybe you’re not afraid of me. Maybe. But I do know one thing you’re gonna be fucking terrified of.” She stepped back as she looked over my head.
My heart seized as I turned. I had been fighting a girl that was maybe eight inches taller than I am. One with dark hair and red stripes in it denoting her fire abilities. Now…now that’s not what I’m facing. Alison, that bitch, kept me talking and I missed Daniela shifting.
Now I’m facing a fucking red dragon that looks to be at least 25 feet long. If not a bit longer. She’s not colossal, but she’s way larger than I am. Her excitement at being able to shift turns into a roar to the heavens that sounds like a jet plane taking off.
Just louder.
And angrier.
My magic surges out as I desperately try to think of something that I can do to end this. She’s a fucking dragon¸ and they tend to be a bit resistant to magic. That’s kinda their thing since their magical ability in this form is weaker.
I tried three spells without anyone seeing me do them, with invisible fire doing nothing to her. That was a stupid attempt. Cold did less, or so it seemed. Which had me trying to hit her with clear balls of air. I didn’t want anyone to see them…they dissipated as they hit her scaled hide.
Oh fuck…
She came back down and glared at me from across the huge circle. She’s not even 20 feet away from me any longer due to her length, so practically within biting distance for her. Since her head is the size of my entire torso, you can be damn well sure that her biting me will kill me. Quickly.
My mind ran wild with possibilities, ending up with a possible plan…that turned to shit when I realized I missed her acting again.
Dragons are fucking dragons. Multi-ton death machines. They also have magic. On top of that, they have dragon breath that is tied to their affinity.
She’s a fire dragon.
What do you think her breath is?
Right. Lotus blossoms.
No. Fire. A fucking wave of it came at me, and all I could do was try to shield myself behind my arms as I crouched, screaming. A blast furnace came to life around me, and the shreds of my clothes disappeared in the caldera of fire.
But my skin didn’t burn.
My screaming came to a stop, not that anyone could hear me over the overwhelmingly loud breath of fire. “What…what the fuck?” I shouldn’t be able to breathe. I shouldn’t be able to live through this.
Maybe I really am a diamond in the rough? Is that what I am? A diamond? If I live through this, I’ll take it.
My magic went wild as my toes dug into the hard-packed dirt, and I ran through the fire, sending a massive blast of it out in every direction around me. As it did, my magic went to work, and a larger ball of fire was born just as I leapt through her roaring breath. I wasn’t entirely sure where she was, but I did manage a few glimpses of her as I ran. That let me get a desperation attempt at grabbing her neck, which I did.
Her breath faltered, but the explosion of fire around us stopped everyone from seeing what was happening as I clamped my arms and legs around her neck, ramming her neck spines into my stomach and chest. They’re not very large, but they’re sharp as fuck, and I can feel blood pouring out of me. More magic goes out, and my healing kicks in more as even more fire starts up. This time there’s a jet of fire flying up in the air, as if she’s spraying uncontrollably from within the ball of fire.
Except she’s not. She’s struggling to keep her neck straight as I pull with everything in me, bending it backwards and feeling her throat start to collapse under my grip.
Her wings can hit me, but not knock me off. Her front claws can’t reach me. That starts her trying to get me with her back claws, which actually come closest. I lucked into a good spot, though, and they can hit me, just not pierce me with her vicious claws.
More and more fire flares to life around us, some mine still but some also hers. She’s not getting that it’s not doing anything to me.
Her neck is straining under my grip as I hit us with a tiny silence spell so that only she can hear me, “I didn’t want any of this, Daniela. I never wanted to kill you.”
A loud grating pop sounded, and her huge body behind me started twitching as we began falling towards the ground. My magic helped, and we hit the ground in an explosion of dirt. Then again. As that happened, her power drained into me, and I felt fucking amazing. I could be way wrong, but she had more power than she thought she had.
More magic poured out of me, and my skin began to blister like crazy in the heat, then the huge cloud of fire poofed away, letting the students see inside the circle for the first time in way too long.
There’s stunned silence as everyone sees the dragon laid out, with me right next to it.
“Get up, Daniela, you got another challenge coming!” Alison still won’t let it die.
You shoulda heard the furor when I was the one that started moving. Stiffly, mind you. My skin is burned and blistered, but it’s not anywhere near what it should have been. I should have been a blackened skeleton and that’s it, so being alive is way on the other side of good news to me right now.
“That’s impossible! No human could have beaten her! How did you do that!” She’s literally frothing at the mouth as she crosses into the circle.
Instead of approaching her, I stayed put and watched her come closer. “Good try. Distracting me like that. I’d like to point out that it didn’t work. Not my fault she broke her own neck like a dumbass.” My blood is dry from the heat, yet it’s obvious that I’ve been stabbed like 30 times or more from my legs all the way up my stomach and then my chest. I’m happy as hell that one of those things didn’t get me in the vag. Bad enough my right boob was stabbed twice. Those things aren’t short, but they’re not huge. Thank God.
She stopped and looked over the huge dragon, “You should have been dead!”
“Yeah. I should have been.”
Her foot made Daniela’s head wobble, “You have 30 days. 30. I’ll be back. If you fuck with me? I’ll be back sooner. I don’t know how she forced this challenge, but I’ll find it out. When I do? Then we’ll get to dance together. I’ll consume you. Your class will get to see a true mage at work and not a pathetic fuck-up like you.”
She walked, taking the others with her, and leaving me with my own class again.
Mr. Bailey stared at me in horror from the side, “Hey, Mr. Bailey! Perhaps you should move back to teaching the entire class? Just a thought.” He didn’t respond, just stared at me in mild horror.
Good. Maybe he’ll think about this and stop his shit.
Shane hit Levi’s arm, “Broke her own fucking neck?”
The gold dragon moved into the circle, looking over the damage, “We heard it. What’d you do, get ahold of her neck somehow?”
Wincing as I touched one of the cuts, I shrugged, “Kinda obvious. She couldn’t reach me with her legs, so…wham. Into the ground. Hit too hard. Neck broke.” There, none of that should read as a lie.
“You’re one fucking lucky stricken.”
Pretty consistent thoughts from the others, too.
Kaylee cried and thanked me for saving her and then cried more over my injuries. Then she left when others started following my slow trek back to my room. I’m so tempted to ask them wh
y they’re following me, I just figured it’ll come up at some point. It made for an interesting little train as I entered, with Angelica, Gage, and Kynal taking seats on my couch, while Samantha, Parece, Riley, and Paige split up between the other couch and chair.
The odd mix had me pausing, wondering if I should heal and get cleaned up first or if I can sit without messing up the chair. Instead of making a decision, I looked back at the group, “Oh hey, fellow academy-dwellers.”
Paige didn’t react to my comment, “You won.”
“I did. I thought that was kinda obvious.”
“You won. That was impossible. How the fuck did you do that?”
“Luck? I had no idea I missed her shifting. UK distracted me totally.”
“She doesn’t fucking get it.”
Riley sighed, “No, she gets it. She’s distracting us with other things.”
“I don’t get it, what do you mean?” Paige focused back on me, as if looking for me to do something distracting. I’m so tempted to come up with something.
“She does that. She makes comments. She does something. Something that throws people off.” She fell silent for a minute. “I never really went into details about it. That first time we were in here? She ended up leaving? Going into the bathroom?”
“Yeeeah? What’s up with that?”
“I had a spell up. It was set up to stop people from entering or exiting unless I wanted them to."
"Right?"
"You’re missing it. I didn’t kill the spell. I didn’t let her into the bathroom. I mentioned at the time that it was crushed? She broke it. I’m pretty sure without really knowing what she was doing.”
Dammit, Riley!
Samantha stood up, “This is just too much. You come in here and you’re this weird stricken. White hair. White eyes. You smell kinda like a dragon, but you’re not. You’ve won two challenges and a thing with a teacher. You supposedly lucked into the first win. The teacher killed herself. Also luck. Now this one? You should have been dead once the fire started. Only other fire affinities could have withstood that. Or someone in dragon form.”
“She also withstood ice today.” Riley nodded at my look. “You got up and walked away like it’s nothing.”
