“Get the fuck up.”

The man barked at me. I obeyed without hesitation, fearing another hit. My eye twitched, but I averted my gaze and turned back to the small pile of kindling I was supposed to be lighting. I did not want to come out of this more damaged than necessary.

“Try again,” the brute of a man said from behind me.

I breathed in, closed my eyes, and tried again.

The man was trying to get me to conjure a flame. Because apparently, a flame was the easiest thing to make as a mage; it was the simplest way for the soul to shape energy. As even a basic mage, I was supposed to be able to do it. But what the man didn’t want to hear was that I wasn’t a mage and no matter how many times he yelled at me, it wasn’t going to happen.

With his sharp gaze cutting into my back, though, and even sharper knives strapped to his waist, I tried anyway. Collecting my thoughts, clearing my mind, and feeling every bit of energy I could, I tried again to force heat out through my hand.

Nothing happened. Just like before. There was no flame, no light, no magic. Not even a noticeable change in temperature.

I sighed, biting back a curse as I knew what would come next. Accepting my failure for the third time in a row, I turned to the man and looked him directly in the eyes. My eyes narrowed a sliver, unwavering under the pressure of his stature. His brows raised in anticipation, hope sparkling in his light brown eyes, but I squashed that in a heartbeat. I shook my head.

The man hardened his gaze and stepped forward. For a moment, nothing happened, with only the man’s accelerating breaths filling the suddenly still air. Then his fist flew out, and I was knocked to my knees.

Spit flew out of my mouth, my jaw stiffened unnaturally, and my own teeth slashed at the inside of my cheek. Breathing heavily and spitting droplets of blood out onto the ground, I grunted. I couldn’t help it. It hurt.

The man growled. “Stop playing with me! Drel said you were useful, dammit. He felt it on you. So just do it before I have to kill you.”

I had to swallow a scoff, wincing at the way the man’s raspy voice invaded my ears. His words hung in the air. I paid them no mind. Instead, I spat into the dirt and turned my head, looking at the pile of splinters I was meant to light.

I wasn’t going to be able to do it. I knew I wasn’t. The realization made me sick. Yet, I knew that if I didn’t do it, I was going to die.

So I quelled my anger as best I could and stood back up. My frustration simmered, bubbling just beneath the surface. I had to stop it from getting the better of me. But as I closed my eyes, focusing back on the pile of splinters, I felt nothing. No heat. No energy. No magic. It felt like bashing my brain against the inside of my skull—I just wasn’t able to do it.

A growl slipped through my teeth and I turned, not seeing any other real option. The man glared at me with both hands clenched into tight fists. I wasn’t intimidated. I didn’t show any fear. If I showed my fear to him, it would only be even worse.

Instead, I looked him right in the eyes, making sure he met my gaze, and shook my head.

The man trembled with anger, veins bulging out of his forehead. “You won’t do it, rat? Well you can’t say I didn’t warn you.”

His raspy, grating words reached my ears at the same time as his fist. It plowed into the side of my head, sending jolts of blunt, white-hot pain streaming through my skin and throwing my body to the side like a rag doll. I yelled, my body clattering to the ground like an unused piece of wood.

When I picked myself back up, I was coughing, spitting even more blood into the dirt as I pulled my teeth apart. I winced in pain, the afternoon sun burning the side of my face. Patting my skin, I tried to brush away the light, and only ended up getting blood on my fingers instead.

I closed my eyes tight, trying to steady my breathing. I coughed hard, again, and trembled as I tried to get myself under control. Feeling a burning rage seeping into my veins, I slammed my eyes open and twisted my head back to the man of wrath. He was already standing above me, fists raised and twitching confidence in his eyes. But he didn’t strike. Instead, he just took a ragged breath like he was remembering something.

“Try again.”

I jerked my head back, blinking. But I didn’t argue. I shoved down the rage burning in my chest and uncurled my fists. Sparing only one glance at the man, I twisted back toward the wood. I tried again.

Taking a deep breath and realizing that this was probably my last chance, I gave it another shot. My mind went clear. I felt my entire body. I felt the energy within it, swirling as it fed through my bones and through the back of my mind. I grasped onto that energy. I gripped it tight.

And I moved it.

Or I attempted to, at least. When I opened my eyes and focused on the pile of wood though, nothing happened. All I got was another wave of frustration and more banging on my skull. Wind brushed over my skin, twirling through my fingers with impossible grace. And at that exact moment, that grace froze me as the breeze barreled through, taking my last shred of hope along with it. My hands shook in morbid anticipation as I twisted my neck to stare at the man a final time.

I winced internally, keeping the expression away from my face. I shook my head, and he was on me in a second.

The first punch knocked me in the jaw and made me stumble backward. As I stabilized myself, adjusting to shorter legs, I glanced back at the man only to see him already moving. I was more ready for the second punch. I brought my arm up to defend, hoping to hinder the blow. But with my new, weak limbs, it still hurt like hell and it still knocked me back.

He rushed anew, fists raised and not letting up. I barely dodged out of the way, but he was faster than me anyway. He turned on his heel, barely losing any speed, and slammed into me with all of his weight.

I fell to the ground, breath vanishing from my lungs. Pain itched at my insides and I tried to wail, to scream in agony as air rushed back into my throat. The man crouched beside me, grinning, and hit me again. The punch only halfway landed on my raised arm. I grimaced, my face contorting into a horrible display of pain that I hadn’t shown in years. Ashamed, I covered myself, but another punch never came.

After a few long moments, I lowered my hands. Just enough to see the man again. And when I saw him, the vile rage still burning in his eyes, his grin split wider. My hands tried to shield my face, but he had something different in mind. All heavy breathing stopped as his hands wrapped around my neck.

My eyes bugged out and I scratched the man, desperately trying to save my windpipe. Anger, fear, surprise, and pain all mixed together, swirling in my mind. I gasped, feeling nothing touch my lungs. My desperation grew, and as it grew, my drive grew with it. But as moments bled together, my fingers weakened. There seemed no way to get out.

The banging on the inside of my skull returned, harder this time, and I frantically kicked out. Weak legs pushed against an immovable object, but the pain didn’t stop.

My brain screamed, my mind burned, and everything seemed to slow down. My eyes drooped and pain got clouded over by fog. Blood ran cold in my veins, thickening with each passing second. And yet, somewhere along the line, I must’ve become able to breathe.

“Get off!” my voice screamed. The piercing sound broke through the pain and left me seething in power and confusion. My voice… wasn’t entirely mine. I hadn’t ordered the words. But they’d come out nonetheless.

In the back of my mind, a sleeping force woke up, and I felt energy filling my body. Slowly, as time sped back to its normal space, power trickled out through my veins and into my muscles, twitching in wait. My eyesight sharpened, my hearing deepened, and as the slow-motion faded, I looked directly at the man on top of me.

Not fully in control, my fingers grabbed at the hands around my neck and pried them off. In the corners of my vision, a white haze danced as I attacked, but I couldn’t pay it much attention. My hands moved rapidly, flailing in strangely coordinated movements as I tracked the man’s face.

Everything became hot as I punched the man, over and over. The white haze in my vision deepened and my hands erupted into white flames. Something about the white fire was familiar to me, but I couldn’t place it through the crazed attack.

My fists rammed into the man’s armor, creating a burn mark each time. He grunted and staggered, scrambling backward. His eyes filled with burning terror as he stared at me. I just growled and slammed right back into him. A flurry of blows followed, seeming to crack the air around me as I knocked the man to the ground. Then, standing above him and seething, I stopped.

Slowly, unsteadily, and with a whole lot of effort, I came down from my craze.

My eyes widened. I could do little more than gasp. As the white haze dampened, the blockade broke and questions flooded my mind. The power, the fighting, the flames—I didn’t understand any of it.

Shaking my head, I darted my eyes to the man. Charcoal-black singe marks covered his body and he was shifting unconsciously as if trying to squirm away from the torment. Blood ran out of his nose, but even that was burned. Reality hit me like a falling church as I stared, the truth of the situation sending bile up in my throat.

I swallowed it down while the white haze receded, leaving me cold and bare. Energy flowed out of me just as readily as it had flowed in and evaporated into the air. And after a while, it was just me. Standing, staring, and trembling over a much larger man in the middle of the camp.

I could’ve freaked out—I wanted to—but I knew better than that. After being a fighter for my entire life, my instincts were honed sharper than that. I forced my thoughts into order and pushed back against the raging sea in my head as I realized what I had to do next. The thought came to me slowly, scraping its way to prominence in my mind.

I had to get out.

My impulse-driven body leaped into action and shots of ice-cold steel flooded my veins. I gritted my teeth and tore my gaze from the man, the objects of necessity revealing themselves one by one. I had to get out of this camp. I had to get to town. I had to get help.

Running through the options still spinning in my head, I grasped onto a plan of action. Then, swallowing harder, I crouched down next to the unconscious man and produced the keys from his pocket.

For a moment as I stood back up, I stared again. The blood. The bruises. The burn marks. A shiver raced down my spine. I didn’t understand any of it, but I tore away enough to compose myself. Clutching the keys, I turned on my heel and sprinted back the way I’d come. I sprinted all the way back to the cell.

The worn and uncomfortable shoes the barkeep had given me beat furiously on the dirt as I worked my way back. Weaving around the trail we’d used to get there, I retraced my steps and pushed on. The small metal cell lined together with about a dozen others on the plain came into view in short time. I hoped and prayed that nobody in the camp would see me.

By the time I came up to the cell, my muscles were screaming and I was far beyond out of breath. I ignored it all. I didn’t need it now. I would have time to be exhausted after I got out of this world’s forsaken camp.

Running up on shaky legs, I jammed the key into the lock and threw open the door to wake the woman inside.

The woman jumped, her metal boots scraping against the floor. “What?” was all she was able to ask before she noticed my glare.

“We need to get out of here,” I said, breathy and cold.

The woman—Kye, she’d told me—rubbed her eyes. “What happened? How did you—“

I didn’t let her finish. I couldn’t let her finish. We didn’t have time for it. I needed to leave, and I needed her help to do it.

“It doesn’t matter right now,” I said. “We need to leave.”

She opened her mouth but nodded instead. After a few moments of sitting with pursed lips, she pushed herself off the ground and looked me right in the eyes. “Okay,” she sighed. “What’s the plan?”

I stopped, freezing in place. Her words echoed off my skull, nearly sending everything spinning again. The plan? I didn’t know. I didn’t have a plan. I just needed to get out.

Words came to be slowly but surely. “Do you know where Sarin is from here?” I asked.

She scoffed. “Of course. But how are we supposed to get out of here?”

“I…” I started, but nothing more came out. A hurried breath fell from my lips with a painful realization. I truly didn’t know.

The tall woman eyed me, tapping her foot. I could feel the weight of her gaze, the intent behind it. But as I thought, wracking my brain for any semblance of a plan, I was at a loss. I had nothing.

Finally, she sighed. “Okay. We’re going to have to wing it then.”

I blinked. But she didn’t wait up, pushing past me and into the grass. I turned on my heel, staring at her wide-eyed. “Wing it? We can’t just—“

“You haven’t said anything about a better idea,” she shot back before I could continue. “Now, I don’t know how you got away from being tested, but that doesn’t matter now. I’m in full agreement that we need to get out.” She squinted out at the camp around us. “This place isn’t guarded all over… I’m sure we can sneak off.” The ghost of a smirk floated at her lips, but she was right. I didn’t have a better idea.

So, ignoring the pointed comments she’d made, I nodded. And when she nodded back, her smile breaking through, I pursed my lips.

“How do you suggest we ‘wing it’ then?”

Her smirk wavered for a moment. She whirled around, her eyes almost swirling with energy as she scanned the land around us. “Nobody is around for a little ways,” she said as if it was natural to know. I furrowed my brow. She continued on. “If we keep close to the cells, we should be okay.”

I nodded slowly, unsure. But I was forced to agree. “So we’re just going to sneak off and hope they don’t notice?”

Kye shook her head, flashing a smirk my way. “Follow my lead.”

I opened my mouth to complain, but she was already moving. Stepping back to the cell, she took the metal door and slammed it shut. The sharp metal clang shook the world around me. I froze in place. She was gone in a flash of movement, hurrying down the line of cells.

Far slower than I would’ve enjoyed, I unfroze and followed right after her. “What the hell was that?” I hissed as I struggled to catch up.

She didn’t look back at me, only squinting in a direction beyond the line of metal cages. “Sarin is that way,” she said, tilting her head. “And if we don’t get spotted, we should be able to get to the main path from here.”

My pace slowed as lines appeared on my forehead. I stared at the woman draped in unfamiliar blue cloth while doubt rose up. She’d just ignored my question. Pretended it didn’t exist. And the things she was doing didn’t inspire me with much hope.

But as shouts sounded off in the distance, I sped right back up. My muscles screamed. I just ignored them as I once more matched her pace. By the time I was only a few paces away again, we were almost at the end of the line. After glancing back, her eyes danced on me for only a moment before she sped up again and swept around the corner.

A soft wail, long and hollow, lilted to my ears from the cell to my side. I gritted my teeth and stiffened my neck. I wanted to look, but it wouldn’t have been any use. I was having enough trouble saving myself.

When I ducked around the last corner as well, my breath accelerating with each step, Kye’s form caught my eye. She glared frozen daggers at me, energy dancing in her eyes, and held a finger to her lips.

“They’re coming,” she said.

I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry, and pressed myself against the metal wall. Standing there in wait, I strained my ears. But I couldn’t hear anything. The shouting was gone. My lips parted to speak, but a heavy breath consumed my words. I almost burst out coughing, only barely holding back the sound as light air tickled my lungs.

Hearing my soft coughs, Kye glared at me again. I stifled the last of the sounds still slipping from my lips. Then, glancing over at her, I saw her angling her head as if tracking a sound in the distance. I furrowed my brow and perked my ears again, hearing nothing.

But then, slowly but surely, the sound revealed itself to me.

Footsteps.

Again, in the distance, I heard the distinct sound of boots on dirt. I froze. Someone was coming. Kye was right somehow, though I still didn’t know how the hell she could’ve known before me.

I turned to her and opened my mouth. She shook her head and went back to listening. She didn’t want me to talk. She was waiting for something, something that I apparently couldn’t hear.

“What?” a voice called from a familiar distance. I immediately understood.

Whoever was walking toward us had found our cell. Empty. After a couple more seconds of silence, the distant voice started yelling and Kye looked to me again. Her lips curled up and she only nodded once before surging off the wall and running straight into the field.

With a smile of my own, I followed right behind.

It was actually quite genius. Whoever had heard our cell door slamming shut had come to investigate. And when they’d gotten there, they’d seen only an empty cell and had started yelling. Their booming voice and the commotion raised around us drowned out the sounds of our escape. As our feet pounded on dry ground, nobody could detect us over the clamor raised in the camp.

I didn’t know if Kye had planned it or if she just got lucky, but either way, it worked. And either way, I was impressed.

So we ran, her much faster than me, out of the low, sparse field and up into greener plains. Grass crunched beneath my feet as I ran for my life. I pushed away the pain as well as I could and eventually, the lined dirt path came into view behind increasingly tall grass. Kye then ducked behind a large rock formation jutting out of the ground.

I did the exact same thing far too many seconds later as I finally caught up.

My legs slowed. Air rushed into my lungs. And it was that exact moment that my body chose to remind me of its weak, miserable existence. Leaning against the jutting rock, I slid to the ground.

Above me, I heard the woman let out a breathy laugh. When I looked up at her though, she had me fixed with a deadly stare. “Now,” she said. “You have some serious explaining to do.”