“Why are you throwing knives?”

“Because I can’t punch and kick everything.”

“From what you said about your practice, you can’t punch and kick a lot of things,” Levi laughs.

“Keep laughing, I’m pretty sure I can hit you from here.”

“I’m just saying, a gun would be better.”

“Guns are loud, expensive and hard to get.”

“You want to be all sneaky? I thought you were just going to kick in the door to the secret sorcerer castle and beat them all up,” Levi shrugs and turns his back to me.

“You’re showing all your teeth today.”

“I’m just not a fan of standing in random alleyways and watching you throw knives at a piece of wood. Good job, you hit the wood again. Go Najar,” he waves his fingers in the air.

“You don’t need to be here. You came on your own.”

We’ve spent another six days here, and my patience is wearing thin. Levi is still stuck on this idea of building a life here. I want nothing to do with that. I could have followed the migrants and built a life following the light. I could have joined up with the sorcerers, found some other merchants. But that’s not what I want. I want to bring the light back to the world. I want to find sunshine again. I’ve spent so much time here and the only thing I have to show for it is a bunch of bruises because I keep losing to mask boy at the dojo.

“Whatever, I’m going back to the-,” I don’t hear Levi finish his sentence.

I turn to spot mask boy holding Levi hostage, “Hello,” he greets me with a wave.

“Let my friend go.”

“Or what? You going to hit me? We’ve seen how well that works,” I’m not sure if that was sinister or playful.

“Just let him go.”

“Love the mask by the way, why don’t you wear it at the dojo?”

“We’re not friends.”

“Who said we were?”

I don’t know what he wants, I don’t know if he’ll hurt Levi but I’m so fed up with the both of them, I don’t even care. He’s feeling talkative tonight, and I’m not. My aim is perfect, I know it is. Since I’ve been wearing the mask more often, I’ve been getting sick less often. I’ve been practicing so my arm doesn’t get tired, not because I need to work on my aim. He keeps taunting me as Levi puts up the worst fight of his life. I’ve gotten more pushback on wanting to leave the city than he’s giving mask boy. I’m tired of all of this. I fling one of my knives at his knee, my aim is perfect. He throws Levi into a pile of trash. I can’t see past the mask, but I know he’s smirking.

He takes up stance for a fight, but I’m not playing fair. I take a knife in each hand and prepare to take him on. He tilts his head to the side, either confused or amused but he doesn’t waste time closing the gap. He’s more aggressive than in class, but I’m able to keep dodging his punches in kicks until there’s an opening. I wait for my moment and take a low slash at his legs, he jumps and dodges, but I take a wide swing at his chest. It’s not a killing blow, and I’m not sure I hurt him, but I did manage to leave a cut across his shirt. He backs off for a second and we reset positions.

“Levi,” I call out when I see him standing.

“What? What do you want?”

“Can you use your magic?”

“Yeah.”

“When we get close, use it to make me heavier and him Lighter.”

“Shut up and fight,” Mask boy calls out.

I take it as a challenge and move in. I don’t feel anything as we start to exchange blows. I don’t feel any different, this is what I get for expecting Levi to help me. We’re closer than before. I can’t get a good angle to use the knife and I’m taking too many punches. I think it’s because his arms are shorter than mine. When the magic finally kicks in, I feel it instantly. I take his punch right on the chin and return with an over hand punch that drops him to his knees. I follow up with a kick to his chin that sends him flying. Revenge is good. He gathers his composure from the ground. No remarks this time, he’s serious. Good, so am I. He rushes in and I prepare to drop him again but he dodges me and keeps running. He passes me and jumps, kicking off a wall before landing a punch right in Levi’s face.

“You bumpkins aren’t as smart as you think you are,” now he’s talking again, laughing even.

There’s a quick exchange of blows but he takes out my legs and leaves me on my knees and disarms me of my knives. Was he just playing with me earlier? I debate lunging for one of my knives or attacking him without them, but he’s approaching me too fast. I close my eyes expecting a finishing blow, but it doesn’t come. He just places a hand on my shoulder.

“It’s over now, you lost.”

“I’m not done yet.”

“Oh, you were done when I touched your shoulder.”

“What?”

“Give it a second.”

Nothing happens and I’m confused by what he’s saying. I feel my every piece of my body light up. Every inch of my body is feeling pain worse than I’ve ever felt before. I close my eyes, trying to figure out what’s happening. Even my eyelids closing causes me pain. What did he do to me. I try to stand and run but my body is in too much pain, it gives out on me and I slam to the ground. The pain it causes is too much. My vision blurs, I scram out in pain.