From my hidden vantage point around the corner, I peek outside just barely, using the future as much as my own natural eyes. I’m worried about someone shooting an arrow at me, but it seems like the Rainstopper Sect disdains such weapons because I’ve yet to see anyone using anything more than throwing knives and axes. Meera’s small leather-clad form advances outwards and is soon met by four darting shadows. The other Rainstopper candidates are easily identifiable from their movement patterns. Not as fast as the finished products I’m used to, but way faster than anyone we’ve seen in the last three days. My head is pounding, and I’m in a poor mood from being woken up. I keep my eyes locked on Meera’s hands behind her back, waiting for her to make a fist.

“Meera…” The first to arrive speaks, a tall boy for his age, probably right up at the ten-year age limit. Jet-black hair just a tad past the bottom of his ears and a single short-sword, he reminds me a bit of Perideen. The badge on his chest reads 7. His eyes dart to my position in the cave, but I see it coming in the future and hide back inside before he catches sight of me. Sharp instincts. “Why are we doing this?”

“Lee. I’m honored that you brought so many people…” Abruptly behind her back, Meera’s hands form into two fists and I peek back out to sync up my future sight and my present. “All this, for me?”

“I know you’re not alone.” Lee’s eyes continually probe the cave entrance, and I realize I can’t pop out. Only think about sneaking looks. “Shall we begin? Is he really worth all this trouble?”

“Heh. That’s for me to decide and you to find out!” Meera draws throwing knives with a speed that she’s never shown before. Instantly, her small hands are filled with deadly metal which she sends flying in all directions with a flip to gain distance. “76, a little help!”

I suppose I can’t just leave you in the lurch.

[Muddy Stone of My Endurance, Move Forth-Meld]

Hidden in the back of the cave, I whisper under my breath and form four little triangular prisms of white stone. They float up like wriggling tendrils of some bizarre creature before splitting off into my hands, two for each palm. Within a few seconds, I mold them into their final shape. A pointy tip, three protruding edges like stabilizing fins. In the military I believe this shape is used for anti-tank rounds. It’s essentially a stone dart. If I use ice, they’ll know immediately I’m a mage, but these darts should at the least confuse them for a little while longer.

I peek around the cave side in the future and take careful note of all the scattering candidates before me. The one Meera has been talking to will be midair when I emerge. His eyes widen and his finger comes out to point at me, but this is just a practice run. Two other children cross out, one holding small daggers, the other deflecting Meera’s flying knives with an axe. I remember this one. It’s one of the ones which I saw earlier climbing the cliffs. Returning to the present, this time, I pop out of the cave for real. I don’t peek. This is no rehearsal. I know everything already. Flicking my dart-laden fingers out, I throw them while mentally chanting-

[Stormy Breeze of My Loneliness, Gather Forth-Gust]

It’s a difficult spell. I can only cast one mental Gust, but by having it come out of both hands, if I aim them in different directions, I can attack multiple targets. Splitting my attention and aim, I send the two darts of my left-hand zipping towards the body of the one called Lee with his short swords. Caught in midair trying to dodge Meera’s throwing knives, the additional projectiles take him completely by surprise. Even more surprising is the speed however. His eyes flicker to me and widen as the wind propels my darts like bullets, adding to the speed of my throw.

*Shing*

*Thwuck*

One dart is struck by his sword, even midair and upside down he somehow blocks it. The other smashes into his calves. The power is…surprising. Practicing with Perideen using this technique proved ineffective against his defensive Qi. Against someone my own age though…it shatters bone and I see his right leg deform out of the corner of my eye. He drops to the ground, still moving. Evidently his own master has trained him to resist even that level of pain. However, Meera gains the breathing room to break away from him and start running. On the other side, my right hand sends two darts out towards the other two approaching candidates. Though their rankings are worse, I can’t make them out in the chaos, my attack finds them with their footing still established on the ground. An axe knocks both my projectiles out of the air. Despite the failure to connect, a shocked expression appears on the boy’s face as the tip of his axe chips from the impact. Without hesitating, he turns, switching targets from me, and throws the hatchet towards Meera’s fleeing back.

Not good!

I see it coming, of course I do, but with less than two seconds on the clock, at this distance, Mephis’s dagger in my hands isn’t enough. There’s no time to make more darts. Never enough time. Meera’s ears twitch and I see her start to turn her head around, but she probably won’t spot it in time-

So much for your confidence!

[Stormy Breeze of My Loneliness, Gather Forth-Gust]

A quick fast chant under my breath. I don’t have a choice, unless I want to let her get hit by an axe. And at the very least, she watched over me sleep, so I owe her this much. Or maybe I’m just weak against girls. Damnit, Glacia, what did you do to me? It’s a split-second decision, but I reach out my palm, and direct a sheer blast of wind directly at the axe, sending it spinning away into a rock pillar. Instantly, everyone, from the boy whose leg I broke on the ground, to the axe-thrower, to the dagger user I don’t recognize, each and every one of them blinks in unison.

“W-What was that?” A hesitant whisper comes from Lee as he tries to bind his leg. He forgets the pain in his shock. Meera herself turns around, and I can tell she saw me too as she looks intensely between me and the shattered axe head buried in the rock pillar. “That…he’s strong enough to push the wind…no…it doesn’t make sense. He’s a mage! He’s a MAGE!”

Damn.

“A…mage?” The word’s form on Meera’s lips in the future, but I have no time to dwell on that now. Shouting out to her as I see shapes bursting out from every area of the plateau, I realize that there has to be at least a dozen other candidates about to surround us. Trap…TRAP!

“Run!” That’s all I can give her. Throwing my hands up, I finally stop hiding the truth and chant out loud. “Get out of here!”

[Frozen Wind of My Soul, Come Forth-Chill]

[Frozen Wind of My Soul, Come Forth-Chill]

Deciding that a single spell isn’t enough, I double cast Chill. It’s the first spell I ever learned, and it’s also the spell I turn to every time I’m in trouble. Focusing hard, I don’t try to aim. I’m no longer trying to hide anything. I just need to stop everyone in their tracks. I need to freeze their movements.

*Kacha*

*Kacha**Kacha**Kacha*

*Kacha**Kacha**Kacha**Kacha*

*Kacha**Kacha**Kacha*

*Kacha**Kacha*

*Kacha*

I don’t know how many ice crystals I summon.

Twenty?

Maybe thirty…?

But I let them all loose. There’s no Gust to accelerate them, it’s a simple all out uncontrolled mass of terrible sharp ice. Purposefully, I blunt the edges slightly so anyone stupid enough to get hit won’t take lethal damage. Like a cannon shooting little bits of shrapnel, all the itty bits of ice scatter to the four corners of the earth. The approaching shadows are stricken by surprise. Unlike Perideen, they do not expect my magic, even if they know I’m a mage. It’s beyond their understanding, someone as young as me, casting such large-scale spells. It’s not a blizzard, maybe I’m not at the level where I can summon something as cool as that. But it’s awe-inspiring.

*Weeeeeeng*

*Ping Ping Ping*

Little bits of ice bounce everywhere and I take the opportunity to run as all hell breaks loose. Candidates scream, searching for me amidst the rain of hail, but then I silently cast another spell, moving my lips but saying nothing. It’s a silent spell, I don’t want to make any noise, but to those members of the Rainstopper Sect who are watching, maybe it will fool them into thinking I’m just saying the words quietly-

[Flaming Ember of My Desire, Burst Forth-Burn]

A whirling jet of flame blasts out of my hands into the cloud of flurrying ice shards and then scatters amidst the roiling wind and dancing blades. Instantly the frozen water reaches the boiling point and explodes-

*Hisssss*

Fog forms as if out of nowhere, and in the chaos, no one knows who anyone is. Diving through a gap between two people, I dodge a flailing sword and break away.

“Over here!”

“Is that him?”