Chapter Twenty-Seven: Time's A-tickin'

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“What’s your problem?”

“Don’t have one,” James responded, lowering his head to stare at his feet.

“Don’t bullshit me.” Anna’s eyes flashed with dangerous emerald light. “You’re avoiding everyone. Even now, you’re running off on your own without a single word to anybody else.”

“I paid my respects. There’s too much to do before the monsters come,” he deadpanned, turning away again. “I suggest you spend your time more productively.”

Roots exploded under his feet. When Anna blinked away the dust and dirt her attack caused, James stood before her with a cold expression on his face. No matter how many times she saw his speed, it still amazed her.

Those he’d fought beside had aptly given him the nickname Speed King. The way he moved couldn’t be followed by anybody with less than fifty Alacrity. She had that and still had trouble tracking his movements.

“This isn’t a fight you want to take,” he said, touching a weapon at his waist she hadn’t ever seen before. “Your raw magical strength might impress and intimidate others, but you’re not my match. I don’t want to hurt you, Anna, so do us both a favor and leave me alone.”

There were so many things she wanted to say to the older boy. Seeing his look and the seriousness in his eyes made her clamp her mouth shut and swallow down all of them. She let her hands drop to her side.

“I’ve heard what you did, James. Nobody blames you for what happened.” She clenched her fists. “At least you were there for him when he needed it.”

James didn’t seem to hear her, and if he did, nothing phased him.

“Why are you being so heartless?” she whispered vehemently.

“Am I though?” he said from right next to her. “As you said, I was there. You can’t understand. You may beat yourself up, but don’t project your bullshit on me. I know where my faults lie, and I’m not throwing a pity party for myself like so many others have.”

I didn’t see him move. He’s gotten even faster, she realized, flinching away from the close contact. “You’ve improved.”

“And I’ll keep at it.” He rested a hand against her shoulder. He scoffed as his hand tightened around her shoulder, hurting her enough to make her grunt. “He asked me to hold back my growth for all of you, you know? He’s a monster in his own right, but he didn’t want all of you to feel like there was an impossible mountain to climb. I wish I would’ve ignored him. So many died because of that order. If I were stronger then, I wouldn’t have—no,” he shook his head and chuckled sadly, “it’s a waste of time and energy to even have this talk. Time is limited, and you’re wasting mine. Goodbye, Anna.”

Just like that, he disappeared without a trace.

Habitually, she channeled healing to the aching shoulder as she stared at the spot he’d occupied seconds before. Something broke in him after the raid, that much she could figure out herself.

But if he’d been holding out all this time and limiting himself, what would his true power look like? Already, she couldn’t touch him. He’d proved that much.

Leaning back against the side of the wall while looking around allowed her to see something peculiar. A distraction drew her attention away from the interaction, and her curiosity got the better of her.

The last thing she wanted to do exactly as he said and waste more time. Time was a-ticking and had the tendency to wait for no mortal.

Pushing off the wall, her sneakers crunched against the rocky ground. The crowd all moved from the same place, the funeral she’d left a little early to catch James before he disappeared without a trace again, and flowed towards a familiar place she’d once spent many countless hours with Aiden.

The training field.

Moonlight made everything visible, almost as if daytime, so she saw the ruckus long before she reached it. Dozens already occupied the training field where Tauvar took center stage, dancing around three D-ranked hunters.

These three specifically had been a part of the first few groups to follow them to Midrath. Seeing them now made bile rise in the back of her throats. So much time had passed, and they’d done little with it since coming. Their initial E-rank barely shifted up to the next level as they spent all their time lazing around after completing their minimum quotas for basic contribution to Zion.

Types like those irked her, and Tauvar seemed to share the sentiment. She watched his moves closely, recognizing the skill of his movement. He dodged everything they threw at him, be it magic or otherwise, without moving his feet once. The prowess in which he manipulated the three made her reevaluate the boy.

After everything Josh had said about Tauvar in the Town Hall, she’d thought he lacked the skill to back up his words. The opposite seemed true the longer she watched. Instead of lacking the strength, he’d lacked confidence.

Even against the three D-rankers, he displayed proficiency almost on par with an A-rank. She could tell he held back a lot as his still sheathed sword rapped repeatedly against the three whenever they tried to rush him.

In only a minute, they couldn’t bring themselves to rise to challenge him again. She hoped someone stronger would challenge him so she could get a better read, but it didn’t seem as though anybody would.

The crowd’s members consisted of none equal to or greater than his rank.

As she continued to observe the situation, the results spoke for themselves. The next three that approached shared the same rank as the three being dragged out of the way by the other onlookers and placed to the side of the training field.

These three, newer arrivals, approached more cautiously after witnessing the severity in which he would punish mistakes. Even from where she stood, it didn’t take much to see that his strikes all targeted sensitive vitals.

Walking around to the other side to see the damage done by his antics revealed far more damage than she thought possible in the time since the funeral completed. By her count, twenty-one E-rankers and fifteen D-rankers groaned and nursed their painful bruises.

One of them saw her and reached out. “Help us, please! Everything hurts!”

Without sparing another second, she turned away. Pain taught valuable lessons, and letting them revel in it would allow those lessons to sink in further. She’d learned that much through her own personal experiences.

Idly, she thought of Aiden as she watched Tauvar lecture the low ranked members of Zion. The biggest concern that made her heart ache had everything to do with the person she’d grown closest to in the last month.

Will he hate me like they do?

“This is pathetic to watch,” a familiar voice growled.

“Fuck yourself, Adam.” She glared up at the taller boy and barely contained the urge to skewer and bleed him dry. She could do it and wanted to give in to that impulse. More than anything, she wished to make him feel the same way he had made her feel. The fact he interrupted her while she thought of Aiden only added salt on the fresh wounds etched into her very soul. “Have you made a habit of repeating yourself? Might be from all that brain damage you received after being captured by the Valkyr. Makes me wonder about the genius behind going off on your own.”

“The irony isn’t lost on me. Last I checked,” he pointed at her, “you and lover boy ran off with the rest of them and left everyone else behind to fend for themselves.”

“You wanted to protect people who weren’t willing to protect themselves and put everyone else in danger to do so. Aiden knew where to find hope, and all of you basically spit in his face when he did all he knew to survive. If anybody is pathetic, you are for thinking you can place the blame on anybody but yourself and the fools who joined you.” She shook her head and uncharacteristically spit at his feet.

He mocked her by shaking in fear then rolled his eyes. “You’re an idiot who thinks too highly of herself. You don’t scare anybody, especially not me.”

“The bullshit coming out of your mouth isn’t worth the wasted air. Just how many did you lead to their deaths because you couldn’t acknowledge your way wasn’t the only way? That someone else might have been able to stand up and be the hero and forced you to take the backburner.” The twitch of his brow gave her great satisfaction. “Thought so.”

“Why did I even waste my time trying to talk to you?”

“Good question. So if you could go away, that would make us both a lot happier.” She gestured back the way he’d come, but rather than be sensible, he pushed through the onlookers, entered the training field, and approached Tauvar. “I hate him so much.”

Moving closer to hear their conversation required her to follow suit and push through the crowd. By the time she got within distance to hear anything, Adam had done what Adam did best and pissed Tauvar off.

“Screw you, ungrateful dickhead!” one of the crowd members shouted, a lanky boy that looked to be a freshman, as he charged Adam.

Anna winced as Adam barely moved and sent the younger kid flying through the air to join the others outside the field. She heard something crack and rushed over, a healing ball already concocted by the time she slid onto her knees by his side.

Blood spilled from his lips and the impact wound around his chest, indicative of a near-fatal attack. She didn’t have time at that moment to waste on Adam. If she didn’t act quick, the boy would die.

Another five healing balls formed over his downed form and sank into his skin seconds later. Even then, she had to continue channeling very controlled amounts of Essence into his chest. Too much would overload his pathways and short circuit his body.

Seconds later, the worst of it passed. A lattice sank over his body and invigorated his pathways, directing all the energy towards patching everything up right and tidy for the next hour. Had he been C-rank or above, she could’ve just flooded his body, taken control of his pathways, and instantly healed the injury with his own internal Essence.

But when it came to those under a certain threshold, healing became risky. Anybody could heal those that were stronger, but it took a fine touch to heal someone without stabilized internal Essence or any amount worth giving a second look.

Once finished, she rose like a bat out of hell and stomped towards the offender. To most in attendance, Tauvar and Adam exchanged attacks too quickly to follow. Knowing James made them look like amateurs in her eyes.

The training field shook as she took control of the nature Essence in the ground. However, she didn’t make it far before a streak of purple lightning arced towards her from the other side of the field.

Maddie! Anna’s nose hairs curled as the smell of ozone overwhelmed any other smell or and the sharp crack of her attack resounded off the ground, walls, and sloping mountain path. She gave Tauvar a worried look as Adam’s playful punches kept the boy in check easily. What the hell is this all about?

Seeing the other girl made her realize a few things fast. She hadn’t asked how many of those captured had survived after being captured or how many died before then. The only others she could remember were Melony and Isabella.

Four.

Of all those left behind, Anna remembered four of them. The only two she’d seen stood before her on the training field, and it made her wonder just what they’d been through.

Emerald Essence sparked across her fingers and spread into a rectangular shield that blocked the next attack from the young girl. Her cold demeanor and lack of hesitation spoke volumes about what they might’ve experienced.

Should we have done more to convince them? Looking at them now, she didn’t have a good answer. Her gut said yes, but they’d made their intentions clear. The others had made their choice.

Hindsight was powerful.

And didn’t make anything easier when it came to understanding where the fault, if any existed in the first place, should end up. Though she truly considered the only ones to be absolutely at fault the meddling gods and goddesses that remained acting behind the scenes. Were it not for them, none of this would’ve ever happened.

As nice as that sounded, the two in front of her more than likely couldn’t give a single shit about logic and reason.

Guess it’s time to ramp things up a notch.

Emerald pools replaced her eyes. The Essence around her vibrated the very air and tampered with fundamental laws. One of those laws being gravity.

Her feet left the ground, and so did many others. Adam’s next attack fizzled out as all the leverage, momentum, and power behind the movement halted entirely. Maddie’s lightning cracked and slammed into the dense aura surrounding Anna, but it didn’t progress far before fizzling out into nothingness.

Anna didn’t have the same problem. With a single gesture, vines wrapped around them and drained any traces of Essence from their bodies within a split second. Two small vine golems rose from the ground and carried them towards the Town Hall.

“Uh, thanks… I think?” Tauvar said, awkwardly tapping his still-undrawn sword. “Anything I can do to help?”

When she turned her powerful gaze towards him, he flinched away. “Keep going. You’re doing a good job. Every little thing helps. I’ll be putting these two in timeout for a little bit so they can cool off.”

“Oh!” He looked around at the mesmerized crowd. At the same time, they were scared shitless and quickly got out of the way as Anna continued her path. “Thanks, Anna!”

“Don’t mention it,” she halfheartedly replied.

Though she’d subdued the two easily, she felt far from happy.

Just what have you gone through, and what happened to the rest? One way or another, I’ll get answers to my questions. She looked at Adam and grinned wickedly. Let’s hope he resists. There’s a few settings in the jail I wanted to play around with.