Rivalry

Around the wall were all the teens of the class. Some happy, others crying, all looking at the results of the last test.

“Oh no… I’m dead.”

Fulgor saw his grade and it was beyond terrible. Even the friend hand of Miles on his shoulder was not enough to comfort him.

“Better luck next time.” Said Miles, happy to be one of the best grades in the school.

“Yeah, he really needs luck if he wants to achieve anything in life.”

Approaching was Auron with a smug smile.

“You can’t be that smart. What place have you got?” Asked Fulgor feeling the sparks in his body.

“I don’t even need to look, I aced the test, as always.”

Fulgor checked just to be sure. His name was in first place, with 97% of the answers correct. At that moment, the young elemental felt a killer presence, but found no one close who was ready to attack.

“Anyway, I am going to class. You should too, don’t think that with those grades you can slack off.”

Before Auron got away, Fulgor pointed to him and started to scream, with all the other students watching.

“You are not better than me in everything!”

Auron slowly turned, challenging Fulgor with his stare.

“But I am better at everything. My grades are better, I destroy you in any sport, I am indisputably prettier and can use my power way better.”

Once again, Fulgor felt this killer instinct ready to attack, which made him look around and every classmate laughed at him. When he saw that no danger was around, he turned back to Auron who was already gone.

“I will have my revenge!” Said Fulgor with only Miles still by his side.

“Sure, but now we have to go, you really can’t slack off.”

In the middle of the lesson, Fulgor was already not understanding anything so he went to the bathroom, hoping at least not to sleep.

In front of the mirror, he was washing his face when the killer instinct happened again, way closer than the other times.

When Fulgor looked up he saw the red eyes and powerful aura enough to make him fall, until that person touched his shoulder.

“I know how you feel.” Said Kazen, the one who exudes the killer instinct, his face however appeared more excited than dangerous.

“What are you doing?!” Shout Fulgor recovering from his scare.

“I told you, I know how you feel. I had a rival in my class too, Ferrum. He was the worst but somehow people still liked him.”

“Rival?” Asked Fulgor.

“Yeah, someone who inspired you to be better, so you can win and humiliate him in front of everybody.”

The boy was still not happy with the decision Kazen made about not training them, and the student preferred to return to class instead of hearing his insane monologues.

“Forget what I said, I will help you reach the first release before Ferr-I mean, before Auron. It will be my first and last time teaching you something.”

The idea of learning the ability excited Fulgor, and he agreed that if he could be faster than Auron it would be a great win.

“Ok, I accept, but can we leave the bathroom, please?”

The pair left to the hallway where Fulgor started returning to his class, until Kazen’s hand held him.

“Where are you going?”

“To the class. You should do it, if you don’t want to lose your job.”

Kazen was not hearing Fulgor, instead was looking at his cell phone while holding the boy.

“The first release is when you connect with your element on the outside. After a while you can do it anywhere, but in the beginning you must be close to a source.”

“What are you talking about? Let’s do this after school.”

Still ignoring the student, Kazen smiled when saw his objective on the phone.

“The closest storm is in the Raijin district. Let’s go.”

Kazen pulled Fulgor away, who could not escape his grasp.

“I have class now! Besides, the Raijin district is far away, how are we getting there now?”

When they arrived at the entrance of the school Kazen made a thumbs up, trying to show that everything was alright. The next words of the assistants made Fulgor’s heart stop.”

“Third Release!”

The boy felt the heat as Kazen transformed. The crimson hair and marks on the skin, the pair of horns and huge bat wings appeared. There was less fire this time and the heat did not bother Fulgor too much. But the flight was another story.

He took off holding Fulgor, screaming for his life. Kazen flew faster than the boy felt comfortable and he thought he would die.

“This is kidnap!!!!”

The screens did not helped Fulgor, the assistant teacher was determined to teach the release to the boy.

They spent several minutes flying when Fulgor saw the dark clouds. He could hear the thunder from afar and notice that the storm was violent.

“When you said I need to get close to a source…” Started Fulgor without the courage to finish the sentence.

“I will throw you inside a storm cloud, so you can feel the lighting in your body. Then you have to become one with the lighting, that is the first release.”

That was exactly what Fulgor was feared to hear, but something more grabbed his attention.

“What do you mean you will throw me in the cloud?

“I am not crazy to go inside a storm cloud, besides, it is raining, and water beats fire. Good luck.”

Without a second notice, Kazen threw Fulgor like a baseball to the middle of the storm clouds. Fulgor was sure he would die. Not just by the fall, but elementals are not immune from their own power, and he feared being hit by lightning.

However, when Kazen said ‘good luck’ he remembered the word of Auron earlier and decided that if he was going to die, at least he would learn the first release before.

To his surprise, inside the cloud was not that bad. He could not see anything, but he felt electricity all around his body. It was his power, he could control it, maybe that was the first release.

All his excitement fled when gravity started to act, and he fell to his death.

Soon he was under the clouds, feeling heavy drops of water in his skin and seeing the ground getting closer and closer. For a second, he saw yellow marks in his arm, and he believed that was the first release, however they soon disappeared as he felt the impact.

Not the impact with the floor, but Kazen grabbing him in the middle of the air. It was not comfortable, but way better than meeting the ground.

“How was that?” Asked Kazen curious.

The only answer Fulgor had was a long laughter of excitement that even he could not explain the feeling.