“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.
