Chapter 15 THE DUEL_ PART 1
CHAPTER 015: THE DUEL – PART 1
By sunrise, Duskmoor sounded different and quiet.
Sofia braided my hair tightly so it wouldn’t get in the way. Her hands were steady but her voice wasn’t.
“You know you don’t have to win.” She said. “You just have to stay alive.”
“Comforting.” I muttered.
“Not trying to comfort you.” She tied the braid. “Trying to keep you realistic.”
I breathed out slowly. My stomach felt like it had been filled with cold stones.
“Three days.” I whispered. “I trained three days.”
“And Morgana trained her whole life.” Sofia said. “Shadow magic isn’t child’s play.”
“I noticed.”
She held my shoulders. “Listen. You’re strong. You’re stupid sometimes, but you’re strong. Just don’t panic.”
I nodded.
The arena was overflowing. Students sat on stone steps, shouting, laughing, and betting. Some held signs. Some yelled Morgana’s name. Some yelled mine like it was a joke.
The platform in the center looked huge yesterday. Today it looked like a grave.
The boys were already there, blocked behind a shimmering barrier that trapped them like animals in a cage.
Kieran slammed his fist against the glass. “Thalira get over here.”
I walked towards him. He was pacing, his claws poking through his fingertips.
“Stay alert and gallant.” He said. “You hear me? Don’t let her touch you.”
Cassian leaned on the barrier, his eyes hot and restless. “If she tries anything cheap I swear I’ll…”
“You can’t do anything.” Zev cut in, his voice flat. “We’re restrained. Focus on helping her stay calm.”
Alaric’s gaze locked with mine. “You don’t have to overpower her. You have to outsmart her.”
“Easy for you all to say.” I said quietly. “I’m the one getting hit.”
Cassian gave me a cocky half smile. “Then don’t get hit.”
Kieran snapped at him. “Shut up fire boy.”
Alaric stepped closer to the barrier. His voice softened, almost a whisper. “Breathe and trust what we taught you.”
Zev didn’t move. “And don’t die.”
My laugh came out weak. “I’ll try.”
Then trumpets sounded. The crowd roared.
Morgana stepped into the arena like she owned the sky.
Her long black hair floated around her like smoke. Her shadow sigils pulsed dark across her arms. She didn’t even look at the crowd. She only looked at me, slow and deliberate.
“That outfit.” She said loud enough for the whole place to hear. “it’s cute but shamefully it’ll be ruined.”
The crowd laughed. My cheeks reddened.
I stepped onto the platform. My legs felt numb, but I forced each step.
The referee a stern professor with a scar over one eye raised her hand.
“This is a formal duel. The terms are binding. Winner issues one command. Loser obeys without resistance. Fight until surrender or incapacitation. Begin when the sigil activates.”
I swallowed hard. Morgana lifted her chin like she wasn’t worried at all.
The professor slammed her staff into the ground.
A bright circle lit up around us.
The duel began.
Morgana didn’t wait. She charged fast.
Her shadows burst out from behind her like vipers and shot toward me.
I jumped back, but one wrapped around my ankle and dragged me toward her. I stumbled, slamming my palms against the ground.
“Move!” Kieran shouted.
Another shadow wrapped around my wrist. The tendrils were cold and oily, squeezing tighter and tighter.
Morgana smirked. “You trained three days for this? How adorable.”
I tried to pull free. The shadows didn’t budge.
She flicked her fingers, and the tendrils yanked me up and slammed me onto the ground. My breath burst out of me and pain shot through my back.
“Fight back!” Cassian roared.
I tried. I really did. I tried to feel that spark inside me, the one Cassian woke up but nothing came. My hands only shake.
Morgana lifted me again and slammed me down a second time.
The crowd cheered.
My ears rang.
She crouched beside me, her shadows swirling behind her like wings. “You look confused. Did you really think anyone could learn magic in three days?”
I tasted blood.
I forced my hand up, trying to summon fire, but the spark fizzled out.
“That’s sad.” She said. “Try again. I want to watch you fail.”
She slammed me into the ground a third time.
Kieran roared so loud that the barrier shook. He clawed at it, desperately. “Let me out! I’ll rip her apart!”
Zev’s voice cut through, sharp. “Thalira stop panicking. Thalira think, think.”
I couldn’t think. Everything hurt.
Morgana lifted me again. Her shadows tightened around my ribs, squeezing me so hard my that my vision blurred.
She leaned close. “What’s wrong? No time tricks? No little bursts of heroism?”
I tried. I begged the time magic to respond, I pushed, I reached, I clawed inside myself but nothing came out.
Her smile widened. “That’s what I thought.”
She threw me across the arena. My body hit the ground and skidded, dust filled my mouth and cheers filled the air.
Alaric’s voice sliced through everything. “Thalira listen to me. You’re fighting her magic. Stop fighting her magic.”
“What does that even mean.” I whispered.
But Morgana didn’t give me time to think.
She stalked toward me, the shadows writhing around her feet.
“I wonder what your command will be.” She said, pretending to think. “Maybe I’ll make you kneel every time I enter a room or maybe I’ll make you apologize in front of the whole academy for wasting oxygen.”
The crowd laughed again.
Heat burned under my skin with anger, humiliation and something sharp.
Morgana lifted her hand.
“Let’s end this.”
Her shadows shot toward me again, faster this time, coiling around my throat.
I clawed at them, coughing.
Cassian roared. “Thalira breathe!”
Zev’s voice cut in, urgent. “Slow down your thoughts. Slow everything down.”
I tried but the world spin around.
For a moment, I thought I would pass out right there.
Then suddenly, everything started moving slowly.
Time… stuttered.
The shadows froze for half a second.
It was not enough to escape but enough to breathe.
Alaric shouted. “Do it again!”
I tried. The flicker came, then disappeared. My vision blurred.
Morgana’s eyes widened as she felt the hesitation in her magic. “What did you just do?”
I couldn’t answer. I could barely think.
She tightened the tendrils. “Don’t play games with me.”
My chest screamed. My lungs begged. The arena swayed like it was underwater.
Kieran slammed against the barrier again. “Thalira fight her!”
Cassian’s voice broke. “Come on you’re not this weak.”
Zev’s tone sharpened. “Why isn’t the magic responding? Something’s wrong.”
Then Morgana leaned close, the shadows brushing my skin.
“Look at you. Gasping like a fish. This is pathetic.”
I felt something crack inside me.
I wasn’t fighting to win. I was fighting not to be humiliated and humiliation wasn’t enough, anger was.
The shadows crushed my ribs and pain burst through me. My vision darkened. I reached for the time magic again, fiercely.
I grabbed it with both hands.
The arena Stopped, the dust hang in the air, the cheers warped into long echoes.
Morgana’s eyes widened in slow motion.
I pushed myself to my knees. My body screamed, but I didn’t stop. The shadows were still around me, slowed but present.
I grabbed them with both hands and tore them and immediately the time activated back.
The shadows shattered into black mist.
The crowd gasped.
Morgana stumbled backward, her eyes widen. “You…”
I didn’t let her finish.
I charged towards her.
She dodged and sent another wave of shadows at me. They grazed my side, ripping the fabric and my skin. Pain surged through, but I stayed standing.
“Thalira move!” Kieran yelled.
I barely dodge again. My body shake but something surged inside me a pull, a hum, a wild thrumming.
My time magic flickered again.
Morgana’s face twisted. “You should not have done that.”
She slammed both palms into the ground.
A huge mass of shadows rose behind her, towering high like a creature crawling out of darkness.
The crowd erupted.
Cassian cursed under his breath. “She’s summoning that? For a duel?”
Zev’s voice dropped. “She’s breaking rules.”
The referee stepped forward. “Morgana that's borderline forbidden…”
Morgana waved her hand and the referee’s shadow yanked her backward, killing her.
The croud gasp and panic, there was whisper and students movement.
Morgana smiled at me, with all her teeth. “You tore my magic. Now I'll tear you.”
The shadow beast lunged.
I tried to jump back but the beast was too fast. Its tendrils wrapped around me and lifted me off the ground. My body twisted painfully. My breath vanished.
I screamed.
The boys exploded.
Kieran slammed both fists against the barrier so hard that blood smeared the glass.
Cassian’s flames burst around him, roaring.
Alaric’s fangs snapped down, his eyes burning silver.
Zev’s mind force hit the barrier so hard that light cracked across it.
The beast pulled me higher. Morgana raised her arms, and shadows spiraling.
“This is the end.”
Something awaken inside me fear, anger, desperation. The time flickered again, wild and sharp but before I could use it the shadow beast squeezed.
My ribs cracked.
The last thing I heard was Kieran’s voice breaking as he roared my name.
Then everything went black.