Chapter 13

Chapter 13
{{ Xander's POV 🐺 }}
Xander grunted as Coryn’s blade struck his own. When she had suggested sparring he had assumed that she would be mediocre at best, but boy was he wrong.
They were practically even in skill but their techniques were a different story. Coryn took the evasive route, spinning and dodging with grace. Xander was much more direct in his attacks with strong thrusts and jabs.
Sweat was beginning to drip into his eyes and he attempted to wipe it away with his shoulder. Coryn used the moment to her advantage and smacked his sword hand with the flat of her blade. He nearly dropped his sword but recovered in time to block Coryn’s next blow.
“C’mon Coryn, you aren’t even hitting that hard!” he grinned as he made an offensive swing toward her torso. She blocked his attack and bent low, striking out with her foot. It collided with his leg and he fell to one knee. Her sword swept through the air and she used the height to increase the power of her blow. Xander barely managed to block but didn’t have enough time to dodge her foot as it hit him square in the chest, knocking him onto his back.
“What was that? You want me to hit harder?” Coryn practically laughed as she pointed the tip of her sword at Xander’s neck.
“Man, I never thought I could be beaten by a girl,” Xander pushed himself onto his elbows and gave her a cheeky grin.
She gave him an exasperated look before extending her hand to help him to his feet. He hesitated before he took her hand, a terrible idea popping into his head. Oh, but her face would be priceless. Probably.
Gipping her hand a little harder, Xander pulled and Coryn lost her balance, falling on top of him. He rolled them over so that he was on top and touched the tip of his sword to her throat, reversing their previous positions.
Coryn’s face was definitely priceless. Her shocked expression was a mix between anger and appreciation for his underhanded move. Then she started to laugh.
The noise was so unexpected and joyful that Xander was taken aback. True laughter was a sound so rarely heard on the streets that it took him a moment to figure out how to react. A broad smile spread across his face until he started to laugh too. It was so refreshing to experience such an unexplainable emotion, to really laugh. How long had it been since he had laughed?
When their laughter had mostly subsided, Xander rolled off of Coryn and onto his back. They were both lying on the ground, staring at the sky until Xander broke the silence, “Coryn, are you going to kill me?”
He moved onto his side when he heard Coryn sit up. She was looking at him with a slightly hurt expression, the corners of her mouth turned down, “Why would you ask me something like that? If I was going to kill you I would have done it a week ago when we first met, or while we were sparring.”
Xander hadn’t fully thought through his question before he vocalized it but it was a valid concern. No one ever knew who they could trust, but he knew he wanted to trust Coryn. He thought for a moment before sitting up to face her and said, “You know, I don’t remember the last person I trusted. Maybe I just have trust issues but you can’t blame me for having concerns in this twisted hellhole. Do you -,” he paused and thought again before he finished. “Do you trust me?”
Coryn’s expression was now one of confusion but slowly changed into a very small smile. “Yeah. I don’t think I fully realized it until now, but I do trust you. And I’m glad you trust me.”
They looked at each other before they both looked away. They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes, neither knowing the right thing to say.
Before he could change his mind, Xander stuck out his hand, “Friends?”
He knew how childish it sounded and could feel his face starting to heat as the seconds ticked by.
Her smile grew and she took his hand, giving it a small shake. “Friends.”
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By the time they had finished sparring, the sun had already reached its peak and started its descent. The couple had continued to talk until the light in the forest was almost extinguished and the sun was no longer visible.
Noticing the time Xander stood and started to walk across the little clearing to retrieve their jackets. The heat had made sparing unbearable with multiple layers so they had removed the thick arena-issued jackets and set them on a fallen tree. He plucked both from the tree and spun around only to stop dead in his tracks. Coryn was engulfed in bright blue flames.

{{ Ash's POV 💀 }}
Ash was finding it incredibly difficult to sleep with the whispering of the trees rushing through his ears. He rolled over and stared at the twinkling stars hanging high above him.
Why was the wind so loud? He couldn't feel or see any evidence of the ever-increasing noise and he pushed himself up into a sitting position.
What in the world was happening? What was this noise that was bouncing around in his head? He had to assume that it was only in his head since none of the others had stirred.
He was about to stand up so that he could further investigate but a sudden, dense cloud of black dust began swirling around him, obscuring his vision. The dust whipped through his hair and across his face and the silent noise raged louder. He couldn’t focus, couldn’t move, couldn’t think. The dust grew faster and the noise grew louder until the realization hit him like a ton of bricks.
Voices. There were thousands, millions of voices whispering and screaming and tearing his head apart. The sounds reverberated off his skull and he wanted to cut his ears off if only to stop the voices clawing through his head.
Just when he thought it couldn’t get any worse, one of the voices began to echo over the rest. With shattering understanding, Ash realized that the voice belonged to his dead mother. The more he focused, the more voices became familiar. His best friend. His father. His old teacher. All dead.
Ash was hearing the voices of the dead.