91 Aura Anarchy (2/2)

”You spoke of William Ragnos as if you are familiar with him.” The boy said with a bit of an edge. ”Do you know him?”

”Do I know Prince William Ragnos?” Ava scoffed. ”As in, The Crimson Prince? Who doesn't?”

Before she had a chance to be amused, two ice daggers were launched towards her. It was due to her aura sense that she was able to dodge just in time. Without looking away from the boy, she could hear both of the daggers thud against a tree. She could tell that they stuck half way in. ”With that amount of force, you could have killed me!” She yelled incredulously.

”Anyone who allies themselves with the Crimson Prince deserves death!” He said as he launched himself towards her, staff outstretched to stab at her.

Ava dodged the initial attack, using her own staff to knock her opponent's trajectory off, creating a safe spot for her to twist and attack him from behind. Before the attack met, the boy used his own staff to deflect her blow.

The boy used the force of Ava's blow to put distance between himself and her staff. He raised his other hand and a flood of water raised from the pond he had been dropped into and formed around his head. He used it to create more ice daggers to launch at her.

He launched the daggers as he sprinted, with the daggers only going slightly faster than himself. Before he reached her, Ava stomped her foot towards the earth, and a large portion raised up as a shield to block the blow.

Ava used her earth sense and shot three earth daggers upward just as the boy jumped over her barrier. Two missed, but the third one struck him in the shoulder. Small drops of blood fell from the boy as he sailed over her.

Before he landed, he used the water above him to create a platform of ice he could control. He was now above Ava, reaching his hand out as more water replaced the amount he had spent. ”Why do you fight for him?”

Ava looked at the pained expression on the boy's face. She could tell that he was only a few years younger than her, but she could see the trials he went through as though it were a picture painted on his face. For one as young as him, she couldn't truly think of how someone like him could be hardened to this point. ”He gave me direction.” She said simply. ”He gave me a way to stand up for myself and he's making this world a better place!”

”That's a far cry from what he did to my world!” His rage built as Ava saw steam building on the boy's staff.

As she looked in astonishment, the barrier of ice below him began to melt away, and the blue hue of his aura became one of red. They both looked wide eyed as the red flame of his aura gave way to a rich gold which could not be mistaken. ”King's Flame?” Ava had only seen it once, as Will used it to give her the ability over earth. So far as she knew, Will was the only one besides his father that was able to use such a flame. It was the aura of creation as much as it was destruction.

The boy looked down from an inferno of red and gold. ”My name is Aiden Ragnos.” His eyes glared from breaks within his powerful aura. ”I stand for all that William Ragnos doesn't. I will give those who wish to stand up to his rule the power to do so.”

Ava knew that she was no match for him. If it were just the water affinity, she might feel confident enough in her abilities, yet as she looked at the royal hue to his aura, she could only think of ways she might be able to escape. Such a discovery would upset the balance that Will had worked so hard to create.

”I won't kill you.” Aiden said simply. ”That's not what I've come here to do.” He allowed the aura to subside. Only a red and gold thread around his body could be seen as he levitated above her. ”I've come here to free you all.”

”Free us from what?” Ava couldn't understand the boy. ”Will has done nothing but help us!” She thrust her hand out to the city. ”Since he brought affinity crystals to this world, all energy problems have been solved!” She looked at the park next. ”Earth aura wielders can help grow food, which solves most of the hunger issues around the world!”

”He seems to be doing a lot for this world, that I will give him.” Aiden nodded to her. ”But what does he ask from everyone else?”

”What are you talking about?”

”Unquestioning loyalty!” He yelled at her. ”If you question him, your aura will disappear! He has you so tethered to him that if you stray even slightly, your aura stops working. He has made this unique power into something others have to worship him in order to get! Don't you see?”

”No.” Ava shook her head. ”All we have to do is believe that what we are doing with our gift is right.”

”Who says what is right and wrong?” he asked as he gained more height. ”Ask yourself that as you ponder this encounter.” Before Ava could get her Ryder from her storage crystal, he was only a streak of red and gold within the night's sky.