The Shifters: Katrina

Rowan and I continued to go back and forth. With elements, with hand to hand combat, with pinning each other in the dirt. We were now throwing projectiles at each other. Fireballs flew at my chest while I did my best to impale him with spikes of ice. He was like Nathan, matching me strike for strike while I was slightly ahead of him with dodging.

The only problem was that I had a pounding headache. I continued to wince, my mind confused, the clear, deadly mindset long gone. Gene had noticed, throwing me worried glances as we fought. I had gone back to relying on hand to hand combat, using more kicks than anything else. My attacks were fast and getting faster, landing perfectly almost every time.

It was going so well until he finally got his bearings, blasting me to the other side of the ring with a bigger fireball than ever. I rolled in the dirt, sliding nearly to the edge.

I heard Gene gasp, but held up a hand for him to shut it. Getting to my feet, I doused myself water to clean off before turning it to vapour and drying off.

I can take and dish a beating, fire boy, I thought darkly, ignoring my pounding head.

"Good trick," Rowan teased, his voice deep and smoother than I'd imagined. It was the first time either of us had spoken.

"Thanks," I said coldly. My gloves, torn and filled with sweat, began to irritate me. I torn them off, revealing the blue bands around my wrists.

"Seems like we're opposites," Rowan mused, fire gathering in his palms. A surprise attack came from my left, but I quickly deflected it, my own hand glowing with water dripping from my fingers.

You're so far off you don't even know, I thought, holding back a laugh as I focused on defeating him.

Water was gathering below his feet, pooling underneath him. I was hoping to freeze his shoes to the ground, or make him slip. Ice began to spread across the gathering water, and I smirked under my mask. Rowan seemed unimpressed with my lack of response.

"Getting cold feet?"

I got into a defensive stance, ignoring his words once again. Water crawled up my arms until one arm became a frozen spike.

"Fine," he snapped. "Here I come, sweetheart."

I grinned, laughing aloud as he stepped forward only to slip on the ice below him. The crowd chuckled as well.

That was my mistake.

Gloating.

Getting distracted.

The crowd's laughter turned into gasps of horror as fire, which Rowan had been gathering behind me as I had been gathering ice below him, launched itself at me like it was alive. It circled me, growing until I was engulfed in flames. It began to burn me ever so slowly, but I refused to scream.

"You see, sweetheart. One of us is ruthless and will win by any means... then there's you, who was playing like this was some little sparring match," Rowan explained, and I could see his smirk as I crouched, putting up whatever barrier of water I could between me and his flames. "I will hurt you, because your compound can fix you. You would've thrown me around until I felt overwhelmed by pain but not actually destroyed physically.

"I guess we really are opposites."

I can't lose this. Gene came up with this plan just so I could prove myself.

I will win this.

Power flowed through me with determination, and I was ready to blast through the fire and get to him. To win this.

A smile appeared on my face, and the barrier grew.

But as my head throbbed, I cried out in pain, and everything stopped. My control on the water was gone, and my thin barrier disappeared.

It was like everything played out in slow motion.

The crowd was horrified. Rowan was smug.

The fire closed in, and I screamed.

But then, it stopped again.

People gasped, and my opponent looked horrified.

My scream blew away the fire, and I collapsed onto scorched ground, my mask gone. Everyone shifter in town was gathered, and I could hear my friends whisper my name as they recognized my hunched over form.

"Another good trick," Rowan smirked as he walked toward me, my forehead resting on the ground. "But, you still lost."

I could see it play out, as if it was I was a third person watching the scene.

His foot lifted, ready to grind my face into the dirt. The crowd began to cheer for his victory, but my friends were horrified. Especially Gene, who began to blame himself.

I was ready to accept it.

But then a familiar pressure became more painful than anything else. Not rage, but raw power building up until I couldn't control it.

Just as his foot was about to make contact, I screamed, and my body was engulfed in flames that weren't his, but my own. They blasted him off, but weren't helping me either. Shifters stood in their seats, their eyes on the fire around me while also trained on the blue bands around my wrists. I collapsed forward, the pressure still building.

I screamed, my voice tearing as fire and water exploded from my skin.

Until it all stopped, and everything went dark.

My vision swam. My nose was filled with an unnatural amount of smells. I could taste everything, even the air. I was keenly aware of every that came in touch with me.

The worst part was my perfect hearing.

Gradually, I lifted myself up. I had seven different limbs, all of them unnatural to me. A spiked tail, two leathery wings, two back legs and two front legs. Horns weighed down either side of my head, and I had a mane of spikes that continued down my spine.

I was a water shifter.

A fire shifter.

And a large, black dragon.

I was tied in the center of the ring. Most young shifters had been evacuated, with the higher-ups, elites and my friends surrounding me. As I blinked slowly, regaining my memory of what had happened, every possible emotion crashed into me.

Guilt. Wonder. Rage. Excitement. Many others. A low groan came from my throat, and when I exhaled, smoke left my mouth.

"She's up," an unfamiliar shifter declared. Coraline walked into view, her hair a mess and her shoulders sagging.

"Can you understand me, Katrina?" She asked slowly, her words hitting my ears and being processed at lightning speed. I, however, didn't know how to answer.

I was just as puzzled as they were.

I shouldn't exist.