The chaos in the battle royale was beyond anything the Academy had prepared them for. Flames danced. Lightning cracked. The earth trembled.
And in the middle of it all, three boys laughed like maniacs.
Kaelen, Jered, and Neal were locked in a whirling triangle of destruction.
They were fighting each other seriously, joyfully, without restraint.
Kaelen blinked across the field, dodging a piercing solar spear fired from Neal's outstretched hand. The light-trail split the stone behind him in half.
Before he could land, a vortex of green-gold flame spiraled upward from the floor, forcing him to twist mid-air.
He landed with a slide, the soles of his boots grinding sparks against the ground.
"Stop running, you little rat!" Jered called out, already leaping from above, his Dauntless flame coiled around his arm like a divine whip.
Kaelen grinned and activated Blink again.
"Catch me then, slowpoke."
They weren't trying to kill each other, not really. They were too bonded for that.
