Tarian grinned through the flames, his eyes lit up, and he did not let go of the spear, even though it was the medium being used to pour flames into his body.

Being in this lightning form burned a lot of essence and being bombarded by these flames was slowly pushing his stamina up to the brink.

The soldier was not a fool, it had been seven seconds and the lifeforce from Tarian was only growing deeper.

Sensing that the man was about to pull out the spear, Tarian released his lightning to rub down the shaft of the spear.

This spear was a great conductor of energy, but the only problem was that this energy could run both ways.

His lightning travelled through the spear and into the man’s arms, where it continued into his chest and Tarian pushed as much power as he could through the spear, and opposite him, the body of the man lit up with a thousand lightning bolts.

Even as the man was roasting, Tarian directed his lightning to find the core of him, and when he did, he began to roast the Lumina Space with bolts of lightning.

The man’s talent flared, died, flared again, and then the lightning found what it was looking for as the surface covering the Lumina Space and the man collapsed to the ground, his eyes were white and his mouth open.

He was barely breathing and only the twitching of his arms were the only sign he was still alive.

The source of a Siphon’s strength was also their greatest weakness. Usually as an Amber Exile with greater control of the body, they could manipulate their Lumina Space to move around inside their chest, and it would be difficult for an enemy to pinpoint it, since it was ten times smaller than the head of a needle.

However, Tarian knew how to find these Lumina Space with his talent over all forms of electricity, especially the ones that flowed in the body, and it was easier to locate the man he had nearly crippled when he was pouring so much essence from his Lumina Space to fuel his flames.

Perhaps he should not have been so cruel with his attacks, but Tarian considered this as mercy, they were trying to kill him after all.

Tarian turned to the twins and raised his hands in a defensive stance when he noticed they were already attacking, but it was too late.

They were good, he would give them that, they had attacked the moment his concentration slipped and they punished him for it.

The stone beneath his feet rose to trap him, the air around his lungs thinned to choke him.

Their actions were so smooth that it could only come from relentless practice and training, and he was sure they must have watched the way he fought, that was the only explanation on how they were able to easily ambush him.

He felt the stone close around his ankles, and in the blink of an eye it had traveled up to his hips, locking him in place, while he felt the breath leave his lungs as the air was sucked out of it, forcefully canceling his Lighting transformation as his chest tightened and his vision darkened. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

But this was just the beginning. He was about to pass out, as the stone bounding him had reached his chest and it was extremely heavy, causing his ribs to crack and his blood to pour out of his nose and mouth... he was dying.

As his heart slowed down, so also did his thoughts, but it was okay, Tarian did not need to breathe or to move, why should he... when he was lightning.

Lightning did not need air or stone. Lightning went where it wanted, when it wanted, and there was nothing in the world that could stop it.

His mouth opened in a silent scream and he called the lightning.

While it was true that Tarian favored calling lightning from his blood, when it was needed, the heavens could answer him as well.

From out of nowhere, lightning struck Tarian and the stone caging him was shattered. He called the lightning, and the air began to burn. He called the lightning, and the twins screamed, their talents turning against them, the stone they had raised falling back on them, the air they had thinned rushing back into their lungs with a force that broke ribs and burst blood vessels.

For a moment this pit was lit up so brightly that it was as if a blue sun had just been born inside of it, and if not for the fact that this training yard was shielded by ancient runes that hid all the fluctuations of battle, the lightning bolts that fell upon Tarian would have been visible across half the city.

Even as Amber Exiles, the power behind this lightning was too powerful for them and they collapsed, as their armor and bodies were smoking.

Tarian feet had left the ground and now they gently returned and he turned towards the oldest man who had not moved despite all of the commotion.

He stood where he had been standing, his face blank, but his eyes were watching Tarian, and despite not making any move, none of the elemental attacks that had been thrown around this pit was able to touch him.

Tarian knew he should not have, but he had quietly investigated all of the powerful soldiers under his father’s command, and he knew little about this old man.

All he knew was that he had been an Amber Exile for centuries and in all that time he had been active.

He had killed things that Tarian had only read about and had fought in battles that most in the city could not even remember.

Tarian did not care about all of that, all he cared for was the power that this old man held and how much of that power could be used to push him further.

"You are fast," the old man said. "You are strong and you are cruel."

Tarian bowed. "My father taught me."

For the first time, the old man’s face changed as he grimaced, "He taught you to be a weapon, but he did not teach you to be a man."

Tarian’s smile did not waver. "A weapon is what the city needs, and before I have the power to suppress all directions, a weapon is what I shall be."

The old man did not answer him, he slowly raised his hand, and Tarian began to move, but the pit went dark.

A darkness so total that he thought he had gone blind, and the only reason he was not a bit panicked was because Tarian had felt this darkness before, in the tunnels beneath the city, in the places where his father sent him to test himself against some of those... things.

’Was this old man from that place?’

Knowing that this did not matter, Tarian began to call the lightning from his blood to smother the darkness, but it continued to press against him as if it was alive.

It tried to smother his lightning, to drown it in the weight of years and years and years of darkness.

He could feel it reaching for the light that lived in his blood, for the thing that his father had called a gift and his mother had called a curse.

And Tarian who had been smiling all through this battle, even when he was about to pass out when he was being choked by the twins... finally frowned.