Page 74 of The Scars Within
Shayde hit the ground hard, and before he could recover, Rhodes sprang into action, hurling himself at the air elemental with a ferocity that matched the roaring fire still blazing around them. They grappled, rolling across the ground in a tangle of limbs until Rhodes gained the upper hand. Pinning the air elemental beneath him, he unleashed a barrage of punches, each landing with brutal precision. Blood splattered onto the grass, dark and stark against the green.
Rhodes’s eyes were pure, lethal fury—a storm of utter destruction.
He flicked his eyes toward his brother, then back down at the bloodied elemental beneath him, his fist still poised in the air. His snarl dropped. In an instant, his entire demeanor shifted, the wild fury in his expression tempered by something deeper—something restrained.
But even from the sidelines, I could see it. It took every ounce of willpower he had to wrestle control of himself, to pull back from the edge of indignation that still lingered in his clenched fist.
The distraction cost him.
The elemental seized the opportunity, trapping Rhodes’s arm and pinning it to his chest while hooking an ankle over Rhodes’s foot. With a powerful buck of his hips, the elemental rolled them over, reversing their positions and landing on top of Rhodes.
Shayde rushed in, grabbing and shouting at the elemental in a desperate attempt to pull him off. But the elemental wouldn’t let Rhodes go. He pummeled punch after punch after punch. And Rhodes just... laid there.
Why in the elements was he throwing the fight?
He justgaveup.
He wasmeantfor more.
Professor Reynoski stormed onto the field, his voice cutting through the chaos as he yelled for them to stop the fight. I drifted intomy thoughts, my eyes fixed on the field where Shayde was helping Rhodes to his feet. The noise of the crowd—the cheering, the commotion—faded into the background until all that remained was a heavy, eerie quiet in my mind.
My eyes fluttered, and suddenly I was back in the shed.
I fought valiantly every time the men came for me. Kicking, screaming, biting... I gave it all I had. Which wasn’t much. They overpowered me every single time. They tossed me around like a ragdoll. But no matter how hard they pushed me, I fought.
I may have been trapped, but I was a caged storm of utter destruction.
Waiting for the day my fury would be unleashed into the world and destroy everything in its path. But by the time I was free, I had nothing left in me.
I hadgiven up.
I had thrown the fight.
Being your own worst villain is easy when no one else is watching. It’s a private war, a battle fought in silence. But seeing it from the outside looking in—watching someone with a burning flame snuff out their own torch—is an entirely different kind of torment.
I’m downright ashamed of myself.
I should have fought. Icouldhave fought.
How dare I throw the fight.
My boots echoed on the stone floor as I weaved through the halls, my mind racing. I had told Laney the sight of all the blood was making me sick and that I needed some space.
Rounding a corner, I slipped into the infirmary. The room was bustling with cadets’ nursing injuries from today’s simulations. Most of them bore minor wounds—scrapes, broken fingers, a fewtwisted ankles. Rising onto the balls of my feet, I scanned the sea of faces, urgently searching for Wylder. My steps quickened as I darted between cots, checking each cadet being treated.
“Cadet Wylder, I believe you’re good to be released.”
The voice pulled me up short. I spun around, my gaze landing on a nurse signing off release papers for Shayde. He sat on a cot, smiling at her as he thanked her for checking on him.
My breath hitched, trembling in my chest. Without a second thought, I ducked behind a taller nurse and slipped out of the infirmary, keeping to her side like a shadow as I fled the room.
Back in the hall, I moved against the tide of cadets, their hushed whispers filling the air. They glanced over their shoulders, gazes lingering on the tall, dark, and mysterious figure behind them.
I walked faster.
I trailed him as he strode through the hall, oblivious to the stares of the cadets around him. Without a glance, he took a sharp left and disappeared into a storage closet.
“What was that?” I asked, my voice betraying a hint of uncertainty as I tried to steady it.
