The first thing I noticed was that the room was built completely out of enchanted onyx. The only sources of light were these floating orbs above us. Remiere turned to us and told us that the onyx helped to weakened black magic. I was curious as to why he was telling us this information but my curiosity instantly disappeared when some other trainers brought out these dark figures. There were shackles on their legs and they were chained at the hands and throat as well. My eyes widened. These were members of the Kieran. They looked up at us, their eyes were bloodshot and I could see the bloodlust behind their stares. I shivered and inched closer to Chanyeol who was still standing beside me. I looked up and noticed that he was expressionless, I could have sworn that I saw a hint of anger and sadness in his eyes. Probably just my imagination though. I turned to look at Sora and Soomi and I heard Sora's voice

I take back what I said about  not wanting to do obstacles.

I gulp and turn back around. Remiere begins to explain that the elders have decided to allow for us to train at the same level as the experienced mages, which meant we would practice combat with Kieran that were captured during battles and missions. However, we would be training in this room, which weakened their powers and we'd eventually move up to where we would fight them without the aid of the onyx's abilities. It was insane, we had experience in combat but that was just with one another, we never actually had to go face to face with the Kieran yet. I wonder if I was shaking a bit because Chanyeol had rested his hand on my shoulder and was looking down at me.

"You'll be fine, I promise." Strangely enough, that did help to calm me down, although not fully, I was still pretty nervous.

"Thanks." I whispered.

Remiere tells us that he wants to watch each battle individually, first up was the group of three, consisting of Baekhyun, Suho, and Kai. He ushers the rest of us into another room where we could moniter the fight by a projection on the wall. We wished them luck and headed into the room at the end of the large hall. Taking our seats I couldn't help but notice that Chanyeol sat down next to me. My heart beats a little faster but I catch myself. 

"You have something stuck in your hair." 

I turn to Chanyeol, "I do?" I feel around my head to try to find whatever it is that's stuck to it but I can't seem to find anything. He reaches out and I feel his hand softly taking something out, but before I can see what it was he flicked it to the other side of the room. 

"What was it?" I asked.

"Nothing, just a woodchip from earlier." 

How did I not feel a woodchip in my hair? I must be more nervous about this fight then I thought. 

You know, there wasn't really anything in your hair. 

That was Soomin's voice.

What are you talking about? He flicked it across the room.

I saw him flick his hands but I didn't see anything fly from his fingers.

Yeah, I didn't see anything either!  Sora chimed in. 

You guys are just trying to fluster me. I roll my eyes at them.

Whatever you say Seulmi. 

I could just hear the smugness in her voice but before I could reply our attention was drawn to the battle. The two Kieran's had been unchained and they had begun to attack. The fight that ensued was intense. Kai sent his daggers towards the first Kieran but the Kieran shrouded his daggers in a black cloud and the daggers dropped lifeless to the ground. Kai brought his daggers back as the Kieran shrieked and lunged at Kai, his arm morphing into a demonic hand yielding an orb of black energy. Kai barely managed to dodge the attack as the orb embedded itself into the onyx wall and exploded. On the other hand Suho and Baekhyun were focusing their attacks on the second Kieran, who was shifting himself into a cloud of black smoke. This made it difficult for Baekhyun to strangle him and for Suho to use his powers as well. Kai had regained his daggers and sent out a second attack, the Kieran stopped the daggers again but Kai had thought ahead and sent 2 of the daggers to attack from behind. The daggers pierced into the Kieran and immobilized him as he dropped to the ground. Meanwhile, Suho and Baekhyun had figured out that even though the Kieran could shift into black smoke, he was unable to fully shift due to the onyx and was simply hiding his physical body behind his shifted form. With this knowledge Baekhyun formed multple hands to grab the shifting Kieran and Suho then used his abilities to break whatever part the Kieran was unable to shift. The battle was over and they had won. I jumped off the couch and started clapping and cheering along with everyone else. They came through the doors and we all rushed over to congratulate them. The celebration didn't last, as Remiere called out the next pair, Sora and D.O. The first two Kieran were sent back to the holding cells and two new ones were brought out.Their battle lasted a bit longer but it turns out that Sora and D.O made a great duo. D.O's control of wind and Sora's ability to turn into water worked amazing together. It allowed for them to create a powerful tornado that engulfed the Kieran and extinguished any attempt they made at shifting into their darker forms. There was some trouble with the black energy orbs, when they were conjured, they didn't explode but they seemed to absorb the magic that Sora used and her water form became murky. In her human form, she suffered some bruises and scrapes but insisted she was fine. Next up was Soomi and Sehun, needless to say, their Kieran didn't have much of a fighting chance. Watching the battle between Soomi and Sehun made me nervous again, we were next. 

"You can trust me you know. You shouldn't worry too much." His voice is so deep and soothing, gosh darn it. 

" You're right, it's just, I don't know if I can trust myself." 

"You'll do great."

"Thanks." I look at him and smile, "You'll be great too." He smiles back, it's a small smile but it's filled with warmth, something totally different than what he usually shows.

"Seulmi and Chanyeol, you're up." 

We both stand up and walk to where Remiere is standing, my heart is beating fast, but this time, I don't think it's out of fear for this battle, it's from something much worse. I think I have a crush on this guy. . . and cue the internal face palm.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Goodnight guys! its almost 1AM and I stayed up bc I felt like writing something Lol I hope you guys enjoy this chapter :)