91 Aura Anarchy

"All clear on Thompson and Third, over." Ava called into her radio as she veered her Ryder through the air while looking down on the busy streets of New York City.

"Good copy," she heard her group leader send out the usual response. "Your patrol is up for the night and replacement is en-route."

"Good copy. Ava signing out." She aimed her Ryder to the street and dropped a hundred feet in a matter of moments. She pulled up in time to send a gust of air through the trees of central park before she took the crystal from the powering formation and stowed both it and the bike back in her storage crystal.

Sighing, Ava made her way through the park. She could have landed on any rooftop or clear space throughout the city, yet Central Park allowed her to walk the paths and unwind after patrol.

It had been a long and hard road to get to where she was now. Not Central Park, but the new job she had acquired through Roy and Tony. Becoming part of the crusade had put her in a company with seven senior wielders, one for every affinity. She had been gifted the earth affinity, which gave her many abilities that she was still beginning to understand.

As she walked, her feet glowed a faint green. It was one of the first things she had learned after gaining her ability. She could augment her speed just by using the energy within the earth around her. She was also able to sense when others were around. When someone came within at least one hundred meters from her, whether they were hiding or not, her feet would glow a lighter green in the direction of the source.

After stretching a moment, she used her earth ability to increase her speed as she raced Central Park with a green streak following behind her.

Usually after her patrols, she would come to Central Park for her cardio exercises as well as increasing her understanding of her own affinity.

While using her own affinity to augment her speed, she would still feel an increase in her energy output, putting a drain on her aura at a rapid rate. She was told by her group leader, Jonathan, that the only way to increase the aura output was to use the affinity until it was depleted, then rest to replenish. After resting, her understanding of the aura would increase slightly.

After her fifth lap around the park, the green tint which followed behind her began pulling in front of her instead. "Someone else is out at this time of night?" Ava asked herself as she followed the source of her aura fluctuation. She stopped just in time to see a tear in the air between a group of trees.

"Woah-Aaaagh!" Ava watched as a boy younger than her dropped from the tear and fell into a pond. She covered her eyes as water splashed her in the face.

Before the tear in the air closed, Ava's instincts kicked in. Her glowing foot stomped the ground, forcing up a thin staff of earth which she held at the ready. "Identify yourself!"

The boy who fell from the tear stared openly at Ava before he used the water from the pond to form an ice staff. "I should be asking you the same thing!" He sounded slightly frightened. "Why are you using the aura so openly, what if he sees?" He hissed as he rose to the top of the pond, his feet glowed slightly blue as he balanced at the surface.

'He's a water user.' Ava thought to herself as she dropped her guard. 'Only those who are loyal to the prince can use the affinities.' "You had me scared for a second." She let the staff drop back to the earth, becoming part of the ground once more. "What's your name?" She put out a hand to help the stranger out of the water.

Instead of being put at ease, the stranger seemed to be put more on guard. "My name doesn't matter right now. If you continue to use your abilities, the prince will know." He said as he stepped out himself, without putting his staff down."

"William Ragnos has a bit more to worry about right now than just an earth activation." She rolled her eyes. "What company are you with?" Her smile somewhat faltered as she saw his guard remaining up.

"Company?" He seemed just as confused as she was. "What is a company?" his staff had formed a point at the tip.

"You aren't with the crusade?" Ava's eyes grew wide as she readied herself. Her staff formed back within her hand, mimicking the pointed edge that her opponent used.

Even though the staff her opponent used was water, she knew he could release it from it's frozen form and encase her in water, or freeze her. Her ability over the earth worked somewhat similar ways. She could use her affinity to encase him in an earth tomb, or use her staff to wrap around his hands as bindings.

All of this information crossed through her mind as she remembered her training with others of different affinities. She had won more than she lost when she was challenged by others in her company. Ava was confident that if this boy became a threat, she would at least be able to restrain him as she brought him to a holding facility before Will could see to him.

"Crusade?" The way the boy questioned Ava put her on edge. Even though the Embassies were slightly new to the world, they had been around long enough for her to become at least somewhat proficient with her abilities. From what she was hearing, any and all changes that had happened within the last year were lost on this boy.

"I see that you are confused." She put her staff on guard as she tried to reasoned with him. "If you could come with me, I know someone who might be able to help."

"You spoke of William Ragnos as if you are familiar with him." The boy said with a bit of an edge. "Do you know him?"

"Do I know Prince William Ragnos?" Ava scoffed. "As in, The Crimson Prince? Who doesn't?"

Before she had a chance to be amused, two ice daggers were launched towards her. It was due to her aura sense that she was able to dodge just in time. Without looking away from the boy, she could hear both of the daggers thud against a tree. She could tell that they stuck half way in. "With that amount of force, you could have killed me!" She yelled incredulously.

"Anyone who allies themselves with the Crimson Prince deserves death!" He said as he launched himself towards her, staff outstretched to stab at her.

Ava dodged the initial attack, using her own staff to knock her opponent's trajectory off, creating a safe spot for her to twist and attack him from behind. Before the attack met, the boy used his own staff to deflect her blow.

The boy used the force of Ava's blow to put distance between himself and her staff. He raised his other hand and a flood of water raised from the pond he had been dropped into and formed around his head. He used it to create more ice daggers to launch at her.

He launched the daggers as he sprinted, with the daggers only going slightly faster than himself. Before he reached her, Ava stomped her foot towards the earth, and a large portion raised up as a shield to block the blow.

Ava used her earth sense and shot three earth daggers upward just as the boy jumped over her barrier. Two missed, but the third one struck him in the shoulder. Small drops of blood fell from the boy as he sailed over her.

Before he landed, he used the water above him to create a platform of ice he could control. He was now above Ava, reaching his hand out as more water replaced the amount he had spent. "Why do you fight for him?"

Ava looked at the pained expression on the boy's face. She could tell that he was only a few years younger than her, but she could see the trials he went through as though it were a picture painted on his face. For one as young as him, she couldn't truly think of how someone like him could be hardened to this point. "He gave me direction." She said simply. "He gave me a way to stand up for myself and he's making this world a better place!"

"That's a far cry from what he did to my world!" His rage built as Ava saw steam building on the boy's staff.

As she looked in astonishment, the barrier of ice below him began to melt away, and the blue hue of his aura became one of red. They both looked wide eyed as the red flame of his aura gave way to a rich gold which could not be mistaken. "King's Flame?" Ava had only seen it once, as Will used it to give her the ability over earth. So far as she knew, Will was the only one besides his father that was able to use such a flame. It was the aura of creation as much as it was destruction.

The boy looked down from an inferno of red and gold. "My name is Aiden Ragnos." His eyes glared from breaks within his powerful aura. "I stand for all that William Ragnos doesn't. I will give those who wish to stand up to his rule the power to do so."

Ava knew that she was no match for him. If it were just the water affinity, she might feel confident enough in her abilities, yet as she looked at the royal hue to his aura, she could only think of ways she might be able to escape. Such a discovery would upset the balance that Will had worked so hard to create.

"I won't kill you." Aiden said simply. "That's not what I've come here to do." He allowed the aura to subside. Only a red and gold thread around his body could be seen as he levitated above her. "I've come here to free you all."

"Free us from what?" Ava couldn't understand the boy. "Will has done nothing but help us!" She thrust her hand out to the city. "Since he brought affinity crystals to this world, all energy problems have been solved!" She looked at the park next. "Earth aura wielders can help grow food, which solves most of the hunger issues around the world!"

"He seems to be doing a lot for this world, that I will give him." Aiden nodded to her. "But what does he ask from everyone else?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Unquestioning loyalty!" He yelled at her. "If you question him, your aura will disappear! He has you so tethered to him that if you stray even slightly, your aura stops working. He has made this unique power into something others have to worship him in order to get! Don't you see?"

"No." Ava shook her head. "All we have to do is believe that what we are doing with our gift is right."

"Who says what is right and wrong?" he asked as he gained more height. "Ask yourself that as you ponder this encounter." Before Ava could get her Ryder from her storage crystal, he was only a streak of red and gold within the night's sky.