Sarah charged in again.

Midway through her charge, her hair turned red, then grew blue streaks until it was an even mix of red and blue.

Flames erupted from under her skin, spread out in all directions, and blinded the onlookers once more.

Dale winced from the heat as he shielded his eyes from the light.

Within the range of the flames, Gary had already constructed another force field and Trevor was ready to speak.

This time, however, the flames suddenly vanished, and the temperature plummeted to subzero, sending everyone into thermal shock.

Trevor, alongside everyone in the class — except the teacher, fell to his knees.

Sarah dashed past him and performed a roundhouse kick to the force field, shattering it upon impact.

The green shards vanished in less than a second and before Sarah could get her bearings, Gary stretched out his arm, gripping her firmly.

She immediately tried to pry her wrist away from his grip but a small force field materialized over the point of contact.

Sarah’s eyes landed on him with a raised eyebrow. He, in turn, smiled.

Her hair flashed yellow and she threw a fist surrounded by a sphere of wind at his stomach.

The blow connected with an invisible layer of green energy surrounding his clothes — his shield.

"Falter!" The command came from the side and both of them immediately felt their thoughts lose cohesion.

Trevor charged in and paused for a fraction of a second.

Dale’s eyes widened as he felt something about Trevor shift. Almost as though a silent rule had been established.

He was sure he wasn’t the only one who felt it.

’But he didn’t speak... Is speaking an option?’ It mustn’t have been, else why would he tell his opponents the command?

But could a command be obeyed if it wasn’t heard? Dale shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to get philosophical.

Trevor quickly approached them and Gary spun Sarah around, pushing her towards him before dismantling the shield.

The two clashed.

Sarah spun around, summoning a torrent of flames while Trevor smiled and merely sidestepped the attack with an unnaturally little effort.

She suddenly stumbled on the ground and pillars of ice launched up, breaking his momentum.

The three awakened stared at each other for a while. "Using adjectives are we?" Gary nodded at Trevor.

Trevor scoffed, "It’s better than using only shields and force fields." His eyes drifted to Sarah, "or only using three elements."

Dale was absorbing every piece of information and the implications were massive.

’So the shift I sensed was an adjective?’

It sort of made sense. Commands were, by all means, verbs.

Who was to say that his awakened skill wouldn’t involve other parts of speech?

’I wonder what adjective he assigned to himself.’

Sarah took a step back. "I guess you’re right." And the yellow in her hair gained blue streaks.

A cold draft swept through the class, raising goosebumps on everyone’s skin. Mist spread out in all directions as the temperature steadily dropped.

Winds spread out, ensuring constant collisions between clouds that slowly formed.

Gary’s smile faltered and Trevor’s eyes widened.

A single spark flashed among the clouds yet that was all that was needed.

Another spark flashed, then another, and another until bolts of lightning moved between the clouds.

A lightning bolt struck Trevor square in his chest, sending him flying across the room.

He skidded to a stop and stood up, wiping the trail of blood from his lips.

Somewhere amongst the clouds, a student stood too close to a cloud and his metal jewelry poked out.

A lightning bolt flew to him but before it could hit, all the clouds in the room vanished, taking the lightning with them.

The teacher stood in the midst of Gary and Sarah. "Enough. Well done."

***

The rest of the class ticked by without any further spars. It wasn’t like they could even try.

If anyone else tried, no matter how good they were, it wouldn’t come close to what they had seen.

Dale sighed and stood, walking to the only one of the awakened trio still there — Trevor.

The latter still seemed a little shaken from taking a bolt of lightning to the chest.

At least, his uniform hadn’t fried. It almost made Dale wonder how it was made.

Trevor raised an eyebrow, "Yeah? What do you want?"

Dale forced an odd smile. "What? Not happy to see me? You could at least pretend."

The other tilted his head slightly and cleared his throat. "Oh, Dale! Wow, you’re here?! What can I do for you?"

Well, it was still a better response.

"How did you awaken?"

The awakening he referred to was different from the standard one that gave them abilities — this one elevated the potency of their dormant ability skills and gave them awakened skills.

Not only that, but according to what he had heard, it boosted one’s physique. Now, the only issue was that there wasn’t a streamlined way to awaken but he at least hoped to get an idea.

Trevor frowned. "No."

Now, it was Dale’s turn to frown. "Why not?"

The former scoffed. "It’s for your own good." Dale rolled his eyes and sucked his teeth.

"Yeah, right."

"Okay then, let me tell you this. If anyone offers to tell you how they awakened, then that person is your enemy. If you were ready to awaken, you would already be awakened." Then Trevor stood up and left the class.

Austin walked to Dale and pointed at the frowning Trevor, "What was that all about?"

Dale shrugged. "He refused to tell me how he awakened."

While he wasn’t expecting empathy from his roommate, he definitely wasn’t expecting a slap on the head.

’What was that for?’

Austin rubbed a hand over his face. "Don’t ever ask someone how they awakened. Firstly, it requires them to reveal a deep mechanic of their ability and secondly, if you awaken with someone’s aid, you’ll ruin your potential."

Dale nodded and stared at Trevor’s disappearing figure.

’So he is a good-hearted person.’