The Ether
an excerpt

“This way!” Joren shouted to Keahi, breaking into a run; and the two set off in a fast sprint after Ajax. Trees whipped past them, and all Joren could see was green on all sides. More than once, a branch or vine nicked his arms, but he barely seemed to notice. He was in a trance; set on being the one to knock out Ajax.

All of a sudden Ajax turned around, throwing his arms out, and spreading his fingers. Joren recognized the move and turned, bracing himself for a blow. He felt a vine sharply whip him from behind, hitting his back with a snap and leaving a stinging sensation. Joren then whirled around and signaled for Keahi. Keahi nodded and Joren sent out his own vine, as Keahi set it on fire. The flaming whip went flying wildly toward Ajax, extending out from Joren’s hand. Ajax quickly dodged it, seeking cover from behind a particularly wide tree, and the vine just went crashing into the trunk, lost in a puff of smoke on the thick bark. Ajax was lost from view, hiding behind the tree. Joren stopped to catch his breath, putting his hands on his knees and glancing at Keahi behind him. He looked forward once more, keeping an eye out for Ajax, or anyone else for that matter. For a few minutes, Joren just stared. He glanced back at Keahi again, and he shrugged, perplexed. Ajax couldn’t have gotten away, they would have seen him. The coward must still behind the tree.

Then suddenly Ajax was in view; Joren saw his arm reach out, probably unintentionally, from behind the tree. Joren heard a noise from behind him, and there was a crackle, then a thump, and then an awful crunching noise. Without even another thought, Ajax was lying on the ground. Joren didn’t even know what happened. He ran over and stared at Ajax to find a smoldering branch lying on top of him. Ajax was knocked out, though for some odd reason he noticed Ajax's eyes were still open. Joren felt a sigh of relief. One down. Three left. He whipped his head around and saw Keahi, who was standing by the tree, his arm raised and his hand smoking slightly. He stared at Joren, grinning devilishly. Joren looked back at Ajax once more, really starting to think it odd that Ajax’s eyes were still open. Could someone get knocked out with their eyes open? Joren shrugged it off and quickly ran to follow Keahi, who had begun to jog through the trees to find Dima and Ari.

They met up with the two girls, who were struggling to keep off Tangie, Ren and Zefer. They were actually doing a pretty good job; Ari was creating a gust of wind as Dima burst water, creating a sort of waterspout tornado. Joren watched as Tangie was swept up in the water, shooting out the top and falling down with an awful crunch. She lay motionless on the ground, her limbs flung out in sickeningly unnatural positions. Joren silently hoped that that wouldn’t cause problems when she woke up later; but at the same time was happy at another knock out for his team.

Then Ren and Zefer performed a counter attack that Joren had never seen before. They counted off, and at the same exact time flung their hands out in front of them. A thick, wet fog blew out from their hands, blinding them all. Searching around in the opaque white, Joren suddenly felt a hard blow to his stomach, then a kick to the back of his knees. Joren fell to the ground as he felt someone elbow his head. His vision began to blacken at the edges, and he felt his eyes begin to close. Just before he passed out, he felt a hand grab the back of his shirt and roll him over.

When Joren opened his eyes again, the wet fog had cleared, and Keahi was kneeling over him. His eyes were wide and he was shaking Joren’s shoulders roughly. When Keahi noticed that Joren was conscious he sat back, sighing and running his hand through his long hair. Joren tried to sit himself up, feeling an awful pain in his stomach, and an even worse pain in his head. “What—Did we win?” Joren managed to grunt. His stomach hurt to breathe, and every time he spoke, there was a feeling of getting punched in the stomach all over again.

Keahi glanced at him, and Joren could immediately tell that something was wrong. Keahi hesitated a minute, and then sighed shakily. “They’re not waking up.”

Joren furrowed his eyebrows, trying to push himself up to sit taller and staring at Keahi, who was now looking around anxiously. “How long has it been?”

“Too long,” Keahi said quickly, shaking his head and continuing to look around, staring at nothing in particular, but just avoiding Joren’s gaze.

Joren quieted, and then said, looking down at the ground, “None of them woken up?” He looked up at Keahi who was now staring up at the sky through the trees. He was shaking his head furiously, and Joren thought that his eyes were beginning to glaze over. “You don’t think they’re—“

“I don’t know!” Keahi shouted; his eyes red and wet. “Miggots, Joren, I don’t know.” He ran his hand through his hair again. “We’ve been shaking them for the past twenty minutes and you’re the only one that’s woken up.”

Joren felt numb. This wasn’t supposed to happen. No one could die in the Ether. It wasn’t possible. You were stunned for ten minutes, and then you were perfectly fine and could walk out. Maybe you had a few scratches, but nothing ever serious.

Joren put his had on his stomach, trying to get himself to stand up. He wasn’t supposed to feel like this, either. He had gotten blows to the stomach in here before, and after he woke up he felt fine. But not this time. He was pretty sure he’d broken a rib, and he winced to the point of screaming as he pressed on the bone in question.

Keahi grabbed Joren’s arm to help him up. Joren gasped, trying to breathe normally, but feeling a sharp pain in his stomach every time. “Who—Dima and Ari—Who’s down?” He breathed, not sounding totally coherent, being too preoccupied with his pain to care.

“Ari woke up after ten minutes. She’s all right; a hard blow to the head. Dima is fine. They’re trying to wake the others now,” Keahi said, throwing Joren’s arm around his shoulder and helping him walk over to where the two girls were located.