Chase sat in his seat, behind his desk within the grand spacious room of his Primis Arts class.
The professor was rambling on about some subject that he couldn't wrap his head around, so he buried his head inside of one of his energy based books.
There was so much on his mind, so much that he wanted to talk about, so much that he wanted to scream about.
Who the hell is Eternity, why was he burdened by shackles of unknown potential, and why did his father hide their lineage from him.
He remembered the moment inside of the Mimic's nightmare world, and how his father asked him what he was going to do after he avenged his death.
The honest answer was that he had no plan after, he felt that his life concludes on the day he gets justice for what had happened too his father.
No... Not for his father, Chase was angry that he had too spend a year inside of a forest with no one by his side but the group of canine companions that had aided him in his treacherous journey.
'I guess that I hadn't really had time too think about it lately...'
There has just been so much going on in the past months, that he had completely forgot how long it had been since that terrible time.
Playoffs had already started. In fact, tonight was the semi-finals match between Frostfang, and Orion Academy.
Chase and Phoenix Academy had already rematched Skytide several days ago and won by a much larger margin than the first time that he had played against the team of Valkyrian warriors.
Just as he felt a single tear trying too rip itself free from his eye socket, Michael nudged his shoulder.
"You good?"
Chase wouldn't look up at his friend, but decided to just give him a simple nod.
"You said something about a flame aura not too long ago, right?"
"Yeah... Why?"
He answered lazily.
"Pay attention."
Chase listened to his friend, and lifted his eyes from the book that he hadn't even bothered to read the first line of.
Professor Madonna was in the middle of saying something, when her gaze met his.
"- The ability type that we call "Aura", is generally used as a sort of passive ability, in fact most just consider them as an evolved version of passive primis."
'That's it...'
Chase thought.
The key too beating Frostfang in their own home stadium, was too use some sort of passive flame so the cold wouldn't be the reason for their defeat.
It was so simple that he was mad that he hadn't already come up with it.
...
And before he even knew it, Chase was standing in the frozen snow, waiting for the championship match too begin.
Too his right, stood Jack who's new patchy facial hair, had completely frozen into multiple rigid icicles.
And his left, was where a determined Equan was standing with crossed arms.
The team had decided before the game that they would all wear no extra clothing, other than that of the black and orange jerseys, loose baggy shorts, warrior helmets and spiked shoes.
Behind him, Leo was walking up for one last team meeting, with everyone else following close behind.
It was hard for Chase too meet the gaze of his fellow teammates, in all honesty: He felt that he still hadn't earned his spot on the team.
His stats were still somewhat mediocre compared to the other attackers on the team, and he hadn't had any real highlight plays since the game against Skytide when he made the game winning tackle.
It felt like forever, as his team slowly walked toward the attackers.
He had time to remember every little detail of every moment in his life. Almost...
Looking around at the packed stadium, with people from all over the continent, the loud chants, and giant magic scoreboard above the frozen coliseum that was even projecting the game for everyone who cared too watch, be it from the small towns that sat on the edge of The Dark Forest, all the way over to the people who were watching from their warm castles in the capitol kingdom of Orion.
It was eerily similar too being in The Dark Forest, and how it felt like no matter what, something was watching you, and how the cold air threatened too rip the life from his very body.
"Kay..."
Leo looked around, clearly bothered by the cold, as well as the hundreds of thousands of people spectating the pregame meetings.
It almost looked like the normally antagonistic upperclassman truly had nothing too say.
And it was true, he was no leader, nor was Neo, and Michael could hardly lead the defense.
Their team lacked what the star player Reinhart had once giving them before his season ending injury.
Chase thought for a moment, and wondered how someone could possibly be out for the season in the type of magic-based society that they lived in.
"Hey Leo..."
Chase spoke up, drawing strange and confused looks from everyone else on the team.
For once, the heir of The House of Lion looked at Chase on some sort of equal level, awaiting the boy's question.
"What actually happened to Reinhart?"
"He-"
Everyone was now looking at Leo as if he had dowsed himself in wine before the big game.
It was never like Leo to stutter, and it certainly wasn't like him too not start a conversation with Chase, without the word "Stray".
"He got hit hard... In the chest... It wasn't any damage caused physically, his catalyst was destroyed."
Chase nodded, thankful that he had finally gotten the answer that he was quite curious too find.
"Do we have a plan? This game seemed a little rushed ya know?"
Jack asked, trying to rub his face fast enough so that the ice would melt, but of course it was no use.
"It does..."
Michael replied somberly.
"We go in, and beat the shit out of each and everyone of their players."
Neo coldly stated.
"Heavy and protective defense, maybe we can slow them down long enough so we can take advantage of the early game?"
Skylar pondered quietly, but just loud enough for them too hear.
However, it was Chase who spoke the loudest.
"Play lazy at the start, heavy on attack, but weak on defense, dont get kicked out of the game, and me and Equan can take care of scoring."
Everyone scowled at the boy for a few moments, and Equan looked as if he wanted too speak up to his friend's defense; however, he didn't need too.
"I agree."
Hans was silently standing at the back of the meeting, trying to adjust the small goalkeeper gloves on his massive hands.
"I have a feeling that we are going to need to lean on the offense for this game, we saw what happened when we tried to play a defensive game last time, and everyone but Neo and Chase got ejected or nearly killed over a damn sports game."
Everyone looked at the Panda like he was the one under the influence now.
It was exceptionally rare for the giant powerhouse to speak that much, especially in a moment such as this, but it appeared that it was enough for the team to all come too terms with Chase's plan.
"I guess we know what we gotta do then..."
Leo calmly said, as he looked at the white snow below his feet.
"I'm sick and tired of these savage cavemen."
With that, the team separated once more, and little did the three attackers know just how much this game was leaning on them.