As Dorian pushed off the ground, he felt Mana surge through his body and down into his legs and feet, greatly augmenting his jumping ability. He shot up into the air, ripping up the ground underneath him. He rapidly closed the distance between himself and Stormhawk and wrapped his arms around him. 

“I did it! I did it! I - aaahhhh!” He realized immediately that whatever Mana he had felt was gone now, leaving him severely exhausted and with no way to safely land. He gripped the unconscious winged boy tightly as they both continued to fall towards the ground. Then, he spotted a flash of rainbow wings.

“Gotcha!” Selena said as she swooped in and grabbed the two boys, setting them down in the park below. A moment later, Emmett ran up too, having disposed of the monster he had been fighting earlier. 

“Dude!” the elf boy said as he pulled Dorian into a hug. “You did it! I saw you! You used magic!”

“Wait, you entered the Exam not being able to use magic?” Selena asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“I’ll explain later!” Dorian said. “Let’s get Stormhawk to the closest Healing Circle and we can plan our next move from there.”

Emmett lifted Stormhawk up piggyback style, then turned to Dorian. “Are you gonna be okay to move on your own? You look drained.”

“First time using Mana took a lot out of me, but I think I’m good,” he insisted. 

“Ezia pal moritei!” Selena chanted in the Arcane Tongue, summoning three Mana Clones of herself. The four of them formed a circle around the three boys. “We’ll provide cover until we get to the Healing Circle. Closest one is on the other side of this park.”

Selena and her clones defended them against any monsters that threatened them on their run across the park to the Healing Circle. Upon arriving, they found five other Candidates who were all pretty beat up and recovering from their injuries. 

Jasper Jade was a transfemale jungle elf with green skin and yellowish irises. She had a spikey emerald mohawk and the rest of her scalp was shaved. 

Max Danverweis was a non-binary catfolk with long brown dreadlocks. Xe had a light covering of orange, black, and white fur in a tiger pattern. Xer eyes were brownish-yellow with slits for pupils. 

Linnie Luxey was a short, lavender-skinned tiefling girl with black hair pulled into twin braided ponytails. Her irises were silvery-blue with black scleras. She had quite a few freckles on her face and two thin sickle-shaped dark gray horns extending from her forehead and curving back over her scalp.

Sullivan “Sully” MacFarley was a human boy with pale skin, bright orange messy hair, and green eyes. 

Calista Brightburn was a crimson-skinned tiefling girl with orange eyes, long yellow hair, and black horns rising up from her forehead. 

“This is crazy, huh?” Sully said as the others entered the circle. 

“Yeah…” Selena replied. 

Stormhawk then quickly regained consciousness and Emmett set him down on his feet.

“Thanks for getting me to this Healing Circle,” said the winged boy as he looked around. He then glared up at the silver-haired elf. “I overheard that the guy up there is a former student of Qrowdell who was expelled last year for delving into Blood Magic. He must be doing this as revenge, to make the school look bad by getting Candidates hurt. The teachers called him Dhalsuphur.”

“With a name like that, no wonder he turned into a bad guy!” Sully added with a chuckle. 

“So what should we do to stop him?” Dorian asked the group. Stormhawk turned around swiftly and glared at him.

“What the hell are you doing back in here?” he snapped. 

“Hey, he’s the one who saved you from going splat,” Emmett revealed. 

“Actually, it was mostly Selena,” Dorian corrected. “It’s true I finally awakened my Fae Sense and was able to jump up and catch you, but then I didn’t have enough Mana left to safely land and she saved us both.”

“Thank you to all involved,” Stormhawk said, then turned back to Dorian. “But even if you do have magic now, you are untrained and in no position to be of any help. Stay in this circle until we resolve this, okay?”

Dorian just stood there silently for a long moment while the other eight began discussing plans to stop Dhalsuphur…