Take to the Skies [Open] [U.A. Students and Staff]

♡

A sharp burning sensation came through his gloves, muffled by its material and his sheer willpower to improve. A glob of lava, reaching unfathomable temperatures, slowly rose out of his hand. It’s shape sporadically jerked and rolled around, visibly forcing itself to take a more geometric shape though with difficulty. Ife stood there in a ready stance with two hands cupped, focused on elongating its shape and creating stability for a geometric structure. Quickly morphing into a variety of dimensions before condensing and slimming down into more of a tube, it was clear what it was once the linings became more defined for the ridges, a hilt for a sword. Afterwards as the detailed pieces of the sword became visible, slowly moving upwards the lava shot out in a wide turn similar to a half-moon before ending perpendicular to where the “blade” initially began to bend.

A shotel, a sword from his home country known for its effectiveness of bypassing defenses such shields. The ingenuity of it was that it had the same durability akin to long swords, not losing in any aspect of design but rather technique, you had to spend a longer time developing your skills to use it skillfully.

The transformation was complete, a shotel that shined red and burned the air around it, dripping of molten rock. The drawback was how hot the damn thing was to his gloves, he could not hold its form for too long. He swung in the air, practicing his footwork and began to shadowbox in a sense with his own imagination. Step here, lean there, swing after, deliberate practice on his form and timing that drained him indefinitely. But, willpower persisted in these times of difficulty. 

Over head, he heard flapping in the distance. He assumed it was a student, though Ife had yet to meet one with a quirk that allowed for flight. He knew most of the third years, so he was confused by this discovery. A quick wave to signal for the student’s attention, but not wanting to interrupt their training, he went back to what he was doing. He was running against the clock.

♡

The bird thing waved back, but... they weren’t looking so good. Ife followed their movements, holding back a chuckle in response to what he was seeing. Barely avoiding an airborne crash, the student ended up half barrel rolling and letting an object they were holding in the process. He figured it was one of the 1st years or second years, it would be embarrassing to have such a lack of control of their quirk at this point if they were older. A slight smile creeped on his face, turning around to resume his activities when he stopped, an uncontrollable whistling pierced the air and seemingly came closer and closer…


CRACK--!!


He jumped backwards, moreso startled and compelled by reflex to move away from the loud noise. The sword lost its shape and the lava simply plopped on the ground, steaming and burning whatever dirt was under it as he lost all focus. Feet planted, Ife somehow found a way to land on the only part with some rubble from student’s blowing up buildings for practice earlier, skidding and looking like a goofball trying to keep his balance. Arms out trying to give himself equilibrium, he applied weight to the wrong area of his foot before tumbling on the floor for a few feet. You probably couldn’t tell who was the older one in this instant.

“Oi…” groaned Ife, slowly picking himself up and wiping off the debris stuck to his robe. A quick earring check and the gold on them was still unharmed, though he neglected their regular maintenance over the last couple of weeks.

The girl swooped in, apologizing profusely as soon as she landed. Her outstanding feature was her hair and more importantly, giant wings coupled with other bird-like features. There was no way telling if it was any specific species but flight was beyond useful. Looking down with a straight face with no real concern for the situation itself, he was impressed by her character. Honest.

After a moment of studying her, he looked up, his mind playing tricks on him as he swore he saw mirages of blue-winged goose, a species of bird he loved looking at in Ethiopia. “You are free, always. How frustrating is it to share space with us land-locked folks, for we can’t understand your world in the air…” he stated, looking at the girl in her eyes. He had a soft face, genuinely curious about her. Those with flight weren’t a dime a dozen in Africa so it was a rarity for him.

“What is your name? I am Ife of Ethiopia, a third year transfer.’ He reached out his hand, embarrassment washing over his face realizing she had talons. Ife definitely did not know what the proper response to this was.

“I am Vol, I control volcanic rock and ash.”

♡

He was intrigued by his new acquaintance. She was working hard to be of use in real situations, a commendable thing. Though, a ways off if that weight was a problem for her still. Rethinking, he quieted his thoughts, everyone had to start somewhere and Ife himself was a project like no other. There was a brittleness to her touch, though a firm handshake for a girl, speculation only led to thoughts of it being attributed to her physiology being influenced by birds. Though the animal sounded fierce or even elegant, he had never seen one in person. They existed in Africa but closer to the lands of Suadan and Zambia, which didn’t visit much if at all.

“England? I am not fond of its history but I haven’t heard anything negative about it recently, what is it like there?”

His idea of England was mostly negative, there expeditions into the African continent was short of anything positive. They played a hand in every problem the land was struggling to fix itself, each corresponding country being milked of their own resources through corrupt government and greedy lobbyists alike. The only positive from them was tea and soccer, though they treated Lukaku and Pogba terribly, that was a story for a different time.

“There is no need to apologize, only the person who is not hungry says the coconut’s shell is hard. You hunger to achieve great things, it is natural you find difficulties. Me, I burn all things. I train to be more selective, the elements are hard of hearing to man,” as he looked down as his palms, slowly closing and opening them. He had to learn, for he could not be a proper hero destroying everything while in the of saving others. It would simply not work well.

“I am alone for we do not have many powerful classmates, is your case the same for being alone in your practice”