Read Exile for Free Online Page B

“but trust me on this, Aless, it really is not anything you’ll have the ability to fix.”
    Aless looked at the ground. “That student of Selena’s is intriguing, I must say….”
    “You’ve got that right,” Piers agreed.
    “When I was closer to him I got a better look at his mana. There’s something so incredibly unusual about it; could you feel it too?” he asked. “I couldn’t determine which element would suit him best…. Have I really been so out of touch?”
    “Ah, so you felt it too, then.” Piers replied. “Something’s off about it, isn’t it?”
    Aless replied, “I know this may sound strange to you, but I was intoxicated by it. I wasn’t intending to hypnotize him—I wasn’t. I’m not going to lie to you about that. It just happened, it was the strangest feeling.”
    “Same thing happened to all of us, Aless. Myself included,” he admitted.
    “And here I thought you didn’t fancy men.”
    “There’s something about that kid that makes everyone want him,” Piers replied. “Really, Selena’s the only one who’s been able to keep herself under control, as terrible as that is. I mean, as I said before, Corin has no elemental aptitude for fire, earth, air, or chaos as far as we can tell, but we all thought it was safer to have a guardian watch him than not.”
    “I could understand that,” Aless replied, looking back toward Corin and Selena for a second. “Has anyone tried him with water?”
    “No one strong enough to train someone with that amount of sheer mana,” he answered. “Why? Did you sense he’d have a knack for it? If you did, you really should tell us—we’ve been searching for his element since he first arrived.”
    “No, I couldn’t sense what element he belonged to,” Aless confessed, “but it seems like an obvious choice—no one with that much raw mana would be without an element.”
    “So ask him to train with you,” Piers suggested, walking over to one side of their training ring. “Ready to spar?”
    “Physical or elemental?” Aless asked, carefully examining his bonds, ensuring the silver rings on his thighs and neck weren’t close to falling off.
    “Elemental is so much more fun,” Piers replied.
    “I’m set, in that case. You prepared to be beaten once again?”
    “Not in your lifetime!” Piers declared, summoning a fire barrier around himself, his eyes flashing bloodred.
    Aless lunged forward, covering his arm with an icy shield, tearing through Piers’s fire and slamming into his side. Piers hissed, reforming the blockade with vigor and burning Aless’s arm.
    Aless allowed his spirit to take partial control, flashing his eyes much like Piers had during the start of their spar. A few nearby students approached their circle, attempting to get a glimpse of their fight.
    Piers threw a punch, but Aless was too fast, managing to grab his hand and release a thick cloud of steam toward the crowd. Piers leapt back, allowing larger fireballs to be conjured in his hands. He gave a small smile.
    Aless slid across the ground, attempting to use his feet to knock Piers over. However Piers managed to predict his kick, sidestepping the ornate move and gripping Aless’s arm, twisting it back at a painful angle. Aless let out a cry, strengthening his water skin and sending more steam into the sky.
    Piers dropped Aless’s arm and leapt. This was definitely what he had missed about fighting with Aless. The two were largely evenly matched—Aless having more skills in regards to spells and Piers having more raw, physical power. It made for interesting spars, and seeing the steam released by their clashing elements made it very satisfying.
    Aless looked out toward the crowd, raising an eyebrow when he saw Corin staring, even from the next training ring over. He let his mind wander back to Corin, sidestepping one of Piers’s kicks and throwing a wave of water to counter.
    How could such a young man even be present on their grounds, he wondered, and how