DUEL

Athame Arts, Bealnora School of Magecraft, Londaria

You would think I’d made a declaration of war with the relentless onslaught of spells Reginald Smoot tries to cast my way after that. Almost as if he thinks we’re on a bloody battlefield. But he has no idea what it truly is to fight for one’s life. The ruthless cunning it forges into your very bones. And his careless actions force my hand.

You’ve left me no other option but to decimate you, Smoot. And you don’t even realize it. You fool. 

As he starts another barrage of attacks, I dodge. Then doge again. Then turn and— “Viper’s Strike!”

The loaner wand shatters in my hand.

“Fuck!” I curse as the shards of ironwood embed themself in my palm, shredding my glove. 

I grit my teeth, ignoring the pain as I surge forward. I have to end this before he can get off another spell or I’m fucked.

Reginald Smoot collapses to the floor, his wand rolling out of his hand.

I snatch it up, blood already beginning to drip from my hand to the floor. And then I turn my gaze to him, that darkness I feared starting to wash over me.

He looks up, his brown eyes growing wide with the dawning realization that he cannot move even a toe. 

I offer him a wicked smile as an almost feral pleasure creeps across my skin. Do you get it now? How someone like me could possess such a wand?

My tainted blood surges through my body, demanding such vile things…

I put my foot to the base of his sternum and press slowly. “Yield,” I growl between clenched teeth as I aim his own wand at him. 

I can feel the dragon’s power writhing in the deepest depths of me, urging me to dominate Reginald. To destroy him. And it would be so easy to do it. To just push a little…bit…harder…

“What in the Dark Abyss is going on here?!” Professor Burke demands.

I shift my gaze to our professor.

The broad-shouldered master mage storms toward me like a raging beast. “Mr. Astaroth, explain yourself this instant!”

I remove my boot from Reginald as I lower his wand. “He requested a duel.”

“And you relieved him of his wand in the process?” the professor questions with obvious suspicion. 

“It seemed only fair,” I answer a bit flippantly.

“Excuse me?”

“Professor Burke, it really isn’t his fault!” Aruna Kattel interjects. “Reginald stole his wand and forced Zalan to duel him to get it back.”

The professor frowns at her before looking back at us. “Regardless of his reasons for desiring a duel, Mr. Astaroth should have known that dueling without a professor present is strictly against the rules.”

Of course he’s laying the blame entirely at my feet.  The Burkes and the Astaroths have never been on friendly terms. And Professor Andrew “Drew” Burke seems to like me only marginally better than his twin, Arthur does.

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“Duel” ExSpelled © 2025 by Kat Vancil

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