Her eyes settled on the big red X just beyond him. It seemed like an easy task, especially equipped with supernatural abilities. Diem felt a bit inadequate in that realm. Unlike the members of Terra, Lumos, Inferno, and other elemental houses, she had no fire power in her arsenal. All she had was painful, uncontrollable visions that came and went as they pleased. She was learning to use them to her advantage, like others in her class, but once again she was behind the curve—well behind the curve really. Most of the members of Anima had known about the nature of their abilities all their lives. She was just now discovering they were not the product of schizophrenia and delusions. After seeing the rather gruesome show of strength, where dark tendrils rose from the ground to snap a student’s arm, she was feeling even less confident. Diem casually stepped back, bumping into a row of classmates who were just as uneasy as she was. The guy behind her pushed her back to the front shamelessly. She threw him a perturbed glare before returning her attention to the instructor.<br/><br/>“What’s a Hunter?” She whispered under her breath to the angel standing beside her. The question earned her an incredulous stare, like she should know the answer. Rather than respond at all, she rustled her feathers, tucking her wings tighter to her back. “Seriously?” Diem spat through clenched teeth.<br/><br/>“Exactly what the name implies.” A voice said at her back. The tall, muscular guy who shoved her back to her place went on, “They’re mortals who hunt people like us. Now be quiet, half-breed, before you end up with an L-shaped arm too.”<br/><br/>Diem let out a slow breath, trying to calm her racing heart. As the first, brave few charged, she watched as they were easily dispatched by the cold, seemingly bottomless pits and swift, undetectable movements. More groups pressed forward, and their failures were just as brutal and savage. The line she stood in was dwindling quickly, growing smaller with each passing minute. Diem had that heavy feeling in her feet again, like she couldn’t move and if she did it wouldn’t be very fast. Still, she knew she had to make a move. She decided to wait for the next wave, move a little slower so that she could mind the shifting shadows and possible evade the voids that appeared in the ground. She broke into a sprint, looking ahead as she planned. Her stomach sank each time a classmate fell, but she pressed on. Despite the distractions around her, the hot flames that soared through the air and the hard gusts that blew past her, she was focused. She leapt over writhing bodies in pain and cowering students in the fetal position. Diem was so worried about what she could see that she wasn’t mindful of her peripherals, purposely shutting them out so that she could reach the red X.