Luminous orange eyes hard, Callum drops to a crouch in the dark cover of the forest’s edge, legs shifting ever so slightly to give him the best possible balance, and he watches the empty stretch of grass before him, waiting, waiting.

The softest crunch of foot on dirt has him alert and ready, melting further into the shadows as so to conceal himself until the last possible moment. A figure slinks forward, dressed entirely in matte black, only eyes as brilliant as Callum’s own to discern him from a shadow cast by the forest. Callum coils himself, and the shadow creeps closer still, foolishly not looking into the trees at his side, where he might have been able to pick Callum out.

When the person is only a foot or two away, Callum strikes, launching himself forward off his haunches, to collide heavily with the shadow’s chest. They topple to the ground, and Callum quickly frees himself from his target’s grasping hands, countering the anticipated kick by grabbing hold of the offending foot and twisting, hard.

An arm connects with the side of his head, and he rolls with it, planting a foot on the attacker’s chest, using it as a spring board, and somersaulting easily to put some distance between the two shadow figures and himself.

One lunges and Callum dives to the side, spinning to catch him going the wrong way, and trips him up with a well placed leg. He follows through, driving an elbow upwards into his chest as he falls, feeling the air explode from his lungs, and, having dispatched one, again drops to a crouch, eyes following the other’s wary movements.

He feints right, and the other comes in to his left, just in time for Callum to tackle him to the ground when his balance is just slightly off center, and come to rest easily on his thighs, leaning forward just slightly to keep his shoulders pinned with his hands.

Panting, he grins, teeth razor sharp and translucent. “I win.”

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Scene 6-X

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