[h2][color=00aeef]Alexandros[/color][/h2]

[@Aspen Wren]
Alex met the eyes of the flaming being and knew at once that he had been entirely wrong about what being was. It was clearly no spirit or sign, but a being in its own right, sentient, intelligent, and beautiful to behold. There was a sense of familiarity to the being as well, a sense of solidarity that had never felt coming from another person he had ever met. Alex had only recently come into contact with the supernatural world and had never met one of his own kind before though the thought had delighted him. Alex wondered if he was fortunate enough to have met one of his own people first at the Academy. More importantly, Alex saw that the being had accepted his challenge, pushing forward past him with a great jolt of acceleration. Alex heard a yip and glanced back at the hyena, now struggling to keep up with the pair. Grinning from ear to ear, Alex began to sprint as well taking a few moments to catch up to the being's speed, now bathed in a radiant sphere of fire. Slowly he began to move past the being as the they raced through the forest. Alex could feel the path beneath him, giving strength and power to his legs, while the aura of yellow energy surrounding his feet began to slowly make its way up his shin.

Alex let out a wild whoop of exultation. To simply have the opportunity to be challenged like this had made the entire journey to this academy worth it. However, something strange was happening by the other being. It was a similar feeling when the hyena and leopard had first noticed him. It was as though there had been some kind of communication, but he had heard no words. He had once survived by taking tourists from all around the world to see certain sights, running them around the area with his bare feet understanding them all. But this was different, Alex knew that they were communicating somehow but it seemed almost... muffled? It was a conversation made up of words that he could not perceive. Earlier he had shrugged it off as just a strange fluke but now it was clearly deliberate. The other Gifted, for he was sure now that the being was a Gifted, was quite deliberately communicating with something. Alex glanced behind him to see if the hyena had kept up, before looking forward just in time to see several birds had dived into this oncoming path! Alex let out a gasp of surprise and spun out of their way, losing some of his speed as he avoided running into the creatures.

Somewhat bewildered, Alex wildly looked around him. The forest seemed to be almost coming to life. Sounds of animals moving, chittering, and even growling could be heard around the forest. Alex felt something hit against his head and peered up at the trees, one hand blocking the sun from his eyes. Squirrels had begun to drop things down on the path below them lined up on near every branch on the trail. Leval let out another laugh, realizing what must have occurred and impressed at the ability. Not to be outdone, Alex rocketed past the squirrels keeping his eyes up, moving around the small pieces of nuts and bark falling down towards him. However, three deer moved onto the path blocking the him from moving forward. There was no space in the tight treeline to run around them, so Alex leapt forward barely passing over their quickly lowered legs and found that the path apparently took a turn he had been able to see. Instead of continuing on the path as he intended, Alex found himself flattened against a tree up against the path's turn. The protective aura coming from his legs vanished and he slowly slid down the tree and fell right onto his back. 

Alex blinked several times before letting out an unrestrained belly laugh towards the hint of blue sky peeking through between the trees. He checked in on Rush and found him to entirely Rush-like, irritated that his ride had stopped moving. He raised his hand up and called out, [color=00aeef]"This one is yours!"[/color] He rolled over into a cross-legged sitting position watching the flaming leopard which had been following close behind him approach, still moving quickly. [color=00aeef]"But I am certain to win next time."[/color] He gave the Gifted a warm smile. Alex was entirely uncertain as to whether or not he had ever had more fun. [color=00aeef]"I am Alexandros, or Alex, or Hey You! Any of the three are likely to work. And who might you be?"[/color] Absentmindedly, he pulled some of the acorns and twigs out of his hair.