"Alec, I'm fucking melting," Candace panted. "This isn't funny! What do we do?! She's just fucking with us at this point!"

"Can't you unbind heat from your fur?" I asked.

"I can't perpetually unbind fucking sunlight quickly or easily!" She growled. "It's a physical, long range attack, not a magical compulsion! The Elemental is about a few thousand meters above us. It's not simply projecting heat, it's blasting us with ultraviolet radiation, acting like a gargantuan magnifying lens! Not just one either, there are hundreds of them up there! We have to run inside, get out from under the solar lens!"

I looked at the struggling, exhausted human students on the obstacle course—their skin already turning red from the intensified sunlight. Many of them were collared and claimed as owned by particular prads, but they were also fellow humans being literally cooked alive while their "protectors" were trapped in a magical compulsion loop.

"Fuck this," I growled, watching a human teen stumble and fall, his skin already blistering. "Candace, wake up Adelle."

The fox blinked at me, paralysed by indecision.

"NOW!" I yelled.

Candace rushed to the sleeping cheetah. "Unbind sleep!"

The cheetah's silver eyes snapped open, still unfocused but responsive. "Wha... so effing full... want to rest… five more minutes plezz..."

"You're going to melt if you don't move," I said, hauling her to her feet. "We're rescuing the humans before they get third-degree burns."

"Rescuing...?" Adelle blinked in confusion for a second. Then her cheetah eyes focused on the distressed, deep-fried humans on the course. "Oh shit, they're getting roasted alive."

"Exactly. Candace—unbind the compulsion on the humans. Adelle, you're our muscle—grab anyone who can't move on their own."

"M'kay, kinda too full to run fast though," she whined.

"Can you not throw up or something?" I asked.

"What? No way. It's free food!" the cheetah snarled. "I can manage." Adelle let out another loud burp, which seemed to help her. "Aight, off I go. Ughhh…"

We rushed onto the superheated obstacle course, the artificial sun beating down like a furnace. The human students were in various states of distress. Some had collapsed from heat exhaustion, those with higher levels persisted on slowly moving through the course with severe sunburns.

"Over here!" I called to a girl who was stumbling blindly near a mud pit, her exposed arms angry red. "This way!"

"Shadowstep!" Adelle flashed forward and scooped up two barely conscious human boys. She flashed to my side, carrying them over her shoulders. "Where do we put them?"

"The shed!" I pointed. "It's the only shelter."

When we reached the building, we found the door was locked. Heavy steel, no windows, clearly built to withstand pradavarian strength.

"Get us in!" I ordered.

"On it!" Adelle growled, her fury finally finding a useful outlet. She reared back, roared and kicked the door with enough force to send it flying off its hinges entirely, the metal crumpling inward like tinfoil.

"Holy shit," one of the rescued humans gasped as we hustled them inside the blessed coolness of the shed.

The interior was larger than expected, clearly designed as some kind of equipment storage area. There were dozens of sleek, gun-like devices arranged in perfect rows mounted on the back wall along with magitek hooks.

"Candace," I called. "Scan those weapons. Make sure they're not another trap."

The fox's eyes flashed silver as she used her Identify ability. "Pacifier guns," she announced. "Four shots each. Non-lethal subdual weapons designed for magical suppression. No traps."

"How many?"

"Exactly as many as there are human students," she said grimly.

"Heh," Adler tried to grab a gun but then meyowl-yelped, jumping back, tail high. "What the fuck?" She rubbed her burned fingers.

"Ah," Candace said. "They're magically aligned so that only a human can pick one up. One gun per one human student only."

"Gee, thanks," Adler growled. "Could have warned me ahead of time."

"Fuck off, Ads, I'm tired," Candace spat. "You try to unbind so much stupid shit in less than an hour! Anyways, these hooks back here are basically linked to the cuffs and can be used to secure rowdy prads."

The implications hit me like a slap.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

This had all been cleverly planned. Professor Fern had orchestrated this entire scenario, knowing exactly how it would play out, knowing that we would use the shed to hide from the sun elementals.

"Everyone grab a gun," I ordered the assembled human students. "We're going to save our teammates!"

"But they'll kill us if we try to stop em," protested the boy with the worst sunburns. "You don't understand—when Sasha gets angry, she—"

"They're not angry," I interrupted. "They're magically compelled. The guns will put restraints on them so we can drag them to safety. But they'll still be affected by the banners so we'll need to get them away from the course entirely."

"And what if they fight back?" One of the students voiced.

"I think they'll be too exhausted to fight at this point," I said.

The human students looked at each other uncertainly, then began grabbing the weapons. I took one myself, checking the simple trigger mechanism.

We rushed back onto the course. The pradavarian students were still racing through their endless loops, but many were showing signs of extreme exhaustion and overheating as even their superior physiology had limits.

I ordered Addie and Candace to assist others and headed straight for Nessy first. The husky was stumbling through her 'n-th lap, her black and white fur matted with sweat. She wasn't making Riffweld noises anymore, panting hard.

I raised the pacifier gun and fired.

The dart hit her in the shoulder, and magical restraints materialized around her wrists—ornate silver handcuffs that glowed with subdual enchantments. But her eyes were still dilated, still locked on the course.

"No, no, please don't, I have to..." she panted, still trying to move through the obstacles while handcuffed. "Have to finish... have to win... almost there..."

"Nessy, stop," I said, grabbing her arm.

"Let me go, you jerk!" she struggled weakly, her voice desperate. "I'm so close to victory... just one more lap… Please! I can win!"

I had to physically drag her toward the shed, her feet shuffling reluctantly, head constantly turning back toward the glowing banners that pulsed with their hypnotic messages.

My skin felt like it was badly sunburned now, chafing all over. I left Nessy in the shed, binding her cuffs to the wall hook and rushed out once again.

Around the course, other human students were having similar struggles. The pacifier guns created the magical restraints as advertised, but the pradavarians were still fighting to return to the course.

I went back for Kristi next, finding her and Katherine still locked in a deathmatch on one of the rope bridges. Both raptors were bleeding all over from claw marks, green feathers disheveled, eyes wild with competitive fury.

My first shot somehow missed Katherine, as she flashed aside with some magic skill. Growling, I came closer and aimed for center mass, firing again. The magical handcuffs appeared around her wrists. The compulsion-entrapped raptor didn't seem to care, swatting at Kristi with her feet.

Kristi spun toward me, panting hard. "Alec? Thanks for slowing my asshat… sister! Now I can… win… show them all that I'm… the best."

"You are the best," I said, raising the pacifier gun. "You're the best at knowing when to stop."

The dart hit her in the chest. The restraints appeared, binding her arms behind her. She stared at me with a look of betrayal.

"What?! Why?!" she panted, her voice drowning in manic urgency. "I was so close... I just need to finish this loop and then I win everything… win your approval… show you that I'm better than that damned fox and cheetah."

"You already have my approval, you dummy," I sighed. "Candy! Ads! Get your asses here!" I yelled.

The cheetah flashed over with Shadowstep, the fox jogging over and panting.

With Addie and Candy's help, we grabbed both raptors and physically hauled them off the bridge, their feet dragging as they tiredly strained against our hands and their magical restraints.

As we secured the two raptor girls in the shed, Candace and Adelle rushed off, systematically working their way through the remaining trapped students, assisting other humans per my orders.

I stayed in the shed, panting, feeling very badly burned and too exhausted to keep going, watching the humans secure their pack mates.

"I need to go back!" gasped a wolf as three human students struggled to carry her to the shed. "The course is calling me! I can hear it singing! Just one more victory!"

"Please," whimpered a fox as her human partner tried to lead her away, "Just let me run one more lap… I can win this!"

The last pacifier shot rang out then, another human student restraining his lion packmate who was clawing at the ground, trying to crawl back toward the obstacles.

Professor Fern suddenly clapped her hands together with a thunderous boom that echoed across the entire course.

Immediately, the sun above us dimmed to normal levels. The compulsion signs flickered and went dark, fading away, banners rolling up. The elementals released their holds on the trapped students.

The moment the signs went dark, every pradavarian student suddenly stopped struggling, blinking in confusion as if waking from a dream.

"What... where am I?" Nessy mumbled, looking around the shed

"Slayer," Kristi whispered, her gold eyes focusing on me with recognition and shock. "I couldn't stop. What the fuck. I wanted to stop but I couldn't..."

Summoned clouds appeared overhead and gentle rain began to fall.

I tiredly noted that this wasn't ordinary rain, each droplet flickering with shimmers of gold-green magic.

"Woo! Healing rain!" The nearest human student yelled, spreading his arms. "It's finally over!"

"A job well done," Professor Fern called out. "Get those burns healed up by the rain!"

The few badly burned human students in the shed, immediately rushed outside to let the healing rain wash over them, laughing with relief as their burns faded and their strength returned. Then they pulled their handcuffed pradavarian partners off the wall hooks and into the rain.

I didn't move, nor did I help Nessy or the two raptor girls get into the rain. I stood in the doorway of the shed, arms crossed, glaring at Professor Fern with undisguised suspicion.

"Alec?" Candace said. "The rain's interspersed with healing magic. Don't you want to get those burns—"

"No," I said firmly. "I don't trust her."

"But…"

"This isn't over," I said grimly, watching Professor Fern's satisfied expression as the other students celebrated their apparent freedom. "No fucking way. This is just another test. Another layer of the trap."

Candace snapped her mouth shut. She shrugged and walked over to me and hugged me, making me wince. "Thanks, Alpha. If it wasn't for you, I'd totally fall for her shit."

I stared at Professor Fern who looked back at me. I lifted a hand and showed her the middle finger.

The 'healing rain' fell around the Instructor leaving a perfectly dry circle where she stood and she winked at me with a smirk.

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