The second and third Elimination Rounds came and went.

In the Grand Finals we faced a pair of twins named River and Autumn. They weren’t bad players at all. There were several moments in the game where they managed to score a few early KOs, but they struggled to take down my Elegant Owl once it was set up because they’d failed to recognise it as a threat in the early game. Wes didn’t even have to use the Dark Wolf card once the whole tournament.

The prizegiving was quite a fancy affair. The crowd went wild as we walked onto the stage. Wes and I shook hands with countless tournament officials, sponsors, the other finalists and finally with Kaiser and Rea.

I allowed Wes to take the giant trophy and the cheque for winning the Doubles division in the tournament.

I looked over to the other side of the stage and saw Nathaniel accepting his prizes. Incredulously, we had won first place for each of our divisions. 

Our eyes met, we grinned at each other.

After the tournament Wes and I were dragged away to take photos and to answer questions for the media.

Wes was uncharacteristically silent, allowing me to do most of the talking.

Then finally, the tournament was over, the crowds dispersed, and it was time to go home.

Wes stopped me before we walked out of the Event Centre.

“Don’t forget this, shithead,” he said gruffly, stuffing the Dark Wolf card into my hand.

I was confused for a moment – I’d completely forgotten about it.

“Thanks."

Wes opened his mouth to say something, paused, then tried saying it again.

“You’re actually a pretty cool person, Alaric,” he managed to say.

Wes handed me the trophy and the $500 cheque.

“I’m sorry, for everything.”

"Wes... it's fine, I only needed my Dark Wolf card..."

“No… I’m really, really sorry.”

My phone buzzed.

I looked down. It was a text from Nathaniel.

When I looked up, Wes was gone.