lol.wasI found myself back at that damned cliff, the crescent moon peeking out from a frail cloud away from the thunderous carpet above me. It wasn’t hailing, but the rain poured with wrath against my skin. The skin on my earthly body.
This was another dream of my past, but I was spectating myself from high above the few trees. My and Michael’s backs were pressed against the edge of the cliff, 7 men approached us slowly with someone behind them getting into the car they used to bring us out here. The man, the only one wearing a red coat, took something out of the passenger seat, but before I could make out what it was, my attention shifted to the chasm.
The seven men seemed terrified at the two pillars of light coming from beyond the cliffs edge. Or did it come from the heavens above?
I was dumbfounded at the scene. I couldn’t hear a thing from my point of view, only see the men scurry towards the vehicle and drive off. I could’ve sworn I saw two bodies ascend out of the chasm when I got struck by lightning.
As if I was actually at the cliff a second ago in the pouring rain, I woke up drenched in sweat and urine. Tears streamed down my face and for a moment I waited for Violet to come running. Realizing I was far away from home, from violets warm embrace and Rays’ reassuring aura, I felt vulnerable. For the first time in my new life, I wept real tears. I feared being alone, I cursed at Michael for leaving me, I wanted to drink coffee again, eat junk food, laugh at children falling and getting hurt on the internet, play my favorite video game and talk sh*t about random people on the street. I wanted to go back to how things used to be.
-“How things used to be? What am I even saying? I don’t wanna go back to my dad. My dad…”- as if a lost cog got put back into the mechanism in my head, I remembered my dad and his shady business. I recalled the man in the red coat being his brother, my uncle, and how he targeted Michael for meddling with plans that he had for the family business. We worked as a delivery company of sorts for pharmaceutics, but my uncle got the idea of using that as a cover to smuggle drugs and other illegal substances.
No one in the family knew about it, but the extra funds and tacky clothing my uncle suddenly acquired raised a few eyebrows. After school, I started working with him on the weekends to learn the ropes and that’s also how I met Michael, who was a new employee at the time. It was a simple job, requiring us to go to wholesalers, pick up a few packages and then transport it to either hospitals or clinics.
Things were ordinary until I got employed full time. I started working alone and got my own van for transporting goods and started receiving odd packages. Some of them were poorly disguised as generic painkillers while others were just plain boxes or unlabeled packages.
I didn’t think much of it until Michael told me about one of his shifts. He was told to deliver to a hospital. He picked up his cargo from the wholesaler, no strange packages were given to him. He arrived at the hospital and drove to the drop off area where another delivery van was present. After he dropped off the cargo he was confronted by a man and asked about a package.
“I’m sorry sir, I only received cargo for MediClinics’ painkillers. I don’t have any other jobs listed on my schedule today.” Michael said politely, turning away from the man.
Cold steel pressed against his lower back. The man snarled “You better watch your back kid, if your old man screws up again, its tickets for you.”
After that encounter, one week prior to his death, Michael quit his job.
The sun rays peeked through the window and I decided to clean up before Tess sees me in this deplorable state. The sheets were soaked and before getting out of bed I mistakenly activated mana sense. For a moment I could see the blue particles of mana sticking to the bed sheets. This was odd to me since the water on the bed was highlighted, but the glass of water on the night stand wasn’t.
Before I could investigate further, I heard Tess come out of her room. I panicked since I did not want her to see that I wet myself, so I threw the sheets out of the window and threw the glass of water on the bed to hide the urine stain.
Tess entered the room. “Oh my goodness Kenny I’m so sorry! I completely forgot to check if you had a blanket for the night. Weren’t you cold?”
“I was a-okay! I’m a bit cold now though, since I accidentally spilled water on myself.” I could feel myself get hot from telling such a dumb lie.
“That’s okay. You can go wash up while I prepare breakfast.”
She ruffled my hair as I waddled past her.
***
I was finally enroute to the games and had to divert Tess’s attention away from the bedsheet laying outside the building. The administration building was within walking distance and people were already forming lines. I sighed at the sight but Tess dragged me to the side, pulling me through one of the ‘staff only’ doors.
“Are we allowed through here? Some of the people in line didn’t seem too happy.”
“Of course we are. The staff just doesn’t know it yet.” She winked.
We walked through a long, dark hallway. Pipes of different sizes and colors jutted out at random points and ran along the walls and ceiling. Thicker pipes seemed to transport water and upon further inspection the thinner pipes were loaded with mana. Loud booms could be heard from the other side of the hall and grew louder as we approached a metal door. I activated mana sense and saw a constellation of different colored orbs of light. They were mostly bright orange with a few green and blue ones scattered among them along with a new color. I spotted a singular purple orb floating next to two dark cyan orbs.
Tess opened the metal door and before me stood two kids in front of a crowd, beyond them I spotted two important looking figures, the dark cyan cores. To the right of the two women stood a figure in an all-navy uniform, his hands covered by white gloves and his face wore a marble mask that resembled a scowling, thick lipped man with a bulbous nose. That person was the bearer of the violet core.
The fight between the two kids had just ended as they were bowing to each other, before kneeling towards the two women on the podium among the crowd. While myself and Tess quietly circled around to get to the seats, the crowd fell silent, only the two kids’ huffing and a few coughs from the crowd were audible.
I had no idea what was happening, but upon taking my seat next to another kid, a noble, judging by his reaction to a commoner sitting next to him and his tacky red velvet clothing and gold colored tassel’s, one of the women spoke. She was a good 30 meters away from me, yet her voice sounded clear as day “Both Rudeus of family Ventul and Marshal of blood Eiros-“
The lady got cut short by the crowds’ sudden bickering.
“-what did she-“
“-Blood Eir-“
“-a demi-human-“
The soldier beside the women waved his right hand, a deafening bolt of lightning struck above us. The children present seemed to be completely oblivious, but the murmuring of the adults ceased.
“-As I was saying, both the children will move on to the next round. Rudeus has been awarded 3 mybels for participation and showing fine control over magica. Marshal has been awarded 5 mybels, 4 for participation and showing decent control over magica as well as raw fighting prowess, and an extra point as compensation for the crowds lack of respect.” She sneered.
The two boys gave one last bow to the women before leaving the stage. Marshal, a wheat-haired beanpole with a long face, walked past me and sat in the row behind me, alone. He looked and smelled of humble origin, just like me, but I couldn’t spot any demi-human qualities on the boy.
I was about to introduce myself since he didn’t seem stuck up like brat sitting next to me, until the lady spoke again.
“Lue of family Lumbard and Kenny of family Watkin, please prepare for the next round.”
-“What? I just friggin got here why am I already up?”-
I looked at Tess and before speaking a word, I knew all I had to know from the embarrassed grin on her face. “Good luck kid!”
I stood up with a heavy sigh, I had hoped to see at least one fight before my own. As I stood up, so did the noble brat next to me, his lips which were previously curled up in disgust now had a sinister grin. I glanced back at Marshal who gave me a reassuring nod, as if he was telling me to kick this kids’ *ss.
Lue was in front of me, strutting confidently onto the platform, halting in the middle of the stage, leaving me slightly off-center.
As Tess taught me, I waited for the women’s approval before kneeling and displaying my elemental affinities, earth in my left hand and plasma hovering above the right. It was hard to miss the gasps in the crowd, I could even see the younger one of the two women’s eyes widen in surprise. I felt Lue’s irritation radiate off my left side, his flame started to flicker as he lost his cool.
The older one of the women explained that I would be fighting against Lue, our skill in fighting, strategy, wits and, most importantly, control over magi, would determine if we pass to the next round or not. We assumed our positions at the opposite ends of the arena, which was compromised of a plot of soil surrounded by a stream of water. A bell clanged, signaling the start of the game.
I activated mana sense and noted that he had a bright orange core and that mana was converging to his right palm, a lot of mana at that. I figured he was planning a large-scale attack so I conjured two stone walls in a V-shape pointed towards myself, small pillars spiked on the left side to form a staircase. This took a good amount of my mana, but I wasn’t planning on dragging this out.
Softening my steps as I ascended the earthen staircase, I caught Lue by surprise above him. The air cracked as his fire engulfed the walls. Lue took his time strolling around the wall after the flames ceased, unaware of my presence almost 4 meters above him. He didn’t spot me as he rounded the first wall and was more wary going around the second bend, practically clinging to the wall.
I could see Lue lower his guard for a moment as the mana circulating to his hand briefly dimmed and made my first and only offensive move. The ground ensnared Lue’s feet, the walls grabbed him by the arms and held him in place while I jumped down, bending the earth to soften my landing, and held a palm of orange light close to his face. A bell clanged, sounding the end of the match.
Unlike the previous match, there was no applause, instead everyone seemed dejected. Everyone but Tess and Marshal.
The walls I conjured turned to dust and Lue got set free. He glared at me for a moment before averting his gaze to face the women. The older lady had an expressionless face while the younger one kept a smile while writing in a notebook, looking up at me and Lue every few seconds. When she finished writing, the older one spoke again.
“Both participants will be advancing to the next round. Lue of Lumbard has been awarded 5 Mybels for participation. Kenny of Watkin has been awarded 4 Mybels for participation, as well as showing excellent control over mana, strategy and wit. One extra point has been awarded due to only using one of his two elemental affinities during the game.”
-“Are you kidding me! I got the same number of points as that brat even though I completely over powered him? Un-f*cking-believable.”-
I turned to Tess, looking for answers, getting only a sympathetic look in return. We bowed to the women and made our way back to the seats.
A/N – This was originally meant to be one long chapter but tapas has a character limit lol. Thanks for reading and remember to drink lots of water!
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