Varnir and I quickly dressed into our brand-new tournament gear supplied by the school. And it was, as the professor said, it was of extremely high quality and tailored to each individual not only in your class but for the entire student body that qualified. The black-stained leather pieces were from some kind of monster, and the red hand-stitching looked terrific.

We were each given Dwarven Steel greeves, gauntlets, and a chest piece to match. It helped bring the entire uniform together. On our chest plates and shoulder pads was the Gryphon insignia of Luminar.

Varnir stretched his legs out to the side as he waddled down the hallway, adjusting his pants. “It’s a bit tight, but this might be some of the nicest clothes I own. The stuff is even better than my uniform.”

“It’s better for it to be snug than loose,” I commented.

“True,” Varnir muttered.

The stadium roared above us, but the hallway was otherwise quiet besides the occasional teacher or student passing us by. “Hey, are you nervous, Kal?”

“If I said no would you believe me?” I chuckled.

Varnir’s mouth curved up into a grin. “Well, I guess if it’s you, then that makes sense.”

“What about you? Are you nervous?” I asked him.

“Wouldn’t it be weird if I wasn’t nervous?” he questioned.

“…are you saying that I’m weird?”

Varnir’s laughter echoed off the walls, and he patted me on the shoulder. “Are you just now noticing?! I thought we established this ages ago! But you really have gotten quicker on the uptake.”

I grumbled at his joke, but I felt myself grinning nonetheless. The shouts of the crowd were deafening, and the sounds of battle could be heard from the door just in front of us. “We are here.”

Varnir let out a quick huff, pressed down his pants, and nodded his head repeatedly. “Alright…let’s do this…”

I let him open the door, and a rush of noise buffed against us. It was rather uncomfortable on the Elf ears and could really do with soundproofing.

Or maybe I’ve just gotten spoiled during my time at Forward University.

For a moment, all eyes turned to us. Most of the students from the various schools sitting on stone benches or watching the fights through a gap in the wall stopped their conversations, and I could feel the dozens of gazes as they carefully and quietly inspected Varnir and myself. 

“Kaladin!” a tired yet happy voice called out to me.

Descending some of the small stairs from the arena side was Adria. Her orange and brown robes were that of a traveling wizard, and she held a bronze staff with a fist-sized blue dungeon shard at the end of it.

She ran straight over to me and gave me a hug. “Did your match go well?” I asked as she wiped the sweat off her face sheepishly with her sleeve.

“It did! My opponent fought hard, but I ended up winning,” she said with a grin.

I looked over her head but didn’t see another person walking behind her. Only the stares from those around us and the shouts from the stadium reached us.

“What happened to your opponent?” I asked her.

Adria chuckled awkwardly, and her face turned slightly red. “Ah…he had to be healed…I may have injured him a little.”

Adria? Injuring someone? That was a sentence I thought I would never hear for some reason.

“Kaladin Shadowheart! Varnir Shadowstone! Report to the front!” someone yelled out into the room.

“Oh…it seems like you are up,” Adria said with a hint of sadness.

“You can come to visit me since you are finished with your one match, right? I’ll be returning home the moment I’m done. I’m at the royal estate. I think the mayor’s daughter can find an invite,” I said with a smile.

A genuine smile bloomed on Adria’s face. “Yes! I definitely can! I’ll—” Adria trailed off as her eyes turned to Varnir, who was just standing at the side with a smug smile. “I’ll talk to you later, Kaladin.”

Adria escaped out the door, and Varnir chuckled to himself. “Another one, huh? Does Sylvia know?”

“It’s not like that. We are just friends,” I told him as we walked to the front.

“Wow, you actually picked up on something…good for you. But, yeah, I’m sure that’s the case,” Varnir said as he rolled his eyes.

A sweaty attendant looked up from her ledger a few times, probably checking our appearance. “Varnir Shadowstone, you are on platform six on the far right. Kaladin Shdowheart, you are on platform two on the left. Please head to your platforms immediately,” she rattled off.

Varnir and I climbed the stairs out to the arena floor. The sun had just barely peeked over the enormous stadium walls and shone brightly on our faces. The crowd quieted down, and I felt the thousands of eyes fall upon us. Even though the stadium was not at maximum capacity as one could see the emtpy spaces in between seats were still full of people.

But that awkward silence only lasted a moment. The stadium exploded into cheers, and shouts of “Dragonslayer” boomed.

Varnir nervously wiped the sweat from his cheek. “I guess you’ve got some fans.”

“You could say that,” I said casually.

I put the shouts of the people into the back of my mind and focused on the task at hand. Today and for the next two days, the stadium would be split into multiple smaller areas to facilitate quicker matches. Students from all three nations would fight against each other with the goal of winning two of their three matches over those three days.

Those who lost two or more matches would not participate in the main bracket. This was a mandatory process because if every single student from every nation were in a single bracket, it would take months to get through matches if you only fought once or twice a day.

It was rather crude, but there was simply no other way to do it. At the end of the day, your three matches came down to the luck of the draw. You could get two matches of top contenders and be out in just two days, or you could get three opponents of middling skill and go onto the main event.

As for me, well, I plan on winning everything, so it doesn’t really matter who I’m up against today or tomorrow.

We reached a path that split into small raised platforms, and Varnir stopped and extended a fist. “Good luck.”

I bumped his fist and nodded firmly. “You too. Show them the fruits of your training.”

Varnir grinned, a bit of his nervousness washing away from his features. “I will. I’ll show you that your training wasn’t a waste of time.”

Never thought it was, Varnir.