A tall, strong figure comes towards me from the other entrance. Broad shoulders and strongly defined chest muscles are visible under my opponent's T-shirt. He comes towards me with slow but long, powerful steps. The closer he gets, the more muscles I can see under his clothes.

A double-edged long sword is in a sheath on his hip. It dangles back and forth with each step he takes.

Now fear is slowly starting to spread within me. I try to suppress it, but it is not easy given my opponent's size and stature. He stops ten steps away from me and now towers in front of me in his full size.

He is almost three heads taller than me and half as wide as I am tall. If you see us from the stands, the fight seems to have already been decided and I would not be the winner. But I have an advantage that I will use to my advantage.

Trolls are usually very clumsy and slow. With my small stature, I should be a lot quicker than him. That way I might be able to outwit him.

A list of strategies that I have learned over the course of my time here is gathering in my head. One of them should help me win. And if not, I can always use my magic.

The troll is watching my every move from above.

Does he think he is better than anyone else?

I will teach him to fear the little people. He casually puts a hand on the hilt of his sword.

»Your Highness, it is an honor for me to defeat you today in front of everyone present. I will gladly show you that you are not unbeatable, as everyone now assumes.« His deep voice booms in my head and is reflected off the arena walls.

Presumably everyone in the stands can hear his words.

»Don't be too sure. Maybe I can still surprise you, Trey,« I reply.

In contrast to his voice, mine is just a whisper. I just hope that my fear doesn't show. He casually brushes a greasy, dark brown strand of hair out of his face and puts on a broad smile.

»I'm glad you haven't lost your fighting spirit.« He bows slightly and gets into the starting position.

One hand still on the hilt of his sword, the other slightly bent away from his body, he waits for the starting signal. I take a deep breath and calm my nervous nerves before I too take a firm stance and clench my hands into fists in front of my upper body, ready for battle.

We wait tensely for the bell. The audience is dead silent. A cool breeze blows through the arena and pulls the first loose strands out of my braid.

Nobody moves, everyone is waiting with bated breath for the fight between the small, slender star warrior and the much larger, muscular troll.

I feel inside for my magic. It flickers ready for action in its cage, ready to do anything I ask, to devour anything that stands in its way, to destroy everything. I continue to hold it back.

First, I want to try to throw my opponent off guard without them. Of course, I could paralyze him in the blink of an eye, but that wouldn't be fair. After all, he should get a chance to show what he can do. And I need to prove to my people that I'm strong enough to lead them again.

Defeating a troll that is significantly bigger and broader than me should be a perfect first step. Every opponent, no matter how big, has a weak spot and can be defeated. I'm going to prove that to myself and everyone else, especially Trey.

The bell rings and Trey lunges at me. He tries to pull me off my feet and wrestle me to the ground, ending the fight before it even starts. But I expected this.

I roll to the side and come to a stop just out of his reach. For some reason, most fights start with this maneuver. I spin around, only to see that Trey was expecting me to dodge.

So he didn't land on the ground as I had hoped, but is already running towards me again. He's racing towards me like an unstoppable stone rolling down a mountainside. Even as he runs, I know that it's pointless to run away from him. I won't be able to outrun him on a flat surface like this one.

I pull my dagger out of its sheath and run towards him. In the distance I hear wild screams from the crowd, but I can't make out what they're trying to tell me. Probably that I'm totally crazy and should run away instead of towards my opponent. But I have a plan and if it works, it will give me a big advantage.

In the last few meters that still separate us from each other, Trey spreads his arms. He plans to grab me, but I throw myself feet first onto the ground and use the momentum of my sprint to slide between his legs. My plan actually works.

Trey stands with his legs apart, astonished. I slide onto the sand between the gate he forms with his legs. I swing my knife and catch him on the inside of his thigh. Trey yells in pain.

I hold on to the sand with one hand and use the remaining momentum to turn around in a crouched position to face him. I hold the hand with my dagger behind my back while I try to catch my breath. I feel the sand that has crept into every crack during my slide. It rubs against my skin. The fabric of my dress absorbed most of the damage, so I didn't hurt myself seriously.

Completely different from Trey. He crouches down and holds the wound on his thigh with one hand. Between his fingers, individual drops of blood drip onto the floor.

He roughly tears off a piece of his top and uses it to tie off the wound. Then he throws his head around and growls at me angrily. If I hadn't already been scared, I would be now. As if from another world, I hear the audience cheering. Trey slowly stands up. I do the same. His facial expression reminds me of a wild animal that would like to kill me.

We stand facing each other again and assess the other's condition. At least my action has equalized the odds to a certain extent, even if he probably still has the advantage over me.

Breathing heavily, we look into each other's eyes. I see a whirlwind of emotions in his dark brown eyes. He is angry, downright furious. He won't let me win that easily. His hand wanders to the hilt of his sword, not taking his eyes off me for a second and carefully observing my every move. I nervously brush a loose strand of hair from my sweaty forehead and tuck it behind my ear.

Trey draws his sword. Time seems to slow down, almost in slow motion. The cutting sound of a sword being drawn from its sheath rings in my ears and rubs against my nerves.

Every muscle in my body is burning to flee from that sound. But I hold back. Giving up is not on the agenda today.

The tip of the sword leaves the sheath and Trey raises his sword to the sky. The last rays of sunlight hit the polished metal of the sword tip and reflect blindingly brightly in it. My opponent shifts his weight and holds the sword more in the last light of day.

The blade reflects it and blinds me. Reflexively, I briefly cover my eyes before blinking and opening them again. I hear our spectators screaming excitedly again and soon realize what the reason is this time.

The place where Trey was standing before and blinded me with his sword is now just an empty spot. Only the blood on the sand and the traces of his footprints still bear witness to his former presence.

I look around the arena searchingly. The stands cast long shadows on the sand and hide dark corners. Trey could now be hiding in any of them. As a star warrior, special vision is part of my nature. This means that I can see everything even in total darkness. But instead of concentrating on that, I decide that it is now time to use my magic.

I close my eyes and listen to myself. There it is waiting, just beneath the surface. Without my knowledge, it seems to have sneaked out of its cage and is now just waiting for me to finally release it. I slowly feel for my magic and connect with it.

An excited tingling fills my limbs and gives them strength again. Scratches heal and bruises disappear. I feel as alive and strong as I did at the beginning of our little fight.

Breathing deeply and calmly, I allow my magic to seep out of me a little more and spread across the entire field. To outsiders, it must look like I'm not doing anything, because my magic is only visible to me.

Like a liquid, silver-blue shiny carpet, it explores every inch of the field and craves more and more. Its hunger for freedom, for adventure, for revelation is insatiable. In shallow waves, it finally hits the edges of the stands and fills every corner of the battlefield.

I feel the wind trying to carry away some grains of sand and the shouts of the audience bouncing off the ground and being thrown back. They demand more fighting, more magic. If only they knew what I was doing. A slight smile plays around my lips.

A stronger draft of air comes up and pulls loose strands out of my braid and into my face. But that doesn't bother me. I'm sure I look more like a warrior than a princess right now anyway, so I don't have to pay attention to the remains of my hairstyle.

My magic hovers expectantly above the arena floor and draws my attention back to what's important. I feel the troll in the furthest corner of the arena. He's lurking there in the shadows, waiting for a careless moment on my part to finally land the devastating and all-decisive blow. My magic urges me to finally attack him and end the fight. It wants to be unleashed by me and destroy him. But I won't let it get that far.

I concentrate on the part of the silver-blue sea of ​​magic that surrounds Trey's feet. I slowly let it rise higher. It climbs up his feet, crawls over his lower legs to his knees and finally up to his hips.

Trey sways restlessly from one foot to the other. Even though I'm standing with my back to him, he knows that I've found him. He feels my magic around him and becomes restless. He is well aware of how I won my fight last time and is afraid of freezing himself too. Losing control of his body is one of Trey's greatest fears. I can sense that even without looking at his soul. The events at the lake are still deeply ingrained in his bones.

That's probably why he makes the mistake of leaving his cover. Faster than I thought possible with his injury, he races towards me with his sword raised high.

I'm so surprised that I even forget to act. A pulling sensation inside me brings me back from my paralysis and reminds me to do something.

Only at the very last moment do I raise my dagger and turn to Trey. It doesn't even occur to me that my little knife can't do anything against his huge sword. A jolt runs through my entire body as our weapons meet. But I don't feel any pain.

His sword didn't hit me.

The audience gasps in unison.

I slowly open my eyes.

In front of me stands a troll gasping for air, trying with all his sheer strength to break through my defenses. But he doesn't succeed. No matter how hard he tries.

My gaze falls on my little dagger and I suck in a breath in surprise. Now I can understand the audience's reaction. An eerie silver-blue shimmering blade in the shape of a double-edged sword protrudes from my small, inconspicuous dagger.

My magic encloses the blade of the dagger and extends it. Never before has it materialized in this way, let alone been visible at all. It is always invisible and only visible to me behind my closed eyelids.

But this time it is different.

I feel an immense power emanating from it, holding back my opponent's sword. I press Trey's lightly with my new weapon and he staggers, taken by surprise. His surprise doesn't last long, however. After the blink of an eye, he has collected himself and is attacking me again. With my sword, I manage to fend off each of his blows without taking any major damage myself. My magic sword is still smaller than his, but it is perfectly balanced in my hand and is as light as a feather.

Whenever our swords clash particularly strongly, mine lights up even more clearly. Our fight develops into a sword fight. If he takes a step forward, I take a step back. If I attack, he has to block.

We appear to be equally strong, as if the fight could go on like this until the end of time. But suddenly Trey fakes a blow, only to strike with his pommel at the same moment.

I don't manage to duck away in time and he lands a fatal blow that knocks me off balance. A stabbing pain spreads through my head. Black dots block my vision. I stagger back and slide away in the sand.

The audience gasps in horror. I hear some of them jump up and call my name. I can't make out any individual voices, they're just too far away.

I lost my weapon when I fell and it's lying right in front of Trey's feet. The magic has disappeared and left the small dagger behind again. A satisfied grin spreads across Trey's face. He is now fully aware of his victory.

Despair spreads through my body and paralyzes my limbs. Trey confidently bends down and picks up my dagger. It almost disappears completely in his large hand.

»Did you really think you could beat me armed with just a small knife?« Trey sneers condescendingly. He casually throws the dagger away.

Now it is definitely out of my reach.

Confident of victory, Trey strolls towards me. He carefully takes one step after the other, careful not to put any more strain on his wound than absolutely necessary.

Stiffly, I try to stand up and face him.

My limbs protest, my vision blurs and I land in front of him in the sand again. Trey's grin only gets wider.

Weakly, I try to crawl away from him.

Unsuccessfully.

Even limping, he is faster than me.

He towers over me and smiles down at me.

»I told you that I would beat you, that I would prove to everyone that you are not unbeatable. And I always keep my word.«

»The fight is not over yet,« I try to buy time.

Trey just laughs. »Do you really think you can beat me now? You can't even stand up. You're making a fool of yourself. Just give up. Then the fight will be over and I won't have to embarrass you any more than you already are.«

I don't even think about it. Aquilia will freeze before I give up. I'm well aware that I'm not making a very scary impression right now. But that's no reason to surrender. Especially not to such an imaginary opponent.

I press my lips together in pain and try to get up again.

Once again unsuccessfully.

So the Star Warrior's fight against the troll ends, as most people probably expected, with me on the ground and Trey as the winner.

It seems my friends were right to be afraid.

I'm not completely fit yet.

I shouldn't have fought.