Chapter 52: 2-5: Checking Out the Tournament

Hayli

We arrived at the arena, an impressively built building for how recently it had apparently been constructed, around noon, pushing past some crowds outside to the registration desk. Caela had refused to wear her nice hat, since she'd likely lose it anyways while fighting. I had already needed to glare at some humans on the way over here. 

The registration desk attendant looked us over with some emotion that I'm sure was negative, but he held it back, probably to keep the pay this very easy job was giving him, "I take it you... er, ladies wish to fight?"

"Of course. What's the quickest tournament you can get us in."

"Well, we have three spots left for an eight-person tournament in an hour. Prize pool is a cool five hundred coins total; three hundred to first, half that to second and fifty to third, so most people aren't as interested."

"That's fine, we just want to see how this works."

"Well, I need your names then."

I made sure to talk before Caela, in case she forgot using our real names might be an issue. Besides I already had ones for both of us, "I'm Faiche Faioria and my friend is Speirei Lasrach."

"Alright. You can go to the left locker room behind me and wait for either the tournament to begin or some poor sucker- I mean brave fighter to finish filling the bracket." He motioned to a path behind him.

We followed it down to a room with some showers and shelves to keep our personal items. I sat down on a bench in the middle of the room, the hard-as-stone wood not giving me any cushion.

"That was easy." Caela remarked.

"Yeah."

"So, I guess we look out for weirdly strong magic users?"

"Or unique ones."

"And they'll show us to the item?"

"Well, that is assuming that they are aware of anything. Besides, we can't assume that a power boost is even what the item is. We need to keep our eyes open for anything abnormal."

"A lot of things humans do are abnormal to me."

"Just keep an eye out Caela. I really don't want to stay around these people for longer than I have to."

"Yeah, yeah. You prepared to get your ass kicked."

"Remember when I was mind controlled and you ran away instead of fighting me two on one?"

"That has nothing to do with a fair fight, Hayli."

"Sure, Cae. Sure."

We waited around for them to tell us anything. (I hate waiting so much. I just can't stay still. I'd usually talk to someone, but Caela wasn't the best conversationalist for my style. She'd eventually get annoyed or bored with me. I mean I know I can be annoying sometimes but still it's not fun.) After an amount of time passed a man in a nice suit walked in and coughed, "The last contestant has just registered. Contestants Faiche and Speirei. You are seeds one and four. Contestant Faiche your match is in five minutes. Please follow me to the holding area. Contestant Speirei please wait here for your match."

I followed him, leaving Caela behind to be bored by herself. He ushered me into a small hallway. After checking me for weapons he lowered the door and had me walk out. I took in the arena as I crossed the drawbridge. The field was a circle of dirt with a moat of water around it. There were wooden bleachers with a good number of spectators outside the moat. It was as simple as I had expected it to be. From across the field a young man walked out from the door on that side. 

A voice boomed, "Fans! Are you ready for this tournament?"

A very weak cheer replied.

"Okay. Now, before we begin: In this round the winner is determined by who can get their opponent onto the ground for three seconds. There are no ring outs. Each side takes turns on offense and defense. The offense has two seconds to cast their spell and send it at the defender. The spell cannot last more than seven seconds in total. Any knockdown by a spell that breaks those rules will not be counted. There are no constant flow type spells allowed. Only projectile type spells. The defender can only cast magic in defense and cannot dodge. The magic cannot be used to knock down the offense. The defender can only cast the defensive magic a second after the spell is released on when it is twenty feet from them. Needless to say, deadly force is not allowed. We have medical staff for any major injuries on standby. Do both contestants understand the rule? Please nod."

We both nodded.

"On the north side we have the number one seed in this tournament, Faiche Faioria, and on our south the eighth seed, Arnold Doakes. As the lower seed, Arnold has the offense first. You may start now."

My opponent wasted no time grabbing his own shadow into a ball and tossing it at me. I waited until it was twenty feet from me before using the water in the moat behind me to send a jet to make the orb instead fly to the right and into the wall. 

This was going to be so easy a tournament to win.

"Arnold's offense has not succeeded. Hayli you may now go on the offensive"

I sighed and quickly used the water behind my opponent to knock him down from behind, making sure to hit him hard in the head with a torrent of water. He stumbled and fell down. He stayed down for the three seconds and even more. The crowd of course cheered, because they loved when people got knocked out. I was a bit more worried, since I hadn't hit him that hard.

The voice boomed again as some people in robes came and put my opponent on a stretcher. "What a quick victory! Hayli wins on her first offense! And with such trickery. A reminder, where the magic begins does not matter. So, the defender must be aware of the entire field! Hayli you may return to your locker room. The next match is between the second seed Oliver Hoarswood and the seventh seed Khione Tyrial."

I made my way out of the ring and made the long walk back to the locker room. Caela greeted me with a simple, "Did you lose?"

I glared at her, "Won and easily."

"Good job."

I looked around. Say, shouldn't there be others in our locker room? Eh, I could wonder that later, for now. I sat down on the bench and took the canteen out of my bag and downed a few swigs of water. 

"So, I guess we'll meet next round." Caela said.

"If you win."

"I'll win faster than you."

"You can't. Higher seed starts on defense."

"What?"

"You'll see when you get out there." I replied closing my eyes.

Shadow magic was rare, but it wasn't particularly strong. The strongest ones could use any shadow for it. But that guy was definitely not strong. It was really disappointing. I never got to fight with my magic properly, mostly because back home everyone knew how strong I was, but also because Sairah being the bear of a woman, she was prevented anyone from daring to fight me that was unaware of my skill.

Okay, it's not like I want to fight people, but it would be nice to see if I could. Also, a good valve for the anger I had been feeling ever since my father saved me from being a brainwashed soldier for Azrael. (Azrael was sent to a camp.) (Okay, I just read that, I should clarify that it was not a work camp or a slave camp or anything but more of a mobile village where she was not allowed to leave and- okay and I am going to stop writing. Not deleting this though, because my father has already read it probably.) 

The man came in and called for Speirei (Caela). She stuck her tongue out at me as she left. I stretched and walked casually around the room as I waited for her to return. Hopefully she wouldn't have too much trouble.

 

Terra

It was probably lucky that I had gotten in a fight with the wind magic guy before the tournament or I would have had quite the awkward time on offense for the first round. Instead, I had knocked out my opponent in a single blast of wind. The announcer had gone, "And the fastest win is now Leabaidha’s! Incredible. That is the last of the opening round. There is a half hour break before the semifinals." I immediately dashed out and made my way back to the locker rooms. I fixed my hair as I waited for the next round to begin."

"Quite impressive." Khione said after we had sat in silence for a while. "Though fire is not much defense against wind, Terra."

"Like water is defense or offense against ice?" I ask.

"Please, I am not one to take to offenses like that."

"Can you please call me Leabaidha."

"Right. I don't get fighters who use stage names. You don't get any glory."

"It's not about glory, Khione." It was in case another exception like Ulther existed. (Yes, I know I told Khione and her aunt, the owner of the hotel, Ia it but... they're queer like me and okay, now that I'm considering it that is a bad way to judge if someone is good or not. I mean Azrael was bad. Well, not bad completely as her goal wasn't bad but her way of achieving it was. Especially for me.)

The door to our locker room opened. "Contestant Khione and contestant Leabaidha. You may come to the Contestant Suite to watch the Semi-Final Match for section A. There are snacks and refreshments for you to enjoy."

Me and my next round opponent followed him through a new path and up some stairs into a box. There was a platter of meats, fruits, veggies, and cheese and a pitcher of water and a pitcher of lemonade. I grabbed a glass of water and scooted a chair up to watch below.

"Thank you all for your patience. Now, are you ready for the semi-finals. The rules are mostly the same, but victory is this: RING OUT! Dodging is still unallowed. Constant magics is now allowed, do our competitors understand?"

The crowd cheered as the two on the field probably nodded. I was still scooting my chair around to find a view that wasn't in the sun.

"Now for our first contestants. Our only two non-human contests meet in combat. Our second fastest victor today, the water magic user, the first seeded lizard Humon Faiche Faioria!"

The crowd roared while my face went paler than usual. Hayli? Hayli? Okay, no, maybe Faiche Faioria was a real person who was a water magic user and a humon that could be called a lizard by some people. Yeah, that was probably it, that was definitely i-

"And her opponent, the demon of flames and gusts, the crowned menace of magic, the fourth seeded underdog, Speirei Lasrach!" The crowd roared again. Wow, a demon with fire and wind magic? What a coincidence that was exactly like my very good pal Caela. Haha, surely, she couldn't also be here. And by also be here, I meant here because no one else I knew was here.

"Are you ready!" 

"First move goes to Speirei. Go now!"

Next to me Khione was yelling in excitement while I felt my stomach churn. Three rounds passed (Both offense and defense.) until I could drag myself to the edge of the box to view the field below. The fighters weren't close enough for me to notice properly, but I knew immediately who they were. Ugh. Why were they here? I mean I was happy they were here, but I didn't want to have my heart broken by their blank stares if we met again. Oh deities, I was going to have to fight one of them in the next round. I could perhaps lose, but... I needed the cash prize. Even with Ulther’s letter I literally had no cash left on hand.

"Come on, damnit she held on!" Yelled Khione as Hayli used water from behind her to stop herself from ringing out from a blast of wind from Caela. Caela was doing quite good; I was proud of her almost but that almost ring out was as good as she was going to get. On Hayli's next offense she literally drug Caela into the moat and under the water. It was pretty clear she had been holding back the entire fight so far. It was also clear that I really didn't want to fight her. I mean in general I didn't since I love her but like in the fact the moat made everything unfair.

"WOOO!" Khione cheered. "Twins, now that was a match!"

The voice boomed once more, "What a match! Now, next will the next semi-final contestants make their way to the ring?"

"Well, shall we, wind girl?"

"Y-yeah." I replied leaving the box and starting towards the wing.

 

Hayli

"You may enter the box now." The man said. "Your potential next round opponents are making their way to the field."

We entered and I immediately grabbed some peppers and baby corn while Caela took a glass of the lemonade. She was still dripping moat water. 

"I can dry you off."

"No, no. I can do it." She moved to a corner of the room and using a stream of water and a small flame dried herself enough to not be soaked.

We moved to the countertop edge of the box and stared down as the two sides entered and the voice came back to yell again. 

"Hello once again, welcome to the second semifinal match!" Roaring from the crowd filled the air, shaking the box itself.

"Now, let's re-introduce our fighters! First, a question why was six afraid of seven? Well, I don't know but I think our sixth seed should be worried about this competitor here. The Icy Queen of Domination, the beauty of the ice, the most eligible bachelorette in the local area, and betting favorite: Khione Tyrial." The crowd roared as the white hair woman waved to the adoring public. 

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"And the six to her seven, the fastest victor in this tournament, the windy stranger who blew away her opponent, Leabaidha Blaith!" The crowd roared again as the dirty blonde swayed nervously side to side.

Caela elbowed me, "Hey, that girl has wind too. That’s like three. with me. Pretty strange don’t you think?”

"Yeah. That is a weird coincidence." But that didn’t mean anything necessarily.

"Maybe the rune item gives wind magic?”

“Yes, perhaps it is just that. Let’s watch her during this match anyways.”

"First round begins with Khione. Fight!"

Ice gathered around the white haired womans palm into a simple ball. She quickly grabbed it and then threw it like a baseball. The dirty blonde caught it with one hand and apparently crushed it with ease. Khione shrugged and tapped her feet. Waiting for a blast of wind, probably. Leabaidha instead produced a much larger ice ball than she had, and much faster as well. She chucked it over her opponent and into the moat, its water splashing onto the ground. Khione seemed to be laughing now.

"Ice and wind?" Caela remarked.

"Wow, she's like you then. We should definitely keep an eye on her now."

The ice mage snapped her fingers and from behind Leabaidha looping around her stomach. 

"Aw, too bad." Caela said.

The ice lasso began to pull her and got an inch before Leabaidha grabbed the ice around her stomach with her hand and then suddenly the ice melted. You could see Khione react in shock to that. Somehow her wind mage opponent using ice was fine, but this was wrong. After all ice mages can't melt ice- and affecting (effecting? I never remember which one I should use) elements while they are still being affected by another's spell is rare and difficult. Leabaidha bent down and touched the ground. A wave of ice shot at Khione who shot a ball of ice at it to break it before it reached her. At least that's what everyone else saw her do. But the way Leabaidha stayed crouched after it launched, for the rest of the allowed casting time made me think that wasn't really the point of her attack.

Khione this time created a large pillar of ice, much too large to be safe, stepping back slightly as she did so. She was really strong, perhaps on eye on her as well. It soared at Leabaidha who caught it with both her hands. The pillar cracked as she slid back a few steps from the moat's edge now. She bent over backwards and tossed it into the moat. After cracking her neck, the dual magic user bent down again and this time produced a pillar just Khione, but a bit smaller around and a bit longer. Khione stood confidently as it approached stepping back to parry it when suddenly her foot slipped on a suspiciously shiny piece of ground, and she instead was slammed by pillar and into the moat. As the crowd roared at Leabaidha's victory, the voice came back on:

"And that is it. Leabaidha has shocked with her second magic element and her victory! Now, onto the next tournament!"

I turned to Caela. "Next tournament? Shouldn't the finals be next?"

"I don't know, how should I know?"

The door opened and the white-haired mage appeared, she was bending around the corner, "Wait by the front, Leabaidha. I promised the top four a dinner, remember? No, you don't have to pay- why would you even think that. Yes, I know you need money to pay my aunt for your room, I literally showed you to it and convinced her not to beat you up for mentioning that idiot captain. Just wait, please. Thanks!"

She walked into the room and smiled at us, "Hello. You are the other semi-finalists, right?"

"Yes. You're Khione, correct?"

"Yep." She walked over to Caela and looked her up and down. "So, you're my opponent for tomorrow's third place match then."

"Tomorrow's match? They have a match after today's final?"

Khione laughed, "Oh, you are funny. The finals aren't until tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow?" I asked.

"It's a ploy. Unlike the bigger tournaments that have the final match directly after the semifinals, in the smaller tournaments like today, the final matches are always on the next day. Way to sell two tickets. Especially helps them with how boring the matches usually are."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense."

"So, in my locker room I made a promise to buy the top four a meal if I didn't make the finals- would either of you mind joining me and Leabaidha?"

"You don't mind us being... you know?"

"Not human? No, not at all. Not something I care about. By the way, you two are fine with the lavender district, right?" She asked.

Caela nudged me and whispered, "What's a lavender district?"

"Queer."

"Oh."

"Clearly."

"Great. Come on. I don't trust Leabaidha to wait forever."

We began to follow her, "Are you friends with Leabaidha?"

"No, just met. She's staying in my aunt's hotel, so I know she's probably cool though. Are you and Caela a thing?"

"No." We replied in a monotone harmony. "Just friends."

"So, why are you here?"

"Oh, we heard about the tournament and wanted to check it out."

"Woah, it's reached across the border already. Well, I'd suggest getting into one of the bigger tournaments if you came for it. It doesn't have the weird turn-based combat."

"We may take you up on that offer."

Khione jogged a bit ahead of us as we returned to the lobby and grumbled. "Seriously? She left? Hey, Doug!" She yelled at the front desk, "You see Lea leave?"

"She said, 'I just remember I ate some very spicy food earlier and need to stay in the hotel toilets for however long the dinner takes, sorry. Can you please tell her and the two people she's dragging to eat that? Okay, thank you.' and ran out the door."

Khione frowned and turned to us. "Guess it's just us. Do you like pasta?"

"Well enough."

"Never had it." Caela replied.

Khione's eyes lit up, "Well, well. Guess I'll guide you to your first time then."

Caela laughed a little as we followed her out and into the Otterburgh streets.

(I really hope Leabaidha didn't leave because of Caela being a demon or myself being a Humon. I really didn't want to kill a human. Especially one that might have been connected to the Rune Item.)

After the breadsticks came and went, Khione decided to converse with us, now sans bread in her mouth.

"Do you have a place to stay?"

"Some librarian mentioned this purple hotel for... deviants?"

"Oh! That's my aunt's place probably."

"So, could you get us a discount?"

"Sure, Caela just needs to lose to me."

"No."

"Too bad. You might need to share a room with someone, it is getting full. Don't worry, I'll tell auntie to not put you with anyone weird."

"Will we have to share a bed?"

"Well, there is usually two beds, so one person can sleep alone."

"Hayli's used to sleeping with someone."

"Please do not take that the wrong way."

"Well, you can decide if when we get to the hotel and if it is an issue, now let us order the main course."

Terra

Ia greeted me as I pulled open the door to the ghastly purple building. "Welcome back, I take it you lost and will be working in the kitchen to pay?"

"What? No, I made the finals."

"Over Khione? Impressive. Where is she anyways?"

"Treating the other semifinalists to a meal I'd guess."

"You didn't go?"

"I just felt like sleeping instead."

"Right. Well then, breakfast is at nine. Make sure you give me the prize money, miss Terra."

I thanked her and dashed up the stairs to my room. Ia might have issues with Ulther but she at least gave me a nice room. It had a twin and a queen bed and a bathroom that was rivalling the one in Honiville. I immediately entered the shower and cleaned off the sweat and grime, letting the scalding water massage me. 

I know I should have stayed back and at least tried to talk with Hayli, but like I couldn't. Just waiting while Khione got them, I felt like I was going to explode. If I had to eat dinner with her, well I think I'd either make her hate me or creep her out. I mean to her; I am a stranger and to me she is... the most important person in my life.

This was better. I could sleep and be ready to fight Hayli tomorrow. Ah, fuck. How was I going to do that? I mean second place did get a hundred fifty and it might get her to not bother with me, but also, I hated to lose and really having her around would be nice even if I'd rather be trying to figure a way to return her memories. (And everyone's of course.)

I braided my hair, nowhere near as well as Hayli did it and got dressed for bed. I stared up, tracing the tiles on the ceiling. I really hoped those two girls stayed wherever they were staying, and I didn't have to run into them before the finals. I mean, it's not like they'd have much to do out and about in Otterburgh. 

"Hey. Dione. You find anything in my memories yet?"

"No, nothing. I haven't found anything to help us that you might have learned and forgotten."

I frowned, "Well, keep trying. Maybe check my information storage or whatever?"

"The hippocampus?"

"I don't know what the parts of my brain are called, Dione, you know that."

I could hear Dione groan as they went back to that thing they were doing. Well, maybe taking a nice deep slumber would help them focus on the search. I closed my eyes and fell into the sea of dreams. And in the morning, I would awake to an empty and silent room where I could be crushed by my thoughts once more.

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