Chapter 14: Chapter 13 Proving

(Kyla’s point of view)

“That’s twenty nine straight victories!” Lenora said excitedly. 

Twenty nine, has it been that many already? I’d stopped counting after the fifth. It didn’t really matter anyway because I was going to keep fighting until everyone at Sky Haven knew my name.

“How are you only a dust mage?”

I had no idea what happened during the placement exam and certainly couldn’t explain it, so I didn’t try. “I guess I just cracked under the pressure.” 

Lenora’s excitement simmered a bit and she sat beside me on the bench. “Well if we win our next fight you’ll get to choose a rune… but can you really keep going? I’ve only used a handful of small spells, and I’m already tired and if you cracked under pressure before then–”

Placing the CAD on the bench I made eye contact with Lenora. “I won’t stop, and I won’t crack this time either. By the time my brother gets back from his mission I plan to be in first class.” I understood why she was worried. I’d handled the first five matches without Lenora doing anything at all, then I’d consistently used lage area magic to weaken and finish off groups of beasts all at once. The five minute breaks between matches wasn’t nearly enough time to fully expel the excess mana I was absorbing, but it was enough to stave off mana overload. The next fight would be tough, but I knew my determination would see me through. Lenora, however, was only participating because I required a “knight” to compete.

There were no solo challenges allowed at Sky Haven’s beast arena. Even the qualifier, a fight against five nabblers, required a team of two. I appreciated Lenora’s help, however I couldn’t stand her personality. It was obvious she was holding back, I just didn’t understand why.

The resting room was small and only furnished with essentials. A bench, two lockers, a separate room with a toilet, and a floating screen that showed the arena. There were also two teleport podiums to take us back to the arena, but nothing else except for what we’d brought with us. For now the crowd wasn't too loud, but I knew once the announcer signaled the start of the next match that would change.

“Can you believe it folks! A rookie dust mage has made it all the way to our grand finale!” An eccentric man shouted into a microphone from the center of the arena. His enthusiasm received a mixed reaction from the crowd.

“What a show, what a show! Well, let's not delay any longer. It’s time to see if our undefeated dust mage can prevail over a shadow stalker. This beast is the menace of all evils. It’s devoured every challenger that came before. This shadow stalker eats dragons for breakfast, but Kyla Ray thinks she can take it on!” The crowd grew louder as the announcer continued. “What do you say, people of Sky City? Can the rookie take down the phantom of the night or will she become another meal to fill the beast’s stomach!”

The crowd roared to life with indiscernible shouting. I imagined that most of them were rooting me on, but knew it was more likely they were cheering for my downfall. 

Lenora got up and lazily strode over to one of the teleportation platforms. “I guess it’s time to get back in the arena.” A slight spark in her seemed to betray her excitement, but it was gone nearly as soon as I’d noticed it. 

I went to the other platform, already feeling adrenaline pump through my veins. “I think you’re enjoying this, maybe even more than I am.”

She shrugged and kept a cool, easy posture that annoyed me to not end. Then, as the teleporters activated her blank expression morphed into an exhilarated smile. I only saw it for a moment before the light whisked us away to the arena, but it confirmed what I had suspected.

The smell of death was the first thing I noticed as my senses adapted to the new environment. The arena was cloaked in darkness. Floating lanterns, spread throughout the space, emitted a dim orange glow that barely lit the contours of large black spikes protruding from the sand that covered the arena's floor. Satin crimson glistened brilliantly as it reflected light from the lanterns. The blood of past challenges could be found on the sides of the spikes, soaking into sand, and even dripping from some of the lanterns. What I didn’t see was anything resembling bone, armor, or flesh. The sand was deep, but the fresh blood on its surface suggested these things hadn’t simply been buried. 

I knew very little about shadow stalkers other than that they travel through shadows and tend to attack from behind with a decisive blow. A single mistake during this match would be fatal. The terrain was an obvious advantage for the beast, but somehow I didn’t feel concerned or even afraid. Instead my blood boiled with excitement. This was exactly the kind of match I needed to show everyone the true strength of the Ray family.

“Kyla, move!” Lenora screeched, drawing my attention to a slight distortion in the shadows. A black barb shot out from the shadows below a spike that loomed just in front of us.

I rolled left as a barbed spear like tail, pierced the air where I’d been standing. An instant later it disappeared back into the shadows, vanishing as if it had never been there. The audience booed from their safe positions outside the barrier. 

I took a deep breath to focus and clear my mind of distractions. Lenora’s warning had saved me once, but I didn’t want to rely on her. The whole point of doing this was to prove myself, I refused to continue being the girl who cracks under pressure. I couldn’t bear the thought of becoming the family embarrassment so with my exhale I pushed away all stray thoughts and focused solely on the battlefield. 

Taking my CAD in hand, I activated the device. It hummed with a gentle blue glow as it absorbed mana that morphed into a scythe. 

The shadows shifted again and the same barbed tail shot out at me, but this time when I dodged I also spun my scythe piercing the tail. The creature shrieked in pain and tried to pull itself free, but I twisted the scythe, yanking the beast out of the shadow. 

The beast didn’t look at all how I’d expected. It was only as tall as an average person when standing on its two hind legs and its entire body was covered in a hard exoskeleton. As it used its two forelimbs to push itself back to its feet, the beast’s red eyes, that glowed like hot embers in the fire, bore into me with a loathsome rage. Its flat black face opened to reveal rows of tiny sharp teeth, and it hissed a hideous cry. 

The creature yanked its tail free, splitting its tail in half in the process. The jolt of force knocked me off balance just briefly, as another barbed tail shot towards me from the shadow. Without a better option I rolled forward, toward the creature with its tail split. I sprang to my feet, already poised to strike again, but the injured creature had vanished. 

That was lucky, although I’d rather not have let it escape.

“There’s something else here!” Lenora called from the opposite side of a large black spike.

A flash of green light, likely from a spell she cast, drew my attention for a moment then an otherworldly wail filled the air. “The hell was that?” I shouted, while trying to locate the insect-like creature that I’d let slip back into the darkness. 

Lenora didn’t answer but when I saw the shadows shift again, it wasn’t a barbed tail that shot out at me. Instead a ghastly apparition, that seemed to be itself cloaked in shadow, lunged towards me with a nightmarish aura.

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I jumped left, then again, but the creature pursued me easily. I broke into a full sprint, weaving around spikes and even using my scythe like a hook to grab onto more distant spikes and make impossible turns. The stalker followed every move with ease.

Getting away wasn’t possible so I turned to fight it head on. 

Where did it go? 

My eyes darted around anxiously trying to find the creature. A subtle motion to my left caught my attention, but it was too late. A long tail whipped into my shoulder. I stumbled right, directly into the jaws of the shadow stalker. It clamped down on my right leg, but the pain wasn’t what I expected. There was only a compressing feeling as the beast clamped its jaws tighter around my leg. Slowly I began to feel the sharpness I had been expecting. As the creature pressed harder it’s sharp teeth pierced into my flesh.

I tried to grab the creature's face, but my hands seemed to go right through it. When even the mana scythe passed harmlessly through the beast, I decided it was time to turn the tables. I needed to make this battlefield into something I was better suited to. “Ignite” I said, summoning a fireball to start with. “Flames of the dragon. Give me your light and power to smite those that dwell in the night.”

Flames swirled into the fireball, enhancing its glow as more mana gathered. I raised it above my head and let its brilliant light shine like a miniature sun, illuminating every corner of the arena. As expected the shadow stalker was forced to retreat from the light. It fled into the nearest shadow, a long narrow line, cast by a long onyx spike. With fear and trembling, it burrowed into the deepest darkness at the base of the spike. 

Lenora was laying on the ground about forty feet away. She was breathing, but I couldn’t tell for certain if she was alright or injured somehow.

The shadow stalker hissed and wailed from the shadow, but lurched back anytime I moved the blazing orb towards it. It was definitely an effective trick, but I wouldn’t be able to keep this spell going for long and three of the insect-like beasts were closing in on me. 

The eyes of the closest one burned with a deep hatred as it charged at me, dragging its split tail behind it. The beast had its two clawed forelimbs raised and ready to hack at my defenseless torso, 

But this was exactly the outcome I had hoped for; I was only concerned that the other two beasts might’ve been too far away.

The first of the creepy scorpion-like creatures scuttled across the sand to reach me then swung its split tail. It likely intended to stab me with its barb, only for its tail to splay open and flop to either side of me. I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, but my laughter was short-lived. The beast's flat black face was expressionless and yet I knew instinctively that I’d angered it somehow. I jumped back from several wild slashes of its claws. With the other two creatures now only a few yards away, I brought the fireball down in front of my chest and put everything I had into my attack. “Sunburst Flare!” I shouted, setting off a massive explosion that rippled across the sandy arena with enough heat and force to turn most of the sand to glass. Several nearby pillars broke in the blast, sending shards of onyx scattering in the air. 

I worried about Lenora, but a gut feeling told me that she’d be fine. Perhaps she’d even show her true talent now that the fight had gotten so fierce.

Two of the insects were totally incinerated by the blast, but the third, and the shadow stalker still remained. There were still remnants of burning fire from my attack, and the floating lanterns but it wasn’t enough to limit the shadow stalkers movement. Before the last of the light faded I scanned around to confirm there were no more hidden enemies. Fortunately there weren’t. 

Striking preemptively, before the beasts of shadow could hide themselves again, I lurched forward, swinging my scythe in a wide arch. The shaft first caught the insectoid, then shadow stalker as well; but when I pulled the blade to slice through them the stalker's form mingled with shadow and the blade passed right through it. The ant however, was split in two and fell lifeless on the ground, its flesh seared by the energy of the mana blade. 

“Kyla,” Lenora shouted from a distance away. She was standing atop one of the few remaining onyx spikes; though instead of her normal dull appearance she looked full of vigor and majesty. Four sets of horns protruded from the top of her head like a crown of black thorns. Her long hair draped all the way to the floor like a cape of silk. She hovered slightly above the ground, having apparently broken the barrier of gravity and she carried a long thin blade that felt both present and not all at the same time. The sword should’ve been impossible to wield based on its size and presumed weight, but she waved it around effortlessly. 

“Spirit integration, So that’s what she’s been hiding.”

“Can you make another one of those pocket suns?” Her voice carried effortlessly on the wind. I had no idea what sort of spirit was housed in her relic, but it was obviously several times more powerful than Gregor’s. 

I wasn’t sure what she was planning or if I actually could withstand making another sun orb, but I nodded and began the spell anyway.

The shadow stalker must've recognized the magic because it immediately began retreating in search of a shadow that could withstand the light or a way to escape the arena. 

Lenora moved with incredible speed to cut the beast off and keep it corralled within range of a sunburst.

As the orb was building I could tell that I wouldn’t be able to complete the spell. My veins burned with searing pain as I continued to funnel mana into the orb. When I could hear blood pumping in my ears I knew I was approaching my limit. My head pounded with pain and for a brief moment, reality seemed to shift. 

Instead of the arena, I was standing in the middle of some sort of forest. It was unlike anything I was used to, the sky was entirely black and each tree glowed a different color. The ground was purple and seemed full of energy, but the scene was almost immediately gone and I was returned to the sandy arena. 

Straining to hold on any longer, I hurled the small sun at the shadow stalker. 

The small creature writhed and shrieked as the shadows were chased away from its wrinkled body. The twisted creature tried to escape, but without a shadow to hide in, it was defenseless. Lenora stabbed her long blade through its torso pinning it in place as my flaming orb consumed the wicked beast.

My heart was still pounding, my vision fading, and my stomach flipping over itself. I stumbled toward one of the onyx spikes and steadied myself against it. Before I could confirm the destruction of the shadow stalker I slumped forward and tumbled down a mound of sand.

“Kyla!” Lenora’s voice was the last thing I heard before the world faded away.

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