Tartarus breathed in the cool evening air, it had been getting colder and colder by the day, winter was approaching. As he made his way out of the building, he took note of the street signs, then of the guards that lined the side of the building. As opposed to the majority of patrolling guards, who wore simple, but well-tanned and crafted, dark leather armor, these guards were outfitted with heavy steel plating and intimidating helmets. In the center of these helmets were small white crystals that gleamed in the sunlight. Tartarus's stair attracted one of the guard's attention, and the guard turned to the young boy with red hair and pale violet eyes.
"...Do you need something?"
Tartarus was silent, causing the guard to shift uncomfortably, the boy's eyes seeming to pierce between the slits of the helmet and into the man's soul, causing him to finally turn away in discomfort. "Pft."
The other guards began to chuckle at the expense of their uncomfortable ally, and Tartarus left with a thin smirk on his face. He turned back towards the stadium, specifically towards the fighter pavilion. As he disappeared behind a street corner, a girl with fiery red hair began to walk after him, though at a distance.
Venka had seen Faris enter the building, but his facial expressions, the gait of his walk, his mannerisms, and the way he looked when he turned from the guards, it was odd, it felt like Faris, but also not like him. She didn't want to make assumptions, the look in his eyes the first time she flinched at his gaze hurt her deeply, but she didn't want to also leave things unturned. "At the most…" She whispered to herself, "He's probably different because of everything that's happened, people can change in a week, right?" She said to herself. She continued to tail Faris, who casually made his way back to the tournament area. As he did, she felt her ear buzzing, it was the effects of a spell she and her friends developed, a communication spell designed to allow them to know if each other were close enough to communicate with mentally.
Venka? - It was Morgan.
Yeah, I'm here.
Where'd you disappear off to, Katya and the rest are here with me; we're about to watch Nya's match.
Who's she fighting? Venka asked, curious. She sensed a great deal of humor from Morgan as he answered.
She's fighting Johnathan.
You mean from Cy- wait, sorry I can't keep talking, I'm trying to keep up with Faris.
He's back? Wasn't he taken by a bunch of knights, I thought they were going to do something to him again.
You don't sound very worried. Venka barely saw Faris's short red mane, a darker, deeper red than her own, as he bobbed through the crowd. She did her best to catch up.
Well, I-
Sorry, Venka cut off Morgan apologetically, I'll make it up to you guys later, I'm just worried about Faris, he seems different. Venka closed off her mind and ignored the buzzing sensation, eventually, it wore off. She followed after Faris, surprised as he moved past the humans then into the Urgal area, at first she thought he had come here to speak to the Urgal he was friends with, but he moved past that location. Venka began to hesitantly move between the Urgals, trying to make her way through without incurring the wrath of any Urgals. Eventually, she tripped over one's foot, but before she hit the floor, she felt a massive arm grab her by the stomach and keep her from tripping over. She turned to look, eyes widening as she eyed Gork.
"You look like you need some assistance." He said.
"Thank you Gork." She smiled, turning to see Faris disappearing behind a mass of bodies. Many Urgals and Kull were standing and cheering as the fights below intensified. "Can you help me? I saw Faris and I'm trying to see where he's going, I thought he was coming to talk to you but he went past you."
Gork's face knotted in thought, "that is odd, past us are elves then dwarves, I will help you." Gork turned and began shoving his way through the Kull and Urgals, Venka paled, thinking a fight would break out, but the Urgals and Kull moved easily, making space for them to make their way through. After squeezing and shoving their way through the sea of bodies, they spotted Faris.
Past the Urgals sitting stands was a small number of elves who stayed to witness the youth and adult divisions of the fighting tournament between humans. The human guards serving as VIP escorts for the elves moved to stop Faris, but one of the elves, a tall, pretty woman, said a few words and the guards let Faris past. Venka's face began to heat up with irritation. "Atra edtha hórna," (Let me hear)
Faris began by commencing the elven introduction, with the elf woman returning his grace. The elves surrounding turned to look at the boy, clearly impressed.
"...Impressive movements." The elf woman said, eyes glistening. "You truly are a savant, young Faris."
"Thank you Ms. Weyonna," Faris replied, "I apologize for barging in like this. You and your compatriots are busy I am certain, but… our deal?"
The elf's ears tinged a slight red, causing Venka's temper to rise, she turned to glare at Faris, who's back was turned to her.
"You made a wager?" Another elf spoke up, he looked at Faris then Weyonna, then smirked wryly. "My goodness Weyonna, I had no idea you took up games of chance, what did you promise this child? A magic fleece, shoes that grant flight, a seed of a giant oak?" He poked a tongue out at the elf woman, who blushed.
"Don't tease me Yolinder." She muttered, looking away embarrassed. She reached into her back and took out a gemstone, a glittering crystal clear stone attached to a ring. "Here you are, the crystal is white sapphire, a very rare gemstone."
Faris's face brightened up as he took the ring, as he turned to put it away his eyes glanced up, Venka hid behind Gork. She didn't dare peek out to look, her holding her breath for a few seconds.
"Thank you so much Weyonna-kona." Faris bowed deeply. Weyonna replied by ruffling the hair on his head.
"You are very welcome Faris-finiarel," Weyonna replied.
They stopped talking, but Venka remained quiet.
"Hey Venka, hello Gork."
Venka flinched at Faris's voice, she tentatively peaked past Gork's elbow, smiling nervously. Faris raised an eyebrow.
"Hello, Ushnek," Gork responded, pushing his fist forward. Faris responded with a fist bump and when pulling back made an explosion sound with his mouth.
"So… what brings you two here, or well, what brings Venka here." Faris looked at Venka, who remained silent, "Everything okay up there miss snoop?"
"Ms. Snoop?!" Venka retorted hotly, "What about you Mr… um, sneak! Yeah, Mr. Sneak! Where have you been this entire time?"
"Mr. Snea~k, wow… really creative nickname V, where'd you come up with that one?" Faris chuckled lightly.
"Yeah yeah," Venka smiled, relieved that Faris seemed normal. In that silence, Faris turned to Gork.
"Gork, how are you, how is Hamma?"
Gork touched the tip of his horn, "my mother is doing very well, she complains that I haven't gone to achieve any hunts worthy of attracting a mate."
Faris smirked, poking Gork's muscle, "well, you'll be able to test your efficiency out in the arena, did you join the footrace?"
Gork shook his head, "I am tough Ushnek, but not fast." He smiled.
"I am interested to see how far you've come, hopefully, we'll see your progress soon."
Gork laughed at the provocation, though it was a hearty, happy laugh. "Look forward to it Ushnek." He pulled Faris in for a bear hug, letting him go and turning to find a seat for himself amongst the throngs of Urgals, who had, for the most part, ignored their conversation. Venka smiled at the sight, Gork was a good friend of Faris's and she could tell how warm and kind he was even through his hardy, powerful exterior. She turned to Faris however, she needed to get to the bottom of his actions.
"Faris… are you okay?"
"What do you mean?" Faris replied, eyes looking deep into Venka's.
Wh-what's with his looks… Venka thought, trying to keep her flustered emotions out of her voice, "uh… I, I mean, I saw you get taken by the knights, but they didn't take you to the detention center."
"Well, only people who did something wrong go to the detention center, that swordsman attacked me illegally."
Venka shook her head, "c'mon Faris, you know me, self-defense still warrants detention." Venka had gotten in trouble more than once for defending herself too egregiously outside of sanctioned combat between students, and she had seen many people arrested by guards even after defending themselves if it led to the serious injury of the attacker. "They took you to a different building, are you alright? Did anything happen to you?"
"Oh, that? I'm fine, they wanted to get some questions out of me, and get me to sponsor the Knight Brigade."
"You, you're part of the knight brigade though?"
"Well," Faris paused, he ruffled Venka's hair, "Yes, I am, but that doesn't mean I care about them, I mean, this beautiful young lady I know is a mage, it would hurt me to say or do anything to hurt her. Venka blushed at his words. Faris continued walking on for a bit.
"Venka." She turned to see Faris, he flashed a smile that made her heart stop for a few seconds. "Let's go sit with our friends." Faris tapped Venka's cheek, causing her to redden, he chuckled, walking past her and humming a tune. Venka followed quickly after.
…
"There you guys are!" Morgan looked at Faris and Venka, scooting so that they could sit, his eyes veered from Faris's cool expression to Venka's embarrassed red face, and smiled wryly. "Oh! My brother, you've finally taken in my skills, I am proud to call you my friend Faris."
"What skills?!" Venka snapped.
This elicited an ominous chuckle from Morgan as he smiled mysteriously, "That's a discussion to be had only between men, my dear."
Katya rolled her eyes, "Ignore the fool and sit down."
As the two sat, Bartholomew turned to Faris. "Hey, Faris, how'd you come up with the design for those boots?"
Everyone turned to Faris, who lightly chuckled, "I saw deer running? Why, are you interested in the blueprints?"
Bartholomew's eyes lit up, "Actually, I'm really really interested in trying to combine the technology you come up with, and magic principles. The refrigerant system you developed for the ice and fire golems? We were able to utilize it for food storage, while the circuitry was difficult to fully grasp, we think it will be especially popular in hotter climates, like the Hadrac Desert and Surda especially."
"Oh, then you better pay up," Faris said sarcastically.
Bartholomew looked serious, smiling as he spoke, "Oh, yeah, of course, you hold 41% of the shares Faris."
The others looked to Faris, then back at Bartholomew, Faris raised an eyebrow as he asked. "Haah?!"
"Yes, it is held in your name, there wasn't much time to talk to you, but I insisted you be given shares, of course, I have 35% holdings, and my uncle holds 20%, with 4% divided across merchant investors."
Faris burst out laughing, "Oh, oh! This is fortuitous, thank you for your consideration." He sighed, the smile still on his face, "this is actually quite hilarious, but in a good way."
Venka raised a hand, "so… how much is 41%?"
Bartholomew smiled, "Basically, Faris now has the wealth required to rival the 1st son of a minor noble."
Venka whistled in appreciation, but she quickly lost her attention as Faris and Bartholomew began to talk shop.
"Hey… guys." Bartholomew flinched, he and Faris turned to see Katya, whose face was serene, belying the venom that dripped from her voice. "Shut up, Nya is ABOUT TO FIGHT." Her voice raised with enough ferocity that even Seya, who had dozed off, flinched.
"Who's Nya fighting?" Faris asked, looking down.
"Oh? Venka didn't tell you?" Morgan asked wryly, "Was she busy with something else?" Venka blushed at his remark.
"Yeah ms. snoop, why didn't you tell me?" Faris asked playfully, Venka's face cooled and she released a long drawn out sigh. Faris's smile dropped as he raised an eyebrow.
It was Katya who answered, "She's fighting her cousin, Jonathan, he's from your knight apprentice squad, Faris."
"Ah, okay." Faris, or rather, Tartarus nodded, looking down on the arena with renewed interest, watching as the two fighters entered the stage.
…
Jonathan's muscles were tensed, Nya was relaxed. Jonathan had a fierce, excited smile on his face, Nya looked bored. Jonathan was equipped with a shield, a whip, and a staff, Nya had several throwing daggers, spiked knuckles, and a bow and arrows. The only items they shared were their armor, leather with iron chest and shoulder plates, and a 1 handed long sword.
The referee handed them a gemstone that they wore as necklaces and reiterated the rules.
"... and again, like as stated before, you will feel the force of the blows, it can push you back, magic is prohibited the casting of a spell will be immediately detected." Both fighters nodded. The referee backed off from the arena, then shouted, "GO!"
Nya seemed to fly across the ground, blade swinging is a straight forward slash to John's neck. He parried, allowing the blade to slide off his sword easily. John and Nya eyed each other for that split second that their blades clashed. As she landed, a smile appeared on Nya's face while John began to frown. They charged each other, blades flashing in the evening sun.
Nya began with a vicious stab to John's sternum, instead of blocking, John spun to the side, using the momentum to swing his blade at Nya's head. She blocked the blow, but the force of the sword swing created a deafening peal, ringing throughout the air as their steel blades ground against each other, the metallic scream of blades clashing again and again as John and Nya traded blows. The audience watched with growing tension at the display of skill. Nya moved with speed and ferocity belying her beauty and small form, and John moved with grace, fluidity, and flexibility none would imagine such a tall boy could achieve. Eventually, a winner began appearing between the two. Nya landed a scratch on John's shoulder, then a cut on his forearm, a slice on his cheek, and eventually nearly landed a killing blow as she kicked away the flat of John's blade and stabbed to his face. John blocked with his buckler, glancing the blow away.
The tide of battle shifted at that moment, Jonathan began to swing both his sword and shield, attacking in a wide and sweeping fashion as he danced across the battlefield. Nya at first tried to attack in the gaps, but her momentum was weak. A stab to the gut hit the armor as he rotated, causing the blow to glance off and only a little bit of damage to show in the meter, on his end, his shield swung, smashing into her face and knocking her over, reducing nearly a third of the shield meter. John mid-spin rose his blade into the air to bring it crashing down, but Nya pulled out three throwing knives, launching it at John's face and causing him to have to move to deflect the knives, two were batted away but one hit his forearm, dealing a chunk of his barrier's health. Nya leaned back then leapt up. 5 knives this time were launched John's way as he blocked with his blade and buckler, Nya charged forward, sword-swinging artfully in tandem with her knife throws. John began to grunt in frustration, every time he attempted to charge forward, knives accurately aiming for his vitals blocked his path, if he deflected them, he'd barely have time to block, if he tried to tank the blows by shifting were the knives would hit, doing so would slow him down enough for Nya to back away from his attacks. John continued attacking Nya, confident that she would run out of knives. Eventually, her throws began to slow down, with less frequent throws and fewer knives thrown per attack, he grew bolder, attacking with great speed again. Eventually, he forced Nya against a wall, keeping her from dodging left or right. Nya threw a blade his way and he blocked with his buckler, only to trip over a knife stuck in between the floor tiles. As he stumbled, he barely saw the pommel of Nya's knife as it smashed into his face, tearing out a massive chunk of his wards. His hold on his sword loosened, and Nya capitalized on that, kicking and knocking the blade from his hand. John rolled backward to avoid Nya's swing, reaching for anything that could slow down her attacks. His hand grasped a knife, and he threw it at her.
Nya laughed as she deflected the blow with a flick of the blade, but the movement had bought John enough time to take out his whip. He launched hit forward, snapping at Nya with enough speed to catch her off guard, the whip struck her in the face, close to the eyes, with enough accuracy that Nya's gage nearly dropped to less than a tenth.
"You've learned some new tricks." Nya laughed, throwing some knives at John, who arced the whip, deflecting them all.
"Thanks." The two charged forward once more.
Nya narrowed her eyes, John's whip wasn't made of leather, it looked like metal fibers lined the item, allowing him to block blows from her sword. When not furled out, the whip was rapidly wrapped around Jonathan's arm, allowing him to block her swings. When out, it had greater range and speed than her sword, and his accuracy was astounding. Nya was finally again put on the defensive, she lacked the grace, speed, or reach to fully block the whip and still attack John, and she knew that in a battle of stamina, she'd eventually lose, even if it took hours.
"You know, this is smart, you're stronger and have more stamina, but I've always been faster, so you learned the whip to take away that advantage because, without magic, even I can't see how fast that whip moves." Jonathan's whip cracked as if to punctuate her statement. "But…" As Nya continued to dodge and avoid John's attacks, she leapt to the side, rolling and grabbing Johnathan's sword. She grimaced as he held the sword. "John… this blade weighs the same as mine, why?"
Jonathan smiled apologetically, "I'm trying to surpass you, remember, so I'll utilize the same constraints."
Nya shook her head, "Little cousin, I'm going to remind you again, we aren't the same, don't fight by my standards, as it is, this weapon is more helpful to me than to you or anyone else." She charged forward. With a weapon in both hands, she had the reach and speed to deflect, block, and hold against Johnathan's whip, though now that Johnathan no longer had to worry about dodging or blocking knife throws, he attacked with greater tempo and ferocity. Despite the speed of the whip, two swords could meet out more attacks and could cover more immediate space. John extended the whip, snapping it back then sliding part of it over his arm, causing it to snap again at a slightly shorter length. Both blows were deflected as Nya charged forward. The victory was in her eyes, causing her to nearly miss the shift in John's movements as he stabbed the bo-staff forward. She moved her blades into a cross formation to block the staff, but the force knocked her back. Spinning the staff, John leapt forward, preparing a finishing blow. But as quickly as John could sheath his whip and unsheath his staff, Nya was quicker, drawing her bow and firing. The arrow caught John in the neck mid windup, and he was colored in a grey light, freezing him in place, as the barrier depleted.
"Winner… Nya Velmonti!" The crowd roared in approval, cheering the efforts of both fighters. As John was let to the ground, he had a complicated expression on. As he looked at Nya, his eyes cooled, and he smiled, bowing to her, she bowed in return and made a move to hand him his sword, but he shook his head.
"Next time, I'll use everything I have, with a sword meant for me." He declared.
Nya smirked, "I'm looking forward to it."
…
Tartarus was impressed, their movements weren't fast, but their technique was sound. The woman capitalized on Faris's teachings, and the boy is more skilled than his first spar with Faris would imply, their skill with multiple weapons really made a difference… perhaps the way Faris fights with his multiple weapons could use work. I would have relied on his style, pulling out a new weapon every few seconds to keep the opponent guessing, but the ability to quickly change between a small number of weapons may be better in the long run, or… rather. Tartarus shook his head, smirking, Shades are higher beings, I can do both at once, I have a deep understanding of all the weapons anyways, my only limit is this unworthy vessel, and even weaker mind. Even now, Faris attempted to strike out to the surface, he had threatened to break through when Tartarus was interacting with Venka, but the thrill of seamlessly fooling the girl and her friends while Faris cried tears of blood and destroyed himself against Tartarus's void filled the shade with enough glee and motivation to maintain a straight face as he stamped down Faris's resistance. It was in this good mood that he recognized the gait of the human about to fight.
"Who's that?" He asked. The person he pointed out had an extremely child-like face, but he was wide and muscular, but was also quite short, shorter than Faris even, like a teenaged or child dwarf. He had short black hair and a circular scar on his cheek.
Morgan was the one to look first, "Oh, the short one? That's Minstrel Lent, he's the child of a minor noble, short and stocky like a dwarf, so he's somewhat famous, he's a mage apprentice, but he's remained as a copper-initiate for three years, why?"
"Oh, no reason." Tartarus laughed to himself as he watched the boy fight, his way of leaping and swiping the dagger reminiscent of someone he, well, Faris fought not too long ago, in fact, the scar likely came from the whipping brought upon him by coat hangars.
Faris's friends got up.
"We're leaving, we're catching up with Nya and are heading over to a tavern for some food, aren't you coming?" Morgan gathered his things and made sure everything was on as he stood up.
Tartarus laughed, "Nope, I kinda want to see where this fight goes."
The others looked down at the arena, the fight was decent, but neither fighter was competent. "Literally any one of us could trounce either of them, except Bartholomew of course," Seya said quietly.
"Hey!" Bartholomew said, hurt by her words, he had been slimming down from added exercise recently and was proud of his efforts. "I'm doing my best."
With a light push, Katya tipped over his bag, and a half-eaten rotisserie chicken fell out. Silence filled the air...