Chapter 2
Morning came to quickly and it seemed like I didn't get a wink of sleep. The sun was already opening my eyelids. It seems that I had fallen asleep out on my balcony. I was positioned with my back against the wall and my book in my hand and the candle had burned all the wax down to the candle holder. As I looked out onto the sunrise, my eyes instantly closed because of the bright sun. I rubbed my eyes and gave myself a few minutes to come to reality before I even attempted on standing up.
I stumbled down the finely cut, wooden stairs to see that my mom was already up and making breakfast over the fireplace. The crisp aroma of sizzling bacon entered my senses. As my mouth began to water, I plopped down at the table waiting to be served.
"You must have had a rough night's sleep." Mom whispered to me so not to wake Lyn, "Breakfast will be ready in about ten minutes. Would you go and see if any letters have arrived? I need to know if your grandma made it safely back home from visiting us this passed week."
I moaned and slowly walked my way to the front door. The birds were chirping loudly now. They began to hurt my ears. My mind was then becoming focused on shutting those birds up one by one. I walked out into our yard and down the thin cobblestone path that led to the main road to town square. Our front yard was small, like everything else's in this town. Once I reached the postbox, I looked down the street and saw one my friends coming towards me.
"Hey, Tai!" My friend yelled from the short distance away.
"Hey, Kirin..." I mumbled under my breath. It was just far too early for intelligent speech...or speech at all.
"Whoa, you look really tired. Are you going to be up to the tournament today?" Kirin proclaimed as he was polishing his axe.
Kirin is a pretty cool guy. I have been friends with him since I was a kid. He taught himself how to use his axe that he inherited from his grandfather. His grandfather named it "Luce". The word "luce" actually comes from a spell that is an extremely powerful exorcizing technique. It completely decimates any evil and the spell itself has explosive results. Of course, I don't know if that axe actually has that power. Somehow I figure that if it did, Kirin wouldn't be able to comprehend it. I mean, Kirin isn't exactly the person who would cherish something that is given to him. He is always ready to spill some blood on any situation. I am sort of Kirin's mediator...just to keep his hot-head cooled long enough to think rationally. Don't get me wrong, I love fighting and all, but I have never hurt anyone with any weapon to actually make them bleed, with the exception of my own foolish mistakes of injuring myself.
Kirin was wearing his usual battle gear. He had two silver shoulder plates that kept his green cape attached to him. Kirin's muscular physique was hidden behind a bright silver breast plate that had many decorative designs when seen up close. His cape seems to almost enclose him as if it were a robe covering the rest of his body. Kirin's leg plates were the corresponding color to his upper body armor. Kirin's hair was a forest green and it came down to his jaw on both sides of his head. Luce was hanging typically from the grasp of his right hand. Its large body was stretching from his waist to his knees. Luce was a two-handed axe that would smite anyone who felt its razor sharp bones. Along with it being double-headed on both sides of the axe, it is much heavier than any of the other weapons of choice in the tournament, besides hammers.
"Hello? Snap out of it!" Kirin shouted as he slapped me lightly on the cheek with his knuckle-gloves.
"Huh?!" I murmured as I drifted back into consciousness. "Oh, sorry! I must have dosed off."
"Apparently! Now let's get going so we can scope out our prey!" He said with a hint of mischief and a sparkle in his eye.
"Alright, just let me grab Eclipse and I will be right behind you."
I rushed off into the house. I must have woken up after than brief nap I had. Once I took a step inside I grabbed my sword and saw that Lyn was up eating at the table. In a mad dash, I zoomed around the kitchen and grabbed a plate of bacon and out the door again.
"Hey! Where are you going so fast?" Lyn yelled as I was already out the door. "Wait for me!"
Once we began a steady walk to the coliseum, I strapped my sword to my sash and started inhaling my breakfast.
"Hey man, slow down! You don't want to get sick half-way through the match do you?"
"You're right!" I managed to say with my mouth stuffed with half- chilled breakfast.
I took the final gulp of food and sat the plate down on a rock right beside the main path to town square. I just hope I don't accidentally forget the plate on the way back or I would have to explain to my mother about my mistake, which would probably end with screaming. The sun was over the hills in the distance now and it was going to be another beautiful day in Illia. The wind was blowing against my white hair giving me a cool sensation from head to toe. The breeze was very relaxing since I had just emerged from the warmness of our home's kitchen.
"So Tai..." Kirin blurted out unexpectedly. I turned to my left to look at him having to tilt my head a little ways upward since he stood a few inches taller than me. Even though Kirin is only half a year older, he still looks like a giant to me in more ways than just height. Kirin then continued saying, "do you think that we will stand a chance this time? I mean, last time we had rather steep competition."
"Are you worried Kirin? It seems that you are a little afraid of going into this tournament today!" I jested.
"Hey! I just don't want to hurt all those pretty girls in the axe competition. They just came of age to compete and I don't want to embarrass them."
"Oh, really?"
The second those words left my mouth I heard a shout from behind.
"Hey, Tai! Kirin! Wait for me!" It was Lyn...of course.
We both stopped and turned around slowly. Lyn was jogging towards us. Her daggers were in their usual place, one positioned close to the back of the neck where a casual short sword's handle would be free to grasp, the other positioned with the handle facing the opposite direction around her waist. Lyn was dressed in her brown skirt and leather armor that covered her chest and back. Although her armor was sleeveless, she had leather gloves that had a metal strip that ran down the ulna-side of her arm. The gloves were used as a guard so that she can block freely without using a shield. Lyn's boots were making light patting sounds on the ground and you could hear her daggers clanking in their sheathes. Her hair was put back in a pony-tail and the gathering point was positioned high on the top of her head so that the freely hanging strand could still move, but not get in the way of her attacks. Another one of Lyn's beauty techniques was to have two strands of hair that wasn't gathered into the band of the pony-tail, dangle down across her face. I don't exactly understand why she does it...but I have to admit it looks pretty nice. Wait a minute...no! Its all wrong! She is just growing up too fast. Why am I the one dreading this so much anyway?!
"Hey, Lyn! It's good to see you again!" Kirin spoke out to her.
As Lyn came to a stop she replied, "You too! I can't wait for the tournament to begin"
All three of us then resumed the walking. We were growing closer to the town square when I noticed everyone was gathering beside the fountain in the core of the square.
"What's going on?" Lyn questioned.
"Looks like a fight!" Kirin shouted as his walk began to accelerate into a run. "Let's go check it out!"
I slapped my own face and sighed. "Why are we always trying to get into trouble?' I thought to myself as I follow Kirin and Lyn down the winding path.
Once we approached the square, I noticed that two people we in the center of a large crowd of people. I tried pushing my way through the crowd to no avail. I was desperately looking for a way to get passed everyone. I jumped up onto the side of the stone fountain and looked over everyone's heads. What I saw was nothing too surprising. It was my other friend, Morrina; she is a tough girl whose arch-rival is always picking fights with her and vise versa. Morrina had her scythe out and ready to strike. Although her enemy, Ire, is a one of those bullies who always push their way through everything. His dagger has Morrina at a disadvantage in battle. Since the dagger is quick and nimble, there is not much a scythe can do to counteract the blade's speed. The battle would be extremely intense, especially in Morrina's position. Morrina has a great deal of technique and skill over Ire, but he has much more of a direct ability on getting the best of her.
I decided to go ahead and save the fight for the tournament so I jumped higher up onto the fountain. Bracing myself, I took a few steps backwards and leaped over the ten-people-thick crowd. I was kind of shocked at how high I had actually jumped and panicked a little. Once I hit the ground, however, I barely flinched.
"Ok you two! Save the fighting for the competition today! No use and letting some quarrel get in the way of real fun, now is it?!"
"Can it Tai, I am going to take him out!" Morrina yelled and began to charge.
I took a step back and put one hand reliantly on the handle of Eclipse. Morrina took a swing at Ire and was instantly dodged. The swing left Morrina open and Ire took quick leap that churned up dirt into the air behind him. Morrina jumped up into the air doing a perfect back flip and landing with one knee on the stone ground. Ire lifted the dagger over his head and slammed it downward to Morrina. My eyes shot wide open at the thought of Morrina getting cut up by the devilish sharpness of the keen dagger. I flew quickly to where the dagger would hit the strike her and stood right beside Ire. I drew my sword quickly and struck the blade of the dagger, making Ire jolt back in astonishment. I stood between Morrina and Ire just to be sure that they didn't begin the fighting again.
"We will see if your friend will be there to save you during the competition today." Ire chuckled. "Trust me, I won't be going easy on you then. So you better be ready Morrina!"
"Shut the hell up you bastard!" Morrina scolded as she ran towards him, scythe in the air.
"I think you have had quite enough!" Kirin shouted as he grabbed Morrina around the waste, stopping Morrina in her tracks. "Listen to me! I don't think it would be wise for you to go and hurt him now! Especially since all of these people are watching!"
"Ugh, shut up and get out of my way!"
Kirin's grip grew tighter, "Morrina! Someone may report you to the town guard if you do hurt him!"
"Ha! I don't need you wimps to protect me! Come on guys! Let's teach them a lesson!" Ire yelled as his friends rushed to the scene.
Three of his cohorts came running to the town square. One of them named Sirius, he use to be my friend up until the day that he betrayed me. Sirius' Claymore sword was about the same length as him. The other two were also carrying weapons. Janus was carrying a spear and Leera was carrying a hatchet.
Now we had ourselves a stand-off. Morrina, Kirin, Lyn, and I were standing across from Ire, Sirius, Janus, and Leera, ready for battle. Silence gripped the crowd and all of our weapons were drawn. I shot an evil glare at Sirius. Sirius had already noticed me and was standing directly across from where I was standing. Lyn was to my left and Morrina was at my right with Kirin on the far side of Morrina. I began to realize that not only would I get in serious trouble if I engaged in combat in the center of town, but I would also be sent to our town's small and terrifying prison.
"Listen guys, I am not ready for jail and I am sure tha..." I didn't even manage to finish my sentence before Sirius charged at me.
"Here I come, Tai!" Sirius taunted.
My eyes shot wide open at the sight of him rushing at me with that massive sword. Sirius swung the sword at me and it clanked onto the ground. I rolled to the side of him and swung horizontally to cut his side. Sirius then slid the Claymore to his left and stepped forward, making my swing hi his sword. He then threw a quick jest at me. I bent backwards as far as I could to dodge it, the stab would have hit me in the chest. I dropped to the ground and swept Sirius off his feet. He fell on his back with a loud thud.
The other three of Sirius' friends rushed in quickly to his aid, as did mine from my backside. Lyn jumped into the air with each hand grasping one dagger. As Lyn descended, she struck Leera's hatchet with both daggers, making it spin out of her hands. Leera screamed in fear for her life, but Lyn gave her mercy and kicked her to the ground.
Morrina raised her scythe into the air as she charged at Ire. As she struck, a clank from the cobblestones left her arms shaking in recoil. Ire had dodged the attack and grabbed her right arm, twisted it behind her and held the dagger to Morrina's throat. Morrina's scythe was still poking out of the ground where she had attempted to attack Ire. She grabbed Ire's hand and wrapped her leg around his. Ire was then thrown over the side of her and plopped onto the ground. Morrina stepped heavily onto Ire's dagger hand and the dagger was released.
Janus was then nearing Kirin with his spear. He swept at Kirin's feet in order to trip him, but Kirin had jumped into the air, dodging the swing. While in the air, Kirin swung Luce around nearly lobbing off Janus' head. He bent down on one knee to evade the attack. Upon landing, Kirin was shoved off balance and flipped backwards in the air. Janus had propped the dull-end of his spear under Kirin's foot and then lifted it up, making Kirin flip through the air. Kirin landed face first onto the ground. Janus then positioned his spear at the side of Kirin's throat.
"Hold it right there!" A woman yelled from the distance. The voice seemed familiar...but it was so hard to decipher that I couldn't figure it out.
Everyone was looking around desperately for where the voice had come from. Upon hearing the voice again, we then realized where it was coming from. We all looked to the skies to see two women riding a Unisus. This is a type of Pegasus, except much smaller and it is much like its land counterpart, the Unicorn. It is very agile and dexterous in the air, but extremely vulnerable to all forms of attacks. The woman riding in the back I recognized almost immediately. It was Jaina. She was riding on her sister's Unisus. Jaina's sister, Koral, is a leader of a unit called "Sky Raiders". They keep the peace in our town. The military unit consists of dragons, wyverns, Pegasai, Unisai, gryphon, and hypogryph. All of which differentiate from each other.
Koral flew downwards into the square lines with regular two story town houses and paths leading outward in all directions. Her Unisus landed majestically upon the cobblestone earth.
"All of you disarm your weapons immediately or I will be forced to do it for you!" Koral ordered. We all knew of her great magical abilities. Simultaneously, every one of us disarmed. "Good, due to your cooperation and the tournament going on today, I will denounce this offense as a warning. This will be your last so do not flirt with it. If you are caught doing this again in the town borders, you shall receive full punishment." Quickly changing tones she continued, "Ok, well see everyone at the tournament today!"
"I will get off here." Jaina said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. She flung her body from the Unisus and walked off waving good bye to Koral, "See you in about an hour!"
"Ok, little sister! Good luck everyone!"
The Unisus' wings kicked up dirt into the air as it took off. The crowd then began making their way toward the arena. I looked down at Sirius and offered him a hand-up. Sirius shot me a glare and got up himself, refusing the assistance. The rest of his pack of wolves walked off in defeat and left the just the five of us in the square. I looked to my left and saw Kirin getting up from the ground.
"What happened Kirin?" I asked with a bit of laughter in my voice.
"Oh, shut up Tai! Not everyone is as fast as you!" Kirin snapped.
"Did I just hear a confession?" Morrina laughed.
"Yeah, I think our big bad axe wielder just admitted a defeat! I am shocked!" Lyn joined in.
"You guys better stop it or I will have to sharpen my axe on your raw meatless bones!" Kirin shouted.
"Oh, so now your big and brawny man?! I thought you were just confessing to a fault...now you are bragging?" I jested.
"Grrr! Shut up!" Kirin screamed at the top of his voice.
Everyone grew silent for a few seconds and we glanced at each other. Then, with a sudden break in the silence, the four of us burst out laughing. Lyn was rolling on the ground and Morrina was holding her sides. I was laughing so hard that tears were running down my cheeks.
"You...you should have seen yourself just then, Kirin!" Jaina spoke in the midst of her laughter, "Your face was so red that it could have passed for sun burn! Plus...plus your face was priceless!"
Kirin put his hand over his face. As the laughter died down, we noticed that he, too, had started laughing. Once we put ourselves together, we began our walk to the arena for the first rounds. I am just glad that no one was injured in today's battle. The day was still young and there is still much more to do. I can't wait until the tournament begins!
A man was peering around the corner as the five walked by him. The man was wearing a hooded cloak and none of his face could be seen. He peered at Tai's sword in amazement and thoughts and memories began filling his mind. The man was hidden in the shadows of a nearby alley. A smile made its residence across the man's face. He admired from afar the quickness of Tai's abilities. The man then spoke to himself, "This boy has much to learn. Although, his skill is near perfect when it comes to style and accuracy, it reminds me of someone. I must watch this boy's progress in the tournament. Tai...yes...it sounds so familiar now. I need to see if I can make him worthy of that sword of his. Tai has an extreme amount of power that is yet untapped." The man's attention then went towards Lyn. More thoughts then fabricated through his mind, "Her too! She must be Tai's sister. Yes...a match indeed. This may turn out to be the help we need to win this eternal fight. I must speak to them...I need to recruit them. This is too easy!"
The cloaked man then walked off silently back into the depths of the alley.
Morning came to quickly and it seemed like I didn't get a wink of sleep. The sun was already opening my eyelids. It seems that I had fallen asleep out on my balcony. I was positioned with my back against the wall and my book in my hand and the candle had burned all the wax down to the candle holder. As I looked out onto the sunrise, my eyes instantly closed because of the bright sun. I rubbed my eyes and gave myself a few minutes to come to reality before I even attempted on standing up.
I stumbled down the finely cut, wooden stairs to see that my mom was already up and making breakfast over the fireplace. The crisp aroma of sizzling bacon entered my senses. As my mouth began to water, I plopped down at the table waiting to be served.
"You must have had a rough night's sleep." Mom whispered to me so not to wake Lyn, "Breakfast will be ready in about ten minutes. Would you go and see if any letters have arrived? I need to know if your grandma made it safely back home from visiting us this passed week."
I moaned and slowly walked my way to the front door. The birds were chirping loudly now. They began to hurt my ears. My mind was then becoming focused on shutting those birds up one by one. I walked out into our yard and down the thin cobblestone path that led to the main road to town square. Our front yard was small, like everything else's in this town. Once I reached the postbox, I looked down the street and saw one my friends coming towards me.
"Hey, Tai!" My friend yelled from the short distance away.
"Hey, Kirin..." I mumbled under my breath. It was just far too early for intelligent speech...or speech at all.
"Whoa, you look really tired. Are you going to be up to the tournament today?" Kirin proclaimed as he was polishing his axe.
Kirin is a pretty cool guy. I have been friends with him since I was a kid. He taught himself how to use his axe that he inherited from his grandfather. His grandfather named it "Luce". The word "luce" actually comes from a spell that is an extremely powerful exorcizing technique. It completely decimates any evil and the spell itself has explosive results. Of course, I don't know if that axe actually has that power. Somehow I figure that if it did, Kirin wouldn't be able to comprehend it. I mean, Kirin isn't exactly the person who would cherish something that is given to him. He is always ready to spill some blood on any situation. I am sort of Kirin's mediator...just to keep his hot-head cooled long enough to think rationally. Don't get me wrong, I love fighting and all, but I have never hurt anyone with any weapon to actually make them bleed, with the exception of my own foolish mistakes of injuring myself.
Kirin was wearing his usual battle gear. He had two silver shoulder plates that kept his green cape attached to him. Kirin's muscular physique was hidden behind a bright silver breast plate that had many decorative designs when seen up close. His cape seems to almost enclose him as if it were a robe covering the rest of his body. Kirin's leg plates were the corresponding color to his upper body armor. Kirin's hair was a forest green and it came down to his jaw on both sides of his head. Luce was hanging typically from the grasp of his right hand. Its large body was stretching from his waist to his knees. Luce was a two-handed axe that would smite anyone who felt its razor sharp bones. Along with it being double-headed on both sides of the axe, it is much heavier than any of the other weapons of choice in the tournament, besides hammers.
"Hello? Snap out of it!" Kirin shouted as he slapped me lightly on the cheek with his knuckle-gloves.
"Huh?!" I murmured as I drifted back into consciousness. "Oh, sorry! I must have dosed off."
"Apparently! Now let's get going so we can scope out our prey!" He said with a hint of mischief and a sparkle in his eye.
"Alright, just let me grab Eclipse and I will be right behind you."
I rushed off into the house. I must have woken up after than brief nap I had. Once I took a step inside I grabbed my sword and saw that Lyn was up eating at the table. In a mad dash, I zoomed around the kitchen and grabbed a plate of bacon and out the door again.
"Hey! Where are you going so fast?" Lyn yelled as I was already out the door. "Wait for me!"
Once we began a steady walk to the coliseum, I strapped my sword to my sash and started inhaling my breakfast.
"Hey man, slow down! You don't want to get sick half-way through the match do you?"
"You're right!" I managed to say with my mouth stuffed with half- chilled breakfast.
I took the final gulp of food and sat the plate down on a rock right beside the main path to town square. I just hope I don't accidentally forget the plate on the way back or I would have to explain to my mother about my mistake, which would probably end with screaming. The sun was over the hills in the distance now and it was going to be another beautiful day in Illia. The wind was blowing against my white hair giving me a cool sensation from head to toe. The breeze was very relaxing since I had just emerged from the warmness of our home's kitchen.
"So Tai..." Kirin blurted out unexpectedly. I turned to my left to look at him having to tilt my head a little ways upward since he stood a few inches taller than me. Even though Kirin is only half a year older, he still looks like a giant to me in more ways than just height. Kirin then continued saying, "do you think that we will stand a chance this time? I mean, last time we had rather steep competition."
"Are you worried Kirin? It seems that you are a little afraid of going into this tournament today!" I jested.
"Hey! I just don't want to hurt all those pretty girls in the axe competition. They just came of age to compete and I don't want to embarrass them."
"Oh, really?"
The second those words left my mouth I heard a shout from behind.
"Hey, Tai! Kirin! Wait for me!" It was Lyn...of course.
We both stopped and turned around slowly. Lyn was jogging towards us. Her daggers were in their usual place, one positioned close to the back of the neck where a casual short sword's handle would be free to grasp, the other positioned with the handle facing the opposite direction around her waist. Lyn was dressed in her brown skirt and leather armor that covered her chest and back. Although her armor was sleeveless, she had leather gloves that had a metal strip that ran down the ulna-side of her arm. The gloves were used as a guard so that she can block freely without using a shield. Lyn's boots were making light patting sounds on the ground and you could hear her daggers clanking in their sheathes. Her hair was put back in a pony-tail and the gathering point was positioned high on the top of her head so that the freely hanging strand could still move, but not get in the way of her attacks. Another one of Lyn's beauty techniques was to have two strands of hair that wasn't gathered into the band of the pony-tail, dangle down across her face. I don't exactly understand why she does it...but I have to admit it looks pretty nice. Wait a minute...no! Its all wrong! She is just growing up too fast. Why am I the one dreading this so much anyway?!
"Hey, Lyn! It's good to see you again!" Kirin spoke out to her.
As Lyn came to a stop she replied, "You too! I can't wait for the tournament to begin"
All three of us then resumed the walking. We were growing closer to the town square when I noticed everyone was gathering beside the fountain in the core of the square.
"What's going on?" Lyn questioned.
"Looks like a fight!" Kirin shouted as his walk began to accelerate into a run. "Let's go check it out!"
I slapped my own face and sighed. "Why are we always trying to get into trouble?' I thought to myself as I follow Kirin and Lyn down the winding path.
Once we approached the square, I noticed that two people we in the center of a large crowd of people. I tried pushing my way through the crowd to no avail. I was desperately looking for a way to get passed everyone. I jumped up onto the side of the stone fountain and looked over everyone's heads. What I saw was nothing too surprising. It was my other friend, Morrina; she is a tough girl whose arch-rival is always picking fights with her and vise versa. Morrina had her scythe out and ready to strike. Although her enemy, Ire, is a one of those bullies who always push their way through everything. His dagger has Morrina at a disadvantage in battle. Since the dagger is quick and nimble, there is not much a scythe can do to counteract the blade's speed. The battle would be extremely intense, especially in Morrina's position. Morrina has a great deal of technique and skill over Ire, but he has much more of a direct ability on getting the best of her.
I decided to go ahead and save the fight for the tournament so I jumped higher up onto the fountain. Bracing myself, I took a few steps backwards and leaped over the ten-people-thick crowd. I was kind of shocked at how high I had actually jumped and panicked a little. Once I hit the ground, however, I barely flinched.
"Ok you two! Save the fighting for the competition today! No use and letting some quarrel get in the way of real fun, now is it?!"
"Can it Tai, I am going to take him out!" Morrina yelled and began to charge.
I took a step back and put one hand reliantly on the handle of Eclipse. Morrina took a swing at Ire and was instantly dodged. The swing left Morrina open and Ire took quick leap that churned up dirt into the air behind him. Morrina jumped up into the air doing a perfect back flip and landing with one knee on the stone ground. Ire lifted the dagger over his head and slammed it downward to Morrina. My eyes shot wide open at the thought of Morrina getting cut up by the devilish sharpness of the keen dagger. I flew quickly to where the dagger would hit the strike her and stood right beside Ire. I drew my sword quickly and struck the blade of the dagger, making Ire jolt back in astonishment. I stood between Morrina and Ire just to be sure that they didn't begin the fighting again.
"We will see if your friend will be there to save you during the competition today." Ire chuckled. "Trust me, I won't be going easy on you then. So you better be ready Morrina!"
"Shut the hell up you bastard!" Morrina scolded as she ran towards him, scythe in the air.
"I think you have had quite enough!" Kirin shouted as he grabbed Morrina around the waste, stopping Morrina in her tracks. "Listen to me! I don't think it would be wise for you to go and hurt him now! Especially since all of these people are watching!"
"Ugh, shut up and get out of my way!"
Kirin's grip grew tighter, "Morrina! Someone may report you to the town guard if you do hurt him!"
"Ha! I don't need you wimps to protect me! Come on guys! Let's teach them a lesson!" Ire yelled as his friends rushed to the scene.
Three of his cohorts came running to the town square. One of them named Sirius, he use to be my friend up until the day that he betrayed me. Sirius' Claymore sword was about the same length as him. The other two were also carrying weapons. Janus was carrying a spear and Leera was carrying a hatchet.
Now we had ourselves a stand-off. Morrina, Kirin, Lyn, and I were standing across from Ire, Sirius, Janus, and Leera, ready for battle. Silence gripped the crowd and all of our weapons were drawn. I shot an evil glare at Sirius. Sirius had already noticed me and was standing directly across from where I was standing. Lyn was to my left and Morrina was at my right with Kirin on the far side of Morrina. I began to realize that not only would I get in serious trouble if I engaged in combat in the center of town, but I would also be sent to our town's small and terrifying prison.
"Listen guys, I am not ready for jail and I am sure tha..." I didn't even manage to finish my sentence before Sirius charged at me.
"Here I come, Tai!" Sirius taunted.
My eyes shot wide open at the sight of him rushing at me with that massive sword. Sirius swung the sword at me and it clanked onto the ground. I rolled to the side of him and swung horizontally to cut his side. Sirius then slid the Claymore to his left and stepped forward, making my swing hi his sword. He then threw a quick jest at me. I bent backwards as far as I could to dodge it, the stab would have hit me in the chest. I dropped to the ground and swept Sirius off his feet. He fell on his back with a loud thud.
The other three of Sirius' friends rushed in quickly to his aid, as did mine from my backside. Lyn jumped into the air with each hand grasping one dagger. As Lyn descended, she struck Leera's hatchet with both daggers, making it spin out of her hands. Leera screamed in fear for her life, but Lyn gave her mercy and kicked her to the ground.
Morrina raised her scythe into the air as she charged at Ire. As she struck, a clank from the cobblestones left her arms shaking in recoil. Ire had dodged the attack and grabbed her right arm, twisted it behind her and held the dagger to Morrina's throat. Morrina's scythe was still poking out of the ground where she had attempted to attack Ire. She grabbed Ire's hand and wrapped her leg around his. Ire was then thrown over the side of her and plopped onto the ground. Morrina stepped heavily onto Ire's dagger hand and the dagger was released.
Janus was then nearing Kirin with his spear. He swept at Kirin's feet in order to trip him, but Kirin had jumped into the air, dodging the swing. While in the air, Kirin swung Luce around nearly lobbing off Janus' head. He bent down on one knee to evade the attack. Upon landing, Kirin was shoved off balance and flipped backwards in the air. Janus had propped the dull-end of his spear under Kirin's foot and then lifted it up, making Kirin flip through the air. Kirin landed face first onto the ground. Janus then positioned his spear at the side of Kirin's throat.
"Hold it right there!" A woman yelled from the distance. The voice seemed familiar...but it was so hard to decipher that I couldn't figure it out.
Everyone was looking around desperately for where the voice had come from. Upon hearing the voice again, we then realized where it was coming from. We all looked to the skies to see two women riding a Unisus. This is a type of Pegasus, except much smaller and it is much like its land counterpart, the Unicorn. It is very agile and dexterous in the air, but extremely vulnerable to all forms of attacks. The woman riding in the back I recognized almost immediately. It was Jaina. She was riding on her sister's Unisus. Jaina's sister, Koral, is a leader of a unit called "Sky Raiders". They keep the peace in our town. The military unit consists of dragons, wyverns, Pegasai, Unisai, gryphon, and hypogryph. All of which differentiate from each other.
Koral flew downwards into the square lines with regular two story town houses and paths leading outward in all directions. Her Unisus landed majestically upon the cobblestone earth.
"All of you disarm your weapons immediately or I will be forced to do it for you!" Koral ordered. We all knew of her great magical abilities. Simultaneously, every one of us disarmed. "Good, due to your cooperation and the tournament going on today, I will denounce this offense as a warning. This will be your last so do not flirt with it. If you are caught doing this again in the town borders, you shall receive full punishment." Quickly changing tones she continued, "Ok, well see everyone at the tournament today!"
"I will get off here." Jaina said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. She flung her body from the Unisus and walked off waving good bye to Koral, "See you in about an hour!"
"Ok, little sister! Good luck everyone!"
The Unisus' wings kicked up dirt into the air as it took off. The crowd then began making their way toward the arena. I looked down at Sirius and offered him a hand-up. Sirius shot me a glare and got up himself, refusing the assistance. The rest of his pack of wolves walked off in defeat and left the just the five of us in the square. I looked to my left and saw Kirin getting up from the ground.
"What happened Kirin?" I asked with a bit of laughter in my voice.
"Oh, shut up Tai! Not everyone is as fast as you!" Kirin snapped.
"Did I just hear a confession?" Morrina laughed.
"Yeah, I think our big bad axe wielder just admitted a defeat! I am shocked!" Lyn joined in.
"You guys better stop it or I will have to sharpen my axe on your raw meatless bones!" Kirin shouted.
"Oh, so now your big and brawny man?! I thought you were just confessing to a fault...now you are bragging?" I jested.
"Grrr! Shut up!" Kirin screamed at the top of his voice.
Everyone grew silent for a few seconds and we glanced at each other. Then, with a sudden break in the silence, the four of us burst out laughing. Lyn was rolling on the ground and Morrina was holding her sides. I was laughing so hard that tears were running down my cheeks.
"You...you should have seen yourself just then, Kirin!" Jaina spoke in the midst of her laughter, "Your face was so red that it could have passed for sun burn! Plus...plus your face was priceless!"
Kirin put his hand over his face. As the laughter died down, we noticed that he, too, had started laughing. Once we put ourselves together, we began our walk to the arena for the first rounds. I am just glad that no one was injured in today's battle. The day was still young and there is still much more to do. I can't wait until the tournament begins!
A man was peering around the corner as the five walked by him. The man was wearing a hooded cloak and none of his face could be seen. He peered at Tai's sword in amazement and thoughts and memories began filling his mind. The man was hidden in the shadows of a nearby alley. A smile made its residence across the man's face. He admired from afar the quickness of Tai's abilities. The man then spoke to himself, "This boy has much to learn. Although, his skill is near perfect when it comes to style and accuracy, it reminds me of someone. I must watch this boy's progress in the tournament. Tai...yes...it sounds so familiar now. I need to see if I can make him worthy of that sword of his. Tai has an extreme amount of power that is yet untapped." The man's attention then went towards Lyn. More thoughts then fabricated through his mind, "Her too! She must be Tai's sister. Yes...a match indeed. This may turn out to be the help we need to win this eternal fight. I must speak to them...I need to recruit them. This is too easy!"
The cloaked man then walked off silently back into the depths of the alley.