Faris forced the excited group to rest, then he went over the plan before he too sat down to rest. He awoke to the calls of Ventus, who's calls resembled a mix of chirping and purring. He smiled, reaching over under his bed to find his extra-emergency jerky. He smiled as the owl gulped down the food. Reaching into his pocket, he picked up a tiny quartz stone attached to a thin leather necklace. He had enchanted the stone to bolster the energy of the wearer, it would also heal them if they were injured and sustain them. If the wearer's life was in danger it would utilize various means to stop the assailant, including absorbing energy from them and utilizing some of it to push the assailant back, this kind of stone and the enchantment was useless against a magic user, but against a simple animal or a weapon it would be godsend. He stored a little energy in it, and cast one more spell so that it would slowly gain energy over time by gathering a bit of energy from all the living things in the area, not enough to be detectable, but due to the sheer number of living beings around it would gradually amass a respectable amount within the month.
Stepping out of the dormitories he released his new friend out, bidding that he avoids the humans and instead leave the city and hunt out in the forest. The owl let out a purring trill and nuzzled him before it spread its healthy wings and flew out. Faris was surprised by the speed it let out, he knew some barn owls were active both during the day and night depending, but he never remembered them moving so quickly, "then again this isn't earth, so that technically won't be the type of barn owl I know" he said to himself before turning back to his dorm to collect his allies for today's events.
Deep in the forest Vani leaped across the vast stretches of forest, he had been pleased to find that many mages in Ilrea had devoted some time to help cultivate the forests near the city, if only to help slow down the effects of cutting them down for timber. He had met Mortimer, the head of the so-called Commerce and Engineering Guild, and while the human was extremely greedy and all too slovenly for his taste, he could respect his ability to curb his almost insatiable greed with a level of rationality and a respectable love for his fellow men and women and their comfort, of course, as he noticed with all humans, they could be frightfully hypocritical, willing to sacrifice large swaths or individuals for the soul purpose of saving other large swaths and individuals. Even then the revelations of the best and worst of the human race kept him going as the Ambassador. He turned to look at his charges, children who hadn't changed since the news of their parent's deaths in Uru'baen all those years ago.
Alanna and her twin Dusan looked as elegant and beautiful as they had been when they had first met Eragon, almost as if they hadn't aged a bit. A thought that wasn't far from the truth. Vanir reflected back on his memories of the time after the war.
The elves after their ceremony for their late Queen took stock of the rest of their dead. The death of any elf was painful, but the only deaths capable of being close to matching the loss of their queen was the death of the children's parents. To the elves, having a child was the ultimate sign of love between mates, due to just how long their lives were, most relationships came and go with the seasons, and a family was loath to bear. Hay'thell and Marionne were two of the oldest couples in Elven history, being married since before humans were admitted into the fold. They had one son before, a boy blessed enough to become a rider. They were on the way to having a second when news struck that their first had been slain by Morzan, the tragedy of an elf so young passing caused enough stress that Marionne miscarried despite the elven healer's best attempts. She barely recovered, and working with her husband had rekindled enough hope to bear a child, when the news had hit that they were twins, it had been as if their first and second child had been brought back. The two raised their children with love, and their birth was celebrated both due to the new life brought into the world and the circumstances behind it. When the war came, in full despite the counsel of the Elves, Hay'thell and Marionne joined in combat, leading the Elven Campaign at Queen Islanzadí's sides as two of her finest mages. They reasoned that they had to protect this world for the children, promising that they would come back to see their kids when it was all over. They had been the first to charge at Lord Barst when the Queen was slain. When the children were told the news they in their tragedy cast a spell upon themselves, stopping their time, for they were promised in the ancient language. For nearly 5 years the children lived in this almost suspended animation, doing little more than stare at the door, waiting for their parent's return. A combined effort of the Eldunari under Eragon's care and a few spirits thankful to the elves for the efforts in the destruction of several new shades that had outcropped in the end of the war created a spell like no other, capable of tearing the veil between life and death. Despite their best efforts the spell went awry and failed, or so they thought, 10 more years after the spell went off, there was a great celebration as Hay'thell and Marionne returned to the living for their short repose before entering the veil once again, the children, given time to truly morn finally resolved themselves, wishing to experience the world their parents left before them. There had been great debate over whether the children should be exposed to the world outside. And after much deliberation they decided to allow the children to stay in the outside world for the span of half a year at Ilrea, the capital of the human Broddring Kingdom. The children were curios, this was the city their parents had died in after all, it was the marker of spilled blood of the elves, both fresh and new, and its foundations built upon the sacrifice of so many good people of all the races to end the reign of a tyrannical overlord.
Alanna and Dusan had determined expressions and they moved behind Vanir. In order to ensure their safety a dummy carriage filled with Elven Warriors proceeded through the country south towards Ilrea. While they would proceed through the spine, under escort of some Urgal warriors until they were close enough to reach the area on foot. The trip had taken careful planning and was a monthlong endeavor, but the visit was announced two weeks after in order to detract from enemies of the nations like the Scarlett hand. Vanir had safely taken his charges to the foot of Ilrea, they headed towards the Northern Gate, dubbed the name Islanzadí after their late queen and as a testament to the connection humans made with the elves.
"The opposing southern gate was named Ajihad, in honor of the human queen Nasuada's father." Vanir stated, answering Dusan's question. "It represents the place of his birth, Surda, which is south of here, just as the gate named after our late queen points north. The western gate follows that trend, and is thus named Hrothgar, the old ruler of the dwarves. And the East Gate is named Eragon, both as an homage to the first rider, and to the hero who dealt the final strike against the usurper and oath-breaker."
Dusan nodded excitedly, he and his sister had looked forward to the outside world. The Urgals had been somewhat frightening at first, but their simple lifestyles and honest approach to life allowed them to make fast friends, especially with a young Urgal by the name of Gork, Gork had been a nice fellow to hang around, and he had so many stories, not just of Urgal legend, but of stories told to him by a friend a long time ago, a human one even! He and his sister would love to meet anyone, especially a fellow child full of such wonderous stories.
Alanna for her part was still somewhat grieving over her parent's loss. She agreed to go to enjoy the world like her brother wished, but she also came to it because her parents' fervor in wishing to help right the wrongs of the world had lit a fire in her. Many of the elves expressed regret that they had merely hidden instead of fighting back harder to destroy Galbatorix, and many had feared that he had grown too powerful in their absence and abdication from the rest of Alagaesia, this new era would bring forth change and a greater interaction with humans, this was slow going as only a few elves, namely the young ones would bother to try and explore, and even then they had little luck the first few years. Many humans still feared elves, Alanna wanted to help dash away that fear with the presence of her brother and her, all in the hopes of achieving their parents' vision.
As the trio continued their jaunt into the land surrounding Ilrea Alanna spotted an owl with a coat of storm resting on a perch, the animal turned its heart shape face to her, revealing large brown moist eyes. Vanir and Dusan paused to observe the creature. After a few more moments the owl ticked its head and flew off, likely in the direction of some unfortunate prey.
Vanir looked on before speaking. "That was an owl, the type was a northern variety, a very young one at that, I'm very surprised that it's survived and is of such good health, these forests are full of predators who would have attacked it as it slept."
Alanna watched the area it flew away from, entranced by its beautiful storm like feathers. "Perhaps it is under the protection of the forest."
Vanir shook his head, "unlike our forest and the tree Minerva that acts as its guardian, most forests in the human lands have no such great protector."
Dusan then spoke up, "Perhaps a human?"
"Humans have been known to sometimes tame hawks, but that is only their nobility who normally practice such a sport, and from what I understand, many of the masses fear owls as a demonic bird due to its ability to turn its head." Vanir chuckled as he added, "And I doubt any human would be foolhardy enough to try and tame a Vervadablaka."
Faris sneezed.
"Are you okay?" Faris looked to see Venka had tapped him.
"Oh, I'm fine, someone must be talking about me." He said, smiling.
"What?" Nya asked with a bit of irritation, she was nervous about the fight, even after all the training and the practice she feared the use of their gems against them.
"Oh, it's a term from Japa_" Faris stopped himself. "Erm it's nothing really."
Whether any of them wished to comment they chose not to.
"So? Everyone ready?" Katya tightened her grip, an excited smile on her face.
"My dear, for you I'm always ready." Morgan smiled charmingly and bowed. Venka, Nya, and Katya all rolled their eyes and scoffed, but at this point they had begun to tolerate Morgan's odd habits, despite his language use and outward personality he was quite prudish, a fact Faris found almost comical as it clashed with Morgan's great desire to find himself enraptured in an epic romance.
The group sat in a simple waiting room, banners representing each of the guilds plastered the walls, and a large flag branding the royal regalia sat in the center. They had been taken here by Lord Jaya personally. Faris reflected on their meeting.
He had opened the door to the tall man, the first thing he noticed were his piercing blue eyes. Lord Jaya raised a hand to stop him from making any sudden movements.
"I am not here to bring any trouble to you, I am just here to privately apologize for my actions."
"Oh, I see, thank you." Faris didn't believe him for a second.
"I'm aware someone as shrewd as you probably doesn't believe me."
No surprises there, Faris thought.
"I'll tell you that you're half-correct. I find the notion of apologizing… distasteful."
Faris looked at the man in surprise, and attempted a quip. "Honesty? That's a huge surprise, I guess broken clock does get the time right twice a day, so a manipulator might be honest once a blue moon."
Lord Jaya merely smiled curtly. "I want you to know that the reason I've tolerated your impertinence is due to the fact I have at least a modicum of respect you, and your little girl-friend. As humans both of you are at the forefront of what humans can and can't do magically, the girl capable of power unheard of for any human without the aid of a crystal, and you, capable of such advanced techniques and masterful control despite your age."
"Is that why you sent your daughter to kill me?" Faris replied angrily.
"Oh? If she wanted to kill you, you very well know she would have, besides, I've never heard anyone dying over a kiss."
Faris scowled. "So, what do you really want?"
"I have some guests from the Elven Kingdom, the ambassador Vanir and two elven nobles, they will be here for a bit and watch your performance."
"So, what, you want us to put on a good show for your guests so you can show off?" Faris asked.
"Well yes, but also after you win, and you better win, I want you and the girl to meet the ambassador."
Faris was intrigued, he had wanted to see how Vanir had changed since the end of the war. "And why would I want to do that?" He asked.
"Because regardless of whether you believe me or not, my heart lies with Alagaesia and its people, I'm willing to sacrifice hundreds if it saves millions, and if I have the idea that maybe friendship between a duo of two young talented magic users and two members of Elven nobility may help make relations between humans and elves stronger, then I damn well will attempt it, so will you help me?"
Faris was somewhat impressed with his frankness and use of colorful language. "I thought you would explode the second a swear flew from your mouth, aren't you incapable of such dirty language?"
"When in Rome…" Lord Jaya replied absentmindedly.
"Where did you hear that phrase?" He asked incredulously. Alagaesia wouldn't have an equivalent to Rome, he thought.
"Oh?" Lord Jaya regarded Faris in an odd light before replying, "My daughter taught me that phrase…"
"It sounds interesting." Faris placed his hand on his chin. "Anyways can you take us now?"
Faris snapped back to the present as a mage walked up to everyone and handed them crystal bracelets. The bracelets showed two bars, one green and one blue.
"The green represents your stamina and general health, if it goes below a certain point it turns yellow, if it goes below another threshold it turns red, if an attack is registered to bypass the threshold and bring you even further below you are automatically forced out of the arena. Remember; you cannot cast any spells or spell combinations that would automatically kill your opponent, you lose if your wards run out or your stamina becomes dangerously low, weapons are allowed, as are crystals, but you will not be reimbursed for how much you spend to win. The blue represents your mana, you will notice that it will be affected somewhat by your green bar, and vice versa, this is of course natural."
The mage continued for a bit before leading them upstairs. As they walked up the stairs to the blinding light of the outside, they saw two giant mirrors hanging from the top of the stadium. One mirror had a live image of them entering the arena floor, the other was showing the three girls and their seven cronies, Faris realized he hadn't ever attempted to learn their identities, he really didn't care.
"Thank you for coming to attend the first mages duel of the year." A mage whose voice was amplified by magic proclaimed, waiting as the crowd cheered politely. "As you know, this arena will be used to host the Great Games in a few more weeks, so you can also think of it as precursor to that thrilling event!"
Faris looked at his team mates, they all had determined looks on their faces. He had drilled into them that magic power wasn't everything, but even then, since they had Venka, there wasn't much to worry about. At least she didn't have too much to worry about.
"Remember." He began calmly, looking at their opponents. "They have more magic than we do, but you're all passable when it comes to mental attacks and leagues above them in the physical game, none of them are Wandering Blade members so they likely wouldn't know how to deal with boosted physical performances, only increase your strength by 15-40%, any more will tear your muscles, and even pushing past 30 will begin to hurt. We want to keep them distracted long enough for Venka to tie a shot or for another member to switch. Goal one: keep the enemies confused and disoriented, Goal two: keep them immobilized and unable to maneuver. Goal three: steal their stones or maneuver Venka into a good shot." He turned to Venka, who grimly nodded. "You're our hammer but you still could get overwhelmed, they have amassed enough magical energy to take down a shade so don't face more than three at a time, your wards will hold up long enough to get in a decent shot at one of them, once that happens fall back and recuperate, remember the breathing techniques, that goes for all of you people."
As they walked towards the opposing group Faris singled out the leader, the first girl to talk to Venka, she had gold highlights and her hair was braided now. Her robe was long and flowing and she held two crystals in her hand, he could tell the first one was Venka's, the second was goldish so it was likely Morgan's.
"Hey Morgan?" He asked. "How do you tell how much magical power is in the stone?"
Morgan replied nonchalantly, "We enchant the stone to show how much power it has, most people do so."
"So, you don't connect your conciousness to it?"
"You can what?" Morgan asked, shocked, "Connect your conciousness to it? I've heard that the elves and riders do so, but most humans can barely reach out and hit the conciousness of other humans, connecting to something is like speaking to it, if we don't know the language it's a lot harder to communicate."
"So…" Faris began smiling, "Let's say for a second, I had an empty stone but you just assumed I forgot to enchant it to show its level of magic, and you happened to not be the most decent at energy sensitivity."
Morgan looked at him for a few seconds then smiled, "I like that look, what are you planning?"
"I need to borrow your glove."
Morgan frowned, "I can't, my grandfather would kill me if I gave it away."
"No no, I have reason to think at least before the battle starts, I can get us a slight advantage…"
The announcer waited until both groups reached about 50 paces from each other. Before calling out.
"This will be an interesting matchup between 10 pearl students and another 5 pearl students! On the 10! We have Mira Notgown, member of the Researchers as the team leader, she is famous for having never lost a Mage's duel to mages of her same level! With a record of 10 wins and two losses. On the 5! We have Faris Ser! An unprecedented first year! And the youngest mage ever admitted into the academy! Don't let his size or the fact it's his first match fool you! I've got a hunch he's not the team leader for nothing!"
"You've got that freaking right…" Venka muttered. She gripped her item Faris handed to her, it was an oak and iron staff, each end was studded with 5 imbedded small quartz crystals along the cylinder just before the face, she had suggested placing enchantments on each one, which he had been proud of her for thinking to do so, since quartz weren't the most precious of stones she couldn't store all too much energy in it, and the enchantment wasn't eternal, but it would at least last this battle.
Before they began training for real Faris had made the others swear to not reveal Venka's true magical abilities in the ancient language, they did so readily, which had helped him warm up to them a bit more, he had by now gotten used to Venka's power so he had a ting of nostalgic humor watching their reactions. They said all in all from the looks of it Venka could likely have almost as much magical power as those crystals the other team had, but since the team had a numbers advantage, they could likely overwhelm Venka if they weren't careful.
Faris stared down Mira, she looked at him with contempt, obviously underestimating him, he looked at his team mates, determined and full of tension, and looked at Mira's team, they were severely under estimating him and his team. He smiled at Mira, who graced him with a sarcastic grin.
"Begin!"
Mira smirked and lifted her hand to cast a spell, but shrieked in fear as Faris threw his dagger at her, it bounced off her wards and she breathed a sigh of relief. Until the chain connecting to the end of the dagger turned visible, the chain wrapped around Mira and she screamed as she was bound. Faris charged towards her the entire time, getting in a leaping kick to her face, which was blocked by a young man to her right.
"Jaxon Smith, Commerce and Engineer, despite your physical strength you were unable to make it as a Wandering Blade member due to one thing." Faris began as he dodged Jaxon's swipe.
Jaxon for his part screamed out "Jierda!" several times, attempting to break the chains surrounding Mira, the rest of his allies began to pool together their minds to attack Faris, who merely smiled and leaped up through augmented magic. Jaxon flinched and looked up, missing by a beat as Nya kicked him heavily, his ward held but the force was still sufficient enough to knock him off his feet. He swiped at Nia only to feel a sharp pain in his back as he turned to see Katya stab him in the back. The stab was shallow, but the fact it bypassed his wards activated the failsafe on his wrist, his body was flung forward out of the combat zone. The crown went wild.
"Look Sharp! Venka! You're up!"
The 8 mages left had been flustered by the rapid speed of the events, they shot a massive Fire Ball the size of one of the train cars, Venka brushed past him and screamed out "Deloi Moi!" (earth change). A 30-foot-tall 30-foot-thick pillar of stone and dirt rose from the ground and blocked the fire ball. Morgan ran up the slope created by the pillar as it began to crumble, leaping up as he aimed his gloved hand at the enemy open palm.
"Kveykva Ramr! (strong lightning, well literally "lightning strong", but ramr kveykva is apparently grammatically incorrect, and in my opinion not as cool sounding.) A huge arc of vibrant yellow electricity blasted out, originating from within the crystal. The mages blocked it with their barriers, and two mages were expelled as they couldn't access their stones in time. Mira had managed to break herself out with magic and began screaming at her team to get together. The seven of them regrouped, wary now of Faris's team, who had taken the time to communicate with each other.
I ended up using most of my energy in that charge to bypass his wards, he had a lot more stones than we anticipated. Katya kept smiling, but Faris could tell she was in pain, her right hand was dislocated and she had it rest in her pocket to hide that.
Fall back and use the quartz. Morgan? How's your energy?
Fantastic my dear rival, I must admit, I'm pleasantly surprised you siphoned the magic back from the crystal. I don't believe they know yet.
Nya interjected, Good, let's keep it that way, boss can I pull ahead?
Alright, on my mark, we go together, flank their left, I'll go down the center to grab their attention.
Though I'm surprised, I'd imagine they'd at least put up a bit of a mental fight.
They are. Faris responded as he charged forward. But they're really bad, when you get within 10 paces, target the one with spectacles, he's their head, and around your level in the mental battle department.
Venka merely laughed as she leaped forward, shooting her bow constantly, the Mages flinched each time the bow got close, the arrows were enchanted with light levels of magical piercing, and every time they struggled to close a bypassed layer Faris got closer, finally one mage got tired and concentrated his mind to hold Faris down, Faris felt the drain on his wards as the greater mage struck down. Then smiled as that mage's magic faltered as Nya attacked him mentally.
The other mages struggled to keep their wards up but looked up in a panic as they felt a large amount of heat. A fireball, 5 times the size of the one they conjured up together had been formed above them, they turned to look at Venka, who had a bit of sweat dripping down her face from the concentration.
"Bang!" She yelled as she launched her flaming ball downwards, at the same time she created a barrier surrounding the mages out of solid rock, concentrating the flames and heat into the area. A first light of one mage being expelled, soon two more, followed suit, then another two. The barrier created by Venka couldn't handle the explosion and shattered, as the dust settled two mages were left in front of them, Mira, who was looking angry but determined, and a man in his twenties. He wore the robe of the Researcher's guild and Morgan gasped as the cloak went down.
"That's Namor! He was the top Pearl initiate until Seya and probably Venka!"
Namor turned to look at Mira and they seemed to say somethings before Mira shouted something to Faris's group.
"What?" Faris yelled back.
"My beautiful woman wishes to ask if you are willing to surrender." Namor said, voice amplified by magic. "If you do, we shall end it in a draw."
"How about go shove a stick up your ass." Faris replied.
Namor said nothing, merely throwing a couple of magical stones into the ground. Faris cursed under his breath and charged forward. "Don't let him complete that!"
Morgan shot another huge bolt of lightning and Venka shot down several fire balls, Nya fired a jewel encrusted arrow that gave Faris some nasty vibes. He watched as the flames and lightning seared past him, and saw as the arrow only pierced one stone, which blew up, he leaped to the side to avoid the shrapnel but couldn't dodge everything. Grabbing his dagger, he looked up to face the 6 golems the man summoned.
Morgan? What are those thing's weaknesses? He asked while leaping out of the way of an admittedly fast slam.
Hit them long enough and they'll eventually break down. Morgan slammed his spear into a golem, shooting some electricity into the conductive metal, which exploded at the tip, a hole appeared in the golem that slowly refilled as the golem spread its arms to crush him. As it attempted to begin its deadly embrace it was stopped by two light blue disk-shaped barriers that began to form a conical covering over him. Morgan turned in relief to see Katya, who was clutching a stone she stole from one of the mages before they were kicked. The golem struck twice, shattering the barrier, Morgan leaped back and ran up to Katya, who was coughing up blood.
"Are you alright?!" He asked.
"Crystal Backlash! I'll be fine!" She replied. "Come on! Hit him with your full force! I know you're that strong!"
Morgan looked around helplessly. "I don't have the magic power! I can't produce lightning strong enough to overwhelm one of those things!"
Venka smirked. "One storm coming up!" She began to lift her hands, chanting in the ancient language. They had gone over what her limits might entail, this was a last resort plan that could only take affect if she still had at least half her energy."
Nya shot arrow after arrow at the golems, they ignored them, then whenever she shot her gem encrusted arrow enchanted to help her pierce their barriers, they blocked it. She looked at the sky and noticed it darkening as clouds began to gather, she turned to see Venka with her eyes closed, chanting, sweat dripping down her face. The golems noticed two, with 3 of them lumbering over to attack her, the other two trying to block her and Morgan and Katya, she groaned angrily as she rolled under the golem's stomp, sprinting after the three. As she charged forward one of them tripped over a small blue barrier, another was knocked on the ground as a huge charge of lightning blew up its torso, forcing it to slowly rebuild. Venka leaped up in the air, landing on the remaining golem's shoulder, she turned to see the two other golems slowly recovering, but noticed the two golem they had slipped past rumbling towards her, she got an idea.
Faris looked at his team helplessly, he would have helped them, but he was busy facing Namor and Mira in a mental struggle. Namor was nigh his equal, and Mira proved to be a competent mental duelist, the two likely having lots of experience fighting together. His teammates were still young, and mages in general didn't fight with magic and mental-combat at the same time, so they couldn't help. His mind snapped back to the fight at hand as Namor attempted to take advantage of his momentary distraction. Faris pushed back the mental drill as he dodged the punch Namor's golem launched at him.
"You're pretty good!" Namor laughed in exhilaration, Faris couldn't get to him due to the Golems constant attacking, he had poured more magic into the stone for that specific golem, and had been more detailed in its enchantment. It may have taken him months of preparation but to him it was worth it to win back Mira's honor.
Faris rolled his eyes at their melodrama. "Are you sure this is all worth it? You've literally used thrice as much mana as we have!"
"Oh! It's worth it, just seeing the magic that girl displayed, just one week will refuel what we spent on this venture! And we have all your energy for a month! We'll be swimming in it for years!" Mira crowed, victory seemed near to her. Faris scowled. He unsheathed his short sword, it had a furrow right down the middle filled in with a giant quartz cut into a dart like shape, filling in the line through the blade. Faris took out a paper boat, he had already enchanted it and he placed it on the ground. It flew forward at a rather slow pace, when it got close enough to the golem it squished it. Namor smiled, but faltered at Faris's smile. Faris lifted his sword and pointed it at the golem, as he did a huge explosion released at the golem's shoulder, the golem stumbled as it slowly began to reform. In the dust cloud 4 more of the ships launched forward. Namor and Mira in a panic began to knock them down with spells, tearing or pushing down each ship. The dust continued to fill the space and Namor screamed out: "Come out fool!" He launched a large blast of fire forward which fizzled out. Namor grew confused, launching a second one. The dust finally cleared and he saw Faris, he had been burned by the first fire ball somewhat, but it hadn't destroyed all his wards so he was still in the battle.
"Separate Wards…" He muttered lightly, struggling to keep the pain out of his voice.
Mira raised her hand to conjure small flame. She hesitated when Faris wagged his finger, and pointed down. Mira and Namor looked down with wide eyes as they saw they were in a 5 ft by 5 ft circle of the green powder Faris had put on the boat to hit the golem.
"How?" Namor began.
"These kids over there? One can conjure lightning and learned to slowly build up his own over years, another can pierce most normal barriers and will get a normal barrier in no time flat, another can literally make really good barriers, wherever the heck she wants, really quickly, great spatial awareness and all that, and that really beautiful girl over there?" He points at Venka with his burned arm. "She's really fucking strong." He sighed as he straightened his back, the golem had stopped attacking him as green powder had begun to move all over its skin, detecting the powder as a threat the golem attempted to crush it, but one couldn't really crush the purple soldier powder, or any powder for that matter with one's bare fist. Faris laughed for a second, musing the irony of green powder coming from purple soldiers. He looked at Namor, easily able to handle his unfocused and panicked mental attacks. "Well you see, I'm terrible at big magic, absolutely the worst, they've all got me beat on that, but I can cast a lot of little spells at the same time. Some might even say I'm thinking multiple coherent thoughts at the same time, it's like a language really, when you learn a lot as a baby, the rest come easy…"
Namor ordered the golems to ignore everyone else and attack him, the four had been slowed down by the group, now able to slow them down more easily as they no longer were registered as targets. Venka kept her chanting up, the spell was almost done as the storm was nearly at its breaking point, the thunder head had taken an almost black color. Every attempt to cast a spell to scatter the powder was met with Faris increasing the tempo of his mental attacks, distracting Namor from being able to say the words or even access his magic. No mage had ever done that to him, Faris had somehow wormed his way into the back of Namor's mind, blocking his attempt to access magic with…what the fuck's a saxophone?!
Faris pointed his hands at the targets. "Brisingr"
Looking back at it, Faris was extremely lucky. Namor's chief golem had reached him, and if not for the fact there was a layer of carbon dioxide, combined with him leaping back, combined with being pulled back magically by Nya, then having the flames partially blocked by Katya, if not for all those things combined, he might have died. He had found a loophole in the rules, as long as a combatant's barrier remains and his stamina and mana aren't zero, they can continue. Faris fought then with two barriers, one normal one that he applied a decent amount of magic into, and one meant to detect anyone entering his bubble within 5 feet and alerting him, it was a simple magic and easily sustainable, even for him, and he kept such alarm type magics on at all times. Others would see it as superfluous and would rather save the minute amount of magic it cost, but to Faris it was a game winning strategy. Namor stood, clothes singed, crystals cracked, breathing hard.
"How! How Dare you! I am Namor!" He raised his hands. "Golems! Destroy them!" His lead golem began to slowly reform, a crack in the gem made the process much more laborious as magical energy leaked out." Faris was drained completely, as was Nya and Katya.
The sky rumbled loudly.
"Ding ding! One storm! Served up hot!" Venka laughed and gasped for air, sitting down. Morgan stood up straight, and stared at the golems.
"Your inelegant machinations dared to harm my friends! I shall show you a beautiful end!" He raised his hands and began to chant, the lightning in the sky began to arc across the clouds in a hypnotic pattern, Faris felt himself entranced by the macabre show put before him. And he wasn't the only one, the entire crowd stared with a mix of awe and terror at Morgan's masterful display of sorcery. Rakus was literally hopping up and down his seat, moving quite energetically for an old man.
"I taught him that!" He said excitedly, his beard bobbing up and down. "I taught him! My god! That girl was able to conjure a storm! After already displaying that level of terraformation! That's more powerful than an elf!" He turned sheepishly to Vanir. "No offence."
Vanir for his part was taken aback by the display of skill, it had been 4 years since he had left Ilrea to travel the rest of the kingdom, he was blown away by how much humans had progressed with their magical abilities, they went in a different direction from the elves, trading the natural for artificial, but they still had amazing results. The two elven children seemed enthralled by the display of skill, and especially by the pageantry of magic shown before them. The humans moved dreadfully slow, but even with that they came up with such creative ideas.
"That boy especially…" Dusan remarked with awe. "His magical abilities are faint, but he used speed and the element of surprise to catch his more powerful opponents off guard, and the way they were delayed in spell usage means that the five had been winning the mental battle."
Alanna hadn't paid too much attention to the battle until the girl with fiery hair began to chant a storm. She had remembered seeing a group of twelve elves gathering together to create a rainstorm to aid the growth of the forest. It had taken them longer, and while the storm they conjured had been wider in its spread, the girl had created a storm vicious enough to generate its own wind. She had been distracted by the boy's explosion, that came out of nowhere, and even now was distracted by something else, she could see the same owl from before, perched by a stand, struggling against the wind. On instinct she got out of her chair and leaped in the stands. People flinched in shock as they saw her and gaped at her angelic beauty. She ignored their stare, reaching for the owl which hissed at her until she calmed it with the ancient language. She got it to perch on her gloved hand as she made her way back to the stands.
Vanir looked incredulous as he asked, "Did that owl follow us?" He noticed the leather necklace with a quartz strap looped around the owl's neck, as he looked at it, he saw scrawled in his people's calligraphy a single word.
VENTUS
He could sense magic coming from the quartz crystal, but observing the enchantment revealed its abilities were around protecting and bolstering the wearer, namely from wild and nonmagical threats.
"I wonder who your keeper is little one." Alanna said, stroking the owl, who in response let out a purr like trill as it cocked its head to let Alanna scratch it more, she giggled in response and continued.
The thirteen council members were too entranced by the events happening below them to notice Alanna's short excursion, and soon Vanir's and Dusan's attention returned to the battle.
Morgan looked at Namor, who struggled to try and attack him, spells glanced off his wards as Faris, Venka, Nya, and Katya pushed back Namor's mental assault, he had since forgone defending himself and threw himself into stopping Morgan's attack, Golems struggling as he accidentally gave incorrect orders due to Faris's interference, his spells faltered as Nya and Katya bashed at him. And Venka fought against Mira, keeping her from interfering with their struggle. As Morgan looked at his team he smiled.
"My friends, thank you for this opportunity." He brought down his hands like a master conductor as a titanic arc of thunder blinded anyone looking for a moment, within the flash of lightning and blast of thunder, all that remained of the golems was ash, their crystals cracked and scattered. Namor raised his hands to cast a retaliatory spell only to be struck by lightning himself as Morgan's hands raised in crescendo, the golems began struggling to reform, their crystals cracked and nearly destroyed, Morgan struck again and again until the smell of copper filled the arena, the final strike hitting Morgan in the palm, he smiled as it was absorbed into his citrine calcite, it more than quadrupled his original amount of electricity he had stored. Namor coughed once before falling unconscious, his body being forced into the waiting room and into the hands of healers. The crowd began to cheer as the skies cleared and Faris's team stood, exhausted but still together.
"Wait!" Mira screamed in anger. "You thought it was over?! I may have exhausted most of my magic, but I still have these!" She pulled out Morgan's and Venka's crystals. The crowd gasped in shock. Mira laughed cruelly. "Surrender now!"
Faris's team looked at each other and started laughing. Despite his proximity alarm alerting his nonstop Faris stood near Morgan, helping keeping him from buckling over. Morgan turned to the rest of his group, "I'm gonna take a rest." He formed a cross with his arms, and the magic picked him up. Mira began yelling into her stolen stones.
"Work darn you! Why isn't this confounded thing working!?"
Faris looked at her. "Because they're cursed" he lied. His team mates stifled giggles, the three girls standing up and approaching Mira ominously. "Don't you know stealing gems is bad luck, it looks like all the Karma's come back to haunt you."
"Stay back! I'm warning you!" Mira screamed fearfully as she tried backing away from the three, stumbling under a mound of earth Venka raised. She screamed as the three girls began wailing on her. Faris winced at their brutality, feeling almost sorry for her, then he remembered all the stories of her many betrayals, and scanned the rest of the arena. He walked over to the center, and sat down, resting as he waited for the girls to finish. As they did, they walked over to him.
"We… we did it!" Venka smiled.
Faris leaped up, fist hurtling towards Venka, she flinched and closed her eyes, after a few seconds she opened them, seeing that Faris had punched past her face, 1 foot behind her a mage materialized, his concentration broken and his cloaking magic dispelled. His dagger fell from his hand as he covered his nose.
"How the hell did you hit me!? How did you know I was here!?" He covered his nose. Blood flowed freely as he tried to get his bearings, as he opened his eyes a second blow struck him in the chin.
Faris didn't speak, instead deigning to message him in the mind.
Lesson of the day, your wards only defend against attacks, I'm not attacking you, I just happen to be shadowboxing, and you happened to be in the area. As I don't think I'm attacking you, and my open palm isn't considered a weapon in your mind, well, you get the picture. Also, alarm spells are convenient, aren't they? Be sure to word your spells better, what type of idiot only wards against weapons and attacks aimed at them? Haven't you ever heard of area of affect or splash damage?
He pushed the mage over, then pinned him to the ground. Pushing him with a mental and physical vice grip he yelled. "Surrender!"
The fallen mage nodded desperately, a blue light flowed around him as he was yanked from Faris's hands.
"The winners of their first match! The first years! With no losses!" The crowds cheered at the display. Faris turned to look at his team mates, exhausted but happy.
Faris lifted his hand up, looked at the crowds, then locked eyes with Alanna.
"Hey! That's my fucking bird!" Faris collapsed.
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Afterword:
Thanks for reading! I made a few errors so blatant I had to go and reupload it, so sorry to everyone who had to deal with the original, (hopefully there won't be glaring errors in this version)
Thanks again to SullenWhiteDevil! You leave great reviews man! Reviews help keep me going, cause it would be a lie to say I didn't post this story to get people to read it.