I woke up gripping my head tightly. It hurt. Shielding my eyes, I glanced around the painfully white room I was now in. I did a double take as I realized I was in the hospital wing.
"Morning sunshine." Alice chimed in.
"Well look who decided to get up." Another female voice said.
I turned towards the door and saw Alice, Priscilla, and Kyle walking in.
"Looks like our roles are reversed this time huh, Nathan?" Priscilla chuckled.
"Alice! Priscilla! You guys are alright!" I exclaimed.
"Of course. Who did you think you were worrying about?" Kyle laughed.
I smiled back but immediately remembered something more urgent.
"Wait how long have I been out for?" I asked.
"You've been out a whole day. Don't worry, the tournament is tomorrow and we've found out who your opponent is already." Alice answered.
I hadn't realized how exhausted I'd been. I guess resting was probably in my best interest anyways.
"Thanks Alice." I beamed.
"Your opponent is Key. Unfortunately we don't know all that much about him. But since his name hasn't come up, I would assume he shouldn't be too difficult for a genius like you." Kyle informed me.
"Oh I see…do you guys know who your opponents are?"
"Alice's first opponent defaulted after finding out he was paired with her. Therefore, her next match will be against Myst of the Rain. As for my opponent, her name is Ashley. She shouldn't be too difficult; I've watched her battle before. She's a very basic water element user." Kyle replied.
"Are you serious? Alice has to face off with Myst already?" Now that was a match I had to see.
"Alice the Ace versus Myst of the Rain. That is going to be the match of the century." Priscilla added. "Two of the deadliest juniors in this academy. Of course, regardless of who the winner is, they will most likely be evaluated differently and still end up on the representative team."
"Maybe I should just give up early and save myself some bandages. Since according to Priscilla I'll make the team no matter what." Alice smirked at Priscilla.
"Ha ha very funny Alice." Priscilla rolled her eyes.
"Glad to see you guys are back to normal. But let's let Nathan rest some more before tomorrow." Kyle laughed.
"Thanks for visiting." I said waving as I watched them all leave. Kyle turned around and gave me one last encouraging smile before he disappeared.
I reached slowly into my pocket, feeling around for the ring. It wasn't there. I shot out of bed and rummaged through the desk next to the hospital bed. I finally found it in the drawer next to me. I let out a sigh of relief. And it was then that I realized how pathetic I was. I was so powerless, scared, and dependent. Chen Long was right, this ring was only a temporary fix, I couldn't depend on something like this forever. Rolling out of bed I thought about tomorrow and all the tough opponents I'd be facing. Sighing once more, I decided to head back to my dorm. After all, it was more comfortable and familiar there.
(The next day…)
I awoke to someone gently slapping my face. What the hell? I tried to slap their hands away. The attack didn't let up, he sure was persistent. I slowly opened up one eyelid to stare at my assaulter. It was Kyle. Go figure.
"Ugh, Kyle stop. What are you doing?" I moaned.
"Get up Nathan! Come on, get dressed, we gotta get ready!" Kyle exclaimed.
He was too energetic. It was too early for this. I got up slowly, making a point that I was not a morning person.
"Don't you want to see Alice's match? She's starting in twenty minutes. At least we can give her some support don't you think?" Kyle said as he was putting on his socks. "I think we'd make great cheerleaders." He smirked.
"Yeah yeah."I laughed. But it was true, I really did want to see Alice's match.
After we were all cleaned up and dressed, we proceeded towards Arena 1. There was already a massive amount of people gathered there. It was so crowded; we had to push our way through to get by. We could barely find Alice in the midst of all the people. But as soon as she saw us she beamed delightedly.
"Hey guys! I thought you weren't going to show up!" She pouted.
"How could we not come to cheer for our favorite girl?" Kyle smiled.
"Go get him!" I added.
"Thanks you guys. I appreciate it, I'll try my best, no guarantees though." Alice responded.
"You'll be fine. You're in Tier 2 after all." I reassured her. She smiled back and turned to prepare for her match.
"But there sure are a lot of people here…" Kyle muttered.
"Most likely because it's their match." I reasoned.
"Guess you're right."
It was finally time. Priscilla came in with refreshments for us. Just in time too, Alice had just walked into the Arena.
"I made it!" Priscilla panted, all out of breath.
We nodded, too focused on the arena to give a proper response. I'd never seen Myst before and so I peeled my eyes open for him. The whole area suddenly became eerily quiet. It was then that Myst revealed himself. He was a tall slender boy dressed in all black. He had a hood that left his face in its shadow. He looked surprisingly normal, with nothing really outstanding about his outer appearance. He had a slight bend in his posture whereas Alice was standing tall and confident.
"Hello Alice." Myst politely greeted. His voice was gentle and light, but it contained a slight edge to it.
"Myst." Alice greeted in turn.
Never breaking eye contact, the two bowed, a signal that the match had now officially started.
Myst spread out his arms and whispered something quickly under his breath. Immediately, the whole arena was surrounded by a thick mist. Alice wasted no time in charging forward. Myst hadn't been fully concealed by the mist yet and she took full advantage of it. With two lethal daggers in each hand she whipped them in his direction. Skillfully dodging both of them, Myst created a giant hand out of water and used it to stop Alice's movements by trapping her. The hand squeezed Alice tightly and she gasped for air. Myst, feeling confident that Alice was thoroughly immobilized, revealed himself. Alice immediately formed spiked armored plates around her, causing the water around her to scatter. Released from his hold, Alice dashed towards Myst's blind spot and kicked him into the air. Taken aback momentarily, Myst fell hard on his back. Alice continued her attack relentlessly. Charging with two new daggers, she slashed at Myst who was off balance and desperately trying to avoid the deadly blades.
However he quickly recovered and created a bit of distance between them. In order to stop Alice's momentum, Myst slipped back into the heavy mist and created two miniature clouds within the arena. The clouds had a purple tint to them and as it started to rain down, the sound of erosion and decaying substances could be heard.
"Is that why…they call him that?" I whispered.
"Myst of the Rain…acid rain." Kyle said, shocked. "Even I would have never suspected such a deadly ability."
With the new clouds raining acid, the mist began to dissipate. Everyone was straining their eyes to see what happened to Alice. As the visibility got better, we could make out a huge iron shell. Presumably, Alice was under it, taking shelter. But even this shelter was being eroded away at an alarmingly fast pace. The scariest part was that Myst seemed to be unaffected by the acid rain. He calmly approached the iron shell as the rain bounced off of him. Creating another giant fist, this time made out of poisonous water, he proceeded to smash the shell and crush Alice along with it.
The battle was over, there was no escape route for Alice. Myst smashed the iron shell into pieces. Everyone jumped to their feet. Did Myst just slaughter Alice? Just then, out of the last remnants of the fading mist and in the opposite direction of the shattered iron shell, Alice slams an iron hammer into the back of Myst's head. Instantly, the acid rain clouds disappeared and Myst fell face forward, only to be caught by Alice before hitting the ground. Grunting in obvious and utter pain, Alice let him down slowly. Most of her body had been burned by the acid, despite the thin layering of armor she'd made. She couldn't afford to make the armor any thicker for fear of attracting Myst's attention. Alice had just barely won. Barely but she'd still done it.
"Ridiculous. That girl is too reckless!" Priscilla cursed under her breath.
"To think that the iron shell was just a diversion…and she took the acid without crying out in pain." Kyle shook his head. "Incredible."
"Even in a situation like that…she was able to turn his own mist against him. She's definitely something." I praised.
The massive crowds of people were now cheering. Medics were rushing onto the Arena to take care of Alice and Myst's wounds. It looked like Myst was knocked out cold. But that was understandable. I was surprised his skull wasn't crushed in.