The Selection

Torrin awoke with a jolt, his core spinning at top speed instantly--sending mana seeping into his brain. He took in his entire room, noticing nothing wrong, before sighing. He pulled his extended senses back to himself, as he had spread his will throughout the entire room and spilling out into the hallway instantly. Allowing his perception to return to normal, he dropped the blade of hardened wind he'd formed. The knock came on the door again, followed by a voice calling him for breakfast.

'This castle is making me jumpy,' Torrin shook his head.

"One moment! Thank you!" He answered, rubbing his face in his hands. He cleared the lingering sleep from his eyes and got dressed, heeding the call and unlocking his door so he could be led towards the meal.

Torrin was led down the staircase and into a hallway leading from the main receiving room. He took in the various plants along the hallway as he followed the elderly-looking elf who led him. The pair entered through a pair of simple stone doors, coming to a stop in a large room with a long table in the center. The table was completely empty besides one elf with braided silver and black hair.

Hearing the doors open, Dawn turned her gaze toward the entrance with a smile on her face, "Good morning, Rin. I hope you're hungry."

Torrin smiled and bowed shallowly to the princess. At her scowl, he sat himself across from Dawn--unsure of the proper customs as a guest of Elven Royalty. As soon as he sat down, servants appeared from another door to the dining hall. The servants were dressed simply and seemed cheerful as they unloaded various dishes onto the table before the seated pair.

Looking around with furrowed brows, Torrin took in the lack of people who would help in eating this veritable feast, 'Is it just going to be me and Dawn? Why all this food, then?'

He saw dishes piled high with breads or vegetables, as well as a few dishes with meats. Shrugging, he grabbed a little of everything and began to dig in. His reaction to the food was definitely improper as he groaned in delight, nodding his appreciation.

Torrin looked up at the sound of Dawn giggling, covering her mouth as she did. He saw she hadn't moved since the food was set down and shook his head, continuing his conquest of the food arrayed before him. The Elven race sure knew how to cook, he thought.

After clearing his plate, he sat back in his chair with a sigh of contentment. His head rested in clasped hands behind him, giving Dawn a questioning look.

"My parents are attending the selection today, so they ate a quick meal before they left." She answered the unspoken question.

"What's the selection?" he asked.

"To decide who can will the pocket world tomorrow, of course," She replied, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

Torrin shot to his feet. His chair would have fallen over if he hadn't grabbed onto it at the last moment. Dawn laughed heartily as she watched the scene.

"Don't worry, Rin. I spoke to them last night and they've agreed to allow you to go," Her eyes were bright with mirth.

Torrin grumbled under his breath, "Could've led with that..."

She laughed harder, before getting to her feet as well, "Come on, I'll lead you to where the matches are being held so we can watch."

Torrin nodded his acceptance, "Thanks" he said, as he followed her through the halls to the exit of the castle. In the early morning light, birds fluttered their wings, singing merrily as they went from branch to branch to greet their brethren. He followed Dawn through the trees, listening to the sounds of nature. Enhancing his hearing with mana, he heard the light pattering through the forest as deer wandered about in plain sight and the sound of squirrels squeaking or chittering merrily as they searched for food.

"Did you enjoy your night in the castle, Rin?" Dawn asked curiously after a mile of walking.

Torrin shrugged, "It was comfortable enough and the food was great, but I have bad experiences with castles."

Dawn raised an eyebrow but didn't press him. He was grateful for the silence as they continued. Torrin allowed mana threads to flow from his core as they walked, flicking up small gusts of wind to disturb leaves or branches from the ground in front of them.

Getting bored of moving debris from their makeshift path, he spoke up, "Hey, Dawn?"

"Hm?"

"Who all is participating in this selection thing?" he asked.

Dawn replied quickly, "Just the yellow core mages... There are actually around sixty of them this year, so ten of the spots need to be decided."

"That many?" Torrin asked, "I guess I didn't realize there were so many young elves around here, much less at the yellow core stage."

Dawn laughed lightly, a smile spreading across her face as she took in Torrin's confused glance, "We define young as any elf under the age of 75, it's a much broader range than humans would consider, I'm guessing." She explained.

Torrin nodded at that, "Definitely. We would probably consider young to only extend to people around 30 at most. I guess it makes sense when thinking of the extended life span of elves compared to humans."

"Advancing your core also grants a longer life span, so that's taken into consideration as well." She replied and they fell back into silence, nearing the training hall soon after. Torrin spied a few elves going about their daily business, walking atop the bridges connected between the trees in this area. They carried baskets of various products or fabrics back and forth. Some simply sat with their legs hanging off the side of the bridge.

Torrin didn't know the daily duties of the various elves, but most of them seemed to carry a smile on their face, greeting each other genially. Torrin thought it was nice to see people having a nice time doing such simple things. This thought soured his mood slightly as he thought of Karth and Virtus. He hated them more and more each day as he saw the simple things they wanted to take away from people, just so they could have more power.

At the entrance of the training hall, Torrin didn't hear anything coming from inside so he assumed there were sound dampening rune scripts at work. They entered the hall to the sound of various people chatting and the sound of battle. The sound of earth cracking rang out and a cheer sounded out from the gathered elves.

Torrin saw the group of elves had formed a large circle around one of the larger dueling rings. A pair of elves battled each other, slinging elements back and forth as the crowd gasped and cheered at every move. The sound of the door shutting drew a few eyes nearest them and whispers began echoing down the line of elven spectators closest to them.

Seeing the reaction, Torrin wanted to groan, but he was led by the princess towards the king and queen who sat in chairs near the edge of the circle, joined by Ollivel and another elf Torrin had never seen before. The unknown elf had two sheathed daggers at their sides with an outfit of black leather and some sort of fabric wrapped around their face to obscure it, along with a cloak and hood pulled up.

Torrin appreciated the showmanship of the dagger wielder, nodding at the sight of their outfit. The elf stood stock still, but Torrin felt a will brush over him and knew it had to be from that figure. He didn't resist it, allowing it to rest lightly on him. The elf's head turned fractionally, taking in Torrin and Dawn from the corner of their eye. Torrin lifted a brow toward them and they nodded once slightly.

'Weird,' Torrin thought as they arrived by the monarchs. He watched the current battle as two elves who looked to be in their mid twenties battled each other fiercely, their blades clashing against each other to the sound of ringing metal. Torrin allowed his eyes to wander around the room and saw many people watching the spar, but each and every one of them sent Torrin curious or nervous glances every so often.

"Hello, Rin. I hope your night was restful," King Fellen spoke eventually, his eyes wandering from the duel to Torrin.

Torrin couldn't be sure, but the king's voice sounded slightly strained, "Of course, King Fellen. I slept like a baby." he said with a slight smile.

The king nodded, allowing his attention to return to the ring. Torrin glanced at the queen and met her icy glare. Torrin wanted to raise an eyebrow in question, but decided to just return his attention to the match before them.

Torrin watched as the taller of the two elves swept the other's feet and placed their sword lightly against the other's throat. The crowd applauded politely at the display and the winner helped the loser up. They laughed and spoke to each other in kind voices that slightly surprised Torrin. He had expected the competition to be much more intense.

Ollivel stepped toward the circle, announcing the next match, "Next, we have Tillien Velan against Dollen Westelan." A small cheer went up at the words.

This announcement peaked Torrin's interest and he allowed his will to lightly touch against Tillien as he activated his mana sight. Tillien had in fact advanced to the yellow core stage since last night. As the young elf took his place on the right side of the circle, he glanced towards the royals. Seeing Torrin, a beaming smile popped to life instantly. Torrin returned the smile, giving him a thumbs up.

This, of course, caused even more hushed whispers to spread around the circle. Torrin allowed his hearing to enhance once more, taking in a few of the whispers.

"...Knows the human! So strange..."

"I know!"

"...Wonder if the human will fight."

"Hah, as if that would even be a challenge."

"...His fight with Ollivel..."

Torrin stopped listening in on the conversations and returned his attention to the ring as they called a start to the battle. Tillien held a long staff as a weapon, it was as tall as he was. With sweeping gestures, he moved water from the basin in fluid motions before sending it toward his opponent and without hesitation, followed after the water.

His opponent, Dollen, dodged the water, but it seemed to have a mind of its own as it shot back toward him from behind, hitting him in the back of his knee and causing his stance to falter slightly. Tillien took advantage of this by launching a sweeping strike of his staff at Dollen. Dollen parried the strike with a staff of his own and the two began in earnest.

Clacking sounded out with each strike that was parried or blocked and earth moved and crumbled, water shot out and splashed. The air whistled as wind moved by mana was shot forth.

Dollen seemed to have a single affinity for earth, giving Tillien a slight advantage with his affinities for air and water both. After a few minutes, Tillien took out his opponent with a feint to his face with his staff, followed up by a knee to the nose as Dollen ducked the strike. Torrin clapped softly along with the crowd, nodding to Tillien when he caught his gaze. Ollivel called another pair into the ring and the selection continued.

"Each contestant gets two losses before being eliminated," Dawn whispered to Torrin softly.

"Does it end after ten are eliminated since there are sixty contestants?" Torrin whispered back.

Dawn shook her head, "They will go until there is only one elf left, who will be considered one of the leaders of the expedition along with myself, as I'm the strongest yellow core mage."

This shocked Torrin, as he hadn't considered Dawn to be all that strong in their duel last night. He knew she was talented, a genius even, but he didn't consider that she may be the strongest of the yellow core mages. Had she been hiding her true strength in their spar? he wondered.

After a few hours of battles, the atmosphere had grown more tense as they came to the last few remaining contestants. As they concluded the matches, Torrin expected the tension in the crowd to ease, but it held like a taut bowstring. This made him uncomfortable as he saw more and more glances shot his way.

"That concludes this year's selection, please give a cheer for the winner, Yawnel Lerilen." Ollivel announced. The crowd cheered and Torrin expected them to begin dispersing, but they held themselves in place. Torrin wanted to groan as he had a premonition of what was coming next.

"What about the human?" someone called out.

Ollivel shifted uncomfortably, turning to the king slightly, who nodded. "He will be attending the expedition," Ollivel stated firmly. Shocked gasps rang out from the crowd and they began muttering back and forth.

Yawnel stepped towards Ollivel with a smug grin on his face, twisting his delicate features with arrogance as he called out, "Master of Combat...my king... my queen..." he bowed to each in turn, "I believe I speak for everyone here, especially those who are attending the expedition, when I say that surely he must also fight for a spot. I mean no disrespect, but we don't know him or anything about him. We especially don't know if he's strong enough to keep up."

A murmur of agreement broke out from the crowd and many were nodding along as the elf spoke. Torrin quirked a brow as he took in the elf who appeared to be around thirty. Elves aged slower than humans physically, so he could be anywhere from thirty years old all the way up to seventy for all Torrin knew.

Dawn stepped forward instantly, surely about to claim that Torrin deserved a spot for whatever reason, but Torrin cleared his throat before anyone else could respond on his behalf.

"Your words, Yawnel," he said, a smile trying to creep its way onto his face, "Make sense. Surely, if you are to trust me, you want to know what I'm capable of?"

Yawnel nodded, a bit of confusion showing on his face at the easy acceptance, "Of course, human. How can we be sure you deserve a spot without seeing you fight."

The smile finally bloomed in full and Torrin let his gaze wander around the crowd. 'If they want a show, I can definitely give them one,' he thought as he let his gaze land on the king and queen, one brow raised. The queen huffed slightly and glanced away. The king smiled slightly and nodded his acceptance.

"And who will fight against me? You, Yawnel?" Torrin asked, allowing a slight bit of false arrogance to tinge his words. Torrin knew this elf was no match for him, but he wanted to put on a show for the audience.

"If you think you can take me... Human." A sneer lined the elf's face and venom dripped from his words. Torrin chuckled slightly and entered the ring. Torrin wore a simple white shirt and brown pants, taking a break from his more ostentatious clothing. Yawnel on the other hand stood tall with a sword in his hands, a loose robe of some sort hung to his knees--black with accents of white and green--and a pair of loose pants flowed from the bottom. The elf was over six and a half feet tall, much taller than Torrin himself.

He ignored the look on the elf's face and lazily met the eyes of each person in the crowd, before his gaze landed on Ollivel and he nodded.

"Yawnel Lerilen versus Rin Gram. Begin!" Ollivel called, the end of his words blurring in Torrin's ears as he spun up his core and sent a strand of mana to his mind. The world slowed and Torrin sent mana into his limbs, so he wouldn't have to waste his Saen over this mess. Sword aura appeared on his flattened palm, forming a blade and Torrin let threads of mana reach out from his other hand to the basins containing earth, water, and wind mana. He lazily gathered a clump of each and threw them at Yawnel as he shot forward.

Yawnel was completely caught off guard at his speed and barely threw his sword up in defense. As his clumps of elements hit Yawnel from one side, Torrin batted away the blade with his bladed hand and swept the unbalanced elf from his feet. He allowed time to resume to normal and silence ruled the room.

Only a slight groaning from his defeated opponent rang out, accompanied shortly thereafter by Dawn's solo applause--she even gave a whistle. No one else clapped, they just stared at Torrin like he was some sort of mutant monster there to devour them all. Torrin huffed out a sigh and asked, "Would you like to get your second loss to make it fair?"

Yawnel finally stood, his face conflicting on whether it wanted to be pissed off or scared, but he eventually shook his head and walked off. Ollivel announced the end of the selection once more and soon everyone left.

The king approached after everyone had left, patting Torrin on the shoulder, "Well, young Rin. That is definitely one way to confirm your strength once again." His words soured Torrin's mood slightly. He'd wanted to make a statement, but he didn't want the entire elven population of Cellinia to hate him.

Thinking about it a bit longer, he just shrugged, saying, "He asked for it."

Laughing, the kind responded, "That he did, Rin... That he did." a smile lining his face. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the queen's glare intensify. He didn't have time to over-analyze her hatred of him, so he just put it out of his mind.

"By the way, King Fellen, my master had mentioned something about you all possibly wanting to examine my core?" Torrin asked, a hint of nervousness tinging his voice.

King Fellen waved his words away, "No need right now. Actually, if you don't mind, I'll just give it a quick once over now. So I can think about it while you're gone. Once you return from the expedition, we can give you a more thorough examination if you're willing."

Torrin sighed a breath of relief, nodding and allowing the king to place his hand on Torrin's chest. A small wave of mana and willpower suffused Torrin and he allowed it. If he had resisted even the slightest bit, it probably wouldn't have worked. The king inhaled a sharp breath and his eyes widened as his mana analyzed the boy's core.

Torrin leaned in to whisper softly to the king so no one else would hear, "King Fellen... I must ask you to keep this to yourself. At least until after I leave your lands, please."

"O-of course!" The king nodded vigorously. His bobbing circlet nearly made Torrin laugh, but instead of just smiled to the elf.

"Thank you, King Fellen," he said simply.

"Of course, Rin. Of course!" he repeated, Torrin starting to worry he'd broken the elf, "Look at the time! It is nearly dinner, so how about we all meet back at the castle to eat?"

Torrin gave his agreement and the monarchs vacated the hall with Ollivel in tow. Torrin looked at Dawn questioningly.

"Someone has to make sure you don't get into any trouble, Rin," She said, a smile plastered to her face, "Would you like to do some real sparring before we head back?"

The offer made Torrin smile, "Of course, princess. How could I decline an invitation from royalty?" he said, bowing. A chunk of sand smacked him in the side of his face, causing him to burst out laughing. He was duly grateful it hadn't been fire.