Chapter 8
"Over time, since the inception of the Arges Combat tournament, a thousand years ago, only six provinces among the entire thirty-two have had the chance to taste the glory of fielding contestants, whom have won the tournament."
Illenia slowly began explaining the dynamic of things, related with the tournament to Douglas, as the trio continued their stroll.
"Contestants representing this six provinces have been nicknamed The Xis, you know, as six been rewritten backwards and in every tournament edition, contestants from this six provinces were always very formidable and have always been capturing the last four spots, except for some very rare occasions in the distant past. This edition is no different. The candidates from the Xis in this edition are really, really popular in Arges. Despite none among them even reaching the age of twenty-five, they all hold very important positions in their different provinces. They are acclaimed to be heroes and guardians in their provinces and there are speculations that three or four among them might even be called up and conferred military positions in Zion and placed under the direct tutelage of crazy, important leaders in Zion's military force, depending on how impressively they perform in this tournament. Among this six is the Fuentes Estella and Rutger Reigin that I was talking about. This two are the most popular among the Xis. They are both so insanely powerful, that they are both termed as monsters. I will give a brief background on both of them, as well as the other four."
Illenia took two consecutive swigs of the bottled grape juice she bought, just a moment ago, to clear her throat from the hoarseness brought about by the excessive laughter.
"Hmm, so who should I start with?" Illenia thought aloud, as her left index finger tapped on her lips.
"Start with Ajaman Keller's nephew, Nelly. I am more interested in him than the other five contestants." said Jason assertively.
"Why? Because he's related to Ajaman Keller? Don't tell me that up until now you are still obsessed about Ajaman Keller?" Illenia playfully inquired with a smirk.
"What?! No!" Jason resolutely denied. Then, he sighed and forcefully admitted with a tiny whisper, akin to the buzzing of a mosquito. "Well, just a little bit."
"Ha Ha Ha Ha!!! I was right." Illenia snickered jestingly "You know Douglas, when I and Jason were little, like about four or five or was it six now, I can't remember explicitly. Well anyway, when we were little, Jason was so obsessed with Ajaman Keller, that he would call himself Ajaman Keller 2.0. He would run around the palace and the street screaming that he was the reincarnation of Ajaman Keller, who had come to finish what he had started or some nonsense like that. Kids of his age didn't want to play with him, as they felt he was really weird. Even I was forced to play with him. Gods, I really hated when Jason visited back then. He was so loud and stupid, and his obsessiveness with Ajaman Keller really didn't help matters at all."
"Alright, alright, that's enough. Stop spilling the beans of my childish antics of back then to Douglas" Jason cut in while chuckling "Yes, I will admit I was a little too fond of Ajaman Keller and I still have a lot of admiration for him, but that's not the exact reason why I'm interested in Ajaman Nelly. He is a flame manipulator and I heard his golden flame is even more dangerous than his uncle's."
"Yes, that's right." Illenia affirmed. "Ajaman Keller was the third of five siblings. Two elder sisters, an elder brother, as well as, a younger brother. Ajaman Nelly was born to Keller's immediate elder brother, Ajaman Jessy.
The Ajaman family are renowned in the province of Viselor for their combat expertise and they even train the military and security personnels in the province. They are more worshipped and treated with reverence than the royal family of Viselor. The citizens of Viselor that can tap from the atmospheric mana are predominantly fire and lightening manipulators and the Ajaman family are the blessed with much more talent and expertise in that aspect. The family has an age long history dating back to three thousand years, almost rivaling the history of Arges itself. They were among the first settlers to migrate to this country and they have been going strong ever since. But even with their long, prosperous history, there has never been a talent produced as incredible as Ajaman Keller. A member of the family had always represented the Viselor province in the Arges Combat tournament, dating back to the tournament's first inception. The first ever tournament, a thousand years ago, was won by an ancestor of the Ajaman family, but ever since then, the most they had managed was reaching the quarter-finals. Ajaman Keller really did his province proud, though at the expense of his life. Nelly really has some big shoes to fill."
"You know my dad fought with Ajaman Keller in the last edition." Jason jumped in.
"What?! You've never mentioned that before! I only knew your dad was in the last tournament!" Douglas exclaimed sarcastically, before he hissed and chided, "You moron. You've only mentioned it like a million times!!"
Douglas sarcastic statement caused Illenia to giggle hard and spill the grape juice she was about to swallow, on the road.
"Yeah, yeah whatever. My dad couldn't make it past the round of sixteen, because of Ajaman Keller. He did say though, that his flames were slightly better off than Keller's and his techniques were slicker. But you know, Ajaman Keller was a beast. He could combine both his flames and his lightening to form a new kind of ability with its own separate, more advanced techniques and laws and he could also use both the flames and the lightening techniques to do damage simultaneously. He was just a different breed. My dad stood no chance. He was really lucky to come off that defeat with only a scar to the face and a few bruises. My dad said the next opponent wasn't that lucky. She literally lost an arm and a leg!" Jason chuckled slightly, "Keller was brutal. Not only on others, but even to himself. He never held back against anyone and he braved and absorbed dangerous, life threating blows to his body, to inch closer and deal maximum damage. My dad was the only opponent he faced that escaped with minor injuries."
Douglas nodded, as he listened to Jason. He had meet Jason's dad so many times and he deciphered instantly that the man was really powerful, though he had a really gentle and quiet personality. So, he knew that Jason's dad wasn't kidding or been arrogant, when he meant that his flames were better than Ajaman Keller's.
The man, who was basically a nobody in the province of Benin, easily defeated top quality opponents to book his ticket for the finals. He didn't do too badly in the tournament as well. He topped his group and he was only unlucky to have been paired too early with the eventual winner of the tournament. Douglas could recall Jason informing him at some distant time that his father was offered very high positions in Benin's military, a year later after the tournament. As high as been the vice grand commander of the province. But his dad rejected all this positions, for the sake of his family. Jason was still a baby at the time and his wife's business had just began to bloom. He resolutely concluded that he wouldn't have had the time to assist his wife and to also be a major part of Jason's childhood, due to the enormous responsibilities that came with the positions.
"Nelly only has the golden flame, but it is said that his flames burn more brightly and is more destructive than Ajaman Keller's. He swept through the preliminaries with ease, defeating even his brothers and cousins, whom competed gallantly. He would be a major contender for this edition's grand prize" Illenia concluded.
"I hope they pair me with him sometime later. I am dying to have a go at him." Jason confidently said.
"You think you can win? He's one of the Xis, you know. A rare talent of the Ajaman family." Illenia doubted.
"My dad claimed that his flames were better than Ajaman Keller's. I don't think there would be that huge a gap between Keller's and Nelly's. I think I have a chance. Because, I can say with certainty that right now my flames are more wild and destructive than my father's."
Just as Jason finished speaking, he held out his palm and a red, fist sized flame suddenly emerged on it. It danced wildly on his palm, as it burned with such intensity and ferociousity, that the temperature encircling the trio rapidly rose to a great degree from just the heat of that little flame.
"I intend to avenge my father's defeat and make a name for myself in this tournament. I want every single person in every corner of Arges to know the name 'Williams 'FLASHFLARE' Jason' and to treat my name with reverence and admiration. I want to be immortalized. I want to be like Ajaman Keller. My intention is not to just beat Ajaman Nelly, but to defeat every single contestant on my path and be crowned the king of the arena." Jason spoke confidently about his dreams for the tournament.
"It's good to have such lofty aspirations, but first make it out of your group, before desiring anything else." Illenia cautioned.
"We intend to do that, don't we Douglas?" Jason closed up his palm. The flame ceased burning and disappeared.
"I still can't believe we were really placed in the same group." Douglas sighed.
Jason chuckled. He then stared at the sky and took in a deep breath of fresh air, before saying, "It's what the fates have decided. Who can go against them?"
"Wait, so you guys would have to fight each other?" Illenia curiously inquired.
"Well, not really. We are the last match in the group. If we win our two matches, we wouldn't have to. Though, it would be nice to smack up Douglas nicely and put him in his place."
"Hmmmph!" Douglas snorted "You have never won me in a fight before. Don't start thinking I have been slipping up, while you were progressing . I will eat you up so bad, your mama wouldn't even recognize you."
"We shall see then, fucker"
The two friends stared intensely at each other like they were about to throw hands right then and there and then out of the blue, they both knocked their heads backwards and burst into loud, resounding laughter.