Chapter 29 - Lizbeth

I find myself looking through red lenses, my vision is full of stars and heat is erupting from every part of my body. This kind of rage, pure rage can't be described by anything but blinding. As I worked my way through the labyrinth of the Tournament's final stage I thought when my movement began, well walking around all this would take to much time, so I began to level it one step at a time. Artemis doesn't help my case any, He likes to show off his muscles and the ripping to shreds any obstacle that came in my way was like a burst of joy filling my head from him. But now I find myself looking out over the field the small gap of the field that has brought me face to face with the one person I did not want to fight from the start.

The fair skinned person with ashen hair, and silver eyes stood in front of me, and melted the rage from my soul. The tears welling in my eyes filled more deeply as the feedback from Artemis washed over me like a storm. I stood arms extended out to either side and I say my first words to them, "Hey beautiful, I'm sorry for the mess back there, Aven got hurt and I got a little mad." Rowan's strides as graceful as ever brought her to my side as the pools of tears rolled from my eyes, "It's okay this is almost over and you can go see him, Gronaan and Lyka are worse for wear too." A chuckle pulled the tears from my eyes, and I reached out and wrapped both arms around them, "Thank you, and I love you." My whisper must have caught Rowan off guard because they almost fell over like I had just hit them with a rock or something.

Rowan's smile filled my tear-stained vision, and I wiped my arms across both eyes, the grit from the collapsed walls and sandy gravel of the arena stuck to my face and sent Rowan giggling more and more. "I love you too, my little racoon." I'm sure the sun moved all the way to my face because that's how hot it felt to me. I reached up and pulled my mask back up, trying to hide the grimace shooting up to my face as the final wave of feedback filled my body with exhaustion. "Let's walk off that feedback I wouldn't like to fight the legendary Devil's Behemoth when she is only at fifty percent, we need to put on a good show for the crowd," Rowan's voice met my ears like a sip of cool water on a sweltering day.

"Okay, but am I the only person who noticed the only season that actually seemed like the season it was supposed to was rains, I mean it's kind of warm in here today?"

"That is all you can think of you never change do you," Rowan asks a simple smirk on their face before they also pulled up the mask over their face. I turned around and walked back through the carnage I had come from, the feedback losing its grip from my mind and body with each individual step. I glance over my shoulder at Rowan and see the absolute horror in their eyes as the amount of damage I had caused on my very grumpy walk through the labyrinth. "Liz, sometimes you are absolutely terrifying, and remind me never to piss you off," Rowan's voice came clearly to me as I began to start feel myself again. "I just really hate mazes that's all," I reply the blood returning to my face as the last of the feedback fades to nothing, "Arti is ready to go some more now."

Rowan takes a stand in an open field of freshly smashed rubble and nods to me. After a few more steps giving about fifteen feet or so between us I pull one of my swords out of its scabbard on my back and point it to my flaming pillar then to theirs. And my fighting stance sets into my body without my giving command, this is going to be the hardest fight I have ever had. "Let the final showdown of the tournament between, the two contestants Fallen Royal, and Devil's Behemoth begin," my mother's voice rings through the air sending shivers down my spine. Rowan's voice reaches my ears and I had to pause before replying, "Loser buys all of us a round!"

"You're on!"