Begin

I take back what I said before. The public isn't indifferent.

The moment the teacher supervising the event announced the opening of the advanced classes' duels, the atmosphere radically changed. Since I didn't know when exactly it would be my turn, I left the boys to join the participants zone. I am no longer in the stand so I can't see them, but I definitely can hear them…

I can hear the students yelling, erupting in cheers. I think I can even hear some of them jumping. The only things missing are the ground shaking and the loudspeakers, and there you have it: the stadium atmosphere. I've actually never gone to see a game so I'm not sure, but at least, this is definitely what I would expect from it.

The audience wasn't indifferent. It had just been waiting for the real battles to begin. And now that the novices' duels were over, the real show was starting.

I don't feel so good.

I am quite uncomfortable with crowds. Because of my eyes, I've learned to tolerate it, but I still really don't like having all eyes on me. I can handle a little attention. I could have handled the audience from before. But now they all just went crazy, cheering like madmen.

From the participants' zone, we couldn't see the fights. We just patiently waited all together for our names to be called. I didn't know anyone there. The participants were all older than me, all serious, and last but not least, they were all prepared. Because of that, the atmosphere in the waiting room was pretty tense. Combined with the fact that I couldn't see anything of what was happening outside and with the public's loud cheering, I was really starting to grow anxious. It's not like I wasn't confident in winning, but the atmosphere was just hard to bear.

I think I can understand Vivian now…

So I sat in a corner, buried my head in my arms, and I closed my eyes. Letting myself get swallowed by darkness always had a relaxing feeling for me. It wasn't so difficult as the others around me were very quiet. Some were meditating, others were stretching, all were silent. If it hadn't been for the noise outside, I would've probably fallen asleep.

And I waited. For quite a while, I think, as I quickly lost track of time. But eventually, I emerged from my stand-by mode as I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"You alright?"

It was an unknown boy. The stranger crouched down to reach my level.

"Are you nervous?" He asked, his eyes looking genuinely worried.

I've learned to become wary of strangers approaching me, but that boy didn't seem to have any ulterior motive.

I shook my head.

"No I'm not," I responded. "Not anymore."

"Good, because you're next," the stranger told me with a half smile.

Uh… HUH?! Already? No wait, I did wait for quite a while… But my heart is still not ready.

"As I thought, you didn't hear the teacher coming in, right?" The unknown boy continued. "He announced the next three competitors. Your name was among them."

Huh? Really?

"You weren't budging though, so I thought maybe you passed out or something. I hope I didn't interrupt your mediation."

"You didn't. Thank you for warning me."

I was lucky. I totally didn't hear anyone coming in. Did I fall asleep after all?

As the stranger helped me up, I felt myself weak in the knees, and it wasn't because my legs had gone numb. My duel with Aoban now imminent, I was growing anxious again. The unknown boy didn't miss that as he let out a small giggle.

"So you are nervous after all," he joked, reading my expression.

"Maybe just a little," I admitted.

"That's fine. It's your first duel, it's alright to be nervous."

He was really friendly. I thought that maybe I knew him after all, but after examining his face more carefully, I was sure that I had never seen him before.

"Do you know me?" I asked.

The stranger smiled.

"Well, doesn't everyone?"

He has a point.

At that moment, the door of the waiting room opened.

"Lynett Maedis Whiteheart?" I heard my name. "You're up next."

So it's time.

I headed to the door as the unknown boy gave me one last smile.

"Good luck!"

◊◊◊◊◊◊

The person waiting for me there was a young girl around Aoban's age. She was probably a student, but the folder she was holding indicated that she had some kind of responsibility in the event.

"Are you ready?" The young girl asked.

I nodded.

"Good, follow me."

Complying with her instruction I followed her through the maze of corridors. It didn't take long for us to reach our destination. From there, I could finally see what was going on outside. The entrance of the battle area gave us a view of the battle currently happening.

"Wait here, it will soon be over," the young girl ordered before disappearing in the corridors, without even waiting for a reply.

She wasn't wrong though. The current duel was reaching its end.

It was a clash between swordsmen. I didn't know much about swordsmanship, but you didn't have to be an expert to understand that this duel was one-sided. I didn't see the whole fight, but at this point, the issue was clear. One of the competitors was being overwhelmed by his opponent and although he still held his ground, it was only a matter of time before his defeat. Eventually, as I expected, the boy lost his balance and his challenger used the opportunity to disarm him. In a duel, with the exception of mages as they didn't have a weapon, being disarmed was as good as losing. The boy knew that.

"I forfeit," he reluctantly grumbled. But with the sound amplification, it was loud enough for everyone to hear, so a teacher stepped in to announce the end of the fight.

The disappointed boy left the arena, passing just by me, as the audience erupted in cheers. It was at that moment that I realized how many there actually were. There definitely wasn't as many people in the stands before, so when did they multiply? It's no wonder they are so loud.

"Next, Lynett Maedis Whiteheart and Aoban Whiteheart!"

Finally hearing my name being called, I stepped into the pit, and everything became silent.

A little surprised at first, I gave a quick glance at the stands. I could see people cheering and yelling, yet, no sound reached my ears. I soon understood that the pit was completely soundproof. Whatever magic they were using to amplify the sounds coming from it, it was also nullifying all noise from the outside. So the audience can hear us, but we can't hear them. It's kind of a relief, to be honest. At least, I won't be distracted by the spectators. I might even forget about them.

Finally reaching the center of the battle zone, I stopped beside the teacher supervising the combat.

Aoban was already there, standing right in front of me. I hadn't seen him since our dispute, but it felt like it's been really a while. He wasn't the same. The atmosphere around him was different. His expression was deadly serious and his eyes were cold. There was not a faint trace of the usual kindness I was used to. Brother has felt like a stranger to me more than once ever since I arrived here, but this time, I was feeling really threatened. His eyes piercing right through me, I never knew how scary and intimidating he could be.

"We are here today to resolve the dispute between Lynett Maedis Whiteheart and Aoban Whiteheart," the head-teacher loudly announced, following the usual procedure. "Both parties will engage until one is well blooded, disabled, unconscious, or until one of the challengers forfeits and begs pardon."

Brother did not take his eyes off of me for a second. He was not purposely trying to intimidate me. He was just being his usual self. That's right, this is the normal Aoban. The kind and gentle Aoban was exclusive to mother and me, but right now, I wasn't his sister. He was not staring at his beloved Lyni, he was staring at a rival. At that moment, I understood that he was not going to go easy on me.

"Does anyone want to withdraw?" The teacher asked, as he finished listing the rules.

Withdrawing was allowed. As long as the fight hasn't started yet, a duel could be easily called off by an apology from one of the challengers. But this was entirely up to the challengers to decide. Usually, the one supervising the duel wouldn't even ask the question as it could easily be interpreted as an insult to one's honor, so I knew the teacher was asking that for me. I could easily guess his thoughts: I have no chance of winning in his eyes. But I'll soon enough prove him wrong.

"No," I replied, as brother did the same.

The teacher let out a small sigh.

"Very well," he said. "In that case, take position."

Aoban and I both moved away from each other, so as to let a distance of about fifty meters between us. Normally, it should have been ten meters, but as soon as one of the challengers is a long-ranged fighter, the distance between the competitors increases to fifty meters.

I was still at a disadvantage though. Duels were usually held between people with the same kind of fighting style. A warrior against a rogue. A ranger against a mage. Long-ranged fighters against long-ranged fighters, and close-ranged fighters against close-ranged fighters. As soon as you started mixing the two together, the fight stopped being fair. It might have been different in a real battle situation, but in a duel, there were rules, so no one expected me to win. A duel between a mage and a swordsman was totally unfair.

Mages and swordsmen have always been mortal enemies. They were each other's greatest weakness. The only thing that made the difference in the clash between a mage and a swordsman was distance. As long as the mage kept a reasonable distance between him and his enemy, then he would have enough time to cast his spells while staying out of range of the swordsman's attacks. Conversely, if the swordsman managed to close the distance, then the mage was done for, as he wouldn't be able to cast spells anymore.

In a duel, challengers begin at a definite distance from each other and fight in an enclosed area, so I was at a total disadvantage. Or at least, this is what everyone thought. Distance was not a problem for me. Whether we begin at one meter or fifty meters from each other, it doesn't change a thing for me. Because I don't need time to cast a spell. Because I use voiceless incantations. Still, I was not planning on disclosing that fact. I needed to fake chants, so starting at this kind of distance wasn't so bad.

As brother and I took stance, facing each other, the head-teacher finally announced the beginning of the duel.

"Begin!"