Chapter 5 Part 1
After Heather's match, she Shrunk willow down and put them on her shoulder just before collecting the fallen ironwood corns her new pet used as weapons.
Whining from the pain after waking, Heje compliments Heather. "Your magic is very potent Ms Longstaff. You took me out in one attack." Heje smiles as best he can as he grips his stomach in pain.
"Just so you don't make the mistake again. Yeah, I did defeat you, but Willow here was the one that attacked you, not me. So you should praise him as well." Heather says, allowing Willow to sit next to Heje.
"Your friend made you quite a powerful dragon. I bet you're going to grow into quite a formidable one. Make sure you protect one another." Heje pats Willow on the head before several Holy Healing mages surround him to fix all of his ruptured organs and broken ribs.
After pronouncing the winner of the match, the announcer fell silent as the crowd erupted in cheers before starting back up again. "Even though that match ended fast, in all the years this event has existed, we have never seen such a one sided battle. The raw power of Heather and her new partner Willow was so exciting, that his Majesty got out of his seat for the first time in 3 years!"
"Huh, I guess I should be proud of that gesture." Heather turns to His Majesty and curtsies.
King Shavik replies to her gesture. "I know it is probably necessary to bow to the nobles of the Empire Ms Longstaff, however it is not customary here." His Highness' voice is posh yet humble, commanding yet kind. A stark difference to the Empire.
(Narrator) I have finally gotten a good look at Shavik now that he isn't hidden by shadow. Let us describe him.
His Majesty King Shavik of Maranus looks to be a 200 year old Humanoid Dragon Newt. He is wearing elaborate garments kindled to a robe woven with precious metals such as gold. The robes are made from brightly couloured silk and linen. Purples, blues, and white patterns in the Maranus crest are sewn into the seams. A gentle crown adorns his head made from gold and embedded with gemstones of emeralds, sapphires, and clear white diamonds as bright as starlight. His skin is a velvety copper brown, nary a blemish can be seen. The Great King has powder blue, mid length, spiky hair. With a Humanoid Dragon Newt, their horns and scales are also a similar colour. The King's horns are a beautiful, mid length blue with black between the scale-like bone. The skin around the horns is also made from the same scales. He has his wings hidden in his robe so unfortunately I don't know what they look like. The King is a thin
(Narrator) Ok, that's as much detail as I want to use. I was getting bored.
"My apologies, Your Majesty. I will remember that in hopes of the next time we converse." Heather lowers her head slightly and exits the arena.
The 6th match was also boring, just an assassin named Gulfi Goldroot, a male Dwarf VS Fea of the Leaves. A female Elf Noble hoping to gain some extra funds for her lands in Maranus. Fea won the match.
Llamiryl is up next for the 7th match. She faces Ibun Silverfinger, another dwarf, who is a female. Even though Dwarf names have no specific gender, this name is usually given to male Dwarves, its meaning is indecipherable to any other language. The best translation that exists takes its meaning as 'the mountain's hearth'.
(Narrator) A curious one indeed. However, that unsettling feeling is giving me no hope for Ibun to win. Something is going on with Llamiryl, I'm not sure what it is. But we may need to be cautious of the other people inside of her.
"We have a very similar match for the 7th match in bracket A. It's another duel against an Elf and Dwarf. Llamiryl Genhorn, she has the Healing attribute. I don't see how she can win but alright. Her opponent is Ibun Silverfinger, her attribute is Silver. I'm not sure I've ever heard of that so...I honestly have no idea how to evaluate these two." The announcer says. The crowd starts to laugh.
As the laughter starts to die down, someone within the crowd wearing a robe shouts, "For the glory of the empire!"
Llamiryl suddenly collapses onto her knees, her body seemingly becoming a husk. Smoke can be seen coming from her head as her hair changes its colour and her elven ears become human.
"This isn't part of her multiple personalities in the slightest. What the fuck is happening?" Haider says.
Christopher gets in closer to the projection of the match. We watch as her clothes also change. Slowly but surely Christopher realises why he has had a negative feeling towards Llamiryl and staggers back.
Heather supports him from behind and asks. "What's the matter?"
"Look at the jacket she's wearing. You told me her name right? Does that say what I think it does?" Christopher says. Anger and fear brewing within.
"This has to be some sort of joke right?" Heather asks.
"Just FUCKING look Heather!" Christopher yells, becoming agitated.
Realising that they know Llamiryl, the other contestants, they take notice of their conversation. "Alright, geez." Heather says.
As Heather glances at the screen, Llamiryl's sudden transformation just about finishes. Heather opens her eyes wide in shock as she angrily clenches her jaw.
At the same time, Heddwyn realises their identity too. "Cleo Hardwick. The woman that tried to kidnap my children and almost killed me."
"There is no way! We know Llamiryl. She isn't capable of doing something like that." The fucking idiot of the Longstaff family says.
(Narrator) That's Haider, if you're wondering...Nah I'm just screwing with you. His intelligence is average.
"Well guess what, that isnt Llamiryl anymore. Right now she is Cleo, a criminal." Heather says.
"The crimes she commited were in Stocaea, Maranus has no authority or reason to arrest her." Heddwyn points out.
"So. What the fuck are we supposed to do then? Has she come here to torture Christopher again?" Heather yells.
"I'm certain it was just coincidence." Heddwyn calmly says.
The freshly transformed Llamiryl, or rather Cleo...Clemiryl? I dont fucking know. Anyway Clemiryl rises to her feet and repeats the cloaked man's words. "Where exactly am i?"
"We're just about to start a match, you freak. Weren't you an elf just now?" Ibun says.
"Firstly, I'm Human, not Elf. Secondly, I didn't sign up for a match. Did I black out again? Ah right, my orders." Llamiryl...AHHH! Fuck Cleo...pulls out a peice of paper from the jacket that materialised on her and she reads it loud enough for the Narrator to hear.
(Narrator) Did I just refer to myself in the third person? I think I did. Nice.
"Your next mission is to win this tournament and send the prize money back to the cathedral for repairs...What happened to the cathedral? Well, I got my orders."
Llam...Cleo. I don't think I can do this man. Cleo readies her stance for a fight and the announcer exclaims the start of the match moments later. The instant she starts fighting, Cleo goes bat shit insane, casting a Fireball spell. This ball of fire just keeps growing and growing, it's now the size of a large boulder. The crazed and all over the place woman fires it towards the Dwarf with no hope of dodging. The fireball sets off an explosion so large, the king needed to pour his mana into the shield spell around the edge of the arena to prevent it breaking and hurting the spectators.
The match ended in an instant. Ibun manages to survive but collapses onto the ground, the skin burned away from her flesh, nothing but black, charred Dwarf was left behind. Her injuries are so severe that no ordinary mage can heal her without scarring encompassing her entire body. Even the best of readily available healing potions wouldn't be able to remake the skin.
Faster than conceivably possible, Christopher ports to the Dwarf's side, his sister next to him. Christopher slams his staff into the ground and Heather places her hands upon his back. Christopher begins casting a healing spell not taught in the Kingdom, but its knowledge has been passed down to him by Engilram and Heddwyn. The spell is called Radiance, it is the spell that gave Helga a little extra time before she died. If you remember, the spell makes a column of blinding white light that reaches the heavens. It consists of a single circle with a minimum of five-hundred runes needing to be etched carefully. Upon activation it is likely to consume all the surrounding environmental mana for miles if not sufficiently supplied.
"It's not enough, we could run the risk of destroying the city." Christopher says.
"What do you mean?" Heather asks.
"The islands above the city are kept afloat with magic, if we consume it, what do you think will happen to those islands?" Christopher says.
"Well shit, what should we do?" Heather asks again.
"I could use the mana I've collected...no, that won't work." Christopher is struggling to find a solution.
Heather gets an idea and yells it at the top of her lungs. "King Shavik! Relov! Please, help us!"
"Are you crazy? Asking the King of Maranus for help?" Christopher says.
"You forgot to say my name as well." Relov says, appearing beside him.
"How can we help?" King Shavik says from the opposite side.
Christopher smiles. The warm presence of the king is very reverent to him. "Please place both your hands on my shoulders and allow me to access your mana."
"Understood." His Highness says, firmly placing his hands on the boy. Relov follows suit.
Christopher gets a sudden jolt of pain rush into him as he processes the new sources of mana. He focuses on making each rune as vibrant as possible and activates the spell. Heddwyn watches as he sees his child perform the spell, a little worried for his health. Every second the spell is cast, a large chunk of mana is taken from all three sources. With so much mana passing through him, Christopher loses his grip on the spell ever so gradually.
It took only three seconds from when the spell was activated for Christopher to no longer hold onto the spell. The light disperses showing a mostly healed Ibun. Christopher collapses to the floor, unable to breathe, becoming nauseous, and having bad chest pain. All vision becomes blurry and voices muffled as Christopher passes out.