Eva and Tia
After accepting his invitation to walk around the North Sector, Tempus lead the way as the cautious two girls followed always two steps behind, but close enough that they could happily interrogate him.
"So… who exactly are you? That magic you used before didn't seem like anything I'd seen before" Eva asked.
"Just like you guys I am also a mage, I've spent many years studying magic to get to where I am today."
"Yeah… But that MAGIC was NOTHING like I'd seen." She repeated, "What's your natural element?"
"Ice…"
"ICE!" Tia screamed before realising how much presence that gave her, and cowered behind Eva so the crowd could no longer see her embarrassing shout.
"I knew you weren't normal, not many people have a natural element that isn't part of the main group."
Natural Elements were an important part of becoming a mage, everyone has a Natural Element that is often similar to their parents. The main four elements are considered to be the Main Group and are the most common, with 98% of mages being a part of that group. However, there did exist mages who were born with affinities to other, stranger powers.
"What about you two?" Tempus asked.
"I'm fire and Tia is water."
"Interesting… That explains why you created the fire spell before. I assume that wand is your catalyst?"
"Correct. Both Tia and I were given these training wands from the Academy."
"Oh, I see… So, is there anywhere you would like to see?"
Eva didn't have any idea what it was she wanted to do, she turned around to Tia who was more interested in the Demon Realm to see what she would say.
"U-um… Th-the To-tower…" Tia stuttered.
"I'd quite like to see the Guardian Tower as well…" Eva said.
"Errrrr." Tempus was unsure what to do, he didn't want to disappoint them but he also didn't want to risk running into the other Guardians. He didn't wish to have to explain why he was babysitting two girls. Or, even worst, Ifer may think he was some sort of 'player' who finally awoke to his inner desires.
"Y-yes. I can show you around the tower. Follow me." Tempus was on a time limit to work out what to do, he only had a few minutes before they reached the tower.
"Hey, Tia…" Eva asked her friend. "Wanna see if we can use the Guardians Battle Arena to train a bit, I hear they have one open to visitors."
"Huh?" Tempus overheard their conversation and began to panic even more. The chances of encountering someone he knew just now doubled.
"Sure!" Tia was excited to be able to experience part of the Demon's culture and was expecting Tempus to deliver. The two of them had child-like grins as if it was Christmas day.
"Well… Can't let them down now. This is going to be hell" Tempus thought to himself.
# # #
The three of us arrived at the base of the Guardian Tower, I was nervous to go in as I didn't want to encounter any of the other Guardians. Lucky for me the public Battle Arena is underground so I shouldn't see any of them there, they'll all be in our own private arena training.
"So, how long have you lived in the Demon Realm?" Eva asked me.
"Hmm, a few years."
"And when did you last go back to the human world?"
"Err… I don't really remember." Thanks to my responsibilities of being a Guardian I hadn't had the chance to visit the Human World in around 100 years, but I won't tell them that.
At the base of the Guardian's tower was a populated shopping district, the first two floors consist of a hub for people to come and shop, with the upper floors being off-limits and only available to the Guardians and any politicians. But these upper floors were mostly meeting rooms. The first basement floor is where we are heading, a large battle arena 300ft below the ground that spans nearly almost the whole of the Demon Realm. Its size was necessary in case of an emergency. It was built in the case of war and was perfect to store supplies for civilians.
Every nation has its own Battle Arena, all of which are powered by magic to allow it to change into any environment, depending on what the contenders want. If a stealth battle was preferred, some may want to battle in the towering rainforest, full of trees and hiding places. For open-world battles, the dune-filled desert was best.
We entered the tower and were greeted with hundreds of civilian demons rushing around from shop to shop taking up all the space to move, we tried to force our way through to get to the stairs at the back. No one cared that we were human, they were all too busy focusing on their shopping and thinking about their families at home that they needed to feed.
After the claustrophobic event, the three of us managed to get to the stairs on the far end, I was lucky to have avoided anyone I knew, or at least that's what I thought.
"Hey, Tempus! What are you doing here?" Ifer stood next to the way down as if he knew that I was going down and he was waiting for me.
"Not much… Just heading down to the battle arena…"
Ifer hadn't noticed the two girls behind me, or maybe he had but didn't want to mention it. I hoped it was the former.
"So… who are the two girls behind you?"
I guess it was the latter.
"This is Eva and Tia. Eva and Tia this is Ifer, he is a… friend? Acquaintance? Maybe even just a passerby."
"Nice to meet you…" Eva was scared at first to meet him as he was a truly powerful grey demon. His skin and stern eyes may have seemed intimidating at first, but I could see on Tia's face that she was trying to hide her excitement from meeting a friendly demon.
"So why are you going to the arena? Are you fighting? If you are I wanna see Tempus fight!"
"I won't be the one fighting, these two are…"
"Ah… can I still come to watch?"
There was never going to be a chance to get rid of him.
# # #
They all went down into the empty arena, Ifer and Tempus stood around the edges protected by magically reinforced glass that looped around the arena where spectators could look down and watch the battle that was about to take place.
"So, what environment do you want?" Tempus asked
"-Lake!" They both said simultaneously, without a beat.
Within a second thousands of close-together trees grew up from the ground, and the floor was raised and lowered to form various rough terrain. In the centre sat a giant lake separated from the surrounding trees. It was the largest spot of open air, perfect for large spells, but also exposed to danger. It was perfect for Tia who could utilise it for her water magic, but also a bad thing for as the easily flammable trees benefit Eva.
Tia and Eva both stood lost at two opposite ends of the battlefield. Covered in darkness from the whistling trees.
When suddenly, a loud blaring alarm could be heard to signal the start of the battle.
Eva moved carefully through the forest, taking precautions by keeping her eyes on the leaves above her, whilst trying to locate Tia by studying the flow of mana within the environment around her.
The flow of mana follows all magic. Eva possessed powerful sight that allowed her to see clearly the lines of mana that flowed towards the sound of rushing water, which rapidly grew louder and closer.
In a sudden realisation, Eva darted to the floor dodging a large water blade that had cut through all the trees in its path, creating a direct line to the central lake where Tia stood waiting. The trees all collapsed as they were cleanly cut by such a perfect blade.
"She seems pretty good, doesn't she? That water girl?" Ifer said as he stood protected by the glass watching their battle with Tempus.
"Hmm… It does seem that way…"
Eva had no choice but to approach the central lake and stood opposite staring down Tia.
"Shall we end this?" Eva said despite it just started. She pulled out her wand and held it above her head, channelling her mana, and creating a large ball of fire that showed no sign of stopping. With each pulse of mana that entered it, its size grew.
Tia stood there before beginning to do the same, she held her wand above her and use the water from the lake to conjure a large sphere of water, that within seconds outgrew the fireball.
The wind picked up as their mana manipulated the world around them. Magic possesses great power and will cause the world around them to change. In most cases it was the wind that followed with the mana, kicking up the dirt and shaking the fallen trees as it almost became as powerful as a hurricane.
"Wow… This is some impressive stuff..." Ifer said.
"No… This is bad, I've got to stop them."
Tempus ran around to get to the closest entrance whilst Tia and Eva showed no sign of stopping their spells, all while Ifer just sat and enjoyed the show.
"COME ON THEN! GIVE IT ALL YOU GOT!" Eva shouted over the roar of the flames before she attempted to slowly move the spell into Tia.
"DON'T THINK I'M AS WEAK AS EVERYONE SAYS!" Tia's confidence grew as did the spell she was creating, she put all her power and energy into moving it to attempt to counter Eva's spell.
It was looking to be an easy win for Tia. Not only did she possess a natural advantage against fire, but she also poured far more mana into the spell. Far too much mana.
Before the Spells could collide in a deadly explosion that would shake the demon realm, Tempus jumped in between touching each one as if they were solid, completely freezing them instantly. The two giant Ice lumps that now floated in the air, crashed into the hole which once housed the water to the lake, kicking up dust and dirt.
"Why did you stop us?" Eva said.
"Look…" Tempus pointed to the other side of the lake, where Tia's body lay on the ground, passed out and silent, unable to move.
"TIA!" Eva ran over to check if she was ok, checking for a pulse and to see if she was breathing.
"Don't worry… She's alive…"
"What happened?"
"She lacks control of her mana, she couldn't keep that spell going for much longer, chances are it would have disappeared before they collided and yours would have directly hit her and killed her."
"I Don't understand…"
"I'll explain it all later. Let's take her to a place where she can rest and I'll explain everything when she wakes up…"