by Katie Pottle
Cadin nodded. “I’m sorry, Susan.”
The following morning, Susan stood at the entrance of the school, leaning against the wall. She waved him over.
“Good luck,” Lep said, patting Cadin’s back before heading through the double doors. Cadin had flown early to Lep’s house to bring him an egg sandwich and buka cake. He also had wanted to tell his friend about his encounter at the healing seminar.
“Hi, Susan,” Cadin said, not really knowing what to expect.
Her smile did not quite reach her eyes. “Hi, Cadin. You forgot this yesterday.” She held out a folder.
He opened it to reveal a seminar certificate. “Oh, right. Thanks.”
“Can I talk to you for a second,” she asked. A tear threatening to escape her beautiful eyelid.
“Yeah, of course. Do you want to walk around the back of the school?” Even when he said it, he looked over his shoulder, checking for any sign of an angry boyfriend.
“Sure, sounds good.”
When they were out of earshot of the other early students, Susan took a deep breath. “I wanted to apologize to you for what happened yesterday.”
“You did nothing you need to apologize for,” Cadin said. “Your boyfriend on the other hand…”
Susan shook her head. “Greg is no longer my boyfriend.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Cadin said—fighting the involuntary smile pulling up the corners of his mouth.
“The break-up did not only come down to yesterday. I knew for a while he had a bad temper, though he would rarely lose it in front of me. I simply can’t be with someone so two-faced.”
Heat rose to his cheeks at the thought of holding her hand, but figured now was probably not the best time.
“Hey, how did Healer Molly trap us? There were no clouds in that room.”
“Oh, she turned on the faucet. She has a water affinity which is very common in healers.”
“That’s what I thought, but wasn’t sure. I have never seen water being shifted without a cloud before.” Cadin ruffled a hand through his dark hair. “So, uh…what are you going to do now?”
Susan took a breath and tilted her face up to the sky. She smiled when she spoke. “I feel free for the first time in years. I didn’t understand how possessive Greg had gotten because it happened gradually. But seeing him snap at the sight of you next to me when absolutely nothing was going on between us brought it all together for me.”
“Right,” Cadin said, stomach sinking. She didn’t have to put so much emphasis on the word.
“Sorry to lay all of this on you,” Susan said as she turned back to him. “I just have a lot going on with graduating and getting ready to move to Central Cloud for school next year. I don’t really want to go talking to my friends too much about this because the gossip will rebound back to Greg.”
“I understand. When do you move?”
“Well, the University doesn’t start until fall, but I am moving a week after graduating so I can get settled and maybe find a summer job. Honestly, it is probably better that I don’t have to worry about a relationship during all of this, you know?” Her brown eyes widened, as if pleading for his understanding.
Cadin nodded and took a deep breath as they approached the back door to his classroom.
“I wish you all the best, Susan. Really. And thanks for all of the healing tips.”
“Good bye, Cadin. And good luck in the Final Qualifier.” She surprised him by pulling him into a tight hug before taking off and flying towards the winged section of the school.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Final Qualifier
Cadin awoke, knowing the day he had been training for had finally arrived! He would either succeed and move on to the Calvarian Games or fail. It was the day of the Final Qualifier.
He had been practicing relentlessly with his team over the last month. They had fine-tuned their flight skills and the Challenge Club students had been willing adversaries during drills. Cadin was the most pleased about his increased ability and comfort level with his gins, and with Bart’s developing cyclone skills. Since most teams had already been eliminated, they didn’t have to split into two on two drills. The other teams were more than happy to face them in a full four on four.
Master Emilio had surprised them all by randomly showing up at their practices and offering support and advice. Sun had mentioned to Cadin she found it funny that Master Emilio acted like such a crazy old grump around most people, but was quite nice, intelligent and lucid when helping them train. Just a week earlier he had shown them how to summon natural clouds to help with their practice.
Every day their team got stronger and more comfortable together, yet still, Cadin was nervous when the assembly was called to announce the Final Qualifier. He knew they were ready, primed to succeed—yet they were still the youngest group left with a shot. He hoped several teams wouldn’t go at once. He wouldn’t put it past Arianna and Gregor to team up against him.
“Hi, mom,” Cadin said as he landed lightly on the main floor.
“Training has been paying off,” Sara said. “I barely heard your decent. Good morning.” She set a huge plate of food in front of him, complete with the latest round of buka cakes.
Before he started eating, he set a hand-thrown clay vessel that he had made in primary school down on the table.
His mom glanced at it and raised her eyes to Cadin. “Why do you have all of your savings here?”
“Well, you see…last year I made a wager with another student…” He flinched when his mom’s eyes narrowed. Looking at his plate of food, he took a deep breath and continued. “I bet her that a second-year team would qualify for the Warrior Path Games this year…and, well the money is due today…not that I’ll have to pay it…because we will qualify…probably, but I still should bring the money.” Cadin took a breath and peeked back up at his mom.
Sara’s expression gave nothing away as she asked, “How much was this wager for?”
“Three betos,” Cadin said quietly.
“That is a lot money. Do you have enough in your savings?”
“Yes.”
Sara’s face softened slightly. “Why didn’t you just bring it to school, then? I mean, aren’t you supposed to be in rebellious teenage mode where you don’t need your parents and all that?”
Cadin laughed, surprised him mom hadn’t yelled at him for making such a large gamble. “Well, one of the terms of the wager was that it be paid in betos and not aros. I thought maybe I could exchange some coins with you.”
Sara walked over to her bag and pulled out her coin purse. It was made from a sturdy silver fabric with leather trim. Cadin had never seen another one quite like it. She pulled out three large beto coins and placed them in front him. He traced his finger over the embossed dragon that appeared to be swimming around the hole in the middle.
“Start counting your aros, kid. No shorting me.”
Cadin smiled. “Thanks, mom.”
“Your welcome. I hope you don’t lose all of your money.”
“Me too!”
“Your dad and I were thinking of taking off work to come watch you in the Final Qualifier. What do you think?”
“Eh, thanks, but honestly, I think having you there would make me even more nervous than I already am.”
Cadin was relieved when she smiled. “No problem, Cadin. We just wanted to offer. You can tell us all about when you get home. Good luck!”
“You’re the best,” he said around the buka cake in his mouth. He gave her a one-armed hug before running out the door.
“Welcome, everyone to the Glade Final Qualifier for the Calvarian Commons Games!” Headmaster Tripharian announced to the crowed Yi Field. Not only was the entire school in attendance—people from all over Glade, young and old had found their way to the event.
“We have four teams that have earned the right to compete in this Final Qualifier and fight to represent Glade in the Championships. Let me introduce the first two teams that have already qualified for the Com
Games and are competing today to increase their seeding against other teams in the System. With the most qualifying points so far—Team Oblivion!” The crowd went wild as Gregor and his team proudly walked forward to accept the cheers. Cadin took in the sight of them and realized they epitomized the part of Glade champions, with a combined green Aura rising around them. Gregor caught Cadin looking at him and glared—his face turning a shade of red Cadin had only ever seen on dragon scales.
“I give you team Strikers!”
Cheers.
“And now for the two wild card teams in need of placing to be qualified for the Com Games—I give you the Fast, Furious Fighters and Dragon Fire!”
Cadin walked with his team to the front of the stage as they received mixed applause—some loud and enthusiastic which was mostly from the students that attended the Challenge Club and some halfhearted claps—probably from angels that looked at their mixed Aura group, new wings and small statures and figured that they didn't have much of a chance of representing Glade as well as the other teams. For those who didn’t have a favorite, they only cared that the eventual champion would come from their cloud-land.
Araina was standing the closest to him. Her face contorted as if she stuck her nose in a putrid cloud-worm nest. He smiled and held out his hand as if to say “pay up.” Her eyes widened for a moment before narrowing into a death glare.
“This Qualifier is different from the others in terms of placing. There is a damage point system where each team has the opportunity to earn first, second, and third place points, or fail to earn qualifying points at all. This Qualifier is the most representative of the Com Games. Once again, your team will be outnumbered—five to four.
“There will be viewing stands for guests; however, the total damage scores will not be announced until the award ceremony immediately following the last team's run. The other cloud-lands’ finals are being run at the same time and we should have word of all of their outcomes before the award ceremony. Even teams that have already Qualified are still incentivized to do their best in the Final Qualifier to earn points towards the best seeded positions in the summer Games. Remember that seeding matters in a single elimination tournament where you could go against the best team in the System and get knocked out in the first round if you begin with low seeding.” Headmaster Tripharian paused before continuing.
“This Qualifier will have the biggest arena, most amount of time and the fewest restrictions of any of the previous Qualifiers. Good luck to you all!”
As they exited the stage they were each handed a little card with the quick rules and score ranges.
Final points based on total Units Of Damage done to opponent’s armor and opponent’s statue minus damage received. 1st place points: 500+ UOD
2nd place points: 300-499 UOD
3rd place points: 125-299 UOD
Fail: 124 UOD and below
Damage can be done to armor (up to 100 UOD per team member) and one team statue (undisclosed max UOD).
Note Alpha Armor starts at 100 UOD. When damage is done to armor it changes color. If the armor reaches zero—it freezes and immobilizes the player wearing it. An undisclosed amount of bonus UOD is awarded to the opposing team for each armor zeroed out. Qualifying team’s armor = Silver at full
(100 points), Dark blue zeroed out (0 points)
Opposing team’s armor = Gold at full
(100 points), Red zeroed out (0 points)
“Easy enough,” Lep said, the scar above his eye crinkling slightly with his smile.
Cadin couldn’t help but smile back. “Yep. It will really help us if we can zero out one or two of our opponent’s armor. Not only will we score, but it will take them out of the battle.”
“Dragon Fire! You are up first.”
Cadin stood tall as they walked to the entrance. He glanced up at the judges’ table where Master Emilio give them a rare smile. Sitting next to him with a tense stare was Master Sanjen. Cadin gave him a confident nod and entered the arena. Behind him Master Emilio’s voice said, “Don't worry, San—he has been training—watch and see.” This made Cadin feel confident as he put his hand in front of his team. Sun beamed as she joined, followed quickly by Bart and Lep.
“Goooo Dragon Fire!”
As promised, the arena was immense and included the most diverse landscape thus far. The enemy team had entered from the other side, which was enclosed by a semi-transparent, cloud-shifted dome. They could not yet spot the gleaming gold armor of their opponents, but kept their guard up as they searched for a decent defensive position.
“I see them!” Sun exclaimed as she pointed across the small body of water.
“Excellent! We should set up our defense here,” Cadin said. “Hurry, just as we planned.”
They set down their dragon statue in the middle of a cloud-land prairie with many natural clouds floating nearby which Sun and Bart began to summon as Cadin and Lep focused on thoroughly encasing their dragon statue with cloud-walls.
“Here they come!” Bart warned.
“Remember to switch the direction of the grain with each wall,” Cadin reminded Lep when two of the gold gleaming enemies came into view over the lake.
“Perfect. They only sent two. Let's take these two out quickly so we can get the others! I hope Bart is prepared—they are almost to him.”
Sun popped out of the natural cloud. “He is ready,” she said as she turned and let loose a long arrow that flew true and landed squarely on the chest plate of one of the oncoming angels. Instantly his armor changed color from gold to a light pink.
The angel fell back a few paces and looked for the source of the attack with an infuriated expression. He paused at the sight of Sun, bow in hand and charged for her, dodging her second arrow. The warrior raised his sword, followed closely by his partner in anticipation of striking a devastating blow. However, before they reached Sun—their wings faltered. They jerked their heads, and narrowed their eyes on Bart who was wielding a spear and concentrating on the swirling clouds around him.
“Cyclone!” one yelled as they both became swept up and spewed out the top of Bart’s large cyclone. They peeled themselves up from the muddy cloud-land only to be hit by more arrows and fast flying gins. The first angel looked down with a stunned expression to see his armor turn blood red and freeze stiff before he could fully stand.
“No!” The unfrozen angel cried as he took in the color of his companion’s armor.
“I got him.” Lep stepped up confidently and the angel charged at Lep in a blind rage. He slipped on the clouds in front of Lep. Sun smiled and pumped her fist in the air. Lep side stepped the stumbling angel and landed a strong blow. Before the angel could counter, he was hit by another arrow and Tsuyo. The Academy warrior’s armor turned crimson and stiffened. “Nice cyclone, Bart!” Lep said as they helped him over to their statue.
“Time for some offense. You okay to stay here, recover and guard the statue while we go and get the others?” Cadin asked Bart who was breathing heavily.
“Got it! They won't touch it.”
“Let's go, time is running out.”
“I think they used a cyclone.” Cadin heard the gold girl say frantically to her two other defending team-mates.
“Unlikely—they are only in Commons,” one of her male counterparts responded with a shrug. Cadin had used the lake to his advantage and swam under the water towards the three remaining opponents and their statue. He hoped the opposing team would be focused on the sky and ground as he stealthily emerged behind a floating log only a few yards from their cloud-trap swaddled statue.
“Look—here come two of them now around the edge of the lake! They may be trying to flank us; I'll take this side of the statue—you guys take those two on. Watch out for arrows from that yellow Aura!”
“Ouch, she got me!” one of them said.
“I just told you to watch out!” The girl shouted impatiently as she looked sadly at his now pink armor. “You better not reach red!”
�
��I won’t, Lacy—pay attention to your side and let me and Oli handle these two little kids.”
“Fine! But yell if you need my help.”
“I doubt we will,” the fully gold armored angel called Oli responded. “Look at how young they are. I think we got that second-year group.”
“Well, freeze them so we can go and find the other two!”
“I bet Gerard and Jim already took care of them and are whooping on their statue by now!”
Another arrow was blocked by Oli's shield which brought the two males back to being fully focused.
The girl gave her male teammates an exasperated look before stepping back to their statue and focusing on the sky and the land to Cadin’s left.
The bully of Lance, Cadin thought—remembering Sun’s story. The archer stroked his bow.
Cadin focused on a natural cloud floating nearby and summoned it over to Lacy and her charge. Inhaling deeply, Cadin sank back into the water and swam under the log. His emersion from the lake was masked by the cloud. The heavy opaque mist effectively blinded them and Cadin was confident that Lacy could not see him. The unmistakable sound of swords clashed in the distance.
Closing his eyes, Cadin connected to the cloud surrounding them and searched for the warrior girl’s energy. She was strong. Her energy zinged through the cloud as she took flight and then landed soon after in the same spot. She obviously didn’t want to leave the statue. As she landed, Cadin raised a foot-trap, careful to keep it a small distance from her armor. It was up past her knees when he took a risk to have it envelop her bow-wielding hand which was hanging down by her thigh. Suddenly her energy pulsed and Cadin quickly hardened his trap.
“The statue!” Lacy shouted towards her teammates as Cadin stepped through the cloud and sent two of his gins at Lacy. He shaped them now with only blunted edges for the Games. It was a condition set by Headmaster Tripharian after the Red Qualifier. They did less damage with each strike; however, Cadin was much better at controlling them.
