by Katie Pottle
A crimson blur smacked him on the head while rushing behind the curtain. Horns played, and everyone stood up and applauded the entrance of the Games Committee and Master Sanjen.
“He looks tired,” Sun said quietly.
Cadin nodded. There were dark bags under Master Sanjen’s eyes, and his clothes appeared to hang off his frame. Had he lost weight?
Head of Games Yoser raised his hands for silence. “Thank you for all coming together to celebrate a successful start to our Games and to honor Master Sanjen!”
Master Sanjen stood up and bowed slightly. “Thank you, all. It is I who is honored to be here. There are only twenty-five percent of the original teams left standing! To those who have fought and succeeded in advancing in this competition, congratulations! To those who have failed, do not lose heart. Perseverance, dedication, determination!” His voice rose and his eyes turned fierce. “The Calvarian System needs brave warriors such as you. That is why I am pleased to announce that the Warrior division of the Core has increased its sponsorship of these very Games!”
An outburst of cheering erupted, before Master Sanjen made a quick motion and ten angels marched onto the stage. They were wearing Core uniforms, but not warriors themselves by the looks of them. They all held clipboards and most had slight frames. One woman had a severe limp while one of the men was missing the distal end of his left wing.
“These are the newest Core members assigned to the Games to assess abilities for a potential scholarship into the Academy. Those of you still in the Games have the greatest chance to earn a scholarship; however, the Core has placed several stations within the Competitors’ Village for everyone to show off their skills—even those whose teams are out of the competition! You can still come away from these Games as a huge winner!”
“The Core is certainly scouting,” Bart said on the walk back to the condos. They were all burdened with leftovers to carry and a cart of equipment Alberta insisted go back to their kitchen. Nearly everyone had cleared out of the Grand Hall while their cook forced them to stay and help her clean up.
“And getting desperate from the looks of it,” Cora added.
“More scholarship opportunities for us at least.”
Sun brushed her fingers against Cadin’s and he gently squeezed as he caught her hand in his.
As they rounded the corner to their courtyard, the raised voice of Master Sanjen rolled over the clouds.
“He must have flown here,” Lep said, recognizing the voice as well.
“Who?” Cora asked. “That can’t be…”
“Master Sanjen,” Cadin said.
They stopped at the sight of Master Sanjen, who was red-faced as he ‘talked’ to Instructor Kade.
“I’m sorry, sir. But you assigned me to Glade to ‘get my priorities straight’. Those were your exact words,” Instructor Kade said. He stood tall and looked a furious Master Sanjen in the eyes.
“Not so you could throw it all away, Captain!”
“Just, Instructor now, sir.” He nodded and put something into Master Sanjen’s hand.
A bowl dropped and clanged to the ground behind Cadin.
Both Master Sanjen and Instructor Kade turned slowly towards them.
“Uh, sorry about that,” Bart said.
Master Sanjen took a step back and looked Instructor Kade in the eyes. “This conversation is not done yet. Your contract is still through to the end of the summer.”
“My status hasn’t been active for over a year. You know as well as I do that I can get out under the ‘inactive’ clause. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
Master Sanjen sighed and motioned Instructor Kade to follow him. They flew out of sight before anyone said anything else.
“Whoa, that was intense,” Lep said.
“Yeah. But we had better not dwell on it. We have to worry about beating Gregor’s team,” Cadin said.
“Eh, and we have Inferno,” Cora said.
“Inferno? You go against the number one seeded team?” Lep asked. “Ryker’s team?”
“That’s the one. And we have to compete first!”
“I guess we can’t complain.”
“Hands in for the Quarter Finals,” Lep said.
“Quarters!” They shouted.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Quarter Finals
The day before the Quarter Finals was tense at the Glade condos. Jordy tripped Sun, Ben hid Lep’s shoes, and Gregor whispered nasty insults whenever an adult was not near.
“Total damage,” Gregor said as Cadin crossed the courtyard to his room. Gregor was digging his knife into the beautiful wooden table. “This is what I am going to do to you tomorrow.” Gregor twisted the knife and ground down. The table groaned in protest, and Gregor’s mouth twitched. “Or better yet, I will do this to your yellow girlfriend.”
Cadin clenched his fists, but stayed silent as he turned away.
Gregor continued to talk. “I think it is only fair after you went after Susan last year. You pursued my girlfriend with pathetic love-struck eyes—I will pursue your girl with a dagger.”
Cadin started trembling the moment he got into his room and closed the door. He knew he shouldn’t let Gregor get to him. Cadin hadn’t realized that Gregor knew he and Sun had started dating. It was one more bit of ammunition for his opponents; however, Cadin could not bring himself to regret finally being with Sun.
Cadin brought his gins out and went through some exercises to help calm down.
The door opened and Lep walked in followed by Sun.
“Thirsty?” Lep asked, holding up a water flask.
“Yes, thanks.” Cadin expanded his tang-gin into a cup shape and allowed Lep to pour.
“I’ll be happy when this round is over,” Sun said, taking a seat next to him on his bed. “Gregor gave us the dirtiest look on the walk over.”
“He’s just trying to scare us,” Cadin said, reaching for Sun’s hand and tracing the lines of her palm with his thumb.
“You should not let him get to you,” Sun whispered to Cadin as Lep dropped onto his bed.
Cadin nodded and continued to rub her hand.
“Don’t let him hurt you tomorrow,” Cadin said.
“I’m not helpless, Cadin,” Sun said with an edge to her voice, though she didn’t pull her hand out of his.
“I know, Sun. That is one of the many things I like about you.”
The night and following morning zipped by and the third round had begun.
Gregor glared at Cadin from over the pile of small Anger Cubes he had collected to defend against Cadin and his team. The mist hung heavily throughout the battleground, but the Anger Cubes were little beacons of light, saying, “Here I am. Attack me to win the Quarter Finals!”
Cadin sent his general gins to whiz around Gregor’s head and distract him while his slice gins attacked the Anger Cubes that were piled up on the surface.
“Your little pebbles don’t bother me and they won’t do enough damage to win!” Gregor shouted.
He was right. They were losing, but not by much. Sun and Lep were fighting together not too far off. Bart had been behind Cadin, but had been drawn off to the center.
“Now’s your chance, firsty! Come and face me.”
Gregor stepped in front of the pile of Anger Cubes, flexing before turning to Cadin. He held a heavy sword designed for hacking in one hand and a rectangular shield in the other.
Cadin tightened his grip on Tsuyo, in sleek katana form. He recalled his gins to him and had them all spin very quickly around him. Gregor’s eyes widened before Cadin shot forward, dodging the first blow, as Gregor got pelted with gins from the side. Cadin sliced quickly across Gregor’s chest and retreated.
Gregor growled and swatted the gins out of the air. He advanced and shoved Cadin to the side with his shield before swinging his sword. Cadin spun, but the sword still caught his shoulder hard.
Gregor smiled before he arched back. Gregor spun and glared at Sun, arrow laying in the cloud
s next to him. Cadin switched which hand was on top of the handle and sliced at Gregor again before retreating several steps. Gregor swung his sword, and Tsuyo would have slipped out of Cadin’s weakened grip if not for the tang-gin wrist guard.
“Only two,” Cadin said to himself. The rest of his gins were stuck or inactive.
“Owww!” Sun yelled. Jordy was pulling her wing hard and slicing at her chest guard.
A rush of heat radiated through Cadin’s chest. He moved to help Sun, but Gregor stepped forward.
He clicked his tongue. “No, no, little firsty. You want to help your friends, you must first defeat me.”
“No problem!” Cadin connected to the mist, his Aura pulsing on an energy high nearly out of his control. He quickly condensed the mist around Gregor, who attempted to advance but suddenly slowed, pushing against the tightening water and air.
“Ehh!” Gregor yelled. “Fight like a man.”
Cadin’s vision tinted red as he ran towards Sun. Her face contorted in pain as Jordy laughed and yanked down on her wing before kicking her away. Lep had rolled down the hill and was grappling a weapon away from Ben. Jordy raised his sword to swing at Sun who was sprawled on the ground and reaching for her dagger.
Cadin’s Aura pulsed as he pumped his wings and sliced at Jordy’s arm with all his strength. He felt a crack and Jordy tumbled to the ground, holding his arm against his chest, whimpering.
“Two minutes!” The disembodied voice of the announcer rang through the Arena.
“You okay, Sun?”
“Fine. Behind you!”
Cadin turned as Gregor charged through the mist not at Cadin, but at Sun, who stumbled to get to her feet.
“No!” Cadin yelled. His Aura pulsed—releasing his pent-up energy. Gregor ricocheted back mid-air and slammed into the hillside. Cadin peered through his red-tinted gaze, and launched into Gregor. Gregor raised his shield, eyes wide as Cadin attacked in a flurry. The clouds rose around them, reacting to Cadin’s berserker mode.
“Eh!” Gregor yelled as he tried to parry Tsuyo, but got caught under the massive cloud trap forming around him. The clouds around Cadin pulsed with his breathing, and Gregor squirmed to get out of the contracting cloud-trap. Cadin struck Gregor’s helmet hard and he snapped out of his fury when Gregor’s eyes rolled back as he passed out.
“Time!”
Cadin released the cloud-trap and stepped back.
Healers quickly flew over to assess everyone. A tall woman sat Sun down and ran her glowing hand down Sun’s wing. Two more healers flew up to the now semi-conscious Gregor. The woman healing Sun glanced up at Cadin. “Are you okay to help her over to the Light Bay for the final announcement? Then I can scan you both in the Healers’ booth after?”
“Yes, I can help Sun. And you don’t need to waste your time assessing me, I feel fine.” His shoulder throbbed in protest of his words.
The healer shook her head. “Standard protocol after a Total Damage match.” She lowered her voice and muttered, “Total Damage, what a stupid idea.” Before she ran over to help the two men carrying Gregor, who was muttering, and still trying to raise his sword to fight.
Sun wrapped her arm over Cadin’s shoulder and gave him a half-smile. “Thanks.”
“Any time.”
They slowly made their way to the Light Bay where the red-vested announcer stood. The crowd noise began to filter through Cadin’s consciousness, and the cheering rose as Lep and Bart joined them on stage.
The two least injured Oblivion teammates reached out to help Gregor stand on the stage, while Jordy held his arm close to his chest and glared at Cadin. No one knew the outcome of the match yet, as the light boards showing the total damage around the Arena turned off at the two-minute warning mark to ‘enhance the suspense.’
“Well, that was an amazing battle!” The announcer began. “And it is my honor to declare the final team to advance to the Semi-Final is Dragon Fire of Glade!”
After the healers mended everything they could, they signed off on some paperwork medically clearing Dragon Fire to continue the competition. The healer who had been working on Sun’s wing handed the papers over to a stern-looking angel. He did not wear a red vest, but instead precisely tailored clothes that matched his attitude hugged his frame. He glanced over the papers and nodded. “Thank you, Healer.” He looked up. “Congratulations, team Dragon Fire. You have officially moved on to the Final Round of the Calvarian Games. Good luck.”
He turned to leave, but Sun stopped him. “Um, sir?”
The angel glanced over his paperwork at Sun. “Yes, young warrior?”
“You mean we advanced to the Semi-Final Round, right?”
“No. Dragon Fire has advanced straight to the Final Round due to medical withdrawal from team Stealth of Air. Goodbye.” He walked through the door before anyone could question him further.
“Holy wrath!” Bart said.
“No way,” Lep agreed. “Cadin did you hear that?”
“Yes.” Cadin turned to the healer who was still finishing up. “Do you know what happened to everyone in the match before ours?”
The woman’s face dropped before her body started shaking. “Match? You mean blood bath. I can’t believe the Games Commission still allows Total Damage matches after the injuries they see year after year!”
Cadin felt his mouth drop open. “So, uh, you do know. Can you tell us?”
The healer softened her gaze as she looked at all of them. “Most injuries we can heal up quick enough for the next round. Such as your strained wing, dear,” she said, turning to Sun. “Even though it must be worked on again before your next match, you will be able to compete. However, these Total Damage matches bring the worst injuries that we see. Like the injuries to the team you just faced. Broken arm—both radius and ulna for one, and concussion for another. Even if you hadn’t won by points in this match, Team Oblivion would not have been medically cleared to compete. By rules, neither team would be allowed to compete in the next round.”
“I feel terrible,” Cadin said. Even if it was Gregor and his rough teammates that Cadin had taken down.
The healer gazed up at Cadin. “It takes an enormous amount of force to break angel bones—especially with layers of armor on top. It also takes more time and energy than other injuries to heal properly. The battle that happened just before yours involved four angels with one or more broken bones and one torn wing joint. Neither team would have been fit to compete after that gruesome matchup.” She walked over and laid a gentle hand on Cadin’s shoulder. “These Games are good at preparing you for becoming warriors.” She blinked through sad eyes and walked away.
As they headed back to the condos, Cadin was a cyclone of mixed emotions.
“I can’t believe we are in the Finals!” Lep exclaimed for the eighth time on their walk back. They were advised to not let Sun fly for at least a day.
Sun turned to Cadin. “You okay? You haven’t said much.”
“I’m just thinking about what the Healer said.”
Lep slapped him on the back. “Oh, she was a downer. Don’t let her get to you, man. I mean, we are in the Finals! The Finals.”
“You’re right,” Cadin said. “We worked really hard to make it this far in the tournament. Let’s celebrate.” He smiled as they rounded the corner.
“Surprise!” Devin and Lana shouted. Cinna, Crow, James and Ferris waved.
“Congratulations!” Tal and Sara cried. Ali and Aaron were setting up streamers in the back.
They had decorated the courtyard with steamers and floating mist-balls that glowed and changed colors every few seconds.
Alberta nodded to them as she strutted through the crowd with a tiered cake.
Araina poked her head out of the girl’s doorway. She shrugged, walked out and headed for the cake.
Tal gave Cadin a one-armed hug before messing up his hair.
Gur growled and chirped loudly before Sara took off his leash. The dragon flew to Cadin’s shoulder and start
ed chattering in his ear.
“Hey, buddy.” Cadin rubbed Gur’s head and waded into the small crowd. Neither Gregor’s team nor Freddy’s team were anywhere around. He wasn’t surprised and a little relieved he didn’t have to face Gregor or Jordy.
“The Strikers lost then?” Cadin asked his dad.
Tal nodded. “They looked quite disorganized against that red team, what are the called?”
“Inferno,” Cadin said. He tensed at the thought of Ryker’s team.
“Relax and enjoy the celebration. I’m going to go help your mom.”
Tal wandered over to the kitchen and Cadin headed towards the table. Off to the edge of the courtyard, Sun was talking to Aaron. Cadin stiffened up until Sun turned and smiled at him. He smiled back, then sank into a chair at the large table and reached for a slice of the three-layered cake that the cook was dishing out.
“Dude, that was an awesome victory!” Devin said, sitting next to Cadin.
“Thanks, man. I don’t even remember that much with the adrenalin rush and all.” Cadin grabbed another slice from Alberta and slid it in front of Devin who kept glancing toward the cake but not reaching for his own piece.
“Thanks. I wasn’t sure if the cake was for us.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
Devin frowned. “Most mainlanders don’t like to share with us.”
“That’s just stupid,” Cadin said. “You are as worthy as anybody else, Devin. I’m glad you’re here and that we got to meet you.”
“Thanks, Cadin. Meeting you Gladers has changed my view on mainlanders in general.”
Cadin smiled as Crow and Cinna joined them. He slid over a couple more plates of cake. “Hey, what are you guys doing the rest of the summer?”
Crow didn’t look up from his cake. “Same thing we always do. Mine the fringe and try to help out James and Ferris when we travel to Condor or Carpathia.”
Devin nodded. “Ferris and this older woman, Penelope, hold school for us while we are on the fringe.”
“Do you think your Uncle James would be up for you traveling back to Glade with us?”
