Through the silence, I heard the groan from one of the team, I kept my eye on Joren and waited for him to move. When I saw his torso move, I finally let go of the breath I had been holding. The crowd erupted in cheers at Joren’s movements. He pulled himself up and stood on shaky legs. Before he moved to retaliate, his head dropped and he looked at the unconscious body of his teammate. His painful groans became growls and when he turned back to his opponents, his eyes were a familiar yellow.
Joren screamed into the air, smoke came pouring out of his open mouth and covered the field in a thick layer, making it hard to see anything. The only thing you could see through the smoke was Joren’s glowing eyes. He screamed again and again, with each one sounding more like a beast. His eyes grew bigger as he moved upwards. After one last piercing scream, it turned into a full dragon’s roar. The dragon’s feet slammed into the ground, causing the entire stadium to shake. With one beat of his wings, the smoke was gone, and we could see Joren’s full dragon form once again.
The two wizards on the ground stood there, frozen in place. The fear plain on their faces. Alto was the first to snap out of his fearful trance as he sent a barrage of soundwaves towards the dragon’s legs and stomach, but they barely made a scratch on his scales. The dragon scratched his stomach where Alto’s attacks had hit before dropping his head down and staring at the sound wizard. He roared in his face before using his foreleg to knock Alto into the arena wall. Alto’s head cracked against the hard wall and knocked him out instantly.
Then, it was one on one. The dragon flicked his head towards Versanth, who was now chanting a spell. His magic circle underneath his body dimmed slightly the instant he saw the dragon was focusing on him. When his spell was completed, he smiled.
“Bleeding Blizzard!” he called out as he lifted his hands into the air.
Dark clouds rolled in as another one of Versanth’s blizzards began, but this time was different. Instead of snow being thrust down in strong winds, it was daggers of ice mixed in with the snow, causing the sleet to cut through anything it touched. The icy daggers slashed down onto Joren’s scales, making him buck and jump from the pain. He roared into the sky and slammed his front feet down in front of Versanth.
Joren drew in a massive breath of air before making sure his head was directly in front of Versanth. With one more powerful roar, he released his smoky breath down onto the wizard, knocking him into the ground and pushing smoky pressure onto him. Once the attack was done, the dragon stepped back and waited to see the result. When the smoke cleared, the crowd gasped from the damage. Two giant footprints in the crumbled arena. In one of the footprints was Versanth, his unconscious body lay between two big rocks.
The dragon saw his opponent had been defeated and his body shifted again. Joren’s normal body returned and he stood on the crumpled ground just staring at Versanth. His legs shook and as Elijah appeared on the screen above him, he collapsed to his knees.
“There you have it, everyone. Our last team to reach the final round! Joren and Drayton! That is all for today. Be safe and we will see you for the final round tomorrow!”
18
Battle Royale
As the crowd filed out of the stadium, I stood there and watched Joren still in the centre of the arena. Still on his knees, his hands were over his face and he stayed there. From the distance, it looked like his entire body was shaking. By the time he was transported back to the competitor’s area, he was drenched with sweat. His hands were now in his lap and his fingers were gripping his legs. I slowly walked over to him and as I reached to place my hand on his shoulder, he jerked away, got up, and walked out the room.
The familiar colours appeared in front of my eyes and my body felt like it was floating. A second later, I was back in my room in the inn. I waited for my eyes to clear before looking around my room. It was a mess. The floor and the bed were covered in the books I rigged to send back after The Order vacated the building. I packed up all the books into two piles and saw Dragon Lore on my pillow. I picked up the book and could feel it humming in my hands, it wanted to be read. It wanted to show me more about the dragons. I shook my head and placed it on top of the pile. I didn't have time to translate more of it now. After cleaning the books, I got to work on the piles of papers I had used to translate. I placed them on top of the books for when I returned home. By the time I finished, my body was exhausted. I laid down on the bed and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep instantly.
After an uneventful night’s sleep, I was awoken by the sounds of shouting outside of the inn. When I looked outside, the sun had barely made its way up over the horizon. I dressed in my Games uniform and quickly rushed outside to see what the commotion was. Joren and Drayton stood outside on the sparring area in a heated argument.
“If it wasn’t for me, we wouldn’t have won the battle. Your magic was weak, Drayton. Weak!” Joren shouted as he pushed Drayton out of his face.
“What are you talking about? If it wasn’t for me, you would have been frozen in the first five minutes.”
“You have been a weak competitor from the start!” He paused and noticed I was standing there; his eyes were filled with anger and he wasn’t going to let up any time soon. “You are so weak that Melanie beat you in the first event.”
Hearing my name in their fight then gave me a reason to get involved. “Hey! This is your fight. Don’t drag me into it,” I said walking up to them.
“I don’t care anyway. I’m going to win today, and I am coming for you, Drayton. You will see. Don’t mess with my chance of winning with your weak magic,” Joren said as he turned and walked back inside the inn.
Drayton didn’t say a word to me, he just huffed and stormed off the opposite way. I sighed and remembering Joren’s heat-filled words sent unwanted thoughts in my mind. Am I really that weak? Why would he compare me to Drayton? I helped him with The Order, how could he say I was weak? I sent the horrible thoughts into the back of my mind as they had no use in my head when the final round was about to start. All I had to do was not be knocked out and I would win. I made my way back to my room to prepare for the final round when I saw Joren standing in the common area of the inn, he had his back to me, but I could see by the way he was standing he was still angry.
I did my best to avoid Joren while getting some breakfast before we were transported to the stadium. That all-too-familiar feeling came to me as I returned to my room. When we appeared in the stadium, all six of us were placed on the arena floor in a circle. All of us looked at each other, sizing each other up. We had seen each other’s magic over the past few days, so we knew how each attack worked. We just had to avoid being hit and hit as much as we could and pray we weren’t the first knocked out.
To my left was Joren. He kept his head down and I could tell his breathing was shallow, almost like he was hyperventilating. On my other side was Lilica, her bouncing attitude showed she was ready for what was coming. Our eyes met, and she gave me a small smile before the projection screen appeared above us. Elijah’s smiling face greeted us for the final morning of the Games.
“Welcome one and all to the final day of the Elite Wizard Games! Today, we have our special event called Battle Royale where all six competitors fight in the one arena and the first to be knocked out is the loser! The last five are our winners who will then go on to choose their elite guild. Now, let’s see our finalists.
“First, we have Joren Starrik, our smoky dragon. Next is Melanie Atax, element wizard and fiery girl. After her, we have Lilica the fairy, isn’t she a lot of fun? Next up is Drayton the blood wizard. Our final two are the fire wizard Aedus and the all bright and starry Stella.” Elijah stopped for a moment and looked at the six of us before looking back out into the crowd. “This is going to be one hell of a fight, folks. Now let’s begin!”
Fireworks cracked in the sky and the signal to begin lit up the air above us. The first to move was Joren, sending a smoky haze over the entire field as he bolted from his position and dashed t
owards Drayton. Joren’s eyes were so focused on the blood wizard that he didn’t even care about anyone else in the battle. I backed away and let Joren rush by. Beside him, Stella and Aedus moved, zigzagging behind each other and back again, creating a distraction. I stood there, stunned from their movements and almost didn’t see the flash of light from under Stella’s feet. A blue and gold magic circle appeared and disappeared in a second, a moment later, Stella’s whip was in her hands.
Aedus rushed around me and headed towards Lilica while Stella stopped a few steps in front of me. Her eyes were bright and she held a huge grin on her face. She flicked her whip towards me and just as the tip went to wrap around my legs, I conjured my own and stopped her rope in its tracks. I tied the tip of her whip to mine and flicked my rope, sending flames down the line and setting her hand on fire. She instantly dropped the grip and the whip disappeared into thin air. A loud scream from behind me distracted me from Stella, I turned my head around and saw Drayton on the ground with Joren standing over him. Joren’s eyes were already glowing yellow as he stared down at the blood wizard. A silver magic circle appeared in his hand as he aimed his attack at Drayton’s heart.
“You almost cost me my victory and you will pay for that,” Joren muttered, loud enough so I could just hear it.
Beside me, Aedus had already turned and faced Joren before running towards him and knocking him to the ground. A bright red magic circle appeared before him and it was aimed at Joren. Through the roaring cheers of the crowd, I could almost hear Joren grumble and grunt in frustration. I knew if he wasn’t calmed down soon, we could have a dragon in the battle, which was something none of us wanted. I flicked the tip of my rope around Aedus’ legs and pulled him back towards me, causing him to collapse to the ground. While my strength wasn’t good enough to pull him closer to me, it knocked him off-balance and interrupted his attack. His magic circle faded away as his concentration was thrown.
Lilica fell in next to me. She turned and faced our opponents behind me as I covered her as well. She linked hands with me, and a pink and blue magic circle appeared in the sky above us. It brightened as it grew bigger and when we were finally ready to attack, it exploded into a rain of icy daggers and explosive fairy rain. Our combination attack fell over everyone in the arena causing them to duck and cover and protect themselves.
Drayton wasn’t so lucky, he spent so much time picking himself up off the floor, he hadn’t seen what happened and failed to protect himself. His screams echoed off the stadium walls as he crashed to his knees, using his arms to try and stop the attack. My eyes stayed on Drayton, watching him and waiting for him to recover and counterattack.
A small movement to my right broke my concentration. The icy daggers stopped and a smoky haze returned to the battlefield. Joren pulled himself up and stood on shaky legs, letting out a powerful roar and sending soundwaves pulsing over the arena floor. His eyes were glowing stronger than ever and as he stepped closer and closer to Drayton, I could see his muscles contracting over and over. Joren clenched his fists at his side and gritted his teeth, it was clear he was trying to keep from transforming.
The smoke surrounding us solidified, keeping everyone in place. I tried to struggle against the restraint, but it was no use. Each movement made it tighter and tighter around my legs. Above us, the sky darkened as a gigantic silver magic circle appeared. I watched as Joren stood with his arms wide open and his eyes staring at the sky. His fists were still clenched and dark lines appeared on his face as he struggled to stay in control. The magic circle in the sky continued to grow as Joren kept concentrating hard. All the others used their free hands to send spells towards him, but it was no use. The circle Joren was casting was sucking any magic energy that got close to him and making his spell stronger.
“Joren! You have to stop this. That spell is too strong, you will kill us all!” I screamed and hoped that he would hear me.
The crowd went silent, but the noise of the spell was loud enough to drown out my screams. I kept going, screaming and begging for Joren to stop but it was all for nothing. He wasn’t moving, wasn’t giving any indication he heard me at all. The spell continued to grow; the magic circle was now the size of the stadium. The crowd scrambled away and hid for protection as no one knew what this spell would do to anyone it touched. A bright silver light appeared in the centre of the circle and followed the pattern of the runes outwards until it hit the outer circle. When it finally reached itself again and completed the circle, it fired.
“Dragon’s Rage!” Joren shouted as a silver beam of light swallowed up the battlefield.
The pain was intense, my body burned from head to toe and it wouldn’t let up. The solid smoke holding me crumbled under the pressure of the Dragon’s Rage spell. I fell to my knees and screamed in agony. I writhed around on the floor, hoping the dirt would put out the fire on my skin, but it seemed to only make it worse. My vision blurred and the last thing I could see clearly was Joren falling to his knees and slumping to the floor.
19
Choices
The silver light was gone, however, the pain remained. It felt like acid had been poured all over my body and seeped into my skin, burning from the inside and out. While my vision was still burred, I heard the screams and groans from my opponents. Is the battle still going? I hadn’t heard anything to stop our fight. I tried to move my body despite the pain, I couldn’t be the first one knocked out. I used my arms to crawl along the ground, wincing each time my body twinged in pain. I kept moving slowly until I hit into another person.
“Who’s there?” I asked.
The person groaned, and I could tell it was a girl.
“Lilica? Stella?” I asked again. “You need to move; the battle isn’t over.”
The body turned and grasped hands with me. I instantly knew it was Lilica. Her fairy magic energy sent waves and waves of warmth through me until it all focused in on my eyes. I closed my eyes and could feel the warmth building until it released in a small burst of healing magic. When I opened my eyes again, the blurriness was gone and I could see the bruised face of my friend. I begged for my magic to send some of her special healing back into her to help her, but it wouldn’t.
A fairy’s magic is mostly healing and support, but when you get wizards who are blessed by the fairies, they could specialize in combat magic as well as healing. However, there is always a major downside to a fairy’s healing magic. It didn’t work on themselves, only others. While wizards blessed by the fairies heal faster than normal, their combat magic is disabled until they regain their energy. Lilica opened her eyes and gave me a small smile, something that told me she would still be okay. I nodded back to her ad helped her sit up.
“Use it wisely,” she said, her voice raspy and broken.
“I will, thank you, Lilica. Please, try to stay awake.”
She nodded as she pulled her knees into her chest and hugged them. As I stood, I noticed the crowd was back in their seats. Everything was quiet except for a few moans and groans from everyone in the arena. I looked around and instantly saw Joren. He was standing at the far end of the battlefield, staring at the rest of us. Even though his head was slightly down, I could see his eyes were red and he had tear rolling down his cheeks. I stepped forwards, making my footsteps heard and Joren flicked his head up instantly. His eyes lit up as he saw me standing there. We stood there for a moment, just staring and watching. I wondered if he was still in control or not.
Our focus was torn from each other when the others began to move beside us. The first to stand back up was Aedus, followed by Stella. The four of us waited, the silence was unbearable but the next person to stand would potentially be the fifth and final winner. I decided to make a move, I took a step closer to Joren. He flinched at the movement but as I continued to slowly walk closer and closer, his body calmed down. His eyes were focused on mine, not moving. When I finally made it next to him, he calmed down and his eyes flicked back to the others. Aedus and Stella followed suit, moving slow
ly as that was what their bodies could take until we all stood in a line. An eerie silence fell over us again as we watched and waited. Even though I knew Lilica was awake and trying to gain energy back to move, I had no idea about Drayton. I couldn’t see his face to tell if he was just waiting for a time to move or if he was knocked out.
Lilica rose to her knees and I rushed over to her and offered my help. She shook her head and gave me a small smile. She wanted to do it herself. She stood on shaky feet for a few moments before leaning on me. We walked slowly over to Drayton to check if he was still in the fight or if it was over. I slowly knelt, not knowing if he would attack me if I got too close. I could see the soft rising and falling of his chest, but his eyes were closed. I gently shook him but when he didn’t respond, I knew the answer. When I stood back up, I turned to my other competitors and shook my head. Drayton was knocked out and the fight was over.
The crowd rose to their feet and cheered louder than I had ever heard them before. Fireworks lit up the now-orange sky, the fight lasted longer than I expected, and the sun had begun to set. Above us, Elijah’s face appeared on his projection screen.
“That’s it for this year! We have our final five winners... Joren the smoke dragon, Lilica the fairy, Aedus the fire wizard, Stella the Beautiful Star, and last but not least, Melanie our elemental wizard! What a fight that was. Now, we have a few hours of a break before we return for the closing ceremony where the finalists choose their guild.”
Elijah disappeared as quickly as he appeared and the fireworks continued in the sky as the crowd poured out of the stadium. The six of us remained in the centre of the arena, staring at each other. I couldn’t speak for the rest of them, but I knew I couldn’t believe it was done, finished, and I was one of the final five. I was going to be a part of an elite guild, but I had no idea which one.
The Elite Wizard Games (Elite Wizards Chronicles Book 1) Page 13
