Russataia, a fantasy kingdom

Lairn make it to the Colosseum a few minutes before the bard started to play. When the bard began to play everyone seemed to be in a trance. Because Arige was in control of him the music did not seem to have any effect on ether of them. After the song was finished Genox ordered two fighters into the Colosseum. Lairn took a seat and watched the man and the young boy slay the minotaurs. He took several mental notes on how the two fought. After the three minotaurs were slain the crowd cheered and yelled their names Dustin and Xilas. "Lairn Darkwater! Sebastion Langston prepare for battle!" Genoxs voice boomed across the stadium. Lairn walked to his gate when he got there Arige’s sword materialized out of the shadows into Lairn’s right hand. When the gates opened Lairn stepped out and saw the elf waving his hand to the crowed as if he had already won. Lairn used this to his advantage and climbed one of the towers and stood in the center of the bridge “You’ll regret that,” Lairn said with a grin on his face.

After was finished showboating he noticed that Lairn had already taken position in the middle of one of the bridges. Mentally cursing himself for his mistake he took over running bow in hand towards the middle of the arena. As he ran he fired arrows at each of the connecting ropes holding up the bridge. The arrows sliced through them with ease casing the entire bridge to collapse with Lairn still on top of it. Sebastion readied his arrow and took aim to see how his enemy would react to the twenty foot drop.

Lairn focused on the ground. “Ruza’grixata levowa!” Three feet from the ground Lairn floated down. Lairn unsheathed Arige’s sword and looked at Sebastion. “Phyi’blisst!” A fireball four feet by four feet went flying at Sebastion’s torso. Lairn prepared to charge at Sebastion.

Sebastion ran straight at the firewall hoping the combined movement between them would allow him to go through it unharmed. He dove through the flames and rolled on his landing firing an arrow passed Larin Attached to the arrow a thin metal wire. The arrow connected on the wall behind Lairn extending the wire. Quickly Sebastian fire a second arrow with connected with the end of the line on the other side of Lairn. This would bring the metal line to Larins torso more then likely cutting in to him if not through him. The arrow whizzed passed Lairn and the wire followed heading straight for his abdomen.

Lairn stuck his hand out at the second arrow. “Ruza’puzat” A wall of energy struck the second arrow. It had an unexpected effect on the arrow causing it to fly towards Lairn head. Lairn dropped to the ground but was a little late. The arrow sliced into the left side of his neck. It would not be fatal but it did hurt a lot. Lairn jumped up and ran towards the elf swinging his sword at the elf’s right arm.

Unable to holster his bow and draw a dagger quick enough the sword sunk in to Sebastians arm deep, the blade itself the only thing keep his blood from spraying outward. With his other arm he pulled a dagger from his hip and thrust it toward Lairn’s neck.

Lairn kicked Sebastian’s in the back of his knee knocking him to the ground but not before the dagger made contact with Lairn’s left shoulder. The dagger plunged deep into Lairn’s shoulder. Lairn grunted as the blade was left in his arm when Sebastian fell to the ground. Lairn thrust his sword at Sebastian’s chest. Right before the blade pierced the elf’s chest Lairn whispered. “Ruza’bihnt,” Draining his life before the blade struck. Lairn sheathed his sword and raised his hand to the crowed then he turned to Genox.

Genox clapped slowly as he stood up and raised his hand once more. Lairn had killed the elf despite the fact that it was not a death match. There is no penalty for it but it said a lot of the Lairn and Genox would keep it in mind. "Avis and Toya Grace, prepare for battle!" Genox called out as three gates opened up and the thieves poured in. Many of them were eager feeling confident in their numbers, others were shaking with fear. Most of them were barely clothed and carried rusted daggers to planks of wood for weapons.

Aylward watched as Lairn struck Sebastion through the chest. Elves normally felt immense grief whenever one of their kind pass away, but Aylward felt nothing. Death had become a natural part of his life. The elf had just been another foolish soul trying to gain glory and wealth by fighting in the arena. Elves were not born to be that. They were the protectors of the earth. Aylward sighed at the sad state of all the races who lived in Russataia. Even the noble elves turned to such lowly peasant behaviour. It was sickening. How many more would be corrupted by the evil of this land?

Although the elf's tactics did give Aylward some tricks he was going to try and learn. Especially using the wires. That was innovative, and Aylward saw himself utilising it to the fullest.

=====

Lucas arrived at Uldin just as the sun was about to set. It was the first day of the games in Arcadium, and no doubt at least two matches would have taken place by now. Lucas shrugged the thoughts from his mind as he stood at the base of cliff. It was a deserted part of the mines, and the cliffside was almost impossible to scale. Almost. There was a small part which had just enough hand and foot holds for a trained assassin to scale the cliff wall. It had been left there intentionally so only a single assassin could climb the wall at a time. This prevented anyone from defiling the resting place of the Black Phoenix clan. After a rigorous half hour climb, Lucas stood at the opening of a small concealed cave. He stepped into it and walked into the darkness.

Before him stood a Phoenix statue. It was carved out of black marble, and it was looked as if it was alive. It appeared so to Lucas every time he had been here, but that was aeons ago. Now, there was no doubt that this statue actually carried the spirit of the Phoenix within it. "Phoenix... I need your help."

And I've been expecting you, Lucas, last of the Black Phoenix clan. I know why you're here, but do you know what's the cost of my power?

"Gabriella's going to be out there to watch us, isn't she?" Toya asked his brother as they stood on the other side of their gate, their names to be called at any minute as the previous match was coming to a close. Toya didn't want Gabriella to miss the chance to see how he managed to put all that he'd learnt from her so far and put it to good use.
"No doubt she will, you said her family sits in the royal box, no?" Replied Avis, giving his brother a reassuring smile. He had no idea if Gabriella was going to be out there or not, but if it was going to help Toya to focus, then he'd tell him that she was. They weren't exactly performing for the fun of it. It was a real life or death matter.

Both the boys' feline ears perked up tall as they heard Genox's call. Toya swallowed hard, Avis watching the reactions of the group of thieves. Some looked scared, some looked confident. Mixed feelings, just like the brothers had. This was going to be an interesting fight. They watched their gate go up, taking a few steps under it as the gap grew taller than them.
"Start charging up now..." Avis told Toya, "If you get enough charge, we can take out alot of them in one go. They're only common theives. We've taken them on before..." He continued to give his brother more confidence. Toya nodded a couple of times, sucking in a deep breath as he began gathering energy to use his powers, in the meantime drawing his daggers from his belt.

Avis couldn't help but smile weakly as the theives seemed to be a little confused by the people that they were up against. Probably hadn't seen anything like them before. He reached behind him, taking hold of the sword that had been strapped to his back and bringing it infront of him, ready to go when Toya was.
Toya spoke in a language unlike english, native to the twin's, as Avis nodded once. Toya took a step back, crossing his daggers over so that a kind of boost was made, Avis taking a step back so that his foot was on the crossed blades. They were certainly not going to let this oppertunity pass by for them to show off why they came here in the first place. They were still entertainers after all.

Toya pushed his brother into the air, Avis thrown upwards and forwards into the circle of theives, doubling over in a somersault as he passed over some of the theives. As Avis landed he lunged forward with his sword, his blade stabbing the nearest unsuspecting theif in the stomach and sending it crashing to his knees. He then swung his blade to the side, blocking a hit with a lump of wood a theif was using for a weapon. Another was not far behind, a small dagger in his hand ready to strike Avis in the back.

As Toya launched his brother forward, he too dived into the bundle of theives, tussling with a couple of theives, still charging up at the same time, his concentration not all there in the battle department. He received a few nicks here and there, but he managed to avoid the worst of the damage. He crossed his daggers infront of him in an attempt to block a swing from one of the more burly men, though the swing was too much to simply block, and the force had him flying back towards the wall of the arena. Luckily, Toya managed to turn himself intime so that his feet landed on the wall, his dagger struck the wall too, holding him vertically crouched on the wall. His tail twitched a couple of times as he searched for the next easiest to take down physically, sparks now starting to jump from his skin as he was beginning to grow in electrical charge.
Leaving his dagger behind in the wall, Toya pushed forward, pouncing at a scrawny looking theif that was avoiding most of the fighting. Giving him a short quick death, Toya struck the man in the head.

Avis dived and rolled as another theif swung a heavy looking plank of wood, jumping up quick as he found his feet again, plunging his sword into the chest of the man, ripping out without a thought and moving on to the next man. There was no time to think about the consequences. Though his pause to search for the next opponent to face gave a thief oppertunity to strike, a rusted dagger digging into the back of his shoulder. Avis hissed through gritted teeth before turning and defeating the theif before more damage could be done. Avis quickly counted as he pulled the dagger from his shoulder... 3 left.
Avis shouted to his brother in their native tongue, Toya nodding once again.

Toya dogded back from the theif he was dealing with, dropping his daggers and stepping back, rubbing his hands together quickly. Avis made his way over to his brother from across the arena in a flurry of tumbles, flips and cartwheels till he bounced behind his brother. The theives were a little confused by his moves, though soon knew that something bad was going to happen as Toya threw his hands out either side of him and made one big clapping motion. A wave of energy was made, electricity bouncing off the walls of the arena as he threw all the charge he had out, knocking out the last theives in the arena. They were the ones that got it lucky. When there was no energy left, Toya fell to his knees, having never used such power in one go before. His breathing was laboured and loud, hands holding him up from falling onto the floor.
He felt Avis behind him though, picking him up to carry him out of the arena. They'd lasted this one, but Toya was going to need more help with the powers to keep them in the competition for long. They were going to need their injuries seen too as well, especially Avis's shoulder - for now the pain could be ignored.

The light shined in brightly from the window, right onto Gabriella's bed. She was awoken by a few servants who then helped her into the dress she was to wear to the games. Its snow white embroidered bodice hugged her chest tightly, the sleeves were small white ribbons that hung below her shoulders. Around her small waist was a bright red ribbon and beneath it the dress's skirt billowed out like a soft white cloud. It was a beautiful gown, but it was not as elegant as the ball gown she had worn to her engagement party. Her father always insisted that she was dressed in the finest things to show off his prosperity, She knew he meant well but she could not wait to wear the simple leather armor.

She was worried, Alex easily recognized her even when her hair was changed, she knew that to fight she was going to have to wear a mask. The servants left her after she was dressed and while she was brushing her hair and gazing out the window she heard a knock on the door. "Come in." In waltz her brother Gracin with his usal grin taking up most of his face, and behind him shufled Tobith with his head down and muttering some incataion he was trying to remeber.

Gabriella jumped up from where she was seated and ran across the room and gathered Tobith into her arms picking up the fourteen year old off the floor. A look of great surprise swept over his face and it took a few seconds for him to even recognize where he was and who was embracing him, once he did a smile crossed over his face and he hugged Gabriella back. "Oh Gabby, we all miss you at the academy I do wish you could come back."

"As do I, Toby" Gabriella smiled but the sadness in her eyes was unmistakable. "So are you staying for the length of the games?"

"Of course, school is still shut down for the duration and with the kings death we are not sure when it will open up again." Tobith sighed he longed for the dark quite halls of the library in Moonvale.

"What do you mean the king is dead?" Gabriella exclaimed.

Gracin smiled and laughed slightly, "You mean you haven't heard little sis, an assassin broke into the kings chamber and killed him last night. He even almost burnt down the whole castle if Genox wouldn't have sent him running, though he got there to late to save the king. He has already been announced as the new king and proclaimed that the games will still go on. The whole city has been rejoicing all morning."

Gabriella was stunned she had entered the games to stop the king and end the butchering of the games, but the king was now dead and the games were still being held. She had always hated Genox, something about him just reeked of evil and now he was the new king. Something told her that this was going to be worse then the old kings rule.

"Come on Gabby, father wants us in the arena at once." Gabby nodded at Tobith and followed the two out of her room and all the way to the arena where she sat down in their exclusive box next to her father and watched the games.

Again Genox clapped seemingly emotionless and the crowd cheered loudly at the massive blood shed left in the wake of the two strange cat like creatures. The crowds blood thirst went on with each passing match until the day came to a close and the people slowly shambled out eagerly awaiting the next day and more vicious battles. As Genox stood up to exit the arena he gave the bard one last glance. "Ponder well my offer bard" he said calmly as he exited the facility.

Genox like the king took no royal guards around with him, because unlike the king a simple assassin would not be as successful with him. He slowly and smoothly made his back to castle. "Report" Genox asked one of the head captains. "Rebellions and civil unrest are at an all time low sire" The captain responded. "Excellent" Genox said before continuing on. He knew the people better then the king, they were mere puppets, you just needed to pull the right strings.

Joseph had watched the games and his stomach churned with every blood splattering kill, People were brutal and emotionless, most of the match's were not scheduled to be to the death yet death was the way they ended. He noticed that the twins that Gabriella were training did well agains't large numbers of enemy's. And at that moment Joseph came to a frightening revelation. What he would have to fight them, possibly to the death, or for that matter any innocent person..

Suddenly feeling sick Joseph retreated from the arena to clear his head.

Gabriella sat in the stand and watched as the first two contestant brutally slaughtered the minotaurs, and then an elf and another fighter fought on the towers and the man unneeded killed the elf, she had to look away at that moment. Then came the fight she was scared to watch, Toya and his brother Avis had to fight a slew of robbers. She almost screamed out when Toya was sent flying back towards the wall of the arena. Luckily, Toya managed to turn himself in time so that his feet landed on the wall and then pounced upon on of the thieves.

She was so proud when at the end of the battle Toya let off such a large blast of electricity that it took down the remaining thieves. She knew that such a force form a untrained person was not only unusual but very taxing. As she watched Avis carry Toya out of the arena, her father turned to her and smiled. "Your pets have been trained well, if the keep it up they might even gain their freedom."

Gabriella smiled back with gritted teeth, she knew he meant well but it still sickened her the way things were. She watched the rest of the fights with little interest and once they were over she looked to see if she could see Joseph or Alex in the crowd.

Alexander sighed as the matches were finally over. Even with the number of times he'd had to watch them, he still hated the games. And it was worse that his brother had chosen to fight in them, even if for a supposedly good cause. His parents and brothers almost immediately left, eager to leave the coliseum as far behind as possible. Alex stayed in his seat for a while to think some things over, as the coliseum would be jammed with people trying to leave. Taking a look over at Genox's retreating form, he frowned wondering what the new king's plans were.

Standing up and leaning against the balcony rail he gazed down below, not really paying much attention to those there anymore. His mind was occupied with the events of the night before. He sifted it through, trying to figure out just what had happened. He was pretty sure that was the king, who else morphed into a jet black tiger. And with Genox in power, he couldn't see the king showing up again. So maybe the king didn't know he was going to be assassinated, but with the way Genox let him escape, and the current state of the country, he wondered if Genox knew about the assassination attempt or whether Genox took advantage of it.

"And with all of that, nothing has changed..innocent people will still die.." He mumbled to himself, his gaze shifted towards the horizon where the sun lay.

Dustin watched the games with great interest, surprised at how well some of the contestants could fight this year. Lairn was quite skilled and able to adapt quickly in battle, not to mention some of the weird powers he seemed to use. Dustin could have sworn the elf started to go limp before the sword connected, but that might have been the minotaurs blood messing with his head.

The strange cat creatures were the group he believed to be more dangerous however, since electricity was very hard to defend against. Though if he was skilled with that elemental magic, he wouldn't have waited so long to use it, especially after his partner got stabbed in the shoulder. None of the other fights caught his interest, it was just more people trying to prove their fighting prowess by cutting up slaves and thieves. He looked at Xilas and grinned.

"Let's go get cleaned up so we can get a good night's sleep before we head for Moonvale. It'll be a good two or three days journey to get there if we go on foot and I imagine we'll be staying around a week at a time to train. you wouldn't happen to have enough coins for a horse or two, would you?"

Dustin got up from his seat, stretched for a bit to get the feeling back in his legs after sitting for so long, then made his way to the arena exit, elbowing people out of his way until he made it to the streets.

"I'm going to go find a creek to bathe in, so i'll meet you at the tavern tomorrow at the crack of dawn. Sleep well my friend". Dustin said as he headed off towards the city gates. After a bit of searching he found a small pond outside the city and hopped into it, taking extra care to get the blood out of his hair. He emerged an hour later, clean as a whistle, and re-entered the city. After finding a secluded building, he jumped onto it's roof, and laid down, slowly letting sleep whisk his mind away.

Endymion turned to Genox, " Your highness, I would be honored to play for you. It will be a culmination of my life's work."

'And I have no choice' thought Endy. Damned if I do and dead if I don't.

For now the bard would bide his time. He knew that Genox was suspicious of something and probably wanted to keep him close. Endy wondered if Genox was using some kind of dampening magic, because as he played, Endy realized that many people in the crowd were immune to his persuations. Endy had never expected so many people to NOT react to his magic. This would pose a problem in the future. Perhaps he should mention it to Genox as a sign of good intention. After the games...

"Yes your highness, a real honor, thank you"

Genox had set an announcer in his place at the games so that he would not be tied down for every match. The announcers face looked pale and sickly and his eyes empty and emotionless. Though Genox did not want to personally attend every game, it was still important for him to witness them. One of the slaves had just finished pinning up another match schedule.

Katrina Yuned VS Brina Calon in rock field.

Martin Dreynon VS Cameron Dirgil in the water field.

Joseph Moldentay VS Diego Gashton the sand field.

As Gabby was leaving the arena with her family she got a look at the posting of the next matches, she was set to fight first it was a good thing because Joseph was scheduled last giving her enough time to make sure she could see his fight. She continued with her family home and soon after excused herself, saying she was feeling ill from all the sun and fighting. After going straight to her room and pretending to go to bed she changed into her school cloaks and turned her hair black.

Once the moon was high in the sky she snuck out her window and to the armour smith's house. She knocked on the door and this time the man answered it quickly. "My armor is ready, correct?"

"Of course, m'lady. I worked on it all day." He bowed a little as he handed her the bundle. It was heavy but not too much for her to be able to climb with it. "May I ask are you going to wear it to fight tomorrow?" He asked in a small whisper. Gabriella held up a finger to her lips and the mans face went pale, afraid she was going to use more magic on him, he nodded and bowed. She walked away and he quickly shut his door after she left.

She tied the parcel to her waist and climbed up to her window and into her room. The coast was clear and her room was empty, she put a chair against the door to keep anyone from barging in and closed the drapes in her windows. Then she opened the package, it was a leather body suit of armor, she put it on and looked at herself in the mirror. It hugged her body perfectly, covering her whole body tightly but she was still able to move. The suit was colored brown but Gabriella wanted it to stand out, so with the same spell she used to color her hair she turned it into a dark red.

Using scissors she cut out a mask to cover her face from a cloak and colored it the same as her armor. Afterwords she hid everything under her mattress and went to sleep. In the morning she acted as if she was still sick and did not accompany her family to the arena. She sent out all her maids saying she needed the rest and told them not to bother her unless she called. She then got dressed in her armor, colored her hair, put up in a high pony tail and put on her mask. Then she put her pillows in her form and enchanted them in her likeness, and snuck out of the mansion. Gabriella then made her way to the arena and to fight.

Aylward returned to watch the subsequent matches. Katrina Yuned was to fight against Brina Calon in a rock field. This was sure to be interesting, yet the advantage of the field nearly always skewed in favor of one of the contestants. Brina was a trained and agile fighter. There was little doubt the rocks would not hinder her attacks much. Aylward had used his ability to transform into the wind and sneak around, spying on the different contestants before their matches. It was always good to know who among them could be potential allies and whom to avoid giving away information to. Yet he had little luck finding out who Katrina Yuned was.

That was, however, in the past. As he was returning to the tavern, he saw a familiar looking lady disappear into the armour smith's house. Aylward had used his services before, and knew that many contestants often sought him out to get the necessary gear they needed for their fights, at times hoping he would let slip something about their opponents' armour. Yet to his knowledge the man had always kept his discretion - an important quality that warded off trouble, especially in Russataia. Yet now Aylward looked curiously at the young girl who had just stepped into his house. She was wearing a magician's cloak, there was little doubt about it, and Aylward knew he had seen her before, but where? It took a while, but he finally figured it out. She was the daughter of the Montales. Her hair colour had changed, but it was definitely her.

Soon after she had stepped out of the armour smith's house and left towards the arena. Aylward followed behind her discreetly and when he was sure that they were alone on the street, he transformed into the wind and materialising right beside her, pulled her into an alley. "I apologise for the rough greeting, Miss Montale, but might I ask why do you intend on fighting in the games? A daughter of nobility participating in the games, that could get your family into more trouble than you imagine."

As the crowd ushered in to the arena the strange emotionless announcer sat in place of Genox, after the first few match's the rocks had been brought and the field set for the next match. The announcer stood up and yelled, "Katrina Yuned, Brina Callon prepare for battle!" The announcer bellowed, his voice was loud but nowhere near as powerful as Genox's was.

Brina appeared atop one of the large boulders in a puff of black smoke. She stood arms crossed with her hair in a tight bun, she stood motionless awaiting her adversary to enter the field.



The arena armory was mostly empty during the match's, yet a door to one of the rooms hung ajar. Suddenly a bright flash of green filled the room followed by a foul hissing before everything went quiet. Genox appeared at the doorway the blue light behind his helmet burning bright as ever. "That should do nicely" He said to himself. He walked outside as a faint breeze blew around, he took what seemed to be a deep breath and his head quickly turned to one direction. He walked along the street with his cape blowing around behind him.

He spotted a girl and an elf and calmly walked over to the two. "Katrina is it?, your match is about to begin...you know the punishment of those that do not show..run along now" he said gruffly as he shoved her forward slightly. His attention however remained on the elf.

"Do not be so foolish to believe that I do not know who you are rebel" Genox spoke gruffly "Shocked?, expected me to be on the royal balcony did you?, is that why you made the mistake of so readily showing yourself publicly? Or perhaps it was the girl that caused you to slip?" Genox continued. "Alas..you may relax...the former kings enemies are not necessarily my enemy's...that is unless you choose to make it so?" Genox paused giving Aylward a chance to reply, attack or flee, whatever he wished to do.

Aylward watched as Genox stepped forward joined them in the alley. "You give yourself too much credit, Genox. I'm not foolish enough to believe that you would not know who I am. Or do you? I am no fool either, Egan was never truly the "king", all this time, was he? He was merely a puppet, and you the puppet master. If you wish to continue this reign of terror..." Aylward leapt up into the air, the wind pushing him up onto the roof of the nearest building. "Then you'd better make sure you don't go anywhere my arrows can reach you. Consider this a promise rather than a threat." Aylward turned and left with those words. His plans to talk to the Montale girl had been foiled by Genox's appearance, but there was always time to approach her later.

Aylward returned to his tavern, and sat near the window pondering the exchange between him and Genox. His plan would unfold soon enough, and he had made sure every last detail was taken care of, yet somehow a nagging feeling told him there were things he didn't yet see, and they could cost him his life, and the lives of all those who were in the rebellion. How ready was Aylward to take Genox on and come out victorious? Even Aylward himself could not answer the question.

=====

Lucas snuck back into town and returned to his home in the slums. He laid on his bed, but could not sleep. The events of the past few days weighed heavily on his mind and he still remembered the question the Black Phoenix had asked him. Was he ready to pay the price for the power of his clan's guardian spirit? He glanced at his blade that stood leaning against the wall. It had now turned black, with the Phoenix's spirit residing the blade. Yet the added power to his blade was trivial compared to the true power that he would gain if he was willing to accept the Black Phoenix's deal. When would that moment come when he was forced to accept it, or had enough courage to do so? When he faced Genox?

The thought of Genox brought another disturbing query to his mind. If Genox was the true king all this time, who had brought about his existence? There was no one who could attain immortality without some sort of freak accident like Lucas had gone through or a powerful form of magic only the most powerful of beings could employ. There was certainly more to Genox's plans than to merely continue the reign of terror and keep his power rooted in Russataia. More was at stake, was any of them ready to face the fight that lay ahead?

If there is being who can stop this evil... Please come to our aid if you can hear this. Lucas called out silently in his mind, certain it remained just as a thought.

Xilas awoke the morning after his first battle, fresh and ready to go. He gathered his things, bought a few days worth of food from the innkeeper, and waited until Dustin arrived at the tavern. When he did, they left the tavern together, ready for the journey to Moonvale. On the way out of Arcadium, they checked with the battle coordinator to see when the next battle was; they had about three weeks to spend in Moonvale for training, and then could return after their next fight for another two, giving them a total of five weeks they could spend improving their abilities.

The journey to Moonvale took all-in-all about two days on foot, occasionally hitching rides on the occasional friendly supply wagon. The duo spent their nights around a campfire, alongside the road. When they arrived at Moonvale, Xilas was stunned. The famous magi city was surrounded by huge brick walls, with a massive castle-like entrance gate. Traffic around the gate was heavy, a constant flood of people coming and going. The two got past the entrance without incident, and found an inn to set up residence at fairly quickly. They decided to go their own separate ways, searching for trainers in their individual schools of magic and meeting back at the inn nightly.

Xilas began his search at the Arcane University. The University was a city within a city, walled off from the rest. The entrance was a wrought-iron gate, inscribed with the phrase "Magic is Knowledge, Knowledge is Freedom". The buildings of the University were splendidly enormous constructions, towering far above the landscape. Each building represented the school of magic taught there: the school of fire had the look of a shimmering candle, the building of water like a rolling ocean wave, the building of electricity like a lightning bolt etc. Xilas looked and found the light magic building, shaped like a holy torch. He entered and found the coordinator, who sat in a large room in the front of the building, behind a desk, busily writing away with a quill drenched with ink. She looked up at Xilas as he entered, and asked him:

"Can I help you, young man?"
"Um, can you tell me where I could find a tutor in self-healing magic? I have some proficiency in it already, and am currently between matches for the Arcadium tournament, so I would like to spend the next few weeks improving."
The coordinator eyed him, up and down, as if analyzing his motives. She seemed displeased when he mentioned he was a combatant, but she gave him directions to a room on the third floor, where a healing tutor could be found. He made his way there, and opened the door on a room lined with books. It was a small, cramped room, no bigger than a small room in an inn. Sitting behind a desk opposite the door was an old man wearing the bright white robes of a master mage. His face was very masculine: defined chin, sharp, dark eyes, with dark hair that showed a surprisingly small amount of gray for as old as the man seemed. Xilas noticed something vaguely familiar in the man's face as he watched him scribble on a piece of parchment for a few seconds after he had walked in, but he couldn't pinpoint it. The man put down the quill, and looked up.

"Yes, how can I help y-"... the man cut off, mid-sentence, seeming shocked at who had entered the room. Xilas didn't know why, but the man looked like he had seen a ghost, his skin quickly growing pale. The man talked again after a short silence.
"It.. it can't be. I never thought I'd see you here in Moonvale, Xilas. I... I suppose I should welcome you... son."

"Katrina Yuned, Brina Callon prepare for battle!"

Alexander looked over at Martin, who was seated next to him. "It'll be your turn after this one," He said, with a slightly disapproving look on his face.

"I know, I know," Martin mumbled as he ran a hand through his brown hair. If his hair had been black and cut slightly shorter, the younger Dreynon would've looked like an exact copy of the older brother, except for the eye color. He was dressed in a suit of brown and black leather armor, flexible enough to move his body easily. He also had a belt around his waist with a dagger and a sword similar to the one Alex carried.

Taking a look over at the royal box, he noticed Gabriella had still not come. Guess she faked an illness to avoid coming today, Alex thought with a little smile. He couldn't blame her, he really didn't want to be here either. Turning his gaze back to the arena, he tried to focus more on the coming match and less on his brother's fight.

Gabriella was still confused about her meeting with the elf, but she put it behind her and made her way to the arena. Before she stepped on to the field she made sure that her mask was on tight and her hair was pitch black. As she heard the words, Katrina Yuned, Brina Callon prepare for battle!, her stomach turned. It wasnt that she was scared she would loose the battle, she had never been the center of so many people in a disguise. She walked out in her red leather armor and lifted her hands up in the air, the crown cheered loudly.

Her opponent appeared atop one of the large boulders in a puff of black smoke. She stood arms crossed with her hair in a tight bun, a smile crossed over her face as she saw that Gabriella was not carrying any weapons. Gabby grinned back at her knowing that most people would underestimate an opponent with out a weapon, but she had no need for one.

Brina eyed Gabriella for a few moments before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke, suddenly the similar clouds appeared around Gabriella sporadically in no specific pattern. Finally a final cloud of smoke appeared directly behind Gabriella and this time Brina was inside it and quickly lunged aiming her katana for the mage's back. As the smoke clouds started appearing Gabby quickly put a two inch wall of ice completely around herself, and turned in time to watch as Brina's katana got stuck in the ice wall. She then let all the wall melt except for where the sword was stuck. Gabriella stepped back and used the melted water to send a large wave at Brina.

The wall of water violently slammed Brina in to the sandy floor of the arena. As she began to stand back up she vanished once more reappearing on a large boulder in front of Gabriella. Suddenly a second Brina appeared on a boulder to Gabriella's right and a third one to her left. Of course only one was the real Brina but Gabriella didn't know which one. All three jumped down from the rocks and charged Gabriella. One aimed a high kick to her face, another a low sweep to her legs and the third a straight kick to her chest.

Gabby quickly formed a ice shield on her arm and ducked down low. The one that had kicked at her face went completely over top of her and the one that was aimed at her chest was deflected by the shield. Gabriella then sent a ice bolt at the leg that was attempting to sweep out her own legs but when it hit the fighter disappeared. Gabriella stood up and was face to face with the remaining two, she kept the shield on her arm and sent an ice bolt at each of them.

One of the ice bolts seemingly connected with Brina, but it was one of the illusions. As the ice bolt zoomed towards the real one she did a back flip kicking the ice bolt upwards. As she landed on her feet she caught the ice bolt in her hands and twirled it between her fingers for a moment before crushing it in her palm. Smoke enveloped Brina and she disappeared. There was no sign of her for a solid three minutes and the announcer had actually stood up to declare Gabriella the winner. However in that final moment she appeared directly behind Gabriella and grabbed her from behind holding a dagger to her throat and prepared to cut it open.

Brina smiled thinking that the victory was hers, but the smile soon turned in to a look of fear as her whole body became frozen in place. Because Brina had been so close, Gabby had been able to encase her body completely in ice. She easily slipped out of Brina's now frozen grasp, and took a bow as the crowd cheered on and she was announced as the winner. She lightly touched her face to make sure the mask was still there, and once she was assured that it was she defrosted Brina and made her out of the arena quickly.

It took awhile but the preparations for the water field had been set in motion and the announcer stood and called out two more names. "Martin Dreynon, Cameron Dirgil. The time for battle is upon you!" the announcer called out.

At that moment Genox's head jerked. This should prove interesting." he said to himself as he once again set about walking the streets. His next visit was to the bard, to discuss the details of his offer.

Joseph sat in the arena lobby awaiting his match, he hadn't bother to watch the ones before his. They made him sick and nervous and right now he needed total focus. Especially since he was unlucky enough to be placed in the normal sand field again. Again he wouldn't have a lot of raw materials to work his magic on.

For once, this fight perked Alex's interest a bit. It wasn't as common to see women fighting in the arena, and these two were definitely skilled, especially the mage. He was also curious as to why the mage was wearing a mask. Was she a well known criminal in disguise? Though he hadn't heard of the name Katrina Yuned, it could have eluded him. Seeing the end of the match though, he mentally eliminated the criminal element. It could also be a pretty well known person, possibly with a false name, He thought to himself while going through several people in his head, but not able to match the profile to this fighter. Or it could simply be a stunt for the crowd.

While he was debating this and whether to look into it, rather than attend the matches, he heard the announcer's voice call out.

"Martin Dreynon, Cameron Dirgil. The time for battle is upon you!"

Martin stood up and left the balcony to enter into the stands. Alex watched as he left, and could tell the younger brother looked rather nervous. Alex couldn't help feeling nervous either. This was his brother's first actual fight, and a lot of the participants were ruthless and blood thirsty. But seeing his opponent stand and walk through the crowd, his blood ran cold. A necromancer...

----------

Since the gates were already submerged beneath the mass of water the gladiators actually had to enter through the stands. Cameron slowly and gracefully walked through the stairs beside the stands ignoring the cheering crowd. When he reached the edge he leapt down about ten feet, gracefully landing on one of the metal platforms directly below himself.

He tapped the bottom of the staff on the platform and the eyes of the skull lit up bright green. Some of the crowd actually gasped. After all under King Egan necromancy was outlawed, but Genox quickly lifted that restriction upon taking over the throne.

Martin waited a few moments as the necromancer made his way down before continuing down the steps on the other side of the arena. Waiting until he was at a safe height, he took a few running steps before propelling himself into the air and executing a flip before landing on the platform below on one leg and knee.

Pushing himself up he grinned at his opponent before unsheathing his sword. Eying his opponent he frowned slightly at the staff. A necromancer huh? I'm going to have to end this quickly. Stretching his neck from one side of the other, he watched his opponent carefully. Although he gave off the appearance that he wasn't ready, especially with his slight slouching look, he was quite ready for the necromancer.

The necromancer remained motionless for a moment and then took a few steps and walked directly on top of the water, he just stood there floating like a feather. A few in the crowd actually booed knowing that the necromancer now had a distinct advantage over the other warrior.

After a few more steps on the cold blue liquid he shook his staff and green balls began to emit from the skulls eyes and slowly form around Cameron, once around eight or nine had accumulated they shot at blinding speeds one after another straight for Martin.

Seeing the green balls flying towards him, Martin jumped backwards through the air, the first going dangerously close to him. Landing on his hands on the edge of the platform he swung himself down into the water, grimacing slightly at the iciness of the water as the rest of the energy balls went sailing over him. Pushing himself back up out of the water, he landed on his feet, his clothes now dripping with water. He shook his head slightly, his hair getting tangled a bit. Holding his sword out in front of him, he ran across the platform before jumping to another closer to the necromancer, all the while trying to formulate a plan.

"At least give me a challenge boy" Cameron hissed in a very supernatural voice. Many people in the crowd clapped their hands over their heads as his voice alone stung their ears. He reached out with his free hand and began to mumble incoherent words that pained the hearing of any who heard it. With each word he mumbled he attempted to drain the very essence of life out of Martin Dreynon.

Martin winced at the tone of the necromancer's voice, but continued towards the necromancer. Seeing the robed man raise his hand, he began sprinting in a zigzag fashion with various speeds, hoping to throw off what ever incantation his opponent might be trying.

Switching his sword to his other hand, Martin pulled out a dagger from his belt and skidded to a stop, his arm quickly retracting as if to throw the dagger. Instead, he disappeared from the spot he'd been standing in, appearing on a platform behind the necromancer, and flung his arm forward. He watched intently as the dagger sailed through the air, the intended target being the necromancer's heart.

The warrior seemed unremarkable, that's what the necromancer thought. But he quickly regretted underestimating him as the dagger sailed through his back and the tip of the blade appeared through his chest. He fell forward in to the water and sank beneath it. The crowd cheered as it had appeared that Martin had won. However things are not always as they appear to be on the surface. And not a single drop of blood appeared floating in the water.

Suddenly green tentacle like beams shot out of the water with a large splash. One wrapped tightly around each of Martin's arms and legs as well as his waist and throat. Underneath the water the beams were attached to the necromancer's staff and he was standing at the bottom of pool attempting to pull and drag Martin down with him.

The grin on Martin's face from his seemingly apparent win turned to shock as he was suddenly bound by the beams. To make it worse, the beams around his throat and waist were tight, forcing the air out of him. Gasping for breath, he twisted his wrist to bring the sword to the beam, before realizing it would do little good. Looking over at the next platform as his body gave way, he focused on the spot before disappearing and appearing on the metal. He fell to the ground due to being more intent on escaping than making sure he had a good orientation. Rubbing his neck, he stood up and looked down at the water.

"Are you going to stand down there all day, or are you going to come up here and fight me?" Martin yelled, with a slight taunting tone to it.

Cameron would have chuckled had he not been underwater but instead he slammed his staff in to the concrete which began to split in a zig zag pattern all across the arena. The water began to drain soaking in to the sand through the fissures and the metal platforms quickly became towers that started to crash to the ground including the one that Martin was on.

Through the fissures completely fleshless hands appeared frantically grasping on to the edges. Soon enough a dozen skeletons had crawled out from beneath the arena, reassembled from the bones of fallen gladiators. Each and every skeleton prepared to attack Martin though they had no weapons to speak of. However the Necromancer himself had fallen to one knee, his power was quickly thinning out.

Martin staggered as the ground shook, and the metal platform suddenly gave way. He could now see where the necromancer had been hiding, but he had to focus on making it down safely. The tower quickly made it to the ground and Martin jumped, short of either being thrown badly or falling with the tower, turning it into something of a roll as he hit the ground. Getting up, his hand instinctively went to his shoulder which had gotten injured in the impact.

Looking over at the necromancer, he prepared to attack, when he saw the skeletons standing up. Spinning around to see he was surrounded, he turned back to the necromancer to see his opponent was finally weakened. Tearing across the field, he put his shoulder down to slam into one of the skeletons, it's fragile frame knocked to the ground. Coming up close to the necromancer, he raised his sword in the air and jumped, bringing it down towards the robed man. Not waiting to see if it hit, he appeared behind the man, having changed his orientation by teleporting, he swung his blade at the man's head.

The blade sailed right through the necromancer's neck and his head came clean off, his body went limp and the summoned skeletons stumbled and began to crack and shatter into pieces.

Martin stepped back a bit as blood spewed from the man's lifeless body, looking somewhat disgusted as some made it onto his clothes. Martin looked up towards the stands as the deafening roar of the crowd followed, he raised his arms and yelled a victory cry as the crowd cheered. Turning back to the man, he took back the dagger before walking out of the arena.

The announcer stood and declared Martin the winner but as the crowd did not cheer. The necromancers decapitated body was floating in midair and soon exploded in a flash of green light, when the blinding light had ceased a large green misty like skull shot from where the body was and whirled around the arena flying mere inches from the crowds faces. It shot upward in to the sky before coming back down with a loud roar that like the words of the necromancer stung the ears of those nearby by. It shot through one of the arenas set of steel doors blasting them apart like paper.

It whizzed down a few streets sending citizens fleeing to their homes until it hit one particular street that Genox was standing at the edge at. The green skull fly straight at him and Genox turned around to meet it. The skull connected with his chest disappearing in cloud of green smoke, the impact had knocked Genox on to his back. The champion stood up and brushed the dust from himself. "Suppose I overdid it that time.." he mumbled. "Interesting, the young one is every bit as skilled as his brother" he mumbled again.

Once the crowd calmed down and the arenas finished repairing the next two names were called out. "Joseph Moldentay, Diego Gashton. You're moment has come!"

Endymion had retired to his inn, awaiting the word form the castle to come. His nights were spent playing at the bistro. He did not have to infuse his music with magic. The crowds came just to see "The Bard" play. His reputation a grown in leaps and bounds as he knew it would. He had entertained offers from far and near, from rich families and guilds. He had turned them all down. The women that practically threw them selves at him however...he was enjoying this aspect of fame.

It had been awhile since Genox had made his "offer". Endy wondered when he was too hear from the King.

'Not that I am in a rush' he though, smiling while he tried to disengage himself from the brunette laying on his arm.

After the match Gabriella quickly made her way back to her house and quickly climbed up to her room where she got changed into a nice white dress and making sure that her hair was the right color. She was exhausted from the fight but Joseph's fight was coming up soon and she needed to be there. Once she informed her maids that she was feeling better she hurried back to the arena. When she was there she got there Martin had just defeated the necromancer and they were getting ready for the next battle. She made her way to her family's booth and sat next to her father. He smiled when he saw her, "I'm glad your feeling better, your just in time to watch your betrothed fight."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." She smiled back but she was far more scared for Joseph then she had been during her own fight. Toya had a partner but Joseph was by himself and she did not have any clue about how powerful he was or how is odd magic worked. She sent out a silent prayer to the gods when she heard his name called.

Joseph stepped on to the field for the first time since his preliminary match, back then there was no crowd but now every seat in the building was taking by a person thirsty to see blood be spilled. He looked up and seen Gabriella watching him from the royal balcony, curiously Genox however was not present. The other gate opened and Diego stepped on to the field. He was an orc all right and he filled every last checkpoint of the stereotype. Big, muscled, green, carrying a large weapon, and a bad haircut. The orc stood staring at Joseph before running his hand through his Mohawk and laughing as he held the battle axe over his shoulder.

Joseph looked down at the ground. Sand, freaking Sand! he thought to himself knowing how useless it was. He readied his staff and waited for the orc to make the first move. He didn't wait long as the berzeker charged him swinging the axe downward at his head. Joseph Blocked the strike with the staff and then deflected a side swipe from his opponent. The orc was overly aggressive and sent flurry after flurry of swipes and slash's at him that Joseph continued to block and deflect on the defensive. Finally seeing an opportunity he ducked one of the strikes and planted the end off his staff in the orcs stomach causing him to stumble backwards and give himself some breathing room.

Before the orc could retaliate Joseph snapped his fingers and a wall of glass shot up from the sand in front of him. The orc who was already running ran in to glass and briefly smacked up agains't it like a bird to a window. It was quite the comical scene and most of the crowd laughed and chuckled. The orc? he was not amused, with a roar he smashed the glass in to pieces and charged once more. Joseph stepped to the side and the orc tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground. Laughter again erupted through out the crowd and even Joseph cracked a smile.

The orc got up and roared in a furious fervor. His eyes turned red as if they filled with blood and the crowd went silent, it was the sign of a Berzeker's rage . The mean green machine threw down his axe and simply charged barehanded. Smacking away Josephs staff as he picked him up by the throat. His feet dangled furiously as the Orc tried to squeeze the life from his wind pipe. "Can..cant we talk this out?" Joseph gasped to which the orc replied by squeezing tighter.

Joseph waved his hand and two glass shards rose from the ground behind the orc and rose up through his vest picking him up off the ground. He dropped Joseph as he tried to free himself but the shards rose higher. Joseph took off running toward the arena wall while the orc slipped out of his vest and landed face down in the sand. Upon reaching the wall Joseph pressed his hand to it and suddenly the concrete began to leave the wall and form around Joseph. It formed a square backpack and coiled all around to his arm forming what appeared to be a cannon. Glass rose up from the sand and connected to the backpack creating a glass pipe leading from the sandy ground to the backpack.

As the orc charged again Joseph aimed his stone cannon arm at the orc and suddenly Sand began to flow through the pipe to the backpack. Sand shot out of the cannon in a blazing fast stream in to the orc. The sheer force of it brought him to a stop as he tried to force his way through it. Soon the orc could not be seen inside of the sand stream and when it ceased the orc was completely buried underneath thousands of pounds of sand.

Snapping his fingers some of the sand parted revealing the orcs face so he could breath, but the sand was being held together by Josephs magic so the orc could not move. "YOU BASTAAAARRRRDDDD ILLL KIIIIIILLLLL YOOOUUUU" The orc roared as Joseph was declared the winner. Before he could get the pack off however it exploded it to a cloud of sand, when the dust settled Joseph was found laying on his back, his skin barely recognizable between the sand stuck to his face. He walked off the arena hoping to find a place to wash himself as the crowd was laughing once more, this time at him instead of the orc.