“Wise words.” He smiled.
“Just...can you promise me something?”
He nodded.
Her face became grave. “Don’t hold back against any of them. I’ve seen a lot of amazing things from you today, and I don’t want you to think that you owe these people anything.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You only picked up twenty bells.” Her eyebrows came together, worry creeping into her voice. “You could have gone after more, but you chose to give the rest of us a fighting chance. I’ve seen the way they treat you. Kirana and Vyce thought you’d fall in the first two trials, but you crushed their expectations every time. If there’s one thing I want most, it’s to honor my father’s memory and find out what really happened to him, but a close second is seeing the looks on Geidra and Kiel’s faces when you crush your opponents.”
Sage nodded. He didn’t smile.
And what happens if they think I’m a threat?
“And I’ll be waiting for you at the end of this,” Reysha said, her grin returning. “But don’t think I’m going to hold back against you.”
“I’d be insulted if you did,” Sage said.
She nodded, and just as he was about to head into the next chamber with the rest of their peers, she planted a kiss on his cheek, then rushed ahead of him.
He stood there in the dark for a moment, feeling his cheek. There, the fear and the uncertainty melted away.
Yeah, he thought, certain at last. It won’t be bad at all to be a Valier.
3
Sage emerged from the doorway last and took his place with the other ten participants of... No. They weren’t just participants. Win or lose now, they were all warriors, whether High Elder Geidra and Commander Kiel would acknowledge them or not.
Padros stood with his back to the ten of them on a large platform beside a staircase leading up to the stone ring. The ring itself appeared to be suspended on a massive pillar, carved from the cavern itself. And the orbs…they were positioned at the four corners of the chamber atop four pillars, below the seating box where Geidra, the Elders, and the Valier would sit and watch their children fight. They didn’t look like Olloketh crystals, and the long night was far from over.
Could they have been relics? Wren loved to go on about all the technology that their ancestors had had access to, lamenting that so much of it had been lost or claimed by the Masku.
High Elder Geidra rose from her seat. “You ten are all who are left of the four hundred that set out to take part in the Trials. Think about this as your matchups are determined. And be proud that you’ve come so far.” Her eyes found Sage’s; her expression soured. “This trial is more for us than it is for you. Combat against your brothers and sisters is the surest way to determine whether or not you are worthy of becoming Valier, and whether you pass or fail this trial will determine whether we allow you to attain the rank of soldier as a Valier.
“By now you are tired, your Sulen and your stamina have been stretched to its limit—but make no mistake. You must give these fights your all, or risk failure.” Her eyes fell on Padros. “Captain Padros, have you determined the matchups?”
He nodded. “Yes, High Elder.”
“Then, let’s get this under way,” Geidra said.
Padros turned back to them, his eyes falling on Sage. “The first match will be Takarus, Son of Commander Kiel, versus Sage, Son of Kyrties.”
“What?” Takarus said, looking back at Sage in complete terror.
Sage’s heart pounded in his chest. His eyebrows came together.
Is this a test of their goddamned contract?
His eyes drifted back to Geidra; she was grinning.
“Step into the ring and assume your beginning stances,” Padros said.
Sage nodded and walked past Takarus.
He readied himself, but waited to see what his former friend might do.
Takarus entered the ring visibly shaking. Sage assumed the standard Sulen Tukar pose and stared him down. The Sulen coming from him felt unsure, weak, as it had been every day in their classroom since training for the Trials had begun.
If Takarus went forward like this... It wouldn’t be a battle. It would be a slaughter.
Don’t hold back, Reysha had said. You don’t owe these people anything.
He saw the wisdom in what Reysha had said...but if he gave Takarus his all, it would humiliate him. When he thought of all the memories he’d shared with his friend, all the mischief and adventures, he just couldn’t bring himself to do that to him. Not after Takarus hadcome so far. A victory like that would be hollow at best.
“Are you ready?” Padros said, approaching the edge of the ring. “I will be the ultimate judge of the outcome of the fight.”
“The rules of this are simple,” Geidra said, looking down on them. “If you fall out of the ring, you lose. If you die, give up, or are rendered unconscious, you lose. Is that understood?”
Sage nodded. “Seems simple enough.”
Takarus’s silver brow furrowed. “I’m ready.”
“Then begin!” Padros shouted, and slammed his fist into the bell that hung off the side of theplatform he was standing on. The bell tolled, marking the beginning of the match.
“I’m not going to go easy on you,” Takarus said, sweat beading above his brow as he moved across the ring.
Sage still had not summoned his full power yet. “Right.”
“Why haven’t you assumed a form?” Takarus said, confusion and fear cutting at the false bravado he probably wished his speech to carry.
“No reason,” Sage said. “Let’s just get this over with.”
“What?” Takarus’s anger permeated the air of the arena. “You think you can take me lightly?”
Takarus rushed at Sage, thrusting a lightning bolt at him. Sage rolled into a crouch, avoiding it. The lightning bolt left a charge behind in the damp air.
Sounds were coming from the waiting area behind him. Sage glanced at them.
Their peers were cheering Takarus on. “Kill the traitor!” “Make him an example!” “Die, Son of Kyrties!”
“Hear them?” Takarus said, grinning. “They want you to lose.”
“Yeah?” Sage said. “But what do you want?”
“I...” Takarus glared at him. “You know what I want.”
“To impress your father,” Sage said, rising. “I’ve got bad news for you, Tak.”
“Oh?” His friend’s anger was flaring, masking the fear and the uncertainty that Sage felt in him before. “And what’s that?”
“I’m going to win this match,” Sage said. “And I’m not even going to break a sweat doing it.”
“Shut up!” Takarus shouted, charging forward and thrusting his palms up at Sage. A wall of flames cascaded toward him.
Sage smiled. That’s it, get angry. Show me what you’re really made of.
Sage summoned his barrier and let the flames crash around him. Takarus’s boots touched down next to him, and moments later lightning was hitting his barrier.
Was this Takarus’s limit?
As children, Sage had always ignored the gap in their power. Even though Takarus always talked like he would be a great warrior someday, he was always one step behind his sister. He refused to admit aloud that Sage had surpassed him, either. And it would seem that he wouldn’t admit it to himself either.
Could he not see the difference in their power now? Was he only deluding himself? Or was he just holding on desperately to the hope that simply being Kiel’s son had instilled in him?
“Father was right!” Takarus shouted, shocking Sage out of his own head.
“What?”
“He opened my eyes to the truth,” Takarus said, tears forming in his eyes. “You got me into trouble constantly, made me skip important lessons, and made me doubt Father’s teachings! You were a poison in my life!”
Sage glared at him. “A poison, huh?”
“You held me back,” Takarus shouted, shaking his head, st
aring at his hands. “I could be as great as Father, if not greater, but I allowed myself to be weakened by you!”
“Is that what you really believe?” Sage asked.
“Yes!”
Takarus came at him again, unleashing a flurry of barrier punches and kicks at him. Sage ducked and dodged around them. It was like Takarus was moving in slow motion.
“You better do more than avoid my blows if you want to have any chance!” Takarus shouted.
“Is that a fact?”
Sage stopped moving and planted his feet as Takarus created barriers over his hands and went in for a punch to the face.
A sound like cracking stone filled the cavern.
Sage hadn’t bothered to put up a barrier.
Takarus’s eyes widened. “W-why did you...that could have killed you!”
Sage stumbled backward, blood trickling from his nose.
He smiled. “I had a feeling that it wouldn’t.”
“How?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” Sage said.
“You’re not taking this seriously,” Takarus screamed. “You never take anything seriously!”
“No, Tak,” Sage said. “I’m just not taking you seriously.”
Takarus’s Sulen wavered.
Damn it, Sage thought, he’s doubting himself again.
Sage rushed forward, planting a barrier punch in his gut. His former friend staggered backward and fell to his knees, coughing.
“Give up,” Sage said. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You don’t want to what!” Takarus’s anger exploded, personified by a flaming aura that licked high into the damp air of the cavern. “You don’t want to hurt me? Yet you insult me by holding back against me! You claimed you were my friend and yet you won’t even show me the dignity of meeting me head-on!”
“Then show me how grave an error that is,” Sage said.
“No!” Takarus shouted. “Stop hiding! I want to know why you’re so damned arrogant! Show us all what you really are, Sage, Son of Kyrties!”
What I really am?
Sage’s eyebrows came together as he felt the rage fill him. What had felt empty and meaningless became a cesspool of boiling fire, a widening canyon of despair and rage born from years of angry Yce Ralakar citizens looking on him like a piece of trash. He couldn’t help but think of his grandfather, of Kiel, of Vyce, of—
Every.
Single.
Glare.
Every snide comment.
Every time his lineage had been thrown in his face.
Telling him that he was nothing. Less than. Doomed to forever be tortured for the sins of a father he never knew.
The feeling exploded around him. The entire chamber rumbled, shaken by his raw power, dust and pebbles falling from the stalactites high above them. Gasps came from his peers, and he felt...fear. He felt fear coming from the Valier and the Elders.
That’s what I was afraid of, Sage thought. It’s like they know.
“That’s it,” Takarus said.
Takarus screamed, leaping into the air and firing waves of near-blinding white Sulen at him. The waves washed over his barrier like river water caressing a boulder. He felt Takarus dash around him, chambering his palms and firing lightning at him.
Sage gritted his teeth, let his barrier absorb the lightning bolts, and slammed his foot right through Takarus’s barrier, shattering it in one blow.
Then, as his former friend was reeling from the blow he’d dealt him, he grabbed him by the forearm and tossed him out of the ring.
It was over.
Takarus’s body hit the floor of the chamber, and Sage approached the edge of the ring, peering down on him.
“I’m not the poison in your life,” Sage said. “You are.”
He tore his eyes away from his former friend, leaving him to bask in his own shame.
Padros rang the bell. “Victory! Sage, Son of Kyrties, wins!”
Sage eyed Padros. “It’s just Sage of Yce Ralakar.”
Padros seemed taken aback by that. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t want to be reminded about my father’s actions at every turn,” Sage said, meeting Padros’s scornful gaze. “Especially since I never knew him. He means nothing to me.”
Padros nodded. “I’ll respect that.”
Sage closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and forced his aura to quiet. The Valier and Council were silent, and his fellow participants had split into two groups. The three participants he’d seen in Geidra’s tower seemed like they wanted nothing to do with Vyce and his group. They had to be related to the Council somehow.
Come to think of it, he remembered seeing those three grouping together at the start of the crusher too. They’d rushed ahead of everyone else.
Sage descended the stone steps.
His limbs felt stiff. It was an effort to keep his anger in check. Like his aura was demanding to be released, like it was some feral beast that had been caged.
“Good job, Sage of Yce Ralakar.” The effeminate boy with violet hair turned to him, a leer in his eyes. This one had no fear in his heart. “I was worried this little game would be between us three.”
“You three?” Sage asked. “Who are you?”
“Oh, we’re no one of importance,” he said, giggling. “I do hope you’ll show that same ferocity if we meet in the ring, however.”
Sage nodded. “Count on it.”
The others didn’t bother addressing him as he took his place by Reysha’s side. Even Vyce wouldn’t make eye contact with him. He’d just shattered their self-aggrandizing illusions. No doubt they’d thought he’d be an easy victory. He had no illusions of winning this, not really, but now they knew he’d go down fighting, and he’d take a piece of whoever took him down with him.
His opponents weren’t what worried him, though. The Elders and Valier, their fear...
“Are you okay?” Reysha asked.
“Yeah...” Sage said, watching Takarus as he sulked, making his way out of the chamber. “I never expected him to throw my lineage in my face. I guess he’s just like the rest of them.”
“Being so high and mighty in his father’s tower afforded him a big head, made Takarus and Kirana think they were better than us. Your friend didn’t befriend you because he wanted your company, he wanted to pity you.”
“You might be right,” Sage said. His teeth bared.
“Might be?” Reysha grinned. “You’re going to learn I’m quite wise.”
“I’m going to learn?” Sage said.
“Oh yes,” she said, grinning. “We’re going to be seeing a lot of each other after this.”
He smiled. “Oh? Who decided this?”
“I did,” Reysha said.
“Oh, then at least I know it’s official.”
“Oh, yes, very official.”
“The next match will begin!” Padros shouted. “Vyce, Son of Padros, versus Tolu, Daughter of Dirkus the Third, step into the ring.”
“Dirkus has a daughter?” Reysha asked.
“I had no idea,” Sage said.
The girl approached the arena first. She was short, like her father, and sported pale skin like first moonlight. Her eyes were silver, and her hair was styled in a pixie cut, dark like obsidian.
“Always wondered what Dirkus would look like with hair,” Reysha said, chuckling.
Sage nodded.
Vyce strode into the ring like he owned it. And, judging from his Sulen, maybe he was right to be arrogant. Compared to Tolu, it seemed like he was peering down on her from Geidra’s great tower.
“Who do you think will win?” the one with skin like garnet asked.
“Vyce is going to win,” Daos said, grinning. “He’s the strongest in our class.”
“Oh yeah?” he said. “You’re right about that one.”
“No, he’s not,” Reysha said, laughing.
Daos and the other guy glared back at them.
The three from Geidra’s tower conversed amongst t
hemselves, chuckling.
“What would you know?” Daos said, his red eyes narrowing at her.
“Sage is the strongest in your class,” Reysha said. “If you can’t see that, then you’re blind as worms.”
Daos turned back around. “Vyce is definitely going to win.”
“I’ll trust your judgment,” the other one said.
“Don’t count Dirkus’s daughter out,” Sage said.
Their scorn returned.
“We should know,” Reysha said, sticking her hands in her pockets. “We fought the man himself. I can only imagine how well he’d train his own blood.”
Sage nodded.
“Whatever,” Daos said, turning to watch the match. “The son of Kyrties beats the weakest person here and thinks he’s better than the rest of us.”
“They don’t get it,” Reysha said quietly. “Do they?”
“Let’s just watch the match,” Sage said. It was exhausting dealing with them.
“Begin!” Padros shouted, slamming his fist into the bell once more.
Tolu got into a strange stance that Sage didn’t recognize, crossing her arms in front of her and making her hands like knives, and grinned.
“I hope you’re ready,” Vyce said, stretching his palms to the floor and keeping his right foot forward. “Cause I’m going to end this quick.”
Tolu wasted no words on him, rushing forward and slashing her arms down in wide arcs. What came out from her hands, however, Sage had never seen before in his life. It looked as though the girl had created crescent-shaped barriers that went hurtling toward Vyce. The slashes crossed each other, slicing into the celestial sigil of their people.
Vyce attempted to barrier-kick one of them away, but the crescent-shaped attack cut right through his barrier, like a sword through flesh. If Vyce’s shin had been any higher, then Tolu’s attack would have taken his entire leg off.
Vyce’s eyes went wide and he rolled out of the way of the next crescent as it cut through the ring and headed straight for High Elder Geidra’s seat.
Geidra stood and raised her barrier, stopping the crescent slash from advancing like it was nothing.
Tolu paid this no mind, pressing her attack by launching lighting bolts with her left hand, and continuing to send out crescent barrier slashes at Vyce with her right. She had her father’s eyes, that deadly precision and focus that Sage knew too well.
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