by Oxford, Rain
The dragon-mage stood and dusted himself off without looking at either of us. “Yes,” he said quietly. “I’m fine.” Seimei nudged his back affectionately.
The room beyond was brightly lit, but I could see no actual source of light. It was circular and huge with a genuine garden in the center. A massive tree with large white blossoms dominated the garden, surrounded by flowers of every color, shape, and size. It was beautiful.
Seimei growled at the tree. I stroked her head and scanned the room with my energy, what came back made my skin crawl. My magic was blinded by what seemed like fog, thick and malevolent.
“Hey, this feels like real sunlight,” Drake said, holding out his hands as if warming them by a fire.
“I don’t feel good,” Sen moaned.
He was quickly turning pale and sweaty. I put my hand on his forehead and was concerned by how feverish he was. Before I could even try healing him, I heard a heavy thud behind me. Drake was unconscious on the ground.
I knelt, put my left hand over his heart and my right hand on his forehead, and released my magic into him. The same fog my energy had encountered before was the source of his unconsciousness and my magic had no idea what to do. He wasn’t sick or injured. Sen collapsed beside me.
Seimei pawed at Sen’s arm gently, receiving no reaction. Once again, she snarled at the tree, which unexpectedly began to move. The trunk slimmed, branches fused, and the entire thing grew shorter until a man stood where the tree had been.
He was tall and thin with a gold, satin-like robe. His hood was up, so I couldn’t make out much of his face. Instead, the focus of my attention was on the large, silver amulet he wore that was something similar to an ankh.
“What have you done to my friends?” I asked. Seimei hissed at him, but remained at my side.
“They are unwelcome. You are also unwelcome, but you are protected,” he said. His voice was husky and slow, as if years of experience weighed him down with wisdom. I was familiar with the hoax.
The charm I wore tingled against my chest, but I refused to take it out and give this man that satisfaction. “I am here for the battle axe,” I said.
“We know. However, you are unworthy of such a weapon. You are arrogant, devious, and selfish.”
“You don’t know who you are talking to,” I growled.
“You are the son of Dylan Yatunus, the enemy of the balance and the gods.”
“My father is not the enemy of the gods,” I argued.
“Your father has proven himself a worthy advisory of the demons, but we have no reason to ally ourselves with him.”
“I am only here for the axe, and I am absolutely worthy. I am not just the son of Dylan. Someday, I will be the most powerful being in this universe, and even the gods will be afraid to piss me off.”
“Your heart is impure. You would sacrifice your allies for personal gain.”
“Of course I wouldn’t!”
“Prove yourself pure of heart and we will give you the battle axe. In battle, your true character will be displayed. You will face three battles. To prove yourself worthy, you must win two of the three battles. The rules are simple; you must fight to the death, only one person can face our warrior at a time, and you cannot leave the arena once the battle has begun.
“You can have one beast to assist you. Be aware that if you choose a beast to accompany you, your opponent has the option as well. Furthermore, if one of your friends joins you on the field, you forfeit. Fortunately for you, you can appoint a champion to fight in your stead. This works well for you because if your friends both die in the first and second challenge, you need not fight in the last battle, for you will have already lost.”
“I’m not going to put them in that kind of danger.”
“You will. Why else would you have brought them here?” he asked. When I had nothing to say, he moved on. “You will be given food, water, and shelter for the next three days, assuming you survive them. Of course, the amenities will be nothing as lavish as you are accustomed to. Rest during the day, for at night, you fight.”
Before I could respond, I was standing in a new place. This room was about eight-by-twelve with two twin beds and a heavy wooden chest between them. Each bed was low with a mattress that was no thicker than three inches, and sported a flimsy gray blanket. The chest between the beds was about two feet wide and a foot around. Against the wall across from the beds was an array of chipped, rusty weapons.
Using magic to make my struggle easier, I hefted Sen onto one of the beds and Drake onto the other. Once they were settled, I pushed the lid up on the chest to find it full of medical supplies.
The most important thing I realized was the lack of door or window. Like the garden room we were in before, there was no obvious source of light, yet the room was bright. Of course, the walls, floor, and ceiling was white, which I knew was going to drive me nuts.
* * *
“I think I should go first,” Sen said. “Drake can go next, and then neither of us will have to go again as long as we both win.”
Drake and Sen had woken up, got the important info, and went back to fighting like dogs. Like yip-yip dogs… Pissed off Chihuahuas. Dorks. Meanwhile, I relaxed on the bed with my hands under my head, wishing I had some earmuffs and maybe a couple of muzzles.
“You’re ten. I should go first and second,” Drake argued.
“I am the son of a mage and a dragon.”
“Not to be rude or anything, but you don’t exactly look like a fighter any more than Ron does. Maybe your father was a---”
“My father was a coward,” the dragon-mage snapped. “He raped my mother because he couldn’t be loved by a woman and he never showed his face again. Even though my mother would have happily given me away, he never came back for me.”
“He had no idea you even existed,” I said, rolling my eyes. “He thought he failed because when Emiko was returned to her time, he couldn’t sense you.” After a second, I noticed he was staring at me silently and realized what I said. I slapped my hand over my mouth, as if I could stop the confession I had already made.
Absolutely no good could come of telling Sen he wasn’t actually a mistake; that the mage king chose Kaori-mor Emiko to create the first dragon-mage hybrid.
“What are you talking about? What do you know?” he asked.
I rolled over to face the wall. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He grabbed my shoulder, pushed me onto my back, and pressed a gem flat against my chest, the sharp edge digging into my skin. “Tell me!” he demanded.
Heat burst from the gem to flood my body, but just as quickly, the darkness stirred beneath my skin. It was freezing and burning, painful and numbing, all at the same time. It absorbed Sen’s mage magic without a hiccup. Of course, the balance was the most powerful force in the universe, equal only to the void. Someday, I would overcome the darkness inside me, but until then, I was at its mercy. It seemed to vibrate under my skin, as if laughing at my thoughts. It didn’t matter; someday the darkness would be a mere tool at my disposal.
Sen backed away from me, probably feeling the great power inside me. I stood, trying to hide my own discomfort, and went for the weapons on the wall. “I will fight these battles myself. You two can practice with me, but this is my fight. If I am to overcome the universe itself, I should learn to rely on myself.”
“Isn’t that was Hail is for? Even your father has friends. Nobody can do everything by themselves,” Drake said.
“I can.” I reached for the smallest sword, but when I lifted the handle from the hook, the blade fell off. “Okay. Not that one, then.”
Drake took down a longer sword and examined it. “This one works.”
I took it carefully and knew immediately that it would never work. “It’s too long.” There was bow, which I knew Hail would have chosen, but it wasn’t my thing. Actually, weapons weren’t my thing. The only weapons remaining that looked functional were a fancy dagger with a jewel-encrusted handle and
an axe that had seen better days.
Sen took the dagger as I handed the sword back to Drake. “Hey, these are real!” he said as the emerald jewels glowed green.
“What about the dagger we got from Dayo?” Drake asked.
I shook my head. “If we lose it, we’re worse off than we started.” I took the axe and studied the blade. It was chipped, scuffed, and rusty. Hell, it was hideous, and the ordinary black handle was a letdown to say the least. “They’re going to laugh if I go out there with this.” Seimei nudged her head against my stomach encouragingly.
“Can you really hurt someone with that? Can you kill a person?” Drake asked.
“I have before.” Well, not me, and not a person. The balance used me to kill an Ancient.
“You won’t have to use it if you let me do it. I can tell the opponent to surrender and he will.”
“Does it work if they don’t understand English?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then it should be me,” Sen said. “My power works on everyone as long as I have the right stone.”
“I’m going to do it,” I said. They both glanced at each other with obvious lack of confidence in me. “Seimei can help me.”
“You said if you have Seimei, they can use a beast, too. You have no idea what they may have,” Sin said.
“Griffins are some of the strongest magical beasts, and Seimei is much more powerful than any of them. She can help me.”
Three plates appeared on top of the chest along with three glasses of water. On the plates were bread, cheese, and small chunks of roast. Drake and Sen took their plates and sat on the beds. “Do you think it’s safe?” Drake asked.
Without answering Sen ate a piece of his bread, meat, and cheese. When he didn’t pass out, they both started eating. I wasn’t hungry enough to want to eat it, but I knew time would just make it worse.
* * *
A large bell sounded throughout the small room. “I guess that means it’s time,” I said. We were all sitting on the beds in silence, waiting for the moment when I would have to fight. I hated fighting. I wanted to heal, not kill.
The room around us disintegrated, leaving us in a dark arena. It was a circular stadium in which the field was surrounded by a huge wall with bleachers beyond it. Lights in the high ceiling made it difficult to see into the crowd, but I could hear them. They didn’t sound like supporters.
“Nobody said this was going to be in front of an audience,” Sen said. “This isn’t about testing you, it’s about entertainment.”
A large screen lowered from the ceiling and huge, illuminated symbols appeared. When it changed, Drake looked at me. “It’s a countdown. You two have to get off the field before we run out of time or we lose by default.” They both stared at me. “What?”
“Your hair and eyes are turning back to their normal color,” Sen said.
“What?! I can’t fight looking like a mortal!”
“It happened when you lost your power on Enep… we were just afraid to tell you.”
“No way! Those Arcani people knew I wasn’t one of them on sight because my hair is so different.”
“You naturally look different than them. I don’t think you have seen your own natural appearance in a long time,” Sen said. “No one says anything because you get a little irrational when it comes to your hair and clothes.”
“What’s wrong with my clothes?” I asked, desperately trying to find a flaw. I held up my hand and called on my power. Illuminated energy formed in my palm… and then faded. My energy was fading again. “Not now!”
“Actually, this is perfect timing,” Sen said. I didn’t have a chance to fight; he pressed a jewel against my chest and the world grew dark.
I wasn’t completely unconscious, as I could feel myself being carried. When I could finally force my eyes open, I was still immobile and propped up against Seimei. Drake and I were in the bleachers while Sen was on the field with his unimpressive dagger.
“Sorry we had to do that,” Drake said, realizing I was coming out of it. “You are so used to Hail backing you up that you think you can handle anything.”
I couldn’t speak, so I had to watch as the young dragon-mage faced death. In this case, the opponent was formed of black smoke. I thought at first that it was a demon, but this was actually a person who could turn into black vapor. He was huge; easily as big as Ghidorah, with two long swords and metal full-body armor.
A bell sounded and the enemy waited.
Sen held out the dagger like a weapon, obviously with no clue what to do. His opponent held his hands over the ground in front of him. All around Sen, dirt exploded upward and assembled into two dozen creatures slightly taller than Sen that immediately converged on him. He threw them back with magic and fire, but they were relentless.
His power was still working on me so much of the battle was a blur. At one point, Sen was on the ground at the earthen creatures’ mercy. Somewhere in my head, I knew I needed to pay attention and help him, but my body wanted to sleep.
Drake shouted something beside me that caused me to jump and my eyes to snap open. Sen had shifted into a dragon. He was slightly larger than his mother in dragon form, much smaller than Mordon, with a unique, gold/red color to his scales. His wings were powerful even compared to a forest dragon.
Sen blew fire over the dirt creatures. It didn’t slow them down. Sen took a dive at the conjurer, but the enemy disbursed into smoke. Undeterred, the dragon blew fire over the smoke, which actually burned up. As the conjurer was defeated, his earthen creatures buckled. Sen landed, not gracefully but in a tumbling mess, and smeared blood on the ground. He was injured.
When Sen slowed to a stop, the crowd held its breath. Drake leaned over the wall that kept the crowd away from the field. “Get up, Sen!” he yelled. “Get up!”
The lethargy was slowly fading from my body, but not fast enough to do anything to help him. Mordon was going to hate me for getting Sen killed. “Get up,” I muttered as loudly as I could. A stranger next to me stared for a moment before standing up next to Drake and yelling it as loud as he could.
Others around us began shouting it too, and it spread. I doubted any of them knew English or even what they were saying for sure, but they were supportive. They were cheering Sen on.
But he didn’t move.
Guards entered the field in full armor and the crowd fell silent, disheartened. Then, just before they reached him, his dragon form shrunk slowly, his bones reshaped, and his scales became skin. He breathed heavily and tried pushing himself up.
He flopped back down on the ground and panted, but the crowd cheered hard as the guards gathered him up.
Everything faded. When light returned to the world, we were all back in the room, exactly where he had been, except Sen was lain out on the bed, bleeding from a deep cut on his chest. Drake gathered medical supplies from the chest and got to work disinfecting, cleaning, and bandaging the wound. Since my magic wasn’t working, we were fortunate Drake’s father was an emergency medicine doctor and had taught his son basic first aid care.
“He can’t do the next one,” Drake said somberly. “I will do it.”
“If my magic comes back in time, then not a chance.”
* * *
Unfortunately, my magic hadn’t returned the next day when the bell rang. Sen was healing, but not awake. When the scene morphed into the arena, Drake, Seimei, and I were standing in the field. The countdown began.
“I’m not letting you fight,” Drake said, “and if you don’t get off the field, it’s a forfeit.”
“If you die, I will take control of every demon and sic them on you to make your afterlife Hell.”
“Have a little faith in me.”
I couldn’t agree. Instead, I turned and walked off to the small opening out of the field. To the right and left were steps up into the bleachers, while straight ahead was a dark hallway guarded by six men with swords. I went up the stairs on the left and found an open seat. Seimei follow
ed me and sat beside me to watch our friend.
The enemy appeared this time right in front of Drake. He looked like the same man who had faced Sen, but since he wore a helmet, there was no telling. Just as the opponent raised his sword, Drake held out his hand as if to ward the enemy off. He said something that was too far for me to hear, and the warrior stopped cold, then dropped his sword.
Seimei growled and did her odd shiver of warning, which made her fur and feathers fluff up. She hated messing up her feathers as much as I hated messing up my hair, so I knew her warning was serious.
I stood and leaned over the wall, desperately willing my powers to return in time to prevent whatever it was Seimei sensed. Drake pointed his sword at the warrior hesitantly, only to freeze up. He couldn’t kill a man in cold blood.
The warrior moved in a flash to pull a metal object from around his neck, put it to his mouth, and blow on it. Many people in the crowd screamed, for although the sound wasn’t low pitched, high pitched, or loud, it was painful. Drake dropped to his knees and covered his ears.
I jumped over the wall before I knew what I was doing and hit the ground with a roll that propelled me right up onto my feet. I was running as the warrior retrieved his sword, but there was no way I could make it in time.
Fortunately, Seimei was faster. She flew over me, her great wings outstretched, and crushed the warrior beneath her. Her claws dug through his armor like cotton. The bell sounded, symbols spilled across the overhead, and the crowd screamed in outrage. I didn’t know if they were on our side or not, but they were not throwing things at us.
“I’m sorry,” Drake said, trying and failing to hold back tears and I took his arm and pulled him to his feet.
Seimei, covered in her victim’s blood, made an odd, loud chortling sound, reared up on her hind legs, and stretched her wings out wide. The crowd cheered enthusiastically.
“What is she doing?” Drake asked.
“I think she’s telling them we’ll win the next one. We only have to win two of the three battles.” The sound of our fans was cut off as we appeared in the room again.