by Zac Atie
”Alright.” Bastion said, stretching his arms. He could feel his magic start to become active, as it knew that fireballs would soon be erupting around his facial region. “Set up the defences.” Varnis said. Magi that were formerly training halted their performances, and five of them surrounded the arena, setting up shields. “When you link shields together, they become stronger.” Varnis said. “This is used in Magi fighting tactics all the time. This should protect everybody on the outside from any stray attacks.”
”When you’re ready, cometh at me.” Varnis said, taking an arrogant, casual stance. Bastion recalls his boxing training, and decides he’ll try and impress everybody by knocking Varnis out. Besides, Varnis didn’t have a deadly Arcana like the Pureblood did, so he won’t go worrying about having his head sliced clean off. Then images of the Pureblood’s death at Veronica’s hands rushed into his head. That was the first time he watched somebody die, though it happened instantly. Plus, Veronica using his Arcana against him, while he had no problem with it, is supposed to be a great offence… and she knows it, otherwise, why would she lie? Bastion didn’t think Veronica was a bad person, but he did think there was a lot to her that nobody knows… the fact that she’s acts like she’s an outcast, while she is obviously liked by the elder of the settlement? Such behaviour leads Bastion to believe that she likely has had a bad past. Suddenly, a explosion of air erupts to the left side of his head, bringing him back into reality. Varnis had his arm outstretches, and was pointing toward Bastion. “Focus, Sebastian. Don’t paddle away from reality, now.” Varnis said, smiling slightly. He was right, this was a fight, there was no time to think about irrelevant subjects. He raises his fists. The magic was ready now, and he felt as if it was fighting to overtake his body into action. He punches the air in front of him, in the direction of Varnis, and it was almost as if the air in front of him began to explode, piece by piece, speeding towards Varnis. There was probably maddening amounts of science going on in the air, but Bastion began to lose interest in science upon his discovery of his abilities. It didn’t look all that dangerous, but from Varnis’ expression and the fact that he dodged, he realized it was. Varnis lifted a boulder from behind him, and threw it at Bastion, though it wasn’t going very fast. However, it alarmed Bastion, therefore alarming his magic, and when it got close he reinforced his hand and punched the rock with all his might. However, the boulder didn’t erupt like he figured it would. He dented it, and the boulder, flew away from him, off to his right. The impact that wounded his hand, though it was minor. “Careful.” Varnis said. “You must look at attacks in a different perspective. You can see with your eyes, but you can also feel with your soul at the same time.” Bastion realised what he meant. If it was a normal boulder, he would have smashed it with magic, he knew that. Varnis had subtlety reinforced the boulder with magic. He’d need to be careful of that in the future. Bastion brought up a shield as Varnis conjured fire within his palm, and threw it. The fireball hit the shield, then another, then another. When they stopped, there was smoke in front of the shield, and Bastion put it down. Then, he saw a light through the smoke and realized what it was. Another fireball.
Bastion leaped into prone, dodging the fireball, then scrambled to his feet. Varnis was closer now, and Bastion races towards him, reinforced his hand and unleashing a thunderous blow to his jaw, trying to knock him out like he had done to a boy at school. Varnis had hardened his blood and skin behind his jaw, and the blow knocked him aback little, but he smiled mockingly as no damage had been done. Varnis then punched Bastion with a blow of his own, winding him, but his magic had made sure to harden the skin on his stomach, reducing the overall damage. The blow knocked him backwards, and he landed on his back. He peeked through his closed eyes and saw Varnis getting ready for another fireball, and in retaliation, Bastion shot an airball at Varnis, who blocked with his other hand. Bastion shot two airballs, with both hands, one at Varnis’ face, and one at his hand with the fireball it. Airballs did nothing but knock back an opponent, but it’s useful for when you’re vulnerable and being approached by an attacker. Varnis blocked the first airball, and moved his hand out of the way of the second, though the fire was blown out by the wind. Bastion rolls backwards, onto his feet, and Varnis runs at Bastion and kicks him, covering his foot with fire. Bastion dodges the kick, the streak of furious flame from the fire licking his face, then evaporating as it is lost after the failed connections. Bastion’s melee fighting skills are put into good use, as he blocks and connects with blows of his own. After two hits, Varnis’ face was void of sweat, but the damage was being nullified by hardened skin. Bastion had to increase the power in his fists if he was to win. The fight had brought the attention of Magi around the training arena, and was also being spectating by Veronica, who was slightly worried. As she watches the fight, she often wondered if she had Bastion wrong. Was he actually the son of a Cazrian, or a Domini? Why did she not consider that first? If she has this wrong, then Bastion is in trouble because of her. Then she almost gasps at what happened in the ring. Through the consecutive blows to Varnis’ face, Varnis realizes that if it keeps up, Bastion will knock him out. He almost chuckles that Bastion had actually surpassed even a single fighting technique past an elder. Varnis backed off, engulfed his foot with flame again, and then this time levitated water from a barrel and threw it at Bastion. Bastion simply shielded his eyes from the water, and planned to leap at Varnis right after the connection and knock him out, but the water was hot as hell. It burned him, and Bastion yelled in pain, and as he did that, Varnis firekicked him in his chest, small sparks of flame flying up onto Bastion’s face and down his shirt, sizzling on his skin and making him clench his teeth with irritation and pain. His confidence had blinded him as much as the water had, failing to catch the subtle enhancements of the projectiles. There was simply too much depth to magic that had been unexplored for Bastion to beat Varnis in this duel. The blow knocked Bastion all the way back, close to the edge of the platform.
His magic numbed the damage he had taken, from the hot water and fire, as well as the kick to the chest, though he still felt exhausted from it. The Magi clapped, which was not what humans would have done, to Bastion’s notice. Humans would have cheered, but the Magi applauded. Culture difference, perhaps? Did they see magic as a serious subject? Whatever the case, Bastion sat up, realizing that he was on the edge of the platform. He could simply roll off, and this fight would be over, as he knew he couldn’t win it… though winning wasn’t the point of this fight. The pain he felt from the damage he had sustained begged him to just end this fight, but he knew that it was actually his Magic trying to protect itself. He sums up the damage done to him, and the damage done to Varnis, and he sees a huge gap. The fight should be over, but Varnis isn’t calling for the bell to be rung. He was still active. “Your movements are predictable.” He hears Varnis say. Then, he paused. It didn’t sound like Varnis. The Accent was nothing like Varnis’, or any of the Magi that he’d met. He looks around the ring for the person who said it, but most of the viewers are talking with one another. The room was simply too noisy for one of them to have said it… and the voice was close by, very close by, and Varnis wasn’t that close. The voice also had a slight echo, and he could hear a familiar sound of waves. “You attack using tactics that many have seen before, through wars and meaningless contests throughout the universe.” The voice continued to say, as Bastion looks around for the man “The gap between your experience and skill is vast, like that of a tremor against an earthquake. One must not fight fair with odds like this, no matter how honourable one feels. It is a weakness, and it will be the death of you.”
”You mean, I have to cheat?” Bastion asks, hoping the voice could hear him. No answer, but he could still hear the slight sound of waves “But… That’s a dick move… I'm practically still a guest here, how would I look in front of everyone?”
”Why would one possibly care? The views between you and the Magi are completely different. Where one human
sees a deer, another sees food. Put aside petty delusions of honour, and rise to your feet.” The voice commands him. Even though he had never heard this voice in his life, he felt as if he should trust him. The accent and the sounds of waves were just far too familiar for him to just ignore it. “Look at you foe, Sebastian.” The voice says. Bastion looked at Varnis. Varnis was puzzled, and he was silent. He wasn’t ending the fight. “He is wary of you. You’re special. You’re something he has never seen before in his lengthy lifetime. You should be afraid. You may never leave here... unless you heed my words.”
”What do I do?” Bastion asked, getting to his feet, scanning the crowd for Veronica, who stands there looking on. He couldn’t tell what she felt while watching, since she looked on with an expressionless face. “One must think for oneself…” The voice said, as his voice began to fade into a whisper, as the waves dwindled away with it. “Scan your surroundings.” The voice said. Bastion looked around.
“You can still fight, boy!” Varnis said, chuckling. It was obvious he was forcing it. “Come, it’s not over yet.”
“Damnit, I don’t know what to do! Help me!” Bastion hissed at the voice, trying not to look crazy.
“Pathetic.” The voice said. “Look up…”
Bastion looked up at the ceiling, where he saw immediately what the voice was talking about. Near the glowing lights, he saw a weak point in the ceiling right above the arena. Most of the rocks above him were perfect, fused together, and wouldn’t ever give out. But there was a flaw among the rocks. If he closed his eyes, he could see that there were a batch of rocks that had a weak fusion between them, and damage to those rocks would cause some of them to give way and fall onto the arena. Around him, a magic barrier was placed, blocking all magic that hit it, but there was no ceiling to this Barrier. Spells must have been shot upwards, and damaged the rocks over the years. It’s likely Varnis would block the damage, and nobody would get hurt, but among the confusion he could win the battle while making it look like an accident. Such tactics made him sick actually thinking about it, though he took part of what the voice said into check. He had to stop being predictable, do something that is unpredictable and that Varnis would not see coming. The answer was among what he was looking at on the ceiling. “You want me to attack the rocks, huh?” Bastion asked the voice. The voice said nothing, but the waves were still there, so it obviously heard. “Alright.” Bastion said, stretching.
”I thought you were going to forfeit for a moment there.” Varnis said. “You are sure you wish to continue?”
”Yeah, no problem.” Bastion said, confident.
”Thus the battle resumes.” Varnis said, casting fire at Bastion. Bastion blocks with a shield, then draws mana, not from the pillars in the main room, like everybody else, but from above. Whenever you draw mana, there’s no limit to how much you can draw, but if you keep drawing past a certain limit, you waste the mana that you’re drawing, since it basically fades away. He continues drawing from all the lights, till the glow fades and cuts out. The room is full of darkness, and the Magi gasp in shock. He senses that Varnis and the magi are drawing mana from the pillar to illuminate light, and the crystals above will soon be back on to light up the area, so, in the darkness, he closes his eyes and begins to cast Odin, the lightning spell. While his eyes are closed, he can see the exact location of Varnis, who had illuminated a small radius around him by lighting a ball of light in his hands. As he intensifies it, Bastion fires the lightning toward him, and it crackles and soars through the air. Varnis drops the ball and puts up a shield, but before the grids have finished piecing together, it penetrates a small hole in the middle of the shield just as it was about to come together, electrifying Varnis. Varnis clenches his teeth and tries to roar in pain as the electricity shocks his body, making it spasm uncontrollably. As the lights around the room, from the gems and the mages, lit up the room, the audience gasped, seeing their elder being beaten by such an inexperienced child. As Bastion’s hopes rose, Varnis released an explosive amount of energy from within him, shorting out and arcing away the lightning and knocking away any debris or objects that had surrounded him. Bastion fell backward from the force of Varnis’ magic, but he maintained his footing. He was momentarily dazed by the blow, and his vision was not up to par. He rubs at his eyes, and slowly his senses piece back together like a jigsaw puzzle. He sees Varnis walking towards him, but being a good PE student, he knows if he tries to make any fast movements in this state, he’ll end up making his dizziness far worse. Perhaps even to the point where he is knocked out. He raises his hands to cast a shield, but he has trouble connecting with the pillar, and before he can focus and make the connection. Varnis grabs Bastion’s hand. Bastion groans uses his other hand to try and break Varnis’ grip, but as he looks up he sees Varnis begin to conjure fire in his hand. Dozens of possible outcomes run through Bastion’s head as he sees Varnis’ cold look, and the intent to harm, and he panics trying to draw magic again. He ends up trying to swing for Varnis, to no effect. The room was as silent as a graveyard, but unbeknownst to Bastion, the Magi were actually looking on expectantly, as if this the key point in the fight. Bastion continues to flail, but then submits, and looks on at Varnis in terror… then… the flame in his hand goes out, and he releases Bastion from his grasp. “That’s enough.” Varnis said, turning to the crowd who was murmuring at the match they had just seen, whispering theories and statements such as ‘The boy was not bad’ and ‘Varnis has not dulled with age’. The Magi did not have to be told to get back to work, and they turned off to continue practice, or leave the room, dispersing and leaving a single being looking on at the stage as she had the whole time, Veronica. Bastion had never been so confused in his life.
Veronica came up onto the platform where a brooding Bastion clambers his way to his feet. The defeat had bothered him slightly, and he shudders with humility and embarrassment when he thinks of how he must have looked struggling like that in the final moments of the fight. He turned to face Veronica as she approached him alongside Varnis, though looking her in the eye was difficult. This was one of his fears, to be beaten in a fight in front of his friends, though most of that fear came from how Talia would react if she was present. But Veronica wasn’t Talia, she was calm and her eyes were not judging Bastion. She saw his distress right away. “There’s no way you could have won… you put up a far better fight than I did when I joined.” Veronica said
”I'm sorry for how the fight played out… it’s a formality when accepting sorcerers into the Blue Magi…” Varnis said.
“Humiliation is a formality, then?” Bastion asked, bitter.
“Drop the pride, Bastion.” Veronica sighed.
“Each race has certain… bonus attributes when fighting with magic. In the last moments of that fight, you gave off the impression you were merely human. You panicked when you thought your life was in danger, whereas a Domini would have become enraged, or a Cazrian would have kept his cool. Not all creatures of the universe share human nature. Humans have evolved knowing and feeling fear to protect themselves. Throughout the fight, there were no hints that you had any training of any kind, or had seen other races fight.” He says, pausing. Bastion takes this time to take a peek at Veronica, who had moved her gaze away from Bastion for that moment. “Plus, you have obviously been spending time at earthen fighting classes, that much was apparent.”
”Yeah. Boxing and Japanese sword fighting.” Bastion said.
”Sword fighting may be of some use.” Varnis said. “Magi don’t use guns. They’re usually useless against us, due to our shield and the fact that bullets can be reflected elsewhere, including back at the aggressor, so it’s usually not a good idea… Not for human guns, anyhow.”
“What, bullets can’t hurt you?” Bastion asked. “That seems a bit ridiculous to believe.”
“Aye, I suppose it is.” Veronica said. “An unsuspecting Magi would easily be killed by a bullet from a gun, but a mere child could easily protect themselves from bulle
ts if they knew they were coming. Most Magi children are taught at a young age how to defend themselves against bullets by creating a disintegration field around their body. That way, small projectiles of any kind would quickly be absorbed by the field and torn apart. The bullet would be reduced to dust before hitting the body.”
”So… what now?” Bastion asks, flinching from the pains on his body.
”Well… Veronica will heal you, and you can do whatever you like for the rest of the day. Training will begin tomorrow. You’ll be taught many things, such as using magic effectively and severing your magic’s instincts. I’ll come by later to take your blood.” Varnis said.
“M...My blood!? What do you mean?” Bastion asked, as images from scary vampire movies entered his head.
“Each recruit has to submit a vial of blood to Rhenium, as well as their details. To track you down if you turn rogue.” Varnis said. “It’s not a choice thing.”
“Alright...” Bastion said, reluctantly.
“I bid you both good day.” Varnis said, and with that, Varnis turned and began to return to whatever duties he had before Veronica had brought Bastion to him. “That’ll be all.” Bastion sighed from his wounds, and Veronica could almost feel the distress radiating from him. “It’s all right” Veronica said, putting a hand close to his chest where most of the damage was. “There won’t even be much of a trace of pain after I heal you up. You may feel a little achy, especially in the morning… but you’ll walk it off.” Bastion felt the pain begin to fade, though it felt as if it left behind a mark. He could almost still feel the impact the kick had, just with no pain. It was as if the pain came in a bag form, and inside the bag was the pain, and once the wound is healed, the bag remains, but the pain is gone from within. “Do you regret coming here?” Veronica asked, expecting to be disappointed.