Terico blinked a couple times, then found Areo was already closing in on Krug. She jabbed her claws at him, then pounced for his head as he dodged her attacks. Krug leaped back, then leaned forward and ran beneath Areo, who tried swiping her claws into the back of Krug’s head.
Krug turned around as Areo landed. Areo immediately spun around and lunged for him again. Krug ran back and raised his white Nexi. The blast of white light he emitted lasted several seconds, and it took a couple seconds longer for Terico’s eyes to adjust enough to see again. He looked back to the field and saw Krug had put several meters’ distance between him and Areo during the whiteout.
A stream of water erupted from Krug’s Nexi stone, colliding directly with Areo’s stomach. She fell back a couple meters before sliding across the ground, leaving a bloody mess across the dirt floor. The water dissipated, and Krug cast a wide grin out to the audience. It took a couple more seconds for most of the vampiric audience to recover from the prolonged blast of light, at which point a wave of gasps and quiet chattering filled the arena. The question everyone was asking was obvious—how was Krug using a dark blue Nexi, when he was just using a white one?
Jenba stood up and raised his hands in the air. “What’s going on here?”
“Did he sneak in a second Nexi stone?” Terico asked.
A crazed look on his face, Jenba looked down to Terico. “That’s supposed to be impossible. The contestants are always inspected to make sure there’s no foul play. The judges would find a hidden Nexi right away.”
Terico watched as Areo struggled to get back to her feet, one arm draped over her stomach. She fell back to her knees, struggling to breathe.
Areo’s mentor Nivakil stood up, his blind eyes directed toward the table at the end of the field. A moment later, an older-looking vampire from the judges’ stand arose.
“What is this?” the judge yelled. “Only one Nexi stone per candidate is allowed.”
Not far from Nivakil stood a tall, young-looking woman with long, light blue hair. “My pupil is using only one stone, of course. Krug has such a deep connection with Nexi, that he is capable of altering the color and ability of every stone he wields.” Her name was Hidif, Terico remembered. She carried a strong voice which pierced through the whisperings of the crowd, and seemed to hold herself in a self-confidence even greater than Krug’s. She was hauntingly beautiful, dressed in a fine, orange and yellow silk dress—and she likely had the power to back up her air of authority, too.
Krug held up his dark blue Nexi stone for all to see, then wiped his left hand across its smooth, glowing surface. After giving the stone a few rubs, Krug slid his hand away to reveal the deep red glow of a red Nexi. The crowds gasped, and for a moment Terico wondered himself if this was a legitimate ability some people could have. His gut instinct was telling him there was a likelier explanation to this, however.
“As you can see,” Hidif continued, “none of the rules have been broken. Krug utilizes a single Nexi stone, yet is not limited to a single magical ability. He is easily my strongest pupil, and likely the strongest contender for the Rite in at least three centuries.” Terico could hardly stand this woman’s dialogue. Especially when she carried the posture and expression of a sadist.
Krug rubbed the stone again, turning it back into a dark blue. Crowds of vampires applauded vigorously, impressed with what appeared to be a whole new world of potential—a power entirely unheard of.
“Very well,” the judge said, sitting back down. “Finish the match.”
Krug’s mentor turned to Nivakil and flashed a long, pleasant smile at him. Areo’s mentor simply sat back down, his irritated expression unchanging.
Terico looked back to Krug, who walked casually toward Areo. She stood back up and flexed her claws—she was still going to fight. How she was going to keep Krug from impaling her in this state, Terico couldn’t imagine.
It’s too suspicious, though, Terico thought. Changing the stone back to dark blue again... Why not just keep it red? Perhaps... perhaps even while it was red, it was still actually a dark blue Nexi.
The realization hit him—a memory of a page from one of Mother’s herbology books. There was a rare leaf called chralthis that could be rubbed on a Nexi stone to temporarily change its color. Con artists would sometimes use it to make everyday Nexi such as red and dark blue appear to be rare stones that would fetch a much higher price. Of course they’d be found out within the hour, but if they were traveling they could sometimes get away with it.
I’d bet half the farms in Fiefs that Hidif gave Krug some chralthis in order to fool everyone, Terico thought. The stone he has now is a dark blue one, which his mentor probably threw to him while everyone was blinded by the four, five seconds of white light. Those vampire elites confiscating everyone’s Nexi stones likely wouldn’t have asked her to give up her Nexi. If anything, they’re all working together, and their task was to make it appear impossible that anyone could have given Krug another Nexi.
So Krug likely had his white Nexi up his sleeve, or managed to throw it to his master during the whiteout. Either way, Terico knew he’d be able to prove their foul play—but would an arena of vampires listen to him in the middle of the match? He had been warned to not stir up any trouble, and Areo was adamant about needing to win on her own. Terico wasn’t sure if she would be able to under these circumstances, though.
Areo side-stepped each of Krug’s jabs toward her heart, avoiding what Terico understood to be the most effective way of killing vampires, save from a complete beheading. Though Areo was bleeding and badly beaten, she was still quick enough to avoid Krug’s attacks, and was still able to read his movements without seeing them. Playing this defensively wasn’t going to win her the match though, and it was only a matter of time before she wore herself out.
With a flick of her Nexi stone, Areo forced another arm of hardened dirt to burst from the ground and reach for her opponent. Krug turned and blasted the arm to bits with a jet of water from his Nexi, then continued the blast toward Areo. She forced a large, thick mound of earth to emerge in front of her, deflecting the highly pressurized water.
Before Terico could realize it, Areo was suddenly within striking distance of Krug. She slit his neck, but Krug pushed her back and proceeded to claw at her wildly. He scraped across her right thigh, down her chest, and across the left side of her face. Instead of pulling back, Areo slammed into Krug, jabbing several claws into his chest. In the process, she got almost all of Krug’s claws impaled through her stomach, the bloody ends of the claws poking out her back. She headbutted Krug and pushed out of his claws, nearly falling back to the ground in a dizzy nausea. Her entire body was dripping with blood, and she had to keep an arm wrapped around her stomach.
Screaming, Krug lifted up his Nexi stone, which was white again. Or rather, was the white one he had used before, Terico imagined. A burst of light emanated from the stone, again lasting a few seconds longer than was typical.
When the light faded away, Terico saw Krug was wielding a green Nexi. Again, the crowds thought he had shifted the white stone’s power to that of a green one—but Terico was almost certain Krug was just getting new ones from his mentor while everyone was blinded.
Krug aimed the stone for Areo. She ran toward Krug, but struggled against her injuries and the intense light of Krug’s white Nexi, which likely still pierced through her bandana to some degree. Before Areo could reach him, Krug caused vines to fling out from his stone and wrap around Areo’s body. The vines bound her tight, forcing her legs together and her arms and claws flat against her sides. She struggled to tear through the vines with her claws, but Krug continued to create more and more vines to warp around her, keeping Areo from being able to even move them.
Another arm of dirt emerged from the ground behind Krug. He turned and leaped away from the giant hand’s attempt to grab him. Krug avoided each of the earth arm’s attacks, then used a brief opening to tear apart the hardened dirt with his free clawed hand. Areo trie
d creating another arm of dirt, but it didn’t hold. The tan Nexi stone was a difficult one to wield, and it was probably a miracle Areo had been able to use it at all in her current state. She would have been dead had she been anything but a vampire, of course—but she still surely felt the pain of what would have been fatal injuries for most anyone else.
“At last, it’s over!” Krug yelled, his voice gurgling with blood leaking from his neck. He flung Areo up a bit and caused his Nexi’s vines to hold her upside-down. With a flick of his wrist, he raised her a little more so that her neck was level with Krug’s raised free hand. He was going to slice straight through her neck—cut her head off entirely.
Jenba stood up, his mouth open. Terico stared breathless as Krug pulled his arm back, readying his swing for Areo’s neck. The entire arena turned silent.
And Areo grinned.
Krug thrust his claws to Areo’s neck. In one sudden movement, Areo scrunched her body up and tilted her head down toward her chest. Krug’s longest claw flung into Areo’s mouth. She clamped her teeth on the claw and jerked her head to the side hard. The claw snapped clean in half, its pop echoing across the arena.
Krug stumbled backward, screaming from the pain. Areo immediately worked the claw end in her mouth so she could slice it across the vines binding her. In three jerky, difficult motions with her head, she worked the snapped claw against the vines enough to free one of her arms enough. Once able to move her arm, she tore apart the vines with her own claws, making light work of them in seconds.
Krug caused more vines to entangle her, but Areo was quick to claw away at them. In a sheer frenzy, Areo ripped through Krug’s attacks and clawed at his face. He slipped back, screaming, but Areo continued to push through his continual onslaught of vines.
Areo jabbed a claw through the web of vines straight through Krug’s right hand, forcing him to drop his Nexi. She sliced through the remaining vines and lunged toward Krug as he instinctively clenched his impaled hand. Krug swung his claws at Areo as she approached. She dropped to the ground and swung a leg against the back of Krug’s legs, tripping him backward. With a flick of her wrist upward, a thin stalagmite of earth erupted out of the ground directly behind her opponent. Krug fell directly on top of its pointed end, which burst straight through his back and out his chest.
He lay atop of the stalagmite, motionless, his heart impaled.
For several long seconds, the masses watched to see if Krug would move. Areo fell to her hands and knees, her strength utterly spent. She crawled up to Krug and jabbed all her claws into his neck. All at once, she twisted her claws into different directions, ripping off Krug’s head entirely.
Terico gazed in silent awe as Areo drank freely from the blood pouring from Krug’s severed neck. Many of those in attendance cheered and applauded Areo’s victory, but Terico could only stare.
Areo stood up and faced the audience on Terico’s side of the arena. Her clothes were tattered and torn, and her body was covered in splotches of blood—yet there wasn’t a single wound on her body. Her face, torso, arms, legs—every centimeter of her was free of the deep gashes and holes Krug had driven into her. The blood she drank had healed her... regenerated her.
She looked up to Terico and Jenba and slipped off her bandana. Her eyes closed against the bright light of the mangroves, and a weary smile spread across her face.
A part of Terico was impressed by her resilience and tenacity.
Another part of him felt terror.
5
The Downward Spiral
At Terico’s insistence, Areo checked in Krug’s sleeves to find a white Nexi, a dark blue Nexi, and the chralthis leaf used to temporarily change the color of the water Nexi stone. After a brief explanation regarding how Krug ended up with three Nexi stones, the judges were quick to send guards to Hidif’s location. The mentor was quick to slip away, however, lost amidst the upset crowds in seconds. Terico noticed that the elite vampires who stole his Nexi stones went conveniently missing as well.
In the end, the match satisfied the majority of the audience, though many were still visibly upset about the turn of events regarding Krug and his mentor. The prospect of a vampire who could change the properties of a Nexi stone ended up too good to be true, to the disappointment of many others.
What mattered to Terico though was that Areo got through the match alive, which left him needing to simply get to her and send her back to Febraz before any elites decided to take out their anger on her. He watched as the judges presented her with a sickly pink Nexi stone, presumably for her to wield in order to live in the sunlight. There wasn’t much more to the ceremony than that, and the crowds began to disperse as soon as all the judges stood up to leave.
Terico followed Jenba down to the torn-up field of the arena, cautious to walk around the holes Areo had formed with her tan Nexi. When Jenba reached Areo, they each nodded and shook hands. Terico thought it a bit odd how formal they were being about such a momentous occasion, but knew better than to question their ways.
Their mentor approached from behind, his eyes staring blankly past Areo. “You succeeded.”
Areo turned around and looked down to Nivakil, who stood just slightly shorter than her. “Yes.”
“Given the circumstances,” Nivakil said, “most would probably say your victory was quite surprising.”
“Most likely,” Areo said. “The judges likely expected Krug to win from the start.”
“They are all fools,” Nivakil said. “Your victory was not surprising at all. I never doubted you would win.”
Jenba leaned back in shock. “What? Are you serious, master?”
Nivakil simply stared back, his face like an empty void. Terico had the feeling that this man was always serious.
“I’m just surprised, is all,” Jenba said. “You always tell us to never count on anything.”
“You should always fight this way, yes,” Nivakil said. “If you take your enemy for granted, no matter how weak he may appear to be, you will let your guard down and suffer from careless mistakes. I’ve trained your sister to fight this way since lesson one, and it’s been clear for some time now how important winning this Rite was to her.”
Areo gave Nivakil a light bow. “I owe my victory to your training, master.”
“Yes,” Nivakil said, “and you have put into practice every aspect of my counsel. You are ready to travel the world as you see fit.”
Jenba looked surprised by his mentor’s comments, and Terico gathered that praise escaped Nivakil’s mouth only on the rarest of occasions.
It made Terico think of his father for a moment. He was a bit like that, too.
“Make me proud, Areo,” Nivakil said.
In his head, Terico could hear his father say, “Make me proud, Terico.” It was a moment that took him away from his present worries, and it left him feeling out of place in this vampiric city.
In this entire world.
“I will,” Areo said.
Jenba sighed and folded his arms. “I will... miss you, big sister.”
Terico still thought it sounded strange for this middle-aged man to be calling Areo his older sister.
“I will see you again,” Areo said. “I just wish to see more of the world for a time.” She turned to Terico and tilted her head to the side a bit. “I imagine my father is anxious to see me, at least.”
Terico nodded. “He made it abundantly clear that I needed to bring you back to him.”
“I suppose that means we’ll be traveling together a while,” Areo said.
“Not too long,” Terico said. He held up the mark on his wrist. “This will magically send us to Febraz’s tent in an instant.”
Areo’s eyes widened. “He marked you?” She shut her eyes and palmed her forehead. “He really goes too far sometimes...”
There wasn’t much to argue there.
Areo opened her eyes again and placed her hands on her hips. “I apologize for the... inconvenience. I hope this hasn’t troubled you too g
reatly.”
Terico wanted to say it wasn’t a big deal, but that wouldn’t be very truthful. Febraz separated him from Jujor and the Elpis fragment at a very inopportune moment. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
“I do thank you again though,” Areo said. “I’ll go pack my things, and then you can be on your way again.”
“And make sure you change your clothes,” Nivakil said. He looked Areo up and down, which was odd, considering his blindness. “You’re an unsightly mess... Not to mention the indecent exposure laws you’re nearly breaking.”
Areo folded her arms across her chest while Jenba fell into a fit of laughter.
Terico insisted he go with Areo back to her house, just to keep good on his promise to make sure she got back to Febraz safely. While Areo got ready to leave, Terico waited with Jenba and Nivakil in the entry room of the tiny home. It was a small, unassuming place, with no sign of decoration or embellishment anywhere. There was a fireplace and a pot sitting on a small table, which had a battered chair on either side of it. But not much else.
It didn’t take long for Areo to come back with a small bag that, for all Terico knew, held all her worldly possessions. She wore an outfit very similar to the one she had for the Rite, though this wasn’t torn or stained in blood. Her skin and hair were wiped free of any blood as well.
“Anything more to deal with here before you leave?” Nivakil asked.
“No, everything’s gone,” Areo said. “Someone will be moving in tomorrow.”
Apparently she had been planning for some time to leave this life behind her. It was a sentiment Terico felt he understood, considering the turn of events of his past week. It was strange to see other people’s lives changing as much as his, but there was also something reassuring about it, somehow.
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