Page 20

“I yield!” Meridith cried out. She fell to the ground and crawled to her sister. “Did you do this?” Meredith cradled her sister’s head.

“No. I found her like this before you came. I swear.” Lilith felt sad as she watched the sisters. “I have to ask. Who hurt your head?”

Meridith whimpered as she brushed the hair out of her sister’s face. “I ran into Amir.”

“I’m sorry, for what it’s worth. I don’t relish this feeling of hurting those I like,” Lilith said to her.

“We knew what this was.” Meridith refocused on her sister. “Take the hallway to the right. I came from the left.”

Okay. Amir, Meridith, Meira, and Nym are out.

Ten rivals remain. Lilith felt like she was burning from the inside.

So far, her mana reserves were in good supply.

She wondered why she was feeling so terrible.

Perhaps it was nerves? This was too intense for a friendly competition .

She made the decision to follow the right.

Meridith could have led her to a trap, but it didn’t matter much.

Lost in her thoughts, she accidentally set off a trap of flying ice arrows and had to make a shield of fire.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement.

She twirled and braced her fire shield. A huge ball of water clashed into her shield. They sizzled each other out.

She made out his white hair and red eyes.

Cosmo. An arrow of fire shot towards her.

Lilith dodged the strike and fired her own arrows of ice.

Flames shot out in front of her, dissolving the ice.

He moved with grace and agility, flying towards her using his mana to gain speed.

He showed none of this speed throughout their training with Mistress Rhodes.

Could it have been a front? She braced herself in a defensive position and formed a short ice sword just as Cosmo slashed out with his own ice dagger.

He swiped at her face and knocked the sword out of her hand.

He was fast. Too fast. She encased her fist in flames and caught his dagger in her hands.

It sliced her, but melted it quickly. He formed another dagger and they fell into a short rhythm of her melting the daggers while he struck with new ones.

Her hands were covered in small slices as they moved around the narrow hallway.

A pool of water and blood formed underneath them.

She knew he was gaining an advantage over her.

Cosmo has been hiding a secret, one that would soon tip the balance in his favour.

He smiled at the cuts and blood dripping down her hands.

He licked his lips and smiled, the pupils of his eyes blown out.

Lilith saw a little coin shaped marker a stone between her feet.

She let him come closer, melting more of his ice so the water covered up the stone, hoping he wasn't paying that close of attention.

His eyes beamed with delight as he raised his hands in front of him.

This was it, he's going to attack , she thought.

As his feet stepped between the marker, Lilith shot her foot between his and pressed.

The little clicking sound made him pause, as Lilith sprung further backwards out of the way.

Three blasts of fire shot out from the sides, where Cosmo was standing.

He quickly put up a shield of water to douse the flame.

This gave Lilith the opening she was looking for and ran to body checked him, charged with her electricity.

He yelled as he crashed to the ground and seized while laying in the pool of bloody water.

Lilith, impervious to electricity, reached her hand to him, and as she reclaimed her energy, his body stilled and succumbed to slumber. That was too close.

Her hands were covered in slices and little droplets of blood trailed down her skin.

Adrenaline masked the stinging feeling, so she tore off some of her shirt and wrapped her hands.

She had to keep moving. The small white orb flickered gently in the corner.

I hope they’re enjoying the entertainment, she thought bitterly.

What is the point of all this? She briefly hoped her next opponent would end things quickly.

No. She wouldn't be beaten without a good fight.

She kept a short dagger of ice tucked into her boot.

This had to be wrapping up soon. Using her tiny flame, she made her way down another corridor.

At the end was a ramp that had banks of sand covering it.

She hugged the wall as she ascended, as there may be traps or someone lurking waiting to attack.

She had finally made her way into the main arena.

It had transformed from a barren open area into its own labyrinth.

Tall corridors of stone surrounded her, and the sand made it harder to walk.

It was all very disorienting. She heard and felt the rumblings of stone.

The wall in front of her disappeared revealing a startled looking Felicia.

“I was hoping not to run into you,” Felicia said. Like Lilith, she was covered in cuts.

“Who have you run into?” Lilith questioned.

Felicia gave her a small smile. “Juniper and Ruven. I passed Nero and Verrona as well. You?”

“Meridith, Nym, Cosmo. Meira and Amir are also out.”

“At most there could be six of us left. Well, five after we’re through,” Felicia stated.

Lilith mentally listed off Taran, Storm, Orin, and Silver as potential competitors.

Only the strongest were left, which filled Lilith with pride.

She made it this far. Felicia gave her a polite nod and then went for the first strike.

She held a long ice sword. Lilith quickly rolled out of her way, but felt the sword sliced shallowly on her thigh.

Her body felt numb to the pain, yet she fell to her knees.

Her fingers clenched in the sand as she let out a cry of frustration.

Felicia pounced on Lilith, her sword poised above her head.

At the last second, Lilith threw sand into Felicia’s eyes and grabbed her small dagger from her boot.

Felicia cried out and rubbed her eyes, desperately trying to keep them open.

They collided and fell into each other onto the ground.

Lilith held her dagger above Felicia’s chest and felt flicker of hesitation.

How far will this go? I cannot stop, Lilith thought.

Felicia blindly formed a ball of fire with her free hand to sear Lilith’s side, causing Lilith to cry out in pain. The flame suddenly relinquished.

“I yield!” Felicia cried. “I yield. I do not want this. You will never surrender and I do not wish to keep hurting my friend. What are we doing?”

“I am sorry.” Lilith immediately stopped her assault. She moved off of Felicia and sank to her seat. “I cannot surrender. I just can’t.”

“You have more to prove than I. You stubborn fool.” Felicia sat up.

“It would seem. Although, I don’t think I’ll last much longer.” Lilith said as she pulled Felicia up.

“Then give them a good show.” Felicia gave her a small smile and hunched herself against the nearest wall. Lilith returned her smile and stalked ahead.

The walls rumbled and slowly disappeared as the arena forced the competitors together.

She could see Storm battling Taran and not far away, Silver sparring Orin.

Storm emitted bolts of electricity. Taran was on the defence, dodging the blows and countering with blasts of air.

Sand was showering down on them. Silver held a long sword and a shield, both made of stone.

He was warding off Orin’s stone axe. Lilith was the odd one out.

She had better chances with Taran, than going against the others.

She gave herself some time to draw up as much mana as she could.

In her right hand, inspired by Orin, she made a sword of stone, in her left she made a light round shield encased in ice.

She ran for Storm while he had his back to her and swung her sword.

With unbelievable speed, Storm deflected her blow and rebounded with a force of energy.

She braced herself, her ice shield splintering from the force.

Taran hit her with a spike of fire. It grazed and burned her arm.

Something released within her. That sickening feeling she felt before disappeared in an instant and in its stead was an uncontrolled blaze of rage and fury.

She didn’t want to compete, but she also didn’t want to back down.

She had to prove to herself that she was still worthy despite her disadvantage.

The world seemed to blur as her pulse quickened.

She absorbed the next fire strike and swirled it around herself.

The intoxicating pull of her anger drowned out any thoughts or feelings.

She forced a gust of air around her and amplified the fire.

It spun into a tornado of flame and sand.

Gone was her rational self: what stood at the centre of the rising swirl was a vessel of power.

The other competitors had to stop fighting to protect themselves from the frenzy of her attack.

Within the swirl, Lilith looked at her wrists.

Her runes were glowing and they were fading in and out on her skin.

She walked forwards through the wind, fire and sand and raised her stone sword.

Her fire licked her skin, but did not burn her.

It engulfed the sword and lit it aflame.

She looked to Silver, who had his two hands braced in front of his face.

She jumped and soared towards him, her sword poised to strike.

His body flew back upon impact, colliding with a wall.

Lilith rounded on her next target. She attacked Taran, who looked at her with wide eyes, her tornado of fire still whirling behind her.

“What are you?” he asked.

She drove forward, battering him with her sword of flaming stone, until she felt the force of electricity being thrown at her.

She turned and slowly faced Storm. Grinning at him with savage madness, she extended her fingers and claimed his electricity.

Her skin ignited as she assimilated all of Storm’s magical force.

He slumped to the ground gasping for air.

What he saw in her eyes was not of this world.

Sparks of lightning flared around her eyes.

She was done playing this game. She would be no one's pawn.

Her gaze drifted from the competitors to the spectators.

A crowd of faces watched with horror and dread.

She smelled their fear, it had a hint of sweetness that drove her senses wild.

Ice blue eyes filled with awe stood out from the rest. My beautiful goddess, a voice that was dark and soothing called to her.

She felt amazing. The runes glowed brightly under her shirt.

They were fading in and out. She felt power, a dip into the endless well of mana.

She stopped and stretched her hands before her.

What’s going on? She felt too hot. Too charged.

Her blood boiled beneath her skin. Somewhere around her, a deep loud voice echoed.

His words were a vice on her mind. She let out a blood curdling scream and suddenly everything went black.