Going down the river, Velvet paid special attention to the things over her head: the treetops, the glass windows of the empty buildings, or simply mages flying with a broom.

She could be ambushed by the sides, yes, but the river made her move around too much, which would hinder any surprise attack from those places.

But upside was a bit trickier to control, the reason why she kept looking to those places.

Swish!

The sudden movement behind a window proved her point, when several long snakes downed on her.

Velvet jumped, pulling the umbrella from under her, replacing it for a block of ice. She blocked the snakes with the umbrella, and made two paper figurines jump to the window where the enemy was, exploding.

The snakes reacted by coiling their bodies around the enemy mage, protecting them from the explosions.

Velvet used that moment to pull out a broom, flying away at top speed.

The enemy mage made a tsk sound, but didn’t give chase, choosing to leave and abandon the ambushing position for another.

That was the modus operandi of single mages.

Either ambush or be ambushed, but resolve the fight quickly or run away, before a stronger mage or a team showed up to pick twice the spoils.

And soon enough, not even two minutes had passed before a stone box, adorned with intricate motifs and a heavy stone door grew from the walls of a building. The door opened, and three mages stepped out.

Unfortunately for them, the mages who collided had already left.

…

Velvet had no intention of stopping to fight, at least not until she teamed up with the others. Knowing when to refuse a combat was part of being a mage, and running away didn’t carry a penalty in the Arena.

The only thing that mattered were the mages who lasted until the end. From the 156 novice mages accepted this year, only the top 30 would enjoy monthly benefits from the Mergifari, even more the top 10.

When one was a mage worth nurturing, offers, friendship and secret information came on their own. Velvet was somewhat interested in the archives who could only be accessed for official mages, or high ranking novices.

In short, depending on which position a novice mage held after the Opening Arena, a tier would be assigned to them.

From 1 to 10: Top Tier mages, the ones more worth nurturing.

From 11 to 30: High Tier mages, the best after the best.

From 31 to 50: Middle Tier mages, it was a good rating, but, from this point on, there were no benefits from the Mergifari.

After position number 51, the mage was already Low Tier, or average. They still managed to enter the Mergifari, so there was that.

Every year there was another Arena to reassign positions. That’s why Velvet's original plan involved being Low Tier for the first year, before trying to increase her tier in the next. As a knowledge mage, having a full year to know her fellow mages before confronting them was better than going blindly the first time. Better as in: having actual chances.

But Kartal and Syon threw that plan down the drain. Oh, well.

Kartal wanted Syon at least in High Tier, so they had to hold until 126 mages were out.

126… Velvet repeated the number in her mind, making a gloomy expression. It was a number too big when talking about mages.

And, fifteen of those mages were really out to harm Syon. Fourteen, actually.

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She arrived at the city’s zone end, and finally entered the forest.

…

Silva ran through the stone maze. His partner was close, just around the corner.

There. He had found her.

“Hert.” He called. The girl was looking around a corner opposite from him, slightly jumping when he said her name.

“Shh!” She ordered, making a panicked face. “A strong mage is around!” Taking a few steps backwards, she got away from the corner.

Walking towards her, he pressured. “Who? Igern? Dianthus?” He tilted his head, trying to remember any other dangerous mage. “The Siberetti?”

Once he was just behind her, Hert turned to face him. “Does it matter?” Her face cracked, all the way until the back of her head.

Snap.

Silva tried to take a step back. Too slowly. Too late.

Hert’s head cracked open like an egg, an enormous number of root-like vines exploding towards him, grabbing and coiling around his face, arms, legs and neck, choking him.

He tried to resist futilely, but the ‘fight’ was over before it began. He had fallen into a trap, completely.

His vision went dark, and he exited the Arena.

‘Hert’ raised her hands, grabbed the parted pieces of her head, and closed it like a box. The vines went back inside, making bulging, slithering protrusions under the face’s skin.

‘Hert’ was slowly changing, getting taller.

The hand that held the head lowered, pulling a pocket mirror out, and went back to reflect the face. With care, Gertine caressed the still moving worm-like protrusions, leveling and calming them.

Then, she went back to the corner she was peeking from before. There, on the other side of the maze, a mage was tied up by vines. Gertine ordered the plants, who choked the mage until she was too, like her companion, out.

Even if she was a lust mage, her family was mostly from the Knowledge Paradigm. They knew which mages had teamed up in groups of two, and which were easier to take out using the companion as bait.

Mages who were teamed up with their romantic partner or with a deep friend were the easiest, even more when she, a lust mage, affected their emotions with just her presence. Her Paradigm made mages more desirous, as if she put pink tinted glasses over their eyes.

And, like with pink tinted glasses, any red flag became just a flag.

Gertine closed the pocket mirror, putting it on her pocket, before sighing.

“I can sense you.” She spoke to the air.

Steps came from around the corner, before another mage walked out.

Hm… Gertine went over the list of participants. She wasn’t a knowledge mage, so she had to use artifacts and spells for memorizing stuff.

“Drifa Kroschei. Tyranny Paradigm, from Idir’s Second Prince’s Team.” She said, smiling softly when Drifa tensed upon hearing it, stopping in her tracks.

“Those vines… were you at the Market Arena?” She asked. She had seen how those vines dealt with the mages, and she remembered losing in a similar manner.

“I don’t go to those places.” Gertine answered. Still, she was an ambush mage, not a fighting mage, and she wanted to prevent having to fight Drifa. The reason? She would lose. “You’re Velvet’s teammate, aren’t you?”

“How do you kn-”

“We are friends.” Gertine said, smiling in a mysterious manner, as if they had some strange relationship, and she was using ‘friends’ as a placeholder. “Tell her Gertine sends her regards.”

She then turned around and left with confidence, not looking back. She was putting all her trust in Velvet’s place on that team, and in the idea that her cryptic way of speaking had created an enigmatic figure in Drifa’s mind, making her subconsciously refuse to confront her.

And it worked! Gertine sensed Drifa staying in place for a minute, before shaking her head and leaving in another direction.

She let out a deep breath, her ‘enigmatic’ smile disappearing.

That was a close call. She thought. If the mage she had crossed wasn’t Drifa, but someone else instead, she would have ended up in a losing fight.

I will have to show my gratitude to Velvet after this. Maybe some dried flowers for decorating her hat would do the trick.

Gertine left the mazes. She shouldn’t linger in the same spot too much time, unless she wanted to become the prey. Unknown to her, just as she left, someone else entered from the opposite side.

Bermu Coaltheno, followed by Vina Tarius, two of the mages tasked with hunting Syon.

They looked at the stone path.

“Is this the center?” Bermu asked.

“No, but it's close.” Vina walked ten steps into the maze, “Here. This is the center.”

Bermu followed her, and, once she stopped, he laid against a wall. “Hm.”

“Don’t ‘hm’ me. Help me set up the altar while the others arrive.”

“Hm.”

“Are you even listening to me?”