Kierna

Kierna wove a cage of steel around her opponent, every stroke of the blade moving her foe closer to defeat. The last three weeks had seen a remarkable increase in her ability with the blade, to the point even Pavel had commented on it. Not a prodigy, but close enough that people were paying attention. With her superior cultivation, having fully finished the first stage of physical cultivation and integrated aether into her skin, she now only had a few rivals left in the company.

Noelle, who had been clinging to the first place in her squad, was lost in the storm that was Kierna’s swordplay. The dull blade had left vivid red marks on the other girl's pale skin, yet none had been severe enough for their instructor to call a halt to the fight. Kierna controlled her emotions, her breathing, all of it isolated into a distant part of her mind as focused everything on the fight in front of her.

Noelle was good, she had to be to keep up, but was out of her depth. Her footwork had dissolved into a random shuffling, her balance was off as she was forced to throw her entire weight into every blow to match Kierna’s strength. With a fast spin of her wrist, Kierna slid around Noelle’s block and the dull tip took the other girl in the chest with an audible crunch.

Noelle collapsed, sprawling out in the dirt as Kierna waited for the instructor to call her victory. The masked instructor waited a few heartbeats, till it became apparent Noelle wasn’t getting back on her feet. Kierna bowed to the fallen girl, who lay down gasping soundlessly as she tried to draw air into her lungs, and left the ring. Dion was waiting off to the side, as she always did. Dion had finished saturating her skin with aether two days ahead of anyone else and was currently recuperating before pushing for the second level. Muscle saturation. Something that was apparently much more difficult and painful. Kierna wasn’t looking forward to it herself, the stench of the black waste that had oozed out of her skin very much still in her mind.

“Good fight. When do you get to fight Birdy again?” Dion whispered as they walked towards the healing tents. Since they had returned successfully from their hunt, others had been tasked to go. Always the losers of matches and always in pairs. Several had returned alone and more had returned without a core. Pavel had sent many of them down the mountain after their failures. The company was thinning rapidly, several hundred already thrown off the mountain in only the first two months.

“I don’t know. Her and Alden are the two standing right now with me. I’ve lost to Birdy, but she lost to Noelle. Alden lost to Neo, but I beat Neo last week. I’m thinking they’ll match me and Alden next week. If I win, maybe a rematch with Birdy?” Kierna thought out loud as Ryen healed them. The older healer was quick and seemed occupied with other things as she shooed them away as they started to linger.

“Kierna! Attend me!” Pavel’s voice boomed across the training yard. He floated across the ground, two feet above the earth. Every eye in the training yard turned to her, heat blossomed across her cheeks as she felt a flash of embarrassment. She was moving instantly though, abandoning Dion without a thought.

“I have a new task for you. You will challenge the Azure Temple. Take nine others. Do. Not. Embarrass. Me.” Every word was punctuated by a pulse of aether. Kierna didn’t know what a challenge was, but she knew who she was taking. She bowed hurriedly and retreated, never rising from her bow. Others were already walking toward her, a deluge of bodies who wished to be picked for the challenge.

“Dion? Will you accompany me?” Kierna asked instantly. Her friend wasn’t a skilled duelist, but Kierna trusted her. Trusted her like she couldn’t trust anyone else. They both knew that Dion would fail, that she would be humiliated in front of another company. Kierna asked anyway.

“Of course. There are better people than me though,” Dion accepted quickly, though there was little eagerness in her voice.

“No, there’s not.” Kierna smiled at her. Dion was racing through her cultivation, taking to it like Kierna took to swordplay. Not quite a prodigy, but not far from it either. Skilled enough that others were paying attention to them. Kierna had no doubt in her mind that in a few years, Dion would stand head and shoulders above everyone. It was just a slow start for her.

“Who else then?” Dion whispered as they tried to get away from the press of teens.

“Birdy and Alden, if they agree. Neo too. I like Aster, he’s solid all around. If I wasn’t in the squad I think he’d be the number one.” Kierna peered off to the healing pavilion, wondering what Ryen thought of this new challenge.

“That gets us five, we need four more bodies.”

“Squads one through three don’t have anyone dominating right now. They’re constantly fluctuating who’s number one. Squad five hasn’t had anyone since Grace,” both girls go silent as they flashed back to the side of the mountain.

“Squad seven then? Who took over for Fletch?” Dion asked, breaking them both free of their memory.

“Fletch lost his spot and then won it back and then lost it again. I don’t think anyone from that squad really stands out. Not like the others.”

“Who do you ask then?”

“I was going to ask Alden. He has that girl in his squad who’s always with him. I’ve seen her fight and she’s good. What about Niera?” Kierna asked about the other girl in their squad. Once one of the leaders in cultivation, she was solidly in the middle of the pack now.

“She's a better fighter than me, but I don’t think that amounts to much. Her cultivation is only slightly slower than yours though. She’s strong.”

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“Her bladework is abysmal. She’s a good wrestler though. I don’t even know what a challenge is? Is it cultivation? Duels? Fist fights?” Kierna started turning to the healers, knowing that if she asked, Ryen would tell her.

“Who knows. Maybe it’s a bake off?” Dion chortled as they walked toward the healing tent they had just left. The crowd followed close behind, but left a small bubble of space for the two fo them.

“A bake off?”

“Yeah, we compete by baking? Make a cake or something?”

“I don’t think it’ll be a bake off Dion.”

“I was trying to lighten the mood.”

“Now I’m just hungry for cake,” Kierna said as she smiled. Cake was rare back home, only brought out for the lunar new year.

“I think I pulled us off topic.”

“You did. But that’s fine. How many more do we need?”

“Alden’s friend and Niera gets us to seven. We need two more.”

“Keep thinking about it. You know more people than I do,” Kierna said as she bolted to Ryen. The healer just rolled her eyes at them as they came to stand in front of them.

“A challenge is an old tradition. One master’s disciples would challenge another master’s disciples in martial combat. As the challenger, you don’t get to pick weapons. Every individual duel could be different,” Ryen told them before they could even pose the question.

“You heard us all the way out there?”

“I can hear the heartbeat of every person on this mountain if I wanted to. So, yes, I heard all about your conversation about cakes.”

“Oh, you can kill me now,” Dion muttered under her breath as she turned scarlet.

“Then do you have any suggestions for my last two picks?” Kierna ignored Dion as the other girl tried to disappear into the ground.

“Vathe and Hondo. Both in squad seven with Fletch. They are better than he is, but keep beating each other into bloody messes before the end of the week. Fletch keeps winning the squad back when they’re hurt and I can’t heal them.”

“Thank you elder,” Kierna bowed and started to flee before the healer could take in what she said. Ryen gasped in outrage, her eyes bugging out as she straightened up from her slouch to glare at them.

“Elder?!?!” Kierna was already racing away before Ryen’s outcry reached her. She nudged Dion and smiled at her.

“I don’t know if I know a Vathe or Hondo,” Kierna said as they started to press through the now jabbering crowd. All around her, the other students were begging for the chance to go and join their challenge.

“They’re the big ones.”

“Oh, the really tall ones?”

“Yeah. I don’t know which is which though.”

“We can just ask Fletch? He won’t mind will he?” Kierna asked, her eyes already scanning the crowd for the sometime first place leader of squad seven.

“I think he’d construe that as being quite rude,” Dion muttered, her flush finally beginning to fade. She kept her eyes locked on the ground as she played over every word she had said that Ryen had overheard.

“Oh, he’ll get over it. I mean, it’s not like he won’t get his own chance to challenge. If Pavel does like he did last time anyway. There’s nine other temples after all.”

“I don’t know. He has a bit of a temper,” Dion warned.

Kierna listened to her. Dion was good about paying attention to others, hanging in the background and absorbing information. It was a good skill to have and one that Kierna told herself she was going to work on. Eventually. Once she mastered the blade. And cultivation. Wrestling was fun too. Eventually she’d spend time trying to learn. She was sure of it.

“Still need to ask Alden and Birdy. If they say no, we’re going to be in trouble.”

“Why would they say no? This is a good chance for them to prove themselves.” Kierna stood on her tiptoes, trying to see over the crowd for one of the people she actually wanted to talk to.

“Because they’d earn you honor by fighting for you on this challenge?” Dion was looking at her puzzled.

“I don’t think they’ll put that much thought into it,” Kierna said, but her heart began to sink. What if they did say no? Who could she pick to fill out the rest of her squad?

“Birdy is walking toward us right now,” Dion hissed as she caught sight of the tall girl. Her dark skin was sweat slick, her hair matted to her skin, and a welt was rising across her face. She had obviously just walked out a dueling ring herself.

“Pavel continues to favor you. And you continue to favor her,” Birdy looked down at Dion. Her voice was stronger than either of theirs, used to commanding obedience with every syllable.

“Want to come with me to the challenge?” Kierna ignored the remarks. She could do nothing about Pavel, and she wasn’t going to leave Dion behind.

“Only if you agree to follow me when I have my own challenge,” Birdy countered.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?” Kierna cocked her head at Birdy. She knew why she shouldn’t agree. Dion had just told her. Birdy would earn Kierna honor in the first challenge, Kierna was certain of it. The other girl was too talented not to. She could only return the favor. It was the right thing to do.

“Oh, you’re like that. That makes sense.” Birdy stuck out her hand and the two of them shook quickly, sealing their deal. Kierna and Dion broke away from Birdy, allowing her to find a healer, and started searching for Alden.

He was waiting for them inside of the temple common room. Him and the girl who always followed him around. The two of them were watching with interest as Kierna and Dion closed the distance.

“I’ll go, but only if Misha can come,” Alden preempted them. Kierna looked them both over, silently admiring Alden’s confidence. Alden was average height with dirty blonde hair, a smatter of freckles across his nose, and hazel eyes. He had thin lips that were pulled tight across his face and wore an overly serious expression.

Misha was sitting, but looked tall. She had been shooting up lately, her growth fueled by cultivation and healthy eating. Her long arms and legs were coltish and Kierna had observed her looking uncoordinated at times. Kierna wanted to meet her in the dueling ring.

“Sure.”

They slowly worked their way through her quickly put together list, with everyone agreeing to join her. The two boys, Vathe and Hondo, were both sporting black eyes and broken noses. They had been sitting, glaring, at one another when Kierna came and asked them. It had nearly come to a fistfight as the two of them eagerly accepted her offer, each trying to be first.

Within an hour everyone had settled down, her team assembled, and they were walking out the gates to find the Azure Temple. It was only early afternoon, they would find the temple and stay the night there after offering the challenge. In the morning, the fights would begin.