(EVE SOLARIS)

Mayla and I gathered around the tournament area again, but somehow it felt different.

We were still organized in lines, but the number of participants was cut by more than half already from the previous rounds, leaving only the strongest opponents.

Everyone here was trained, disciplined, and definitely not going to be easy to defeat.

‘Looks like it’ll finally be time to put all my training to the test. Today I’ll prove to Kalan and Ryla that I am worthy of their attention.’ I thought, not able to hold back a wide smile.

“Eve, don’t get overconfident. I know you can feel it too, this won’t be like the other rounds.” Amelia said, almost as if she was reading my mind.

“I know, but you have to admit this is exciting.”

“While it is exciting, we’ve both been sloppy in the previous rounds. We can’t afford to make the same mistakes and we definitely can’t get overconfident. Underestimating our opponent will be something we regret.”

“Ooh, serious princess Mayla… never seen you before.” Amelia stared at me deadpan.

“I know, I know, you’re right…" I said with a slight cough.

I took a deep breath before continuing.

"Thank you, Mayla, let's do our best today.” I said as I held up my fist.

“I’d expect for us to do nothing less.” She responded, touching her fist against mine with a smile.

I hadn’t expected to come here and make a friend. Truthfully, after everything, that was the last thing I expected. However, it seemed that fate had something else in mind and I was thankful.

“Ladies and gentleman, it’s finally time for the third round to start!"

The announcer took a pause as the arena erupted in a barrage of screams and shouts.

"As we’ve seen in previous years, these later rounds truly are something to watch. The pool of contestants has grown smaller and, as such, the battles are only destined to be closer and closer in skill! Let’s see who will make it to round four!”

With that, Mayla and I went to take our seats, already accustomed to the onslaught of cheers from the crowd.

“When do you think we will be called?” I heard her ask as we sat down.

“Well so far I’ve been first and last, while you’ve been in the back end twice now. Maybe today we won't need to be the center of attraction."

'Yeah right' I thought as I looked at her.

“Maybe you’re right, but I doubt i-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the announcer's voice rung once again.

“The first match scheduled for today will be Eve Solaris vs Westin Amana.”

“Or maybe my good luck will prevail as always.” I said, letting a hint of annoyance escape through my tone.

“At least you’re able to get yours over sooner! Anyway, don’t worry Eve, I’m sure you’ve got this!”

“Thanks. I’ll be back soon.”

As I walked towards the arena, I heard the crowd roar to life around me, but this time, I couldn’t focus on that.

This man in front of me was different. All of my senses, honed from years of hunting, were focused on him. At this distance, I wasn’t quite sure if I was the hunter or the prey. .

He was a behemoth of a man, wearing no shirt, with a robe around his waist that seemed to be made of some sort of animal, and he wielded a long, metallic bo staff.

As I finally lined up across from him, I looked him in the eyes. I felt a shiver run down my spine, the look he gave me was one of pure hate seemingly attempting to destroy my soul.

‘So this is the third round, huh?’ Sweat already soaked through my shirt.

I lowered my stance ready to move at the announcer’s signal.

“Begin!”

I was ready for a charge, a throw of his spear, use of mana. Yet he simply walked towards me, confidence oozing off of him.

Anger flared through my core.

I pulled my bow back, pushing my mana into the arrow, then let it loose.

But as the arrow was about to land, I found myself only able to stare, eyes wide open with shock.

There he stood, my arrow in hand, immediately burning it into ash.

‘No way!’

I immediately drew back for another arrow, putting in even more mana than the last.

However, the same thing continued to happen, over and over again.

I started firing arrows faster and faster, channeling more mana with every shot, but he kept catching them or letting the aura around him burn them up.

‘I need to slow down, I’m just wasting my mana. Stay calm.’

I must have let my hesitation show on my face, because he immediately appeared in front of me.

‘So fast!’

I tried to put my arms up, but his attack was too quick.

The base of his staff dug deep into my stomach, sending me reeling backwards struggling for breath.

On the ground now, I stumbled to my feet with stars in my vision. Calling on the wind around me to shield me, somehow, I looked up ready for another assault but he was studying me.

A burst of mana from his feet sent him flying right at me, spear screaming downward at my head. I released the compressed wind I had gathered to push him away, but a mana infused swipe of his staff cut right through it. Pivoting with the momentum of his spear, he spun around and sent a roundhouse kick right at my chest.

My arms caught the blow but I lost my bow as well as all feeling in my hands.

Before I could roll to a stop, I collided with his spear now embedded into the ground, my back arching around it with a crack.

Cursing under my breath, I spun around and sent a blast of wind at him which he ducked under and thrusted his spear directly at my hand. I barely had time to notice the sharpened mass of mana on the end before it pierced through my palm.

I yelped and reached for my bloody hand, glaring up at him.

“This is even easier than I was told it would be.” I heard him mock.

‘Dammit!’

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“I-I’m ju-just getting started.” I said, gripping my pierced hand around the shaft of the spear and drew air out of the gaps to suction to it while also drawing an air bubble behind him.

“You’ve got heart, I’ll at least acknowledge that.” He moved to lunge but I moved first.

I spun, pulling on the spear with all my strength and popped the air bubble behind him sending him flying into the air above me, the spear painfully ripping out from my palm.

As he was right above me, I quickly clapped my hands together.

He suddenly froze, suspended in mid air.

“What is this?”

“Wind magic trap,” I said with a grin, “Never let your guard down.”.”

Not wasting any more time and risk letting him escape, I quickly pulled my bow back to me with a gust of wind and spun around smacking him across the face with my bow sending him flying.

I dropped back down to one knee, fatigue starting to take over once again.

‘I can’t give up yet, he’s not finished, I need to…’

“Tsk, I was gonna let you off easy” I heard a very irritated voice say right next to my ear, sending a chill down my spine.

Before I could look up, time seemed to slow as an even harder strike landed on my chest. A mana infused kick crunched through my ribs, robbing me of air and blinding me with pain.

But that wasn’t it.

I choked for breath on my hands and knees, each attempt at inhaling sending searing spasms of pain through my body while the blood pouring out of my chest warmed my lower body. Before I could recover, he was back on me, landing blow after blow on me. I lay there curled into a ball, helpless against his attacks.

‘I-I need…’

I knew now that my wind was weak, superficial. I used it in bursts or to simply sharpen my own attacks while wind itself was capable of strength far stronger than anything I could muster myself.

In between the flashes of pain, I pictured Kalan’s golden mana domain, the tumultuous wind I had trained with so long, how I had become one with it. I smiled. I knew I couldn’t create that kind of wind yet, but I had a lot of experience with failure.

Using my explosive failures in addition to my experience so far... If I can just direct it at him, there is no way he’ll be unharmed.

Hiding my attempt with my body, I siphoned the remaining mana in my heart into my remaining good palm and urged it to spin. Faster and faster. Faster than I ever had before. A very small cyclone picked up around us. He noticed immediately and scoffed.

As he reached his hand toward my neck I too reached out with the unstable sphere of contained madness-

His spear pierced through the sphere effortlessly, releasing the contained energy that actually amplified his own strike, cutting through my palm like butter and pinning it into the ground. Without the air to scream I let out a gurgling breath and waited.

His hand wrapped around my neck and he raised me up slightly, forcing me to look at him in the eye.

“Say you surrender, girl.” He smirked. “If you can.”

I glared at him and with my last ounce of defiance I spat my mouthful of blood at his face.

He smiled.

He dropped me to the ground and grabbed my ankle. Planting his feet into the ground, he pulled, hard. My body lurched but was caught by the spear still in my hand. He pulled harder. Skin tore and I felt my knuckles fighting to keep the spear shaft from ripping through the rest. A final tug and bones cracked. I was sent flying

Darkness was overtaking me. He was walking toward me again.

‘Someone.. help..’

My eyes weakly searched the stands but saw nothing, the darkness too strong.

‘Amelia..’

My heart stopped when my failing vision got to her seat, her empty seat.

He was here. Placing his hand on my head he started to release his mana against my skin. I attempted to scream but without enough air, all I could do was writhe in agony as his mana burned away at my flesh.

I tried to surround my body with an aura of wind magic, but my mana heart was completely empty.

His flames grew hotter as his hands stayed firm, threatening to burn away my wrists completely.

A cold chill ran up my body, hugging tightly onto me, battling against the flames.

‘Is this what death feels like?’

The last of my breath escaped my lips, but it was visible.

Then, all of a sudden, his body tensed and he dashed back, dropping me to the floor.

A dozen or so beautiful chains of ice snapped into the ground between us, after them she touched down, carried by the chains themselves, like a goddess of ice.

I struggled against my urges to pass out right then and there, forcing my eyes to open once more.

All I could see was her back, but I knew I was safe now. Ice was growing from where she stood on the bloodied arena.

I could feel her mana, like a dense fog it blanketed the ground around us.

“Ah, the ice one, are you sure you want to do this? You’ll be disqualified after all.”

“I’ll kill you.” Amelia seethed.

I expected he’d back down a little, but he went back to cackling.

“Oh you kids and your friendships, it’s so sweet really. However, you’re not the only one who doesn’t care about this.” He said with an eerie smile.

“I could care less about your motivations, you disgusting animal.”

“I, Westin Amana, was sent to this tournament with a different goal in mind than joining this so-called church.”

“What do you mean you were “sent”? What are you here for?” Amelia asked, her anger growing

“I’m a satanist, of course, and I was sent here to kill her.” He said as he pointed at me.

Gasps immediately shout out from the crowd.

‘A satanist? Here? How? Why for me?’

“But since you've decided to show up right in front of me, I think I'll just kill you both instead.”

His mana surged as he started to charge up a massive fireball.

I could feel the raw power behind it, it was way beyond either Amelia’s or mine. While Amelia had the elemental advantage, I wasn’t sure it’d be enough to stop this attack.

Then suddenly, within a blink of an eye, I saw shadows surrounding him. For a brief second, his pompous arrogance seemed to have been replaced for the first time by what I could only describe as fear.

Then, the man, the shadows, the attack- all of it was gone.

‘W-what just happened…?’ I thought, struggling to hold my consciousness.

“Eve, Eve! Are you okay! Talk to me, Eve!” I heard Amelia shout, as she knelt next to me with tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, I guess I wasn’t strong enough…”

“No, Eve… I’m sorry I didn’t help sooner…” she said, her voice trailing in and out of guilt and choked back sobs.

“You looked so cool…"

"E-Eve… ? Eve!?!" Were the last words I heard before I felt my conscience slip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(RYLA)

Kalan may have been silently reading through the injury report on Eve Solaris, but I wasn’t foolish enough to think that a storm wasn’t brewing underneath, nor was I foolish enough to speak first.

“Ryla.”

I swallowed hard.

“Yes, sir.”

“Were my orders confusing?”

“Sir?”

“I left the girls in your care.”

I swallowed again.

“Yes, I-”

“I left the girls in your care, yet I came back to find this.” He motioned to Eve’s room. “Three broken fingers, both shoulders fractured, severed left tibia, impalement of both hands, full separation of her left along with shattered middle knuckles, internal second degree burns, thirteen broken ribs, seven of which punctured her lungs.”

“I-”

A pulse of his mana cut me off.

“Somehow Mayla reacted before you and saved her from further harm.”

“Sir-”

“No. Take me to him. If you think you can handle it.” He said as he walked past me, not even looking in my direction.

I took a deep breath, readying myself.

“If you saw the determination in her eyes, even you wouldn’t have stepped in. Even outmatched as she was, she never gave in. Her last attack was more than capable of taking him out.” I smiled softly, feeling my eyes getting puffy, “It was something she learned with me, albeit accidentally. I-I couldn’t bring myself to defy the effort she’s put in… You know I-”

Kalan’s hand on my shoulder startled me. He sighed deeply and forced a smile.

“I’m sorry, Ryla. I know how you feel about Eve, about the girls. It’s just…”

“I know.” I whispered.

He squeezed my shoulder reassuringly, “Now, take me to the bastard.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I stood outside waiting for any change in orders, the dimly lit hallway eerily quiet for what was happening just on the other side of the thick, wooden door.

Kalan had been in there for the past hour and a half, only the gods know what he’s doing. Just the thought of having to experience what he experienced not once, but twice, and what that would drive someone to do, made me shiver.

Then I felt it.

For a brief but distinct second, the flare of a strong, holy presence flashed throughout the hallway, resonating around the door, before dissipating.

The door clicked and someone who wore the face of Kalan stepped out. His face resembled someone I hoped to never see again. Someone who embodied the name of “Cold Light'' to the bone.

“Ryla.” He said in a deep and distant tone.

“Yes, sir?”

“We’re done here.”

“I understand.”

I took one final look into the room, only to see what remained, or lack thereof.

A charred mark and mess of soot and ash littered the room, the Satanist nowhere to be seen.

“Ryla.”

“Yes, sir. Apologies.” I closed the door and followed him down the hallway.

“Were you able to find anything out?” I asked, not daring to steal a glance towards his direction.

“Only what we already knew, or so I thought. Their words ring of death and destruction as an inevitability.”

“A threat or warning perhaps?”

“Whatever it is, we need to prepare. We need to find out whatever we can.”

We continued to walk, silence dawning over us. The darkness was where I lived. The shadows were normally welcoming of me, but now… they felt frigid and corrugated; unnatural, even. They were reacting, not to me, but to Kalan, his presence forcefully warping them to his will.

“And what about Eve?”

At the mention of her name, his aura flared, striking at the walls- at me. I wrapped multiple layers of darkness around myself, yet somewhat still struggling to hold back his turbulent nature.

His aura faded as fast as it appeared, his face and tone unchanging.

“She needs to rest. I’m sure the tournament put a toll on her body and mind. My presence there would only increase the pressure she is under.”

“As you wish, sir.”

Whether I believed his words or not, nothing was going to change his mind now. I’m sure he feels just as much pain and anguish as he did when he lost Sarah and Abby. If anything was the same as before, the only thing anyone could do for him was to let him be. Intervention would only worsen how he was now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kalan’s office was dark and cold; all the lights had been snuffed out by the frozen aura radiating from him.

“Ryla, begin organizing a group of your best and most trusted informants and spies. I want them all within the ranks of the Satanists by the start of the week at the latest. I want to know what they’re planning and I want to stop them before they even get the chance to act.”

“Yes, sir.”

I opened my mouth before stopping, contemplating my next words carefully. I’d known Kalan for far too long. His wrath was something no man would want to incur.

“Kalan… I think you should rest.”

“There is no time f-”

“Kalan, I’m asking, not as your subordinate, but as your friend. You should rest. Go home. You can see Eve in the morning and then we can continue preparing for what’s to come. Plus, as it is, you’re of no help to Church or Eve in your state.”

No words came from him, an exasperated sigh was the only thing that escaped from his lips.

“You care about Eve, it’s obvious, so stop trying to hide it and just rest. You’ve been through enough already, stop trying to take on more. Stop making it harder on yourself.”

A couple moments turned to minutes without a response.

I contemplated speaking once more but decided against it once he stood up. Without a word, he made his way out the door.

I breathed a sigh of relief before walking to where he was. I looked out at the city, the streets below normal as always.

The sun had long set beyond the horizon, the streets dimly lit with lighting artifacts, the sounds of late night taverns a testament to the life that filled this city.

“To think such a view could bring such calmness in moments like these….”

“If only they knew what was happening… would they still act this way? Would they still be here?”

I closed my eyes before disappearing into a shadow, my thoughts set on preventing the impending catastrophe that threatened to interfere once more.