Chapter 7

Battle at the coliseum

“Ready, Rey?” Evara said, smiling at me. I looked back at Mikki and Nana, they both nodded at me, as if telling me that it was going to be okay.

Which I hoped it was , but I was still a bit anxious, after all, this was fight with everything on the line.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said, and to be honest, I wasn’t so much afraid to face some human-sized talking teddy bear. The thing that scared me the most was losing the one thing that meant the world to me. I looked down and saw my mother’s necklace, the blue gem shining against the light , giving it an almost magical glow.

“Let’s do this!”

There was no going back now.

“So, how do I use this thing?” I said, taking out the golden key I had received from Esfir and Teddy.

“Just pretend there’s an invisible door in front of you and put the key in the keyhole and turn the door. That simple,” Evara said.

“That simple, huh,” I thought.

I follow her advice, and pretended I was looking at a door in front of me and extended my hand toward it, imagining I was putting the golden key into some door in front of me and began to turn the key sideways as if I was unlocking a door that was going to lead me to a magical place far away from here. Well, at least taking me to a place where instead of being attacked by witches, I was going to be attacked by a talking stuffed toy.

And to my surprise, though it wasn’t really a surprise considering what I had seen so far, a light began to shout out of the key, almost as if it was tearing through the fabric of my reality. The light began to make a rectangular shape in front of me, and the next thing I knew, there was a glowing golden door in front of us. It looked ethereal and not solid, as if it would be whisk away by the wind at any second.

“See, that simple,” Evara said.

“Welcome to one of many transport gateways, or in our case, doorways of magic .”

“Do all witches use keys to travel?” I asked, remembering how Mikki gave me a ride in her witch’s broom, just like in the stories of witches and magic.

“It depends,” Evara said, “but enough chit-chat, let’s get going. Teddy has a habit of getting impatience. In fact, I would say it’s his worst quality,” she said, blinking at me, and letting out a chuckle as she passed through the doorway.

“Don’t be afraid, Rey, everything will be alright,” Nana said, giving me a warm smile that felt very motherly to me as she walked through the doorway as well, leaving just me and Mikki.

“Are you scared?” Mikki asked.

“Not really,” I said. “Besides, I think being almost eaten alive by your favorite teacher has set the standard for my expectations already.”

“I guess you’re right,” she said. I could see a certain sadness in her expression for a second that made me feel bad for making such a joke.

“But luckily I have you three to protect me if it gets bad.”

“That’s right. You don’t have to be afraid of anything,” she said, smiling at me. “Now, let’s go and show this talking stuffed toy how strong you are.”

She extended her hand toward me, I looked at her, and in that moment, I was glad all this magic stuff was something I could share with Mikki.

“Let’s go and show what our family is made of,” I said, grabbing her hand.

***

On the other side of the door was a colosseum of sorts like the ones you would see in Italy. The only difference was that this was empty instead of being busy with tourists, with the exception of the two people standing at the other end of the colosseum’s arena ground.

“I was beginning to think you wouldn’t show up,” Teddy said, smirking at me. He was standing with Esfir at the other side of the colosseum.

“Not a chance,” I said.

I swallowed my saliva, ready to face him.

And to be honest, I didn’t know how this fight was going to play out or if I even had a chance against a human-sized teddy bear. But I was going to try to the very end, not only for myself but also for them. Mikki, Nana, Evara and my mother. I owed them my very best, which I was going to give.

“Rey….” Evara said, walking toward me,

“No matter what happens, make sure to not throw your life so easily trying to cling to the past when the present is filled with good memories as well.”

There was a warm, almost motherly smile to her at that moment that I saw Evara not as she was right now, but a much older grown-up woman.

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“That’s right,” Nana said, petting me in my head

“No matter what, we’ll be here for you.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“Now give him hell,” they both said as they walked toward the empty seats that encircled the colosseum.

Mikki turned to face me, she was so close I could smell her strawberry shampoo scent on her blonde hair, which she had styled into a ponytail this morning.

“Don’t do anything too reckless,” she said.

“I won’t,” I said.

“Just promise me you’ll be careful,” she said, grabbing my hands, which surprised me as I tried to hide my blushing.

“O-okay,” I said.

“Here, just in case,” she said as she opened my hand, placing a small silver ring with a red gem in the middle.

“Umm…Mikki,” I said, being taken back by the ring,

“Don’t make it weird,” she said. And in that moment, the light hit her face, and I could see her cheeks were as red as the gem in the ring.

“What’s it for?” I said,

“It’s a magical item. It’s called the ring of absorption.”

“The ring of absorption,” I repeated, envisioning the ring sucking in everything around it.

“It absorbs any force or mana thrown at it, and shoots out a small bullet made of energy , if you use it correctly, it just might help you win the fight.”

“Thanks, Mikki,” I said as I looked at the ring in my hand.

“When the gem on the ring glows that means it has enough mana inside, just envision in your mind a bullet and shoot it. That simple.”

“That simple,” I thought, looking at the ring.

“Win!” she said.

Her green eyes had a fierceness that I had seen that day when she saved me from Ms. Serpin.

“I will.”

And as I watched her leave, I promise to myself I was going to give it my best no matter what.

“Enough chit-chat,” Teddy said. “Let’s get this over with, kid. I have some other business to attend to.”

“What other business could a talking stuffed toy have besides beating on a kid,” I thought, but I figured it was probably something that had to do with magic and nothing with me, a normal sixteen-year-old kid.

“Good luck, Rey!” I heard from the background as I saw Mikki and them sitting at the empty seats in the colosseum. I also saw, to my surprise, Esfir seating beside them.

“Ready, kid?” Teddy said.

“Bring it !” I said, putting on the ring on my index finger and bringing my hands to my face, ready to fight this human-sized talking stuffed toy. I didn’t know if the ring was going to help me, but it was better than nothing.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Teddy said as he came rushing toward me.

But I wasn’t scared. I was ready. Evara’s training had prepared me for this.

“Too slow,” he said as he appeared in front of me, ready to punch me.

“But fast enough to dodge you,” I said as I managed to dodge his stuffed brown fist coming toward me.

“Lucky dodge,” he said as his fist hit the ground of the colosseum, creating a smoke mushroom. I also noticed a faint glow on the ring for a second.

“It absorbs force or mana,” I thought ,

“So that’s what she meant, I’m really a punching bag.”

I let out a smirk.

I felt the warm sensation on my index finger, where the ring was. No doubt absorbing the hit from Teddy.

“I have to find the right chance and hit him with this bullet from the ring,” I thought. That was my key to winning this. I didn’t know how I was going to get a clean hit on him, but I was going to use the ring of absorption to secure my victory.

‘Now is not the time to sit there and rest,’ Teddy said as he ran toward me, throwing punches at me, which felt all too familiar.

“Is this why she had me dodging flying dodgeballs,” I thought as his punches reminded me of the red balls I was made to dodge that morning in the park. “Is this all you got?” I asked, taunting him. I didn’t know if that was a good idea, but I knew that people made mistakes when annoyed or agitated, and that was my chance.

“I see Evara trained you,” he said, taking a break from the barrage of punches he was throwing at me. “But you can’t dodge my fist forever.” He let out a roar, and I felt stunned for a second. “Dodge this!” he screamed as he punched me right in the stomach, sending me flying.

And I’m not going to lie, that hurt like hell as I was sent flying toward the wall of this empty colosseum we found ourselves in, knocking the wind out of me.

My index finger felt like it was being dipped in lava, and I noticed the ring’s red gem glowing.

“I guess that was enough for the ring to get charged.” I thought.

I looked over at Mikki and at them. The look of worry on their faces cemented how hard that punch was. And even though it hurt, It hadn’t knocked me out, which I was surprised.

I was still in the fight.

Any normal person would have been out with that punched. I guess my body had toughened up a bit by Evara’s training.

“Tell you what, kid,” Teddy said as we walked slowly toward me. “If you can land a punch on me, I’ll give you the win.”

He laughed at me, no doubt taking great pleasure in seeing me hurt.

“You’ll regret that,” I said as I stood up from the ground. Ready to prove him wrong.

“Bring it, kid,” he said as he dashed toward me. He was fast, but Evara’s training had taught my body to dodge fast things coming toward me. I moved to the side, and to my surprise, he moved his body to face me, punching me again and sending me flying to another wall.

The red gem in the ring was now a dark red, remembering Mikki’s words, “Once it glows its ready.”

“Ugh!” I let out. Even though the punches hadn’t done me in, they still hurt like hell, and I couldn’t take more of them head-on.

“Just give up kid, and give us the necklace and you can go back to your normal life,” he said as he walked menacingly toward me.

“Never,” I said, getting up from the ground again. I was beginning to become quite attached to it now.

I ran toward him. I couldn’t be on the defense all day and get thrown around like a rag doll. I didn’t know how I was going to use the ring since I didn’t know how to activate this magic bullet of it. But all I knew was that the ring’s glowing red gem felt like it was ready to explode as it was swallowing my finger.

“You have guts, kid,” Teddy said sarcastically. “Show me what you got.”

I threw a punch at him. I just needed to land one, but it was futile. He was fast. Dodging my punches and kicking me, sending me flying again.

The fight consisted of me getting thrown around, but I wasn’t going to give up. I needed to win. My hand felt like it was going to explode. I could feel the tightness of the ring extending outward into my body.

“I’m getting pretty bored with this; time to end this,” Teddy said as he let out a roar and dashed toward me.

“You read my mind,” I said, dashing toward him, ready to meet him head-on.

image [https://i.imgur.com/ikt3wBK.jpg]

I was ready to give him a punch he will never forget with a hand that felt like it would melt off at any second.

“Is over, kid!” he said as our fists met. Our hands collided, and a light shot from the red gem of the ring. “What the—is that a...” he said, as a bright red light began to flicker all around us. A light red beam shot from the ring but he somehow manage to dodge it, moving his face to the side.

His big, brown, fluffy face was in front of me at arm’s reach. And I planted my fist on his cheek, but it did no damage since he was able kick me away, sending me flying to the opposite side of the colosseum. But it didn’t matter; I had won. I just needed to land a punch on him; he didn’t say anything about doing damage to him.

“UGH!” I let out as I hit the wall. “I-I win,” I said as I passed out.