Gorunze proceeded through the small section of woodland with Aurin, Shamtile and Snippet riding on his back. The large bronze golem kept his focus forward while his riders watched the sides and rear, fearful that an enemy would be lurking in the shadows ready to strike.

“Anything?” Aurin asked his team.

Shamtile responded with a hushed growl, Gorunze groaned in a low mechanical tone, and Snippet clicked his pincers. To Aurin, that was a resounding no and he himself hadn’t seen anything either.

“Full alertness at all times,” said Aurin, “I’m sure there’ll be some hapless fool who dares to sucker punch us. They’ve got another thing coming though, am I right?”

Gorunze and Snippet responded while Shamtile poked Aurin in the ribs.

“What was that for?” he asked.

“Gaaargh!” yelped Shamtile.

“Alright, fair enough,” replied his tamer, rubbing his side. “Less talking from me and more watching, I get it.”

Gorunze carried his team through the woods and onto a path that brought them to a hill. The metal Minakai bounded up with little effort, the weight of the group on his back little more than a backpack would be to a human. The windmill they sought was in clear view now, spinning very slowly at the top of the hill in a large clearing with the mountain serving as a backdrop behind it.

“Steady, Gorunze,” said Aurin, tapping his Minakai on the side. He felt silly treating him like a horse, but he was not used to riding around on his teammates so he could not think of anything better to say.

Aurin, Shamtile and Snippet hopped down and the group proceeded towards the windmill where there was a small door in the stone tower, so Aurin headed inside while his Minakai kept watch outside. The millstone inside turned but there was nothing to grind. Aurin considered it may no longer be in use, but it still moved smoothly so it had been maintained for something.

He rid the thoughts from his mind not wanting to get distracted and started searching a large crate to the side, he even climbed up a ladder to check the tops of the rafters, but there was nothing. If there had been an item here, someone must have taken it already. As he climbed down, a glint caught his eye. There, rotating on top of a gear, was an object not dissimilar to a magnifying glass.

“Shamtile,” he called out to his friend, who came running in enthusiastically. “Climb up there and knock that down for me, would you?”

Not understanding why his tamer couldn’t do it himself, Shamtile hopped with great agility and little effort onto the gear and picked up the glass. He threw it to Aurin who caught it and examined it. It was an Identifying Glass, that was for certain, but what was most curious to him was that it seemed to be specifically for eggs.

“You know what this means, Shammy?” he asked the Minakai who did not know. “This means that there are eggs hidden throughout the estate. We might be able to add to our merry little team of three before the day is done.”

Shamtile did a silly dance at the prospect as Aurin hopped off the ladder and headed back outside to Gorunze and Snippet with Shamtile bouncing along behind him. As soon as Aurin appeared, Gorunze groaned and jerked his head towards the path up the hill.

Aurin squinted and could see a figure wandering towards the windmill with his Minakai. “I wonder who that could be?” asked Aurin of his own Minakai.

As the bespectacled tamer approached with his Minakai—a Metortoise, a Volcarrow and a Minasma—he pointed towards Aurin and shouted out. “You…you’re…Aurin, right?”

The tamer stopped at the top of the hill and bent over, clutching his thighs as he tried to catch his breath. Aurin didn’t recognise him, but at this point Aurin’s reputation in Hazelton meant that a lot of people knew him that he could not return the favour to.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“That’s me,” Aurin confirmed, “who are you?”

“My…name…is Morris,” said the tamer, making his way towards Aurin once more.

“Have we met before?”

“No…we…haven’t.”

“That’s good, I was worried I wou—"

“I’m here…to battle you,” grunted Morris.

“Battle me?” asked Aurin with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, isn’t that what this tournament is all about?”

“It is,” said Aurin. He thought it wasn’t a winning tactic for a tamer ranked somewhere considerably lower than him to just wander up and demand a battle, but he didn’t want to be rude. “I accept your challenge, Morris.”

“Good,” said Morris, finally having caught his breath. “Send out your first Minakai.”

“You first,” said Aurin.

“So be it!” yelled Morris, turning towards his Metortoise. “You’re up, my shelled friend.”

Aurin tapped his Snippet on the head. “Make quick work of him, he’s a lot more cumbersome than you which should give you the chance to attack his legs or head without issue.”

Snippet started cutting the air as he crept forward. Morris’s Metortoise ran forward and roared with every intention of flattening the purple soldier ant, but Snippet stepped out of the way and jammed his scissor claw into the back of the metal-elemental’s leg. The iron-spiked Minakai stumbled and cried out in pain. Snippet delivered a series of piercing jabs with his claws, tearing into the Metortoise’s flesh and rendering it unable to walk. Morris had no choice but to recall his Minakai and send out his next contender.

“Volcarrow, avenge your fallen comrade!” he ordered.

“Gorunze, shoot it down,” said Aurin nonchalantly.

The metal golem’s eyes glowed a deep yellow and a laser beam shot from it directly at the flaming bird and sent it careening off course where it ended it’s time at the tournament flat on the grass. Morris looked distraught at being beaten so easily. Aurin thought that if this was the sort of tamer that had ranked anywhere but near the bottom, Lord Kensington’s ranking system was not fit for purpose, but he couldn’t help but feel pity for Morris at being dropped into this tournament.

“I’m going to spare your Minasma and the pair of you can walk away to regroup, gather some items and see how long you can last.”

Morris looked relieved. “You mean it?” he asked.

“I mean it,” said Aurin, “I think you should think about your approach more carefully next time.”

“I just thought that if I could eliminate number two right off the bat, I could make more of a name for myself.”

“I can see why that may seem appealing, but you need to know your limitations. I’m sure you’re a good tamer, but I train every single day either in the tower or against other tamers. This is a battle royale, don’t treat it like we’re forced to fight in a tournament matchup.”

“You’re right,” agreed Morris, looking towards his Minasma.

Aurin and his team walked across the grass and past Morris, who had rushed over to his Volcarrow who lay unconscious on the ground. Once Aurin’s team started moving down the hill, Shamtile spun around and stomped on the ground, erecting a large wall of stone. Aurin felt the spritz of water droplets escaping over the top of the wall.

Once the water stopped, Shamtile returned the wall into the ground and Morris stood there with his Minasma looking petrified. He stammered something incomprehensible while Aurin turned to Shamtile and gave his masked Minakai a nod.

“You had your chance, Morris,” said Aurin.

Shamtile waved his arms and did a front flip onto the grass. When his feet hit the ground, a thick patch of dirt quickly sprung up at an angle, launching Morris’s Minasma into the air. It slammed into the side of the windmill tower and was knocked out.

“Tamer sixty-three, Master Morris, eliminated by tamer two, Master Aurin,” came Lord Kensington’s voice.

Aurin knew it was arrogant, but he couldn’t help but laugh. The second tamer from the bottom attacking the second tamer from the top without even waiting for him to lose a couple of his Minakai through the tournament. No matter, the weaker tamers were being taken out early leaving the strongest to fight it out.

“Let’s go,” said Aurin to his team and they all marched down the hill and towards the woodland once more.

Morris was a weak tamer, that much was obvious, but why had stronger tamers like Pisces and Taurus not been invited? Granted, Taurus would be hard to identify. Pisces on the other hand had entered a Tamer Day event under her real name, Lorraine. Perhaps it was too risky to have multiple Zodiac Squad members here at once and Leo was the lucky one permitted to enter.

“I wonder how Luna is doing?” he asked Shamtile, his thoughts now wandering away from Zodiac.

“Waargh,” replied the masked lizard, which Aurin couldn’t hope to decipher.

“I’m sure she’s doing well too,” he replied, taking a guess at what Shamtile had meant. “She’s got Innogon, Splashard and Tadpool by her side so she’s a force to be reckoned with. Maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll get to watch her have a rematch with Hunter?”

Shamtile growled at Aurin and pumped his fist in the air, making his tamer laugh.

“I know,” chuckled Aurin, “I would like to have a rematch against him myself.”