“Tamer seven, Master Frederick, eliminated by tamer two, Master Aurin,” announced Lord Kensington. “As he is the last tamer standing, I hereby declare Master Aurin the winner. All tamers are to gather in front of the palace.”
Frederick held his summoning stone tightly. He didn’t take his eyes off it as he contemplated what he should do.
“What will it be then, Frederick?” Aurin asked him, not noticing the swirling turquoise of the summoning stone.
Frederick looked up and smiled at Aurin. “Congratulations, Aurin. You’ve won this round. I suppose I’ll let you have it and we’ll see each other again very soon.”
“Thank you,” said Aurin, still keeping a careful watch on the Zodiac elite. Frederick walked towards the path that led to the gate rather than towards the palace as Lord Kensington had requested. “Where are you going?” Aurin asked.
“Home,” said Frederick without looking back. “I’ve had precious little time in Hazelton after being away for so long and I have no desire to stay here much longer. Enjoy your prize, Aurin. I’m sure you’ll find it most useful if it is what I suspect it to be.”
Aurin and Shamtile stood on the grass with stars twinkling overhead. They had done it, they had conquered the Palace Royale. The tamer and his Minakai wanted nothing more than to collapse onto the ground and rest, but everyone would be waiting for them. The lights of the palace were shining brightly, a beacon in the grounds that they had explored almost every inch of throughout the day.
“Shall we?” Aurin asked Shamtile as he bent down to pick up the unconscious Petalcub from the ground. The little green wolf had yet to be attuned to a summoning stone, so he was coming along for the ride whether he was awake or asleep.
Shamtile waved his arms and let out a warbled yell before snatching Petalcub from Aurin and putting his teammate over his shoulder. Aurin smiled as he and Shamtile walked towards the faint outline of the fountain ahead, the same fountain where he and Luna had sparred just before the tournament began. It hadn’t been much more than six hours, yet it felt as though they had been here for days.
Aurin walked past the fountain and onto the path that led to the stairs. He started to climb and as he reached the top, he could see dozens of his competitors standing before him. They parted ways as he approached and revealed a red carpet leading up to the doors of the palace, where Lord Kensington himself was waiting for Aurin with a shining chest of dark wood and gold adornments.
Aurin stepped onto the carpet and glimpsed many familiar faces in the crowd. Eclare gave him a smile and a wink. Hunter was nodding proudly as though he knew this would be the outcome. Gardner had a goofy grin on his face, pleased to see his friend knock out the tamer who had eliminated him. Luna was shaking with excitement beside Abby and Kyle was standing beside Clarke, the two men having clearly been talking about something before Aurin arrived. Very much aware of everyone’s gaze being upon him, Aurin walked towards Lord Kensington who had a satisfied look upon his face. Aurin stopped walking a few feet from him and the lord began to speak.
“Tamers, it has been an absolute pleasure to have welcomed you all here to the Palace Royale. You have each contributed to this fantastic event in your own way and I hope that you have all learned something today that you will take with you, forever bettered by whatever challenges you have faced. It has been my honour to host you and bear witness to many spectacular battles and, I must say, I have a few of you that I will keep my eye on well into the future. No doubt your days of taming are only beginning and your potential will be unlocked in unimaginable ways.
“Master Aurin, you have not shied away from the hardships of this tournament. You played the game well, taking on tamer after tamer while hunting for whatever would give you an advantage, all the while refusing to play a dishonourable game, even though a dishonourable game is the way many got as far as they did. That is most commendable, and I would ask everyone to give you a hand.”
The tamers all burst into applause and Aurin heard Gardner’s unmistakable whistle reaching over the noise. Lord Kensington waited patiently for it to fade out and held the wooden box towards Aurin. The dark oak was smooth and varnished and the gold trim around the edges shined from the lights that shone out of the palace. Where there was the golden lock, there was also a golden key inserted with the base shaped into a pair of wings, encircled by three rings.
“Master Aurin,” said Lord Kensington, “may I present you with your prize. If you would be so kind as to open the box and reveal it to the competitors. It may be bold, but I would like everyone to see what they were fighting for today.”
Aurin turned the key and lifted the lid, then stepped aside for everyone else to see. There was a large pink and peach-like berry sitting inside. Most stared at it without batting an eyelid, but Luna let out an audible gasp which immediately told Aurin what this was.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Do you know what this is, Aurin?” asked Lord Kensington.
“It’s a Roche Berry, isn’t it?” asked Aurin, it suddenly making sense as to why Frederick was about to attack him again.
“Very good, very good,” said Lord Kensington, almost sounding surprised that Aurin knew. “My friends, for those of you who don’t know, this Roche Berry can be used to turn a fully-grown Minakai into an egg. It reincarnates them in a fresh form and it can be used on any Minakai. It will work on a Peekan the same way as it will work on a Grakadon. These are among the rarest prizes of the towers and this is what you were fighting for today. Aurin, it is yours. Use it wisely.”
Aurin closed the box and locked it once more then took it from Lord Kensington, bowing his head as he did so. Lord Kensington started to clap and his fellow competitors cheered for Aurin once more.
“Excellent,” said Lord Kensington enthusiastically once the applause subsided again, “I’m sure you are all very hungry. Let us enter the hall once more and celebrate with a wonderful dinner prepared by my chefs. Aurin, you are free to keep your Shamtile here and I will see to it that your Petalcub is taken care of until you are ready to leave.”
One of Lord Kensington’s servants took Petalcub from Shamtile, who was rather reluctant to hand over his teammate, but relented upon Aurin giving him a prod. After that, everyone returned to the great hall where it all began and sat at their tables to eat their dinner, which was served almost immediately upon them taking their seats.
Aurin immediately drank his entire bowl of potato and leek soup, ignoring the burning in his mouth and throat as he downed it. He then chomped away at his bread rolls without even bothering to cut them open and spread butter. Hunter and Gardner caught each other’s eyes and tried not to laugh while Abby watched with a raised eyebrow. Shamtile meanwhile was sat on Frederick’s unoccupied seat and shoving food underneath his mask, careful not to let anyone see even a hint of his face.
“So, Aurin,” said Clarke, “do you have a particular Minakai in mind that you would like to use that berry on?”
“Nope,” said Aurin, looking around to see if his main dish was on its way.
“As long as you don’t use it on any of mine, eh?” joked Gardner, nudging Aurin in the ribs.
“Does it work on other tamers’ Minakai?” asked Aurin.
Gardner looked uncertain. “Come to think of it, I don’t know. That said, I wouldn’t like to test it and find out.”
“It would be a powerful weapon if it could be,” remarked Abby.
“It’s far too rare to rely on for most occasions,” said Hunter. “I think it would be more appropriate to use it on a Minakai as rare as the berry itself…or at least as close to that level of rarity as you can feasibly get.”
“And what Minakai would that be?” asked Bentley.
“You’ve seen Tobias’s Arusom at the National Championships, haven’t you?” asked Hunter.
Bentley nodded, as did most of the others.
“It is one of the rarest Minakai that can be found in Bretonia and there are many theories about how to not only find it, but to obtain one of its eggs. Not only that, but it is also a wind elemental, and it has an earth elemental counterpart that it’s said to share a rivalry with.”
“Zeera,” said Clarke, his face serious.
“Yes,” said Hunter. “They’re said to be more rare than even cosmic elemental Minakai. Their powers are certainly different, but from what I understand, they’re hard to match in terms of raw powerful.”
“Hard to match and hard to control,” said Clarke. “I have had the pleasure of seeing Tobias’s Arusom up close. It is a sight to behold, and you can feel the power it possesses by simply being in its presence.”
“How did he come to own it?” asked Aurin.
“That’s a story he can tell you himself if he desires,” said Clarke. “As with every epic Minakai, it was not without great struggle. I will leave it at that.”
Everyone continued to eat and once the main course arrived, Aurin devoured his before anyone else was even halfway through theirs. He didn’t know why he was so hungry, but he could barely control himself. Once everyone had finished their desserts, the tables started intermingling.
Luna immediately approached Aurin and threw her arms around him. “I knew you could do it,” she said, proud of him and his victory.
“Thanks, Luna,” said Aurin. “I have something for you.”
“Is this the Lunar Shard?” Luna asked as Aurin reached inside his jacket pocked.
“Kyle and his big mouth,” chuckled Aurin as the rancher also approached.
“Was it supposed to be a secret?” asked Kyle.
“No…no, I guess it wasn’t,” said Aurin.
Kyle sat down at Percival’s now-empty spot. “Did everyone have a nice day?” he asked.
Hunter was the first to answer. “It was an interesting day,” he said. “I’m curious as to how a tournament like this compared to a more structured event in showing everyone’s true strengths.”
“I like it,” said Abby. “You get to meet a lot more people and you aren’t waiting for days between battles.”
“You’re also not battling at full strength the whole time,” added Aurin.
“But you got a Minakai out of it,” said Gardner.
“There are pluses and minuses for the format,” said Kyle, “but it’s a day away from the ranch I can spare. I wouldn’t have had the chance to battle half the people I battled today without Kensington putting this together.”
“I just want to know what’s in this egg,” said Luna, holding up her prize.
“I have an incubator,” said Aurin, lifting up the circular disk that he had set atop his Roche Fruit box. “You can hatch it now if you want?”
Luna shook her head. “I don’t want to cross any lies here. I’ll hatch it tomorrow at the ranch and introduce him or her to the rest of my team at the same time.”
The celebration continued on for several hours afterwards and eventually Lord Kensington invited everyone to make their way to the train station where their train was awaiting them to take them back to Hazelton. When Aurin was sat in his carriage, he and Shamtile stared out the window at the castle grounds. It had been quite the day for them and as the train started to move, he was excited for what the future held for him and his Minakai.