Everything seemed blurred to Agni as he began to regain consciousness.

He could hear the fire crackling and smell the food's aroma.

He saw a figure that could only have been Vartan sitting alongside him.

"You did good back there, kid," He told Agni. Vartan offered Agni some food, which he declined to eat.

"What happened?" Agni asked, still in a slight daze.

"You pushed yourself." Vartan told him as he ate, "You did well." "However, things will only get more difficult."

"Why is that?" Agni asked.

"The monsters from the Abyss are drawn to the power that emanates from the Kingdom," he explained. “Which means we will see them more often.”

Agni was happy to hear that. After all, he still wanted to get stronger.

He tried to smile even with all the pain he felt. "Sounds good to me." He fell back down and relaxed his sore body.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Days passed, and Agni trained even more than he ever had. The giant mountains obscured more of their vision as they approached the Kingdom. Eventually, they stood over a small hill overlooking the Castle. Agni stood in admiration of its architecture. The golden walls encircled the Castle and its surrounding city. To its right, there stood a circular structure.

"What is that for?" Agni asked as he pointed toward it.

" The Colosseum?" Vartan asked. " that is where the most skilled duelists compete."

Agni's face lit up with excitement. A grin slowly crept over his face.

"No," Vartan replied before Agni could say anything.

He began walking toward the Kingdom's entrance without Agni.

"Aww, come on, Vartan!" He yelled while Vartan walked away.

The river they had followed throughout the journey joined a surrounding lake. Vartan and Agni were able to catch up with a group entering the Kingdom. Agni noticed their expressions. Some of them seemed tired, perhaps from the journey.

"It is not a good time to be at the Kingdom," Vartan whispered as he walked with Agni through the gates. He quickly pulled his hood over his head.

"Why did you do that?" Agni asked, referencing Vartan's hood, which now shadowed all but his mouth.

"It can get pretty dangerous around here for me." He replied.

"What?" "What about me?" Agni asked.

"Calm down, twerp. Nobody knows who you are."

"Hrghhh."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Unlike the plaza back at home, the Kingdom's atmosphere seemed much quieter. Instead of advertising their products, the shopkeepers all seemed to be quiet. Most of them sat down and only addressed those who approached them to buy.

"I know it seems pretty dull here," Vartan whispered to Agni as they walked along. "These people have been through a lot."

"Why do they stay here?" Agni asked.

"After the Gods were sealed away, People flocked to the Kingdom fearing for their safety" He continued walking along. " They believe that no matter how hard it is here, it is better to suffer than fall to the Abyss."

As they continued walking, Agni realized they had been going toward the giant Castle in the center of the Kingdom. While passing through, he heard the loud cheering from the Colosseum nearby. He stood still and noticed Vartan still walking without him. He quietly detoured toward the Colosseum's entrance. It wasn't long before he heard Vartan calling out for him.

"Agni!!!" he yelled out.

"I just want to take a quick look," Agni yelled while running away.

Agni saw a duel in the center of the Colosseum, past the rows of enormous crowds. Both Duelists seemed exhausted yet stood their ground. He noticed they had swords, but neither looked as sturdy as Scorched.

Their swords locked and wouldn't budge. After a moment, One of the duelists began to channel fire through his sword.

Agni could feel the fire even from far away. He suddenly got an idea. He focused on the fire surging through the sword, then, in an instant, It exploded with energy, pushing both of them outward and into the ground.

"Crap," he thought to himself. He had only meant to cause a slight surge that would confuse them both. A man stepped out of his seat as the servants dragged them away. He wore a black robe, similar to Vartans. A hood covered his mysterious face.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," he addressed the crowd. His voice echoed throughout.

"Who will come forth and battle the mighty champion of the Arena?"

The gates near the bottom of the Colosseum began to open slowly, and the crowd roaring got even louder.

Agni's excitement grew. He had never before heard of a so-called champion of the arena.

"I think that's enough, bud." He felt a hand grab his shoulder.

"No, no, no, no..." Agni repeated. "I have to see the champion."

"I don't think so, "Vartan said. "And don't even think I'll let you compete."

"Ah, come on!"

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Well, well, well," one of the guards exclaimed as he saw Vartan walking up. Despite his hood, the guard seemed to recognize him.

"What brings you back to the Kingdom?" He asked.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Vartan shrugged.

"Fair enough, you don't have to tell me," The guard responded.

He was about to open the door when he noticed Agni beside Vartan and paused.

"The boy is with me," Vartan reassured him.

While walking inside, Agni noticed a portrait along the wall. His heart skipped a beat when he realized who it was

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"Okay then," Vartan chuckled. He patted Agni on the back and continued walking ahead. "The Grand Archives are this way."

As they walked through the hallway, Vartan reminisced about his time spent in the Archives, but most importantly, he remembered one particular incident that occurred long ago, before the age of the Gods.

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"The Archives are just as you left them since you last visited, sir," the guard informed Vartan, who began to look around. Piles of books stacked one another. Countless information that Vartan had gathered during his time of research.

"Yes, they are," he replied. He walked toward a specific book and began dusting it off. He opened the pages and read the last entry he had placed.

'Unknown day since the fall of the Ancients: I have decided to stay in Yankton, where the child is, to watch over him. This HAS to be the same boy that he was referencing.’

‘Only time will tell how powerful he will become. At the moment, he is not to be feared - Vartan.

He ran his fingers over the last words and sighed. He looked at Agni, who was busy pretending he could understand one of the books he had picked up, and softly laughed. "Perhaps it is best if the boy is not here for this." He decided.

Agni looked up from his book in confusion. The guard began to escort Agni out.

"W-wait a minute, Vartan," He tried to explain as the guard attempted to escort him out. "I promise I'll behave."

Vartan chuckled. "Don't worry, bud. I won't take too long."

The guard closed the doors and prevented Agni from reentering.

"What am I supposed to do while I wait?" Agni asked him.

"Don't care," The guard responded, avoiding eye contact.

"Aghh." Agni began around the Castle when he suddenly heard the faint cheering of the crowd outside. He smirked and ran out, heading straight toward the Colosseum's entrance.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The guards let him compete, and he awaited his turn in the tournament.

Others awaited alongside him in the dark room. He had heard from others that if he defeated enough opponents, he would get to face the Champion. His only plan, for now, was to face off against one person and return before Vartan could figure out where he had gone. They had let him keep his sword, so he figured the fight would end quickly.

After what seemed like an eternity, one of the Guards signaled him

"You're up next, Agni." He escorted him toward the giant door."All we need is this," he said as he took Agni’s sword away.

"Hold on. I thought you said I could use it."

"I didn't say shit, kid. Now hurry up," he responded.

When Agni stepped out into the open, the sunlight nearly blinded him. The crowd cheering echoed throughout the arena. Each sound wave felt like a punch to the chest. Nonetheless, Agni looked straight at his opponent. He looked similar to Agni's age, with a giant scar that traveled down his eye and into his cheek. A gust of wind traveled across the arena, causing Agni and his opponent to cough from the dirt that swirled around them. Their names were announced to the crowd.

"Agni versus Ronan!" he yelled out.

'I can't show my true power,' Agni decided.

If he exposed his most significant advantage early on, he feared others would be able to counter him.

Ronan was fast. He wasted no time and hurled a giant rock attack against Agni, who could barely dodge it in time.

Agni retaliated by launching a water orb.

Ronan dispersed his attack with a wind wall.

He then conjured a blast of wind that halted Agni.

After seeing the wind attack, Agni had expected the organizer to scold Ronan for using a wind spell, but nothing happened.

"Maybe using wind spells is not as frowned upon here as back home," Agni thought. Even with that knowledge, he had never tried using any wind spells besides the dispersal. If anything, Agni was waiting for Ronan to attack him with a fire spell, but so far, it had not happened.

Agni grew impatient and began conjuring a fire orb. Ronan quickly mimicked the action and began to cast his fire spell.

'Gotcha,' Agni thought. The small fire orb Ronan had begun to cast quickly exploded in his hand and knocked him back.

The mysteriously hooded announcer observed what had just happened.

"This kid possesses the aura of a god." he thought to himself. "But how?" After a moment, he realized that the entire arena had been quiet.

"Ahem...The winner of this duel is Agni!"

Agni looked around as the crowd cheered him on. "This is going to be easy," He thought.

"I want to fight your champion!" Agni yelled out.

The announcer ignored his remark, "BRING OUT HIS NEXT OPPONENT," He yelled. The doors slowly opened again, and Agni, with newfound confidence, prepared himself for another fight.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Agni breathed out in exhaustion as they hauled out his last opponent. He had lost track of how many he had defeated.

"Surely this time," he thought.

The announcer watched as Agni dusted off his shoulder.

'Very well, kid," he whispered to himself.

"AGNI," He yelled, "YOUR WISH WILL BE GRANTED."

He signaled towards the gates, and they slowly began to open.

The crowds cheered in excitement.

"YOUR NEXT OPPONENT WILL BE.."

"JHENSEI!!!!"

Agni readied himself. 'This is it,' he thought to himself.

This last duel would prove to himself that he was ready to face off against the winter beast: Kruos. Behind the gates stood a knight whose face was covered by their helmet.

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"WHAT?!" Agni yelled out. "How come he gets a sword?!" he exclaimed at the host, who began to laugh. He momentarily signaled the fight to stop, "Very well, Agni." A guard came running by and threw Scorched at Agni. He unsheathed it and prepared himself.

" Alright-" he barely finished his sentence before Jhensei dashed up and attempted to stab him. Agni immediately parried his attack, and their swords locked in place. Jhensei's body surged with golden energy. He overpowered Agni and pushed him down. Agni quickly regained his footing and blocked Jhensei again. This time, Agni began to channel fire through his sword. He figured if their swords locked long enough, he would melt Jhensei's. His only worry would be his energy. Would he be able to gather enough of it and not exhaust himself? No matter. He had already committed to his plan. His sword began to channel with fire intensely.

The fire soon spread to Jhensei, who seemed unbothered at first. However, as Agni kept pushing on, the fire's heat increased. Jhensei began to look at his sword frantically. He swiftly dropped his sword and retreated back. Agni's confidence grew. He kicked the sword aside and started closing his distance to him.

'I got you,' Agni thought.

"YIELD!" He yelled to Jhensei, who remained quiet.

Jhensei slowly began to move his hands clockwise, which at first confused Agni. His hands began to glow as he continued, projecting a familiar symbol to Agni. He was so mesmerized by the Light that he began to lose focus.

"SHIT!"

He realized that Jhensei had been casting a spell. He thrust his sword forward, but it was too late. Jhensei quickly closed his fists and knocked Agni back with a flash of Light.

When Agni opened his eyes, he was surrounded by a dust storm.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back at the Archives, Vartan closed the book he had been writing in. He had scribed for so long that he had lost track of time. He walked towards the door and knocked on it. After a moment, the guard opened the door and let him out. "Welcome back, sir."

"Thank you," Vartan replied as he looked around.

"Where is the boy that was accompanying me?" He asked the guard.

He shrugged and pointed toward the Colosseum. "Saw him heading that way."

Vartan's eyes widened with rage, "WHAT.....WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM?!"

"My instructions were to guard the door, Not to babysit." the guard quickly replied.

Vartan believed in Agni's skills but knew Jhensei was in another league. "He's going to die if I don't do something," he said out loud.

Vartan facepalmed, took a deep breath, and began running in the opposite direction of the Colosseum.

"Where are you going?!" The guard asked.

"To speak with Calisto!" Vartan yelled back.