Dellen opened his eyes, then felt the raised skin on his face, on his hands, and on his exposed left arm. His fatigue had washed away, and Aether flowed freely. His left arm hurt, the bones were still broken, held in place by the newly forged metal, but his fingers worked, he could tell that the splint on his arm was cosmetic. He had achieved Second Trinity.
There was an odd flapping in his robes, he looked down and saw holes where the ingots had burned through cloth, entering his body through his stomach, as well as a huge scorched section where the bolt had hit him.
“I need a new robe,” his stomach grumbled, “And some food.”
The initiates were staring at him.
Dellen looked around, everyone was staring at him. The combatants in the ring had taken a break to stare at him. No doubt forging in-between rounds was uncommon at best.
He looked at the sky, it had been a bright day before, now the clouds were darker. It seemed Tiberius was talented enough with Electrical Aether to summon a bolt on his own and willing to darken the day just for a chance at winning.
“Is there some food I can have?” He asked again.
He watched the combatants in the ring, they were on their sixth bouts, if he won his match, he would be facing one of them. A Lumino Initiate and a Kinematic Initiate. The Kinematic Initiate regained her equilibrium faster and took advantage of her opponent’s distraction to end the match. The bell rang, and the Kinematic Initiate nodded at Dellen before walking back to her banner.
A strip of hard meat was handed to Dellen, and Tiberius locked eyes with him. “Being given materials like this is a rare privilege. Earn it.” Dellen was sure that most Aetherforged would have all but exploded with that sort of surprise, still, he dipped his head in a deep incline to Tiberius.
A robe was found and given to Dellen in time for him to see two new banners go up, Lumino and Electrical.
Dellen walked out near to the center of the sand and waited for his opponent. The Lumino Initiate approached, her step hesitant. Not that Dellen blamed her, given the number of people around, it was unlikely that she had seen everything, but by the time she would have looked over, there would have been a lightning bolt and a thunderclap emanating from the Electrical Initiates, and now Dellen was back on the sand with her, arm in a splint, face covered in fresh scars, wearing a new robe.
He gave her a shallow bow and introduced himself, “Dellen.”
“Olivia,” she replied, also with a shallow bow.
The bell rang.
Light flared from Olivia’s hands, so bright as to render Dellen’s goggles useless.
Dellen suspected she could see him, even if he could not see her. He brought his hands together and created a crackling and enormous ball lightning while keeping his eyes shut and running toward where he had last seen her. He threw the lightning forward, pointed down so it would hit the ground before exiting the ring.
The ball lightning crackled on the sand, Dellen chanced squinting his eyes open, Olivia was not ahead of him. He whirled and had to shut his eyes against the brightness. A foot thudded into his chest, knocking him over.
His back slammed into the sand, and he rolled as soon as he could, pushing to his feet, trying not to stay still for her.
Eyes closed, he was sure that she was in front of him. That was where the light shone brightest. He stepped to the side, listening for the sound of her feet on the sand, anything that would give him a moment’s warning before she launched another attack.
There was a patter of feet on sand, behind him, and another kick hit him, this time in the lower back.
Dellen pitched forward, landing on his bad arm, feeling a jagged bolt run up to his shoulder.
He rolled, and tried to escape her next kick, but her booted foot took him in his stomach.
Fighting the urge to throw up the meat he’d just eaten, Dellen pushed Electrical Aether to his skin, creating a crackling barrier.
Olivia’s boot thudded into the barrier, and Dellen concentrated all of the lightning over his body and sent it up her leg. He heard her pained yelp before she hit the sand.
Dellen blinked his eyes open, still seeing black spots in his vision from the overabundance of light, and stumbled to his feet and over to his opponent. One hand on her back, the other in the air holding a ball of lightning, he said, “Yield.”
Olivia tapped the ground three times.
Dellen stepped back and waited for her to rise before giving her a polite nod and returning to his banner.
“Seventh round,” Tiberius said, “We haven’t had an initiate reach the seventh round in decades.” His gaze ran across the sand, taking in the displeased posture of the robed figures beneath the Lumino Banner.
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Dellen nodded, wondering how much time he would be granted to recover between matches.
A few minutes later, a robed figure stepped out, announcing the seventh round, the symbols were a lightning bolt and a gear. Electrical Aether against Kinematic Aether.
Dellen walked to his place on the sand. There had been over a hundred initiates, now the competition was reduced to the two of them. His opponent strode out, the Kinematic Initiate who had taken advantage of his forging to win her match. Six wins meant that she was both a competent and opportunistic fighter with a strong understanding of her Aether.
He looked her over. The robes they all wore obscured her figure, but she had a strong jaw beneath her mask. Dark eyes glinted at him. He felt no particular malice, just readiness. She surprised him by opening her mouth, “Penelope,” and nodding her head.
Dellen smiled and gave her a shallow nod, “Dellen.” He had seen six of her matches, four of them he had paid close attention to. He had an idea of what she was capable of; she was faster than the rest of the Kinematic Initiates, and she was capable of extending force out from her body, like a ranged punch.
The bell rang.
Penelope accelerated at him in a blur of movement, slamming into his chest before he had a chance to bring up his hands.
Dellen flew back, his shoulders and spine slamming into the sand. His left arm slapped the ground a moment later, sending a jolt of pain through his body. He rolled, trying to push himself to his feet, and Penelope appeared next to him, kicking him in the side, sending him sprawling. His ribs groaned in protest, Dellen clutched his side, using Electrical Aether to bathe his body in a cascading cover of sparks.
Penelope threw another kick at him, the blow stopping well short of his body, but the force continued on, through his hastily erected protection, sending him spinning again.
Dellen wished she was wearing any magnetically susceptible metal that he could use to pull her off balance. Instead, he threw lightning at her. Penelope rocked from one side to the other, moving around the lighting as though she was dancing rather than fighting.
Another kick crashed down on his side from a distance.
Dellen’s ribs creaked, he pushed himself to a standing position, another kick took him in the face, and he collapsed. Dellen awoke as Ardentus was roughly dropping him onto the sand under their banner. “Waste of resources if you ask me.”
His face hurt. He shook his jaw from side to side, feeling for sore muscles and loose teeth.
“I didn’t,” Tiberius said, “We were in the seventh round. When was the last time that happened? Our combatant was of the First Trinity for most of the exhibition and forged between matches. Neither of these events has happened before. It was an excellent use of resources.”
“We still lost.”
“There are four times as many Kinematic Initiates as there are Electrical Initiates, and we still entered the final round with them. This was a success.”
Ardentus fell silent, but Dellen could still feel his dissatisfaction almost as much as he could feel the pain in his face.
A bell rang, and Lady Katherine, the local master of the order, walked out to the center of the sand. Dellen wondered again if she was the woman who had bought him. The sand erupted beneath her, raising her up. Once again she stood on a column of shifting grains.
“Well done Initiates,” she said, her voice powerful and warm again, “It has been years since we have seen such a showcase of talent. Well done indeed! As was promised, we have gifts for those of you who reached the sixth and seventh rounds.”
“Step forward our finalists who reached the sixth round.”
Olivia, the Lumino Initiate that Dellen had defeated in the sixth round stepped forward, as well as the Lumino Initiate that Penelope had defeated stepped forward and approached the base of the column where Lady Katherine stood.
Sand surged beneath them, raising them to a few feet beneath her height. Lady Katherine reached to the side, and two bags pushed their way up out of the sand next to her, resting on miniature pedestals. Lady Katherine reached for the first bag and passed it to Olivia, the second bag went to the initiate Dellen hadn’t met. “May these materials aid you in your path to greater glory within the order.”
Both initiates dropped to a knee, and the sand brought them down to ground level.
“I call forward the Electrical Initiate who reached the seventh round.”
Dellen felt a jolt in his chest. That was him. Feet wanting to drag, he walked out to the sand before Lady Katherine’s pillar. When he was a few feet away from the base of her pillar the sand beneath him boiled, and surged, lifting him up and providing steady footing beneath. Another pedestal of sand rose next to her and she handed a bag to Dellen. “May these materials aid you in your path to greater glory within the order,” she said, her voice projected to carry. In a quieter voice, intended for Dellen alone, she said, “You have done well since I bought you. The order expects much of you.”
Dellen staggered as he accepted the bag. She had been the one to buy him. His lips opened and closed, air refused to leave his lungs.
“Speak.”
“What does the order want from me?” He managed to ask with a hitch in his voice. He still didn’t know what the order wanted at all. He felt like a prisoner stuck on the compound, living in an oppressive environment.
“What we want from all of our members. Strength.”
The sand beneath him dropped away, taking him back to level ground. He carried the bag back, thoughts in turmoil. His time since leaving Copperopolis had been traumatic, he had died many times, and then sold at auction, his time with the order, sterile and isolating as it had been, had also been the greatest period of stability he had experienced since leaving The Refinery. He had even been raised to Second Trinity, albeit in an incredibly dangerous fashion.
The bag in his right hand bounced off of his thigh. Curiosity itched at him, it was forging material, but he had no idea what was inside. He had yet to adjust to the increase in strength from the jump to Second Trinity, he was not even certain how much the bag weighed.
Ardentus and Tiberius nodded to him when he reached the banner, as did the initiates. His fellow initiates. Dellen still was not sure whether to count himself amongst their number. When he had first found himself drafted into the order he had been eager to escape, and he was still eager to escape, but now he wondered if he might come to them of his own free will. If he were able to re-live the events that led to his capture, the fight with Hoskins, he thought he could win, easily, but only because he was of the Second Trinity. No matter what paths he took out here in the wider world, he needed to prioritize reaching First and Second Trinity.
He watched as Penelope was raised up on a pillar of sand, given her prize, and returned to the Kinematic Initiates.
“Congratulations, Initiates. In celebration of this exhibition, you are all given liberty of the grounds until tomorrow morning.”
For the first time since joining the order, Dellen was startled by the sound of multiple voices raised in cheer.