Nenos awoke, wet towel on his forehead, his head in her lap. He gave a slight chuckle, moving his right arm to take the towel off his face.

"You just always need to take advantage of the situation. Don't you Abigail." He stated, eyes starting to focus to the lobby's dim light, brushing her caesious, greyish-green, hair out of his face.

"And you always just have to overdo it, no matter the situation!" She said, snarky, looking down to his head examining it thoroughly. Her hands running over his forehead multiple times, as her head got close to his. Nenos just stayed still, yawning and closing his eyes. Abigail put her hand on his chest examining it. Nenos's breathing was normal, his body showed no signs of damage from the last fight. As far as a medical eye could tell. Abigail pinched his arm.

Nenos just rolled his eyes, "Ouch. That hurt."

She increased the pressure, skin going white between her fingernails. Prompting a reaction from Nenos.

"Ouch!"

"That's what you get for being sarcastic."

"Okay, Okay, now stop pinching me."

She stopped, she needed to make sure of the damage done to his legs had fully healed. She took out a hammer, held it high above her head, and then slammed it towards his knee with all the strength she could muster. Without opening his eyes, Nenos let out some magic from the back of his knee slamming it with equal force to the hammer. Both the hammer and his knee forced the other away from each other.

Abigail let out a sarcastic sigh. "Dang, I thought I could make you scream again."

"You know trying to slam my knee with a hammer does get a little old."

"You're right, next time I need to chisel it!"

Nenos sat up, shaking his head back and forth, "That's not what I meant."

"Well regardless, you’re ready to go. Hope you have enough stamina for this last match though."

"I'll have to hope." Nenos sighed looking to the communication cube, projecting the screen.  His eyes glued to the screen, Abigail couldn't tell if it was worry or rage that burned in them. There she was, his younger sister Kreine.

The arena's dust wafted the air, the stone seats lined with people. The last match had thrown the crowd into frenzy, the people of Esdule’s worry was greatly noticed by the stench of sweat that hung in the air. As the cube's projected screen showed the two combatants’ names and pictures.

A man walked out of the west side of the arena, every step he took seemed to make a small earthquake. His arms and legs were easily the strongest out of the combatants, but as the audience had seen from the flare boy, strength can easily be misjudged. His hair was like the earth itself, a corbeau color that looked to fit a leaf's demise. His eyes were sturdy as he watched her enter from the other side of the arena.

"There she was The Water Demon, that seemed to be the most appropriate name for her," Nenos thought annoyed by her entrance to the arena. Her hair was a long Indigo that glistened in the sun, no sign of sweat was visible near her. She skated to her starting position stopping to twirl to the audience. No one in the crowd would show any sign of anger that she had made it to this point. No, they were too afraid; the stories that had preceded her were so strong they could easily scare children to stay quiet.

The referee jumped into the center, his black and white pants absorbing the audience’s tension. He needed to show nothing of fear, even if the audience could. He cleared his throat and screamed into the mic. "Ladies and Gentlemen, it is now time for the semi-finals to end with this match. On the west end we have the majestic lady of Kaiyaen Household, Lady Kreine! And of the east end of the arena we have the one simply known as Gul! Contestants may I please have your planes!"

Even as the referee finished the sentence, he could feel sweat dripping down his neck. Kreine and Gul approached putting their hands on their chest to produce the small paper airplane. As they lifted them high into the air it became clear to the arena how much this match could mean. The stench of sweat from the audience poured in as their eyes bore down on the planes. Gul's green plane looked just like a kite, it would fly consistently through the match, but his magic would not get as much of a boost from its speed. Meanwhile the audience stood in shock from Kreine's plane; its blue color absorbed the sun as they saw that her plane was much like Agni's from earlier. It was a straight plane, but had tips pointing out of it, her magic would be able to peak and slow during the match, a huge advantage vs Gul. She wouldn't have long to use it however, so she had to make sure it didn't hit the ground before the match was over, else without magic the demon would be defenseless.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

The contestants walked back to each of their respective positions. The planes vanished from the referees hands, pulled toward the sky. The timer began to count down, "3.... 2.... 1.... BEGIN!"

The planes started to glide and the difference in magic was obvious. The whole arena seemed to drop in degrees as ice spread from Kreine's feet. Gul wasted no time either, his foot dug into the dirt, kicking a slab of the arena straight at Kreine. She simple skated away, filling the arena with more ice. Her body rushing toward Gul at full speed, but just as she reached her target, fast as she had crossed the distance, he had fallen into the crater that he had thrown at her. She had charged straight where he was confident that her speed was fast, but her body was quickly thrown to the air the second she could see what was happening. Gul had simply waited to feel the cold from her feet in the earth to kick it up. Kreine didn't fret however even being sent sky high was nothing new to her. She simply waited for the next move of her opponent. It wasn't long before Gul’s fist had burst through surface trying to surprise her.

"One good hit is all I need." Gul had thought, unfortunately for him he got to see firsthand why she was called the water demon. As his fist pierced the rock, where Kreine should have been, there was nothing. He looked confused as he heard a call from his right.

"Hey rock head." She called pointing down, to his leg.

 A slight nick he had gotten while waiting for the perfect time to launch her started to freeze. By the time he could realize his right leg was completely frozen, draining his body heat. He didn't have time to think as gravity had taken over the slab. He pushed it away, but was pulled with it. Kreine had used ice as glue to the rock. By the time he had realized what was happening, his body landed on the ground. His right leg shattered from the impact, he stared in horror as she approached him hand extended, as if offering to help him up. He turned crawling away, hands digging into the dirt as if swimming, throwing rocks back behind him not turning around to look at her approaching. The last thing he remembered was a cold had touching his back, as his body went limp.

Kreine just looked toward the ref, as she walked over to the center. Her plane gently glided down into her hands, as she held it towards her chest, bringing it back into her heart.

Nenos just looked to the ground, "Another boost to her ego." he said in a slight whisper, trying to hold back the rage. Another thing she's accomplished, another match she's won, another smile of pure cruelty.

Abigail put a hand on his left shoulder, making sure the fake skin would not peel, "Hey, at least you get your chance to finish what was started back then."

He let out a slight chuckle, "Let's hope I can make it back without any more scares would be nice." Then with a sigh "Be prepared, if I am able to beat her then the Kaiyaen household will be looking into all our activities, if they haven't already." The intermission from the last match was almost over; Nenos raised himself up, and walked directly into the tunnel.