Zalan stopped in his tracks, the loud audience roaring above him making him second guess what he heard.

“You saw Slasuon in the Castle of Docrun?” Zalan asked Rep.

“No, but I remember his name. You said it when you read it off the letter,” Rep said.

“I didn’t even know him before this week,” Zalan shook his head.

“The letter you read in the Chaos Chamber in the Castle of Docrun! The one from the father that told us of the things he tried in order to escape,” Rep pressed.

“Sure, I remember that. The letter that was with the dead guy’s skeleton,” Zalan nodded.

“The last piece of the letter was a message to his son, Slauson,” Rep said.

“Are you sure?” Zalan asked, not recalling the name being mentioned at all.

“Absolutely certain. He said he loves his son, Slauson. And that he should not try to cheat others like he did,” Rep said.

Zalan tried to remember any exact words, but couldn’t place anything. He then tried to evaluate the words at face value.

“So, you think Slauson is a cheater? He’s cheating at the tournament!” Zalan said, enthused by the news.

“No, I did not say that!”

“You were reminded of it when I told Umdarr that someone was cheating! You think that dirty loser is a cheater too,” Zalan said eagerly.

“No, listen to me! This is not about who is cheating!” Rep said sternly.

“So you haven’t ruled him out yet,” Zalan pointed out.

“We need to figure out what to tell Slauson,” Rep said.

“Yeah, something to catch him off guard and get him to admit to cheating,” Zalan nodded, stroking his chin in thought.

“Zalan! Be quiet and listen!” Rep snapped. Zalan was stunned by Rep’s assertiveness. He nodded, waiting for his friend to continue.

“Slauson may not know his father is dead!” Rep announced.

Zalan was going to say another insult toward Slauson but caught himself. The words rang loudly in his head. Rep could be right. Slauson’s dad was alone in the corner of a Chaos Chamber in an otherwise abandoned castle. They may have been the only ones to read the letter left behind. Slauson’s dad’s last words to Slauson. Zalan’s expression turned nervous and uneasy.

“Well… What do we do?” Zalan asked.

“I think we should tell him,” Rep said sincerely.

“Are you sure?”

Zalan’s emotions spun shakily in his heart. He never knew his own father, he passed away too soon after he was born. He wondered what it would feel like if someone told him his father died. One moment, your parents live fine in your mind and the next moment they’re torn away. And you had no chance to say goodbye. As usual, his thoughts turned to his mother…

“I don’t know, Rep,” Zalan looked uncomfortable. As much as he didn’t like Slauson, he didn’t want to be the one to tell him. “Are you sure it’s the right guy? Is Slauson not a common name?”

“Not that I know of,” Rep shook his head.

“Maybe we should wait until later? Like after the tournament or something? Wait for the right time?” Zalan asked.

“Right time? When is the right time to be told your parents have passed?” Rep asked compassionately.

Zalan winced at the response. He didn’t like talking about this. He almost began squirming in place.

“Why don’t we ask Nold what to do?” Zalan asked.

“Why?”

“I just… I think he could help us,” Zalan said.

“Fine, but if Nold does not give me a satisfactory response, then I will simply tell Slauson,” Rep said.

The duo made their way back up the seats as the crowd cheered on the most recent winner. A few audience members looked their way and waved to them.

“Rep, you had an excellent fight! I have never seen a Fire user overtake a Water user so well,” one said.

“I thank you, but we really need to be climbing up to our mentor,” Rep said graciously, scooting forward.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Your title is the Dealer of Dragon Death. Have you really killed a dragon before?” a younger boy asked Zalan.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t alone. Me and Rep took it down,” Zalan patted Rep’s back.

“I think you mean ‘Rep and I’ took it down,” the boy corrected.

“Okay, kid, whatever,” Zalan rolled his eyes and continued his way up.

A few more members of the audience waved to them in excitement, but they ignored them all to get to their teacher faster. After pushing gently past new fans, they reached Nold. He regarded them with derision.

“You missed fights. Therefore you have missed crucial information regarding your upcoming opponents,” Nold scolded.

“We were a little busy,” Zalan replied.

“Zalan restarted someone’s heart with his lightning,” Rep added.

Nold’s face changed immediately, looking interested.

“Your power can start a stopped heart?” Nold was mildly excited. He wiggled his fingers, as though mimicking how he would try to restart a heart.

“If you know how to do it. You can’t do it to someone dead, just someone close to death,” Zalan explained.

“Interesting,” Nold nodded to himself.

“Instructor Nold, we have realized something about Slauson and are uncertain how to move forward,” Rep said.

“You need not be concerned with his power. We will decipher his ability during the next match,” Nold said.

“No, not his fighting. His dad’s dead and we’re pretty sure he doesn’t know it. We’re trying to figure out when to tell him,” Zalan cut right to the chase.

“Tell him now,” Nold replied immediately.

“Oh. Really?” Zalan asked, disappointed by how straightforward the reply was.

“Certainly. If you want your enemy distracted and unable to concentrate on his next fight, you give him this tragic news immediately. If he ever goes up against one of you, he will be far too involved in thinking about his recent loss. Tell him now to destroy his confidence in order to take him down later,” Nold explained.

Rep and Zalan exchanged an appalled expression.

“Oh my God, Nold, we aren’t trying to ruin his life with this news,” Zalan said.

“Interesting. I thought Slauson was something of an enemy to you. I thought that his humiliation was what you sought,” Nold looked at Zalan.

“Not… not like this,” Zalan said.

“Hmm, fine. Then tell him immediately after the tournament. Whether he wins or loses. That is, if you wish to fight him without having an advantage,” Nold said, trying to convince them.

“We don’t,” Rep and Zalan said simultaneously.

Nold shrugged, mildly disappointed in his students. Zalan was glad he had the opportunity to delay telling Slauson. He might not even be there when the news was delivered and just leave Rep to do it alone. He didn’t want to see how someone reacted when they lost their parents. How a child would feel to lose their mother or father’s smiles. Their love and respect. The open ear and ability to give advice tailored to the one they raised. Zalan blinked his thoughts away as they got too close to his own mother.

Zalan looked over to Slauson as the next bout was called. The fighter was brooding, leaning forward to watch the fight with a blank expression. Like he was bored. Zalan felt annoyed by it, but also couldn’t help but feel sorry to some degree. He would be told about the loss of his parent in a short time.

The bout began and Zalan could hardly pay attention. Liv was up against another young woman her age. The two fighters clashed, both wielders of fire. They were both throwing out fireballs in rapid succession, trying to catch their opponent off guard or win by exhausting their opponent first. It became a battle of attrition and Zalan kept checking to see how Slauson reacted. He gave no indication of caring about the fight. Zalan sat back, staring at the bright sky above the canyon and trying to distract himself from his thoughts. He still wanted to beat Slauson, that was sure, but now the anger within him didn’t know where to go. He felt powerful when enveloped in rage and didn’t want to lose it between bouts of the competition.

“Pay attention,” Nold instructed him.

Zalan didn’t respond, wanting to remain zoned out. He was tracing the rocky walls of the canyon with his eyes. This would probably be a really cool tourist spot in his own world, the way the canyon just appeared and flatten out at the bottom, wide enough to hold a tournament within.

The audience cheered loudly at what sounded like a final blow. Zalan was going to look back down at the arena when he saw a shadow pass over the top of the canyon.

A huge one.

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Something just moved outside the canyon.

“Uhh,” Zalan sat up uncomfortably, tapping Rep on the shoulder and pointing upward. “Do you see that?”

Rep looked up and his eyes went wide. The shadow loomed large, a giant tail becoming clear in the darkness cast on the canyon walls.

“Monster! At the top of the canyon!” Rep said, slapping Nold on the back and pointing upward.

“Interesting,” Nold said coolly. “It is rare, but sometimes massive monsters can smell the gathering of this many humans outside of cities.”

“What do we do?” Zalan asked.

The creature’s face creeped over the edge of the canyon. A massive snake, its head alone the size of a bus. Its forked tongue poked out and its eyes dilated with interest at what it saw. It scrutinized the population of humans and decided it would be a decent meal. It began dragging itself toward the path that the attendees used to get to the bottom of the canyon. The only way in or out.

“Nold?” Rep asked more urgently.

“A bit of a shame, but it looks as though it will interrupt the tournament,” Nold sighed, standing.

“Monster!” Nold called loudly. He almost sounded bored. With a small display of flames spinning in the air, he was doing a poor job getting people’s attention. “Monster!”

“You aren’t making enough of a scene! Make your flames bigger!” Zalan told him.

Nold looked at him through the side of his eyes and ignored him. Zalan was surprised by how small Nold decided to make his flames when he was usually keen to show his abilities off. Nold changed tactics, spinning a tiny pile of sand into a ball floating in front of him. Nold flicked the wad of sand and struck Umdarr softly in the back of the head. Umdarr rubbed the back of his head and looked back to see who hit him. His eyes widened.

Umdarr looked up toward the massive snake, now slithering its way down the descending path into the canyon, its eyes hungry.

“Listen up!” Umdarr immediately shouted to the audience. “A monster has arrived. A Basilisk by the looks of it. Contestants in the tournament are not allowed to engage. Gaining any Experience or a Level will result in immediate disqualification. Everyone else who is not a fighter, come and assist in driving it out.”

“But it is a Basilisk!” someone close to him protested.

“Either help me drive it out or get eaten by it,” Umdarr said.