Joy had gotten incredibly good at sleight of hand at one point in his life. There were times when his luck brought him to incredible heights, but there was nothing wrong with doing a little scamming here and there by having nimble fingers.

He was sitting in his room about to go to sleep, and he wanted to regain some of his skill in sleight of hand by playing around with the coin he had won by passing through the preliminary rounds.

The coin went up and down his fingers like a lazy commuter walking up and down stairs.

Just as Joy was starting to try and do a particularly difficult maneuver where he slipped the coin into his sleeve while producing a different coin to switch places with it the coin started shining.

The coin itself was unremarkable. It was a golden shade and was blank on both sides. But once the coin started shining, words started to appear on the coin.

The side facing Joy read:

Tomorrow.

Midday.

Round Three.

There was always some fancy dancy new gift to use to convey something that could have very easily been told to them in person. But Joy did appreciate the ostentatious nature of the message. Succinct and powerful in the way that it drew one in.

Joy was excited for more for these bouts. He had felt that his time on the Frozen Continent had not been therapeutic. He had felt the crushing weight of reality at many points, but he enjoyed this. He got to embarrass people who took themselves far too seriously and make them play his silly games.

He couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen.

Without even a twinge of nerves, Joy settled down onto his comfortable bed and enjoyed the sleep of those who never got stage fright.

Joy slept without dreaming, he felt that he usually slept without dreaming. He was too enthralled by reality to create his own world in his mind. There was too much to love every day to truly care about what happened only within the confines of his brain.

The sun touched Joy’s face, and he arose. The air smelled crisper, and the day was brighter than normal. Today was going to be an exciting day, Joy could just feel the pulse of the world around him.

Joy spent a long time deciding on an outfit. The preliminaries were a private event, mostly meant to separate the chaff, but he was about to participate in the main matches, and he refused to look anything but his best.

Joy’s complexion had grown paler during his time on the Frozen Continent, so he needed to plan his outfit accordingly. He was thinking of a black outfit with undertones of red. The black would contrast with his pale skin, and the red would bring the color out of his face.

With his mind made up, Joy put on some silk black pants. The pants had a lot of room for movement while not being abrasive on his skin. After that, he put on a crimson undershirt and a black sweater. The crimson brought the red out of his lips, while the black created the basis for the outfit.

Joy looked at himself in the mirror. He was sure that it was not as garish as his normal outfits, but the somber, sleek look really suited him today.

But it was missing one final touch. He wasn’t quite sure what it needed yet, but it would come to him before he made it to the arena.

A pair of black slippers made their way onto his feet, and he walked down the hallway, heralded by the swish-swish of his pants rubbing together.

Joy entered the mess hall and met up with the cook. She was just as grouchy as she had been during their excursion to the Frozen Continent, but he was always happy to see her.

“What do you want, Joy? Anything special for the occasion?” The cook asked with what Joy thought was a glimmer of interest.

“I would love some toast that is a perfect brown as well as a hunk of meat.” Joy ordered with a smile.

The glimmer of interest turned into a predatory stare as the cook stared down at Joy. Maybe he should have been nicer to her, being kind to someone making your food was always a good idea.

Joy walked away from the cook’s station with two pieces of blackened toast and some “medium-rare” chicken. Joy considered his meal and decided that maybe he could pass on breakfast this auspicious morning. He wanted to stay loose and limber for his match, rather than weighed down by a heavy breakfast.

At least that was what he told himself.

Joy stared longingly at Lillian and Theo who had meals of their own untarnished by the cook. Lillian ate a hearty meal of meats and fruits, while Theo went for a more reserved coffee and toast. The sight of them made Joy’s stomach howl with rage, but he decided to move on with his life rather than dwell on his failures.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

With a new forcefully positive attitude, Joy left the prince’s castle with a small spring in his step.

The arena was in the very outer section of Vena Cava and Joy decided to walk rather than hire a flying-gifted to take him through the farms that encircled the rich estates of the city.

The earth was squelchy under his feet, but not in a manure under your foot sort of way. It was more like the earth was trying to draw Joy into it. The air was still, and the smell of the earth was heady in Joy’s nose. It truly was a beautiful morning.

Crossing the farms required a lot of commitment and a lot of paperwork. To keep the peons from being able to crash the nobles’ parties at any time there was a gate guard who was supposed to check the travel documents of anyone who passed through the area.

The only problem with the guard is that his eyes were easily averted from one’s paperwork if they slipped him a gold coin. This effectively meant that the rich were free to cross back and forth over the dividing lines of the city and still allowed the guard post to function in its intended fashion.

But Joy did not enjoy being subjected to paying a corrupt official. So, he just scaled the tall walls and ran into the city with shouts of, “bastard! We will catch you some day” ringing out behind him.

The city was remarkably empty. Joy knew that the knight tournament would pull a stupendous amount of the city into watching it, but there was a difference between knowing at seeing.

Where there normally would have been ten men and women only stood one in the street. The crowds and the bustle of the city had vanished, filled now with an empty hollow feeling.

Joy did not enjoy this empty feeling, but he could understand why it had happened. The king didn’t take taxes from the people in the years where the knight tournament was hosted, instead the revenue brought in from tickets being sold was enough to supplement the kingdom for another year.

Quite literally an entire city had upended itself to go watch the spectacle of knights punching each other really hard.

Joy was going to be a part of it, and he was so excited to enthrall a crowd with his wild moves and devilish smile.

Joy approached the arena. A few days ago, there had been mostly barebone pieces, enough for people to fight in the preliminaries in, but now it was gargantuan. It made even the king’s castle seem quaint and small in comparison.

The stands were stories upon stories high. Many of the seats were so high and so far up that they would be unable to see anything happening on the arena floor. Yet still, those tickets sold just like the better seats, at a much-reduced price.

Joy stared at the throngs of people making their way into the grand stadium. They all seemed to be living in their own worlds, totally engrossed in whatever made their own unique worlds tick. Some people chatted with their friends, others ate the delicacies offered in the stands, and even some others fingered their pouches of gold uncertainly thinking of the bets they had made on today’s matches.

Joy decided to mingle with the crowds a little longer. The matches would not start for a while, but the entertainment had started in the wee hours of the morning.

The crowd swayed as they entered the stands and sat down. Joy swayed with them, finding the rhythm of the souls of the crowd. He did not shove or push his way through, and he was not a rock, steadfast in the middle of the crowd.

When the crowd moved, Joy moved with it, slowly inching his way towards the front of the arena.

Joy mingled with the crowd, asking about people’s days, bumping shoulders with people around him and sharing in the misery of everyone who was packed in.

He tried to get to the very front of the arena, however he struggled, since the very front was reserved for the rich and elite. So, their cadres of personal guards stood as a human wall to block the crowds undulating.

As Joy made his way slowly to the front of the pulsating mass of people, he recognized one of the guards. He saw Ian standing with his expressionless face. The people trying to push their way forward meant nothing to him, but Ian meant something to Joy. If Ian was here, so was the prince, and the prince would love for Joy to come sit with him, he always seemed so happy to see Joy.

Joy stopped moving with the crowd and used a little shoulder here and there to persuade the other members of the crowd to let him come up to Ian. Ian’s eyes didn’t even flicker with acknowledgement as he saw Joy sidling up to him, he just gripped his sword tighter.

In a single stroke the man drew his sword and cut into the crowd. Joy gasped, expecting gouts of blood to appear where the sword had passed, but there was none. The sword had cut the crowd but not the people in it.

All around Joy, the throngs of people had been cut away by Ian’s strike. Joy stood in the center of a sea of calm, absolutely flabbergasted.

Ian calmly sheathed his sword and nodded to himself as he grabbed Joy by the scruff of his neck and tossed him into the private area cordoned off for prince David.

David was looking over his shoulder at the commotion caused by Ian cutting through the crowd and a rich mix of emotions made their way across his face as he looked at Joy being unceremoniously thrown towards him.

Joy landed in a heap but attempted to preserve his dignity by trying to strike a pose on the ground. It did not work, and the prince somehow looked even less amused at Joy’s antics.

“Joy. Why are you here?” The tone in the prince’s voice was accusatory, as if Joy had done something wrong. But the only thing Joy was guilty of was being too much fun.

“Well, I saw a wonderful friend of mine and wanted to come visit.” Joy put on his best smile and the prince looked lightly amused at it, but the amusement changed into a deep scowl.

“We are not friends, Joy. You are one of my little minions and you do as I say because I feed you and indulge your gambling habit.” Harsh words came out the prince’s mouth and Joy didn’t even know how to react; he didn’t know that the prince could spit such venom towards one of his best pals.

Thankfully, Sam came to Joy’s rescue when they said, “that’s why you two aren’t friends, but Joy here is an absolute dearie of mine. A friend of a friend is still a friend after all.” Joy was just thankful to hear that someone didn’t hate him.

“But I digress. Joy, you haven’t been paying very good attention to the time, have you?” Sam continued with a little twinkle in their eyes.

The sun was beating down, it was hot on Joy’s brow, and he realized something incredibly important. The sun was shining directly on the top of his head, the sun was right at the peak of its height, it was midday.

“SHIT!” Joy shouted at the top of his lungs as he vaulted over the edge of the arena stands and onto the sandy floor.

Some guards moved to sort Joy out, but once he flashed the gold coin at all of them the hubbub died out and they directed him towards one of the waiting areas for the competitors.

Sam let out a little sigh after watching the scene play out. They looked over at the prince and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Want to make a bet?” Sam proposed.

“On what?”

“Whether Joy knows that his opponent is written on the backside of the gold coin?”

“You’re a horrible person to bet against. I’ll put 30 gold pieces on it.”