Joy had truly enjoyed the game he played with the woman Helen. She was a powerful and unique opponent that pushed him to the limit. But she seemed too caught up in the whole winning and losing thing.

Joy never had fun because he won the games he played; he won the games he played because he was having fun.

As he left the post-fight healing room, Joy saw his buddies Theo and Lillian sitting out in the hall, both of their attendants loitered around, looking a tad out of place.

Joy still didn’t have shoes on, in retrospect taking them off before his battle with Helen had been a bad idea, but no one was keeping score. His feet made a soft thwap thwap against the hard surface of the floor. Lillian looked a little disgusted at it, but Theo just looked aghast.

“My friends! What did you think?” Joy’s arms wrapped around each of their shoulders, and he put on his best smile.

“You were impressive and all, but don’t you think you took it a bit hard on that poor woman?” Lillian said as she slammed her booted foot down on Joy’s bare toes. A squeal escaped Joy’s lips as he started hopping up and down on his one uninjured foot.

“But I gave her the best battle I could, isn’t that the greatest respect I can give?” Joy squeezed out the words between deep breaths, but everyone still eyes him skeptically.

“You did something to her mind at the end of the match that made her start wandering around the arena like an idiot. She threw sand in her own mouth and screamed ‘yummy.’ It was truly horrifying.” Theo shuddered, recounting what had been the only time he had heard intense silence in a crowded arena.

“But if I had not done that, she would have easily beaten me. And I didn’t even realize that I had hit those letters, it was pure dumb luck.” Joy was able to walk by this point, but it was more of a hobble.

Joy turned to exit towards the stands while Lillian and Theo turned to go to their waiting rooms. They were up soon and didn’t want to be known as the people who made the entire tournament run late.

“Well, I hope no one has your dumb luck when they face me. That would be incredibly stupid and humiliating.” Lillian said as she parted ways with Joy.

“Maybe hide your face a little up there? I can’t imagine anyone likes you right now.” Theo gave a final piece of unsolicited advice before rushing off after Lillian.

Joy found that they were insulting him as well as Helen. He had brought his A-game to the stage, and she did too, anyone who thought otherwise was an idiot and made both of their efforts look inconsequential. And they were not that, never that.

He entered the stands with his head lifted high for all those who cared to look. There was much staring and awe in their eyes, but none of the fear or hate that Theo must have worried about. Instead, their eyes shone with a unique fervor.

They loved him.

Joy had never shaken so many hands, received so many hugs, nor seen so many genuine smiles. He was the hero of the hour, a true monument to this institution they all loved.

Fighting his way through the crowd was not an easy task, but eventually Joy made his way towards the prince’s private viewing area. He wanted to know if the prince was as happy with his performance. From how everyone was acting up here, Joy wouldn’t be surprised if the prince kissed him on the lips and gave him a raise.

Technically Joy was paid nothing, so the raise would probably be a small one, but that was still an improvement.

The prince did not receive him with open arms, if anything he seemed to be quite annoyed that Joy had come back into his private area. He kept muttering things about ‘private space’ and ‘respect.’ Joy felt none of those things were valid since he was being incredible respectful and mindful of personal space while shoving his way past the prince’s spot.

Sam was happy to see Joy though. They smiled the way a snake would smile at a mouse in the field, and it made Joy shiver, but it seemed a genuine smile at the very least.

The fight happening on the sand was finishing up, there was the Shovel Knight and the Forgetful Knight in a deadly tangle.

The Shovel Knight still had their massive gear on, disguising their face from the crowd, keeping their shovel in their hands. The Shovel Knight spun in circles striking out around themselves wildly.

The Forgetful Knight had a unique gift that allowed them to force a loss of memory on their opponent. No one knew the exact limits of their gift, but urban legends stated that they could sacrifice memories of their own to selectively delete memories of their opponents. A truly cruel way to fight, especially in an entertainment format.

The Shovel Knight seemed to be truly blessed though, because they were able to strike the other knight. A massive shovel appeared on its head behind the Shovel Knight, and it came crashing down right where the Forgetful Knight stood.

A thunderous crash rang throughout the arena, only a tiny bit muffled by the sand, and the bell rung as the victor was declared. The Shovel knight looked incredible confused as the commentator screamed about their winning and the honor that would come down from the heavens and imbue their entire lineage with incredible powers and gifts.

Joy would bet all his gold that the Forgetful Knight had gotten the last laugh of the fight by erasing the Shovel Knight’s memories of the entire event. And betting against Joy was always a bad choice.

The prince leaned over to Joy and said, “sometimes I forget how truly haunting some of these gifts are. These past two matches have shown two truly horrific gifts. One person had their pride disemboweled in front of a live audience, while the other seems to have forgotten the reason that they are there.”

Joy was a little indignant, it wasn’t like he had meant for Helen’s pride to be smashed. Truly pride was such an ephemeral thing, the only person who could decide what pride meant to someone was themselves. Joy refused to take responsibility for Helen’s lack of humility.

“I think these fights show the power of humanity. They cling to these little things like pride and power so much, yet none of it means anything. My dear prince, don’t you remember the lesson in pride I gave you? The world is uncaring for us, we should just enjoy it as we can. For me, I will enjoy it by giving that woman Helen the best fight I can, even if it made her feel a tad undignified.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

The prince looked back at Joy with a look of bewilderment on his face. “You baffle me sometimes, Joy. You have such a profound mind at moments, yet you would spend most of your time goofing off playing games. Somehow, you don’t worry about how you could be a force of good in this world if you put your mind to greater use?”

Joy laughed, “of course not. My mind is what it is and worrying about things I will not do does no one any good.”

The prince had a sad smile on his face, yet he seemed to respect Joy’s words and the two of them went back to watching the proceedings.

It was incredibly good timing because the announcer started speaking as soon as they both turned away.

“He is known as the king of cool, his eyes bore holes in even the most steadfast commentator, so I am going to stop talking about him before he freezes my nose off. It is Theo!”

There was a polite level of clapping coming from the audience, but nothing as uproarious as Joy’s entrance as Theo walked into the arena. His eyes were fixed straight ahead, but Joy would have bet all his gold that he had been giving the announcer the stink eye moments before coming into the arena.

“His opponent in the ring is a perfect matchup. Both have looks that can kill. His enemy is the woman of your dreams, and she is known for her luxury brand of clothing as well as her penchant for violence. It is the Bewitching Brenda.”

As her name was called a woman rushed onto the arena floor. She wore a dress of all things to the tournament, but Joy could admit that her fashion sense was absolutely on point.

Her dress hugged her in all the right places while leaving much to the imagination. She flaunted her every move, catching everyone’s eye and languishing in the attention.

Joy was moved to tears to see that someone else with such amazing fashion sense had come to the tournament. He had been worried than everyone would be wearing horrific suits of armor, or loose-fitting ugly clothing like the ones Theo and Lillian went with.

She was stunning and gave the audience a wide bow and she threw a wink to the commentator, who started stuttering about her accomplishments.

Theo looked impassively on. Joy thought the matchup was stupendously funny, they had matched this woman with maybe the one man in the entire lineup who wouldn’t even blink at her beauty.

The announcer stood at the top of the stadium and bellowed at the top of his lungs, “begin!”

The words seemed to crash out of the man, leaving a physical imprint on the sandy floor as the two contestants started to stare at each other. Neither moved an inch from their starting positions, the two of them were locked in some sort of trance.

The prince leaned over to Joy and whispered in his ear, “you know, this is a bad match up for Theo. Her gift is a direct counter to his; the longer you look at her the more devotion you feel. Her gift comes from Idol, and it makes everyone who stares at her longer fall more deeply in love with her.”

A sheet of ice started to form around Brenda, yet somehow it made her beauty even more striking. She was a burning fire in the middle of a winter storm, she grabbed something deep in the hearts of everyone watching.

Her features were cast into ice that seemed carved by the gods themselves.

But she eventually waved an arm and Theo’s eyes wandered to where her arm went. She pointed to her left and his eyes diligently followed. Instead of freezing her beautiful face, Theo was now freezing the floor of the arena nearby her.

Brenda’s face lit up the way a child’s face does when they receive a new toy from their parents.

Her eyes glowed with a predatory gleam, and she casually said, “sit.” Theo looked at her, his big blue doe eyes starting to freeze her again before he sat down in the sand.

He didn’t sit like a person; he sat his haunches down the way a dog would sit. And deep in his eyes you could tell that he was excited to be following her orders.

Joy had been watching the match, but he had also been considering the prince’s statement during that time, at this moment he finally had a thought ready to give back to the prince.

“It is such a surprise to me that you of all people seem to think that gifts are the decider of these matches. You, the man who has struggled with a useless gift yet has still made himself a contender for the throne of the Hearted continent. But you think Theo will be vanquished by a single gift.”

Theo sat like a dog as Brenda walked towards him. His eyes still froze everything in their way, but with Brenda’s gentle instructions he never pointed his face towards the woman. She used simple commands with kind soft words to get him to turn his head this way and that; it was a truly horrifying show of control over another human being.

But Theo was not a simple dog for Brenda to control as she pleased.

Brenda had taken to swinging her finger around, watching Theo make himself dizzy keeping up with her commands.

But everything is decided in a moment. Brenda’s finger pointed a bit too close to Theo himself, and he brought himself to look at his own arm for a moment. His blue eyes created a sheet of ice over his arm; that sheet of ice caused a slight pain. Just enough pain to snap out of the trance that Brenda had placed him under.

Joy had once heard a doctor say that pain was the best medicine for any problem. If any of his patients reported anything other than perfect health, the doctor would hit them overhead with a bat until they said that they had never felt better in their lives.

Obviously, Joy thought the doctor was a quack with a penchant for hurting people, but in this specific situation Joy could not have agreed more with the doctor.

The pain that Theo had felt had jolted him out of the odd hypnosis that Brenda had put him under. Joy watched as Theo’s face split into a grin. He had just been given a second chance at victory and there was no way he was going to waste it.

Theo raised one of his hands to cover his eyes, then theatrically threw his arm away to reveal that they were now closed. The crowd oohed and aahed at his newfound theatrics.

Joy was a tad worried that Theo’s foray into the arts was leading him to develop an eye for showmanship. He was the group’s diva and there could not be two of them in the same space.

But Theo’s work of showmanship certainly had the crowd intrigued, the move had also made Brenda’s footsteps seem a bit less sure. She quivered in her spot, unsure of how to proceed when her opponent refused to look at her.

The crowd loved the fact that Theo seemed to be handicapping himself and his opponent, now neither of them could use their gifts. His gift relied on vision and hers relied on being seen, now neither condition was met.

But Theo was still at the disadvantage, he had no vision. The question became whether Brenda could take out a blind man. Or was Theo skilled enough to take on his attacker without the gift of sight?

The crowd was on their toes with anticipation as Theo gestured in Brenda’s general direction with his hand and made a rude gesture. Really, someone had better have a talk with him about propriety.

Theo danced in place, lightly shuffling from toe to toe, turning around in every which direction. He was restless but Brenda was considering. Someone did not become a knight without some martial skill, but she had mainly relied upon her gift for years at this point, what would she do without it?

All Brenda knew was that this moment needed decisive action. She readied herself and started inching her way towards Theo’s defensive dancing.

The crowd booed at her slow pace and boring moves, but she held the upper hand, and she needed to take advantage of that.

She moved in a circle around Theo, step by careful step. Her movement was silent, and her feet barely disturbed the sand where she placed them. Theo still rocked from foot to foot, idly turning this way and that.

Brenda was an ambush predator; she had set herself up in the perfect position to destroy Theo in one fell swoop. She moved with the speed of a falcon; nails poised to shred flesh.

Theo turned in one smooth motion and pushed her forearm out of the way. Causing her blow to flail to his side. His second hand struck her in the stomach, and Brenda folded in half, puking out the contents of her stomach.

Brenda was able to slide away as Theo flailed in the air above her. But she looked much more cautious as she came for a second attack. Which was foiled just as easily as the first.

The third attack went the same, and so on, until her face was covered in enough bruises to match her pride. She finally stumbled to her knees, utterly defeated.

Theo opened his eyes and poised himself for the final strike, he looked down at her and said, “your perfume was a little too strong, maybe go for one of the more delicate scents next time.” He knocked her out cold and looked away as quickly as possible.

The crowd went wild, and Joy laughed at the incredulous look on the prince’s face. It was a beautiful showing of skill over gifts, cunning over power, and that the underdog always had a chance.

The match was everything Joy loved in this world and more.