Joy had thoroughly enjoyed Theo’s match, and he could not wait to watch Lillian’s. There were many matches that took place before Lillian’s though.

There was a man that could telekinetically control all metal fighting a man who could make a tree appear wherever he wanted. Joy was pretty sure that it was the same tree every single time, but he wasn’t too sure. The man with the tree finally won after making the tree appear above the metal moving man’s head.

There was a woman who could make her blood into miniature clones of herself that attacked her enemies, fighting a man who controlled massive arms and legs that he made appear in the air in front of him. The arms and legs were of a female shape and destroyed most of the arena. It was an overwhelming victory for the man with the arms and legs.

There was even a match between The Onion Knight and The Ring knight. A true highlight of the day. The Onion Knight obviously came out on top, but her competitor put in a good effort.

But finally, it was Lillian’s turn on the stage. The announcer hammed up her introduction as he always did, saying she was “the dreamiest girl in all the land.” She entered with a grin on her face and a pep in her step.

Joy watched her from the stands and saw an interesting new addition to her wardrobe that he hadn’t seen when she was harassing him earlier. She had a gold ring on the pointer finger of her right hand. It was not a wedding band; it seemed like a graduation ring from one of those preppy schools that nobles sent their children to. Joy was intrigued since he knew that Lillian’s education had been as sparse as his own, so this ring must be what she dreamt of the night before.

Lillian’s raven hair twirled about her as she smiled and blew kisses to the audience. She was also showboating, who taught these two to showboat? It was a horrifying mystery that Joy would have to unravel bit by bit himself.

The crowd roared their approval at Lillian but quieted down once the announcer started introducing her opponent.

“In the other corner, we have the slyest man in town. He is known for weaseling his way out of any deal and he was forced to come to the match by armed guards. It is the crowd favorite, Cecil the Thief.”

The crowd laughed and jeered at the same time. There was a lack of harmony in the stands. Joy heard men shouting that Cecil didn’t belong in this ring, while another yelled at him that Cecil was a powerful knight that deserved his respect.

Joy was intrigued by a man that garnered such love and hate simultaneously.

The crowd let out a wild shout of approval as two guards roughly threw the man Cecil into the ring.

The man was short and thin with a mop of unruly green hair on his head. The green was an atrocious color unfound in nature, it must have been dreamt up by some bigshot Hair gifted stylist. His clothes were rumpled and cheap looking, the only vaguely knightly thing about him were the many pieces of jewelry that adorned his body.

He was covered in every gem imaginable: emeralds, diamonds, opals. If someone could name it, Cecil had a ring, necklace, or bangle with that stone on it. The entire thing clashed and looked horrendous. He was the worst type of rich, one without any taste.

The contestants took their positions. Cecil crawled back up to his feet from the embarrassing sprawl he had been in before and started itching his butt. He was really digging for gold and the crowd booed even more ferociously at him. Lillian stood in a fighting stance, the ring on her hand poised and pointed at her enemy.

The announcer shouted at the two of them, “begin!”

The word left his mouth physically and a massive indentation struck the sandy arena floor. A storm of sand flew up, blinding everyone for a few seconds. But then the sand settled, and the arena was deadly still. The arena floor now had the word ‘begin’ stamped onto it, but neither contestant had moved during the eruption. Instead, they stared each other down.

The world seemed to glow around Lillian as her feet started to lift into the air. The ring on her finger emanated a bright purple light that effused the air around her. Great beads of purple energy started to form around her as she looked down at her opponent.

“Boom.” As she spoke the first word of the match all the beads released a deadly beam of purple energy.

Joy snickered as Cecil yelped and scrambled to dodge the beams. Each beam shot in a straight line across the arena, and Cecil managed to dodge the attack by spreading his legs out in an undignified manner.

The beams shot past Cecil, but they impacted the wall behind him. Each one left a scorch mark and shattered the wall where it struck.

Cecil’s eyes bulged as he looked at the devastation wrought by his opponent.

Lillian held her hand in front of her and forced the purple energy around her to coalesce into a massive version of the original beads.

The air stirred around Lillian, and an audible whoosh came when she released the massive beam. The original beams had only been as wide as a carrot, this one was more the size of a person’s head.

The massive beam did not travel in a straight line like the miniature ones, instead it snaked around the arena as it closed in on Cecil.

The man screamed as he threw himself to the side to avoid the thrashing beam of energy.

Cecil was in a panic as he ran around the arena floor, dodging the beam at every turn. It was like some mythic monster from the First age come to life to devour a stinky little man.

The audience laughed at him and threw food down into the arena. One particularly well aimed tomato exploded right on the man’s head. Though Joy wasn’t sure who had brought a tomato to this event since he didn’t think a tomato was a good snacking food; it seemed a poor choice to him.

Joy giggled as Cecil wiped the tomato juice off his brow and put a determined look on his face. He picked up his feet and ran at Lillian.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

In a dead sprint he covered incredible amounts of the arena. Even though the giant purple energy worm was gaining on him, he looked confident.

Cecil was going to make it to Lillian before the giant purple worm would make it to Cecil. Lillian was going to have to dismiss the giant purple being and leave herself vulnerable to Cecil.

Lillian was no idiot, she observed the situation and realized that she was going to have to change tactics. She took one calming breath, then released her massive energy construct. It faded away into motes of light and even as it did Lillian started forming new beads of purple energy around her.

Cecil grinned at her and pointed his finger.

“My turn!” Cecil started laughing maniacally as he splayed his arms out to either side of himself. Lillian looked a bit puzzled but continued charging up the purple beads that surrounded her.

“Do you know why they call me Cecil the Thief?” Cecil looked up at Lillian with a smug look on his face. “It’s because I can take anyone’s gift and use it against them. Now feast your eyes upon this.”

He looked at his arms as if expecting something to happen.

“… Normally it doesn’t take this long.” The crowd erupted in laughter and Cecil’s face went redder than the tomato that had hit his head earlier.

Lillian looked lightly amused, and she started shooting purple beams of energy at Cecil again. He yelped and started running to the far side of the arena. Lillian started floating after him sedately, she knew she had this match in the bag, and she wanted to strut her stuff.

Joy was rather amused himself. Cecil had taken Lillian’s gift; he just hadn’t done any research on his opponent, so he had taken her ability to take things out of dreams. Therefore, Cecil didn’t get any of the purple energy powers, and now he was boned.

He screamed at the top of his lungs before running towards the arena stands. Bolts of purple light flashed by him, barely missing every single time. The prince leaned forward and laughed, “she really needs to work on her aim.”

Cecil made it all the way to the stands before stopping and looking around at the audience in the lowest set of seats.

As the man danced around the shots of light Lillian sent at him, he yelled up at audience, “I will give whoever has a useful gift this gold ring on my finger, just put your hand up!” A beam whizzed by his head, and he added on, “quickly!”

Joy considered raising his hand, but it would’ve been needlessly cruel to give the man the gift of a deck of cards. Everyone around him seemed to agree, the prince vehemently shook his head when Cecil came up to their low seats. Sam just smiled knowingly, and Ian gave a deadpan look at the man.

Still, Cecil’s eyes lit up when he recognized Ian. Bloody Ian was an absolute legend, and tales of his deeds were told only to bad children that needed frightening.

Cecil pointed his finger at Ian and said, “thanks!” With a cheeky wink before facing down Lillian’s barrage again.

Joy started laughing like a lunatic; today really wasn’t Cecil’s day.

Cecil must have been filled with self-assurance. He had just taken a gift from one of the most powerful people of their time. Bloody Ian was known for his skill and power, so his gift had to be just as powerful.

Cecil slowly pulled a scabbard out of nowhere. It was an unadorned sheath, but more importantly the scabbard had no sword in it.

The idiot looked dumbfounded as he looked back and forth between the empty scabbard and the barrages of purple bolts raining down on him.

Joy didn’t know if Cecil’s gift allowed him to gain some bare bones knowledge of the gift he was stealing, otherwise he would have no chance at all.

Ian’s gift was the scabbard. It would magically readjust itself to the same size as any blade that was put into it, then that blade would be given the ability to cut anything once. He could cut the air, he could slice the seas, he could cut anything if his blade contacted what he wished to cut.

Cecil had the scabbard but there were no blades on the field of combat. He had no way to strike out at Lillian, instead he sat down in the sandy arena and let one manly tear slide down his face.

All his effort was for nothing because of his awful luck. He might have had a chance if he had done any research or if he had just had better luck with his thievery.

Snot dripped out of his nose and the crowd booed him as the final barrage of purple lights collided with him, sending him flying across the arena where he lay unconscious. A bell signaled that the match was over, and Lillian floated down to the ground where she spun in a circle, pumping her arms up and down in a gesture of victory.

Joy watched as Sam slinked away as the crowd shouted for a cathartic victory for Lillian. He frowned but joined in the cheering right after. His friend had just won a massive victory, and he needed to let her know that she deserved it.

Sam walked down the inner halls of the arena, and no one bothered them. Many people walked right by Sam without even bothering to give them a glance. Sam walked with purpose and speed, that combined with their drab outer appearance made them essentially invisible.

They walked past the armed guard, they walked past the competitors still anxiously waiting for their match to come, they even walked past Dahlia’s spies that were inching their way towards Cecil. But Sam twirled their wooden flute between their fingers and passed all of them by.

The medical bay had been mysteriously emptied since the end of Cecil’s match, so no one was there to watch as Sam approached the bed of the weak competitor.

Cecil was covered in bandages and his breathing was hoarse. The purple balls were incredibly powerful and had left him in a critical state. If the healers employed by the tournament folk had not been the best around, he may not have survived the blast.

Sam grabbed his pinky toe and yanked. Cecil screamed at the top of his lungs, “yeowch! What did you have to do that for?”

Sam stared down at the man, their brown eyes filled with disdain.

“We both know that your gift is actually changing your face Cecil, the gift stealing comes from the ring on your finger. Give me the ring or face the consequences.” Cecil’s eyes narrowed, no one was the best negotiator after having their ass kicked and being asleep, but he wasn’t going to be bullied by this person.

“Well, you could do that,” his face shifted into a guise of the prince, “or I could reveal his little secret to the world and his sister.”

Sam quivered in rage staring at Dahlia’s spy. The prince had known that Cecil was a plant by Dahlia in hopes of getting some information on the prince’s goonies’ gifts, but he had still wanted to come, to try and one up her. He was insufferable at times.

“Fine then, we won’t take your ring this time.” Sam was angry, but it wasn’t worth it to attack this man in hopes of stealing his ring. It was important, but they still had time. They turned their back to the man, ready to leave the room.

“Oh and…” Cecil’s face shifted into Sam’s face; a wicked smile spread across his lips. “I am going to have to take that flute of yours. My mistress knows what it is, and you don’t want your own little secret to get out, would you?”

Sam’s face instantly darkened, with their back to Cecil he didn’t see the shift and he continued onwards, “I mean my ring didn’t even…”

In a flash Sam threw the dead snake that had been stored up their sleeve at the man. He gaped at the limp body flying towards him, but a small part of his brain realized what was about to happen.

It was too late though. As the snake’s body hit the man, Sam’s flute came to their lips and a mournful sound erupted out of the instrument. At the same time the dead body shifted, and a new living snake appeared in its place.

Its fangs touched Cecil as he batted it away. But its venom had already pumped into his blood; Sam wasn’t taking any chances; it was the most lethal snake in their arsenal. Sam kept playing even as a small tear ran down their face.

Cecil twitched and moaned, but he died moments later in agony. His dead body turned into snakes that slithered into the halls of the building. None of them should be dangerous to anyone, but still Dahlia knew about the flute which meant that she would know that Cecil had found something worth killing him over.

The day had been a disaster, but still Sam picked up the ring lying in the bundle of clothes and bandages that used to cover Cecil. They had a small grin as they slipped it into their pocket before walking away.