Theo watched Joy’s match with something close to awe. Of course, Joy was Theo’s friend, but it was so difficult to put the two men together in his mind. The maniac on the field who sacrificed his hand to hit his opponent again was the same man who sometimes forgot that he should brush his teeth in the morning.

There was a raw beauty hidden in Joy’s strength. Theo envied him in some ways. He was not powerful in the way that Theo was powerful and there was something so much more invigorating about Joy’s power.

Joy had received a game that gave him no massive advantages; didn’t the people watching the battle understand this? He had gotten a game that didn’t enhance his strength or make him immune to pain, he had been given a game where he and his opponent had the exact same advantages. There was nothing that Joy could do that his opponent couldn’t.

And yet.

He wouldn’t lose. Theo felt it in his soul; there was no way Joy was going to lose. He was the pure spirit of mankind, overcoming the ephemeral strength given by the gods.

Not that Theo would ever say that to Joy’s face.

The match was one of the most beautiful things Theo had ever seen. And he knew that this was going to inspire so much art in him. He could feel that something about this victory spoke to his soul.

After watching Joy leave the stage and cheering him uproariously, Theo waited alone. It was quite sad that all their fights this day had been so weirdly spaced out. Lillian and Joy were back-to-back, but Theo had to wait extra-long for his battle. So, he waited while filled with anxiety.

The stage was quickly cleared of all the foliage and greenery that had been so pivotal in Joy’s match. Theo enjoyed watching it clear off, he was even a little bit excited about what the next stage would look like. Every single fight had a unique theme so far, so Theo was excited to see what Lillian’s would be.

The stage was suddenly flooded with water. Theo was not sure whose gift had been used to move such an incredible amount of water so quickly, but it was super cool. The stage was bubbling with fresh sea foam and even some fish were swimming around.

Quickly after, some tiny islands were placed around the arena. It was a stunning show, but it wasn’t quite finished.

With a giant splash, a massive octopus landed in the center of the arena and sunk down to the bottom of the artificial lake. The octopus looked vaguely familiar, but Theo was sure if he could place it. Though it was quite an odd thought, that an octopus looked familiar.

The stage was set, and the announcer cleared his throat to prepare himself for a long-winded speech.

“From the pastures of the outer reaches of our splendid continent comes a dreamy girl, with dreamier weapons than we can fathom.” A little brief, but still technically correct. Theo was growing a little worried that all the introductions for his friends had been so brief while their opponents’ had been so boisterous. It could only mean bad things for them in the future of this tournament.

Lillian strode into the ring without letting her feet touch the ground. A beautiful, shimmering pair of butterfly wings came out of her back. She put on the affectation of walking serenely through the air, a glittering smile plastered on her face.

It was truly extraordinary. Her luck was starting to become the stuff of legends. Maybe this was a good sign that she was starting to have more control over the dream world, but Theo was a little worried. Too much control was never a good thing, there was some power in the randomness.

Lillian pulled a hand through her black hair and released a plume of glitter from the fold of her wings. With a final push of her wings, she created a whirlwind of shimmering scales and black hair around herself. With a final flourish she had finished her own introduction that was for more epic than anything the announcer could have scrounged up.

The announcer finally continued, “and in the other corner stands the arbiter of true love. The man who worships the ground his lovely lady walks on. He is the knight of roses, a debonair fella who only has enough heart for one woman. It is Ramses!”

Ramses slowly walked into the ring to stand atop the small island that had been erected near his entrance. His skin was bronze, and his hair was completely white. He looked jovial, there was a small smile on his lips. There was someone out there who that smile was for, but it was definitely not Theo.

The announcer took a moment to let the cheering subside then he shouted, “start!” From his lips a burst of air took the form of the word he had said and slammed into the water with a deafening boom. The water spouted upwards, while a single tentacle reached slowly out of the water to swat at the annoyance.

As the water calmed down and stopped sloshing back and forth from the announcer’s shout. Both competitors stood stock still, observing their opponent in the highest detail possible. They sized each other up, and they both somehow found the results of their sizing up to be amenable.

The air shimmered and glittered as Lillian glided over the water, slowly approaching her opponent. With her right hand she even started writing out threats in a gossamer light that hung in the air. She was quite literally spelling the man’s doom.

Theo worried a little about how much of an effect Joy was having on Lillian, but she seemed excited about her flamboyance, so there was nothing to truly complain about.

Ramses blew a single kiss out to the crowd then took a step forward into the water. As he did, he muttered something to himself. But instead of getting wet or sinking down into the waves, a beautiful feminine hand appeared.

It seemed to be constructed of light, just transparent enough that Theo could see the water through the skin of the hand. But Ramses stepped onto the hand and then started flying with more poise than Theo would have believed.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The hand was beautifully manicured, the nails were just long enough that if they scratched you, it would draw blood, but just short enough to keep from getting in the way of any physical labor the hands would ever have to do.

With a boom, the two flying opponents met in the air. Lillian dragged spiderwebs of light around herself, they whipped and cut the air around her with a brutal scream. Ramses just looked on impassively as he said, “her breath is my world.”

A face that matched the hand appeared behind Ramses as he said that, and a massive gust of wind emanated from her mouth. The rushing air broke the spiderwebs of light and caused Lillian to go crashing away into the wall of the arena.

Ramses stood atop the glowing hands, staring down at where Lillian had crashed into the wall. His eyes were dispassionate as he stared down. It seemed like he was pitying her and everyone else with those eyes.

But Lillian wouldn’t be taken out by something as pedestrian as a little bit of wind. She climbed back to her feet and rose to the air again. Rage filled her posture, and her eyes screamed for revenge.

With one hand she created webs of light that cascaded around the arena, making one giant trap for Ramses to step in. She flapped her wings, and razor-sharp scales flew towards him at a frightening speed.

Ramses calmly ducked down and let the hand he was standing on curl around him to protect him from the onslaught.

Lillian realized her attack was doing nothing to her opponent. So, she dove into the murky depths of the water beneath their feet.

Ramses created an army of hands; they were much smaller than the one he stood on. But they flew throughout the arena, severing the trap that Lillian had set for him, snapping the gossamer threads before they even had a chance to truly shine in the battle.

The air stirred around Ramses as he said, “her legs carry the heavens.” Then a foot the size of the arena came crashing down into the water. Again, the foot was perfectly pedicured and dainty, while callused, a horribly difficult combination to have.

The octopus flailed out as the crushing weight of Ramses’ gift came crashing down upon it. But Lillian moved fast and snuck between two of the toes as it dropped.

The octopus reached to grab at Ramses, obviously infuriated at the bug that had caused a massive foot to crash down on it. Ramses met the tentacles with womanly apparitions of body parts. The waves rocked as the titans clashed and Lillian seemed so small in comparison.

But Lillian wasn’t going to let any of this chaos go to waste. She forged a sword out of the gossamer threads; the blade was so perfectly thin that at the right angle it seemed to disappear from her hands. With this blade she could cut anything, or at least that’s what Theo thought.

Lillian flew forwards as the octopus and Ramses reached a crescendo of battle. Ramses put his hands together and said, “she is perfect!” One giant tentacle was raised overhead, about to smite him down.

But a beam of sunlight burst through the clouds. And right where the sunlight shone, a figure bathed in gold stood tall and proud. She had the hands and feet that the audience was so used to seeing, but even she was still formed of the shimmering light.

As the octopus brought its mighty tentacle down, she grew until she matched the tentacle, then kept growing until she dwarfed it.

The giant glowing woman grabbed the tentacle and threw the octopus. The beast made a terrible squelch as it flew through the air and impacted the walls of the arena. Ink oozed out of the beast, and Theo could swear that he heard someone crying, “Eight” in a plaintive voice.

The woman literally winked out of existence after the octopus had been thrown. She turned towards Ramses and winked before her shining body evaporated into tiny flittering motes of light.

That was when Lillian struck.

The sword slid through the air silently. It did not scream the way a blade made of steel did, it was a simple instrument that only existed to cut.

Ramses turned and yelped as he ducked below her swing. His head barely got underneath the blade as it passed overhead. Lillian growled at him, the wordless cry of violence.

But Ramses regained his feet quickly and turned to face her again. The hand started to fly away from her, starting its unique evasive maneuvers.

“Come on, Lillian. You must end this soon.” Theo found himself muttering under his breath. Lillian was not as overwhelming as she had been the week before, so she needed to finish this fight.

Lillian streaked forward after the floating hand. Ramses had his brows knit in concentration, the evasion was taking a lot out of him, and Lillian capitalized on his weakness. She brought the shimmering lines of light back. They started crissing and crossing the arena, making the entire thing into a deathtrap.

These made Ramses’ retreat even more dangerous, as the hand he was standing on slid back and forth to avoid all the new obstacles.

Finally, Lillian caught up to him and she was about to bring her beautiful sword down upon him when he said, “her smile brightens my day.”

All around the two combatants, perfect teeth emerged. They enclosed Ramses in a cocoon of dental defenses and Lillian tried to cut through them. But it was to no avail.

Her sword shattered upon the enamel of the woman’s shimmering teeth.

Lillian looked down at her shattered sword, then back at Ramses who closed the distance to her and punched her across the face.

It wasn’t an especially brutal punch, but somehow it was a punch filled with finality. Lillian crumpled under the single hit.

Theo felt tears well up in his eyes. He loved his and friend and he had never wanted her to lose. She should never have to lose anything. Even as the crowd roared in approval around him, an icy chill started to fill the tunnel Theo was in.

He was furious, of course he knew that this was how it logically was supposed to work out. Either Lillian destroyed her opponent, or her opponent destroyed her, but there was no logic to the rage he felt. This was the rage of a man who had watched his best friend in the entire world get hurt.

Theo wanted blood.

In a haze, Theo walked into the preparation room and covered his head with a towel. He sat there thinking of all the things he would do to his opponent in the arena. No, he imagined that whoever his opponent was, that they were just a steppingstone towards Ramses. And then, he would have his sweet revenge on him.

Theo’s attendant fearfully tapped him on the shoulder and Theo rose to go meet his challenger. All thoughts had left his mind, all that was left was the all-consuming righteous rage.

Theo walked into the arena. They had some new gimmick now. There were sandy dunes everywhere, and there were manufactured temples to provide extra defenses to the weak. Theo was not feeling weak at that moment, he was feeling like the fire of life. It burned in his stomach, a hate so powerful he could almost feel tears starting to form in his eyes.

The announcer barely spoke of Theo. Then entered a massive diatribe about his enemy. Theo didn’t listen to a word of it. Words were meaningless, all that mattered was getting rid of the burning pain in his stomach, in his chest, in his blood.

He needed to comfort his best friend, but duty and this stupid game were getting in his way.

Finally, the announcer finally said “begin!”

His opponent looked like a mirror image of the person that Joy had beaten earlier that day, but none of that truly registered in Theo’s mind. The man started doing poses and looked to the crowd for approval. But none of that mattered as soon as Theo could see him the game was finished.

With a roar Theo felt some of the rage and hate seep out of him. There was something cathartic in this moment that Theo couldn’t put his finger on.

Everything around him grew dark, then suddenly it was clear and bright.

The world was now ice. The entire arena in front of Theo had been frozen into a massive block. It glistened in the sunlight and reflected the awe in thousands of faces. They had watched what felt like an act of a god.

No one spoke in the silence that ensued, and Theo fled the stage. None of this had ever mattered. He needed to find Lillian and make sure she was okay.