Armad had used 30 years to power pol blade to strike the Alkadar. But it appeared that his Bend wasn't as strong as the Bend used by the spear-wielding Niyashi. He was fighting princes who received special care from the big families, so it wasn't unexpected. But it still hurt. Was it going to be okay for the mission if he was expelled at that point? Nusi had told him that he needed to remain in the competition for as long as possible to buy them time. It was an infiltration mission and they needed all the calm they could get.
The purpose of the Alkadar was to determine which Bender had the strongest pol. It brought equity to the tournament because sometimes you would be stronger but unlucky and you faced stronger enemies than your opponent on another ring. The Alkadar sought to determine the actual winner. Therefore, it was a matter of distinguishing between individual scores. For all these reasons, Armad accepted his failure. The only thing in his mind was Nusi. She believed in him. There were many other candidates she could have chosen to represent Khan but she chose him. And the mission depended on him, but he failed.
Meanwhile, inside the VIP room, King Deniz had been thrown into a trance after listening to Uznu. He'd been quiet ever since and someone had to remind him that the commentator was waiting for his approval to declare the winner. When he opened his mouth to order the competition to proceed, the man sitting next to him, Uznu Ururu, who had not opened his eyes ever since he came to the arena, opened his eyes.
King Deniz felt sweat dripping down his face and he trembled. It was as he feared. Something bad was going to happen and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.
He stopped himself from giving the order and just sat still, breathing heavily.
Although the King stopped himself consciously, this wasn't the case for the rest of the people there. Asifu was calm and still like an idol, looking ahead just as Deniz did. But the others were barely conscious. They no longer had any idea what was going on.
The rest of the people in the arena, including the six young men and their caretakers, including Armad and Nusi, all stood still where they were and in the middle of what they were doing. Armad stood in front of the Alkadar for example and was trying to turn, but from the look in his eyes, there was a reason he didn't want to turn.
Nusi stood still, her hand covering her face as if she was hiding something. Someone from the side was talking to her in her right ear.
In the same way, everyone was doing something and had stopped in the middle of it.
And everything was caused by just the appearance of two black eyes.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Had these people been in their right mind, they would have noticed that the arena had suddenly turned dark. It was noon, and you could see the sun up in the sky, but it was getting darker. It was as if something was blocking the sun from reaching the arena.
If any of these people were in the VIP room and were conscious like King Deniz and Asifu, they would have seen two black eyes absorbing the sunlight. The eyes were so dark that when you looked at them, you would feel as if you were being dragged inside them. They just couldn't exist together with light.
As if being told to, everyone turned to the Alkadar in front of Armad. The number eighty-eight turned to eighty-nine, which corresponded to Niyashi's score.
Then Uznu closed his eyes. It was fast and everything returned to normal. It was as if the sun was suddenly up and all the darkness was gone.
All things went back to what they were except for Armad's score, which had increased by one, and the only thing anyone could remember was that Armad had gotten the same score as Niyashi.
The audience were currently discussing the face-to-face contest between Armad and prince Niyashi. They all saw Armad's original score of eighty-eight and they also saw the score going up by one to become eighty-nine, but no one, not even Armad, remembered it.
That was all there was to it. In other words, everyone forgot everything that happened in those few seconds.
King Deniz looked at the black-eyed man. "Uznu, why did you help him?"
"That boy Armad has what I need," Uznu replied with a certainty that could break the skies. "But I want to test it. If he leaves the tournament at this stage, the confirmation will be difficult. I want to watch him compete, to be sure of what I have."
It was a blunt reply, King Deniz thought, but he nodded nonetheless.
Asifu, on the other hand, continued to talk about pol with Deniz Kalhari. The man was calm, head bowed, listening to Asifu.
"Deniz Kalhari, the scope of pol affairs is beyond our comprehension. Even our memories depend on pol. Anything that happens in your life will affect your memories. You can either remember it, forget it, or remember some of it.
"If your brain can remember it, then that shows that the memory is within your range. Your pol can withstand it.
"If your brain can't remember it, then that shows that the memory is out of your range. Your pol can't comprehend it."
Asifu paused as if thinking about something, then he looked at Deniz Kalhari deeply and said, "Kalhari, at what level do you think you are compared to that man sitting with his eyes closed?"
Deniz Kalhari glanced at Uznu Ururu, then turned to Asifu, saying, "I know he is stronger than me, but I will be in the first category. Surely I can remember whatever he does. I mean, whatever his pol is, I have enough energy in my brain to withstand him."
Asifu took a deep breath. "Is that so?" That was all Asifu replied with a smile, and then informed the other man that their discussion on pol had come to an end.
That wasn't because Asifu was now looking down on the other man, but because he wanted to watch the rest of the games and because Kalhari didn't know his position in the hierarchy, so there was no point in continuing the discussion with him.
He turned his attention to the ring where Armad and Niyashi were preparing for the next match. His eyes were on Armad. Ururu didn't help anyone but themselves. Why would Uznu help the boy? Was there something going on that he wasn't aware of? Who was Armad even?