There was a new problem that Jet hadn't foreseen. This year all competitors were roomed at the coliseum. He hoped Illeana and Relo found a way to keep his secret. In the meantime, he was currently playing poker with Charten and triplet sisters. Their names were Selsa, Kelsa, and Melsa. Jet had never played the game and was losing horribly. He was down the hole twenty gold pieces.

"Wow, Elson, you suck at poker." Melsa had a wide grin on her face. She was pulling in all the gold.

The girls looked all the same, shoulder-length brown hair, and they were all beautiful. They were from house Ashworth, and Charten had dated Selsa. They had been compatible. Well, except for them not getting along.

"I said, I never played poker." Jet didn't get the game at all.

"Just keep playing. You will get it." Kelsa said while shuffling the cards.

"And when I do, I am getting my gold back." Jet wasn't worried about the gold, but he was supposed to be a little lacking in that department.

"So Elson, where do you hail from?" Selsa asked.

"New York." Jet said without thinking.

"Never heard of it." Selsa had a puzzled look on her face.

"Yeah, I've never heard of it either." Charten was hiding a grin.

"So you're from another kingdom then, Elson," Melsa asked.

Jet put his mind in overdrive. He watched the world slow down after all the effort of making a back story. Now he would have to create a new one. Well, not an entirely new backstory. Just have to edit a few details. The world sped back up.

"I'm from the kingdom of Fulton. New York is just a small town. But I left after my family died. The plague ran through the town and killed most of the people. So I decided to move here to start a new life." Jet thought he did well with his sad expression.

"I don't believe it. What are you fifteen?" Charten said in a mocking voice.

"I may look young, but I am over twenty." Ok, Jet wanted to punch Charten.

"Please, as if anyone is going to believe your twenty," Charten said.

"Elson, just ignore him. I dated him and got to know the royal family. That's just the way they act." Selsa said in an annoyed voice.

"Selsa, don't let the royal family hear you say that." Charten chided her.

"I have a right after dating you." Selsa winked at him.

"Stop flirting, you two. Time for me to make some more gold." Melsa eyes were glittering while looking at Jet.

They started playing poker again. Jet finally got what Charten was doing. He had been getting everyone distracted from his story. Why was he so bad at lying. After they played a few more hands and losing fifty gold pieces, he decided to turn in for the night.

Jet woke up early with a slight backache. So he decided to do some stretching. After about thirty minutes, Charten showed up and started doing his workout. It was odd that a prince slept here, but Charten didn't complain.

"Breakfast is about ready if you all could come to the dining hall." Houy looked like he needed some coffee. He wasn't his chipper self.

The ones who got up to work out headed to the dining hall. When they walked in, the five that didn't show up were already eating. Jet took a quick look at Graham with his magic sense, and sure enough, he was still absorbing magic from the air.

"Houy, where is your chipper attitude." Melsa asked him.

"It will wake up in about an hour." Houy was leaning on his hand, half asleep.

Jet leaned in and whispered to Charten. "Hey, make sure not to mess around with your fight."

Charten took a look at Graham, then whispered back. "Elson, I take all my fights seriously. Don't worry so much, and I will face you in the finals."

After breakfast when Charten went out to fight Graham. Well, Graham was the one who came back. Although Charten must have put up quite a fight, Graham looked a little tired after the fight. So Jet waited for his turn to come up.

"Elson and Ace, your up." A man yelled to them.

They waited for Houy to announce them. When he did, they both walked out and to their spots in the arena. Jet's mind was elsewhere at the time. 'Who is that, Graham. To beat Charten within a couple of minutes.' Jet thought.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Pain shot through Jet's body as he flew backward. He rolled to a stop, then got kicked in the gut flinging him more towards the edge of the ring.

Jet put his mind into overdrive. He then looked towards Ace with his magic sense. Ace was a wind user. Jet could see the wind around Ace's body. Then a plan came to him.

Dodging Ace's next attack, Jet ended up behind him. Without a second thought, Jet threw a fireball at Ace. When it hit Ace, it exploded. With Ace being encased in wind magic, it blew Ace right out of the ring.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that." Houy looked at Ace, who was now lying outside the ring.

Everyone watched as Houy checked Ace. He turned the guy over, by kicking him on the side. Jet could see that Ace's clothes were singed, and there were burn marks on his skin.

"Ace will be just fine." Houy shouted to the crowd. "So the winner is Elson." Houy jumped over to Elson, lifting his arm.

The people didn't shout for him. "That was boring." Someone shouted from the audience, which was met with a lot of shouts of agreement.

"Best get off the arena so we can get the next match going." Houy whispered to Elson.

Jet made his way off the arena quickly before the crowd started throwing things at him.

After all the fights, Jet found himself sitting at a table facing the triplets. They were all looking at the chair where Charten had sat the night before.

"Well, why did the guy that had the deck of cards have to lose." Melsa said.

"Why didn't any of us even consider bringing a game to play?" Kelsa asked.

"Well, for one, none of us knew about the new rule. Where we had to stay in the coliseum." Selsa reminded them.

"So Elson, you are awfully quiet." Melsa pointed out.

"Just thinking." Jet said.

"Boy, that almost cost you your match." Houy sat down next to them.

"Elson almost lost his match?" The three girls asked at once.

"Aww, well, I can't actually tell you about the matches." Houy said apologetically.

"They know I use fire and not much to tell. So if you want to tell them, you can." Jet said, shrugging.

With that, Houy told them about Elson's fight. So Houy made sure to tell them how Elson just stood there, too deep in thought even to notice the fight had started. They all got a good laugh out of it.

"That reminds me. Prince Charten wanted me to give this to you guys." Houy took a deck of cards out of his pocket.

Melsa picked up the deck of cards and started shuffling. "Alright, Elson, ready to give me more gold?" She said with a goofy grin on her face.

Jet woke up the next day early like usual. Melsa had got another fifty-one gold pieces out of him. Well, it was just his luck he was going to fight her today. So Jet got out of bed and headed to the washroom.

Taking his glove off and unwrapping his bandages, his hand still needed some more time to heal. Jet created a fireball with the hand, and the magic was still erratic. "Guess I will stick to casting through my sword." He said to himself. Of course, the sword wasn't made to be used like that and was starting to weaken the metal. It would just have to hold up three more rounds.

"Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready." Houy yelled to the crowd. "For this round, we got Melsa vs Elson."

Jet lifted his left hand and grabbed his sword off his back. Judging from Melsa's gear, he would need it. The girl was covered in weapons. Two swords on her waist and at least ten daggers that he could see.

"Well looks like Elson learned his lesson. He is getting prepared." Houy was chuckling. "Let the match begin."

Jet did not move, and neither did Melsa. They just stood watching each other and taking a measure of each other's power. Melsa put her hand on her sword, and Jet stepped to the side. Blood started to run down Jet's cheek, and the magic barrier around the arena flashed.

"Um, you do know your not supposed to kill each other." Houy had a look of shock on his face. That move would have sliced through Jet's head.

'So she is wind and quite quick. If my magic sense weren't on, I wouldn't have seen the attack. Well, at least she didn't try to kill me. It just would've hurt.' Jet ran forward, dodging three more air slashes.

He prepared a spell when he got close. A wall of fire formed right in front of Melsa. She prepared for him to come from the side of it. Then to her surprise, Jet went right through the fire and slashed her side, leave a dark black line.

"Looks like Elson got the first point. What a tricky kid. I like his style." Houy yelled to the crowd.

Melsa moved quickly, getting around behind Jet. She had two daggers out and striking at his back. However, Jet was already rolling forward to dodge. When she saw his face, he was smiling and threw a fireball right at her. Melsa jumped back then realized his firewall was still at her back. So she decided to stick with her move and went through the firewall. As she got through it, she rolled on the ground, coming to a stop, then a fireball Jet threw went right by her.

After the fireball went by, she threw two daggers in the direction Elson was last standing. Two clangs sounded immediately after they went through the firewall. Then she watched as Elson walked through the flames holding his sword to his side. It almost looked like he was on fire himself.

Melsa jumped to her feet and took out the two swords at her waist. Jet swung at her, and she blocked swiftly. Then she struck with the other sword, and Elson blocked it with his metal wrist brace on his right hand.

She then sent a ball of wind at him to throw him back. What she hadn't expected was Elson shooting a fireball out of his mouth at her. When the two spells collided, an explosion knocked them both back.

Jet knew what was coming, rolled, and jumped up. He then ran towards Melsa as fast as he could. When he reached her, she threw some daggers at him, and Jet pointed his sword towards them. When they got close, the tip of the blade exploded and knocked them off course. In the same motion, he was swinging towards Melsa, who crossed her sword to stop him. Jet twisted around her to the right and grabbed her hair. Pain shot through his hand as he pulled her down, knocking Melsa off balance. Then with no hesitation twisted his sword loose from hers and slashed her across the chest. Leaving a second black line across her armor.

"Things are getting heated up now. Elson has a second lethal hit." The crowd started yelling in excitement. "Let's see if Melsa can turn the fight around." Houy hadn't seen anything quite like the crop of candidates this year.

Jet let Melsa get back up to her feet. He watched as she turned to him. All he could do is smile. What an exciting fight. The problem was his body was starting to hurt from all his injuries. Mostly from his own explosion.