A Humiliating Battle

In class I barely pay attention. Tobi and his friends try to ask me about the fight but I avoid their questions. In the end, they give up and leave me alone. Time seems to pass slowly but in the end, our classes end. Once that happens I start to leave the class but meet Keldin waiting for me outside the classroom. At that moment I notice that I am surrounded on all sides by Apprentices.

"Let's go," Keldin says and begins walking. Without a word, I follow him. As we walk a lot of Apprentices begin to follow us, it seems they are the most interested in this fight. I overheard more than one conversation discussing who will win the fight. The general consensus seems to be Keldin.

When we get to the Arena, Keldin leads me away from the main entrance and the crowd. We descend and finally come out into a slightly large room. In the room are a few people talking to each other, each of them wearing red robes. Wranths. I recognize one of them, the guy who introduced Bella and Lucas when I first came here. He notices us and walks over. "You two are the ones fighting right?" he asks, eyeing me with undisguised interest.

We nod. He introduces himself as Gabe before directing us to two platforms at a corner of the room. He then proceeds to tell us the rules which are a bit simple. Everything goes, but no killing strike is allowed. The fight ends when someone can't fight anymore or surrenders. After that, he leaves the room and soon I begin to hear him talking. All of a sudden I hear the roar of a crowd.

"Five… four… three…."

The platform beneath me glows and blue light begins to swallow me up. My heart begins to pound. As the light moves up I can feel a strange sensation and the spots it passes disappear, making me look like a floating torso, yet I can strangely still feel the ground. Soon it reaches my face and the room disappears. I find myself standing on a large circular stage. I look around me but I can't see the crowd, instead, the stage ends at a large circular dome that encompasses it. Still, I know that somewhere behind that dome is a crowd watching my every move. I turn to look at Keldin on the opposite side of the stage as I try to quell my nervousness. His sleeves are rolled up and he has a predatory smile on his face. For a moment it almost makes me doubt myself, but then I remember my trump card and relax.

This is your first fight so no wonder you are nervous, I tell myself. Just try to relax, it won't take long to get over your nervousness. Just get through this fight quickly. I immediately begin circulating my Uua, at the same time activating the second sight and the enhancement noer. Strength floods into me as my senses improve rapidly. Despite the distance between us, I can even hear Keldin's breathing.

Keldin attacks and I am immediately surprised by how fast he is. Still, he isn't so fast that I can't stop him. Once he reaches me I realize how wrong I am. He dances around me, punching and kicking while I struggle to block his attacks. The fight has just begun and yet I am already at a disadvantage. I try to separate myself from him but he doesn't give me a chance. He soon breaks through my defenses and a flurry of punches and kicks land on me.

I begin to feel overwhelmed and perform the first thing that comes to mind. I release an omnidirectional burst of telekinetic energy which pushes him away from him. He smiles at me as I pant heavily. I can imagine how it must look to those watching, the fight has barely begun, and yet I am already getting beat up. No. I have to do better.

Keldin rushes at me again but this time I know not to underestimate him. I release my Uua, allowing it to cover me, just like I did when fighting the golems. Keldin punches at that moment, and I dodge it and throw my own punch, my fist covered in Uua. For some reason I am faster than before, this surprises Keldin and allows my punch to land. The Uua around my hand explodes as it comes into contact with Keldin, throwing him off balance. I kick at his leg, tripping him, and gather an orb of Uua in my hand. I slam the Uua into him before he hits the ground and it explodes, pushing him away from me.

Not wanting to lose my advantage and wanting to end this as quickly as possible, I control a large amount of Uua to wrap around my fist and run after him. He lands on his feet just as I throw the punch. Another explosion occurs, far bigger than before, this time pushing me away from Keldin. I have to close my eyes to block the excess light. When I recover my vision, I discover Keldin staring at me completely unharmed. I am dumbfounded, unable to think of a way he could escape that punch unhurt. Yet he did. The longer this fight progresses, the more an idea begins to grow stronger within me, I might not win this fight.

Still, I refuse to let the thought take root. I cannot give up so easily. Keldin begins to move and I decide to use my trump card and end this fight before I get embarrass myself more. I raise my hand and activate the binding noer. Keldin's body stiffens for a brief second and then he shrugs it off. I refuse to believe it. I activate the noer again, pouring far more power into it than before, but this time it doesn't even show any sign of affecting him. At that moment, fear takes hold of me but I still refuse to give up.

Keldin stamps on the ground and large amounts of Uua gushes out of him, the stage heats up and cracks beneath my feet. "Let me show you true power," he says, smiling evilly at me. He raises his hand and large chunks of rock are ripped out of the stage. They float in the air for a second before shooting toward me. My pupils constrict and I freeze for a moment as the rocks get larger and larger in my vision.

Finally, I react, using telekinesis to push away the closest rock, but behind that one, I can see much more moving in concert towards me. I am not too good with telekinesis and the sight quickly makes me realize that I cannot use it to stop all the rocks.

I move just as a large piece of rock slams into where I was, exploding into dust and smaller chunks. I run around the stage, enhancement noer running at full speed as I dodge the incoming rocks. Still, the stage is too small and I soon find myself surrounded by rocks. I am unable to do more than react, dodging some of the rocks and using telekinesis to push others away. Like this, I manage to avoid most of the rocks, still, some of them manage to hit me, but the impact is reduced by the Uua covering me; any rock that touches it seems to get destroyed. Still, I can feel my Uua reducing at an alarming rate.

I bend backward to dodge a rock heading towards my face and just as the rock goes over me, I see flames rush towards my face. In haste, I release a burst of telekinesis from my hands which sends me flying away from the flames, only for me to slam into a floating piece of rock. I fall to the ground and for a moment the world spins around me as I try to get my bearings. When my eyes focus, I see Keldin, wreathed in flames as rocks orbit him. He swings his arm and an arc of flames bursts out, followed by rocks.

Immediately I am back to defending myself, but it is worse now since fire has been added to the mix. I move around desperately, trying to find respite but I am given none as Keldin barrages me with attacks. Then, I make a mistake, and a piece of rock slams into my abdomen, carrying me backward. For a moment my vision goes dark, then I find myself back in my hurting body, lying on the messed up stage amongst pieces of rubble. I look up and see more attacks headed my way. Hopeless, I curl up and activate a protective noer.

I feel the attacks as they slam ruthlessly against the shield covering me. The shield gets weaker and weaker and finally, it breaks, just as another piece of rock, radiating heat, slams into me. Again I black out. When next I open my eyes, I turn and see the blurry figure of Keldin surrounded by holy light as he moves his hand slowly in a circle, leaving golden noers floating in the air. When he is done, there are eight noers forming a circle left behind. In the center of the circle a golden ball of energy begins to form, containing massive power. When it finishes, Keldin spares a second to look at me and smiles, then he pushes his hand forward. A beam of golden energy shoots out towards me and as I look at it, I know. I have lost.