Duel

Drakai and the Vons' boy stood 20 feet away from each other on a raised platform. The platform was made out of a rubber-like material, making it solid but not too substantial to the point where being slammed into would hurt the same as concrete.

Looking Von's boy up and down, trying to gauge how strong he was from appearance, drakai spoke. "What is your name?"

The boy scoffed. "Why does it matter to you? But if you really must know, my name is Kakra."

Nodding, Drakai shut his mouth. No words were left to be spoken. Only fighting was left. Anything else was a waste of words.

There were stands around them with a few people in them. Noble fights were not uncommon, and people would wait in these stands for hours on end. Durning the noble contest, there were about five fights a day from typical arguments and disagreements from the noble families. That number would go down to one a day during standard time.

A referee stepped out n the stage. "This fight will be overseen from me. I want a clean match, so no killing, weapons, or enchanted items. Anything else goes!"Then clapping his hands, they released a boom signaling the fight to start.

Kakra started sprinting forward. "You think because you can use a little Aura that you are better than me?" Then, spinning on his feet, he threw a haymaker right at drakais jaw. Stepping forward instead of back, Drakai was hit by the inside of the elbow instead of the fist. Caught off guard Kakra tried to pull his fist back but was swiftly punched in the gut, which knocked the wind out of him, causing him to gasp.

In the eldraise culture, they generally used their hands more than their legs when fighting. It wasn't a rule so much instinct. It was easier for them, so they just continued to do it. Drakai was never taught by anybody to kick. He was only taught to use his head, fists, elbows, and his upper body. That's why it came as a surprise when Drakai landed a perfect kick.

Drakai, after punching Kakra in the gut, stepped back and brought his leg up in an arc smashing it into Kakra's jaw-breaking it and sending him to the ground.

"What the fuck? How did I do that?" Drakai was just as surprised as everyone else. It was more instinct than anything else, which surprised him even more.

"It felt natural. I liked that more than fighting with fists." At the same time, drakai was talking to himself inside his head in awe of what had happened moments before. Kakra got up with a pissed look on his face.

He charged at Drakai, who twisted on his foot and landed a kick to the face. "That felt good!" Drakai said to himself.

This completely shattered Kakra's jaw and ultimately broke his cheekbone. "FIGHT OVER." The referee stopped drakai from doing anything else. Then called in some medics to help the boy that was bleeding from his mouth and from the ripped skin on his face.

"Drakai of the house Braden has one the fight, and due to the term of the battle, Kakra must forfeit from the contest.

Von was in one of the stands, and his hand had crumbled the seat he was sitting on, completely breaking through the armrest. "That little runt, one day you will come to retreat what you have done to my son." Walking away with a proud step, he passed the Braden family without even looking at them or saying anything.

****

An hour later, Drakai and his parents were walking to the place where they would be staying for the time during the nobles contest. His family had a small piece of land in the massive city, as was custom with most noble house holds, the king imposed it to keep the nobles closer within his grasp. Their house was more modern-looking and had many windows. It was mainly wood but looked like there was a basement made out of brick or something close to that.

They walked in and were greeted by the smell of cooking meat. "Alright, drakai, settle in. Your room is on the third floor, two doors down." Nodding his head at his parents, he started walking up but was tackled by some unknown force.

Falling to his butt, he looked up to see what happened, but a wet tongue licked his face and kept licking. "Haha, ember, did you miss me, you clingy thing?" Ever since he had saved her from the hobgoblins, ember was overly clinging. Drakai, at first, really didn't like it, but after spending enough time with the hairy animal, he started to enjoy her company.

It made his mind calm down when he was around her. He had so many things to prepare for when he matured into adulthood. For he knew full well the consequences of choosing the path of Magic, banishment, or even death depending on how much your father loves you. So, lifting the deer up, he carried her two his room while she continued to lick his face off.

He was walking up the step and through the halls. Finally, he made his way to his room. Inside it was a rather lovely place. It had a standard wood stove with a stack of dry wood beside it. The bed was smaller than the one at home, but for somebody that had been a slave, it was a significant upgrade from sleeping on a head cot.

His stuff was piled all into the corner along with his Kai-Do. Then, sitting down with embers head in his lap, he started his meditation, bringing in the weird blue-flecks and training his Dolor-Tas simultaneously.

The faster he could master Dolor-Tas, the quicker he could use Dolor-Kai without almost dying every time. And the faster his core formed, the quicker he could use Magic. His MSP was about the size of two ping-pong balls mixed together and was steadily growing every day. About thirty minutes passed before he had to quit.

His day was far from over. He had stuff he wanted to do, like sneaking out to go see that book store that had caught his attention. Maybe he would find something to do with Magic in the store, probably not, but it was worth a shot anyway. At the very least, he could find something having more to do with the other continents.

He was thinking about what people called an aura and what it was. The golden color haze with green hues made him feel more robust to an extent. He remembered the feelings when "his" aura came into existence. He felt rage. He felt anger and self-hate at being weak. Then, his eyes started to glow, the familiar feeling he got from Dolor-Kai began to eat at from inside.

The hot dark claw started ripping its way through his body, begging to be released, but it didn't stay inside his Solor Pluxes like it did when he activated Dolor-Kai. Instead, it traveled up his spine and into his head, wrapping itself around his head, and then the Golden aura started pouring out of his body. The green hues mix with golden, giving it a weird look. It looked as if it wanted to be holy but had a sickness corrupting it.

"Ahhh, this feeling is great. It's like Dolor-Tas, but better, his brain was releasing even more endorphins than usual, and drakai felt the effects. He started to shadow the box, his punches much faster and stronger. He felt incredible. He kept speeding up, and among the punches, he also started kicking. Ember watched her friend and thought he was weird but also believed that the color coming off him was comforting.

"Wait, if I mix this with my Dolor-Tas or even Dolor-Kai, I should get even stronger right?" Trying to test out his theory, he activated his dolor-tas. A sinking feeling occurred in dakais stomach, then pain unlike he had ever experienced before assaulted his body. He felt as if knives stabbed his entire body, and then after that, like his skin was ripped off. His brain couldn't handle the pain. Shutting off, he passed out.

***

Dov and Saraa had felt the aura right away. And rushed up to Drakai's room. They peeked into the room and saw their son kicking and punching the air, his hits becoming faster and faster, a golden haze surrounding him with green hues mixing in. They saw him pause and think. Then saw his eyes starting to glow brighter, then saw him collapsing. "FUCK!" Both of them said in unison. They both sped to his side. With worried looks on their faces.