[Final chapter] Windslore

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the city was the floating buildings. Connected about by a web of bridges, it was quite an array. Some bridges were on their side, yet people walked on them as if there was nothing to worry about, their bodies pulled towards the bridge rather than towards the ground. This is cool. I stepped onto a nearby bridge. It swayed a bit, but I could get on pretty easily. I inhaled, preparing myself mentally, and walked up it. I suppose the orientation of the bridge moved relative to the ground, but to me, it seemed as if the ground was turning about me. I sped up, eventually breaking into a sprint, the world spinning about.

It was fun. Jumping on an island, I found two more bridges, and picked one at random. However, I quickly became tired. I took a couple of breaths, and noticed that I felt pretty healthy, rather than like a big ball of wounds. It was a nice feeling, and I wandered to the edge of an island, and sat, looking down at the sky. The sight was a bit disorienting, so I averted my gaze up to the ground.

...not much better.

It might be best to simply look at the island. Relative to me, it seemed quite normal. The grass was green, bright, and quite refreshing. A kid clad in a wide blue hat and cloak was coming towards me. His face was alight with rage, as if he had just come from a massive argument. To my surprise, he stopped right next to me.

I made a point not to say anything. My experience with people was pretty bad. I started inching away. The moment before I could break out into a sprint, though, he went full crazy, looking up with resolution in his eyes.

"You're coming with me."

My polite refusal was cut off by him grabbing my arm and starting to run off the edge of the cliff. Surprised by this sudden action, I fell with him. For a moment, I fell towards the sky, but then the world inverted itself. We fell back, and everything inverted again. And we fell again, to another inversion, and like this, the world spun and spun and spun until I found myself in a decently lit medium-sized round room with two kids dressed similarly to the kid in blue, but their colors were different - grey and red. Wait, no. Gray and red.

The one in gray spoke up. "So you finally got him to come, Blue?"

I scoffed a bit - his friends called him blue! What, did he always wear blue? Was he like addicted to the color? It did look pretty good on him, though. The color fit his inquisitive, excitable face. He seemed like the type to do something crazy just to see what would happen.

Blue pointed his finger straight at the man in gray, and adopted a face full of heroic determination. "It hardly matters. The conditions have been met. I challenge you, General Grey Gravenstein, and you, Recruit Red Ravenstein, to a 2 versus 2 magic duel, against me, Badass Blue Borchev, and my partner, Boring Black Black! You have no right to refuse."

I looked around the room, counting. Yep. Just 3 people here. Maybe the last person was coming later. I briefly wonder what color they were wearing. Probably… black. Coincidentally, I am also wearing black, though the style is…

…

the same. I grab my head, and to my despair, there is a wide-brimmed hat. It is black, as well. What a coincidence. When had my clothing magically changed?

A countdown timer magically appears in the air, starting from 20 seconds. I sense that something has gone terribly, terribly wrong.

I turn to the kid in blue. "Um… Blue… Maybe it's not a good idea to start a fight without your partner."

"Nonsense, Black! You are right he…" he trailed off as he turned to look at me. His mouth fell open wide. "Wait. You… you're not Black."

I could hardly contain my emotions. I had gotten into this ridiculous scenario because of a case of mistaken identity?

"YOU'RE TELLING ME I GOT THROWN INTO THIS BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T EVEN SPARE A MOMENT TO LOOK AT MY FACE? STOP IT! STOP THE TIMER RIGHT NOW!!"

"I CAN'T! ONCE A DUEL IS DECLARED, NOTHING MAY STOP IT'S PROGRESS EXCEPT THE DEATH OF A MEMBER!!"

"IT'S A DUEL TO THE DEATH?!??!?!?"

"DON'T PANIC!!!!"

"AAGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

"AAGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

We screamed until the timer ticked to zero, and then a bit longer. We weren't getting attacked.

Red and Grey stared at us, apparently equally surprised that I was not Black. More screaming ensued. They were just as mad at him as I was. From what I could ascertain, the plan had been to lure this "Black" (an overpowered mage who had performed countless evils) into a 2v2 fight to the death. The catch would be that Blue would only be pretending to be his ally, while in reality he would try to help Red and Grey. This was necessary for political reasons. However, the trap had failed

"LITERALLY JUST BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T TELL A GUY WEARING BLACK FROM BORING BLACK BLACK!!" Grey finished another round of screaming at the top of his angry lungs, but his throat was quickly becoming sore. Rather soon, the room quieted.

"So… one of us has to die, or we're trapped here forever." Red summed up our situation rather neatly.

"Isn't there a way out? Who controls these duels, anyways? Can't they tell there was a mistake?" I ask.

Red responded with the worst possible answer. "Unfortunately, there is no way out. The duels are controlled by unbreakable magic laws. The only way out is a death. Then the team with one member left loses."

"Maybe there's a loophole, and -"

"We spent 4 years coming up with this plan to kill Black. I assure you, there is no loophole. One of us four will die. Period."

"Maybe... it's not so bad to be trapped here forever? I looked around the room. No doors, but lots of windows. If we just break those windows, we've got a whole world to ourselves..."

"You act like you don't know where we are," said Red, indicating that our current location was less than desirable. I gave him a blank look conveying my lack of knowledge.

Grey broke into the conversation before Red could respond. "How… how can you not know this? It's perhaps the first things mages learn. Fundamental. Fun-da-men-tal."

"Well, MAYBE it's because I'm not a mage."

"You're telling me that, despite resonating enough magic energy to be confused with Black Black himself, you aren't a mage? I was going to suggest killing Blue, but you're way too suspicious. I'd say the chances that you're just Black Black using some magic to try to play mind games on us is way too high."

Blue gave Grey a very offensive look, but altogether the 3 mages were in agreement. I was just minding my own business, but then THIS happens? Maybe death is better anyways.

"Fine. Kill me. Wherever I'm going, it can't be worse than this world where people will pull these kinds of stunts." In part, I hoped this would reverse-psychologically convince them not to kill me, alas, twas not to be. Red stepped forward, placing his hand onto my face.

"I'll try to make this painless."

A bolt of fire escaped, burning my flesh. IT WAS NOT PAINLESS. Set alight, I was running about for at least 30 seconds before my ultimate demise.