Ashen Warrior

The next days fight came and went two incredibly strong fighters had beaten the chaff that they had been put up against. Marac Benedict and Herschel Molt had secured victories, deciding that I would use that day as a rest day was a good choice, feeling less sluggish and far more flexible. As we all sat down in the stands for the next day, I began to ponder to myself how I truly felt for Lady Astrid. Was I just feeling enamoured just due to her acknowledging my presence, or was I truly finding something. Something that had been killed months ago at the deaths of many.

The nightmares were now a incoherent mess of noise that would appear on random nights, it felt reassuring to have them yet at the same time it was hurting every part of my body. My life at the moment felt as if I was clinging onto the last piece of hope before a plunging descent into nothing, an endless pit of my fear of loss. Truly, I didn't know what to think, this tourney felt like an excuse to be something I wasn't, to prove to myself that I was something I might not have ever been. It was the best way to divert my attention from my problems to something that at least gave me entertainment.

As I sat down in the stands I began to daydream, seeing familiar faces walking around in the crowd next to me and across on the other side. I only snapped out of it when the trumpets blared, ringing in my ears and so began todays fights. Slowly I was joined by Phyora and Mak, both arriving late into the first fight between a man called Iyalto and another called Plegus.

"Miss much?" Mak said, plonking himself down next to me with a massive thud.

"No, fight just started." I replied shifting over a bit to give enough space for Phyora.

"Great, hopefully get to watch some good fights, since the past few days have been quite boring." Mak quickly responded leaning forward and engrossing himself in the fight.

Phyora didn't say a word but from her looks you could tell she was quite nervous about her fights in the coming days. Yet none of us said anything, and then she let out a massive sigh beginning to become more laid back.

"Everything alright Phyora?" I asked concerned at her lack of interest in the fights.

"Hmm? Yes. I'm fine." she retorted back to me, I decided to shrug off how she was at the moment as I felt as if she had everything under control for herself.

The fight meanwhile raged on, the swords clashing and grinding against each other with blow for blow being traded. The two fighters were extremely even, and were countering each other beautifully. Iyalto had a far more defensive style that used counter-attacking far more than Plegus's balanced style. Plegus regularly switched between an extremely offensive move and a basic defensive guard. Iyalto held his guard, but then Plegus swung his sword slightly forwards, trying to pull Iyalto to the other side, the feint worked as Iyalto quickly shifted to parry the blow.

Plegus swiftly switched his sword to the other side as Iyalto was shifting his guard and began a slice across the waist of Iyalto. The sword hit and smacked into the armour, a large bang as Plegus now shifted his weight to continue the rhythm of his attack, quickly coming down and cutting away Iyalto's guard. With this Plegus moved in quickly and with the cross guard of his sword, punched towards Iyalto catching him on the helmet, causing another loud bang. Plegus soon quickly grounded Iyalto and stood up and garnered the support of the enamoured crowd. The crowd itself roared like thunder bellowing from the clouds above as the two competitors went back to the staging area.

"That was extremely basic." Mak stated as he now held his head in his hands, bored out of his mind.

"Maybe, but its effective at least." Phyora responded turning to me as if I was going to reply. Whilst I just shrugged it off, understanding that Mak wanted to see some flashy fighting between extremely strong fighters.

After a while the trumpets echoed again and out came Ash, in her armour that seemed to be burning due to the light hitting the small orange jewels encrusted onto it.

"Is Ash some highborn?" I asked Mak as he began to sit back up, his interest becoming clear. He just wanted to watch Ash fight.

"No, she's just earned a lot of money from small missions given to her by our old captain. You do know that she's extremely strong right?" he said, his gaze fixed upon Ash.

"Oh I know she's strong, just never knew she had that much money." I replied as her opponent entered the arena. Her opponent was another woman Celaire, she was around the same height as Ash, but her armour was fastened together hastily, looking like it had just came out the blacksmith without being cleaned up. Yet she asserted a presence of immeasurable stature, you could feel in the air that she was a brutal opponent for anyone in the tourney but from our seats we could see Ash's face. She was smiling, almost as if she was excited to fight this opponent.

The fight itself began in a flash, Ash on the offensive pushing forwards towards Celaire. They got faster and faster fighting each other, the dust around them began to kick up and cause a haze blocking vision slightly. Both going blow for blow at incomprehensible speeds, the swords clashing giving off sparks seemingly through the dust, looking like embers bursting through the smoke of a fire. The sounds of the sword clashing would seemingly stop for a few seconds and then restart quickly afterward, and for what seemingly felt like an eternity the fight went on.

A thud was heard and the fighting just seemed to stop, everyone was at the edge of their seats wondering who had won, and as the dust around them settled Ash remained standing whilst her opponent seemingly was struggling to get up. There was no cheer for a couple minutes as the crowd tried to figure out what had happened, before slowly bursting into a cheer. Mak next to us jumped out of his seat and began to roar along with the crowd, clapping frantically. Meanwhile me and Phyora both just clapped and smiled, it was known to us how strong Ash really was for a very long time.

A small break happened to let both fighters to relax and regain themselves. During this break I felt as if someone was staring at me as the hairs on my neck stood on, I turned around behind me and there she was. Lillia's face, or someone that looked like her, right in front of my eyes. For a moment I felt like I was going to pass out before the trumpets blared out again. Into the arena stepped Iyalto and Celaire. The pair beginning to fight instantly, and as soon as it started Celaire had grounded Iyalto. The crowd roared as the pair walked back into the staging area and quickly Ash and Pelgus came out.

As the fight began, Ash quickly swiped her sword across the dirt floor of the arena, kicking it up into Pelgus's face. He quickly moved to stop the dust getting into his eyes quickly and Ash using this moment went on the offensive. She slid in striking quickly to his chest and left leg, before using his unbalanced state to quickly kick him over. Then like that the fight was done, the group felt as if it was already decided. Ash seemed to be 'the' strongest fighter in the tourney at this point, with how easily and well she dealt with her opponents.

There was an uneven nerve around the crowd as the next fight stepped up, Iyalto was an extremely defensive fighter, and from Celaire's fight with Ash, nobody really knew how she would fight against him. Again though, Celaire quickly defeated Iyalto, using a feint to quickly shift his guard and basically taking him down in a single hit. The crowd itself was silent and slowly clapped, it felt expected to most that this would happen. Iyalto had shown himself to be inexperienced with handling actual fights and seemed to fall for simple tricks.

The two fighters for the bracket had been decided, Ash and Celaire. Ash also quickly dispatched of Iyalto in their next fight. It seemed eerie how fast she dealt with her opponents. As we met up with her after the fights, Mak seemed to be extremely chipper before slinking back into a more mundane look, making himself appear to be calm.

Out of the staging area came both Ash and Celaire, the pair of them looked to have became quite good friends. Ash noticing us introduced us to Celaire.

"Mak, Phyora, Stavn. This is my older sister. Celaire." she remarked a wide smile on her face.