“My father wants to see me,” Sidjin said.

Below, performers were dancing to the sound of a drum arrangement in mesmerizing patterns. The rhythm was fast and intense. It made Viv’s teeth shake with every percussion. They hurt a little, reminding her that her body would fail before spring set in unless she acted. Tick tick tick.

“Now?” Viv asked. “There is less than an hour left before the next round.”

“Yes. He requested it. It was… carefully worded. I have not seen him since the wall and I was wondering if… maybe it’s the last time I could see him. Retiring first princes often go into exile far away since ‘accidents’ are prone to happen. I am one of the eldest. I think he had high hopes for me. Before…”

“Yeah.”

Sidjin sighed and gripped the railing.

“Don’t have regrets or we’ll be forced to visit the merls again,” Viv warned.

Sidjin guffawed.

“They have spiders,” Viv added with a shiver.

She didn’t have to pretend her aversion. Fucking arachnids.

“But what are you afraid of? That he would do or say something?”

“Yes. I fear his censure. At the same time, I do not wish to ignore him. Leave the wound unhealed.”

Viv clicked her tongue, not sure if he was looking for advice or commiseration. His insistent look answered her unspoken question.

“I, look, I’ll never see my family again,” Viv said.

She didn’t see any way she could meet them. It would take decades for her to be powerful enough to cross the border between worlds if it were even possible. By that time, the earth might have just been blown up.

“Ah,” Sidjin said.

“And as conflicted as I was about some of the stuff that happened, if there is something I regret it’s… not saying goodbye. Conflict with family members is inevitable. You just can’t accept everything under the assumption that it might be the last time you talk to them. I stood for myself and I’m glad, and I’m proud you stood for yourself as well. I would still go. If you’re abused or insulted or you feel you’ve been lured to be hurt, then leave. I still think you’ll regret it if you don’t get closure one way or another. You’ll wonder what if.”

“You would have me leave?”

“Look, don’t set yourself on fire to keep people warm, yeah? You’re there to make peace, not be a target dummy.”

“I see what you mean. If this turns into an inquisition, I shall leave immediately. We are on a schedule anyway.”

“Yes, speaking of that, they won’t try anything, right?”

“Not in full view of the entire Helockian aristocracy, no. Glastian politics might be cutthroat but it is not mad.”

“I hope you are right.”

“If there is any issue I shall teleport back here. You have my word.”

Sidjin left and Viv walked out to borrow a spyglass. She spotted him getting into the lodge. He left half an hour later without fanfare during a secondary performance involving a flutist and a really large snake. He didn’t seem shaken or anything.

“Did it go well?” she asked as soon as he arrived.

“Yes. He asked a few questions. Wanted to know how I was doing.”

“Huh.”

“Implied that it wouldn’t be good for me to win, suggested I talked to Aldus or Shaya, whoever wins the next contest. He said Glastia would not forgive me but it was up to me… to forgive her.”

“Did he forgive you?”

“He said there was nothing to forgive in a man who lived according to his principles. He accepted my choice. He… he apologized. Said that he should have reined in my cousin. The one who killed my merl friend.”

“What happened to him anyway?”

“I… killed him the night I escaped. With a knife. He never saw it coming.”

“Wow. I hope you didn’t mention that.”

“Of course not. Ah, the contest is resuming.”

Viv only paid half attention to the following duels. Shaya had clearly grabbed wild talents from wherever she could to give herself the image of a unifier. After all, many people from different backgrounds manned the walls. It was nicely done but she was not a product of the Helockian establishment. Aldus simply had more resources which he proved by beating her three to one. Viv was especially impressed by his head mage, a peerless duelist who specialized in wide, gray mana area-denial spells. Nevertheless, Aldus moved on after a relatively tame event. Only one person had been wounded and it was nothing serious. A certain tension rose from the crowd because, as flashy as the combats were, they lacked violence. A stake. Only the bone witch had received the love of the mob.

They would most likely get it in the next fight. The red mage had it in for Viv and he was Medjin’s first.

“Looks like it’s my turn,” Viv said.

“One last thing,” Sonagi said from his seat.

“Yes?”

“When powerful mages fight, sometimes tragedies can occur.”

“I know.”

“Make sure it’s him,” Rakan said with a serious air that looked strange on his youthful face.

Viv reached the gate without issue. It opened with a clang, the massive reinforced panes pivoting on their hinges with a cavernous growl to let her through. A burst of cold air sent sand against her shoes and brought with it a fresher scent. She walked calmly while the mage who’d faced her in Sidjin’s study did the same from the other side. He wore the same standard issue reinforced robes as she did under a puffy yellow shirt. He smirked when he saw her. Clearly, he didn’t have a high opinion of Viv. She would have to remedy that.

Deos was having fun.

“Imagine, if you will, a sea of roaring flesh crashing against a mountain. Imagine a constant noise, an unending tide that seeks to end man and civilization! Imagine the blood, imagine the guts, smell it on the wind. Smell fire roasting them! This hell, ladies and gentlemen, is the crucible upon which great men are made or broken! And here is one who has survived and thrived on the field of battle as a rampart of man against beast. On the lodge side, the magma mage, the wall of Glastia, the man who turns plains into labyrinths of molten stone, I give you, Kos!”

Viv waited while Kos bowed to the crowd.

“And on the pit side, a fury who torched every place she has touched with the flame of change! She has slain two princes and forced a king to suicide, she has carved a kingdom out of Enoria with her spells, she has made pacts with subhumans for power! The herald of shadows and the scaled menace. The revolutionary! The Black Witch! I give you… Viv the Outlander!”

Viv thought there was some creative interpretation in Deos’ speech, and the crowd’s welcome was changed as a result. Those were cheers but not exactly the supportive ones. Her soul felt a shift in the frenzied emotions swirling through the arena, so intense they were and so packed the rows of humankind sat above her, beyond the shields. Down here, the mass of the spectators was transfigured into an obscene mass organism with a thousand voice and a single, simple mind with only one purpose: get their dose of entertainment through vicarious violence. She closed her eyes. Now was not the time to get distracted. Black mana flooded her conduits in preparation for the struggle to come.

“Let the duel… begin!”

Viv coated herself in black mana and struck at the same time, just as Kos did. She felt the heat of his spell as it struck against her quickly formed chestplate. It almost seared her eyes, even with its energy dissipating. Kos buckled and screamed as her attack punched through his arm clean through, deactivating the robe in a single blow. Above, Deos crooned. There was blood but, unfortunately, it wouldn’t be enough. Kos finished coating and his mana armor was massive and thick. Viv realized he was fixed to the ground.

“Blast.”

Her small artillery spell smashed into his defenses, digging deep holes in a quickly forming wall of incandescent stones. Her last attack speared through where he should have been, but he… swam through solid stone. She didn’t know it was a possibility.

Meanwhile, more and more incandescent rocks erupted from thin air with every second. A plume of stones and superheated air burst toward Viv. Her danger sense screamed. The first red-hot gravels touched a shield and Viv realized the drain on her mana was enormous. Kos’ lava was a persistent thing, an old power that refused to be dispelled or pushed aside so easily. It was the perfect intent for such an attack, so Viv used a burst of speed to jump to the side.

“Aegis.”

She caught the rest on her shield before it could reach her and counter at the same time.

“Astra.”

Her new mainstay spell caught the next eruption at the origin, the black mana charge detonating to scatter the attack before it could launch towards her. Kos was persistent but she was much, much faster. Viv vented black mana at her feet and the lava there winked out under the pressure of entropy. A sphere of cold expanded around her. Nevertheless, the temperature in the arena was still increasing. The sand around Kos was turning to glass. Time was not exactly on her side. He was obviously a powerful defensive caster who needed a bit of time to get going. She would not make it easy for him.

“Eldritch wall.”

Tentacular flowers bloomed on the growing volcano, draining the heat and shape of Kos’ domain, if only briefly. A cry of frustration emerged from the mass of magma. The spots of darkness clearly disrupted whatever Kos was planning before the caldera of the growing mountain vomited more heat. The contest was still a losing proposal but Viv had a plan. She just had to push Kos a little more.

More eldritch flowers bloomed and withered. More astra spells disrupted Kos’ attack while the volcano grew lopsided since Viv still vented mana on her side of the arena. The massive pile soon teetered and fell to the side, further disrupting the swimming form of Kos.

Viv felt him draw from his focus to replenish his reserves. Her disruption was working well.

“Enough of this!” the man roared.

The volcano erupted, truly erupted. Viv caught most of the early pebbles on a shield as a tidal wave of magma collapsed in her direction.

“Shadow step.”

Viv teleported on the other side of the volcano. She saw Kos freeze in the middle of a triumphant shout.

It was such a pleasant view.

Abyssal tendrils snaked from Viv’s form when she unleashed everything in her arsenal in a tide of deadly offense. Eldritch walls weakened the barrier, then astra hexes crashed through it, soon followed by the unceasing cone of a flamethrower-like werfer. Her black fire hissed and ate at the unprotected slope with gusto until Kos was forced to retreat deeper and deeper into his collapsing hill. Viv noticed that the volcano immediately cooled down. Apparently, it took some effort to keep it going. The more his flames winked out and the less space he had to escape to. Kos was losing control. Viv’s piercing attacks followed him where he went. She could feel him. See his mana move. He escaped to the last remaining patch of activity and the stone around him morphed into the shape of a gigantic walker. A colossus of heated stone twice her size. A large shield blocked her attacks, but Viv knew from the constant drain on his focus that he was running on fumes. He was on the verge of collapse.

She felt a sense of wonder when the walker charged her, a giant of magma like a golem from the legends. Black mana sang in her veins. Warm, acid air filled her lungs. The roar of the crowd sounded in the distance but it didn’t matter. There was just her, the colossus, and the magic screaming in her being, begging to be unleashed. She felt so very alive.

Viv charged Kos.

The movement was so unexpected that the construct almost stumbled. Blasts and a constant stream of destructive mana forced its arm to turn into a shield as Kos was forced into the defensive. Viv slid under the blind side and did what she, of course, really loved to do.

“Excalibur.”

What had started as a short sword was now taller than she was when she swung, the void blade slicing easily through anything the golem could put up. She knew she’d hit flesh when the construct crumbled. A horrible scream sounded from behind, and her danger sense screamed at her once more.

“Aegis.”

The shield could not have appeared a second too early. Kos’ golem exploded, sending superheated shrapnel through the entire arena. One of the hexagonal panes shattered and a stone hit Viv’s mana armor but it mostly held. She still felt the shock in her shoulder. It pushed her, forcing a step back. A sharp pain spread through her ribs.

She poked at them. They weren’t broken. Meanwhile, Kos fell on his side. Viv was horrified to see that whatever protected him from the heat had failed at the last minute. Parts of his skill and his chin looked badly burnt, the flesh practically cooked. It had to burn horribly. She took an involuntary step forward. She just wanted to help. She didn’t want him to die. It wasn’t a fight to the death.

He mistook her intent, face twisted in a rictus of terror.

“I yield! I yield!”

Viv stopped where she was. She toned out Deos’ congratulations and the adulation of the crowd to walk back. The only thing she could feel right now was relief. And discomfort. She coughed. It didn’t feel very good.

Danger sense: intermediate 6