Omen of a Bluebell

Returning to the area assigned to group four is simple, but I immediately notice a difference.

Even though all of the duels are complete, there’s less than half as many people present. Only then do I realize that every group that’s already fought has shrunk in size. Instead, an all new gathering of students has been building up on the opposite side of the arena.

I realize, after recognizing a few of the people from earlier matches, that they’re all the students that lost their duels.

“What’s that about?” I mumble.

“You won!” Cari says, crashing into my back with a hug and causing me to nearly jump out of my skin.

I was just about to go searching for her and Bella, but it looks like she beat me to it.

“Hah! Gotcha,” she grins.

Behind her, I catch Bella smirking. The moment my eyes lock with hers, she erases any hint of a reaction from her face, but her eyes still sparkle with hidden mirth at our antics.

I sigh.

“Hey, Cari. Bella. How’d you both do?”

“We won, of course. What, did you think we wouldn’t?” she says, putting on a mock pout as I turn around to return the hug.

“I would never,” I say, putting on a mock hurt tone and holding her at arms length. “I thought you’d trip and lose on your way to the arena.”

She gasps in outrage and swats at my hands, freeing herself.

“Can you believe this, Bella? Years of teaching her how to fight, and this is how much faith she has in me!”

Bella’s lips twitch, but before she can respond, the next group is called up.

“Yes, well, it seems you taught her well. Or at least as well as you could,” Bella says after the arena quiets once more.

Cari quirks a brow at that.

“As well as I could?” she asks testily.

“I meant no offense, of course. You’re not a professional trainer, but from what I can tell, you seem like a skilled fighter despite being self taught. That goes for both of you.”

Cari narrows her eyes, then shrugs and lets the topic go.

“Fair enough. Anyways, what’s with the group over there?” she asks, pointing at the steadily growing groups of students who lost their duels.

“It’s the losers bracket,” Bella answers.

When we both give her a confused look, she continues.

“They’ll want to test them more to make sure they got to see all they could do. For proper evaluations.”

“Ohh,” we both say at the same time.

She glances between us, then back to the arenas.

“So, how’d you do Emi?” Cari asks.

“Uh… you first?”

I look away, trying to seem distracted by the ongoing fights rather than embarrassed.

It doesn’t work.

“Nuh uh, that’s not happening. You did something, didn’t you?” she prods, finger poking me in the side.

Bella returns her attention to us, focusing on me with a quirked brow.

“Ugh!” I groan. “Fine. Nosy brat.”

I add the last bit under my breath, but she just grins.

With a sigh, I tell them how my match went, and Cari cracks, cackling at my results. Bella seems to take it in stride, as if she’d expected as much.

I don’t know which annoys me more.

“Okay then, what about you two?” I huff.

Cari waves me off after catching her breath. “I got exceptional control, but adequate across the board otherwise. Nothing special.”

“My overall was just exceptional, but I’d rather keep my individual results to myself until all the testing is complete,” Bella answers.

I can barely see the smirk that tugs at her lips, but her posture—more full of pride than ever before—gives her away.

“Uh huh. ‘Just exceptional,’” I say, eying her posture. “You look awfully pleased for someone being modest.”

Cari nods along sagely. “That’s the stance of a woman who knows exactly how well she did.”

Bella hesitates for half a breath, then lifts her chin just a fraction higher.

Both Cari and I burst into laughter at that, but we all get distracted when one of the domes blazes with light, one of the duelists unleashing a massive fire spell that expands to fill the entire space.

Healers quickly head over once the duel is stopped by the proctors, staying nearly three times as long as they did to fix up my opponent. When the person responsible for the magic steps out of the barrier, I let out a low growl.

It’s the mouthy girl from group five.

Despite my annoyance with the woman, the student on the receiving end of her attack steps out of the barrier a few moments later. He seems shaken and a bit terrified of her, but otherwise okay.

Meanwhile, she walks with all the swagger of someone too powerful to use common sense.

“Gods, I hope they pit me against her,” I snarl. “I could use some levels in Fire Resistance.”

Bella nods solemnly, but Cari just grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze.

The next rounds of duels are fairly uneventful, though we each enjoy watching the fights despite the occasional ugly comment from our loudmouth neighbor.

Once every group has gone through their first fights, the order shifts entirely. Instead of groups being called forth, individual duels are paired off, seemingly at random.

It takes a bit longer, but the man calling out the matches never stops shouting up the next pairing.

At my confused look from the changes, Bella leans close to speak, tickling my ear with her breath.

“They’re pairing off the best matches for control testing, now. Trying to weed out weaknesses and get better measurements of the capabilities of those who won. Look,” she says, pointing at a pair that had just been called up.

A man and woman step forward, both wielding staves.

“They’re both water Mage’s of some sort. They want to see how they each handle someone with the same element as themselves, and see if one can win control over the other.”

Then my ear twitches, brushing her lips with its tip, and she jerks back at the sudden touch. A flush instantly begins creeping up my neck.

When I glance over to apologize, I freeze.

She’s smiling at me. Not one of Cari’s broad, open grins—but something sharper. More dangerous.

Her lips tilt into a knowing smirk, her gaze lingering and filled with amusement as her fingers brush lightly against her own mouth.

She’s so close.

“Arabella von Bysm, Sylvester Osis, platform eighty-two!”

She twitches at her name being called, but her eyes stay locked on mine for just a heartbeat longer before she turns away, lifting a hand in a casual wave.

“Good luck, you two,” she says.

“Don’t beat him too badly, Miss Exceptional!” Cari shouts, waving excitedly.

Bella’s smile widens, but she doesn’t offer more than a backward glance at the comment.

For a while, I can’t focus.

Cari teases me mercilessly about my blush, but she quiets almost immediately once Bella and her opponent enter their barrier.

“She’s right, you know,” she says quietly as they set up.

She gestures to the rest of the arena, where other matches are still ongoing.

“From what it looks like, we’re going to end up against people capable of dealing with us if we slip up even a little bit. Be careful out there, Emi.”

I bump her shoulder with mine.

“You too.”

Bella's arena is swampy this time, all dark water and thick muck stretching in every direction, with only two small rises of solid ground for the duelists to stand upon.

Then it begins, their barrier flashing brightly to signify the start. I realize almost instantly that, much like the people she pointed out, both she and this Sylvester guy are ice Mage’s.

The moment the match begins, the ground around Bella instantly freezes. Mud hardens into ice, water locking into place as if it had been waiting for her command.

Then it spreads, frost lancing out in all directions in a relentless wave.

Sylvester reacts quickly, summoning nearly two dozen ice spikes and launching them at her in a blisteringly fast volley.

At the same time, something starts rising behind Bella.

An intricate throne of ice grows into existence, like it belongs in her newly frozen landscape. High-backed and elegant beyond reason, its surface is etched with delicate patterns that catch the light. Cold rolls off it in visible waves, the air turning white with frost before sinking to the ground.

My heart stutters for a moment when—instead moving to dodge or block—she sits.

Then the spikes just... stop. They hang there, an arm’s length from her face, trembling as though caught in an invisible grasp.

Bella rests her elbow against the arm of the throne and props her chin against her knuckles, eyes half-lidded as she looks down at her opponent from her royal perch.

I know that the throne isn’t really that tall.

But she seems to loom over the entire arena, gazing down upon something small and utterly inconsequential to her domain. A queen, passing down judgment.

It makes her beautiful in a way that steals the breath from my lungs, and I can’t tear my eyes from her.

Her opponent seems just as stunned as I am, hand still outstretched as if to continue directing the attack. But instead of obeying him, the spikes turn.

He immediately gives up on trying to control them, instead switching to defense. A large wall of ice appears from thin air between him and her, but I already know it won’t be enough.

Instead of sending the ice spikes at him right away, she directs them to join together, forming one massive spear of ice, corded with a spiraling channel like a drill. Then it starts spinning, growing faster and faster with each passing breath.

Even through the barrier I can hear the moment the air itself starts screaming.

With a gentle wave of her free hand, as if she’s dismissing her opponent, the spike explodes forward. Despite the massive gust of wind that blows her hair back, she doesn’t budge.

It impacts the barrier of ice, drilling straight through it without resistance, and the entire thing explodes into fragments from the force. Behind it, the spear flies just over her opponents head, missing by just a breath.

Then the wind takes him off the ground, throwing him about as if he’s in a tornado, before tossing him across the arena with so much force that I worry for a moment whether he’ll survive the landing.

My mind flashes back, to the time when I was blown away due to the forces of nature that followed the attacks of those far stronger than myself. To the day this all began.

But only for a moment.

When I come back to myself, I find Cari literally leaping with joy after the show, cheering Bella on with all the ferocity she can muster.

Those that were watching the fight from the crowd join her, chanting a title they seem to agree upon in unison.

“Ice Queen! Ice Queen! Ice Queen!”

I smile at the moniker, deciding right away to tease her relentlessly with it.

“Cari Ward, Corin Yeka, platform seventy-three!”

That pulls us out of our revelry for a moment, and Cari gives me a quick hug before setting off to face her own opponent with a happy wave.

“Good luck!” I shout at her back.

Three more matches are called out as I watch her go, and she doesn’t even make it to her platform before I finally hear my own name.

“Seraphine val Kaerin, Emilia Ken, platform 31!”

On my way to my assigned platform, I realize who I’m facing when she steps through the barrier before I reach it.

It's the spear fighter that impressed Bella.

She wields a long spear of silvery metal, polished to a mirror sheen, the haft wrapped in pale leather and adorned with thin red ribbons tied just below the head. They hang loose, fluttering lazily in the air with every movement she makes.

When I pass through the barrier, I quickly look her over.

Human Fighter

Level 82

Her tag says human, but the truth is in her ears.

They taper to subtle points, not sharp enough to be mistaken for a full elf’s, but impossible to ignore. Her features are refined in the same way, bones a touch too elegant, face too naturally pretty.

But that’s where her elven heritage ends. Her hair is a deep chestnut, pulled back into a braid tighter than my own that falls over one shoulder, not a strand out of place. Her eyes are cool and assessing, their mix of hazel and green sliding over me quickly, weighing me without a hint of surprise or disdain.

She rests the butt of the spear lightly against the stone at her side, one hand relaxed around the haft, the other folded behind her back, her stance leaving plenty of space for the spear to move in any direction.

She reminds me of Bella for a moment, when she decides to act all noble.

Then the proctors appear.

Three, this time.

Human Mage

Level ??

Human Healer

Level ??

Bearkin Fighter

Level ??

Two stand between me and my opponent, and the third, the bearkin, stands a little farther back.

His large frame stands out the most, but I also notice the wrappings around his hands that disappear into his sleeves. His eyes are fixed on me instead of the arena at large, tablet already active in his hands.

Then I recall my last assessment, and it becomes obvious why he’s here.

Control.

Or rather… my lack of it.

He speaks up then, voice rumbling through the arena as he glances between the two of us. “This match will be closely monitored. Any escalation beyond acceptable parameters will result in my immediate intervention.”

His eyes land solidly on me when he finishes, making it very clear who he’s really talking to.

Seraphine’s posture loosens slightly, rolling her spear once in her grip and sending the ribbons fluttering. She looks me up and down once more.

Really looks.

The faint curve of her lips tells me she’s also pieced something less than favorable together about me.

That's fine. Underestimate me.

I bare my teeth in a grin, my tail flicking behind me, betraying my excitement and nerves.

Still, my mind roils with annoyance.

Not only am I fighting someone with more reach, training, and nearly twenty additional levels, but I’m doing it with extra oversight.

This should be... interesting.