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“I can work a little magic of my own, ya know?”

“Do you remember? The twenty-first night of September. Love was changing the minds of pretenders…while chasing the clouds away!” The Ice Elf was riding high off his first Zenith victory. Knight walked from his base, whistling as he looked over the information for his opponent. “A mage, huh? Wind mage too? This could be a bit tricky,” he thought.

“Congratulations, Mr.Eldinson.” Kiseki approached, clutching her clipboard tightly as she followed Knight. “Your sponsors were quite pleased with your match last round,” the blue-haired woman said.
Knight sat on a nearby bench by the courtyard, but didn’t turn back to meet the womans’ gaze.
“Well, happy that they were entertained…I take it they’ve also made sure to pony up a little spendin money,” he asked, reaching his hand back.

“Why of course,” the woman said. Kiseki tossed a small pouch of coins into Knights’ hand. “30 silver coins to do with as you wish. With that out of the way,” Ms.Senmonka began. “How would you like to once again make a little more profit, with no extra hoops to jump through?”

The white-haired Assassin took one of the coins out and flipped it high into the air. “You know…if your people want to hire me, they can find a contact easy enough,” he half-joked. “But yeah, whatever. Put me down with your sponsors. Nothing like a little extra coin.”

“Thank you, Mr.Eldinson,” Kiseki said, before turning away with a grin, and leaving. “Try not to die,” she called back.

XXX

Gale made her way from the Castle, looking over the information on her opponent. “Wow…Circle of Shadows member…he must be some kind of killer…dark…mysterious…” The young womans’ mind raced, with the demonic image of her opponent. She gulped. “No…no, I have to calm down! I mean, I did make it to round two after all. No ice elf is going to stand in my way!” She shouted, drawing a number of looks from civilians. “Uh…sorry, everyone! Sorry,” she said, her face growing slightly red.

“It’s quite alright. We all get a little excited.”

The young Wind mage felt her heart skip a beat as whiff of cold breath touched her skin. She quickly turned to see a Knight smiling in front of her. Mei-Feng leaped back, using a gust of air to strengthen her leap.

Knight peered at the girl, a look of confusion on his face. “What are you doing,” he asked, with a chuckle, seemingly shocking the young woman. “Look, I know I’m your opponent and all, but…consider this instead,” he began. “How about we get some ice cream first?”

XXX

“Gotta be careful…he could strike at any moment,” the young woman thought to herself. Mei-Feng eyed Knight warily, as she slowly licked her ice cream, though found her mind slowly drifting to the cold, sweet treat in her hands.

“So, Gale?” Knight began, steadily licking his frozen, dairy treat as he spoke. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but…why is it you’re competing in the Zenith tournament,” he queried. “Are you simply fighting for honor? Are you looking for someone or something?”

“Hm…” Gale really didn’t have much of an answer, other than her honest feelings. “I guess I’m really just here to find myself. I want to see new places, people, and things, ya know?”

“I see…I know we’re supposed to fight, Gale…but would you be willing to allow me the chance to convince you to forfeit,” Knight asked, a surprisingly serious tone in his formerly jovial voice.

“Convince me to forfeit? And how pray-tell would you go about doing that,” Mei-Feng asked, almost insulted by the Circle member.

“How’s about this? Let me show you something and tell you a story. I will show you a new place, new people, and new experiences. In return, if you find yourself satisfied by the experience, you agree to forfeit,” The blue-skinned Assassin explained. He stood and smiled at her. “How does that sound?”

“I believe that sounds fair,” Mei-Feng said, finishing her ice cream. “But how do I know you won’t try to kill me while you’re telling me this story,” she asked, squinting at him.

Knight laughed. “Alright, alright…how’s about I let you hold onto weapons,” he asked, holding out his pistols to the girl, with a grin on his face. “In exchange, you follow me to my base, and allow me the chance to mystify you into submission.”

Mei-Feng looked away for a moment, thinking. “Well…this could be a pretty easy match-up. It’s just listening to a story,” she thought. The young mage smirked and took the pistols. “Alright, Knight. Lead the way!”

XXX

Mei-Feng looked about the abandoned building, filled with various odds and ends. Trinkets, and trophies lined walls and shelves all about. “Wow…so this is your base? What is this place for,” she asked, dreamily staring at a small, glowing orb.

“This is a little place I call The Void. Stuff comes in…almost never comes out,” Knight said, lifting a book up and smiling. “Now then…I said I was going to show you something that would make you forfeit if it was good enough.” He walked over to a pool of water on the other side of the room and motioned for Mei-Feng to join him. “I need you to come sit in front of the pool and close your eyes. Focus on nothing but the sound of my voice.”

Gale was beginning to become nervous. She realized that inside here her magic would be all but useless with such static air. She breathed deeply and made her way over to the pool, which glowed a strange, blue light both unnerving and breathtaking in its hue. She sat and closed her eyes, giving one more nervous glance.

“I want you to picture this, once you’re completely focused on my voice,” Knight said. “There is an island…there is a ship…there is a crew…and there are your friends…people whom you’ve grown accustomed to seeing. Friends you’ve made in your travels across the land.”

Gale tried her best to focus, but for some reason the voice seemed to grow farther and farther with every sentence. Still, she made out every word clearly as if they were not being told to her, but…felt by her. And suddenly…she felt herself falling forward. Though the young girl knew what was happening he was unable to stop herself or even open her eyes until she felt cold, salty water washing over her face. The pink-haired mage thrashed about. “This pool is…super deep…!”

“Woman overboard!”

Knights’ voice, rang in Gails’ ear though it sounded surprisingly far up to her ear. “What the heck…?” she thought, as she felt a ring fall around her. To her surprise she then felt pulled upward. In fact, she began to notice a lot of things, despite an inability to open her eyes. Seagulls, the sound of waves, a hot sun, and along with the voice of Knight, there were other voices. Strange, yet familiar all the same. The wind mage recognized the icy touch of Knight as he pulled her forward for some reason and handed her a towel to dry off with.

“Looks like you took quite the trip!” Knights’ jovial voice was a nice bit of familiarity for Mei-Feng, though the comfort it brought was short-lived. After drying off herself, Mei-Feng opened her eyes and her jaw dropped in shock.

Instead of Knight, the pool, and The Void, she instead looked around and saw Knight, a ship of some kind, and a number of strange people in the middle of the ocean. “…Crap!”