Kai had two things he needed to do before they set out for the Wyvern Grotto. Each of them involving friends in one way or another.
He left Kleo to handle whatever she needed in the city, telling her to et him back at the League in a week’s ti. She nodded without much argunt. They both had their own preparations to make.
First, Kai made his way through the bustling streets toward the Citadel’s arena, known across the kingdom as the Arena of Kings.
The one Joran ntioned to him all those years ago. Stories of old champions and how his eyes would gleam while passionately talking about the future. His future. A future that ended too soon.
Kai steadied his thoughts. It wasn’t ti to take on his promise to Joran. Not yet. He had soone he needed to see.
Even from a distance, the arena was breathtaking. Massive stone walls rose into the sky, crowned with banners fluttering in the breeze, each one bearing the crest and na of a past champion. The main gates were made of thick ironwood banded with bronze, and from within, Kai could hear the roaring cheers of a match currently underway.
The energy was infectious, almost electric in the air.
He approached the gate, where a stern-faced guard manned the entrance. The guard barely acknowledged him, simply holding out a hand to stop him.
"I’d like to see Rael Drakethorne," Kai said.
The guard furrowed his brows, as if he hadn’t heard properly.
Kai repeated the request, a little louder.
For a mont, there was only awkward silence, until soone inside the courtyard overheard and rushed up to the gate, practically vibrating with excitent.
"Don’t you know? That’s Master Thorne! The four-ti arena champion! Karac finally beat him off his pedestal nine years ago. Wow, that was an amazing fight."
The guard didn’t even glance at the fanboy, keeping his steely gaze locked on Kai.
"What business do you have with him?"
Kai hesitated.
’Shit. The na I gave him is now wanted for murder...’
"I’m... soone who helped him on a trip from Orrinsby to Ylthara. Tell him I’ve co to see him."
The guard grunted and pulled out a small bronze device from his belt. It was circular, about the size of his palm, and had a needle spinning erratically at its center. Small blue runes pulsed along its edge.
Kai stared at it, fascinated.
’It’s like a compass... similar to the one that broke when the Collector kidnapped Mari. Did dad give her that to communicate with her? I never knew... Is it two-way? Multi-way? How far can it reach?’
The guard tapped the device, muttered into it, and waited.
"Mhm. Yup. Says he’s here to see the instructor. No na given. Just sothing about helping on a trip to Ylthara."
There was a faint buzzing sound, and the needle flicked around a little..
A woman’s voice answered faintly: "Yes. Very well."
The guard clipped the device back onto his belt and jerked his chin toward the gates.
"You’re free to go inside. One of the staff will show you to the instructor."
"Thank you," Kai said.
The great gates groaned as they lifted, and Kai stepped through into a long hall filled with statues of champions past.
Each statue was carved from gleaming white marble, capturing fighters in mid-swing, mid-shout, mid-victory. So were battered, old enough to have lost fingers or swords to ti. Others looked almost freshly polished, with the most-recent champions standing proud. Nas and dates were etched at their bases, hundreds of years of warriors, rembered in stone.
"Rael Drakethorne..." Kai whispered as he saw a statue of his old ntor.
’He really was a champion.’
The cheering from the arena grew louder as he moved further in, and Kai caught the tallic clangs and aty thuds of combat training from nearby corridors.
"Hey! You here to see Master Thorne?" a voice piped up.
A boy, around fourteen years old, hurried over. He wore a slightly oversized tunic marked with the arena’s crest. His blond hair was ssy, and he carried a piece of parchnt atrached to a wooden board under one arm.
"I’m Fenn! I’m in training to beco an arena squire," the boy announced proudly, bouncing on his toes. "You’re lucky! Master Thorne doesn’t usually take visitors. C’mon, I’ll show you to him."
As they walked, Fenn talked non-stop.
"You know this place dates back over five hundred years? So say it was built on the ruins of a fortress from the Age of Kings. Imagine... multiple kings ruling over Iria! And Master Thorne? He used to be the greatest! Won the championship four years in a row! No one else ever did that before! People used to travel from other kingdoms just to see him fight!"
They passed a massive open-air training hall. Inside, n and won battered each other rcilessly with wooden and blunted tal weapons. The air was thick with the scent of sweat, leather, and blood.
Kai paused for a second, watching.
Here, there were no gentle spars, every blow was ant to bruise, to break, to dominate. Fighters with missing teeth and broken noses laughed as they slamd into each other, instructors barking orders that sounded more like threats.
’I wouldn’t have minded growing up in an environnt like this. Simple. Understandable.’
And amidst it all, young hopefuls watched from the sidelines, eyes wide, dreaming of their own future glories.
Fenn barely noticed the brutality, too caught up in his storytelling.
"Co on. Hurry up!" Fenn called out when he realised he was talking to himself for a while. When Kai caught up, he continued with his rambling. "They say if you survive ten matches in a row, you earn the title of Steelblood. Only five people have ever done it!"
Kai followed, feeling a strange surge of nostalgia. Not from the arena itself, but unchanging things.
’Even video gas change over ti, but places like this don’t. No matter how much ti passes. I could co here in fifty years and it would probably be the sa.’
Fenn eventually led him down a quieter hallway, ending in a smaller, more private training room. Here, there was only one man inside.
Rael Drakethorne stood at the far end, adjusting the weights on a training dummy. His hair had grayed slightly since Kai had last seen him, but he still radiated the sa aura of strength and precision.
There was a flicker of surprise on Rael’s face when he turned, and then a slow, warm smile.
"It’s you, isn’t it?"
Kai realised that his illusion sat differently on his face than the one from Mirage’s Veil. He let the illusion covering his face briefly shimr and drop. He exhaled.
"The face you t wasn’t real, either. But I feel like you’ll understand, Rael."
Rael’s eyes tried to adjust to the change in appearance, and then they opened wide.
"K-Kai? You’re alive? Wha-how?"
"I almost died. But I’ve had so amazing people looking after ."
Rael stepped closer, peering at him as if trying to morize his features.
"But... you’re older. Much older. Too old."
"Ti dilation stuff. It’s complicated."
Kai gave a faint smile. "Anyway. You admire strength, right? I’ll fight in your arena, and I’ll win, if you can do sothing for ."
Rael tilted his head, cautious now.
"Win, hey? Sothing like what?"
"If you’re as important as I think, you can get a eting with soone inside the palace. A... working girl."
Rael’s face darkened slightly.
"Kai... The princess... That wasn’t-"
"No. That thing that kidnapped Mari and killed all those kids? Turns out it was nothing compared to its boss. That killed Aliza."
Rael looked genuinely shaken.
"You do know that the Church pinned the deaths of those kids on you, right? They told your sister you brainwashed her."
Kai clenched his fists.
"Those bastards."
He reforged his illusion with a snap of mana, cloaking his face once more.
"So... A eting." Rael rubbed his jaw. "There’s a girl, you said? Working girl?"
"Her na’s Firra. She’s in the palace. Maybe you know soone. Soone who could help?"
Rael nodded slowly.
"That would be Matilda. She’s in charge of the palace’s ’hospitality wing.’ I’ve passed her a few strays over the years. If anyone could help, it’s her."
’Hospitality, hey? Not serving food and drink, I’m guessing. But he can help...’
Kai’s shoulders loosened a fraction.
"I knew you’d understand."
Rael looked at him hard.
"You’re not seriously thinking of taking soone from the palace, are you? A girl like that would be classed as property of the Crown. You wouldn’t just risk yourself, they’d wipe out your friends and family. No trial."
’It’s not like I have family anymore. And my friends are strong enough to look after themselves.’
"I made a promise," Kai said simply. "I intend to keep it."
Rael sighed and shook his head, muttering under his breath.
"I’ll see what I can do. When your parents were killed... I wasn’t able to stop it. They were good people. Don’t get yourself killed too, Kai."
Kai smiled faintly.
"I’ll be careful. I’ll be in the city for a week or so. I have another job in the anti. Hunting wyverns for their eggs."
"And you’re off to fight wyverns next?" Rael said, laughing incredulously as he turned back to rearranging the wooden swords on the rack. "Of course you are. A kid fighting wyverns! You’ll be the next damn god of this world at this rate. Ridiculous."
Kai grinned as he leaned against the wall. For the first ti in a long while, he felt just a little bit lighter.
Kei left his ntor to his rambling and exited the arena. He bid farewell to the arena gate guard and headed towards his next destination.
Thesiones Academy.
’Ti to see so old friends, and hopefully not die in the process.’
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