The Beginning Ch. 23-24

The white lines depicted their positions, Swati as head of the Second Division of the Indian Academy's armies, and Vaishnavi as Champion. The thinner the lines were, the lower someone was on the chain of command.

The Armor itself was made out of some kind of cloth weave that was reinforced with a litany of spells. It could be repaired or strengthened based on the amount of Power one funneled into it, with no discernible upper limit. If the strongest Wielder was to concentrate on funneling all their magic into strengthening their Armor, it could theoretically become impenetrable. For as long as they could maintain that flow of Power, that is.

Both of them were also armed with their weapons. Swati with her axe, and Vaishnavi with her sword and bow and arrows. These weren't generic weapons like the rest of us in the Proving were using; they were weapons both Wielders had forged themselves, helped along by the Academy's Weaponsmiths, of course.

Each weapon had its own name and was intrinsically tied to each Wielder. They could summon their weapons to them from any location on Earth (and beyond), use them as an extension of their body and will, and with connections as deep as the two of them had? I wouldn't be too surprised if they had some sort of "hidden ability", akin to what you'd see in some popular anime.

"What is this 'anime'?"

"Nice of you to show up," I thought back at the voice. "What took you so long?"

"I needed to replenish my energy."

"That's it? That's all I get?"

"Did you expect more of an explanation?"

"Ugh, fine. Just saying, I could definitely have used your help over the past week."

"How so?"

I quickly brought the voice up to speed on what was happening.

"I approve of these trials. A warrior must prove their mettle by fire before facing opponents on a battlefield."

"Does that mean you'll help me fight?"

"Your lack of a Companion has you handicapped. If my participation offsets that, then yes, I shall help you fight."

"Okay, grand! Thanks!"

"Your gratitude is appreciated, but not required. You will understand my motives in due time. Now, I believe this fight is about to begin."

Our entire dialogue only took a couple of seconds, happening at the speed of thought, as it was. Within that time, both Wielders had made their way to the center, and were currently giving each other a reverent bow. The stands were so silent, I wouldn't have been surprised if everyone there was holding their breath in anticipation.

Nothing happened for a few seconds. Both warriors just stood there, seemingly motionless.

Vaishnavi exploded into action, jumping backwards as she drew and launched three arrows at Swati, each bursting with a different elemental spell. One transformed into an icicle in midair, a second was surrounded by blue flames, while a third streaked through the air but stayed close to the ground, seemingly doing nothing.

Swati's response was to swing her axe in an arc, shattering the icicle and batting the flaming arrow away. The spell on the third arrow kicked in only when it was closer to her, however, an Earth spell that sent a ripple across the stone floor of the arena, causing the part of it that was in the arrow's path to rise up and extend into a tall wall of stone that rushed towards Swati like a runaway locomotive.

Unwilling to be outdone, Swati launched herself into the air, bringing her axe down on the stone wall, cleaving it in half all the way through. Vaishnavi seemed to have predicted that move, though, as she rushed through that new corridor with her sword drawn.

Instead of clashing with Swati, she crashed into her Bear, which wrapped its arms around her and started to squeeze. That's when Vaishnavi's wolf entered the fray, lunging down at the Bear from atop one of the walls, getting its jaws around the Bear's neck.

In an attempt to defend itself, the Bear dropped Vaishnavi, trying to use its arms to swipe at the Wolf. As Vaishnavi quickly put some distance between herself and the Bear, the Wolf disengaged as well, loping to her side as Swati joined her Bear.

Their first contact ending in a stalemate, the two seemed to take a second to reevaluate the situation.

Swati made the first move this time, tossing a handful of Media at Vaishnavi and setting off a flurry of spells that I simply couldn't keep track of. Vaishnavi responded by ramping up her augmentation, seemingly disappearing to reappear behind Swati, slashing at her with her sword. Her Wolf simply bounded up the walls of the corridor and into the air, dodging most of the spells. The few that did manage to hit it didn't even seem to faze it, but the ones that missed obliterated the field around where they landed.

Within mere seconds of starting, the previously untouched arena now looked like an apocalyptic event had befallen it. And the match had only just begun.

Considering how long the two of them had known each other, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that Swati seemed to predict how Vaishnavi would react as well, and just before Vaishnavi's sword made contact, she augmented herself and disappeared from view, taking her Bear with her. Vaishnavi and her Wolf followed suit, and as tempted as I was to augment myself so I could follow their battle in real-time, I knew I had to hold myself back so that I could conserve Power for my own match, later that day.

Not that most of the people in the audience could have followed along if Vaishnavi and Swati pushed their augmentations too far, anyway.

Random flickers of light followed by explosions of elements or of parts of the field within the arena were really the only indication that there even was a battle raging in there. As the minutes ticked on, I noticed a pulsating blue sphere taking shape in one corner of the arena. Nobody else seemed to notice it, even as it grew larger and darker, so I assumed that I was somehow able to see the elements at play, again.

"You failed to mention that your Aura Vision was starting to emerge."

"You know about that?" I thought at the voice, focusing on the sphere.

"It is an ability we share, like many others."

"Others?"

"In time, you will understand. Are you already seeing glowing silhouettes around people as well?"

"Yes, but it's not exactly something I can control. It starts and stops on its own."

"You must develop your ability further. It is useful in battle because it lets you see the true depth of a person's magical strength, as well as the elements they are using to cast spells."

"How? I don't even know how I'm doing this right now."

"Merely continue to focus on the sphere and I shall assist you."

I did as the voice asked and continued observing the sphere, which was now a deep blue tending to black. As I looked at it, a slight pressure started building up behind my eyes.

"Do you feel anything?"

"I do."

"Can you trace the sensation back to its root?"

I closed my eyes and focused on the pressure, trying to do what the voice had asked. As I did, I slowly became aware of the tiniest draw on my Power reserves. It was a hair-thin stream that was being funneled into my eyes. It was like augmentation, but not quite.

"I think I understand it," I told the voice. "There's something I'd like to try."

I consciously took hold of the stream of magic and tried ramping the intensity up slightly. The pressure I felt shot through the roof, my eyes feeling like they were being squeezed by a vice. I cut the stream off as quickly as I could, releasing a mental sigh as the pressure receded.

"No!" the voice exclaimed. "This is not a spell of any sort. It is an ability. You cannot force it to be stronger, nor can you cut it back by any means. Attempting to do so will only cause you harm."

"Message received," I grumbled, rubbing my eyes to dispel the weirdness I felt.

"Are you okay?" Rayka whispered to me, nudging me to get my attention.

"I am," I replied, opening my eyes and smiling at her. "I think I've figured out how to control a new Gift."

"Another one?" she asked, eyebrows raised, a surprised expression on her face. "What is that, three now?"

"Four if you count Pan's Bounty," I responded, grinning cheekily at her.

"Well? What does it bloody do?"

"You'll find out when you find out! Now stop distracting me and watch the fight!"

"Fat load of nothing there is to watch," she grumbled, shooting me a glare, but turning away, all the same.

"I like her."

"As do I," I wholeheartedly agreed.

Trying to consciously activate this new ability felt a lot like trying to use Pan's Bounty. Just as I was about to ask the voice whether or not I'd ever really have any control over it, I felt the understanding of it slide into place. Smiling with satisfaction, I activated my newest Gift, blinking twice as the world around me was filled with new splotches of color.

Everyone around me was surrounded by glowing nimbuses, there were strands and balls of color all around me, and brilliant flashes of color bursting to life within the arena. The colors all started to fade away before I could really take them in, occasional flickers from the arena and the dark blue ball all that remained.

"Do not despair," the voice reassured me, in an eerie repetition of what Vaishnavi had said to all of us just moments ago. "As you continue using your Aura Vision, you will be able to see more for longer."

"I know," I responded. "That ball of magic is a crazy powerful Water spell, isn't it?"

"It appears to be."

"I wonder what it's going to do."

"We will know momentarily."

"Oh, also, I'm going to steal the name 'Aura Vision'."

"It is yours if you wish to use it."

"Sweet!"

Possible infringement aside, the voice was right. The pulses rolling through the ball of magic, now a blue so dark it might as well have been black, were more spread out now. As I watched, it pulsed one last time, and just then, Swati came into view next to it.

She was visibly battered, her Armor covered in dust and debris, rivulets of blood from open cuts trickling down her body. A series of hushed murmurs rippled through the crowd as they noticed her; the murmurs only grew louder, punctuated with cries of alarm, as Vaishnavi came into view as well, on the opposite side of the field.

Though her Armor was torn in places, Vaishnavi had no visible cuts. That could just mean that she'd used some of her magic to heal herself, though I suspected that she might just have managed to avoid allowing Swati to cut into her skin, even as she scored direct hits. Vaishnavi was also all out of arrows, her bow sitting in an empty quiver.

Both their Companions were nowhere to be seen. They must have been overwhelmed by the Wielders before that moment; it sent a chill down my spine to acknowledge the fact that Swati and Vaishnavi had managed to unleash enough hits that were strong enough to eventually overwhelm a Companion, while augmenting themselves to an unimaginable extent and launching and fending off melee and magical attacks, all within the less-than-five minutes since their battle had begun.

"That's what Tier 1 Wielders can do, huh?" I whispered to myself, a sense of awe dawning over me.

That's what I'd challenged on my first day at the Academy, back when I didn't even know how to access my Power... if I could reach through time, I'd slap the holy heck out of my younger self for being that cocky.

"They're not done yet," Rayka murmured quietly, a quick glance at her showing me that she was watching the combatants intently.

Even though she couldn't see what I could at that moment, I had the sense that she knew that something was coming.

Bracing her axe against the dark blue sphere— which, now that she was standing near it, I could see was twice as big as she was— Swati yelled her challenge, locking the spell in place and launching it towards Vaishnavi. As the spell activated, it shot through the air towards Vaishnavi, gathering all the moisture from around it as it flew, solidifying and growing into a sphere of ice that should honestly have been referred to as an "iceberg". As the iceberg grew in size, it warped the air around it, ripping the ground apart in its wake. It was fast.

Vaishnavi just stood there, seemingly waiting for it to hit her.

"What is she doing?!" I exclaimed, jumping to my feet as the iceberg drew closer to her.

By the sounds of the crowd around me, I wasn't the only one who shared the sentiment, the sounds of feet hitting the floor repeating all around me.

"Watch."

"Watch what?!" I exclaimed at the voice. "If that spell hits her while her Armor is that damaged, it might actually kill her!"

"Watch."

Groaning with fear and frustration, I turned my attention back to the battle, just in time to see Vaishnavi calmly settle into a ready stance. Left leg forward, right leg back, her left arm extended straight in front, right bent at the elbow, her sword perfectly parallel to the ground.

"What—"

Before I had the chance to finish that thought, she shifted her stance, bringing the right side of her body forward and thrusting at the gigantic ball of ice. As she brought its motion to a sudden rest, the ball shattered into a million shards, some of them bigger than her. If it hadn't been for the protective barrier, some of those shards would have crushed people in the stands.

Vaishnavi wasn't done.

She flowed forward through the wake of the iceberg, an Earth spell collecting all the stone and dirt around her, till she was at the center of a growing boulder that was headed right for Swati.

Swati just dropped to her knees, her arms hanging limply at her sides, her axe rolling out of her grasp. I didn't need to see her face to understand that she was tapped out, that last spell having used up all of her remaining Power.

She didn't even attempt to get out of the way as the boulder got closer to her, and you could hear the onlookers collectively take a sharp breath in, nobody quite knowing what to do. Just before she was crushed, the boulder imploded, debris flying all around as Vaishnavi emerged from within. Her Armor was completely repaired, and she looked like she hadn't even been in a battle, five elemental balls floating lazily in a circular formation in front of her.

I knew it was meant to be a display of strength, but I had to give her props for thinking of having small bits of dirt in her sphere of Air, just to highlight its existence.

"Do you yield?" her voice boomed out across the Training Room, as she came to a stop in front of Swati.

A barely perceptible nod was all Swati could manage, which was when Vaishnavi dismissed her elemental spheres, dropping to her knees to pull Swati into a hug. They seemed to have some sort of conversation as we looked on, confused. Swati just nodded again, which was when Vaishnavi helped her to her feet, supporting her and helping her stand tall.

"I, Vaishnavi Vashisthputri-Lanka have emerged victorious. Does anybody here challenge this?" she asked, clearly addressing the audience. I hadn't noticed it before, but there wasn't even a tremor in her voice; no sign of fatigue at all, really.

Silence met her question.

"I hereby claim the title of 'Agrayodhin' once again, as is my right!" she declared, thrusting a hand into the air.

She was met with an outcry of acceptance so loud, it was like being swallowed by a wall of sound.

"Swati Varunai was an honorable opponent, and has earned the faith and respect of your Agrayodhin! Show her what you think of her!"

Every single onlooker started thumping a foot against the ground, and I swiftly joined in. I surmised (correctly, as I would later learn) that this was their way of showing Swati their appreciation and respect.

The thumping synchronized as Swati and Vaishnavi made their way out of the room, the sound reverberating all around us.

"I can't even imagine having the amount of strength Vaishnavi has!" I screamed to Rayka, hoping she could hear me over the sound of thousands of Wielders stomping. A nod and a wide smile told me that she had.

That was when it struck me. Randal and Mathias were at least as powerful as Vaishnavi was, if not more. The three Deans were definitely more powerful, though none of them actively used magic any longer.

Deans aside, those were the people I had grown up with. The ones who had sworn to protect and guide me.

And there were Dark Wielders in the world who were stronger than even them. If I had any hope of keeping my promise to Rayka, my promise to protect the ones I loved, I had to grow stronger.

"Learn from titans, and perhaps you shall one day stand amongst them."

Chapter 24- Because I Love You

20^th March, 2017
11:46 a.m.
Training Room 378

Rayka artfully dodged her opponent's air blasts, tossing two daggers at him as she did. They sailed high, right towards his face, and as he used another Air spell to block them, she ran in close, dropping low to sweep his feet out from under him. As he fell, she used an Earth spell to encase his hands in smooth balls of stone, preventing him from reaching for more Media.

Given the chance, I'm sure he would have managed to shatter the stone with his augmented strength, but before he could even twitch, she'd impaled his arms with four more daggers and shattered both his femurs, ensuring that he couldn't move at all.

He was quick to tap out after that.

There was an odd finesse to the way she battled; a beauty in her brutality. She never caused more damage than absolutely necessary to incapacitate her opponent, and there wasn't a single wasted motion that I could spot.

I might have never sparred against her before, but getting the chance to watch some of her matches over the past week had given me a newfound sense of awe and respect for her, as a fighter. The second she stepped into the arena, gone was the loving, caring person I shared a life with. In there, she was a warrior who would do what it took to won, albeit while respecting her self-set boundaries.

She had swiftly, and decisively, won all fourteen of her previous matchups. If she kept that up, she'd make her way into the top fifty, and Vaishnavi's squad, within the week.

Surprisingly, right alongside myself.

After Swati and Vaishnavi's fight, I'd admittedly been nervous about making it through this next round of battles. I just knew that there would come a point when I was up against a Tier 3 Wielder who was stronger than me, or even a Tier 2 Wielder. Considering the difference in sheer strength and the fact that I didn't have a Companion, I was all but sure that I'd lose that fight.

I actually went looking for Swati that afternoon, but was informed that she'd left as soon as she was healed up. Vaishnavi seemed to have left for the day, too, but I actually hadn't seen either of them since then. Ronald wouldn't give me any details or tell me what was up, nor offer much in the way of advice on how to conduct myself moving forward, so I was forced to figure things out myself.

Honestly, I expected to wash out within a couple of days.

What I hadn't factored in, however, was how my Gifts would work together, and the sheer difference having the voice helping me along would make. IntelliPattern worked with Battle Sense to help me read my opponent's melee/physical moves and react accordingly. Aura Vision similarly (occasionally) helped me read their magical attacks.