A Journey of Reiki
Chapter Eight

-Sybis-

The day finally arrived, and my stomach dropped.

I had ridden that morning knowing I would arrive at Hyren today. Knowing I would face off in a fight for my life tomorrow. Knowing I may die in the next twenty-four hours. I knew this.

And I didn’t like it one bit.

I continued onward, and I tried listing off all the good things that had happened on the trip to ease my tension. I had finally gotten the hang of riding a horse and could even hold on with one hand now. I had managed to expand my magic past what it was before, a new ace in my sleeve. I had gotten stronger through all of my practice.

And I was doing the right thing.

That one thought alone kept me going. Whereas everything else simply wasn’t worth it, this was. One way or another I was going to get stronger. Either I would win this Trial, or I would die trying. I thought this would secure my choice, but the thought of dying was impossible to bear. I simply couldn’t imagine not living anymore, and the very idea of it was inconceivable. I gripped the handle of my sword nervously, my knuckles turning white.

Hyren came into view, at last, a large city with walls around it, and a large structure that could be seen above the walls in a circular formation caught my eye. Something told me that this was the arena I would be fighting in very soon, and that did nothing to ease the tension forming in my gut. I’d fought in battles before, and fought for reasons worse than what I currently had, but this was the first time the possibility of death was as high as it was. That truly scared me most of all. I could accept it, but I didn’t wish it upon myself.

I shot the thoughts out of my head, moving forward was all I needed to do now, the fight would come when it came, until then, no sense wasting brain space worrying about it. It would solve itself until then.

I took another step towards the gates, and then another, followed by one more before I found myself in front of them, and the guards stopped me, the portcullis drawn.

“Halt.” He stuck out his hand and I brought my horse to a stop, waiting patiently. The guard lazily stepped forward and checked my bags, not being too invading but doing his job thoroughly enough. Once he had cleared me, he waved me aside and I entered Hyren, my stomach doing flips in itself.

The first thing that surprised me was the clear diversity. T’uuk was very Elven, only Elves and a select few other races resided there, but here I could spot at least ten from the entrance, and I was sure more were inside.

The town was far more crowded, the streets were full of people and each side of the street full of buildings, little room between them. Every square inch was utilized for something, and that was far different from T’uuk, where open space resided through most of the land. I could see the large building better now and looking at it from close-up I knew it was an arena, the seats inside easily seen made to fit thousands of people. I swallowed, but carried onward, letting myself continue.

I realized I was senselessly wandering about ten minutes after, with no clear destination in mind, and I realized I was probably supposed to go somewhere to declare myself a Champion, but I didn’t know where specifically. I stopped a random citizen, hoping he would be willing to help me. The Dragonborn I stopped didn’t look too pleased, but I had already stopped him, I figured I might as well waste no more of his time.

“I’m sorry sir, I’m a Champion for the Trials, but I’m not sure where to go...” He waved me away.

“Head to the Champion Hall, you’ll replace it beside the arena, now leave me be.” With that, he walked past me, determined to get wherever he was headed to. I sighed, turning my horse to face the arena, and made my way over to it.

It only took a moment, ten or fifteen minutes of weaving through the crowd before I made it there, and as I approached, I began to notice the building beside it, it was large and grandiose, and it reminded me of Eliseia’s home, which brought a new tide of emotions.

Over the last few weeks I had thought of her a lot, more than I even thought about the Trials. I had kissed her on the cheek before I left, that was something I would eventually have to deal with if I made it out alive, I had to recognize that. But I also realized that I wasn’t sure why I kissed Eliseia, because I simply wasn’t hers. But I wished I was, I supposed, tying off my thoughts back onto what I needed to do.

If I lived to see this through, she would probably kill me for kissing her. And then Belrae would kill me for doing this in the first place. It seemed everything wanted to kill me lately, but then again, I brought it upon myself, so I was simply reaping what I sowed.

I approached the Champions building and saw a training yard on the side of it, occupied by a large number of fighters of all shapes and sizes and techniques, and by the look of them, they were training as if their life depended on it. If they were fellow Champions, it probably did.

I rode to the stables on the other end, where fifteen other horses sat pinned up, three spots open. I trotted into one, bringing my mare to a stop, hopping off. I tied her up and looked around, the other horses looking far more noble than mine. I sighed, patting my mare.

“You’re good enough for me, that’s all that matters in my eyes girl.” It neighed, seeming to appreciate my words and began drinking from a water bucket laid in the stables, ready for her. I noted my horse was being taken care of and walked out of the stables, headed towards the entrance of the Champion’s building--or what I hoped to be the Champion’s building--whistling a merry tune in the hopes it quelled my nerves. The building was grand on the outside, intricate trim with artwork detailing the stone and gargoyles and other statues adorning the pillars on the sides and in front of the door, holding the balcony above up. The double doors seemed very uninviting, the sheer feeling of power residing around the building was enough to want to walk away. It was more of a sense than a feeling, the air getting a little thicker, every movement a little more difficult. It did nothing to ease my tension.

“Alright Sybis, get it together. You’re a Champion, you need to act like one.” I hyped myself up once more, repeating the line, and entered the building.

The inside was surprisingly bland. The door opened into a large open room, a large staircase in the center of the room led to the second floor where I could see rooms through the balcony railings. A few people shuffled from place to place, some in pajamas and others in full armor.

A breakfast stand could be seen from around the staircase, where I assumed a kitchen was. Someone noticed me, another Champion I assumed, and walked over. She was a little over five feet, from what I could tell she was a mix, but mainly human and some sort of elf. Her brown hair tied back in a battle braid, she had the look of a warrior, and her deep brown eyes held danger.

“Are you the missing Champion?” I nodded, grabbing the letter and showing her. She held up her hands. “I don’t need it, speak to Herrek, he’s in the back. He’s been looking for you.” I nodded.

“I’m Sybis, Sybis Glacia.” I offered her a hand, but she ignored it.

“Just a tip, new guy, don’t grow attached.” She turned and walked away from me, back up the stairs. “Only one person walks out of this.” My stomach dropped, and I sighed. No sense making acquaintances.

I walked past the stairs, admiring the chandeliers that hung above me. I hadn’t seen grandeur this well in quite a few years, and even then it wasn’t to this degree.

I was right about the kitchen, inside an entire buffet was ready to be consumed and Champions all lined up to fill their plates. I observed them from afar and saw a diversity, and noted a few I hoped I wouldn’t have to fight in the end. I saw a man at a table with a quill and inkpot out, scratching something down on parchment. I assumed this was Herrek and walked over to him. I let him finish his sentence before speaking.

“Hello, I’m a Champion for the Trials.” He looked up at me, his old skin sagged, his jowls quivering as he smoothed back his wispy hair. He shook his head.

“I have all my Champions besides Belrae Anhan.” He dismissed me, but I raised the letter.

“I ride as her Champion.” He stopped again and looked at me. He snatched the letter, opened it up and began to read. After he had finished he shrugged.

“Seems good enough. Sign here.” He spun the parchment he was writing on and handed me the quill. I took it, signed in a free space and handed the quill back to him. “Your room is number twenty. I’ll expect you here tomorrow morning at six sharp, and no sooner. Am I clear?” I nodded, wanting to get away from him as quickly as possible. He was annoying beyond belief.

“Yes, sir.” He waved me away.

“Begone then, I shall see you here tomorrow.” With that, he completely ignored my existence, and I left him, keeping my mouth shut. I headed up the stairs, looking for room twenty when I spotted it on the far end of the left hallway. I headed down the hall, opening the door into my room. It was casual, a dresser, nightstand, bed, window, and place for my weapons and bags all beheld me, and I enjoyed the cleanliness and simplicity of it, a contrast to the building itself. I shut the door behind me and walked to the window, looking out.

Watching people move about their day-to-day lives made me wonder about my own. I came into T’uuk a little over two months ago, intending to grow stronger.

I had nothing else on my mind but that singular goal, that one point in my life I had always felt secure with. I was never the person to get involved with others, but I quickly realized I would never achieve my goal without other people. I expanded, but now I grew too attached. I respected Belrae as my mentor, and on top of that, as a person. I couldn’t begin to explain the feelings I had for Eliseia, I couldn’t completely figure them out if I wanted to, but kissing her felt right. Though maybe not the smartest choice I could’ve made, I came into this believing death was likely happening, so if I were to never return...

I shook my head, lodging the thoughts out of my head. A negative mindset wouldn’t do anything but hurt me in the end. I was capable, I needed to recognize that. My own abilities were the only thing that would be with me in the arena, and in the end, it would be what either saves me or dooms me.

I pressed my head to the window, sighing deeply. How did I end up here? I did it because I didn’t want Belrae to, but what drove me all the way here? The obligation of friendship. She helped me replace magic, discover my Reiki, and deep down I felt I owed her it. I could see how much she despised the Trials, and something told me this was what I needed to do. I could only imagine the punishment if I survived, but I would still have someone to teach me. Had she died in the Trials, I would be back to the day I arrived in T’uuk, masterless, and with nobody to guide me.

I stepped back, taking off my armor and weapon, setting it all in a heap on my well-made bed. I set my ring with the pile and shivered at the sudden change in temperature from a constant warm to chilly, but not cold. I took off my shirt, rummaging through the drawers until I found a shirt that fit, and a pair of pants as well, changing my clothes to something clean and refreshing.

I set my shirt aside and looked for a washbasin, which I found in a small room adjoined to my bedroom. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but I was ok with that. I grabbed the cloth and began to scrub myself, getting rid of the sweat and grime from my journey, and found a soap that smelled like lemons and used that to wash my hair and body again, giving me a pleasant scent. I heard the door open to my room, and turned, wishing I had my sword on me. Though I knew the intruder most likely didn’t mean any harm to me, nobody had shown me any kindness yet and I wasn’t about to expect any. I was a Champion, and I wasn’t well-liked from the way everyone spoke to me so far.

I edged around the doorway, peering in, and saw the small girl from before. Her brown braid and unremarkable height gave her away. I stepped into the room, waiting for her to notice me. She didn’t at first and seemed to be looking at my armor. After a moment, I decided to speak. She didn’t jump or even react to the sound of my voice.

“You know, where I come from, knocking is considered polite.” She snorted.

“And where is it you come from, Champion?” She ran her hand along with the trim of my armor, feeling the metal. I decided whether I wanted to answer her truthfully or lie, and felt no reason to lie.

“I was born in a kingdom far from here, but I ride from T’uuk, I am the Champion for Belrae Anhan.” She nodded, moving her hand down to my scabbard, running her fingers across the intricate lines around my hilt.

“You have large boots to fill, Champion.”

“What do you mean?”

“Belrae did quite well, considering she is still alive, she did her best. It doesn’t seem like her to pick a Champion, but people can change a lot in a year.” I let her believe that simply because I didn’t want any suspicion.

“That they do. Do you have a name?” She turned to me finally, looking me in the eyes with a flat look.

“Do you?” I supposed that was fair.

“Sybis Glacia.”

“Leonella Toveko.” I had never heard a name such as hers before.

“Toveko? What clan is that from?” She looked perplexed for a moment.

“Clan?” I realized my mistake. We didn’t call them ‘families’ but ‘clans’ back where I came from.

“Sorry, what family is that?” She shrugged.

“We’re not well known, a granary family from the south, nothing special to our name.”

“And yet here you are, a Champion.” She nods.

“And yet here you are, a Champion as well.” I couldn’t help but smirk at her ease of arrogance, but it wasn’t the hateful kind of ignorance and spite, simply an equal amount as I was giving her.

“You’re interesting, Leonella.” She shrugged, walking around my room.

“As are you, Sybis. A stranger name than mine.” I sighed.

“I can’t lie, my family was weird.” She snorted again. I looked at her, taking her in. She was muscular, but not overly so, I could overpower her if necessary but she wouldn’t make it easy on me. She had a strange build, her forearms were stronger than her biceps, she did a lot of stabbing, not as much slashing, which was rare. Did she use a spear? Or maybe a rapier. Her other arm was equally as strong, in the same places. She didn’t use a shield. I realized she was observing me in the same way, looking at me casually.

“You done?” I felt my cheeks burn for a moment, before looking away from her.

“My apologies.” She smiled.

“It’s alright, you have the will to survive, understandable enough.” I nodded, not knowing what to say.

“So why is it you’re in my room, Leonella?” She shrugged.

“I’m learning you,” She met my eyes carefully, and the seriousness of her words stunned me. “So I can kill you more efficiently.” I truly had no response to her blunt words. She turned away from my room, walking back to my door and opening it. “I’ll see you in the arena, Sybis.” She gave me a small salute with two fingers and closed the door behind her. I just stared at the door for a few moments, not really knowing what to think of the encounter, letting it settle in my head. I turned back, finished cleaning myself up, and dressed, taking a seat by my bed.

“So much I wish I could learn before tomorrow.” It was still relatively early, not quite noon, and I had the entire day to prepare. I cleared off my bed, setting my heap of stuff in a pile resembling something close to neat beside my nightstand. I crossed my legs and cleared my mind to the best of my ability, and focused on my Reiki.

The pool of power I had tapped only a month prior had grown significantly from the first day, quintupling in that time. But it might not be enough. I knew I could cast a few heavy spells before feeling weak, but I would need to remain in top condition for the fight, so I only had one or two heavy spells to my name. I could use a little magic at a time to propel my attack, but I wasn’t sure, I had to test it.

In theory, it would be the opposite of my exercise. Instead of holding myself back, I would be propelling myself forward, increasing the power of my attack. If it took the same amount of Reiki as the reverse of that, I could boost myself for at least a half an hour, but combined with the energy from battle, I gave it ten minutes to work with, give or take. I didn’t know exactly how the battle would be, whether it was a mass-fight, or a one-on-one duel, or something in between. I would need more information. If it was one-on-one, I might have time to rest and relax, and gain back a little bit of Reiki in between matches, but if not, I’d have to ration it well in hopes that I didn’t grow too tired to continue, succumbing to inevitable death. I couldn’t take that risk.

If I wanted to win this, I needed to collect everything I could, and use it to the best of my ability. First, I needed something to boost my power, anything that may help, I didn’t have anything and I didn’t have the money to buy anything like a focus, so my only choice was to conserve my power in the fight and think of new ways to use it.

But first: Information. I needed more information on the arena and the fight itself. Time to replace someone who knows.

I headed downstairs, looking for Leonella. It wasn’t hard to replace her, she was seated in the kitchen eating a muffin of some sort with a blank look on her face, lost in thought. I sat in the chair across from her, and she snapped back into focus and looked at me.

“Hello, Sybis.”

“Leonella. I had a few questions regarding the Trial if you don’t mind answering a few.” She set her muffin down and clasped her hands, letting me continue. “Firstly, how does the fight work? Is it a large-scale fight, or duels?” Her eyes narrowed.

“Did Belrae not tell you anything before she sent you off to your death?” I ignored her.

“Are you going to answer my question, or not?” She rolled her eyes.

“Duels, based on population. Every town has a champion, and the champions are ranked in order of how large the town they represent are. For instance, Hyren’s champion is always in the first round. In this case, he’ll be fighting you.”

“Why me?”

“You are the returning Champion.” I was perplexed for a moment but figured it out.

“I see. Because I fight for Belrae, I am treated as the former Champion.” She nods.

“After your fight, the winner will watch as the other towns fight each other according to population, and thus a winners bracket will be formed. The winner of the first fight will fight the next highest population Champion, and so on and so forth until only one person remains.” I nodded, thinking it over. A duel was much easier than a large fight, where people could team up or group on one Champion. A duel was about as fair as this Trial could get. I still had questions.

“What happens if a duel ends with both the Champions dead?” She shrugged.

“Both are removed from the bracket, I guess. It rarely ever happens.”

“Is magic allowed?”

“Of course.”

“Are we allowed to use our own weapons, or must we use weapons provided to us?”

“We are allowed our own.”

“Any rules to the Trial?” She snorted.

“Kill your opponent. No mercy allowed.” I nodded, scratching my chin. I would need to shave soon. Trivial things always seemed to appear in times of crisis.

“What happens to the winner?”

“Firstly, their town is granted a large sum of money, as are they. They are given a title and a robe, signifying them as Champion. As well as this, they are required to fight in the next Trial, unless, like you, they call upon another as Champion.” It seemed pretty straight-forward, which was what made me doubt it so much.

“I remember Belrae told me that no Champion has ever won twice... except for one. Why is that?”

“Because all the Champions watch these games typically, and the returning Champion rarely learns a complete set of new tricks. Hyren’s Champion always, always fights the returning Champion first, and the city of Hyren makes sure they know every move they have, so they can prepare and counter it. It’s quite unfair, and that’s why the Council hates when Champions call upon another to fight for them, why they’re so serious about getting the victor themselves.”

“That should be against the rules.” It was a dumb statement, but I didn’t catch it before it left my mouth.

“True, but I don’t make the rules, I just fight.” She sat up suddenly, finishing her muffin. She rubbed her palms together and walked away. “Good luck, Sybis.” I nodded, watching her walk away. She had answered most of the questions I needed, but I felt I would be here all day if I were to ask all the questions I had.

I sat up, leaving the empty kitchen behind as I walked back upstairs, determined to get some sleep before the fight. I had done all I could to prepare, now I just needed to hope and pray that everything went right.