A Journey of Reiki
Chapter Ten

-Sybis-

Everything was a haze. The victory announcement. The walk out of the arena. The crowd’s calling. Everything was blank to me, lifeless. I had killed an innocent man. An innocent man who wanted to kill me, surely, but an innocent man nonetheless.

But I had won, isn’t that all that mattered? All that should’ve mattered? By my calculations, I had secured a spot at the finals. The next matches would tell me who my last fight would be, and then everything would be over. Everything would be better.

Or of course, it wouldn’t be.

Leonella met me at the doors and helped me to my seat, the one I had taken before. She brought me an apple.

She didn’t speak, only stayed around me, and the presence was comforting. I didn’t feel like talking. I ate the apple, but only because the motion of eating was familiar and distracted me from the dark thoughts creeping through my mind. The thought of slitting his throat reappearing over and over again.

At some point, I fell asleep, and at some point, Leonella woke me up.

“Time for the final fight.” At first, I was still drowsy, many hours had passed I could tell, at some point I think I fell asleep but again I wasn’t sure I was groggy. But then clarity hit. I knew. She knew.

“Let’s get this over with then, shall we?” She helped me to my feet and we walked to Herrek, who nodded in silence, leading us out. Nobody was left. No Champion to look at us. No noise, no clapping. Until we went outside, and the ever-growing crowd of people cheered, roared, screamed out names and titles and who they wanted to win and that they loved us. And not a single damn word met a thing to me.

Their love meant nothing.

I looked at Leonella, her small frame beside me. I was covered in blood, I looked like a mess, but she had nothing on her. An efficient killer. Little tricks wouldn’t work with her. I noticed she had a spear on her back, and I prided my guess from earlier for being right. She looked up at me, and our eyes met. No fear. I was afraid. I don’t think she was ever afraid.

But respect, understanding. That’s what showed in those eyes of hers.

“I wish you the best of luck, Sybis Glacia of T’uuk.”

“I wish you the same, Leonella--” A voice split the energy between us.

“Champions, take to the sands.” We both looked up and realized we had long before stepped under the alleyway entrance, the crowds gone, only us underneath the darkness, Herrek urging us for more senseless killing. We walked out, the late afternoon sun taking its walk down the horizon, heading to its bed for the remainder of the evening and night.

We faced each other. I had done this before. It felt familiar yet alien to me. Leonella was the only person I had grown somewhat attached to in the last day. She was the only Champion that ever spoke to me. She helped me with the rules, helped me to understand when she didn’t have to. Not even a little bit. In fact her helping me allowed me to get this far, which now put her life in danger. She probably already knew this.

And now my sense of self-preservation wanted me to kill her because being killed was simply not an option. I had a goal, and I have not finished it yet. I couldn’t, wouldn’t stop until I completed that goal. But that meant I had to win, and winning meant I had to kill Leonella.

I looked up into the sky, the stands of people who chanted our name. I looked at the twirling clouds as a breeze floated past me, shifting my hair slightly. I looked up, way up, so that my vision was nothing but darkened blue. No stands, no people, no shouting. I cleared my mind.

I stood, looking at the skies as Jillian bandaged my leg. She had won our fight once again, making it an astonishing twenty-three to two. She was born for this, her elven nature making her way too quick for my halfling speed. The clouds disappeared in and out of my sight, a tree stood above me where I lay, blocking life from view.

“You sure you’re ok, Sy?” Jillian’s forest green eyes looked worried, her golden blond hair blowing gently in the wind.

“Yeah, I’ve gotten worse.” I offered her a reassuring smile.

“You may have taken worse to the head, but we all know that’s thicker than Hitatsu’s hide.”

“Who’s Hitatsu, Jill?”

“She’s the Dragoness of bonding and mating.”

“You always talk about her, why?”

“Because one day I hope to replace someone who makes me happy.”

“Like who?” She looked at me for a second before shrugging.

“I don’t know them yet.”

“How will you know?” She leaned back, sitting on her haunches. Her eyes shifted back and forth across the plains, leading away to the surrounding ocean.

“You just do.”

“Fight!” Leonella dashed into action, drawing her spear and twirling it, twisting it in a fashion that looked like she was throwing something from the end of it at me. I snapped back into focus.

An ice spike, three feet in length and thin as a knife hurled towards me. Out of reflex, I pushed it away with my wind, but it still almost hit me.

A sharp pain sheared through my cheek, and I felt the cut across it coming clean with blood. I drew my sword, the weight feeling familiar and trusting in my hands.

“I don’t want to do this Leonella!” I shouted across the bit, throwing a bit of magic in response. I had done so much preserving of Reiki in the first two rounds that I had plenty to spare in the final match. I hope she hadn’t done the same. She laughed.

“At this point, it doesn’t matter what we want, Sybis!” She blocked my wind with a shield of ice, the slice noticeable against the blue contrast.

She returned fire with a stomp that hurled dozens of icicles at me. I panicked, forcing too much Reiki into a counter that spread them wide around me, a burst of wind that had less control and more reaction. I grinned. If I was going to die, it would be going out with a blast.

I tried doing the same, but with wind, minus the stomping. I thought of a spike of sharpened wind more of a tunnel for simplicity’s sake. I was on the run, my armor slowing me down, but it was worthwhile to have it.

I formed the image, gathered my Reiki. The huge hit I just used to defend her sudden attack was wearing on my system. I needed to conserve, attack but conserve. I released my idea, and the tunnel of sharpened wind flung forward, pushing the sand under it out of the way as it sailed towards Leonella, and she raised her shield again. This time, it didn’t just graze the surface but penetrated the shield entirely.

I heard a groan, and when the shield went down I saw the wound on her side, and a cut on her arm where the attack went through. I smiled at myself, it was another spell I could keep track of.

“We always have a choice, Leonella!” She laughed a true laugh. What did she have to lose but her life?

“I suppose you are right, Sybis!” She cast another elongated ice-shaft at me. She didn’t calculate my speed and missed me completely.

“You’re getting sloppy Leo~” I don’t know what urged me, but something made me give up from caring and just speak what came to mind. I could die in this, why bother about filters?

“Leo?” She questioned, sending another stream of ice. I could tell she was running low on energy, her ice was lessening in speed and amount, the strength and vigor behind them lessening. “When did you decide on that nickname?” She began edging closer, fifty feet turned into thirty feet.

“Well, it’s easier to say than Leonell--” She sent another blast of ice, this one stronger than the others and it caught me off-guard. Most of the ice shattered on my armor or missed me completely, but a few found their way in between my protective plating.

It was a hot flash, followed by a freezing chill all over my body. I fell to a knee, took in a gasping breath, and ripped them out. My blood covered the tip, and pain flooded my body. She took my downfall as a turning point and charged me, her spear ready.

She swung the razor-sharp edge toward my unarmored head and I barely got my sword up in time. It took all of my strength to keep her spear at bay, and I needed to act fast, my guard wouldn’t last long.

“Sorry, Leo.” I leaned my head forward and latched my teeth onto her exposed forearm, biting down with venom. She screamed and frantically spasmed to get me off her. As soon as her attack was broken I let go and rolled away.

“Damn that hurts!” She shouted, lifting her hand toward me. A flash of green and an ice chunk hit me point-blank in the chest. Thankfully my armor stopped the worst of it, but what did hit me was the solid momentum of a fifty-pound block of ice hitting me at a five-foot distance.

I was sent sprawling, and before I could get up a hot stabbing pain exploded in my side and I let out a scream of raw pain. I looked over my shoulder and saw Leonella holding the shaft of her spear, which currently penetrated my hip. Tears came to my eyes as I kicked at her, hoping to replace a purchase. I did, her leg coming out from under her.

Her sudden movement jerked the spear out of my body, which caused another blinding flash of pain to course through my abdomen.

I grabbed her fallen form, took her fallen spear and used my weight advantage to get rid of it, throwing it away and using a blast of wind to send it flying into the sands, the crowd absolutely silent.

She struggled under me, but I got a hand under her arm and pinned it to the ground. Her legs and other arm fought me but I refused to let up.

“This is not the way I’m going out!” She shouted suddenly, and for the first time in my life, I felt a cold explosion underneath me.

Ice showered everywhere, and my body was sent upward with such sudden force that I watched my own blood fall under me. It wasn’t a long fall, but a fast fall. I landed on my stomach, the air rushed out of me. The force of my fall forced my armor into my chest, and I felt a sickening crack, a broken rib. I rolled over, groaning.

The arena was beyond silent as my vision flicked in and out of reality. Everything hurts. The multiple stabs, the burns, and broken bones and bruises were getting to me. I hit my head hard on my fall, and red and black spots formed at the edges of my sight. I fought to stay in control, to stay awake, but my own strength failed.

It was her strength that saved me.

“Sybis!” a voice screamed over the silence of the arena, “if you don’t get up right this instant I’m going to kill you!”

Her voice was clear and recognizable. it wasn’t Leonella. It was higher, more feminine.

I blinked my eyes clear and looked at the stands, and looked right into the face of Belrae, who stood leaning over the railing, her fist clenching the bars. “Get up now!” She slammed her hand into the metal, and in horror I watched it warp. Something in her words got me to move. I leaned up and noticed Leonella let me, wanting a fair fight. I respected her more for that, she could’ve just killed me while I was down.

It took a great deal of time to rise again, my head pounding and my body aching and requesting me just stop, to just give in.

“That a friend of yours?” Leonella asked, readying herself as I picked up my sword again. I nodded and then shrugged.

“She’s the one I rode for.” She looked back at Belrae and squinted.

“Well if it isn’t Belrae herself. You have some steel to ride for her, I never got the chance to tell you.” I smirked.

“Far from brave, I’d call it stupid.” She changed the grip on her spear, back and forth. I noticed for the first time that she had recovered it from where I had launched it moments before. I must’ve been down longer than I thought.

“You made it this far,” She shrugged. “Something to be proud of.” I smiled this time, a small patch of warm light entering the pain of my body and easing a little of it. Belrae’s voice was in my head again, echoing across the sands.

“I didn’t train you to lose Sybis, don’t you dare die for me!” I spit blood up, and nodded towards Belrae, looking at Leonella.

“You heard the lady. I can’t lose.” She grabbed her spear tighter, laughed and bobbed a shoulder, planting her feet and grabbing her spear with both hands.

“Sadly I cannot either. We will see whose cause is stronger.” She wasted no more time speaking, rushing forward and swinging her staff again, determined to drop me this time. No time sat on the line, no escape but death. I blocked her blow, but the strength behind it was cumbersome, and I knew this was the endgame, no more playing, no more banter. Her expression carried my thoughts further, her smile was gone. This was the Leonella that wanted to win.

I disengaged from her guard and kicked at her, causing her to back away. I lashed out with a slash of wind, and a cut appeared on her leg but nothing more.

Before she could send any more magic I slashed at her hand, getting a knick in but nothing major.

She stabbed me, getting an inch of steel in my thigh before retreating to a safer distance, avoiding my counter completely. I grunted but kept moving.

I jumped off my good leg and slashed down, she checked my attack and pushed me back, throwing me off-balance. I let my fall turn into a roll, throwing a wind-spike at her. She didn’t expect it again, falling for its clutches as it ripped into her upper arm, it fell useless beside her. She growled teeth bared as she tossed her spear to the side, running after me. She produced a sword of ice and slashed at me. I hoped it would break as I blocked it, but no luck. She pressed against my guard, hoping to break it, but I was stronger with my two working arms. She knew it, but for some reason continued to fight against me.

“Why do you fight?”

“I cannot lose!” She pressed off me, but I kept on her, stepping forward as she did to keep the guard up, forcing her to expend energy.

I let one hand fall to the side and send a tunnel of wind directly into her leg, and as it ripped through her she fell, screaming, tears forming in her eyes. She kept fighting, kept her guard up. Kept pressing onward. I drove her down, pushing her against the ground.

I was surprised when I felt her hand touch my hip, where her spear had gone through and even more shocked when she summoned a spike of ice inside of my hip.

Blood exploded from my mouth, covering her face as I loomed over her. She looked away quickly but yelped as the blood stung her eyes.

My legs gave out from under me, the cold spreading to my spine and legs. I fell awkwardly onto Leonella, holding each other up with an unspoken restraint.

I smiled, and by the look of her face, it wasn’t pretty with the blood and all.

And then I stabbed her right in the chest, pushing my blade clean through her armor.

Her face slackened, her eyes on me.

“You...you...” I nodded.

“I have won.” Her eyes rolled up, and the feeling in my lower body went away, being replaced with another burning pain to add to the collection. She seemed to be looking at the sky. A stream of blood slowly trickled out of her mouth, spilling down her chin and neck. Her eyes were a soft brown in this light, and my heart sank. I had killed her, Trials or not, I had been her undoing. I would never learn why she joined the fight, or what she had to lose.

“Thank you... Sybis...” She whispered, her voice choked with blood and tears, which now channeled down her face, mingling with her crimson life force. I didn’t know what to say to that.

“For what, Leonella?” She smiled but looked pained as she did it.

“For freeing me, and sending me to the next big adventure, that is what.” She looked away from the sky and back in my eyes. Before I could even respond the light went out of her.

I won. The only thing that ensued next was darkness, me succumbing to my many wounds. It felt nice, almost as good as waking up after a long sleep. The sheer relief I felt in my body as I passed into the void was rewarding enough. If I were to never wake up again, I would at least have gone out the one way I hoped I would.

Peacefully.