Chapter Ten

Noah woke up just after sunrise and after his morning workout he had some time to think about if he would join that girl, Astrid, or not. After about an hour of thinking about it he consulted Primordious who said he should do what he feels is best.

When the clock turned to eight Noah had decided he would at least follow through to see Astrid. He got the coliseum thirty minutes later where she was outside standing around. “How long have you been out here?” Noah asked.

Astrid smiled when she saw him and said, “Since little after sunrise. Does this mean you will help me?”

“Sure I suppose, but if this is some sort of trick you will regret it sincerely.”

Astrid grabbed Noah by his hand tugging him along to the registration area saying, “You won’t regret this I promise.”

Noah signed up and they had just less than thirty minutes before the match where they waited together in the team waiting room; which was substantially larger than the normal waiting room. “So how do team matches work anyways?” Noah asked.

“Well they are just the same as normal matches but with more people, and you must destroy all your opponent’s pillars in order to win. In this case we only have two to destroy.”

When the time for the battle came Astrid was extremely nervous. Their opponents came out and were two women with dark hair who looked exactly identical; twins. Noah took notice that his and Astrid’s pillars were placed apart by about 50 yards same with the twins.

At the start of the battle Noah began gathering energy and kept his focus on the twins, but they only starred Astrid down. When the time came for everyone to start summoning Elementals the twins and Noah all summoned their defenders but Astrid, who was still gathering energy.

The twins summoned two gargoyles for defenders each and Noah had summoned his serpents and a wyvern; his standard defenses. Soon though the twins summoned each a shadow wyvern and two dread wolfs to their sides. Shadow wyverns had the same body type as storm wyverns except their scales were dark and their bodies were highly resilient to most forms of magic. The dread wolves had black fur and gleaming yellow eyes.

The twins sent their elementals straight for Astrid ignoring Noah altogether. Astrid had enough time to summon an archangel in magnificent golden light. The archangel was a large ten foot humanoid Elemental with a golden helm and golden armor covering most of its body. Its wings were white and had a small glow on the outline.

The archangel charged forth summoning a lance of pure light energy. It tore right through the dread wolves but the shadow wyverns danced around the archangel and continued after Astrid. The shadow wyverns were faster than the archangel and threatened to tear her apart.

Noah intervened combing his powers with his storm wyverns and throwing them up through the air away from Astrid. By the time they were able to reorient themselves Astrid’s archangel got to them with single thrust from its lance it pierced through both the wyverns and they disintegrated into shadows. Noah turned his attention back to the twins now that Astrid was safe, and he began gathering in energy preparing an attack.

The twins were furious at Noah and summoned four more dread wolves to come after him. His serpents combined a stream of lightning and destroyed the wolves when they got close enough, as Noah continued gathering energy. While the archangel charged after the twin across from Astrid.

Both the gargoyles rushed to meet the archangel and as soon as they did Noah shot forth a beam of energy that destroyed the pillar directly across from him. The archangel made quick work of the gargoyles and then with a few jabs from its lance destroyed the last pillar leaving Noah and Astrid the winners of that battle.

After the match Astrid ran up to Noah and gave him a big hug thanking him. “I would have been in serious trouble back there if not for you.”

Noah smiled and said, “Its fine your archangel is really powerful you would have pulled through.”

“It may be powerful but it wasn’t as fast as the wyverns or you, I think even if I ran the twins would have chased after me. Come on let’s go collect our winning and grab some lunch.”

The reward for team matches was almost three times that of normal ones and Noah was glad he chose to help Astrid. They went to a normal restaurant in the city ordering some chicken and bread and cheese with wine. Then they talked over their meal.

“So what brings you to Rozak city?” Astrid asked.

“The arena and coliseum really,” Noah said. “My old town didn’t have an arena and this place was closest.”

“Really, where did you live?”

“I grew up mostly in Rasoras south of here as an orphan. Until I hired a tutor to teach me magic then I went to the thunder plains to catch my elementals and came straight here afterwards and started entering the arena and coliseum. It’s my first year competing for the tournament or at all for that matter.”

Astrid just stared at him unbelievable, as if trying to decide if he was telling the truth or if she believed him. “This is really your first year competing? I thought you had been here for a while I mean you’re pretty talented. And you have some seriously strong Elementals.”

Noah’s thoughts went to Primordious, the one who gave him a lot of his knowledge of spells and in more subtle sense tactics. “Well I just have a good friend who taught me a lot. How about you, what brings you here?”

“Well in truth I was actually here with my boyfriend because he wanted to come here for whatever reason; in fact he was supposed to be my partner for today’s match until a couple nights ago I caught him cheating with this other girl who turned out to be the reason he wanted to come here in the first place. Apparently he had been cheating on me with her before and he would come here every summer to hook up with this girl.

“Anyways I still had the match and needed some money to pay for a boat ticket to take me across the ocean to Saeyune. And I still needed a partner for the match, but I didn’t know of anyone strong enough to help me until I saw you fighting. I was trying to find you after your match with the phoenix guy but you somehow disappeared; then luck would have it you stumbled into the tavern and I got a chance to ask for your help.”

“Wow that’s a mouthful. So, your boyfriend, are you two still together after all that?”

Astrid grinned and said, “No ironically he dumped me… and I beat him up.”

Noah laughed a little and asked, “Are you competing for the tournament this year too?”

“No, I actually only continued competing because my boyfriend, sorry ex-boyfriend wanted me to help him with team battles. At first it was exciting and fun, but I ended up carrying most of his weight and we never got too far. How about you what made you crazy enough to venture into the thunder plains and start competing with those awesome Elementals?”

Noah shrugged and said, “Well I wanted to forge a better life for myself. And strange as it may sound I want to be the best. And when I found out I had a high proficiency for thunder I went to the thunder plains thinking it makes sense I get elementals of my proficiency.”

“And you were planning on entering the grand tournament this year?”

“Yes, is there a problem with a beginner trying that?”

“No except since you started so late you might not make enough points to even be eligible in time. I mean summer is ending soon and you need at least, ten thousand ‘E.P’ to be eligible for the grand tournament; how many points do you have now?”

Noah took a moment to think about it and said, “Around three-hundred.”

Astrid sighed and said, “Well you’re never going to make in time fighting here. The tournament is hosted very early spring and restarts at the end of spring. Most people get their points through summer and parts of fall, but very few people compete during the winter.

“If you want to make it in time you should fight in a capitol. The arena is only open through the weekends and coliseum is open for five days straight at the beginning of each month but they offer the most points available for single fights or groups. The opponents will be far tougher, but if you schedule multiple fights a day you should be able to close that gap in time for winter and then you will only need a few more fights to get those last points.

“Otherwise I am sorry to say better luck next year.”

After lunch Astrid said, “I am actually going to the capitol Liandale; the port is just south of there. You should join me; it will give us more time together and you can compete in the arena and coliseums there.”

“Mind if I rest on all of this?”

“I wouldn’t have you rushing into this so yes. But I will be leaving first thing tomorrow morning so meet me on the western outskirts of the city if you want to join me alright?”

Noah agreed to this and Astrid kissed him on the cheek and they went their own ways. He returned to the privacy of his room at the inn so he could talk this over with Primordious.

“I do not know, the capitols are very far away from the thunder plains and I must be returning there to get a new ever life stone soon.”

“Well you heard her didn’t you? If we want to make it to the grand tournament this year we will need to fight in the capitol to make enough points.”

Primordious took a few minutes to think about it then said, “Perhaps this is another workings of destiny, alright then but I must fly to the thunder plains tonight to acquire more stones for our journey. And from here on out in the fights I want you to carry a stone of ever life with you in every match so you can summon the elementals faster and then use the stone to regain your stamina and continue fighting.”

“I don’t know that seems almost like cheating. I don’t want to have to rely on that stone to win.”

“It is that way or no way, I’m sorry Noah but we are going to need every advantage we can get.”

Reluctantly Noah agreed to this and when night fell, Primordious took the stone with him and sped off south so fast Noah hardly saw him. Then he went back to his room and went to sleep. He woke up before sunrise and met Primordious just outside the inn. He had brought with him several more stones of ever life which Noah placed in his bag. Then Noah ate some breakfast, did his morning workout, and went to the western outskirts of the city to meet with Astrid.

He arrived shortly after she did and she was both excited and happy he was joining her. She summoned a couple of griffons and they spent half a day flying at great speed to the west until it was time to break for food. Then they were off again enjoying the sights from high above until night started to fall and they made camp.

Over dinner Noah asked, “So why are you going to Saeyune?”

“Well as I said before I was only competing in the tournament because my ex but now that that’s through I am going back to the clothing shop with my sister. We have our own small business in Veleron Capital.”

“That sounds nice.”

“It’s nothing too fancy but it’s simple, pays the bills and my sister and I have a fair talent for tailoring and fashion.”

Their journey to Liandale took six weeks but neither of them minded. They both enjoyed each other’s company. When the nights were warm enough they would put out the fire and stare at the stars until they fell asleep. And the times when the griffons needed rest Noah summoned his wyverns to fly them.

The capitol of Liandale was very large and filled with cheerful citizens and life. Astrid and Noah spent one last day together touring around the capitol until she had to go south to the port. She kissed him on the lips before partying ways and told him to come visit her at her shop sometime after the tournament.

Noah later got a room at a fair inn and as soon as the arena was open he signed up for nine fights over the weekend. This would not be easy, but then again nothing in his life ever was.