The Crown Tournament 2 [Chapters 1-5] (Patreon)

Hey peeps!

Here is the start to "The Crown Tournament 2." Ryan and I were very excited for this outline because it has a lot of fights and fun twists!

CHAPTER ONE

We were finally looking like a team.

After the hard-fought preliminary rounds of the Crown Tournament, where we had managed to earn three crown pieces, we were now in the prefecture bouts. These would be way harder battles, since only contestants who had fought their way here were allowed to compete.

These were serious fights, and that was why we needed to diversify our tactics and skills.

“Alright, Amir,” Sage said. “Let’s try the feint you were talking about!” The tanuki arcanist was practically bouncing up and down with excitement, her long black hair waving excitedly in the wind. Sage was a full head shorter than me, but had a sturdy build with very strong legs. In fights, she was good at using push kicks and sudden dodges to keep opponents off-balance.

I brought my right arm back, just like I did whenever I evoked Wren’s flames. The arcanist mark on my forehead practically burned as red-hot magic flowed through me.

But when I brought my hand forward, I carefully made sure that nothing happened. I kept the crackling flames within me.

Instead, Sage created an illusory pillar of flame that surged forward. As a tanuki arcanist, Sage could evoke illusions, which was extremely key to our new tactics.

Sage’s fake flames surged forward low to the ground, aimed towards the imaginary opponent’s legs.

Picturing our opponent in my mind, I brought my left arm forward, finally unleashing my own evocation. The pillar of flame exploded from my palm, hitting our imaginary opponent dead in the chest.

“Great work, my arcanist!” Wren cried. “That would have knocked our opponents out of the ring for sure!”

The swaggering syrocko drake had grown quite a bit since the start of our adventures. Back when I first bonded with him, Wren was small enough for me to carry him. Now he was a scaly crimson-scaled reptile about the size of a small bear with spiked black scales all around his body. Soon, he’d tower over me, just like how Hyperion loomed over Master Elias. At full size, syrocko drakes grew to the size of a house.

“It was quite good, if I say so myself,” Kenji chirped. “This is a very smart use of our illusions, if I say so myself. Nice thinking, Amir!”

Sage’s tanuki partner looked like a pudgy racoon standing on two legs. He scratched his chin thoughtfully with his human-like hands and his eyes danced with mischief.

“Well, actually, there was one problem,” Wren pointed out. “My flames are bigger than Kenji’s illusions, especially since I have Roux’s kirin magic. Any way you can make it bigger?”

“Well, us tanuki are more tricksters than fighters,” Sage explained. “Kenji and I can only evoke minor illusions. The maximum size is about six feet or so. And I can’t copy living things, either. So I’m doing the best I can. Will that be alright?” She bit her lip nervously.

“It’s fine,” I said. “That’s why I wanted you to aim in a low cone at the ground. The size doesn’t matter as much so long as it gets them off their feet. And in a real fight, it’s not like I always evoke flames at full power anyways.”

Sage’s nodded, her shoulders sagging with relief.

However, I still saw her thoughtfully moving her hands around to prepare the perfect range of her next illusion. Because of her nervousness and inexperience, Sage didn’t always show it in battle, but she was thoughtful, studious, and diligent. If there was a chance to improve, she’d take it, no matter how minor.

“Your leadership has grown, partner. You wouldn’t have known how to use a teammate like Sage in the past. You were always a bit too straightforward…not nearly tricky enough,” my other eldrin, Roux, added telepathically. My kirin eldrin was a very slender and delicate horse, who trotted forward with the grace of a master dancer. Her silver scales and crystal horn gleamed brightly in the sunlight.

Most arcanists only had one eldrin, but I was lucky enough to have two. Kirins were one of the rarest mystical creatures in existence. Roux’s innate magic allowed me to bond with one additional eldrin and her magic empowered both me and Wren beyond our usual levels.

“What do you think, Finlay?” Sage asked, turning towards him. “Would that have fooled you?”

Finlay turned towards us, his brow furrowed. The typically hard-charging and muscular boy had a thoughtful frown on his face. Finlay was a couple inches taller than me with short blond hair. He was big and burly, with thick muscles from working his whole life. In fights, he was a slow but powerful brawler. He tried to bait his opponents into going all-out against him before knocking them out with a devastating counter blow.

His eldrin, Sinsidius the grave moth, fluttered quietly behind him, staring at us with glowing eyes through his skull shaped mask. Because of the pirates that’d destroyed the village I grew up in, I’d once been very scared of all undead eldrin, but Sinsidius was kind and gentle. The fully grown grave moth was about the size of a human, with four fluttering black wings. When he ate, a small and delicate proboscis emerged from the skull shaped mask covering his face.

“It’s really awesome. Really great. Just like how Amir managed,” Finlay said. “But something is tickling my brain…”

“Wait, really?” Sage asked. “Something is still off? What do you think it could be? I’ve really been focusing on making sure the flames come up right at the perfect time, just like how Amir does it.

“Oh, yeah,” Wren nodded. “Actually, I really liked that. It’s very explosive…kind of like a big ‘boom!’”

“Was it maybe the width of the flames?” Sage asked. “I only have a certain range, so…”

“I thought the width was fine, my arcanist” Kenji said. “It looked pretty real to me, and I’ve seen a lot of fire before.”

Finlay shook his head and groaned. “No, it wasn’t that. Give me a bit! You guys are all shouting and it’s making me hard to think.”

“My arcanist…” Sinsidius hissed, his wispy voice whistling through his skull mask. “If you don’t mind me saying, it’s unusual for you to think so deeply…”

“Hey!” Finlay protested. “Are you calling me a moron?”

I laughed.

Sinsidius had a point. Sage was very nervous and excitable, so she tried to think of every variable. Meanwhile, Finlay just tended to go with his gut. We’d first met when he tried throwing me out of a school.

“Oh! I get it now!” Finlay exclaimed. “It is pretty good. I think I would be fooled if I met you first time. But Sage, you have an obvious tell. I think if someone watched you fight, they would be able to predict you next time.”

“Really?” I asked, surprised.

Sage frowned. “What am I doing? I should’ve thought of that.”

“You need to calm down, Sage,” Finlay said. “If you start bouncing up and down every time you use the feint, everyone will know what’s going on.”

Oh, right.

I’d been so focused on myself that I hadn’t even thought about her. After years of Master Elias’s straightforward training, it was hard posing my body in the perfect way to make a fake attack seem like a real one.

Sage hastily put on a serious face, clenching her jaw a little. “How is this?”

“No, you need to look more chill,” Finlay said. “Like this.”

Finlay set his face in a nonchalant expression.

“Well, that’s no good either,” Wren cut in. “Who would look chill in a fight! You’re trying to survive!”

“That’s a good point too…” Finlay said, running his hands through his blond hair.

“How do I look in a fight?” Sage asked. “It’s not like I can see myself.”

“Oh, I got it,” Kenji chirped. “How about you fight, and then I make an illusion of your face? I can’t really move it around, but I can kind of make an illusion sculptor.”

“That’s smart,” Sage nodded. “Okay guys. Attack me. Then Kenji can copy my expression.”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” Finlay said. “You don’t want to think too hard about it. Then it’ll look unnatural. You’ll just make the same face every single time you evoke an illusion.”

“Okay, what if I have a cycle of four faces,” Sage said. “Then I can randomly rotate through them and nobody will know.”

I shook my head. “This isn’t going anywhere. We should just practice more. And then the eldrin can take turns watching and see if we look weird.”

“Yeah, that’s probably just the best thing to do,” Finlay said, scratching his head.

“Why don’t you guys go next?” I asked. “I can keep an eye out.”

The two nodded, stepping forward with their eldrin.

As Finlay walked up, he leaned over and whispered, “Do you think that was a mistake? I don’t want Sage to get too into her head.”

“It’ll be fine,” I said. “It’s important to focus on the small details.”

“Alright then,” Finlay said, a determined expression appearing on his face. “Let’s get practicing.”

The two of them began practicing their evocation, working on getting the timing right. Evocation was arcanist magic that allowed their user to create something new.

Sage’s illusions weren’t that big, but they were perfect for bluffing other evocation attacks.

Meanwhile, as a grave moth arcanist, Finlay could evoke poisonous dust.

The course black dust was very slow, but very powerful. It wafted through the air like fine mist, slowly drifting towards its target. If an enemy was caught in the dust, they would feel a painful burning feeling. Over time, that burning would escalate to blindness and even certain death.

That was why Sage was such a good teammate for Finlay.

She could evoke more of the dust, surrounding the opponent in mist and confusing opponents who didn’t know which cloud was the real dust.

As the two practiced, I gave them tips and pointers.

“Sage, your expression is mostly fine. Don’t worry too much about it anymore.”

“Finlay, try to keep the evocation magic in you just a little bit longer. If you use the dust cloud first, it’ll be easy to guess what’s the real one.”

“No, no. That’s not good enough. Do it again until it’s perfect.”

Roux chuckled. “Partner…every day you train them, you sound more and more like your master. I still remember how you groaned when we were practicing.”

I laughed disbelievingly, causing everyone else to turn to me in confusion until I pointed at Roux. Kirin only spoke to their arcanists through their mental link. Roux was totally silent to everyone else, even to Wren.

Then I sighed. “I can’t believe it, but I’m starting to sound like Master Elias.”

Master Elias had trained me to fight in the Crown Tournament ever since I was a small child. The world-famous tournament had been held throughout the years, but this time, it was different.

The Crown Tournament had always offered a prestigious crown for winning—that was where the name came from. But this time, it was the newly unearthed Ascension Crown, a special artifact that could only be used by a kirin arcanist. Nobody knew exactly what it did, but legends whispered that whoever gained it would have the power to rule entire nations.

Sage and Finlay however, were very inexperienced. The two of them had joined the tournament because they needed the money and we’d brought them on because Elias and I desperately needed teammates. The two were weak at the start, but they were eager learners and I’d done my best to pass Elias’s teachings onto them.

After a while, I noticed a consistent sheen of sweat on Sage’s brow. Though she was still calm on the surface, I noticed her arms and legs trembling. Using any of the arcanist magics—evocation, manipulation, and augmentation—was very similar to using your muscles. Excessive use led to tiredness, just like excessive exercise.

“Sage, take a break,” I said. “I’ll work with Finlay for a while.”

“You sure?” she asked.

I nodded. “According to Master Elias, we still have time until the next round. Something about giving the provinces time to prepare the next stage. Consistent practice will be better than burning yourself out.”

“Alright then,” Sage said, stepping back.

“Amir, did you have a new idea on how to combine our evocations?” Finlay asked. “Last time, it just blew up in our faces!”

If I evoked flame at Finlay’s poisonous mist, the result was a large explosion that scattered dust everywhere. It made my fire more explosive, but it was also very unpredictable. It wasn’t that much of a problem for Finlay, since grave moth arcanists were immune to poison, but it was risky for anybody else in the area, even me.

“Well, I was going to combine it with my manipulation instead. That’ll add a lot of speed to your mist.”

When I gestured, Finlay evoked the black poisonous mist from before.

With a gesture, the wind obeyed my command, gently blowing the poisonous cloud forward. Now, Finlay’s poisonous cloud was both dangerous and fast.

“Amazing work, my arcanist!” Wren held his head high. “We’re not just the most powerful! We’re also the best at supporting others!”

“That is a very good combination…” Sage said. “Kenji, do you think we could do that too? With our force manipulation?”

“We could, my arcanist,” Kenji chirped. “But I think it might be better to practice more before we try anything like that. Otherwise, we might end up hurting ourselves! Remember what happened with Valdo?”

“Don’t remind me!” Sage exclaimed, blushing bright red.

“What did happen with Valdo?” I asked. “Honestly, I’m surprised you guys won the final battle without him.”

I’d been forced to leave the qualifier bouts to fight off an invasion from the East Sea Raiders, leaving Sage, Finlay, and Valdo to finish the last stage by themselves.

Sage and Finlay were improving quickly, but Old Man Valdo wasn’t very useful. I loved traveling with him because of his jokes and stories, but simply put, he was not known for his battle skills.

His eldrin, Peeter, was a grifter crow—one of the weakest eldrin in existence, and the old man had never fought in his life. He was only on our team because the rules of the tournament required five people on each roster.

“Hey!” a familiar voice laughed from behind me. “Don’t you know it’s rude to talk about people behind their back?”

I turned and grinned.

Master Elias and Valdo had come back from scouting out Indigo Port.

CHAPTER TWO

“Valdo! Elias!”

“That’s Old Man Valdo to you,” Valdo replied. “You need to respect your elders and refer to me by my full title!”

“Is ‘Old Man’ even an honorable title?” Finlay asked, one eyebrow lifted.

The two of them walked towards us. Valdo excitedly hustled over, while Elias strode quickly but carefully, a martial artist even in his day-to-day actions.

Valdo was a short old man with spiky white hair that stuck out to either side of his head. His bald head gleamed in the sunlight. The old man was always dressed in kooky and colorful clothing. No matter what city we went to, Valdo was always dressed in the local styles. He loved trying out new things.

Today, he had on a bright indigo cloak on and his arms were covered with gaudy shell bracelets that clanked whenever he moved. He was drinking juice right out of a coconut and looked much more like a retired farmer on vacation than a tournament arcanist.

“Some more souvenirs for my grandchildren!” he said.

Peeter, his grifter crow, flew behind him, squawking. “Shiny trinkets! Shiny trinkets!” Like Valdo, he was decked out in souvenirs from Indigo Port. He had two shellfish necklaces around his slender neck and a bright indigo headband. Indigo streamers flew from his legs.

Grifter crows looked like normal crows, only a bit bigger. When they flew, they left behind sparkly trails.

As a tier-1 eldrin, grifter crows were among the weakest. Their magic was best served for parlor tricks. Since Kenji was a tier-2 eldrin, his tanuki illusion magic was much more comprehensive and convincing.

Elias looked even more physically imposing then normal when next to squat Valdo. My master was big, strong, and muscular, with tanned skin from living in the desert. Battle scars ran across his face and his black hair was flecked with gray. No matter where we went, Elias always wore loose and comfortable clothing that was best suited for martial arts. His typical uniform was simple and brown. I’d learned that when he was younger, he’d worn flashy crimson clothes and called himself the Red Wind, but now that he was older, he just wanted to be left alone.

“Where is Master Hyperion?” Wren asked.

“Master Hyperion?” I cut in, shooting him a look. “I didn’t know you called him that.”

“I’ve been thinking,” Wren explained. “And if Master Elias is your master, it makes sense for Hyperion to be mine. Plus, Hyperion is super strong and knows a lot of amazing techniques. So it’s probably best for me to start calling him master,too!”

“I guess that makes sense…” I replied.

“Great,” Elias said with a snicker. “Now Hyperion has his own troublesome student who fate forced upon him. He’ll know better than to talk back to me next time I complain about Amir. I’ll tell him the good news when he gets back from hunting.” Elias gestured off into the forest around Indigo Port.

It made sense that Hyperion hadn’t joined Valdo and Elias in Indigo Port. He rarely ventured with us into town.

Like his arcanist, Hyperion preferred the solitude of the wilderness over the hustle and bustle of densely populated cities.

Unlike Elias, Hyperion was as big as a house. Simply put, the average road wasn’t built for him. Hyperion looked a lot like Wren, only much bigger. Both the syrocko drakes had the same sandy red scales with black spikes. But while Wren’s expression was always eager and excited, Hyperion was calm and serene. Unless roused into battle, Hyperion was the very definition of the strong silent type.

“What were you guys doing in the city?” I asked.

“Valdo wanted to buy trinkets for his grandchildren,” Elias said. “And I wanted to scout out the other competitors in the tournament.”

“Actually, Elias was relaxing! Like me!” Valdo said, waving his coconut. “Elias was drinking one of these, too. He just threw it away right before leaving the city to preserve his image.”

Elias groaned as we all laughed. “You were supposed to keep my relaxing break a secret.”

“I’m a storyteller,” Valdo exclaimed. “It’s my job to tell people funny minutiae.”

“Was Mr. Elias really relaxing?” Sage whispered, shooting him a disbelieving look.

“I mean, I guess his face is about one percent less stern today…” Finlay muttered, scratching his head.

I just laughed.

Finlay was right. Elias did look a little bit more relaxed than normal. He was always just a bit happier looking when we had a feast day for my birthday instead of our usual training days.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough,” Elias growled. “What were you kids up to? Training hard, hopefully.”

“We were about to work on our manipulation,” I replied. “Our evocation has gotten a lot better. Sage and Finlay can evoke a lot more now plus they have finer control and timing. We were working on making feints with Sage’s illusions.”

“Feints, huh?” Elias mused. “I’ve always favored more direct magic, but I have to admit that they have their place.”

I beamed, happy for us approval. “Well, that’s what Sage’s illusion evocation is best for. But I noticed other ways we could combine our abilities, and I think fine-tuning our manipulation is the next step.”

“Manipulation?” Valdo exclaimed, his eyes twinkling with mischief. The short little man dramatically flinched back, pretending to cower. “Please don’t! Or at least, wait until I’m well out of the area!”

Sage groaned, covering up her bright red face. “Don’t remind me!”

Finlay just let out an embarrassed laugh. “I mean…if you could do that on purpose, you would be extremely powerful.”

“Wait, so what happened?” I asked. Now I was more curious than ever.

Valdo chuckled, shaking his head. “At the start of the fight, I was planning to just jump off the stage safely. You know, like what I did when you fought Dario.

“Right,” I replied.

Dario had wanted a one-on-one battle, kirin arcanist against kirin arcanist. His companion Lady Feng had jumped off the stage too, just like Valdo did.

“Well, the other team charged us as soon as the battle started. I couldn’t get out of the way in time! Sage decided to try and help me with her manipulation. The problem is, she chucked me off so hard that it almost broke my hip!”

“Okay, it did help us a bit,” Finlay said. “It scared our opponents so badly that they stopped attacking.”

“Speaking of stopped, my heart almost stopped,” Valdo jabbed back.

“Bah,” Elias growled. “It sounds like it was your fault, Old Man Valdo. Just how much wear and tear are on those old bones.”

“Hey! Come on!” Valdo protested. “Respect your elders, Master Elias.”

I giggled. After hearing Elias tell me to respect him my whole life, it was funny hearing someone else say it to him. The two old men squabbled, with Elias threatening to end Valdo on the spot, but I knew he wouldn’t.

Despite what he said, I knew that Elias liked Valdo. Valdo was from the countryside, not a big city. And unlike many of the nobles and false heroes who Elias criticized, Valdo was true to himself. He was a weakling and proud of it.

“Well, let’s get to it,” I said. “Time to work on our manipulation. Let’s focus on improving our control first, before we try to work on teamwork.”

“Manipulation is tricky…” Sage bit her lip. “Especially when I’m nervous. I don’t get why it’s so much harder than evocation.”

“Well, with evocation, you’re just letting your magic out,” I explained. “With manipulation, you’re controlling something that already exists. It’s not just about forcing out your magic. You need to kind of coax it.”

“Yeah, Sage, you can get a little anxious at times. That makes it hard for you to control everything carefully,” Finlay added helpfully. “Maybe try with something smaller first. That might make it easier for you to practice.”

I nodded. “Yeah, it was the same for me when controlling my wind manipulation. I saw Elias using it to move faster and tried it myself. Unfortunately, I slammed right into a tree!”

“Wow, you messed it up, too?” Sage asked. “That’s kind of hard to believe. You always seem very composed when it comes to fights.”

“Yeah, and it wasn’t even that long ago,” I said. “I’ve been with Roux almost my whole life, but I only bonded with Wren a few weeks before I met you guys.”

“Wait, really?” Finlay asked, shocked. “You guys look so skilled together I thought you’d been together your whole lives.”

“That’s because we’re destined partners,” Wren said. “Kirins have destiny magic. And since Roux helps out me and Amir, that makes us the ultimate team. It’s like we have been together our whole lives.”

“Actually, does Roux have her own magic?” Sage asked, tilting her head curiously at my kirin eldrin. “Or does she just empower you guys?”

“I…don’t know,” I replied, blinking. “I always thought that kirin magic was just empowering me and Wren.”

“Do you know?” I asked. Sage was obsessed with studying and knew a lot about mystical creatures and the world.

But to my surprise, she shook her head. “No, I don’t,” she admitted. “All I knew was that kirin can empower other creatures. They’re so rare that there aren’t many books on them.”

“Let me find out and tell you later,” I replied.

Back when I was training with Elias, I spent plenty of time practicing with Roux. But I mostly just used her as a mount for battles. When I was riding on Roux, I felt so confident that it felt like walking on my own two legs, but could she use magic too?

“Roux, what powers do you have?” I asked. “Honestly, I’m sorry I haven’t asked before this.”

Roux chuckled gently. “Don’t be sorry, partner. I never thought to bring it up either. And a large part of it is that most kirin magic isn’t consciously used by their arcanist.”

“What do you mean?’ I asked.

“Well, you were already kind of right. My main form of magic is empowering your bond with Wren. With me, your magic is twice as potent as before. However, I can’t empower myself, or anyone other than you and Wren, for that matter.”

Augmentation was the third main kind of magic.

It allowed arcanists to empower their bodies and grow stronger. For example, tanuki arcanists like Sage could use their magic to turn into statues. Back when I’d first met her, that was the only form of magic that she’d been comfortable with.

“What about your other types?” I asked. “Like evocation and manipulation?”

“My evocation isn’t usable right now,” Roux explained. “Fully grown kirin—and their arcanist—can evoke visions of the future. But since I only bonded with you when you were a child, I still have a little bit until I reach full maturity.”

Eldrin could only grow through a bond with their arcanist. When I first met Roux, she’d been over three hundred years old, but still just the size of a small foal.

“Visions of the future, huh?” I mused. “That sounds exciting. Maybe I can see if we’ll win the Crown Tournament. Or if I’ll meet my dad again.”

“Well, the visions won’t just tell you exactly what you want,”Roux explained. “Just because the mist doesn’t show you your dad doesn’t mean you won’t see him for example. And besides, the future can be changed.”

I guess that all made sense.

I supposed I’d just have to wait for Roux to grow a little bit older to see this with my own eyes.

“What about manipulation?” I asked.

“We can manipulate destiny. But only subtly. With me by your side, I can increase your chances at winning in any game of chance, for example. Or I could slightly push scenarios in your favor. Like augmentation, this is a power only I can use. I can’t share it with you, partner.”

“I see,” I said, scratching my head.

Roux’s abilities were very thought provoking.

It seemed like kirins specialized in granting indirect advantages, unlike syrocko drakes who were much more explosive and direct. I supposed that fit with the two very different personalities of my two eldrin.

By then, Sage and Finlay had gotten to their own training.

Both of them were practicing moving items with their manipulation. As a tanuki arcanist, Sage manipulated force. She could move objects with her own mind, which in a way, was a little bit like how I could manipulate wind with Wren’s magic. Because of that, I’d given her a smalls tone to practice with, which was how I’d learned my own manipulation.

The first time I met her, Kenji had snatched my bandana from me, exposing that I was a kirin arcanist. Unlike her eldrin though, Sage still needed a lot of work to improve her manipulation.

She was very inconsistent, sometimes moving the small stone too far. Other times, she was trying to be too gentle, resulting in the rock barely moving at all.

On the other hand, Finlay was a natural at manipulation.

The grave moth and their arcanists specialized in manipulating rot.

Finlay gently controlled the rotting apple core he was practicing with, making it dance across the ground. It looked almost like a master puppeteer controlling a puppet with strings.

“You’re a lot better than I was when I started, Finlay,” I said.

The bigger boy beamed. “That’s good to hear. Manipulation feels natural to me, somehow. I kind of have to gently coax the rot to move…I know it sounds weird, but it reminds me of taking care of the other orphans. I couldn’t be too direct with them, otherwise they’d run away.”

I chuckled.

Now that was funny.

I remembered doing that too sometimes, back when I was in the orphanage. The last day before Elias brought me away, I’d remembered teaching a young girl named Luna how to feign being sick to avoid being adopted.

I’d been shocked to see her as a member of the East Sea Raiders. She and her eldrin, a white hart, had fled as soon as we defeated them, abandoning the raiders and running off into the

My smile slid off my face when I thought about Luna.

When we were kids, she’d been so shy and gentle. What could have possibly made her join a dastardly band of killers like the raiders?

“Hey, Finlay,” I asked. “Was there ever a girl named Luna with you in the orphanage?”

He blinked, looking confused.

“Luna, huh?” he murmured. Even as we talked, he kept his focus on the apple, skillfully manipulating it side to side.

“Yeah, kind of small?” I asked. “Very shy?”

After a moment, Finlay’s eyes widened. “Oh, her. Yeah. She was really shy and quiet. And sickly too. It seemed like she always got sicker when people came to adopt.”

I smiled, but only a little bit. All the chaos had made it really hard to think of everything, but now that I was sitting down, I was really upset about what had happened with Luna.

“Is something wrong?” Finlay asked. The apple stopped dancing, falling to the ground with a splat and he turned to focus on me.

“Yeah…” I admitted. “You know how me and Elias battled the East Sea Raiders, right?”

“The Raiders? What does that have to do with…” Finlay froze and blinked, totally shocked. “No way. She was with the raiders?“

I nodded, clenching my jaw.

“What happened after?” Finlay asked.

“Well. I recognized her. And let her go. And then....” I shrugged. “Then, I don’t know,” I admitted. “I don’t know what she’s doing now.”

Finlay let out a sad and frustrated sigh. “So that’s what happened to her. It’s a shame. At the time, I hoped that she’d escaped.”

“What happened?” I asked. “Did someone bad adopt her? Was it the raiders?”

“I don’t know,” Finlay said. “I can barely remember who it was. I’d just been admitted to the orphanage at the time and I was scared as hell. But I remembered her struggling as they carried her off.”

“I see…” I replied. “So maybe it was secretly a member of the East Sea Raiders. Or maybe it was someone else and she escaped, only to end up in their hands.”

I sighed and gazed off into the distance.

On one side of us was the thriving city of Indigo Port, a trade center that took in people from all around the world. The proud city was surrounded by tall walls that were painted indigo and covered with elaborate cloth banners. Behind Indigo Port was the bright blue sea.

On the other side to us was the long road we’d traveled to get here. Surrounding the road was a lush green forest, one that was teeming with mystical creatures. The creatures stayed away from the roads, but it was dangerous for non-arcanists to enter the forest alone.

Would I see Luna again?

Maybe in Indigo Port or somewhere else?

“It’ll be okay, Amir,” Finlay said, putting a rough but comforting hand on my shoulder. “If we see her again, we’ll try to find out more about her. Maybe even help her.”

I nodded. “I suppose that’s all we have for now.”

Maybe once Roux grew older, I could use her evocation to try and find Luna. First my father, then Luna. The mysteries around my life were compounding, I only had to hope that I could solve these problems.

“Hopefully I can grow strong enough to help you when that time comes,” Finlay said. “You know, I was thinking. Maybe I can bring some rotten stuff to the battlefield with me. That would let me fight better.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well…grave moth arcanists are known for their control of the dead, right? Even I thought I could control dead stuff until Sinsidius corrected me. But if I fought in a cemetery for example, I could bring up a lot of dead bodies.”

“Oh, that’s a good point,” I said, nodding thoughtfully.

Unlike me and Sage’s manipulation, Finlay’s was much more situation. It depended on the situation—sometimes he would be much more powerful than us, but unlike force and wind, rot wasn’t the kind of thing that just lay around.

“Well, I don’t think any of the tournament battles will be held in a cemetery. That sounds a bit too sketchy. And I don’t think they would just let you drag a corpse onto the stage or anything like that…”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Finlay admitted. “But still. There’s something there.”

“There definitely is,” I said. “Master Elias told me of many powerful arcanists who were able to use their magic creatively to succeed. And your manipulation is really impressive. I can’t wait to see how strong it gets when you keep practicing it!”

Finlay grinned to himself, bringing up the rotten old core again. “Did you hear that Sinsidius? Maybe we are naturally good at this!”

“You always have had great bravery, my arcanist…” Sinsidius said, his voice whistling through the skull mask. “I still remember how you saved me when we first met…keep thinking. Perhaps our rot manipulation will be key to victory one day…”

I was glad he took my compliment well. Finlay and Sage could be really hard on themselves, but it wasn’t their fault. I had Elias training me my whole life. They had just stumbled around without any guidance. It was honestly a miracle that they learned as well as they did.

Finlay continued dancing the rotten core around and I looked over to Sage, who was moving her stone around in a small circle. The stone was still wobbling quite a bit, and her circle looked more like an oval, but she was no longer throwing the stone totally off balance and it was starting to travel at a consistent speed.

“Keep going,” I said. “I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it.”

She turned and grinned at me thankfully.

“You know, we’ve gone a long way since Morumbi Town,” Finlay said.

“Yeah, a really long way,” I agreed.

“We should have some kind of good luck charm,” Finlay replied.

“What?” Sage asked, dropping the rock. “What are you talking about?”

“You know, something that can make us a team. Like we look down at the good luck charm and smile, since we know about how far we’ve gone,” Finlay said.

Sage shot him an irritated look. “That sounds fake to me. I can just remember the good times we’ve had together. You know, in my brain? And besides, there’s no such thing as good luck charms. That’s just superstition.” She poked at her forehead and shot Finlay a joking smile.

Finlay rummaged in his pockets, scowling. “Everyone keeps calling me dumb today, but this is a real idea!”

He pulled out a beaten-up amulet from his pocket, showing it to us. I’d seen a few other fighters wearing amulets around town, usually made out of gold or other precious metals. Finlay’s was very badly beaten up and roughly carved out of wood loosely cut to look like Sinsidius’s old caterpillar form. There was writing scrawled all over it and it hung on a worn-out red string.

“See? The kids from the orphanage gave this to me. And they call carved their initials into it. So I look at it every day and I think about them. And I dothink this amulet is good luck! I was looking at it the day I met you guys.”

“You just said you look at it every day,” Sage protested. “So you probably would have seen us anyways.”

Finlay just stared back at her, looking more confused than annoyed. “Well. Obviously, I have to look at it every day. I want to have good luck every day.”

“My arcanist…” Sinsidius said. “It seems like she is failing to understand this basic concept…perhaps we should move on…”

“What? No! You and your arcanist are failing to understand…um, what was it they said again?” Kenji asked, turning to Sage.

“My point is, you can’t prove that the amulet is giving you good or bad luck. Haven’t you heard what the arcanists in academies do? Have you heard of the scientific method? You need to try this out for yourself. You know, take some days looking at the amulet and other days where you don’t. A week should do it. Maybe a month. That would get rid of your superstition.”

Finlay just kept looking at Sage like she was an idiot. “A month?! Why would I give myself bad luck for a month just to prove you wrong?”

“Actually, I have a good luck charm too,” I cut in. “I don’t look at it every day though. I just carry it with me.” Now it as my turn to rummage into my pack.

I pulled out the dragon scale from my pack. It was huge—way bigger than my hand. Since it was daytime right now, it gleamed purest white.

“Woah!” Finlay gasped. “What is that?”

“It’s from my mom,” I explained. “But it might have been from my dad? She said it was all she had of him and that if I held the scale, he’d protect me.”

My dad never did protect me though. My mom was always talking about what an amazing arcanist he was, but he wasn’t there with the East Sea Raiders destroyed our village and killed mom. He never showed up when I was in the orphanage either.

Usually, that made me mad.

But sometimes, it made me sad too.

Maybe something bad had happened to him on his adventures. Maybe he’d died saving a whole city. Mom always said he was a great man.

“It’s a dragon scale…” Sage whispered.

“Really?” I asked. “I thought it could be. But there’s a lot of scaled mythical creatures.”

“No, even just the scale still has a lot of magic to it,” Sage said. “I bet it could be really powerful if you used it in some kind of magical item.”

“Do you know what kind of dragon it’s from?” I asked.

“Well, dragons all have very distinct colors and features,” Sage explained. “Since it’s pure white, it could be from a Marble Dragon. They are known for their stone manipulation abilities. And from what I read, they seem almost indestructible. But it could be from another white dragon too.”

“Well, it’s only white during the day,” I explained. “It actually turns black at night.”

“Oh, then it’s from a twilight dragon!” Sage said. “Those are the only dragons whose scales change colors like that.”

“A twilight dragon, huh?” I murmured. “That sounds really powerful. So my dad was a twilight dragon arcanist…I wonder what he was like. He seems really cool.”

“Yeah, they are really powerful,” Sage said. “Twilight dragons have power over both light and darkness. And there’s a bunch of famous arcanists who were partnered with twilight dragons.”

“Alright, alright,” Wren squawked, angrily cutting in. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Twilight dragons aren’t that cool. And besides, plenty of drakes have beaten dragons before.”

“Isn’t it only Hyperion?” Sage pointed out. “That’s why they call him the drake that conquered a dragon. If it happened all the time that wouldn’t be noteworthy.”

“Wren seems very jealous…” Sinsidius said. “Perhaps we should switch to a different topic…”

“Whatever,” Wren pouted. “Watch this!” He reared up and then let out a huge gout of flame into the air. “See that? That’s a kirin-powered fire blast. I wonder if any twilight dragon could copy that!”

“Well, I suppose they can’t,” Sage admitted. “Since they have no control over fire magics.”

All of us laughed. It was unusual for anyone to win an argument against Sage, especially Wren.

“You know what?” Sage said, still smiling. “I think a charm is a good idea. Maybe not a good luck charm. But a normal charm. You know. Just to show all the good times we’ve had together.”

“Oh, you know what would be cool?” Finlay asked, grinning. “I picked up some trinkets in the other cities we went to. Plus, Valdo has a few souvenirs he could give us. We should make a bracelet! Something with a bit of every city we went to. That way we’ll remember each other and our journey!”

“Oh, I like the sound of that!” I agreed. Every little step towards here had made us a little bit more powerful. The perfect charm would honor all of that.

“Well, on to Indigo Port then,” I said. “Let’s see what we can find!”

CHAPTER THREE

Master Elias stood and smiled knowingly at us as soon as we walked past him. “Going to the city, huh? You all deserve a break after a hard day of training.”

“Yeah, we wanted a break,” I said.

“Plus, we wanted to get a good luck charm,” Finlay added nervously.

Sage and Finlay were always a little nervous when talking to Elias. I knew Elias as my master for almost my whole life, but Sage and Finlay had mostly just heard the legends about his exploits as the Red Wind.

“A good luck charm, huh?” Elias said. “Some kind of trinket to commemorate your times together?”

“How did you know?” I asked, genuinely surprised.

“Ah, me and some of my old adventuring pals have things like that too,” Elias grinned. “I wasn’t always just a solitary old master. But most of the stuff is back in my home.”

“In your quarters at the Sunset Desert?” I asked.

“No, my original home,” Elias said. “Where I lived when I was younger. Before I met Roux and was ordered to help her find her partner. When this is all over, I’ll take you there. I think you’ll enjoy it. And find it an edifying experience too.”

“Wait…” Sage muttered, her eyes going wide. “Master Elias…you’re from…”

Elias raised an eyebrow. “So you know about it, huh? Smart girl.”

“Know about what?” I asked, looking from the two of them to each other.

“The Kirin Village,” Elias said. “A far off and secluded area. A secret haven for all kirin to live and grow.” As he spoke, he glanced around us furtively, almost like he was paranoid about being overheard. “It is one of the deepest secrets of the kirin. Few people even know of its existence. And virtually nobody knows of its location.”

“A whole village of kirin, huh?” I murmured, patting Roux on the head. “What was that like?”

“It was enjoyable…like your master, I enjoy being secluded out in nature. But it was also boring. I was there for so many years, waiting for your birth. Eventually, everything just kind of seemed like one big blur to me,”Roux said.

“Well, I’m glad we’re together now,” I said, affectionately patting her.

The life of a kirin seemed very difficult. It was hard to imagine spending hundreds of years as a baby, just waiting for the opportunity to grow.

“Wait,” I asked, as a darker thought came to mind. “What if a kirin’s partner is killed?”

“Many people have asked that question,” Elias growled. “What happens is that the kirin is never able to bond. They must spend their entire lives trapped as foals until they die of other means. But fools and knaves all around the world think it means that the kirin will somehow bond with them.”

Roux trapped as a foal forever, even after living for so long waiting for me…

I shuddered at the thought.

“Don’t worry, partner,” Roux said. “We were able to meet. That’s the important thing.”

“It gets worse too,” Elias added. “Plenty of scumbags think they can force a kirin to bond with them. When kirin travel outside of the village, they are often kidnapped. Forced into terrible experiments that ultimately kill them. Kirin cannot bond with anyone but their destined partner. That is the rule. But thanks to their rarity and power—plus good old human greed—they are constantly attacked. I’m just one of the defenders to the kirin village. Some of my other adventuring partners hailed from there too. We traveled the world to help the kirin find partners—and Roux was the last of them.”

Now this was just getting scarier and scarier.

Roux was an amazing partner. She was extremely wise and made me and Wren much more powerful. I could see why people would want to steal her, but going to such nefarious means…

“I’ll accompany the three of you into the city,” Elias said, thinking for a moment.

“Why?” I asked. “Are you worried people will try to take Roux from me? I can defend myself.”

I was already tying the usual bandana around my forehead, disguising my mark. Then I slung some blankets over Roux, hiding her shiny silver scales. As Roux ducked her neck down, I tied a second bandana loosely over her horn too.

I did this automatically when going into town now, but now that I knew about the kirin village and how kirin were hunted, caution felt especially appropriate.

“Oh, don’t worry Master Elias! We can easily defend ourselves!” Wren added. “Anyone who even looks at us sideways I’ll blast to the abyssal hells!”

“Indigo Port,” Elias said, his lips curling at the name. “On the outside, it is a fun and enjoyable place. The jewel of world trade, as they say. But big cities like these are a rich haven for scoundrels of all sorts.”

“Really?” Sage asked. “Doesn’t Indigo Port have a large force of security arcanists? Surely they would help…”

“Hah!” Elias laughed cynically. “They are just as corrupt as any of them. One of their vaunted security arcanists would happily leave you senseless in an alleyway if you had a treasure they wanted. And they are far too lazy to do anything about criminals. Indigo Port has everything from petty theft to organized crime. Plus, the nobles will happily throw you in jail to get some small advantage. And the merchants are the worst. They’ll sell their mothers to get ahead in life!”

“Well, it wasn’t that bad when we were there,” Valdo pointed out. “And I’ve happily travelled to Indigo Port a couple other times before.”

“Bah,” Elias scoffed. “They only didn’t want to mess with you because I was there.” He gestured at Old Man Valdo. “Look at this outfit! Everything about you screams ‘tourist’ and ‘rube.’”

I giggled. There was some truth to that. Valdo was awkwardly wearing the local clothes and draped from head to toe in souvenirs.

“Actually, Elias joined me in the city because he was looking for some unaffiliated fighters,” Valdo said.

“Unaffiliated fighters?” I asked. “What does that mean?” I turned to Master Elias, who raised an eyebrow at Old Man Valdo.

“Well, I suppose I’d rather let Valdo tell you guys himself,” he said.

“Like I said during the last bout, you guys need a new teammate,” Valdo said. “I’m honored to journey with you guys if you’ll have me, but I’m so useless in a fight that I got injured trying to run away! So I’m looking to step out once you guys try to find a suitable replacement.”

“I’d hoped to contact one of my old traveling partners,” Elias reminded me. “But then we ran into the East Sea Raiders.”

Right…

The whole battle with the raiders had been so chaotic that I’d forgotten all about that. Elias had originally left us behind to add teammates. It’d only snowballed into something much more nefarious when the raiders attacked.

“Are you still going to do that?” I asked.

“Yes,” Elias nodded. “But I was hoping some of them would show up in the city. Not everyone has to go through the basic regional qualifier bouts. The Crown Tournament is only held by the nations in the local area. Oftentimes, expert fighters can qualify straight to the prefecture round if the tournament committee deems their feats significantly impressive. That was how I joined, even though the kirin village was nowhere near here.”

“Oh…” I murmured. “I guess that makes sense.”

Everyone who knew Master Elias—or the Red Wind, as he was known back then—knew he was a legend. I even remembered someone whispering that he knew the secrets of the God Arcanist’s War.

I was kind of afraid to ask Master Elias about that rumor though. The God Arcanist’s War was over seventy years ago. If Master Elias had really fought in it, he would have to be ninety by now, or maybe even a hundred. Being bonded with an eldrin artificially expanded a human’s lifespan, but Master would still be annoyed if I asked whether or not he was a hundred years old.

“That’s very impressive, Master Elias,” Sage said. “For you to join without even needing to fight.”

Elias scoffed. “I appreciate you saying that, Sage. But it was really more favoritism and hypocrisy. I would have wanted to fight the regional bouts if anyone wanted to challenge me.”

I shook my head and laughed.

Master Elias was a lot of things, but he definitely wasn’t a hypocrite.

“Well, if I’m really such a target for thieves, I better go with you guys too,” Valdo said, worriedly drawing all of his bracelets closer to himself. “I would hate to lose all my souvenirs.”

Peeter cawed. “You know what, my arcanist? I think Master Elias has a point. We do look like rubes. Us grifter crows can sense this thing.”

“You’re calling him Master, too?” I asked. “When did Elias train you?”

“He just has a very masterly air,” Peeter breezily replied. “And I’ll go with you guys too. Every time we all hang out, something very funny happens!”

“Is Elias right?” Sage asked, looking worried as we all started walking to the city. She started biting her lip again. “Is Indigo Port really a haven of deranged killers and evildoers?”

“I think we’ll be fine,” I whispered back. “There are some evildoers around. But we’re strong enough to deal with them. And I don’t think it’s always as bad as Elias thinks.”

Most people I’d met in the cities had been nice.

The kids from the school Finlay went to cheered us on during our fights. Leo and his partner Botan the ushi-oni had even praised us after our battle. Even the draugr arcanist on our boat had been very nice to us when we met. Lady Feng was kind and generous with her wealth.

And Dario…

Well, Dario had seemed nice at the beginning.

I still didn’t think he was a bad person. He was just misguided.

And even if he was my enemy, he wasn’t nearly as dishonorable as the people Elias talked about.

But I guess that if Elias was from a small place like the Kirin Village, it made sense for him to hate the city so much, especially since his home was always the target of spies trying to steal the kirin.

I was glad I got to learn more about Master Elias’s past.

Defending the kirin village and traveling the world with other adventurers to give the kirin to their destined partners. That sounded so fun and exciting. I wondered if my father had done something as important as that.

We left our small training area down the road and walked towards the big purple walls of Indigo Port. They’d already looked enormous from a distance, but the closer we got, the larger the shadow that loomed towards us. It was almost like it blocked out the sun and I could have sworn that I was even getting a little bit chillier as the ocean breeze blew upon us.

Then my magic flared through my body, keeping me warm. That was an innate benefit of syrocko drake magic.

“Sage, what is Indigo Port like?” Finlay asked, turning to her.

“Well, the large walls are all painted in indigo—their signature color,” Sage explained. “They promise to have the rarest and most exotic goods around the world. That’s why their signature color is indigo, because it’s the rarest part of the rainbow.”

“Woah…” Finlay muttered. “All around the world.”

“Man, that’s a little intimidating,” I said. “That many people huh? All around the world?”

My head was spinning just trying to think of how many people that would be.

Back in the orphanage, there were just twenty or thirty kids. Whenever there were too many, someone had to get adopted, otherwise we’d just starve with too many mouths to feed.

And in the Sunset Desert, it was just me and Elias.

I thought Morumbi Town was the biggest place in the world, but as I journeyed on, I realized that it was considered a small town too, nothing like a city.

“Master Elias,” I asked, tapping him politely on the shoulder. “Are there going to be a lot of people watching us? You know, if Indigo Port has people from all around the world.”

“Yes,” Elias brusquely replied. “The last time I fought, there were hundreds of people in the stands during the prefecture bouts. And in the national bouts, there will be even more. Thousands, perhaps.”

“Thousands…” I whispered.

That was basically the population of a city. A city’s worth of people watching me fight…

I shuddered in anticipation.

The thought was a little nerve-wracking, but it also felt good. I was confident in my skills and I knew how hard I’d worked. It’d be nice to prove myself in front of so many people. And maybe I wouldn’t be like Elias, retreating back to the desert. If me, Roux, and Wren all became famous, maybe I could use that fame to find people like Luna and my dad.

“Hah!” Elias scoffed. “I know what you’re thinking boy. It won’t be all sunshine and rainbows and you winning in front of a bunch of adoring fans with beautiful girls your age. The Crown Tournament is very well-known. There will be fighters from all around the world too. You’ll have to prove your strength to them.”

I blushed.

Master had read the thoughts right out of my mind.

But before I could even respond, we’d walked through the gates to Indigo Port and I let out a shaky gasp.

“This place is huge…” I whispered.

“Indigo Port is considered a jewel for the rest of the world to gaze upon,” Sage explained.

The indigo walls and elegant banners outside had only been setting the stage for the extreme finery of the city.

“All of these buildings are huge!” I whispered.

Like the walls outside, each of the homes were painted in indigo. There were large and extravagant tapestries hanging from each of the shops, which were painted in indigo on white. And looking down at my feet, I saw that even the bricks were indigo.

There was even a bard dressed in an indigo tunic playing an indigo lyre. He sang the thing that Sage mentioned earlier. “Indigo…the rarest color of the rainbow.” It seemed to be some kind of citywide anthem as I noticed other bards singing the same thing around other stores.

“They really liked their indigo here!” Wren said. “They should sing a song about me. syrocko…the rarest color of the rainbow. Pretty nice rhyme, if I say so myself.”

“That does rhyme…” Sinsidius said. “But it makes absolutely no sense…”

“Yeah, I’ll keep working on it,” Wren replied. He started muttering under his breath. “syrocko…hm…”

“It’s a little bit like Santtia,” Finlay said. “With the banners.”

“Actually, Santtia is like Indigo Port,” Sage said. “The practice of decorating shops with fine tapestries originated here. It’s a bit of a competition, the finer the tapestry, the better the goods offered in the shop. And not only that,” she added, pointing up. “Many of the merchants live above their shops. So they have even more reason to make it nice and all.”

As always, Sage was right.

The tapestries back in Santtia, black and gold, had been fine and elegant, but this was just on a totally different level. I gaped at the shop beside us, which seemed to be selling seafood. The meat was all arranged in orderly rows and packed with ice. There were all kinds of meat—fish, lobster, octopus, and many others that I didn’t recognize.

The tapestry hanging from the side of the shop portrayed a dramatic ocean scene with animals from all around the sea, including mystical creatures. There were leviathans, krakens, and even undersea dragons.

“Wait,” I asked, gaping. “Does this shop sell mystical creature meat? Is something like that even possible?”

“No way!” Wren scoffed as he walked behind us. Every so often, I would see a few of the other citizens in town gawk and stare at him. Mystical creatures were much more common in densely populated places like cities, but even then drakes—especially syrocko drakes—were rare. “It’s just some overblown tapestry. There’s no way they can hunt down cool and powerful mystical creatures like us.”

“Wren is actually right,” Master Elias said, laughing. “But not for the reason he says. Hunting mystical creatures for meat is considered barbaric and banned in most hubs of civilization. Still though…it’s not a perfect process.”

“Us kirin are often hunted,”Roux’s voice chimed behind me.

“Really?” I murmured, turning to her.

“Yes. Our parts are often used to make magical items. They can become much more powerful than before due to our unique augmentation magic.”

“Magic items, huh?” I asked. “Is that common?”

“Yes, they are very valued by warrior arcanists. They allow people to keep magic on their person. Or even have magic from many different mystical creatures.”

“Are you talking to Roux about magical items?” Master Elias asked, turning around. Even though Roux spoke with me with her powers, I had to talk to her verbally. So it was pretty obvious when a conversation was happening and what it was about.

“Yes,” I admitted. “They sound very powerful. But also…dangerous. If just an item could have the power of a mystical creature, that’s a little hard to believe. When we trained together, it was just with normal weapons.”

“They used to be allowed in the Crown Tournament,” Elias said. “Back when I was a competitor. But then they changed the rules around killing and got rid of them.”

“Wait,” I said, “you used to be able to kill your opponents?”

It was totally different now. There were always healers on hand to make sure no accidents happened.

“Yes,” Elias said. “And dealing with all those magical items was a nightmare. I fought this man who must have had fifty of them. If Hyperion was here, he could say the full number. But they resolved to make the tournament safer after I finished. And now I guess they added teams too.”

“It’s a good thing they added teams,” Finlay said, beaming. “That let me and Sinsidius meet all you guys!”

Elias looked over at him, his scowl softening. “It was a good thing,” Elias admitted. “I was annoyed at the time. But it has been enjoyable traveling with you. I feel like a young man again. And there’s real steel to the two of you, Sage and Finlay.”

I could tell how much the praise mattered to the two of them. It felt like they were just standing up a little straighter when walking now.

“Hah.” Roux chuckled. “Elias…he pretends to be this hard and unfeeling man, but he is a very soft-hearted at the end of the day. When traveling with him, I saw many moments of extreme kindness.”

I slowed down for a bit, so we were behind the group. Asking this question where everyone could hear felt weird.

“Did you ever want to bond with him?” I asked.

“Never,” Roux explained telepathically. “Kirin only bond with their chosen—the partner they are destinedto be with. It is simply impossible to partner with anyone else. And even if I could, I wouldn’t trade you for anyone, partner.”

I smiled, affectionately rubbing Roux’s fur.

“You’re the best,” I said. “I’m so glad we met.”

“Me, too.”

“Me three!” Wren said. “I can’t hear her, but even I can guess what Roux said that time!”

I laughed, rubbing Wren’s head too. The two kinds of scales felt so different. Roux’s silvery scales were smooth and felt a little bit like fur. She felt a little cold. Wren’s scales were very rough and jagged, and they burned with internal heat.

“Wait! Wait!” Finlay shouted, suddenly jerking me out of my thoughts. “Is that…”

He pointed where a large poster had suddenly been hammered into the wall.

A man was walking away from it. Like most of the other town officials, he was dressed in all indigo from head to toe. He even had dyed his beard indigo.

But he was wearing a cloak gleaming with stars and he had an insignia pinned on his chest—a gleaming Crown Piece, just like the other ones we’d won.

“That’s a Crown Tournament official!” Wren squawked.

“And that means those must be the Crown Tournament rules for the prefecture bouts!” I finished.

We hurried towards the poster.

As I started walking towards it, I noticed other people hustling towards the poster too. Most of them seemed to just be enthusiast or spectators, but I noticed a few arcanist marks.

And it wasn’t just around us—it seemed like a grand thrum of shouting and footsteps had begun echoing throughout the city.

By then, Finlay and Master Elias were already reading the rules.

“Wait…” Finlay said. “Is that…what? People are allowed to use magical items? But Master Elias, I thought you said…”

Master Elias turned to me, his expression grave. “This year, the tournament will be tougher than we thought, Amir. We must be cautious.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Wren, Roux, and I nudged our way to the front of the line, and Roux’s voice echoed in my head.

“There’s quite a lot of commotion, partner. It seems like these rules are just as challenging as your master said.”

When I made it the front, I saw at the top of the grand paper was a simple title—RULES TO THE PREFECTURE BOUTS.

Rule One: The next few matches will begin in two months’ time. All hosting nations will need to properly prepare their battle arenas. All participants must train appropriately for the tougher conditions.

Well, that wasn’t too bad. I could hear the other arcanists around us talk about how it gave everyone time to train—and it was the same for us. Two months was more than enough time for Sage to figure out her manipulation and for Finlay to begin working on his augmentation. Maybe they could even start working on their aura abilities by then.

Rule Two: The tournament will be hosted in three nations. The Nation of Sellix. The Queendom of Keshari. And the Kingdom of Zarimoria. Each nation will host a tournament site in three of their prefectures, for nine in total. Each stage will be located in the most adverse terrain in the prefecture.

“What?” I asked. “What does that even mean?”

Sellix…Keshari…Zarimoria…

I hadn’t heard of any one of those countries before. In fact, their names sounded outright foreign. Would we have to travel to another part of the world to participate?

I continued pushing my way to the front, so I was right behind Finlay. He and Sage were huddled together, talking about the tournament’s new rules. I nudged him.

“Hey Finlay,” I asked. “What country are we win?”

“What?”he asked, gaping at me. “What do you mean what country we’re in?”

“Well…when I was in the orphanage, I was just a kid. And now I only really know that I’m from the Sunset Desert, so…”

“We don’t even know what country this is,” Wren added.

A few of the other arcanists and citizens in the area overheard, laughing and pointing at me.

“Did that drake just ask what country this is? What’s wrong with him and his arcanist?”

“The boy looks confused, too!”

“Maybe he’s one of those unaffiliated arcanists? From another country?”

“No, we’re from here!” Wren angrily shot back.

That really just made it worse, as everyone just started laughing even harder.

“Is he…some kind of bumpkin?”

“Did that kid go to school?”

“Maybe he’s slow or something?”

Finlay slapped his face and groaned. “Man…you really grew up in a barn.”

“Excuse me?” I asked. I hadn’t grown up in a barn. I grew up in the Sunset Desert—any barn there would have been destroyed!

He shook his head. “Just a saying we have from back home. It kind of means that you don’t know anything.”

“Well, Elias doesn’t like nations…and he doesn’t like cities…and he doesn’t like the nobility. So he kind of just didn’t teach me any of it.”

“You know…your master really didn’t give you a complete education…”Roux commented.

Roux was right, and I could see Valdo mocking Elias too.

But still, I thought my master had a point.

It kind of didn’t matter what country I was from. That just didn’t seem like a big deal to me. As long as I could train and be with my friends and eldrin, I was happy!

“Okay,” Sage said. “So this is Zarimoria. Me and Finlay are both from Zarimoria.”

“The orphanage was in Zarimoria?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Finlay confirmed.

“Okay, then I’m pretty sure I’m from Zarimoria, too,” I said. From what I remembered, the orphanage wasn’t too far from the destroyed village.

“Probably,” Sage confirmed. “The East Sea Raiders are mostly active in Zarimoria. They were driven away from Keshari because Empress Xiu’s river dragon controls the tides there. They can’t go anywhere near the shores and the rest of the place is a desert.”

“I see. So I guess I am from Zarimoria,” I said, nodding.

This was a good example of how I just didn’t get this whole nation thing.

Now I knew where I was from…big deal.

“The bouts we fought earlier were in Zarimoria too,” Sage explained. “There’s actually a big rivalry between Keshari and Zarimoria. The nations broken into war several times before.”

“Oh. That sounds serious…” I muttered.

By now, most of the other arcanists and civilians had walked away. A few of them were shaking their heads or looking askew at me. But it seemed like they’d gotten what they came for—a look at the new rules. Nobody really wanted to stay for Sage’s history lesson as I assumed this was basic for everyone else.

“Well that’s part of why Sellix started organizing the Crown Tournament to begin with. Since Keshari and Zarimoria was always warring together, they created the tournament—with its prize and the crown—as kind of a symbolic war.”

Well, this year, the crown was much more than symbolic…

But only a few of us kirin arcanists knew that. With people coming from all around the world though, I couldn’t help but wonder if there would be other kirin arcanists looking for the prize. I knew they were rare, but that power would attract anybody.

“Sellix is kind of a peacekeeper in general,” Sage said. “They were just kind of neutral for a long time, but as the wars escalated, they wanted everyone to relax the tensions.”

“Actually, I’m from Sellix!” Valdo added. “That’s why I’m such a peaceful and likable guy!”

“A peaceful and likable guy with some very irritating ideas on how to raise children,” Elias grumbled.

Valdo threw back his head and laughed. “You didn’t even tell him what countryyou were in! You’ll be hearing about that one for the rest of our journeys together!”

“The village is very far from any of these countries, right?” I asked, turning to Elias. I didn’t want to say ‘Kirin Village’ in case anyone was listening. I was feeling very paranoid after what Elias said.

“Correct,” Elias said. “That was why I joined the tournament here.”

“So we’ll be going to three different countries, huh?” I asked.

“Yes, but not only that…” Elias said. “It sounds like the stages are becoming more dangerous again. Do you remember how you battled Dario it was inside a cave, right? With water surrounding it?”

I nodded.

Fiveside had been an unusual underground city.

The only way to travel was on these canal boats driven by draugr and their arcanists. The whole place was damp and wet, filled with undead and underwater eldrin—the same kinds of eldrin that the East Sea Raider used.

“Man, I hated that,” I said. “It’s going to be like that?”

“Even worse,” Elias said. “That stage was a challenge, thanks to your past. But it was ultimately an ordinary standard bout. These stages won’t be conventional fighting rings.”

I looked back at the last line. “Each stage will be located in the most adverse terrain in the prefecture.”

“Wait…so you mean things like fighting in the Sunset Desert?” I asked.

“Yes, that will likely be one of the selected stages,” Elias said. “The Sunset Desert is extremely averse to civilization. That was why I decided to live there.”

We all laughed at that, even Sage and Finlay. Master Elias really was a contrarian to the end.

“It seems like they are making the tournament much harder than previous iterations,” I said.

“Yes,” Elias simply replied. He scowled. “I dislike it. It feels like something is amiss.”

“It could be because of the crown, partner,” Roux explained. “Someone might know about it. And they want to make it harder to obtain…perhaps so a skilled accomplice can win. That would explain all these rule changes.”

I had a feeling Roux was right.

“Keep reading,” Master Elias said. “It gets more complicated from there.”

Rule Three: Every bout this tournament will be a two-on-two competition.

“Okay, that seems reasonable enough,” I said.

“We should be able to handle that,” Sage said. “With some of our combination attacks.”

I nodded. Now that we knew what the specific ruleset was, we could focus on training and keep combining our magics together.

“And if needed, I’m sure you could step in, right Master?” I asked, looking to him. Up until now, Master Elias had just watched, giving us the opportunity to learn. But with the tournament heating up, I wanted him by our side.

“Of course, Amir,” he said. “Hyperion and I will stand at the ready. Though your growth has been excellent. Perhaps you won’t even need me here.”

I smiled proudly.

Master’s praise was always genuine and earned—which made it feel all the better when I received it.

The next rule seemed relatively simple too.

Rule Four: Killing will result in disqualification. Healers will be present at all bouts.

“So same as last time then, right?” I asked.

“Not so…” Master Elias muttered.

“Wait, what do you mean?” Sage asked, turning to him.

“As the rounds get harder and the opponents get stronger…accidental killing can happen,” Elias said. “I saw when I participated in the tournament before. The killer was disqualified…but it didn’t bring the other person’s life back. We must be careful. And not only that…”

Elias’s eyes narrowed, taking another furtive look around us. “Amir, some of the worst fights you face in this tournament might be outside the ring…”

“You mean like how the Nox sisters tried to attack us before?”

“Exactly,” Elias said. “But they were just charlatans compared to people who might be waiting for us. Back when I participated in the Crown Tournament, I battled against an arcanist who was one of the worst men I’ve ever known. He attacked me before the finals… using deadly magical weapons that would have been banned from the main competition. It was a grueling battle. I managed to slay him, but I was left in such bad shape I couldn’t fight in the finals themselves.”

“We won’t fight anyone like that here, will we?” Sage nervously asked.

“We might,” Elias said, grimacing. “The star shards are enough of a fortune to attract knaves and scoundrels…and if they know about the crown, it’ll be even worse. And some of the tournament organizers may not be interested in an honest battle.”

“You mean Empress Xiu, right?” Sage asked. “Everyone says she’s a—”

Elias placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed briefly. “Sage…you’re a smart girl. But you need to think! This tournament will have plenty of loyalists. Keep that thought to the privacy of our quarters.”

Sage nodded, her face pale.

Empress Xiu, huh?

That was the river dragon arcanist Sage had mentioned earlier…

What would it mean if the tournament was run by a tyrant? I was desperately curious, but after Elias’s rebuke, I knew better than to ask right at this moment.

But it was the last rule that really drew my attention.

Rule Five: Two magical items are allowed per arcanist. Only one of those items can be an artifact.

“Magical items…” I whispered.

It felt a little scary, as I knew that the tournament would be a lot more dangerous. But I was also curious and excited.

“Another sign the tournament is more dangerous,” Master Elias said. “But also an opportunity for us to learn more. Come. I’ll teach you kids to craft your first magical items.”

CHAPTER FIVE

For once, Sage looked confused. “Master Elias, how are magical items made? I’ve only ever seen them before. And I’ve read about how imbuing works. But I don’t know how to actually make them?”

“Unusual for you not to know something, Sage,” Master Elias said with a smile.

“It seems like your master is really taking a liking to these two,” Roux said.

“Yeah, I like that,” I whispered to her.

Back when we first met, Elias thought they were a waste of time and he wanted me to train them myself. I supposed he had seen plenty of wannabe fighters before who gave up after finding out how hard it was.

But now that Elias saw they had real steel, he was investing in them, too.

“Wait, can we start from the beginning?” Finlay asked. “I don’t even really get what magical items are. I mean, the name is obvious. But, I mean, what they do? And how they get their power?”

“We’ll get to that,” Elias said. “But first, follow me. We will have to get some supplies. It’ll be easier to talk and walk at the same time.”

He strode off, with the rest of us hastily following him.

I kept Roux close, with one of my hands on her sleek and scaled hide. She felt like snake skin, but somehow as soft as a rabbit. When she was near, everything was easier.

Roux stared at me with her brilliant blue eyes, and her crystal horn, jagged and almost thunderbolt shaped, caught the sun just right, sparkling like a jewel.

“So, I’m sure all of you understand this, but you know how your creatures have magical abilities, right?” Elias spoke as though he were a professor. He kept his hands behind his back as he walked and explained.

“Even I know that,” Finlay said, his eyes sarcastically narrowed. “Just get to the good part.”

“I’m getting there,” Elias growled. Then he cleared his throat and continued. “There’s augmentation, manipulation, evocation. Then there’s innate abilities that you gain just from being an arcanist. That’s both things like expanded lifespan and the natural benefits you get, like a syrocko drake’s warmth. Then there’s auras, but we don’t need to worry about those just yet.”

Auras were one of the most powerful and difficult techniques for an arcanist to use.

Dario had beaten me with his kirin aura and recently, I’d figured out how to use my aura with Wren.

“We need to work on our aura, too,” I whispered to Roux. If I could do both a kirin aura and a syrocko drake aura, I’d be a seriously powerful arcanist.

“Yes, partner,” she replied.

“All mythical creatures also have imbuing powers. Imbuing means putting their power into an item. However, it’s not as precise of a science as you’d think. Your augmentation tends to be pretty consistent. Amir always can use fire attacks—it just depends on the size. With imbuing, the more magic put into an item, the stronger it gets.”

“So the item will have some of my power?” Wren asked as he scurried along the ground. “Like how my scales resist heat? Or my spikes are hot?”

“Yes, exactly.” Elias nodded. “Let’s say Wren had a tooth fall out. If it’s right out of his mouth, you could probably use it to stab someone and burn them. But what magical items do is, they make the bonus permanent.”

“Okay, I think I get it.” Finlay walked a little taller and waggled his eyebrows. “I’m going to be so good at this.”

His grave moth sailed through the air next to him, leaving a trail of rotting dust. The little skull head definitely looked as though it were skeptical. “My arcanist, what makes you think you’re going to be good at this?”

“Back when I was with the orphanage, I used to chop lumber all the time,” Finlay said. “I’m great at working with my hands!”

“My arcanist…crafting magical items is a very delicate and gentle process…”

I stifled a chuckle. I was definitely with Sinsidius on this one. When I thought of Finlay, I thought of his strength and enthusiasm. Careful and gentle weren’t traits I associated with Finlay at all.

I kept close, wanting to hear all the details. This was the first time Master Elias had ever told me about magical items. Not only that, I’d never seen him use one. If magical items were so powerful…why didn’t Master Elias have any back in the Sunset Desert? Was he just that confident in his hand-to-hand fighting?

Master Elias held up three fingers. “A magical item has three components. The first is the item you’re imbuing the magic into. That can be anything—a sword, a shield, even something like a necklace or a ring. The second is the piece of the magical creature—or magical creatures—that you are trying to use the magic of. And the very last piece is star shards.”

“Wait…star shards?” Finlay cried. “How are we going to get those? They’re way too expensive!”

“We entered this tournament because we needed star shards to begin with,” Sage said. “There’s no way we can afford the amount needed to make magical creatures.”

From traveling with the two of them for so long, I could tell I was on shaky ground. But still, I had to ask since I had no idea. “How much is a star shard worth again?” I asked.

Sage almost started screaming at me. “The thousand star shards for winning the tournament will set anyone up for life…it’ll set any family up for life for many generations.”

“You are just unbelievable!” Finlay groaned. “A star shard is worth a thousand gold.”

“A thousand sounds like a lot,” I remarked.

“Yes, it is a lot…” Finlay said. “Back in Morrumbi Town, I worked as an arcanist for the school. I wasn’t the greatest guard or anything, but still—being an arcanist pays a lot.”

“Oh, so did you make a thousand gold?” I asked.

The whole system of gold coins was just confusing to me. I didn’t really get it. Elias handled all the money for us growing up.

Honestly, I didn’t even understand how these gold coins could be worth so much to begin with. Sure, I got that gold was rare, but you couldn’t actually do anything with it.

Finlay looked like he was about to pass out with frustration. “Okay, first off Desert Man…you don’t just ‘make’ gold. You get paid for a job. That’s like an agreement where you get a certain number of gold coins—or bank notes—for doing a job. And even though I was an arcanist, I was only getting paid fifty coins a single year. That was doing a job every single day!”

“To be fair,” Sinsidius pointed out, his voice foreboding, “I wasn’t very strong back then. You were technically an arcanist, but if you ever had to throw someone out, you were stuck using your fists. We could probably make three times as much as that now, if not more.”

Three times as much was still just a hundred and fifty gold coins. It would take a lot of work for someone to make enough money to buy some star shards.

But before I could say anything else, Finlay jolted up excitedly. “Oh, wait! I know what we could do. We’re winning the tournament. So why don’t we just take out a loan? Tell someone that if they give us a star shard, they’ll pay us back later.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea!” Sage said. “Smart! We’ll—”

“No, no,” Elias said, interrupting them. “No credible loaner will bet on us winning the tournament. You’ll see during the opening ceremony—and all the asinine celebrations they’ll put on in town—there are lots of teams here. Many with famous fighters. They will look much stronger than anyone we faced before. The regional round is a cakewalk compared to the prefecture bouts. And then there’s the national round after that.”

But then Elias’s scowl softened. He saw that Finlay was discouraged.

“I think we’ll win the tournament,” Elias said. “I’m just saying a random person who has no clue what’s going on won’t bet on a bunch of kids. And anyone who would bet on us is probably some shady loan shark.”

“Wait a second…” I muttered.

I rummaged in my bag, then pulled out the Crown Pieces we’d won in our previous bouts. All of them gleamed in my hand. They were mostly made out of silvery metal, but there was a small glowing gem embedded in it. At the time, I had felt a small amount of power from the gem, but now I knew what it was.

“This is a star shard, right? In the Crown Piece? We could just take it out. Then we’d have enough for items!”

“Great idea, my arcanist!” Wren said. “That’s so much smarter than working with some shady loan sharks.”

Elias just shook his head. “Amir…how is that possibly a good idea? If we tamper with the Crown Pieces, ours will look like counterfeits. Then we’ll be disqualified from this tournament.”

“Oh. Right. I guess without the star pieces, these are just ordinary pieces of metal.”

“Exactly,” Elias said. “And besides. That’s not even a real star shard. It’s just a very tiny, almost infinitesimal piece. More of a decoration than anything else.”

“Wait a second…” I scowled.

I didn’t know much about money, but I knew that Master Elias was rich. He donated so much money to the orphanage that they’d been able to run for years after I left. Back when he was the Red Wind, he’d probably made a lot of money as a famous arcanist, maybe even from tournaments.

I didn’t know if he was thousands of gold rich though, but even if he was, that didn’t really solve the problem.

“Is it even going to be possible to buy star shards? If they cost so much gold, aren’t they going to be super rare?”

“But don’t worry. I’m sure there’s going to be lots of star shards around town right now.”

“Simple,” Elias said. “Have you ever heard the saying ‘sell shovels during a gold rush?’”

“Master Elias, I’ve never heard that saying before,” I said. “You taught me everything I know!”

“Clever boy,” Valdo said, almost startling me. The old man had been wandering behind us quite a bit, keeping to himself. Whenever he spoke, I was suddenly reminded of his presence, like he was a mere shadow. “You’re right. Any gaps in your education are solely the fault of Elias.”

“I don’t even know why I try…” Elias grumbled.

“I know what it means,” Sage said. “During a gold rush, everyone is trying to find gold. But that’s just based on luck. You’d be better off selling people shovels and picks. Then you’re sure to make money, and it’s more consistent.”

“Exactly,” Elias said, waving his hand. “Look at all the vendors here. Look at how big their houses are. If you want to succeed in Indigo Port, you have to be sharp as a whip. And sometimes, you have to be real cutthroat, too. If I had to bet, the vendors already knew that magical items will be allowed. So they probably stocked up on star shards ahead of time.”

Indeed, as we walked closer to the city, we found a few stalls with tapestries of great battles. Some of the shops looked more established—like actual buildings—but others had been hastily put up.

There was a large sign right outside—welcome to the Indigo Arcane Market.

“See what I mean?” Elias asked. “Half the traders in town are suddenly experts on magical artifacts. What a coincidence? Who could have known?”

“Dang,” Finlay muttered. “Master Elias…you have a lot of street smarts.”

“In the desert, we call them survival instincts,” Elias replied, smirking.

But then, Master Elias’s smile slid off his face as he eyed the crowds.

He shook his head. “These rich morons… They are going to drive the prices up on us. Look at how much they are spending.”

The market was packed to the brim with wealthy looking arcanists.

Some of these arcanists had elegantly embroidered clothing, making me think they were nobles like Dario’s companion, Lady Feng. Others wore gleaming and ostentatious golden armor—perhaps they were famous tournament fighters of some sort.

All of them had one thing in common.

They were desperate for star shards.

From the looks of it, they were so rushed they were paying even more than a thousand gold. To my shock, the arcanists paid even more for pre-made magical items, walking away with gleaming swords and shining shields. Someone paid with a whole wheelbarrow of gold to get a breastplate layered with dragon scales.

“But aren’t we going to have to pay these prices?” Sage asked. “I mean…if they are willing to pay them the merchants can just charge more, right?”

“I have a cheaper way,” Elias growled. He threw his hands up in frustration. “These city slickers are always making my life complicated.”

“Really? How?” Finlay asked.

“Think about it, Finlay. There’s plenty of arcanists who are fighting for tournament glory. Those arcanists are all buying magical items right now. But there’s other arcanists like our team, right? People who need the money.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Finlay said. I nodded. Other than Dario and Lady Feng, none of the arcanists we battled looked as rich as the ones buying from the Indigo Arcane Market.

“So people are going to be desperate, right?” Elias said. “And that means there’s going to be scumbags trying to prey on the desperate.”

“Wait…” Finlay said. “Aren’t we desperate? So we’re going to get preyed on?”

“No, no,” Elias replied, shaking his head. “We’re going to prey on the people preying on the desperate.”

“Oh, I like that,” Wren said. “It sounds like we’re going to be apex predators. That’s what us syrocko drakes are back in the Sunset Desert!”

“Or like stealing from the rich to help the poor,” Sage chimed in.

Her bag shook and Kenji poke his little tanuki head up a tiny bit. “I love this plan already.”

We followed him further down into town, where we found a sudden square that was filled with loud and excited shouting.

“Get him! Beat that ogre down!” someone yelled.

Another person screamed, “No way! I got my money on the ogre man! You can do it!”

“Hah! He went down…but that just means it’ll be my turn sooner!”

I could practically feel the fervor and desperation from here, just from listening to the voices. Like Master Elias said, there were people who really wanted star shards.

Were they…fighting for them?

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“I haven’t been to Indigo Port before, partner,” Roux replied. “But I believe there’s some gambling going on.”

I blinked, then nodded.

Gambling.

That would make sense. It was a way for arcanists without the money to pay the increased prices to get their hands on star shards.

Not only that, just having one star shard wasn’t enough. Master Elias said that each item required at least one star shard. To equip a full team, you would need at least ten shards, if not more.

So I could see why people would bet their shards, but surely that’d come with a lot of risk…

Elias gently strode towards the front of the crowd.

I’d never quite seen someone navigate through a city like Master Elias before. He just walked in a straight and resolute line, only moving aside for other people when he saw they weren’t paying attention. Anyone who bumped against him quickly decided to slide away.

Everyone surrounding the stall was roaring and screaming, but just a mild touch told them they shouldn’t mess with Master Elias. Before long, we were at the front of a stall that was even more hastily erected than the others.

Like everything else in the city, it was still indigo, but the large and flashy posters surrounding it still stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the elegant tapestries from before.

The gaudy signs blared out a shocking message.

CAN YOU OUTWIT THE MIGHTY MEATHEAD?

A game of chance with star shards on the line.

One to enter.

Win and take the ENTIRE PILE for yourself!

Beneath the posters were a bunch of brightly shining glowstones, setting the stage for the coming battles. Standing in the center of it all was an utterly massive mountain of a man who was flanked by a goofy-looking ogre.

“Challenge us!” the ogre said. His eyes spun wildly around in his sockets, like he was trying to look even stupider than normal.

“Is that really his name?” Sage whispered. “Is Mighty his first name? Or Meathead?”

“Well, you have to admit it fits…” Finlay said. “Maybe his mom knew what he’d grow up to become.”

The Mighty Meathead wore a plain and simple loincloth, revealing his big and gleaming muscles. He had very tan skin and a fierce expression, with black runic tattoos etched all over his body. He’d tied a thick black band around his forehead, to keep his long and shaggy hair out of his eyes. Absolutely nothing about his appearance suggested that he was an intellectual.

Beside him, the ogre roared proudly, swinging a makeshift wooden club around. It was one of the first times I’d seen an ogre before. It looked a little bit like a giant, although with a bestial face. The ogre’s canines jutted out of its lower jaw and its eyes were a feral yellow. It had a huge pot belly that stuck out over a pair of roughly hewn trousers. “Me smart!” the ogre cried. “Me smart!”

“Come and try your luck!” the Mighty Meathead called. “The game is simple. Hide this star pearl underneath one of the cups. Me and my eldrin will try to guess where it is. If we can’t guess—you get all the pieces!”

The man was sitting in front of a plain and simple wooden table with three upside down wooden glasses on it. Next to the three cups was a small sphere filled with glowing magic. It was similar to the decorative star shards used in the Crown Tournament’s star pieces.

Beneath the table was a large pile of star shards. There had to be at least twenty or thirty of them there.

Finlay’s eyes gleamed. “Imagine if we won all of those…we’d be rich!”

“This guy doesn’t seem smart at all!” Sage said. “I bet we can totally outwit him!”

“This will be a piece of cake!” Peeter cawed. “Us grifter crows are known for our brains. We’ll grift this arcanist in no time!”

Wren nudged the back of my leg with his snout. “Come on, come on, come on!” My syrocko drake was practically bouncing up and down with excitement.

To my surprise, even Roux was eager. “Partner. We can win easily. Let’s bet right away!”

But it wasn’t just my eldrin.

I was feeling very excited for some reason too.

I felt the thrill thrumming in my guts, infusing my whole body with the desire to take on this challenge. The crowd was filled with flushed and grinning faces.

“Wait…” I muttered. “Wren. Calm down. Something is going on here…”

Looking at the large pile of star shards, a lot of people had been defeated already.

Even if the ogre and his arcanist looked stupid, their record spoke for themselves. And star shards were worth a lot of money. Normally, that pile would scare people away. It wouldn’t make them more eager. But people kept charging into bet, which just didn’t make sense.

Master Elias caught my eye and nodded. “Not bad, Amir. You’re a step ahead of these fools here. There’s some serious trickery afoot. And I don’t intend to bet my star shard until I’ve figured out what it is.”