The Citadel chamber that William had requested was one that he’d used before. An arena the Ai’Bron monks had dubbed the Dancing Stones. William had faced a fire mage the first time that the monks had given the chamber to him. He’d been impressed by the mechanics of the place and had always meant to have the monks build it for him a second time. Time and circumstances had prevented reuse of the Dancing Stones, but there were no obligations keeping him from it any further.

Combatants would enter the arena on opposing sides, a standard feature of most of the Citadel’s prepared rooms. They would have the chance to prepare themselves or to conduct any other ritual preparation from a starting platform which faced their opponent across a field of swaying stone pillars. The field was large, designed to give the combatants ample room to dodge around one another. The pillars themselves were tightly packed together, at least initially. All that changed once weight, any weight, touched one of the pillars. This event would cause that pillar to descend, falling away from the top of the field. The descent would be slow at first, but would increase in speed the longer that the weight stayed on it. Once a pillar started dropping there was no way to stop it, and each pillar would continue to drop for twenty feet or so before completely falling away into nothingness. The monks considered anyone who was trapped on a pillar when it fell away to be the loser, unless somehow both combatants managed to fall away at the same time. William hadn’t asked if that had ever occurred.

But the precarious nature of the footing was only one of the reasons that William enjoyed the Dancing Stones arena. Another was that though field was large, it wasn’t endless. Sooner or later even skilled opponents would find themselves with fewer and fewer pillars to use as footing, and that footing would be farther and father apart. Furthermore, a violent wind whipped constantly across the arena and through the stalks of the pillars to discourage anyone attempting to use flight to avoid the stones. Anyone trying to fly in the arena would be sent violently crashing among the pillars if they were below the top plane of the field, or would be hurled out into the bright blue void around the pillars if they tried flying above it. Tempting either would be a gamble with more odds of losing than not. Fortunately for the combatants, the wind’s violence was kept to a minimum as long as they remained on the magically enchanted pillars themselves. Jumping from pillar to pillar, William knew, was also permitted.

“This is perfect,” William said as he stepped, grinning, onto his platform. The biting wind brought tears to his glowing eyes despite the fact that the cold had no meaning to him. The vast field of pillars swayed gently in front of him and he knew that once he stepped out onto them there would be no time for thought of debate. The only thing that he’d have would be his instincts and the quick-paced staccato of action and reaction.

William reached up and released the clasp on his cloak, allowing the savage wind to tear it out into the bright blue sky surrounding the field of pillars. Likewise he dropped the heavy dragon bone cleaver and titanium breastplate he wore, allowing them to fall into the nothingness beneath the field. They would only hinder him here.

William grasped his warscythe tightly and let his transformative power flow through him as he waited for him opponent to arrive and take their place.

It was time to fight.