Measuring up to the Dwarf (open battle)

[Sid]

“So, explain this to me again.” Spoke the dwarf from behind the counter, “Why have you come to me? You’ve got not near enough gold, you’ve got nothing of value on you, and I don’t owe you nothing.”

“Master dwarf,” Sid said while suppressing the irritation in his voice, “I asked around, and all the other smiths agree, though grudgingly, that you are indeed the best at weapons. ‘He makes the sharpest blades, but I make the hardest armor,’ it’s all I’ve been hearing. Now, knowing that you make the best weapons, I wondered why it is that hardly anyone’s weapons are of your make. Why do you think that is?”

“I do know why,” Sid sped on, barely speaking before the dwarf. “You’re way out here, hardly even part of the Radasanth bazaar, and you don’t have a window for people to look in. Without a better location, an opening for warriors to see the gleam of your weapons, or a group using your wares exclusively, it’s been pretty tough selling hasn’t it? So this is where I come in, one word: advertising. If you were to just give me a weapon, then people would see me using it and I’d tell him who made it, then you would have people traveling to Radasanth just to buy your weapons.”

Giving it a moment to sink in, he watched as the dwarf’s brows knitted together in concentration and his face distorted in thought. Deciding enough time had passed, he spoke again. “I need a quality weapon, and you need something to boost your sales. This helps us both.”

While he stood with a hand outstretched, the dwarf seemed to come to a decision. “How do I know you’re any good with a blade? What happens if someone chops you up and then people will see my blade and think I got you killed? ‘Hey, that’s Ogthar’s mark on his sword. That’s a shoddy warrior with a shoddy weapon, don’t buy from Ogthar.’ What happens then?”

Try as he might to exude outward calm, a twitch beneath his left eye and a pulsing vein on his neck gave away Sid’s anger. “Do you only sell to the best warriors, or to anyone with the coin to pay? That is as likely, no, even more likely, than if you were to give one to me. You seem a bit…out of shape…to test my skills yourself.” His eyes lowered to Ogthar’s rather large stomach that caused his breeches to bulge, “Do you have some other way in mind?”

For once, the dwarf surprised him. The answer came to him immediately, indicating a previously unseen intelligence. The Citadel. After agreeing, the dwarf’s broad smile and happier attitude gave Sid the distinct impression that the dwarf had been maneuvering him towards that decision from the beginning of the conversation. It filled him with unease, nobody should have been able to control him in that way, he was too smart for that…

[Khalxaen]

Khalxaen fumed as she marched through the halls of the renowned Citadel. Her brows were furrowed and her lips were curved into a frown. The demon was upset—no, she was furious because of some snide comments a group of rude knights had said a while ago. She should be used to it now, considering that the Citadel wasn’t the friendliest place for a weak looking demon like her.

They had made a mockery of her. ‘A young elf in a place like this? And she looks so weak!’ Before she could retort to that statement, another one replied—‘No way, if she’s an elf, she’s probably a three hundred year old hag even though she looks that young!’ and they all broke out in laughter. Khalxaen went red and rushed away angrily. They were too many for even just a verbal fight.

Idiots.’ Khalxaen thought to herself. She suddenly came to a halt and stared at the number of doors in front of her, each one designed differently to the last detail. There were stories about the magic of the Citadel, that every door led to a room which seemed impossible to fit in the compound, and each one was different and as magical as the other. Magic often bored her, but the Citadel was an exception. She had always wanted to experience fighting there, but she had backed out every single time she had come. Of course, she wouldn’t admit this to anybody. Khalxaen seemed like a loud and courageous demon at times, but she knew that there were much more stronger people in a place like this, and she wasn’t planning on dying anytime soon.

And then she realized—that reasoning wasn’t like her at all. She vowed that the next time she passed by the Citadel she was going to enter a room and get ready for a battle, win or lose, for no apparent reason at all. She’d do it just because she was capable of it. And of course, she hadn't known before that the monks revitalized the participants back to perfect health. Now that she knew, she had nothing to lose.

’If my opponent is one of those knights, I’m going to kill him.’ She huffed to herself as she approached a random door. It was made of bronze and had the engravings of dragons on it, but she didn’t pay much attention to the design. Even though she was doing this out of impulse and only because she had the opportunity, she was feeling nervous as she grasped the hilt of her short sword, Skoteinos.

It had been awhile since she had used her sword. All she had been doing these past few days was wandering from place to place for no apparent reason, and she didn’t get into any unnecessary battles for that time being. ’Skoteinos must be bored. She thought. Khalxaen had the habit of talking about her sword like it was a person. The sword was still a mystery to her from the first time she heard about it, but she didn’t complain. It served its purpose.

The demon opened the bronze door and stepped inside, awaiting what was ahead of her.

[Sid]

After the long walk from Radasanth, the cool shade of the Citadel was a welcome relief. By the time they arrived, Sid was looking forward to a respite from the dwarf’s presence. They argued for well over an hour about which weapon he could take and their grudging agreement hadn’t set well. He had wanted to take one of the mythril swords but the dwarf was obstinate and argued that mythril was far too pricey to risk on an unproven man. The dwarf had tried to stick him with a simple steel blade, yet another strike at Sid’s dignity. Finally they managed to agree on a Delyn blade, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of being had the better of. The blade should have worked fine, Delyn was less like to dull or chip and had enough heft to it to feel like a weapon, but he couldn’t be sure the dwarf was setting him up for something.

This feeling was only furthered as the dwarf instructed him to wait while the dwarf worked over some mysterious deal with a monk just out of earshot. To calm himself, Sid went through a mental exercise of relaxing and tensing certain muscles meant to train control, but was distracted every time the dwarf gestured towards him. When the dwarf came back and announced he’d found a challenger and the arena was set, Sid couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that had settled somewhere in his stomach.

“Come with me, if you would,” Spoke one of the indistinguishable monks in their quiet undisturbed tone that the common people restricted to libraries or funerals. Briefly, Sid summoned up all the facts, rumors, and superstitions he’d ever heard about the monks. They ran the citadel, raised the dead, raised the dead free of charge, a missed opportunity, and did all this for some unknown purpose. Before he could consider more of the outlandish claims, Sid realized he was standing in front of the door, and the monk was gone.

The dwarf was still standing beside him and began shifting from foot to foot with impatience. “Well, what are you waiting for? Get in there and show me what you’re worth!” The dwarf finished by clapping a large hand as far up his back as the dwarf could reach, urging him towards the door.

Knowing he was too far in to back out, Sid grasped the handle and turned to the dwarf. “I may not know your plans, but I should remind you of this. When this is over, win or lose, I’ll be coming back.” He turned the handle and pulled the door open, “There are few places even a dwarf can hide.”

Seemingly not even hearing him, the dwarf roared, “Stop your stalling!” and shoved him through the open door.

[Khalxaen]

As soon as Khalxaen entered the room, ice-cold air quickly pierced her skin. Frowning, she looked around and closed the door behind her. The demon walked a few feet forward and examined her surroundings more closely. There was snow. The cold substance fell from above and pelted towards the ground in a furious speed. It made Khalxaen wonder where the snow could come from, as she knew this was just a room or an arena inside the building. Something inside her unconsciously idolized the monks behind all this magic.

The blizzard calmed down until only a few wisps of ice fell down. The entire ground was covered in white. She finally noticed the loud yells from the spectators and looked up. A tall wall of concrete surrounded the slushy white ground and beyond them were high seats filled with random people who were looking back down at her, each with a cheer or a sneer of his own. Luckily, she couldn’t spot any of the knights from before.

’A simple arena covered in snow, huh?’ She thought to herself. The concrete wall surrounded her in a perfect circle, and there was a huge statue of a dragon in the middle of the circle. On each four directions that were marked on a compass was an identical statue to the one in the middle, except smaller. Khalxaen couldn’t see their purpose rather than design, and maybe, for strategic means too.

With a sigh, she looked behind her and at the door she had entered, wondering who or what her opponent would be. The door soon opened and someone came through as if he were pushed right through.

Khalxaen looked him up and down. He had jet-black hair that was a contrast to the icy white of the stadium. He was a human, judging by the looks, and didn’t look all that different from most average men on Althanas. Of course, looks were often deceiving, and the demon knew she couldn’t put her guard down.

“Hey, I’m Khalxaen.” The demon said out loud for no apparent reason. She didn’t know why but she felt like introducing herself. The crowd around them roared even more as if not caring for introductions, unlike her. Khalxaen sighed to herself, knowing full well they were there to watch a match of blood. Not in the mood to disappoint a large crowd, she brought out her sword in a defensive stance, getting ready for his move.

[Sid]

As he recovered from being pushed through the doorway, the cold caught his attention first. Each breath vacuumed the chilly air into his chest, his throat dry and burning from the stinging frost, and with each new breath a plume of frozen mist escaped him. All around him the snow swirled through the air and clung to his clothing, his fine white shirt and black pants darkening with precipitation. Figures. Dwarves hate the cold. It was no surprise the dwarf had made the arena unpleasant from his perspective, but Sid had grown up in Beravar. He knew the cold, it was his home.

Focusing on the person in front of him, Sid took stock on his opponent. She was a woman, very short, elven ears, a single sword, no visible armor. Viewing all he deemed necessary, Sid let out a long weary sigh. She didn’t look to present a challenge, and to further insult she was a woman. They had no place in battle, other than medics or supplies but only positions of no import, she would not adequately show his own skill in the blade.

Hearing her address him, Sid responded in kind. “You may call me, Sid. I’m not normally one for chatter, but I had the impression that elves were tall and very fair, I thank you for disillusioning me.”

While he spoke, Sid’s bright blue eyes scanned the surrounding crowd. Although there was seating for a great many, only a hundred or so spectators seemed to have shown and many were eagerly cheering as the woman-child drew her sword. Among them, only one remained sitting and calm, the dwarf. He sat calmly, his eyes focused on the combatants with unequaled intensity, causing the hair on Sid’s neck to stand up. He knows something. The girl? No. The arena, maybe traps? The monks wouldn’t…

His stomach refused to settle, there was something more going on than he knew. In nervous habit he drew the drug carrying tube from his vest, twirling it in his fingers and then almost inserting it into his mouth. He stopped before placing it though, using the heavenblind drug wouldn’t prove his swordsmanship, it would only hurt his reputation. He deftly slipped it back inside his vest pocket, and drew his new sword.

He performed a practice swing, measuring speed and distance, give of the leather hilt, balance, and effort. The sword was just over four feet in blade length, in truth a hand and a half sword, and a little heavier than any Sid’d owned previously. The balance rested precisely at the guard, the blade was evenly weighted on both left and right sides, and the dwarf had the insight to break in the leather before making the hilt. Truly, it was a blade of rare quality.

Turning to face his opponent once again Sid spoke with slight sneer, his voice carrying disdain. “This is only as painful as you make it, die with some dignity.” As the words trailed off, Sid’s coiled muscle sprang into action bolting him across towards the girl in three quick steps. His right arm shot out from right to left, his blade a black stripe whistling through the air with the full force of his motion.

[Khalxaen]

Khalxaen winced; realizing manners would not be appropriate for the person in front of her. Of course, the demon didn’t realize that maybe he didn’t mean offense by his words. Khalxaen had to admit that she indeed looked more like an elf than a demon, but having pointed ears shouldn’t be the turning point of everything. She stared at him angrily.

’Getting heated up in matches are a one-way failure to getting defeated. After all, it’s what most people do—taunt their opponents.’ She thought, being overly hypocritical to herself. A demon that acted on impulse and got annoyed at the slightest things wouldn’t think like that, but Khalxaen did. She knew that her actions almost always led to mistakes because of not thinking it through, but she couldn’t help it. This time, she hoped she could control herself. This is why she didn’t make a move and charge at him without thinking like she usually did.

She watched him as he seemingly expected his sword, as if this was his first time even handling it. The demon whistled. “Wow, nice sword.” She could see the potential the sword had even though she wasn’t an expert at judging quality. The actual potential was going to be measured soon as he suddenly charged forward, almost catching her off guard, to her dismay.

’Darn, he’s fast.’ She countered his attack with her own side strike, a loud clanging as the two blades clashed. ’…and strong.’ The demon was sent a few inches back, her feet making trails in the snow. It didn’t help that the ground they were on wasn’t exactly the easiest place to try to stay put when you were being pushed, as it was hard to keep ground on snow. Wincing, she jumped a few feet backwards to avoid further possible damage.

Regaining her posture, she stood up straight. “You’re strong…” She mumbled. “By the way, thanks, but having ears like these don’t make me an elf. I’m serene and clever like them, though.” She said that two sentences with a flicker in her eyes, knowing full well that those words were probably the biggest lie she had ever told. Fortunately, something in her stopped her from breaking out in laughter. She couldn’t even tell if all elves were like what she described, but since most of those she had met acted so peaceful, she just arrived to the conclusion. The comment about cleverness was just something to boost her moral.

She went through her options. Trying to overcome him with strength wasn’t one. She had a few tricks up her sleeves but couldn’t see using them when he was right in front of her, fully aware of all her moves. She trudged backwards in the snow and hit the dragon statue behind her. A loud roaring sound came from it and the sky darkened. Suddenly, what seemed to be rocks of fire fell from above in contrast to the snow. Cursing under her breath, she summoned a barrier and held her head under her arms. She could still feel the slight sting of burning on her skin though. The falling rocks got fewer and the snow that was on the ground before had now melted.

’…So, I suppose each of these statues hold a trap similar to that.’ She mused. Thinking this as an opportunity that her opponent might be off-guard, even though only slight, she charged forward and jumped high, aiming for the top of his head with the strongest attack she could muster with her Skoteinos.

[Sid]

She met his attack well, her smaller blade striking the tip and taking full advantage of the overly long blade to halt the strike. He had swung with more force, but the change in length of the blade made the mechanical advantage in her favor. He was holding the sword wrong for such an attack, striking with the tip always resulted in less strength besides the snow allowing her to slide and cushion the impact force. He could never decide later, but the move was either that of an expert or of extreme luck.

Concerned only with the deflection of his attack, Sid moved his grip higher up the hilt and gathered himself for the next attack, regaining balance and position while training an eye on his opponent, looking for the slightest opening. Her defensive stance was good, but she was keeping her distance. He needed to close or he’d never touch her, and she continued to back away until bumping into one of the several dragon statues.

As she made contact, a roaring sound boomed from the scaled statue, echoing off the arena walls and increasing in volume. As it became louder, the source became apparent. The dragon itself was not creating the sound but instead the blazing rocks plummeting from the air targeting a radius around the onyx statue. With a few steps away Sid safely left the area of effect, refocusing on his opponent. She was trapped in a rain of fire while Sid stood off in safety, his lips curling up in a cruel sneer. His feeling of triumph faded as a barely visible shell shimmered as each smoldering chunk struck it and fell harmlessly to the side, though he almost set himself to action. She had protected herself magically from the rocks, but her arms were over her face and if he struck then she would be unable to parry his blow. Knowing nothing of magic, Sid wouldn’t risk charging through the storm only to strike at her and be blocked completely by a shield. He might have struck though and slayed her then, but he might have been completely vulnerable and still under attack by falling debris. Better to be cautious than daring, always.

So that’s your game is it? Get me stuck in a trapped arena with a witch. Dwarf! Not turning to look, Sid trusted the dwarf was still sitting and probably smiling. The dwarf was conniving enough that he might well be worth having as a true business partner, not just a chump to get a sword off of. As the rocks halted their bombardment, Sid silenced his wandering thoughts and focused squarely on the short woman.

Seeing her charge him, Sid shook his feet a little as immediately felt them sink several inches until settling on the firm stone beneath him, and brought the sword up with both hands. As she leapt a surprising distance in the air, Sid brought the sword forward with more force than he would normally have set into a single strike. The blades met in the air sending a shower of sparks sizzling into the snow, and he shoved back at her attempting to send her sprawling. She was airborn and he was grounded, her light weight also worked in his favor, this would be almost too easy. As their blades parted, Sid stepped forward and rapidly struck diagonally downward, the blade would grind against stone and dull the edge somewhat, but in a finishing stroke it mattered not.

[Khalxaen]

There was a reason Khalxaen had a habit of attacking from upwards. It was because of her small stature, and she knew that if she were trapped between a blade and the ground, her obvious lack of strength would be a disadvantage. Though what she lacked in height and strength she made up with agility. She wasn’t that much a fool not to know how to land properly, considering she often attacked that way. Before she hit the ground, she would have stuck her sword on the ground for added balance. To her dismay though, he was also faster than she expected.

Before she could regain her balance, he had struck out at her quickly. Frantically, she defended herself with her own sword. She would have easily been crushed if she hadn’t summoned another barrier to strengthen her blade. It barely halted her opponent’s attack, and she was in the predicament she hated the most: between a blade and the ground. Khalxaen cursed under her breath as she heard the cheers of their spectators. They were rooting for the one who looked stronger, of course.

Her barrier was slowly fading, she realized, as she was now being pushed further. ’That’s fine, as long as I managed to keep Skoteinos intact. Darn, this idiot is strong.’

She had no counter with her sword at a time like this. It was a good thing that she was also skilled in magic. Up until now she only used barriers, but she knew she was up to her limit on that spell. She couldn’t use it any longer, and that meant she had to finish this battle soon. His next strike might defeat her if she couldn’t dodge it.

“Caught you, human.” The demon said in a taunting voice. She was lying, of course, as she hadn’t planned this at all. Khalxaen just knew that she had to lie so that her opponent wouldn’t think he was winning, instead that he was actually falling for her traps.

Almost instantly, spikes of ice resulted in the air around them. ’Aim for the eyes.’ Khalxaen mentally ordered herself as dozens of ice needles went charging towards the man from all directions. She aimed the most at his eyes though, knowing full well they would serve the most purpose if they hit that.

[Sid]

The witch brought up another shield as well as her blade to block his most powerful stroke, handily saving herself from being separated at the shoulder. Fortunately, her magic appeared to have limits, much to Sid’s relief. He felt the shield give and the tremors caused by the two blades colliding, sending yet more sparks onto the ground. She was losing ground, and Sid could guess at the drain such magics were having on her. She spent most of the battle defending, she was forced into using magics, had been caught in traps, and although unharmed she had to be exhausted. Sid was still safe, and relatively fresh into the fight. His muscles were trained for fighting and endurance, though he might have felt somewhat heated had not the snow continued to cool him and steam about his body, he could fight like this for hours.

He was on the verge of laughing from the absurdity of it, the though that such a small female could challenge him to this level. Her outburst stopped him, made him unreasonably wary, and with good reason. The witch displayed her magic again, this time in an attacking manner as numerous icicles shot at his face, catching him completely surprised and undefended. The tiny slivers shot into his eyes, tearing up the flesh of his cheeks and nose, and destroying his sight in a gout of blood and fluid.

The agonizing pain was such that he stumbled to the ground, the black reflection less blade cutting into stone and standing upright. Groping hands clumsily pushed the frozen daggers farther in, rubbing against the raw flesh hidden beneath skin, and he couldn’t even scream for the pain. His mouth was clenched tight, barely under control. Reacting by instinctual want, Sid reached into his pocket and drew the artificial lung and inserted it into his mouth, sucking a ragged gasp through the thin tube, pulling intoxicating fumes mixed with trace remains of oxygen deep into his lungs. For a moment, his body seemed to sag and stopped trembling, only a second later rising up grasping the sword once more. He had regained complete control, suppressing the unruly pain through force of self.

He stood for a moment, waiting while the drug took full effect. His eyes were destroyed, yet through the blessed drug he saw fully around himself, details previously invisible to flawed flesh, a complete accuracy. Knowing he needed a second more, he called out callously to his enemy. “You have caught nothing, and your trickery will avail you no more.” With that he placed the blade firmly in front of him, ignoring the droplets of blood streaming down his face, ignoring the throbbing pain, ignoring the biting cold, ignoring the half-darkness of sight and mind-sight, and ignoring any restraint he may have had.

[Khalxaen]

’Blood…’

The scent of her opponent’s blood sent her mind haywire. She held unto her sword tightly, trying to regain her composure. For some reason the world was spinning through her eyes. When she tried to focus on a single thing, all she could see was a blurry image. ’Darn it.’

This had often happened in the past. For some reason, when faced with a large amount of blood, even though it wasn’t hers, her mind seemed to cause her body to go strange. It was psychological, and she first remembered experiencing it when she was younger. A dog was accidentally run over by a carriage, and blood seeped into the soil. She wasn’t frightened; rather, she had been curious. All that happened after was a blur of events, and if she could recall properly, someone hit her on the head, and when she had awoken she was already on her bed.

After that, nothing as drastic had happened. When faced with the said substance, she got a stronger urge to fight—to smash her opponent’s head, slit his neck, and other morbid things she never knew she could even think about. Her chest seemed to be tightening now, and she was having a harder time to breathe. ’Darn, not now.’

After a few moments though, she was back in the arena. The loud shouts from the spectators came back. She sharply stared at her opponent with a growl and realized he was using an item. The annoying red substance was still there, and she wanted to see more of it.

“…you no more.”

He was saying something, but she hadn’t caught it, except for the last few words. Her hands were throbbing for more, and for some reason, her sword’s hilt felt colder than usual.

“What’s wrong, human?” She grinned, baring fangs that she often hid in the past. “Come at me.”

[Sid]

Knowing that the effect wouldn’t last forever, Sid couldn’t afford to waste time. He had a few minutes at best before it wore off and if she wasn’t dead by then, he soon would be. She was standing only a small distance away from him, enough he could quickly strike again, but he couldn’t afford to waste more energy striking her shields and sword without effect.

Quickly evaluating his options, Sid sprung into action. First, he drew the sword closer to his body into a more defensible position while placing his free hand behind the open edge making for a stronger defense. Next he searched inwardly and focused completely. Slowly, the falling snow around him slowed its descent, thickening into white swirls that distorted his appearance. Soon the snow stopped touching the ground altogether, gradually gathering up snow already landed on the ground, forming a moving curtain of precipitation about him.

Within the matter of a second the snow had cumulated, for only a split second did their motion completely stop. Immediately after the snow in the air and ground for five feet around Sid gathered up seemingly of its own accord and bolted towards the girl in a massive wave, easily six feet tall. Stepping on the cleanly exposed stone directly behind it charged Sid, his blade drawn back and to his side, his feet meeting stone firmly and accelerating him with deadly precision at his prey. She would not be able to see him, predict the moment of attack, nor move to parry it, by all rights the attack should have been perfect. His speed and strength both went into the blade, gliding through the snow like it wasn’t even there. The force of the swing spun him about with its follow-through, scraping his feet against the stone, as he struggled to a stop.

He’d never moved something as delicate as snow before, each snowflake insignificant in its own though weighty as a whole, but his high lasted a while more even with the extensive use of telekinesis. Knowing she may have not been finished yet, Sid plunged the black edge into a flurry of white, trusting it to impale the woman if she had not already faded into death. There must be no chance for survival.

[Khalxaen]

“Crap.” The insides of Khalxaen churned as she watched the magnificent attack before her. She probably shouldn’t have taunted him, but she felt like it was another person had done that, not her. The snow stood high and threatening, and all Khalxaen could think of was to avoid the worse scenario. There was no way she was going to be able to run away or counter such an attack.

Instinctively, she let go of her sword and knelt down on her knees, covering her head with her hands. She felt the ice hit her in a massive strike; its huge mass crushed her in a painful process, and she felt like she was freezing. Air seemed to escape her lungs, and none came back.

Her eyes snapped open. A strong urge told her to lunge side wards, and she did so in the fastest manner she could. A blade thrust into the side of her left shoulder, barely missing her heart. She yelled in pain and saw the blood stream from her body. It was back, the blood thirst that she had felt moments before. Furiously grasping her shoulder, she looked at her opponent. It was amusing, how he could cost her this much pain.

She had never actually been in a fight to the death before. The demon had battled against numerous people, but she often slayed them right away, it without anyone getting close to death, they escaped, or she escaped. Everything seemed red to her now.

Her sight was going blurry again, but not with the exact reason as before. Before, it was because the scent of blood was making her berserk. This time, it was that mixed with exhaustion and loss of the said substance.

Khalxaen let go of her bleeding shoulder and saw her hands, drenched in blood. This hand searched all over the snow for her sword, leaving trails on blood on the ice. “D-d-darn you…” She growled under her breath. “W-where’s Sko…Skotei…”

When she finally found the hilt of her sword, she was comforted by it. Then, all went dark as the demon passed out on the cold ground.

’I really hate snow…’ Were her last thoughts, added with, ’…and strong humans.’

[Sid]

As the snow settled, a cruel smirk crawled across Sid’s pale visage. Before him, his opponent lay on the ground, her blood draining out and staining the pure white surroundings with a splash of crimson. For a moment, she looked ready to continue, but then collapsed on the ground. The blood amount wasn’t excessive, but from someone as small as her it proved fatal.

Sid began to clear his throat for some form of mocking victory speech, mostly over the dwarf than the woman, but his legs gave out beneath him. His vision faded, the pain emerged again, and Sid’s entire being felt submerged into the ground. He lay there for several moments gasping for air and gritting his teeth against the pain, never losing the feeling of falling even as the ice covered ground scraped his cheeks. Dimly, he recognized that the drug had worn off, though it was expected it still surprised him. As he vomited briefly, he recalled all of his past experiences and could never remember having felt so badly after, not even close. Perhaps pushing his mental limits was doing this to him, increasing the mind at cost to the body.

It was several minutes more before the monks entered to revive the girl and heal Sid’s face. They found him sitting silently, staring without eyes at where he knew her body lay. She had proved more challenging than he had anticipated, much more than he had anticipated. More than once he ran through the scenario of what their battle would look like from the stands, every time he could only assume his display was poor. The dwarf wouldn’t give him the blade, not after that match. He remained silent as a vague stinging feeling and a calloused hand brushed his face, then blinked in pain at the sudden brightness of the world. He remained silent as they lead him from the arena, though he cast a final glance back at the girl.

Outside, the dwarf stood waiting for him, tapping his foot impatiently. The sound echoed off the walls continuously, irritating in volume and tempo. Before he could ask, the dwarf snatched back the sword and clutched it firmly. “I’m afraid, you’ll not be having this sword. Don’t get me wrong boy, your fight was interesting. But anywhere other than the Citadel, and my blades won’t be your blades. Won a fair bit of money off you though, so I suppose I may owe you something. Maybe.”

Angered, Sid’s lips curled back in a snarl. “Something! You owe me a sword, and a damn fine one at that. I’ll…” Sid barked, cutting off his sentence as a monk approached, his gaze accusing. “I’ll be seeing you later, dwarf!”

Though he stormed off, acting perfectly enraged at the dwarf, Sid had never lost his calm. The dwarf would take some time, and having seen his capability in the citadel would be a least a little inspired by fear. He would have himself a masterwork sword yet, though it would not be this day. Even in pretend rage, Sid had time to leave a message with the monks. You fought well, Khalxaen. May our next meeting be less dire.

[Khalxaen]

’I lost, huh? Funny.’ Khalxaen thought to herself as she sat up straight in what seemed to be the arena she had passed out in. She instinctively hugged Skoteinos, draining comfort from it, as usual. An old monk a couple of minutes ago had healed her shoulder earlier. The previous excruciating pain was gone now, replaced with an annoying but painless sting. She thanked the old monk and forced a smile at him, and he smiled back at her and went off on his way. The demon stared at his retreating back, musing at the fact that these monks were so amazingly talented to be able to cure any kind of wound.

“This is embarrassing, huh, Skoteinos?” Khalxaen asked, gripping her sword tighter. She didn’t care if the people passing by thought she was crazy. At this point, she thought she truly was. “I’m getting the hell out of here.” She mumbled under her breath as she stood up. Dragging Skoteinos behind her, she ignored the group of knights who had earlier mocked her. They stared at her but said nothing, and she was thankful for that. Otherwise, battle number two of the day would start for her, and she didn’t care if her mind would go out of control again.

Just before she left the place, another monk went up to her and gave her the message from Sid. She looked at the monk crossly and nodded. Taken aback, the monk just went on his way without saying anything more. The demon didn’t think his message was offending; on the contrary, he probably earned her respect by giving such kind words. It’s just that she wanted to hate him, to be bitter about losing, but she couldn’t find it in herself to do it. He was far superior, and it was her fault she lost. This made her bitter.

On her way out of the Citadel, she saw a familiar looking dwarf. He was dressed like a blacksmith and eyed her carefully. Blinking, she stared back at him. It was only after awhile that she realized he was one of the few dwarves she had seen back in the arena, among the spectators.

“What are you staring at?” Khalxaen asked in a stern tone.

The dwarf paused for a while. Then he said, “Would you be interested in buying weapons?”

Khalxaen stared at him, an eyebrow raised. He was obviously covering something else, because he wasn’t staring at her before because she looked like a customer who even had money to spare. “No.” Khalxaen replied coldly and bluntly. She started to walk off when she realized the dwarf was actually staring at Skoteinos, not at her.

“Those types of swords are amusing.” He said. “Possessed swords are the best kind.”

Khalxaen rolled her eyes, not in the mood to listen to strange phrases from old dwarves. He seemed annoyed that she didn’t want to listen to his stories and walked away. In return, Khalxaen shrugged her shoulders and went off in her own direction.

[Storm Veritas]

Very nice, well written, clean short battle. I really enjoyed this! You two are quite evenly matched – I would suspect in ten battles you’d probably each take five. Similar strengths, similar weaknesses (although the weaknesses are few and far between). Although I’m not very familiar with these characters, there is clearly some great promise behind both of them. Good job!

In scoring, I have listed Sid’s score first and Khalxean’s second.

Story

Continuity (6,4)- – This is the fate of citadel battles. There just isn’t a great deal of continuity to them. I didn’t really get a great lead in for a good reason to be there in the first place, although Sid’s sword-seeking rationale was very creative and noteworthy. Not a bad job by Khalxean, just didn’t go too far out of your way for continuity.

Setting (7,6) - I liked the takeup of the real auxiliary senses by Sid here – the wave of cold, the sounds, the tactile sensory work. I also liked Khalxean’s work with the cold, and her character’s reaction to it. A good job by both of you here.

Pacing (5,6) – Both of you were very consistent with speed of development. I think both of you also dragged the end out a bit more than it needed to be. There was a very entertaining relationship between combatants here, a dually polite nature that was very amusing. It seemed to be Khalxean that actually got the action rolling first here.

Character

Dialogue (7,6) – Both were very good, tending towards minimalistic. I liked some of the interplay early on with Sid and the dwarf smith, and I really liked the internal dialogue with Khalxean. Unfortunately, it wasn’t perfect. Khalxean’s character tended to get a little too melodramatically verbose during combat, and Sid didn’t use a lot of depth with the speech in battle. Perhaps inner monologue could have provided more insight to the character. A nice job here overall.

Action (8,9) – Very high marks here, and very well deserved. Khalxean win’s out in this category due to the fact that her actions were a bit more entertaining. I liked the creative use of drugs by Sid to get a boost, but the strategy employed by Khalxean was just superb.

Persona (6,5) – Well done. Persona is very difficult to take on, especially as a new, weak character. Sid seems to have a little swagger, and Khalxean is confident within herself. This can easily be developed, but keeping a fairly round character is important too. Good.

Writing Style

Technique (6,6) – Both of you were sufficient. Other than obvious symbolism with swords and spells and climate, there weren’t very many literary devices here that I saw employed. A bit of foreshadowing, sure, but nothing crazy. Not a bad thing, but an opportunity for you to earn “bonus points” next time.

Mechanics (5,6) – Not as sharp as you could have been. Sid had some typos early on (and strangely seemed to clear up as the thread went on). Khalxean had less errors (mostly verb agreement issues for both of you), but there were still a few items that I read twice. I was disappointed early, but you both recovered fairly well.

Clarity(8,8) – I thought both of you were crisp and concise with your actions, and delivered your words with a lot of skill. Had you tried more difficult fighting techniques or broadly ranging emotions, this could have been even higher. You certainly didn’t show any glaring weakness here.

Miscellaneous

Wild Card (7,7) – NICE! Good job folks!

Total Score

Sid – 65

Khalxean – 63

Sid wins a narrow, exciting battle. Keep up the good work! I’ll be looking forward to more threads from both characters.

Sid earns 700 EXP and 200 gold (hopefully to buy a sword with!)
Khaelxean wins 370 EXP and 100 gold