Eleven years was a long time for anyone to train with a sword, but especially Leia. She never had to do any serious physical labor in her entire life, and her guardian, Earl, was ruthless in his training. For years she would enter bed at the end of a long day, groaning with bruises from his wooden sword littering her body. She was grateful for his kindness, not only did he teach her the way of the sword, but also magic. The way magic worked really pissed her off at first, it seemed unfair, those who were born great stayed great, and those born shit stayed shit.
"Magic has five different categories, Leia." Earl had said, writing five words in the dirt during their rest.
"Are you finally going to teach me about it?" She had teased, punching him lightly in the shoulder.
"Yes," He replied, completely serious. "I told you when you reached the age of 15 that I would tell you."
"Okay okay," She said easily, "Then spill."
He had eyed her, before taking a deep breath and launching into a detailed explanation. "The five categories of magic are set in stone, and they have been for thousands of years. Combat magic deals with physical enhancement, allowing a person to complete acts once thought impossible. Energy magic deals with large blasts of pure power, the blast I sent at your captors all those years ago was energy magic." He drew a small check next to the ones he had gone over, and continued, "Utility magic is the most common type of magic, it consists of small spells that can be used in everyday life, most workers in this town have an affinity for it. Nature magic consists of the elements, that is the one you are the most confident in, and lastly healing. Healing is the rarest and most sought after, but it's pretty self explanatory." He took a breath, placing a hand on his chest and pumping it once letting out a cough.
"In my understanding, you can have an affinity for a type of magic, and you can only use that type or types of magic, correct?" Leia attempted to clarify.
"Correct," He confirmed, "If you were to try and use an energy spell it would most likely fail horribly and backfire. But with your affinity for combat and nature, those types of magic would be like second nature to you, no pun intended."
"Seems fair." She had muttered, drawing a sheepish shrug from Earl.
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Four years of training with magic and the blade given to her by Serith later, Leia was quite proficient in both the blade and magic, if she said so herself. She had built a makeshift practice dummy out of materials she found and hacked at it repeatedly, sweat pouring from her forehead and sinking into the dirt.
"Leia," Earl called from the house, "You've been out here for hours, come grab lunch."
She nodded, flashing her sword away and jogging to the house. "What're you makin'?" She asked casually, plopping down on the wooden chair Earl forced her to build herself all those years ago.
"I was going to make your soup, but we've run out of fruit. Can you swing by the market real quick and grab some?" He asked simply, flashing her an innocent smile when she groaned.
"Of course, Earl." She said, standing up from the chair and heading out the door, not before grabbing a small stack of silver coins from the table next to the door.
Leia was well respected in their small neighborhood of Cascade Point, children and their mothers waved at her from their houses and elderly greeted her as she walked past.
"Morning Leia!" One of them called out to her, pausing in their gardening for just a moment.
"Morning, Pam!" She called back, smiling easily at the old woman.
The market looked very much the same as it had eleven years ago when she first arrived, and she still did get some strange looks as the fabled Girl of the Lake, but it never really bothered her. She stopped by a small fruit stand, the owner was nowhere to be seen so she just grabbed a small bag, a couple of fruits and left her stack of silver on the table. She made her way back to Earl's house slowly, not in any particular rush. When she entered it, the soup was steaming and it smelled burnt. She walked over and turned off the stove, moving the soup off the hot burner. She set down the fruit she bought on the table and looked around warily, flashing her sword into her hand.
"I've heard much about you, Leia Quinn." A voice she didn't recognize said from behind her, she blindly swung with her sword at the sound and she hit nothing but air. "No need to be hostile, I'm only here for a chat."
She spun around, meeting eyes with a tall man, he wore a gray suit and his legs were unnaturally long. His eyes were bright, and they contrasted his slicked back blonde hair in a way that exudes power. "What'd you do with Earl?" She questioned, urgency seeping into her voice despite her attempts to keep calm.
"Nothing quite yet," He replied, "That all depends on you, Lakeborne."
She glared, but upon realizing that with Earl as his hostage there was nothing she could do, "Fine, what do you want?"
"For you to join my games of course, I've seen that you're quite capable." He said breezily, as if he was telling her the weather, "And if you refuse, Earl will meet a terrible death!"
"Yeah, I figured that." She said angrily, "Okay fine, whatever, take me to the games." Leia was not stupid, she knew exactly what games he was talking about, and she knew exactly who Dominic Lloyd was. She knew that those he scouted usually ended up going missing, should they refuse his offer, and she wasn't too excited about the idea of going missing. Especially not with Earl in his grasp. She reluctantly put her sword away, and looked expectantly at Dominic.
"We're all a family in the games, Ms. Quinn." Dominic said slyly, "No need for hostility."
Leia said nothing, throwing another glare his way for good measure and stalking out of her own home. She walked beside Dominic on the way to the center of the town, the walk was quite long because of how large Cascade Point was, and the nervous stares from her neighbors didn't help her feelings of dread.
When they reached the center, four guards all in knight armor appeared at both of her sides attempting to make a grab at her arms. She shrugged them off, "I can walk on my own," She spat, "Don't need babysitters to come with losing my freedom."
One of the guards on her left gave Dominic a hesitant glance which he replied with a small nod, and they left her alone. In the center of Cascade Point there was a giant, circular stadium that stretched high into the sky. There were a couple of doors on each side that opened into a large, still circular room below the main pit. Desks and little food stands lined the walls, with one large main stand on the farthest wall. Leia was ushered to the stand and poked on the back by Dominic, "Tell them your name, Child."
"Not a child," She replied easily, turning to the old man sitting expectantly on the stand, "Leia Quinn." The old man looked very similar to Earl, and it made Leia's heart hurt. To think this innocent old man was probably blackmailed into doing Dominic's bidding for his entire life enraged her, but there was nothing she could do about it, at least not yet. He gave her a pitying glance and scribbled down what she presumed was her name on a sheet of paper.
"Welcome to the games, Leia Quinn." He said in a gravelly voice, like he had been speaking for decades without a single break, "Good luck."
She nodded in thanks, turning to Dominic who loomed over her from behind, "What now, O Great Dominic Lloyd."
His jaw tightened, clearly annoyed at her blatant sarcasm, "You fight, of course!" He said cheerfully after a slight pause, "Normally one would wait a couple of days, get acclimated, find a weapon, but for someone as special as you." He paused, "But it would be a waste to wait on someone as special as you, Leia Quinn."
"Whatever you say, Dom." She said easily, "I am your humble servant." She bowed deeply, throwing a defiant look his way.
Anger surged into his features, and he grabbed her arm roughly, "It would do you well to not disrespect me, Quinn." He snarled, "Go to the Arena, this one will be a fun watch."
She rubbed her arm, shocked at the pain now coursing through her body. Where his hand touched her arm, the skin felt like it was on fire and she had an urge to put it out, but when she glanced down there was no mark, no burn, no fire. She figured it had something to do with his magic, but she had never heard of magic that could do something like that before.
The guards reached for her arms again, and this time she figured it would be smartest to let them feel like they were doing something. No point in making my life here worse than it already will be. She thought to herself.
They led her to a gated iron door that led out into the main pit. She could hear the cheers from the other side of the door, and at the very end of the Arena she could just barely make out what she assumed to be her opponent. Her gate began to slide open with a resounding CREAK and she stepped out into the open. The sun beat down into the pit, immediately making her uncomfortable and she held up a hand to grant herself just a little bit of shade.
"Her debut fight, Leia Quinn, the Lakeborne!" A voice spoke calmly from speakers, amplified by some sort of magical device, "And her opponent, the Everburning Blade of Embrithal himself, Rhys Kent!" The gate on the other side of the arena slid open, and a tall man stepped out, walking slowly and deliberately. He wore no armor, just like her, and his medium length brown hair was tied into a bun. In his hands and resting over his back was a giant greatsword that he hefted with relative ease into a battle ready position. "Kent is an incredible fighter, with an astounding fourteen wins and zero losses, he is one win away from granting himself freedom and there is no doubt in our minds that he will achieve that today, isn't that right everyone?" The announcer finished, and the crowd roared.
Leia squinted at her opponent, the way he carried himself made it easy to see that he was strong. Realistically there was no way she could win this without using most of her divine power, which would then leave her vulnerable later should she be attacked. She scanned the Arena, above part of the seats there was a giant glass box that looked down upon the entire area. In that box she could only assume was Dominic, and what appeared to be another girl, clearly someone important. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something, like Dominic had planned everything that was happening within this Arena, she needed to figure it out before Rhys ended their fight quickly in a less than desirable manner.
"Quite the title you've got there!" She called out, her sword still not in her hand. Her plan was to play at his emotions, and end it with one quick strike before he could react, she figured it would be easier said than done.
"Believe me," He called back, "I know more than anyone." His response made her hesitate, there was something there. She thought about his title, he was clearly an important person to the city of Embrithal, which if she remembered correctly was the Southern Port.
"I think we may have something in common then," She replied, they were now within striking distance of one another, but neither made a move. It was strange Leia desperately searched his stance for a flaw, for a crack in his guard but there were none. He moved like a machine, every move was deliberate and none of them were wasted. She summoned her sword and with the same movement slashed upwards towards his neck, the blade swishing through the air in a silver arc. Rhys shifted slightly, shrugging the blade off his shoulder and swinging it up and hitting her sword from below knocking her off balance, the air from her lungs was forcefully removed when he delivered a strong kick to her chest sending her tumbling to the floor.
"A tricky one," He mumbled, "Just what I needed." Leia was still on the ground, so she pushed herself backwards and up onto her foot, sword at her side. Her eyes widened as that giant blade swung directly at her head which she only deflected with a lucky, and desperate, flick of her blade. He was fast, way too fast for his size.
She heard the announcer from the box speaking excitedly into the speakers, but the adrenaline rushing through her body wouldn't allow her to make out the words. She made two large backwards leaps in an attempt to put distance between the two of them, but Rhys descended upon her as she landed once more swinging the gargantuan blade in an arc that would surely cleave her in two. Panicking, she drew the moisture from the air, and condensed it into a large shield of ice that took the hit from the blade with a CRUNCH.
This clearly surprised Rhys, and using his slight hesitation she kicked at the shield pushing it forward and throwing off his stance just slightly, but it was enough. Infusing her muscles with just the slightest amount of power, she jumped over the shield and channeled her oath. The tattoos along her right arm began to glow a brilliant golden light, and her blade surged with power. I can't afford to charge it safely, I need to end this here and now! The crackling energy surrounding her blade eagerly licked at her arms, and she slammed the blade into Rhys with a devastating crash.
She immediately felt the backlash rip through her arms, shattering the bones in her right arm and severely bruising her left. The ink on her skin seemed to fade slightly, still there but not as prominent. Channeling as much holy power as she had into one strike had weakened her connection with Serith immensely, she thought she had built up her tolerance enough to not worry, that she could at least use Serith's power enough to protect herself and Earl but she had clearly been wrong. She let her sword disappear into her hand, and glanced hopefully at where Rhys had stood just moments before.
Flames erupted from the crater that she had caused in the ground, and Rhys Kent emerged from them and Leia swore she caught a glimpse of his skull illuminated by the raging inferno, before it was covered by the skin of his face stitching over it.
He walked out of the flames slowly, and spoke quietly, for only her to hear, "Unlike flames, Leia Quinn, I never die."
With two useless arms, and adrenaline finally giving way to exhaustion, her situation was quite dire. She had one final thing that she could try, but it would cut off her connection with Serith until she could rest and reacquire her strength. She spoke up, ignoring how shaky her voice sounded, "Wanna see a magic trick, Dickhead?" Once more, her tattoos began to glow and warm energy surged through her body. Her bones stitched themselves back together, the bruises along her arms faded away and the tiny cuts that she had accumulated over the past couple of days vanished. She glanced at her arm, the tattoos were now little more than a slight pigmentation on her blue skin.
Rhys did nothing more than raise an eyebrow, "Impressive, but I can see the effort that it takes just for you to be standing. I won't kill you, not when you cannot fight back. I'm a better man than that." He slid his blade back over his shoulder, leaving both of his giant hands free for him to use. She was already struggling to stay conscious, and with the confirmation that she would not die in this pit she finally let go.
Before her vision went completely dark, she saw Rhys' mouth moving and vaguely heard the cries of rage from the crowd, he gave her one last glance, winked and motioned for her to close her eyes.
She mouthed a thank you, and then let herself fall into unconsciousness.