54: Duel On The Dunes (Patreon)

NOTE: Some dialogue's been added to the prev chapter where Vir & Maiya discuss the ramifications of the hunters who'd been after Vir. This happens before her training scene, when they're at their spot under the tree, near the beginning of the chapter.

“If you want me at my best, we need to fight outside,” Vir said, staring down Riyan in the training dome.

The moment of their duel had finally arrived, and Vir fought to keep the jitters under control. He flicked a glance at Maiya, who nodded supportingly. Neel and Tanya stood beside her. He had a lot riding on this one.

“Why?” his instructor asked.

“I have my reasons. I’d like to request you to fight me somewhere open. You pick the site.”

He hoped that in doing so, Riyan wouldn’t suspect him of foul play.

The big man stroked his beard, eyeing Vir up and down. “Very well,” he said at last. “We ride for the oasis. Is this acceptable?”

“Very,” Vir replied, breathing a little easier.

Vir and Maiya mounted up on Bumpy, while Riyan and Tanya each rode their own Ash’vas. Neel nuzzled up against Vir before he left, as if wishing him good luck.

“Do you really think you’ll pass his test?” Maiya asked as they rode through the sand dunes. The morning sun was still low in the sky, leaving the temperature warm, but not yet oppressive.

“I have to.”

The upcoming duel was going to be a headache for Vir. He still couldn't use Dance of the Shadow Demon. Neither Riyan nor Tanya had said a peep about it, which could only mean one thing—Tanya hadn’t seen him use that ability in the Godshollow. If she had, she’d have blabbed to Riyan, and he’d have jumped off the ceiling with joy.

Vir hadn’t even told Maiya about it, though for different reasons. Bragging about a new ability would just kill the wind in her sails. She’d only just made a breakthrough in her mejai training. He didn’t want to sour her joy for an ability he hadn’t yet learned.

Which meant that he really only had one secret weapon. To this day, Riyan still didn’t know about his explosive stamina growth. Vir had taken every precaution to hide that from the man. He’d have to capitalize on that deception if he was going to win this duel.

“But why did you want to fight out in the desert? It’s only gonna get hotter, yeah? What’s wrong with the dome?” Maiya asked.

“I told you my Talents use prana, right? Ash affinity is incredibly rare. All the Ash prana’s almost depleted around Riyan’s place. Whatever’s left, I’m trying to keep for emergencies.”

He’d taken a gamble by letting Riyan pick the location. Luckily, the oasis was as good as any. He had scouted several locations to determine how many Talents he could use before the Ash prana in that area dried up, and the average was about a dozen combined Leaps and High Jumps.

“You don’t have to do this for me, Vir. You don’t have to win against him if it means messing up our chances for later. I’m not that selfish,” Maiya added.

“No, he won’t accept it unless I go all out. And trust me, he’ll know if I’m holding anything back. I fully intend to pass.”

Of course, it was easier said than done.

Riyan finally stopped at the bottom of a saddle between some sand dunes. Vir couldn’t even see the oasis from here, but he knew they must have been close.

“Will this do?” His instructor asked as Vir pulled up alongside.

“It’ll do just fine,” Vir said, hopping off. “But there’s one condition I’d like to request.”

Riyan looked amused. He gestured with his chin for Vir to proceed.

“If I pass your test, I’d like you to grant us permission to visit Brij. In disguise, of course.”

“Acceptable,” Riyan said without hesitation. The reply came so quickly that Vir felt the man had already decided and was just waiting for Vir to ask.

The duel was now official. All of Vir’s worries about hiding his abilities melted away. He knew what he had to do. He just had to execute on it now.

Because failing meant Maiya would cry… and that simply was just not acceptable.

The two faced off in the valley of dunes, forty paces apart. Too far apart for a conventional duel… but warranted for a duel among Talent wielders.

For this fight, he had his usual katar, three chakrams looped around his neck, and a dozen smaller chakris worn as bracelets—six on each arm. Riyan wielded only his talwar, as usual. His steel talwar. Both of them had equipped actual weapons this time around.

Tanya stood in the middle. She looked at Riyan, who nodded. Then she turned to Vir, who nodded back.

The mejai walked several dozen paces off to the side to where Maiya stood and held up an orb, activating the spell within, causing an Icicle to shoot into the sky. The match was on.

Riyan was upon Vir in an instant, swinging with his talwar. Vir had to Leap away to avoid the blow, but the man pursued. He Leaped forward, closing the distance and striking again.

From the outset, Vir was forced onto the defensive, Leaping away when he could, dodging when he couldn’t, and desperately deflecting the ones he was unable to dodge. High Jump was nearly identical to Leap, but that it sent him high up in the air. He didn’t dare use that Talent—his experience in the forest had shown him just how dangerous jumping into the air in the middle of a battle could be.

Again and again, Riyan forced him to Leap to safety, slowly depleting his most precious resource—ground Ash affinity prana.

Vir focused on fending off Riyan’s strikes, but he knew he’d lose at this rate, and soon. With nine Talent activations already wasted, he had two, possibly three usages left before the well ran dry.

This was the exact scenario he’d been hoping to avoid, and Riyan had pushed him here within moments.

Then an idea struck him. Maybe… maybe this is okay?

Vir fought desperately, just barely defending each attack. Every time his katar clanged against Riyan’s blade, he slowed slightly, his breaths growing heavy.

Riyan finally let up, and Vir fell to his knees in exhaustion.

“You have grown, but not nearly enough! Is this truly all the strength you can muster, boy? Show me your resolve! Come at me!” Riyan roared.

Vir struggled to his feet, took a deep breath, and went on the offensive. His attacks carried no energy, and soon, Riyan stopped moving altogether, lazily deflecting his attacks with a single hand. Disappointment oozed off of the man like a dark cloud.

“I see,” Riyan said, continuing to take Vir’s attacks, lecturing him in the middle of combat. “I see now that I have been too lenient with you. With Talents, I had thought you would become a force to be reckoned with. I’m afraid I was wrong, boy. You fail—!?”

Vir had waited patiently for this moment. For the moment when Riyan’s guard fell, convinced that Vir had expended himself. He now had something no amount of coin in this world could buy—the element of surprise.

He channeled prana into his legs and quadrupled his speed. Every trace of his prior ‘fatigue’ was gone.

Vir didn’t need Leap. He didn’t even need half of it. He consumed only a quarter of the prana needed for the full Talent—just enough to accelerate his body with supernatural speed, augmenting each strike. A micro Leap. And because it consumed only a fourth of the prana, it took a fourth as long to charge, ready in less than a second.

Vir became a whirlwind of slashes and thrusts. For the first time in his life, he inflicted damage upon the Ghost of Godshollow.

Countless cuts opened up on the shocked man’s arms and legs. Riyan hesitated for a moment, trying to comprehend what had just happened. But only for a moment. Then he burst into uproarious laughter, meeting Vir’s next blow with his katar, stopping it cold.

“Well played, Vir! Well played!”

Vir didn’t bother wrestling with the man in strength—that was a losing battle if he’d ever seen one.

He broke off his attack and jumped away, throwing both chakrams and chakris from midair. The smaller chakris didn't have the range of their larger brethren, but at this distance, both were effective.

Riyan defended against the deadly disks, but the man only had a single weapon. He couldn’t possibly defend against them all.

A chakri bit into his bicep, forcing him to Leap away.

Having expected that, Vir followed suit. Now he was the one pressing Riyan. Vir’s accelerated footwork continued, rendering him all but impervious to the bigger man’s attacks.

Ghost of Godshollow though he may be, he couldn’t match Vir’s movements as he ducked, bobbed, and weaved around the bigger man like water, ripping his robe and drawing blood with each attack.

“Well well, now this is a surprise,” Riyan said calmly. Far more calm than someone with his injuries ought to be. While none of Vir’s attacks had caused any mortal wounds, the man bled from a dozen cuts. Surely he should have felt something?

“I suppose it is time I took this seriously, then.”

Vir didn’t like the sound of that. Nor the evil glint in the man’s eyes.

His intuition was correct. Riyan blurred out of existence and popped up behind Vir, grabbing him by his collar and throwing him into the sand. Riyan hurled his sword at Vir, right at his chest.

Too late to dodge, Vir launched a chakri at the incoming blade. The two weapons clanged in midair, causing Riyan’s blade to veer off course, sinking into the sand just a hand’s span away from Vir’s head.

He had no time to relax. Just as Vir had found his feet again, Riyan had delivered a devastating punch to his abdomen.

Except this was no mere punch. Riyan’s fist glowed with Earth affinity prana, and his blow came at several times the speed of what any mortal should be capable of.

The next thing Vir knew, he’d expelled the contents of his stomach and was sailing through the air. He hadn’t even felt the impact, and strangely, neither did his body hurt.

What’s going on? Where am I? he thought in a daze.

He crashed into the sand, coming to a stop in a heap.

Oh… I must’ve blacked out? That’s happening a lot these days…

To his horror, Riyan stood above him the moment he’d come to a rest. Then he went flying… again. Vir hadn’t even seen the attack coming.

What he did hear was a sickening crack from his chest.

This time, he felt the pain. He’d never experienced such agony in his entire life. Worse… he could no longer breathe. Vir asphyxiated as he soared through the air, landing in a tangled mess.

He had no thoughts now. No plan, no tactics. His mind was consumed with forcing air into his lungs, which had seemingly ceased functioning. No matter how much he gagged, no air came in.

In an addled act of desperation, Vir seized the prana in his body and willed it to work. A foolish decision that only made the pain worse.

But it did allow him to breathe again. He sucked in a mouthful of breath, thankful for the hot, dry air.

In the distance, he heard desperate shouting. It felt so far away, though. He paid it no mind. He was probably hallucinating it, anyway. Thinking was hard for Vir right now.

A great shadow loomed over him. Looking up, he found a predator. His instructor, gloating over him.

No… not gloating. Daring. Riyan’s expression seemed to say ‘Well? Is that it?’

Vir spit out a wad of blood.

Was that it?

No Badrakking way.

Vir glared up at the massive man who towered over him. He shakily found his feet and rose to his full height, standing tall in defiance of his mangled chest and broken ribs.

He glared as he threw a weak punch at the man’s chest.

And he glared right until his eyes rolled up into their sockets.

Though Vir fell unconscious, his body remained standing, his fist pressed against Riyan’s chest. Like a statue that refused to yield, no matter the odds.

The last thing he heard was Riyan’s deafening laughter.