Master Teo'mar started walking toward the victor of the duel, his gaze sharp and knowing. Shan's heart pounded in his chest. The eyes of the master mage was ancient and wise it glinted under the daylight. Shan panicked at the thought that Master Teo'mar knew of his cunning trick.
He had to know.
Teo'mar was a master mage, after all. He probably saw through his act from the start.
Shan's legs felt too weak to run, so he just stood there, bracing himself for the worst. Master Teo'mar stopped before him, the air grew quieter and Shan could feel the flow of a light breeze brush his ear. He watched the old master raise his mage's staff for his head.
"Please don't hit me with your stick, Master Teo'mar!" Shan shouted, throwing his arms up over his head.
But to his surprise, the staff did not come crashing down. Instead, Teo'mar pointed it at Beramet's crumpled form on the ground, muttering, "He'art Ret'riun." A soft green light enveloped Beramet, easing his twitching body as the healing spell took effect.
It was only then that Shan realized everyone was still staring at him. Their faces were a mix of surprise and confusion. Had he… just made a fool of himself? After all that effort, had he messed up the grand finale?
"Shit. Somebody kill me." He muttered to himself.
In that moment he regretted having said those words as a voice cut through the air. "He cheated!"
A number of gasps erupted in the crowd as all eyes turned to find the one who had spoken, but Shan did not need to, he already knew who it was and that was perhaps why he was much more angrier than afraid. Or maybe both.
Standing a couple of feet from the crowd, in an isolated spot was a young girl with long green hair, smooth flowing skin and wearing the most proud look anyone would shudder at.
Shan cursed under his breath. "Why couldn't you let me have this one damn thing, Sheera."
Sheera was simply his younger sister who was also the genius of her generation. She had already unlocked three forms of magic while many other mage initiates struggled to manage with two. She also had an unstoppable ego that always made her feel special. Shan hated it.
She wasn't even supposed to be there, so seeing her there meant that she was going to expose him in front of everyone.
Master Teo'mar tried to silence her but one look at her unyielding caused the old mage to stutter and fumble his words.
Shan caused the man silently. "That old goat, is he scared of a teenage girl? Where's all that fabricated power of the elders everyone always talks about?"
Despite the fact that Sheera was his little sister who he was much older by three years, he was afraid of her. Tales of her talent surpassing anything he could ever achieve were known throughout the nation if trained mages, but he alone knew how true they really were.
The rumours about her did no justice to her real strength, instead they underplayed how powerful she really was. There were times he would wonder if the real reason she was so powerful was because she had inherited the magic he left behind in the womb.
A gust of wind hit his face but instead of cooling him, it felt scorching.
Feeling the need to control the situation and save his skin, he cleared his throat and channeled his inner older brother and hoped it would work. But for some reason unknown to him the way he spoke, even the words that came out ended up being severely altered.
"Sheera, please leave." His tone had turned into a pitiful one. He had always been afraid of her since the day she crushed him at home, his father wanted her to force the magic out of him. That was the day he realised that his baby sister was more of a monster than his tyrannical father.
Sheera started to walk forward, slow and steady. It was what he had expected from her, she never bent to anyone's will, that was the mage she had always aimed for. The old mage raised his staff slightly in her direction and blocked her way.
"Stop, young one. No one is allowed to enter the duel circle, you know the rules." It was the first time Shan had heard the voice of the old man tremble, it was barely noticeable to anyone but him.
Sheera continued to walk as she gently pushed the master's staff aside. The words she spoke next made Shan's heart sink into a cold pit, "Anyone but a challenger, that is." Her tone was so cold it made Shan's skin shiver.
He could tell she was pissed at his little stunt.
Why can't she just let it go, he thought. I've got to do something or she'll ruin everything I've worked so hard for.
Just as she was about to cross over the boundary of the chalked line drawing the first ring of the circle, Shan pulled his last card.
"Wait, what if I don't want to duel you? If I don't accept, you cannot force me." He said while finding his confidence and losing a bit of it mid speed.
Gods, please let this work. He cried inwardly.
A silence followed after he had said those words, a silence so profound that the group of mage initiates behind faded into nothingness. The obscurity of it all was the fact that his sister continued to stare at him, her blue ocean eyes slowly started to glow. Shan gulped down in fear, his organs tightened and his body grew paralysed unable to move.
In his mind's eye, he could see the trickster tied up by strings suspended like a puppet. All will and power stripped from the once victorious fighter, soaring above the now constrained trickster was the sun glowing with a never ending golden shine. All the chains holding up the trickster faded into the sun above.
Slowly, Sheera stepped into the circle, her glowing eyes never once leaving him. They dared him to resist. "It's true that I cannot force you to accept, but you also cannot refuse. No heir of the Vera clan has ever refused a duel, not ever."
Shan slowly cursed his ancestors and stared at his sister, he was already out of tricks. He knew from experience, a trickster without any trick was simply a puppet. "I'm heavily injured, I can't fight now." He hoped that she would be at least reasonable this time.
The look she gave him remained the same for a few seconds, next he heard the air around her humming. He could see it vibrating visibly, and the seals signifying the three magic attributes she had unlocked began to glow on her forearm.
She opened her mouth and spoke very slowly, "That won't be a problem for the clan prince's son, after all you beat the son of the next strongest clan without using your magic. That intrigued me, so much that I would like a simple demonstration. I will use the same spell and you can do it all over on me, you can even use your magic all you want."
The feeling he felt from watching her was hard to say in words, he was not sure if there was any word he could use in his vocabulary. But there was, it was morbid.
To Sheera, weakness— especially from her own brother, was an insult to their clan.
"I am going to die today." He said at the tip of his voice.