Eternal Awakening

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Lovers Quarrel

Lord Richard Proud Vs Princess Daiya – 6PM Start

Lady Coni Proud Vs Agnes Dilston – 7PM Start

TBD Vs TBD – 9PM Start

Richard read those words over and over again. It still hadn't sunk in even after the semi-final bracket had been posted almost an entire day ago. He hadn't been expecting to fight Daiya before the finals, even though he knew there was a chance. Whenever he pictured it in his mind he always saw them standing across from one another in the finals, with the title and championship on the line.

He stood in the cold ready room ten minutes before the match was scheduled to begin, staring at the poster on the wall like it was the only thing in the world. Coni sat on a bench a few feet away and clicked her tongue annoyingly at him. Since there were only four people left in the tournament they had been split evenly between the two ready rooms, the staff making sure to keep the opponents separated before their matches. That meant Richard and Coni got to spend an awkward half an hour cooped up together, both lost in their own thoughts as the toughest matches of their tournaments were just around the corner.

“Can you sit down?” Coni asked in annoyance. “You're making me nervous just standing there with your back to me all the time!”

“Sorry,” Richard said lamely, and sat down with his back to the wall. “I'm just feeling really anxious right now.”

“You should be; you're fighting against the strongest mage at the school. One who also happens to be your fiance. I'd hate to be in your shoes right now. Besides, from the way I understand things, you two have a lot to put out there tonight, and I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up killing you.”

Richard sat forward on his bench and looked at the older woman, her blonde hair shoved beneath her cloak and a serious look on her face. “What did you just say? Is she mad at me or something?”

“I don’t know really,” Coni answered softly now, “she and I have more important things to discuss that don't involve you. You know, like running the student government! But I don't see why she wouldn't be mad at you. The minute you two got engaged you stopped talking to her after all.”

Richard groaned in exasperation and stood up to begin pacing. The noise of the crowd above them was getting louder, and he knew that it would only be a few more minutes before he was out in the arena in front of them and staring down Daiya. He began to wonder if he should try and talk things out with her. Would she give him the chance if he did? Or would she erase him from the tournament in the blink of an eye just to get a little pay back for being blown off for the last few weeks.

Before he realized it the time had come, and a professor came to get him. Before he walked towards the ramp that led to his imminent demise, Coni stood and crossed the space between them until she was standing a foot in front of him, her face a little pale and a nervous look in her eyes as her match was only an hour away now.

“I suppose this is the part where your beautiful and smart aunt gives you some wise advice on how to beat Daiya,” she laughed nervously, “but there's nothing I can tell you that would give you any edge. Just keep your eyes on her at all times, and keep moving. And above all else, good… good luck.”