SpellBound

4: Van Claud

I sat by the window as I looked down on the carriages entering the castle grounds one by one. Each of them had different colors, as if declaring the clan that it represents.

Three knocks came from the door to my room. I hesitantly stood up and answered it.

"Leone!?" I said due to astonishment after seeing a Leone Caore in a suit standing at my door. "I-I thought you wouldn't come to Zeous!"

"Well, I wasn't supposed to but your father asked me to come. You know I can't decline a request from the heir of the current family that heads the kingdom can I? So--" he extended his hands in a gentlemanly manner. "Shall we go? I shall escort you down. The guests are already there you know. You'll get yelled at by your father again if you're late."

"Alright." I took his hands.

He was smiling as he led me through the hallways. My arm hooked on his. Leone and I have always been good friends, but I am aware that he has unrequitted feelings towards me. I guess if we were given a chance, I would consider him as my lover.

"Take a deep breath." He whispered. Only then, I realized that we had already reached the staircase, and all eyes were on me. "You're really beautiful." Then he smiled.

True enough, the gold semi-fit, floor length gown suited me well. But that coming from him, boosted my morale.

"Go get them." He said as he let go of my arm and disappeared on a hallway behind us.

As told, I took a deep breath and started down. I felt the dagger-like stares that some of them were throwing me. But I didn't seem to care. After all, it's just a ball. What could go wrong?

I gasped when I saw a man already flying accross the ball room and crashed at the feet of the staircase.

W-What could happen?

***
Third Person's PoV
(Haha! Finally, I got to add my own PoV. Hope this won't bore the hell outta you.)

A few minutes earlier:

"Come on, why won't you tell me your name?" A blond boy of average height was looming down a girl who was sitting. She, particularly didn't show even the slightest interest towards the guy.

"Get lost. You scum." She looked at him with blank, expressionless eyes, almost as cold as the winter weather. The words themselves did not contain much emotion, but the monotonic tone it had made it more insulting. She clearly crushed the guy's bloated ego.

"H-How dare you say that to the man who'll win this year's games?" He lifted his right arm as if to punch the girl. She wasn't rattled. She retained her poker face. But no punch landed. Nor any physical attack came.

"Let go of me!" He shouted angrily at another man who was now holding his arm.

"Just now you blurted out something that somehow caught my attention. Win the games? Tch. With your current strength and physique, I'd say you won't even make it until the third day." He readied his left arm, loosened the other, and sent the boastful creature flying. "Also, hitting a lady isn't what a guy should do. It's not very manly."

"I could've handled that on my own." The girl retorted.

"Yeah I know. Sorry, it's kind of a habit. My name's Cace, nice to meet you." He even smiled, but all he got was a 'tsk.'.

At that time, Aiesha van Claud was making her way down the stairway and saw and heard how the man who got beaten started his chant. She couldn't stop him because he had already finished before she could even say a word.

" Je te convoque , eaux puissantes, Surge!" All at once, water came out from his location as if spilling out from a damaged irrigation pipe. It floated atop the guests and he was controlling it at will. The water was too many, too much that the ceiling seemed like a deep ocean. Everybody was shocked at this awesome feat.

"With my current strength and magic, winning it is a piece of cake." He made sound like summoning a large amount of water was easy, but the contrary was showing on his face. Large beads of sweat formed all over his forehead. It must have took an intense concentration to accomplish the spell.

'But, at least he did it.' Aiesha thought to herself.

"Take this!" He shouted and in an instant, all the liquid formed into a large sharp spear pointed directly to the Cace, the man who punched him.

The next thing everyone knew, the spear was making its way to pierce the cause of the caster's anger.

"What an idiot." Somebody from the audience murmured. "Ikralgos!"

A huge flaming bird appeared and expelled the enormous amount of water. Yet another has used magic, which motivated the others to do the same. Before long, the supposed to be ball had erupted into a fight and somehow become a pretense to the battle they will be having at this year's games. Aiesha, still unable to come down from the staircase stood in daze, ahe didn't know what to do.

"Burn!"

"Whirl!"

"Disappear!"

"Rumble!"

The whole palace was filled with different incantations, different forms of magic. Aiesha was now panicking. Every single one of the guests has joined in on what seemed to be like a battle royale. However, she was relieved to see seven who weren't using their magic. But what struck her weird was a girl, she wasn't avoiding the attacks, yet, they don't hit. She chose to ignore it. It must be some kind of magic.

"I have to do something." She murmured. She was about to raise her hand and chant when a shout came from behind her.

"Roar, Aranto." The loud sound of the crackling of thunder, and the bright light of lightning caught each candidates attention.

"Enough!" The voice echoed with dignity and power. "What good will it do you if you revealed your power at this moment?! It was a good thing that the Council and the Circle aren't here yet. Save the fighting for the games. You can battle all you want there. But for now, behave yourselves. For once, at least try to be decent."

Everyone was forced to stop fighting because of what Arthur van Claud has said. Although the sharp stares and glares still remained, nobody dared to use magic. Well, who knows what Arthur van Claud can do? All eyes reverted back to Aiesha, everyone wondered, 'what can you do too?'