the championship. I am a Norriel by right, a champion.
He turned away and walked over to Master Gudin, handed him his sword and respectfully saluted him. The Master solemnly returned the salute.
Komir started to leave the ring amidst the applause and cheers of the excited crowd. As he walked he looked for his parents’ faces among the spectators. Finally he found his mother’s face to his left among the people sitting in the first row. But something wasn’t right; her face did not reflect the joy he was expecting... it reflected a completely different emotion...
It showed...
Horror!
Her eyes wide, Mirta was looking in his direction, pointing at him and shouting something. But in the midst of the noise from the thunderous applause, cheering, and shouting, he could not make out what she was saying.
The expression on his mother’s face both surprised and startled him. He stopped, almost to the edge of the fighting ring, trying to hear what she was shouting. He strained to understand; she was screeching at him now. He tilted his head and craned his neck to hear better.
What was happening? Why was his mother pointing and yelling?
He did not understand.
A shrill screech, a piercing scream coming from his mother’s throat, stood out over the rest of the din from the crowd:
“Look out! Behind you!”
When he heard that, Komir’s heart skipped a beat. A visceral fear overcame him. He instinctively turned to look over his shoulder.
Akog, his arm raised high, a dagger in his hand, was two steps from dealing him a deathly blow in the back. The ill-fated boy’s eyes shone with the gleam of insanity. His mouth, contorted by rage, was twisted into a grotesque smile.
“I’ll kill you, you bastard!” he screeched, with all the fury of years of stifled irrational hatred.
Behind his attacker, at too far a distance to stop the treacherous assault, ran Master Gudin and one of his instructors, screaming at the top of their lungs for Akog to stop his demented attack. The spectators’ cheers and applause abruptly ended and immediately transformed into shouts of horror and alarm in the face of such a frightful, dishonorable betrayal.
Akog, ignoring all of them, took one last step, gathering momentum, and threw himself at Komir.
A fateful ending seemed inevitable.
Komir, seeing his enemy’s imminent attack and the dagger rushing toward his neck, experienced a rush of horror so acute that his chest nearly burst. But something else awakened within him along with that rush. An odd sensation flowed through him and he perceived a singular energy, born out of the deepest part of his being, running through his body. A powerful energy, set in motion by the sensation of danger, had instantly concentrated in his chest. He could feel the intense blue force pressing against his chest, trying to break out of his body.
In that ill-fated moment, time seemed to come to a standstill, freezing reality. Every sound ceased to exist, all movement stopped; the air itself seemed to evaporate, replaced by a vacuum. Akog hung suspended in midair, the deadly dagger just inches from his neck.
Instinctively, Komir raised his right hand to defend himself. But instead of placing it in a defensive position he’d reached out to touch his attacker, not knowing why. The dagger sluggishly advanced in a deadly arc toward his neck. The motion was occurring so slowly he felt he was caught up in a nightmare. An instant before the blade would sever his neck, his extended hand touched his attacker’s chest.
And in that last moment, something unthinkable happened.
With a savage wrath, all the energy accumulated in Komir’s chest surged forth as a devastating explosion from his hand.
Time awakened.
Everything returned to life.
Sounds once again filled Komir’s ears. The power of the brutal explosion was so strong that Akog was blasted forcefully in the opposite direction. He shot through the air outside the fighting ring and landed on the other side of
He turned away and walked over to Master Gudin, handed him his sword and respectfully saluted him. The Master solemnly returned the salute.
Komir started to leave the ring amidst the applause and cheers of the excited crowd. As he walked he looked for his parents’ faces among the spectators. Finally he found his mother’s face to his left among the people sitting in the first row. But something wasn’t right; her face did not reflect the joy he was expecting... it reflected a completely different emotion...
It showed...
Horror!
Her eyes wide, Mirta was looking in his direction, pointing at him and shouting something. But in the midst of the noise from the thunderous applause, cheering, and shouting, he could not make out what she was saying.
The expression on his mother’s face both surprised and startled him. He stopped, almost to the edge of the fighting ring, trying to hear what she was shouting. He strained to understand; she was screeching at him now. He tilted his head and craned his neck to hear better.
What was happening? Why was his mother pointing and yelling?
He did not understand.
A shrill screech, a piercing scream coming from his mother’s throat, stood out over the rest of the din from the crowd:
“Look out! Behind you!”
When he heard that, Komir’s heart skipped a beat. A visceral fear overcame him. He instinctively turned to look over his shoulder.
Akog, his arm raised high, a dagger in his hand, was two steps from dealing him a deathly blow in the back. The ill-fated boy’s eyes shone with the gleam of insanity. His mouth, contorted by rage, was twisted into a grotesque smile.
“I’ll kill you, you bastard!” he screeched, with all the fury of years of stifled irrational hatred.
Behind his attacker, at too far a distance to stop the treacherous assault, ran Master Gudin and one of his instructors, screaming at the top of their lungs for Akog to stop his demented attack. The spectators’ cheers and applause abruptly ended and immediately transformed into shouts of horror and alarm in the face of such a frightful, dishonorable betrayal.
Akog, ignoring all of them, took one last step, gathering momentum, and threw himself at Komir.
A fateful ending seemed inevitable.
Komir, seeing his enemy’s imminent attack and the dagger rushing toward his neck, experienced a rush of horror so acute that his chest nearly burst. But something else awakened within him along with that rush. An odd sensation flowed through him and he perceived a singular energy, born out of the deepest part of his being, running through his body. A powerful energy, set in motion by the sensation of danger, had instantly concentrated in his chest. He could feel the intense blue force pressing against his chest, trying to break out of his body.
In that ill-fated moment, time seemed to come to a standstill, freezing reality. Every sound ceased to exist, all movement stopped; the air itself seemed to evaporate, replaced by a vacuum. Akog hung suspended in midair, the deadly dagger just inches from his neck.
Instinctively, Komir raised his right hand to defend himself. But instead of placing it in a defensive position he’d reached out to touch his attacker, not knowing why. The dagger sluggishly advanced in a deadly arc toward his neck. The motion was occurring so slowly he felt he was caught up in a nightmare. An instant before the blade would sever his neck, his extended hand touched his attacker’s chest.
And in that last moment, something unthinkable happened.
With a savage wrath, all the energy accumulated in Komir’s chest surged forth as a devastating explosion from his hand.
Time awakened.
Everything returned to life.
Sounds once again filled Komir’s ears. The power of the brutal explosion was so strong that Akog was blasted forcefully in the opposite direction. He shot through the air outside the fighting ring and landed on the other side of
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