That’s it! A smile broke out on his face. I’ll just use my magic to teleport back home! Then I’ll be safe and warm back in my own bed! Why didn’t I think of such an easy answer before! That must be the test, to see if you are smart enough to give up and go home when you have no other option left! Soon, I’ll be home, safe and sound.
But another thought nagged at him. Wait, the byemove magic is meant for close teleports, not long ones. It might go a dozen feet, but it would never go a few hundred miles! Ugh, I’m doomed to die a terrible death here.
The man in black was on the move again. The sound of his steps brought Lyrad out of his funk and back to the matter at hand. His self-pity had left him with no time to react to the next attack. The man in black kicked him in a blinding flash, slamming into his knee almost hard enough to bend it backwards.
Lyrad cradled the new injury in one hand while rolling around and howling in pain. The crowds were once again cheering for the man in black after that move, but his opponent wasn’t finished yet. He grabbed a hold of Lyrad’s free arm and twisted until he heard another crack.
His arm went limp with a fresh wave of pain. He glanced at the poor, twisted appendage that was now bent at an odd angle and screamed in pain anew.
The pain clouded his mind, blocking out most rational thought. It was all he could do to plan another escape. He used his byemove spell again and teleported himself to the other side of the arena right as the man in black was about to deliver another blow to his ribcage.
It bought him some precious time and a few dozen cheers, but not as many as before. The crowd wasn’t keen on repetition.
Lyrad looked down at his disabled arm in dismay. He was barely holding on to his life and he had no hopes of escaping the next blow in his injured state. His earlier memories flooded his brain once more.
Waves of memories from years past sloshed behind his eyes, reminding him of his life before priesthood. Suddenly he remembered everything – his Dragon of Martial Arts training, the pain when he had to leave it behind, everything. He finally knew who his mystery opponent must be.
That’s me! Well, a younger version of me, at least. This must be part of the test – to defeat your past! But, how am I supposed to do that? He’s uninjured and fresh out of training, while I haven’t even done stretches in weeks!
Lyrad roused himself from his thoughts and took a look around the arena, hoping his younger self would be slow to approach him this time, savoring the kill. He scoured the landscape in search of his enemy and found him still clear on the other side of the field.
The man in black was holding a writhing figure in his hand, but Lyrad couldn’t quite make out who it was.
“Help me, Lyrad!” the figure screamed. His blood froze. It was his mother! His younger self was assaulting their mother!
The man in black squeezed their mother’s throat tighter, blocking off her screams, and slapped her hard across the face. Lyrad howled in anger, almost feeling the slap himself, and lurched forward on his knees, intent to help her.
In that moment, he remembered his myriad injuries and his body failed to respond. He cocked his head and closed his eyes, clenching his teeth as he cast a megafixhurt spell to get past the worst of it.
Bruises faded and his arm twisted back together, bone re-forming in a sickening motion that felt almost as bad as the original break, but then it was over. Finally ready to act, he got up on his feet and lurched forward.
At the same time, the man in black did something unthinkable. He took out his finely crafted tanto blade from one of the folds in his outfit and used it to slit their mother’s throat. There was a gurgling sound and a spray of blood, then their mother’s body crumpled to the ground and lay still.
“Mommy!” Lyrad cried out, tears welling up in his eyes as he watched his mother’s lifeless body slip from his younger self’s grasp onto the floor.
The crowd in the stands laughed at him while he screamed, having some sick sense of humor. They also booed him down for showing that he had a weakness – even if it was his mother. At the same time, they also cheered on the man in black for his ingenuity.
“I will make you pay for what you did!” Lyrad screamed.
His rage gave him newfound strength. He cast a windswift and a musclebig spell to give himself unnatural levels of energy and speed. He gave his opponent a look that seemed to say, ‘play time is over, little child.’ For a second, it looked like the man was frightened, but then it was gone.
The crowd started to cheer for him again.
Evidently, Lyrad’s opponent was done fooling around as well, for he pulled out a shiny new katana blade that looked sharp enough to cut through stone. The cheers that had been going to Lyrad all shifted back to the man in black when he pulled out his weapon, since the armed man always stood a better chance in a conflict.
“Now that’s not very honorable, using a weapon against an unarmed man,” Lyrad spat. This gave the man in black a moment of pause, but he resumed his stance. “You probably think you’re
