The Crown Tournament [Chapters 25-27]

Hey peeps!

Sorry for the many updates today, but I figured I should share a couple more chapters of Crown. Here they are!

Hopefully you enjoy,

Shami

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

I hadn’t been paying attention before, because my thoughts had been focused on the refugees, but the city of Santtia was massive. I wandered down road after road after road, passing hundreds of people. I got lost. So very lost.

Hours went by, and I knew I had to make my way back to the massive restaurant. It was a place of lights, wasn’t it? But everywhere had lights. All the buildings, the walls, the merchant stalls—it was wondrous. My mouth was open half the time as I took everything in.

People stared at me, but I just couldn’t stop myself from gawking.

How did someone live here? How could you possibly remember everyone’s name?

“Wren, is this the restaurant?” I asked. “Do you remember?”

“I think it’s this way?” Wren replied as he scurried alongside me. The people of Santtia gave him an odd glance, but no one spoke to us. Which was odd. Everyone in the previous town had been so friendly—the people here were colder. “Dario said the building with the big gold fish, right?”

“Yeah.” I nodded, staring up at the multi-story buildings. “It’s the one Sage pointed out to us from over the wall. I just can’t believe it’s this big!”

And then we found it. At night, they had a fire pit out front with flames that reached several feet out up into the air. Glowstones in the shape of fish were hung from all the windows, and some even placed on the roof. The four-story restaurant glittered like a jewel, and sparkled with so much energy, I felt invigorated just looking at it.

“Wow,” Wren whispered.

We walked closer, and I realized there were crowds of people gathered outside, all funneling their way into the restaurant.

The building was made out of handsome burnt red wood, and each of the floors had large glass windows. Inside, I spotted customers eating at round tables covered with white tablecloths.

The black roof was pointed and angular, sloping upwards. Just like I’d seen outside, it had a large fish insignia created from inlaid gold.

“How many people are eating inside?” I asked. “There’s too many to count…”

Wren just shook his head in disbelief. “This is bigger than any cave I’ve ever seen.”

“Tell me about it. I can’t believe this is bigger than my house. No wonder Master Elias said that Morumbi Town wasn’t impressive.”

“What do you think Dario will talk about?” Wren asked. “He seemed super nice. And he knew a lot about eldrin—even more than Sage!”

“Yeah,” I replied. “Plus, he dislikes the East Sea Raiders. It’d be great if we could add him to our team. No offense to Valdo, but I bet Dario would be stronger than him.”

“That’d be amazing!” Wren puffed out his face and held his head high. “Then we’d have the best team ever.”

A long stream of customers walked into the restaurant. All of them wore fine clothes, sort of like what Brock had worn the tournament, only even nicer.

Some of the outfits looked outrageous.

There was a woman wearing a dress that trailed onto the ground behind her for another four feet. It looked like she was dragging a carpet around. I’d never seen a dress like that, not even in the books at the orphanage.

Wren and I carefully studied the customers, but Dario was nowhere to be found.

I frowned. “Looks like he isn’t here yet.”

“Well, let’s go in first,” Wren said. “We can explore!”

“Good idea.”

I walked through the bright red double doors, following the throngs of other patrons, and Wren waddled in behind me.

“Wow,” he exclaimed. “This is awesome!”

The restaurant’s walls were decorated with paintings of arcanists and their eldrin. It looked like all of them depicted epic battles. I saw a griffin arcanist jousting against a roc arcanist against a setting sun.

“Do you think those are real?” I asked. “Or are they just from stories?”

“No idea,” Wren replied. “Let’s check it out!”

He reared up a little bit, leaning his claws against the wall. Then he nudged his nose at a painting on the far side of the room. “That one looks the most amazing!”

It showed a typhoon dragon and a pyroclastic dragon battling against each other.

I nudged Wren playfully. “I thought drakes didn’t like dragons!”

He snorted. “You know what they say… Keep your friends close but your enemies closer. I’m just looking at this painting to find out their weaknesses.”

I pointed at the painting, closely examining the individual brush strokes. I didn’t know anything about art, but I knew this was impressive. I could never make anything like this.

The artist had rendered each of the pyroclastic dragon scales separately. Not just that, they’d someone painted the typhoon dragon just like it was in real life—a shimmering mass of shifting wind.

“How do you think they did this?” I asked, more to myself than to Wren. “This painting is so wonderful. The artist must have been the best painter in the world.”

“I have no clue how they made it,” Wren replied. He stuck his snout up at the canvas. “Check out these flames.”

The flames and wind mixed together, forming into a giant conflagration. The twisting red flames were beautiful.

“You know, we’ll be able to do that one day, all by ourselves,” Wren said. “Once we combine our evocation and manipulation.”

I nodded eagerly. “Yeah. Using all our magic at once is tricky. But it’ll be awesome.”

“Especially when we use it at the highest level…” Wren added. “Imagine if we just shot you forward like a flaming arrow. That would be amazing!”

“You there!” someone snapped. “What do you think you’re doing?”

I turned around and spotted an angry man storming towards us. He was a heavyset man with black hair and a prominent bald spot. He wore a black and red tunic, which seemed to be the standard uniforms for workers in the restaurant. So many of the waiters and doormen wore the exact same thing.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Me and my eldrin were just looking at the painting.”

“Looking?!” the man shouted. “You weren’t looking, you were touching! Don’t you know that’ll smudge the painting?”

“Oh.”

I glanced down at my hand and examined my fingers. Something white was on my fingertips. And now that I looked closer at the typhoon dragon, I saw that the wind lines weren’t quite as clear as before…

Wren turned around.

He had a giant orange smudge on his snout.

The man’s face rapidly grew red, and he pointed a trembling accusing finger at Wren. “You’ve already smudged it!” Then he threw his hands up. “Why did you even bring an animal into this building!”

“Hey!” I barked. “He’s not an animal! This is my eldrin. I’m an arcanist!”

The balding man’s face somehow went an even deepershade of red. “You’re wearing a headwrap? Arcanists don’t hide their mark, boy!” Then he pointed at Wren. “And there’s a different between an eldrin and an animal, and that difference is etiquette! Your beast slithered in here like a desert snake and then touched everything with his grubby lizard hands!”

I stepped between him and Wren. “Don’t talk to him like that. I didn’t know, uh, the painting was so fragile. I just got into town.”

“And so is everybody else coming here for the tournament! But they knew better than to touch things that weren’t theirs! What are you doing here? Hmm?”

“I’m meeting someone here,” I replied. “He said he had a reservation…”

The man gave me a stern frown.

“His name is Dario Hon,” I replied.

The man caught his breath, and his face drained of some color. “Dario Hon? I mean, there’s a bunch of Hons running around, but I don’t know a Dario…” His eyes narrowed. “Are you lying to me?”

By then, the argument had attracted another waiter. This was an older man, with gray hair and a stiff mustache. “What’s going on, Franco?”

The balding waiter—Franco—turned to his colleague, pointing at me. “This boy was walking around smudging our paintings. I asked him what he was doing, and he said he had a reservation.”

The older man also gave me a stern frown. “Our restaurant doesn’t do reservations, and I don’t like listening to tall tales. I’m afraid I have to ask you to leave.”

I threw my hands up. I couldn’t believe this was happening again. First the school, and then now this? Why couldn’t I just interact normally with people?

“I am meeting someone here,” I said. “And he told me he has a reservation. His name is Dario Hon.”

The older man stiffened and his face turned pale. He leaned over and hastily whispered in Franco’s ear. “You know the one—with the Feng family.”

Dario clearly said his last name was Hon—not Feng.

Franco shuddered and he nervously threw his hands up. “Ah. Sorry sir! I see what’s happened now. You know what? The customer is always right. But um, you know, try not to smudge the paintings too much, if you wouldn’t mind.”

The older waiter bowed his head to me. “Forgive us for bothering you. Please, enjoy your stay here at the Enchanted Tides Bistro.”

The two waiters hastily left, leaving Wren and I to ourselves. The name of the restaurant seemed amazing. I loved it—even if I didn’t love how that first waiter treated us.

“That was weird,” Wren said. “They got really scared when they heard about Dario.”

“Yeah,” I replied. “You know what? Maybe Dario is famous.”

Wren nodded, bobbing his long red snout up and down, “You know what? That makes sense! All right. Let’s get back to exploring…”

Since they didn’t want us touching the paintings, I decided to walk around the tables to check out the food other people were eating. I’d never been inside a restaurant like this before, and I was sure that the food would be fancy, expensive, and delicious.

“Hey, what do you think those guys are doing?” Wren asked.

“It looks like they are on a date?” I replied.

At the closest table, a man and woman sat together, their gazes locked on each other. Both of them wore strange outfits.The man wore a black tunic with a giant picture of a golden snake-like dragon at the front. Golden earrings with green gems danged from his ears.

The woman wore a flowing dress of pink and white, inlaid with gems. Her lips were painted bright red, and she leaned over the table towards him. She kept touching his hand and smiling, revealing two rows of pristine white teeth.

A waiter walked up to them, carrying a plate covered with a silver tray. He placed it on the table and took the tray off, revealing a giant steaming fish.

“Woah, that’s delicious looking,” Wren shouted. “Amir, did you know you could eat fish?”

“Well, there wasn’t all that much fish in the Sunset Desert, but I mean, I guess I did know that.”

This was a seafood restaurant after all, so it made sense that they were eating food from the sea. I had never seen anyone try it before, though. I remembered hearing that there were other deserts with fish living inside lakes, but the Sunset Desert was just too hot.

“You know what?” Wren asked. “We should ask to try some! Those two don’t look like they can eat a whole fish by themselves.”

“Good idea.” I walked over to the couple and smiled. They both glanced over at me, their brows furrowed. “Excuse me, could I try some of the fish?”

The man frowned, confused on his face. Then he shrugged. “I suppose?” He picked up a silver knife, then carved off a hunk of it. He placed it on a plate and then handed it over to me.

I tried picking it up, but the fish slipped from my fingers. The meat itself was a lot softer and smoother than desert hog, which was what I was used to. Not only that, the chef at this restaurant used a lot more sauce than Master Elias normally did when cooking.

I tried a few more times, then Wren snorted in irritation.

He leapt up the side of the table and then licked up a piece from the plate. The couple in the strange outfits watched us in utter silence, their eyes wide, their lips twitching as if holding back sneers. I wasn’t sure what they were thinking, but I had the growing suspicion they didn’t care for me.

“Oh, wow,” Wren said as he chewed. “This is so good. Maybe I should have been a sea drake instead of a syrocko drake!”

I finally managed to grab a good handful, and I put it in my mouth. My eyes widened on reflex. The fish was so smooth and delicious. It melted in my mouth, and the sauce was the perfect mixture of tangy and buttery.

The woman turned to the man. She placed a hand on her cheek. “You are so kind, my love. Not many people would feed a hungry child like you.”

“Hey!” Wren protested, accidentally spitting some fish onto the floor. “My arcanist isn’t a child. He’s a tournament champion! We won the Morumbi Town Qualifier, thank you very much.”

Our ruckus must’ve disturbed the waiters a second time because Franco, the balding man, rushed over, his face deepening into another shade of scarlet. He had a thick line of sweat on his brow.

“Excuse me, sir.” Franco stepped between me and the couple. “I know you’re a treasured guest,” he said through gritted teeth, “but you can’t bother the other patrons!”

“Bother?” I asked. “I didn’t know I was bothering them.” I pointed at the man. “I asked him for food and he gave some to me.”

Franco stared at me, one of his eyes twitching. “You can’t ask people to have some of their food here in the Enchanted Tides Bistro. Typically, people sit at their own table and eat their own food.”

“Oh. Sorry.” I waved at the man and woman. “I didn’t know that. I’m from the desert.”

“I…see…” The man at the table said, his eyes wide. The woman just shook her head, like she couldn’t believe her ears.

Franco grabbed my shoulder and shoved me towards the corner of the gigantic dining room. “You know what?” Franco asked. “Maybe you two should wait for your friend here at this private table. That will be for the best.”

The waiter brought us to a table far from everyone else, tucked away in the darkest corner of the room. He pulled out a chair and gestured for me to sit. I supposed this was nice.

“But I want to explore more,” Wren said with a huff.

I shook my head. “I think we’re supposed to be quiet here.”

Franco nodded once. “Yes. Quiet. And well-behaved.”

Wren flashed his fangs. “Boring.”

“Why don’t you wait outside?” I whispered. “Or with Master Elias and the others?”

Wren looked like he was going to protest again, but I hushed him.

I didn’t know much about eating in restaurants, but the Enchanted Tides Bistro seemed like a place where everyone kept to themselves. And Wren hated keeping to himself. “Wait for me outside,” I said. “Otherwise, they’ll kick us out and I won’t be able to add Dario to our team.”

Wren grumbled, but then turned and stomped across the dining room, and then out the front door. I watched him go the entire way, a little sad he wasn’t with me. I would join him again, though. This would be fine.

“Actually, now that your eldrin is gone, perhaps you should eat at one of our exclusive table?” Franco asked with a forced smile. “I’m sure Dario Hon would prefer that as well.”

“Where is it?” I asked.

“This way.” He motioned me to stand and then led me to the stairs.

I followed, my chest twisted in guilt.

Franco took me all the way up to the fourth floor. Unlike the previous floors, which were wide-open spaces, each table was placed inside its own room. Franco opened the first door, then brought me in with him.

Inside was a small round table set up for three seats. Unlike the seats below, these seats were very large, with bright red cushions. They looked a little like thrones.

“Here you are, sir. Please wait until your companions arrive.”

Then Franco left, closing the door behind him.

Companions? Was Dario going to bring someone with him? I supposed I’d just have to find out when they arrived.

I took a seat on the red cushion booth and made myself comfortable. The plain table was immaculate, and the window that overlooked the city was beautiful. There were so many people… So many lights… I was transfixed for a long moment.

Less than five minutes later, I heard the waiter bustling back upstairs. Through the walls, I heard Franco’s muffled voice. “We brought him to the room, sir. He was disrupting the other patrons. He seemed a little odd… Are you sure he’s who you are looking for?”

“He definitely is,” I heard Dario reply.

A second voice—melodic and a little wispy—replied after him. “Whatever my Dario says must come to be, dear Franco.”

The door opened, and Dario walked in.

Behind him was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

The girl had the appearance of a storybook princess—the kind that inspired men to go to war just to win her favor.

Her hair was pitch-black, just like Dario’s, but it was much longer. It dangled far past her waist. Fine jewelry—gold inlaid with pearls—was strewn throughout her hair. There was a tiara-like piece above her forehead, and two bands that split her hair into a pair of long and elegant tails.

She wore an ornate jade necklace and she had matching bangles at her wrists.

Her dress was a mixture of white and gold, and an elegant decorative saber hung at her waist. The blade was thin, fine, and elegant rather than the traditional weapons I’d learned to use in battle.

Judging by her face, she appeared to be the same age as Dario and me, but there was something strangely mature about her. It was her eyes, and the way she examined everything in the room with only a quick few glances.

Compared to this girl, everybody else I’d seen downstairs looked awkward and clumsy. As ridiculous as it sounded, it appeared as though this girl could fight while still wearing this dress.

She had a glowing arcanist mark on her forehead.

Glowing…

The creature woven throughout her arcanist star was some kind of bird. It looked like a dove, but I didn’t know what it was. Sage probably would have recognized it, but I was still unfamiliar with anything beyond desert creatures.

The beautiful girl—woman?—tilted her head, and then smiled at me. “Dario, is this the boy that interested you?” Her voice was as sultry as her appearance.

Dario didn’t even look at her, and his reply was curt. “Yes.”

The woman remained smiling. “Anyone who could interest my Dario so much must be truly incredible and fascinating.” She stepped closer to the table. “My name is Yumi Feng. It’s an honor to meet you.”

“I’m Amir,” I replied. The words felt like they were coming from far away. I felt a little dazed. She was really pretty.

When she held out her hand, I gently took it, my face heating. Yumi’s fingernails were painted bright red, and her jade bangles rang as we shook hands.

“Where do you hail from?” she asked.

“The desert. I grew up in the desert.” For some reason, I couldn’t remember the name of the desert. It seemed unimportant at the moment. “But actually, Dario and I are both from Coral Port.”

Yumi raised a perfect eyebrow, then turned back to Dario. “Oh, is that so? Dario, I didn’t know you grew up in Coral Port. You always said it was some small fishing town. You know, my family is helping to rebuild Coral Port.”

“I didn’t know that,” Dario replied. Then he waved his hand. “Now. To business. Amir, I believe we were talking about the East Sea Raiders before we parted ways.” He took a seat on the red cushions of our private booth. Yumi sat next to him.

“The East Sea Raiders?” Yumi asked.

“They destroyed our town,” I said. “Back when we were children.”

Yumi’s eyes widened. “Ah, yes. Dead Sea Erik, right?”  She placed her hand on Dario’s. “Dario told me about him once.” Yumi’s voice became excited. “Do you remember that night, Dario? When you told me about your childhood? It was a nice, long talk.”

Dario glanced at her. He seemed genuinely surprised. “Sorry. I don’t remember telling you about my childhood.”

Yumi nodded once and then calmed herself.

This was so… weird.

The door opened, and the older waiter I’d seen before arrived with the food. He placed four plates in front of us, then bowed to Yumi. “Lady Feng. Please let me know if the food is to your satisfaction.”

She smiled. “I will, thank you, Benedict.”

He removed the four silver coverings, then left.

One was the same steaming fish I’d seen earlier. My mouth started watering. I already knew how delicious that was. The second plate was piled high with rice. The third and fourth plate confused me. I’d seen the food before, but only in picture books—it was lobster and crab.

I pointed. “You don’t eat this with the shell, do you?”

Yumi laughed, covering her mouth.

Dario just stared at me, a bemused expression on his face. “Wow. You really did grow up on the desert.”

Yumi stopped laughing, blushing a little. “Oh. You weren’t joking? Well, I can fix that right away. I’ll tell Benedict to remove the shells for us.”

She got up, briefly leaving the room.

“So, we were talking about the raiders,” Dario said. He didn’t really seem to notice that Yumi had left. He tilted his head to the side, staring at me keenly. “I’m curious. Do you hate them? For what they did to you?”

I nodded slowly. “I do hate them. They killed my mom. I can’t believe they are still out there. Someone needs to do something about them.” The words felt sour and bitter coming from my mouth, and my heart tensed up, like it was getting scrunched.

Dario nodded. “Yes. The East Sea Raiders are truly dastards. They only know how to take and destroy. Erik is the worst of all. I wish he could die a thousand deaths.”

Dario clenched his fist so hard that the knuckles turned white. He was clearly trying to stay in control, and even though his face was calm, his body was trembling.

“It was lifechanging,” I said, trying to comfort him. It was weird how our positions had suddenly changed, but Dario just looked so angry.I hadn’t seen anyone so angry before in my life. “Having my family destroyed and getting sent to the orphanage. If it wasn’t for my master, I don’t know what would have happened.”

Dario nodded, smiling bitterly. “Yes. My family was wiped out as well. We were a small branch of the Hon family—some merchants and traders. After my parents died, not even relatives would take me in. My older brother and I were sent to an orphanage. He was bought by a mining company and worked to death. That’s why I ran away.”

“I don’t even know what to say to that,” I replied. “I thought I had it bad, but for your brother to be worked to death…”

“That’s why you can’t trust the city arcanists,” Dario said. “They knew all this stuff was going on, but they didn’t do anything when kids were getting worked to death. Those cowards only care about protecting themselves.”

Dario’s anger and rage made him sound a little like Master Elias. Before, I hadn’t really understood why Elias hated the city arcanists so much. But when it was explained that way, it made a lot of sense.

It was the city arcanist’s fault. I could sort of understand if they couldn’t beat the East Sea Raiders in a fight, but if they were letting mining companies work kids to death, there was no excuse.

There were so many problems that the arcanists could solve. They had magic, superhuman abilities, and were even immortal.

But they just didn’t do anything—no wonder Dario and Elias hated them so much.

I was suddenly reminded of the rumors I’d heard back at the Rosewood Orphanage.

“You know, there was a rumor back at the Rosewood Orphanage that orphans were fed to manticores. Do you think that was true?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Dario replied. “The current arcanist society is corrupt to the core.”

The door opened again, and Yumi stepped back inside. The old waiter was back, and he placed two plates of de-shelled meat onto the table. Yumi thanked him, and he briefly bowed before leaving.

Dario didn’t even glance at her.

My stomach grumbled, and I took a bowl, filling it up with rice before adding on fish, lobster, and crab meat.

Yumi ate her food with a pair of stick-shaped utensils, but I wasn’t familiar with them. I took the metal spoon instead.

Somehow, the food was even more delicious than the bite I’d had a while ago. They must have done something special for Yumi. She seemed important.

Dario hadn’t touched any of his food. He just kept on talking. “There’s a lot to hate about the East Sea Raiders. And the current arcanist society in general.”

I had to finish chewing before I could talk again. “Yeah. The worst was the bake-kujira. It killed my mom.”

Dario suddenly stiffened. “It wasn’t the eldrin’s fault.” His voice turned fervent and aggressive again.

I frowned. “What do you mean? The bake-kujira drowned half the people in our town. I don’t want that creature to hurt anyone ever again. I still remember the way it laughed. And the horrible red water beneath it.”

Dario shook his head firmly. “No. That wasn’t the eldrin’s fault—it was entirely because of the arcanist. Eldrin have no souls. They grow to be like their arcanist. With a man like Dead Sea Erik by its side, that poor creature didn’t stand a chance.”

I blinked.

I seemed to remember Roux saying something like that, back when I first met her. She said that my will would be her will. Roux even had to listen to me, even when I had a dumb idea, like launching myself at a tree as fast as I could.

“Well…” I said, unsure of how to continue.

Dario cut me off. “Whatever evil deeds the bake-kujira did, it’s because of the arcanist. People are always to blame. Not the eldrin. People.” He smacked his right hand against his palm. “Always.”

I was taken aback by how aggressive he was. I briefly put down my food. “I mean, I can see why you say that. But the bake-kujira was still scary. And so are the other eldrin. They were attacking and eating people.”

Dario wrinkled his forehead in irritation. “You know, I’ve lived among many so-called man-eaters.” He flicked his finger at himself. “Look how pale I am right now. It’s because I spent two months living with a pack of wendigo. I’ve stayed with bake-kujira before too. Not the one that attacked our families, a normal one. I know how gentle they can be, before they were corrupted by arcanists.”

Dario grew more and more passionate with each word.

He stood, pushing himself away from the table before pointing at the food. “The man-eaters, they are just playing their natural role. Hating them would be like hating us for eating meat. And we’ve hunted and killed the man eaters in ways that fish and lobsters would never to do us. People are the problem—not eldrin!”

Yumi reached over, gently tugging at Dario’s tunic. “My dear. Your cause is just, and you are destined to win…but perhaps you shouldn’t…”

Dario threw off her hand and ignored her.

He placed his hand against his chest again, just as he’d done when I first met him. “I want to win the Star Crown Tournament so I can finally set things right. Once I have the rawest of magic, I will be able to set things to the way they should be.”

The rawest of magic?

What was Dario talking about?

“What do you mean?” I murmured.

Dario smiled. “Come on. You know what I mean.” He tugged at his hairband, pulling it back to reveal an arcanist mark.

He had a seven-pointed star, and two creatures intertwined. One a horned horse—a kirin—and the other and odd mishmash of lines. I wasn’t entirely sure what kind of creature it was. But that didn’t matter as much…

I gasped. “You’re a kirin arcanist!”

Dario nodded. “Yes. I am.” He scooted closer to me. “And I know you are, too.”

My heart pounded. Everyone knew I was a kirin arcanist now. I had shown Roux off at the tournament, after all. There was little point in hiding it—so I removed my headwrap.

“I am,” I whispered.

“That’s why I like you, Amir,” Dario said with a smile. “That’s why I trust you. We’re similar. In more ways than one. We should be friends.”

“O-Okay. I like that. I thought you were amazing as well. Even before I knew you were a kirin arcanist.”

“I brought you here because I want to tell you my plans. From one kirin arcanist to another. We’re special, and we should act like it, agreed?”

I nodded, though I wasn’t sure where this was going. “Sure.”

“And we both know that the Crown Tournament’s real prize isn’t the so-called riches. It’s the Crown of Ascension.”

Master Elias had told me that was why we had to enter the tournament. He had said nothing else mattered but the crown—but up until this moment, I hadn’t really stopped to ask why. I trusted Master Elias, and even Roux said the crown was important, so that was all I needed.

But now it seemed I should know something, and I didn’t. It left me feeling inadequate.

“What’s so great about the crown?” I whispered.

“Don’t play dumb,” Dario said with a chuckle. “You know why it’s special. Why else would a kirin arcanist from nowhere come join the tournament? You want the crown just like I do.”

“Well, my master said the crown would help me, but he didn’t say how.”

That seemed to throw Dario off. He tilted his head and curled his lip up in disgust. When I said nothing in response, he hardened his expression. After a long exhale, he glanced around our private room, as if to make sure no one else was listening. Yumi gave him a smile, but Dario didn’t return it.

“There’s a legend around the crown,” Dario said, his voice lowering. “But first, you need to know something. Kirin area special because they allow an arcanist to bond with a second eldrin. That’s because kirin fortify their arcanist’s soul. They empower it. Do you understand?”

I nodded, then I rubbed my chest. Roux did that for me? She fortified my soul?

“Now, listen closely. A long time ago, there was an arcanist who found a tiny fragment of the rawest magic. It was powerful—beyond his reckoning. But when he touched it, he perished, his soul burned from the inside out.”

I lifted both eyebrows. “Wow…”

“A kirin arcanist came and touched the rawest magic, but it didn’t hurt him.” Dario leaned heavily onto our table, his gaze intense. “Because of the kirin’s fortification. It seemed as though the rawest magic would empower him instead. Make him stronger than any other.”

“Really?” I asked. “Why didn’t he keep it?”

Dario held up a finger to stop me from interrupting. I pressed my lips together in a tight line.

“That’s why the Crown Tournament first started. The rawest magic was contained in the crown, and the kirin arcanists of the old kingdom agreed to fight for it.”

“Back in those days, it was to the death,” Yumi said matter-of-factly, quietly chiming into the story.

Dario continued. “But all the kirin arcanists who entered failed and were killed. The winner, some dragon arcanist who no doubt cheated, took the crown as a trophy.”

“Why do they keep doing the Crown Tournament?” I asked. If they had a winner, why keep fighting?

Yumi offered me a smile this time. “The tournament brought trade and industry to the old kingdom, so it was revived time and time again. The official story for the tournament now is that it’s to honor our past rulers, and to find talented arcanists.”

“You mean, everyone forgot about kirin arcanists?” I shook my head. “That seems wrong.”

“Kirin arcanists are so rare. The last few dozen tournaments haven’t even had one. The prize money became the draw, and the crown became nothing more than a trophy.”

That made some sense, but I was still surprised. If the crown was that powerful, why wouldn’t others want to try their hand at using the rawest magic? Of course, if death was the result, what was the point? Perhaps it was better that the magic was forgotten.

“So, set in the crown’s core, is a raw fragment of magic,” Dario said. He pushed away from the table and paced a bit. “It’s something only a kirin arcanist can use. It will change an arcanist. Change their kirin eldrin. They will be god-like.”

I… hadn’t been expecting that answer.

“We should work together to get the crown.” Dario sat back down at the booth. “We can either operate as two teams secretly working together, or we can form a single unstoppable team with two kirin arcanists. And once we get the crown…” Dario trailed off, grinning with manic energy.

I didn’t like the expression on his face.

It was creepy.

“What do you really want?” I asked.

“I want to fix everything,” Dario said. “I will raze our entire arcanist society to the ground, creating a new world where mystical creatures can live in peace, where they will bond to arcanists who truly love and respect them. But to do that, I need to get rid of our corrupt current arcanists.”

“How will you get rid of them?” I thought I knew, but I had to be sure. There were countless arcanists. Thousands of them, if not hundreds of thousands.

Dario stared at me like I was a small child. “I mean I’ll kill them, fool. What did you think? And considering some of the things they’ve done…I mean to kill them painfully.”

“Are you insane?”

The words sprang from my mouth automatically, and I stood up. He stood to join me—so we remained eye-to-eye.

I tasted bile in my mouth, and the delicious food suddenly didn’t seem so good anymore.

“That’s going too far.” I shook my head. “The raiders, I can see punishing, or even killing. But every arcanist?”

“Did I say every arcanist?” Dario snapped. “Only the corrupt ones. The evil ones. The monsters who use their eldrin to achieve terrible goals. All the good ones will live.”

“How will you know who to get rid of?”

“I’ll tell the world of my power—and those who submit will be spared. And those who don’t will clearly be among the vile.”

Extra insane. There was no way people would submit to Dario just because he had power. Master Elias would never do that. Master Elias would never submit to anyone. He lived in a tiny house in the middle of the desert because he hated interacting with people.

Would Dario kill him for not kneeling?

“Someone has to clean up the terrible mess of the East Sea Raiders,” Dario stated. “No one has done it yet—no one wants to bother. I’ll be the one. I’ll set everything right.”

“I don’t like this plan,” I muttered. “My master wouldn’t be on board with it, either.”

“Your master isn’t a kirin arcanist. He wouldn’t understand.”

“He knows the crown is powerful,” I said.

Dario lifted an eyebrow. “And let me guess—he was the one to sign you up to the tournament?”

I nodded once, my chest tight.

“Then he’s probably using you,” Dario said. “Somehow, someway…”

But I wasn’t going to let Dario talk bad about Master Elias.

With a scoff, I said, “You don’t know anything about my master.” I turned to Yumi. “Thanks for the food, but I’m leaving.”

“Where are you going?” Dario shouted. “Don’t you want to make an alliance?”

“Never,” I said as slammed open the door. I stepped out without another word. Then I went down the stairs, my movements stiff.

On the way down, I saw Franco. He glanced at me, his eyebrows knitted. “Leaving so soon?”

I nodded, not even wanting to respond verbally. I walked through the large dining room, ignoring all the patrons. Then I stepped outside, the night air greeting me with a cool embrace. It helped quell my anger.

“Hey!” Wren shouted. He ran over to me, smiling. “How’d it go? Is Dario joining our team?”

I shook my head and started running.

“What gives?” he asked, hurrying after me. His stubby little legs scrabbled against the burnt red streets.

“Let’s get out of here,” I called back. “I need to talk to Elias.”

My heart pounded in my chest. Another kirin arcanist was looking for the crown, and it’d be an utter disaster if they got it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“Elias! Master Elias!”

I ran through the burnt red streets on Santtia, shouting at the top of my lungs. Where was he? Hyperion should be easy to spot, yet I couldn’t find them in this labyrinthian maze of buildings and streets. How did anyone find their way around a place so gigantic?

My heart pounded so hard I thought it would explode.

The Crown Tournament wasn’t fun and games anymore.

Before, Elias told me the Crown of Ascension was something special, something only I would know about—the real prize of the tournament. But now there was another kirin arcanist in the event, and even worse, if someone like Dario had the crown, he was going to do crazy things with it.

And Dario seemed tough, especially since he’d lived with eldrin for so long.

Even worse, I had no idea what kind of fighter he was. Did he know any sort of fighting arts? Was he a master of his magic?

Could I beat him?

Could Elias beat him?

Master Elias was a great teacher, but I’d never seen him fight seriously before.

I found myself at a forked road, unsure of which way to go.

“Our inn is by the oasis,” Wren said with a huff as he hurried next to me. He stuck his head to the right, practically panting like a dog. “Go… that way… It’s cooler…”

I nodded, my breathing easy after all those years of physical training. I headed in the direction Wren indicated.

Some of the residents poked their heads out of their sandstone homes, staring at us and muttering. I kept shouting Elias’s name, hoping he would hear me.

“Who is that boy?” one man asked.

One woman pointed at me. “Why is he screaming and shouting in the middle of the night?”

“Look at that drake, is he an arcanist?”

I just ignored them.

After what felt like forever, we finally found our inn.

I remembered it from the two signs Elias told me—the first were the palm trees planted outside of the inn. Instead of growing straight up, the trees were tied together, forming X’s all around the inn’s perimeter. The second was the inn’s logo—a fat imp wearing a baking hat.

From what I’d heard, the inn was owned by an imp arcanist. Since arcanists lived forever, barring serious injury, even people bonded to minor creatures like Valdo, could grow wealthy and influential.

That kind of city arcanist I could understand. With their low-tier eldrin, they weren’t great fighters, so they would focus on other areas.

Dario wouldn’t understand, though. The look in his eyes was like a madman’s. He said he wanted to bring the entire arcanist society crashing down.

I hit the inn door, and only then did I realize my legs ached. How long had I been running through the streets of Santtia? It felt like forever.

Everything just seemed and felt like a blur.

I pushed open the door, staggering in. Wren closely followed behind me.

Nobody said anything about him coming in, and I glanced around, hoping to spot someone familiar. Thankfully, I spotted Elias at the very end of the bar, nursing a cup of water. Valdo sat next to him, his grifter crow on his shoulder. Valdo’s face was red—it seemed like he’d been drinking.

Sage and Finlay were there, too!  From the looks of it, it seemed like they were asking Master Elias questions. He spoke to them between sips of his drink—maybe he was finally warming up to them after watching them train.

Seeing my friends talk to my master made me happy. Elias always respected hard work, after all. That was one of the most admirable things about him.

Then I shook my head. For now, that didn’t really matter. If Dario’s dream came true, Sage, Finlay, and Elias were in danger, too. Even Valdo would be in danger, even though he didn’t fight.

I—

I ran into someone. I’d been so eager to push through the crowd and talk to Elias that I’d bumped into a very large man.

I winced, rubbing my shoulder. Whoever I’d run into, he was strong. Bumping into him had hurt.

“Hey. Who do you think you are, running into me like that?” The man’s voice was gruff and taunting, but I didn’t have time for that.

I had to tell Elias about Dario!

“Sorry,” I muttered.

A large hand—with fingers the size of sausages—grabbed my shoulder. The hand was ridiculously hairy, almost like an animal’s paw. He yanked me back, scowling.

The man was about six and a half feet tall, with a puffed-out chest and arms as thick as my legs. However, his head was small and oddly round, with spiky blond hair that stuck in every direction. It reminded me a little of a prickly pear.

He had an arcanist star on his forehead, which looked strangely large on his small face. The star showed some kind of large shaggy animal. It appeared big and powerful, but I couldn’t quite make out what it was.

“No—sorry ain’t good enough.”

Wren scowled. “Hey! Watch who you’re talking to! Don’t you realize who we are? We won the Morumbi Town tournament!”

The man’s eyes widened. Then his gaze went to my forehead. I hadn’t remembered to put my headwrap back on, so now my kirin and syrocko drake mark were visible.

The man tightened his grip on my shoulder. I jerked out of his reach, my anger flaring.

He scowled, and then Wren let out an indignant squawk. “Hey! What are you doing?”

The man didn’t even bother responding. Instead, he turned, shouting at a table behind him. “It’s the boy! We found him!”

I didn’t know what was going on, but this was bad. A couple of people in the inn started moving in my direction. Were they going to jump me?

I aimed my elbow, then jabbed the man hard in the gut. The man grunted, and stumbled back, his teeth gritted.

“Oh, so you’re a feisty one, huh?” the man hissed.

He brought a massive fist back, but before anything else happened, Elias leapt in front of me.