Magi's Path (Aether's Revival Book 3) by Daniel Schinhofen (motivational books to read txt) 📕

Nessa was waiting near the adjudicator when her opponent came out of the far tunnel. The crowd cheered when they saw Novice Buddiz. Carlisle was on his feet, whistling and cheering along with them.

“Now it ends, Warlin!” Carlisle laughed. “There is no way she can keep up with the barrage of earth he can throw at her!”

Hao looked pensive as the adjudicator had the novices bow. “That’s true. This very well might be the end of it. I feel confident in her, though. I’d even double the bet, if you’d accept it, even if that does mean you would get vela from me if she lost.”

Carlisle paused. The idea of getting vela back from Warlin was a bright hope in his mind. He glanced at the arena floor where the two novices turned to bow to the academy box. “I accept,” he said.

“What?” Hao asked, looking back at Carlisle. “Wait—”

“Too late. I agreed,” Carlisle cut him off with a triumphant sneer. “You heard that, didn’t you, Armsmaster?”

Gin nodded. “I did, indeed. I will make sure that the bet is honored.”

Before more could be said, the fight down below started.

Nessa charged, rushing straight for Buddiz with a focused expression. Buddiz backpedaled, launching fist-sized clumps of compact sand at Nessa’s face. She didn’t even flinch, and the reason why was soon apparent to the crowd— the clods impacted on a barrier a foot away from Nessa.

Buddiz grimaced and made a grasping gesture. The barrier that had been in front of Nessa shifted behind her, and the newly formed earthen balls impacted it instead of her. Eyes wide with panic, Buddiz tried to set his feet to meet her. He hadn’t expected her to be able to block both barrages.

Nessa didn’t slow as Buddiz expected her to, so his kick failed, leaving him on a single leg just before Nessa tackled him. She didn’t stop— she planted her shoulder into his gut and drove him into the ground. She was on top of him and hammered his face relentlessly in mere heartbeats.

Stepping closer, Magus Igorson was impressed with Nessa. She’d always been a bit soft in his opinion, but in this moment, she was vicious. That made him smile as he let her batter the other novice for a few seconds longer than he rightfully should have.

“Break!” Igorson said firmly.

Nessa checked her next swing an inch from Buddiz’s bloody face. Breathing hard and fast, she pushed herself off the unconscious novice and stood. After taking a step back, she bowed to her opponent first, to Igorson, and then to the academy box. As she walked away, she became aware of the crowd again, which was mostly cheering wildly.

Carlisle’s face was purple, and he couldn’t speak as he glared down at the arena floor. The feeling of all those nearby watching him only made his humiliation worse. On top of that, Hao never said a word— he was just sitting there, refusing to gloat as Carlisle would have. By the time he could form words again, the next fighter was walking out of the tunnel and onto the arena floor.

Walking slowly and waving to the crowd as they cheered him on, Novice Xandia wore a haughty smile. Stopping in front of Igorson, the novice bowed his head to the magus. Igorson inclined his head back, which got the crowd talking.

Daciana exited the other tunnel with her ears up and her tail lightly swishing side-to-side. The crowd was cheering loudly, as they anticipated a good fight. Daciana could feel her friend’s eyes on her back and a weight settle on her shoulders.

Hao didn’t offer Carlisle another bet as, this time, he was honestly concerned for Daciana. Carlisle exhaled, relief flooding him when he saw the match-up.

The crowd noise died down as the two novices started the ritual bowing. The excitement was still clearly ratcheting up as people unconsciously leaned forward in anticipation.

Nessa came bolting out of the tunnel in the stands as Daciana and Xandia bowed to each other. With the noise dropping further, the crowd could clearly hear her shout, “You can do this, Daciana!”

“Fight!” That word was what people had been waiting for, but it felt oddly out of place after Nessa’s yell.

Xandia’s concentration on Daciana had broken when Nessa yelled. His eyes tracked to Nessa, shocked that anyone was cheering for the eurtik instead of him. That surprise was redoubled when Igorson called for them to fight, as he was no longer prepared to start.

Daciana took that slight advantage and rushed at Xandia. The distance was too far for her to reach him before he could set himself, but she’d been able to close the distance appreciably. Xandia just smirked, as that meant less work for him. When he saw the clods of earth coming at him, he batted them aside with a flame-covered hand contemptuously. The balls exploded when he hit them instead of being deflected aside— they hadn’t been tightly compacted as he expected, but loosely. He staggered back a step as his eyes watered and he tried to get the dust out of his lungs.

Daciana’s smile was feral as she closed the last few feet and kicked. It wasn’t what people would think of as proper, but in battle, the only thing that mattered was who was left standing at the end. Magus Igorson had told them that every day for the last few months. Xandia tried to block the kick, but since he couldn’t see clearly through his tears, his aether-covered hand missed.

When her foot connected with her target, Xandia let out a wordless scream and pitched forward, his aether gone from his hands as he grabbed his injured groin. Daciana wasn’t foolish enough to stop there, as Igorson hadn’t told her to break— she kicked Xandia under the chin as he rolled to his side, snapping the novice’s head back.