Page 39 of A Kiss From Death
Ignoring the nosey voice, I stand tall and slide into a side lunge, bouncing slowly to deepen the stretch. Hade rounds my body in a flash, his face raging.
He narrows his eyes. “Are you just going to stand there and pretend I don’t exist?”
Dragging my body up, I slowly sink into a deep side lunge on my opposite side, the perfect depiction of unbothered. “It appears so. Really great observational skills. Would you like me to ask the Empress to give you an award?” My response is smooth and nonchalant. If he wants to be an ass, I can be one too.
Straightening, I turn around and pull one arm across my chest, looping the other on top, pulling it tight to stretch. Hade grumbles, annoyed, to himself and rounds my body, annoyingly coming into view again.
“You will not impress the Empress, let alone all of Fallout and Lunaria, by simply using a measly, double sided blade. What were you thinking?” he seethes.
A lot of nice things before you arrived.
I decide to keep those words to myself, though. Dropping my arm, I pad forward, shoving my finger harshly into Hade’s solid chest. My finger twitches slightly in pain, but I remain stoic. “I was thinking I wanted to use something no other competitor was using.” I press my finger harder into his chest. “I was thinking I wanted a weapon with dual purpose, something quick to throw and easy to hit a target.” I slam my finger into his chest one last time, inching closer to his pounding heart beneath my finger. “I was thinking this was my best bet at standing apart from my competitors, who, I will remind you, have trained their entire lives for this, unlike me.”
I don’t mean to let the last part slip, but Hade is so wrapped up in his confusing, overbearing fury, he doesn’t take note. He looks at me with fire in his eyes, but I couldn’t care less. I’m tired of being talked down to like a child, like I don’t stand a chance at winning. Soon, they will all learn just how sharp my claws can be.
“If you’ll excuse me, I have a ranking to attend.” With that, I turn and strut off, lining up with the rest of my competitors and leaving a blaze of fire behind.
The air turns thick as my nerves zing over my skin with anticipation. We pull sticks to see what order we would perform in, and of course, in typical Nyxi fashion, I pull the shortest stick, meaning I go last. I’ll just have to make a grand last impression.
The Empress enters last, dripping in gaudy red silk and jewels. She doesn’t bother with theatrics or greeting us. She is not here to play nice; we are simply here to impress her.
No pressure.
The Bubble is dead silent as she walks in front of us, a Vanquisher following close behind, holding her gown soit won’t drag across the sandy floor. As previously observed, it seems anywhere the Empress goes, so does her throne. She gracefully plops down in her oversized and exuberantly decorated chair that took multiple Vanquishers to drag inside.
With a nod from the Empress, Aeron steps forward to his dedicated space, commencing the ranking. An Illuminist stands next to him, his eyes cast over Aeron’s entire space, committing his performance to memory to be replayed for all of Fallout and Lunaria later. Lining the entire outside perimeter of the Bubble, members of Lunaria peer in with anticipation.
Aeron grabs a giant sword off a table. Squaring his shoulders, he signals he’s ready with a small nod, stepping into the center of his area. A second Vanquisher steps up, a young woman with soft features and smooth brown hair. Raising her hands in front of her, a blur of blue magic explodes from her palms, surrounding Aeron in seconds.
The sound of snarls and growls echo off the Bubble’s walls as the magic takes shape into massive creatures full of sharp claws and teeth. Aeron spins, catching the first beast through its neck right before it’s about to sink its teeth into his shoulder. The beast lets out a scream as Aeron pulls his sword from its limp body before it disintegrates.
Fascinating.
Giving him no time to regroup, another, larger feline beast jumps him from behind, slashing its claws across his back, leaving angry marks behind. He stumbles but pushes through, swinging his sword with immense strength and slicing the head right off the beast.
Two more beasts saunter towards him, and he runs at full speed, aiming for the one on the left. He dives to the side at the last minute, driving his sword across the under belly of the beast, gutting it. Using the dead beast as a step, he takes a running jump,pushing himself off it to land on the back of the other before he plunges his sword straight through its skull.
The crowd surrounding the Bubble claps and chants his name as he effortlessly gets up and bows. He beams, waving and smiling at all the women gushing over him.
If only I had a dick to gain me extra votes. Must be nice.
Hudson performs next, walking up to a table full of colored paste, explaining with his adorable lisp to the Empress that he made them using items found in nature. Swiping globs of paste, he coats his body with a speckled design, blending into the sand below him. After finishing, he lays flat on the sand and closes his eyes, disappearing completely.
The crowd erupts in claps and coos as he stands back up and shines them his toothless, adorable little grin, then trots away happily.
Tank woos the crowd next by slamming his giant fists repeatedly into a thick tree trunk a Vanquisher dragged in. In no time, he has the oversized log snapped in two like it was butter. Jade follows suit, showing off her agility by completing a miniature moving obstacle course blindfolded with perfect precision. Cartwell chooses his brainpower to show off, attaching some type of cord around his body and then touching it to the Bubble’s force field. The wire draws the Bubble’s magic down to wrap around Cartwell, creating a force field around him. He gestures to the Vanquisher to shoot an arrow at him, which bounces right off the forcefield around him, leaving him unharmed.
The rest of my competitors follow suit, showing off their larger than life skills. Rayah shows off her newly learned throwing star skills. Yazi knocks a Vanquisher’s magic made arrow out of the air with a spiked club as they are continuously shot at him. Briar flings her axe through the air, perfectly hitting floating targets, while Sierra stacks three arrows perfectly in the center of one, each splitting the one before it in half.
I have no idea how I’m supposed to follow up any of that, but anger from Hade’s comment lights a spark under my ass as I make my way to my dedicated area. The Empress looks bored, beyond ready to wrap this up so she can go do whatever it is she does.
Dragging my fingertips over the multiple S blades sitting on my table, I clutch the wrapped center of one and take a deep breath. A handful of stagnant targets are staggered in my space to aim at.
I hesitantly look around the small crowd left waiting for me to perform. Most have dwindled away to find more exciting things to occupy their time. I catch Hade standing alone to my right against the Bubble’s wall, looking thoroughly bored and pissed off. A little closer, I spot a nervous looking Winston, who tries to give me a reassuring smile. My eyes snag on the handkerchief he’s absentmindedly fiddling with, and an idea takes flight in my mind.
Asking the Vanquisher in front of me if I can have a second, he nods, and I jog over to Winston, whispering into his ear. Agreeing, he hands me his handkerchief, adding a quick squeeze to my shoulder before I make my way back.
Committing the targets to memory, I drag the table holding the blades within reaching distance, spacing the blades out to make them easier to grab. I tie the cloth around my face, creating a makeshift blindfold. I have just enough blades as there are targets, with one extra to spare if I miss. I don’t intend on missing, though, and have other plans in mind for the spare.
