Young Writers Society

Above the roaring cascade of Niagara Falls floats a grand tournament ring surrounded by spectator seats on a stadium-level capacity. Fighters from all across the multiverse have entered the tournament in hopes of claiming the grand prize: the ability to grant one wish of their deepest desire.

There are few rules to this tournament, so heed them closely!

1. If you die, you are disqualified. This one is obvious and the judges should not need to explain this after you lose for, again, obvious reasons.
2. Flight is allowed.
3. Weapons are allowed.
4. You may not harm spectators, nor take hostages.

Begin, competitors.



Valon Balessan was warped into the arena with his rapiers at his sides. The elf's cloak fluttered in the strong winds as he awaited his opponent.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Our first competitor, from the land of Alanaar, Universe Mana-X! Valon Balessan!"

The crowd went wild; Valon's eyebrows raised. He could live with this amount of praise. After all, what was a fire mage to do when praised? Ignore it? But for gods' sakes, where was his opponent?

Irskr Nygard waited for the cheering to subside before stepping out of the shadowy section of the arena he had been waiting in and walked towards his competitor.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and the three or four dozens ravens who just joined our spectators; here is our second competitor! From nowhere in particular, the Terror of the Northern Seas, the Slayer of the legendary käärme, Iron-Bear Irskr Nygard!"

A large group of spectators that looked like a group of vikings off on a break from raiding started cheering enthusiastically as Irskr raised his axe to the crowd before turning to his opponent and banged it on his shield once and bowed, to show him honour before the fight.

"May we fight well," he said to his opponent, "so we may both feast in Valhalla one day."

Valon cocked his head to the side. "I came all this way from Alanaar--" a section of the crowd went wild with applause. "--to fight an old man who looks like he just crawled out of a rice cooker?!" Laughter erupted, but also jeers and boos. "But if this is what I have to cut down to get my wish--" he drew his rapiers and activated his fire aura, wind and power blowing his hat off into the falls below, "--then I'll cut you down, rice man."

With a blazing trail behind him, Valon charged forward in a blink, readying his swords in a cross-slash as a false telegraph.

As the skinny twig of a being which was apparently his opponent drew its rapiers and started charging at Irskr with flames trailing behind, the viking rose his shield and axe, before starting to pray aloud to his patron deity as he braced himself.

"Hail All-father
Wise Warrior
One-eyed Wanderer
come rest at my hearth
Tell me your tales of wisdom;
The scenes your stolen eyes see

You who chooses the slain
Look upon my deeds
and decide when my time comes
to run the skies with you

Let my end be worthy of song
But before then, I ask to feel
Excitement and fury and joy
And let me understand sacrifice

Think long
Remember well
and journey forth
Odin
Bear witness to this battle"

As he said the last lines, he thrust himself forward, shield outstretched, charging to meet his competitor before the gods.

Valon leered as the shield warden charged forward. Gritting his teeth, he drew mana from his veins and twisted his ankle into a spin upon contact, parrying himself away to the side of the arena. He grunted and grinned, charging back in, focusing on his speed over attack power.

"Your blunt power is astounding!"

He blinked to the back and attempted a cross-slash.

"Your defense is ineffable!"

He slid away and caught a rapier with his foot, preparing a fireball in his free hand. "But how is your magic defense?!"

And he fired.

This is a worthy opponent, Irskr thought as he and his opponent clashed several times. I shall die gladly if that were to be my fate today.

His opponent, making up for his relatively weak attacks with agility, was chattering merrily as the collided blade against shield or axe. It was then that Irskr saw his opponent prepare a fire spell in one of his hands.

Now's my chance to observe his stance and armor. His opponent threw the fireball at Irskr, who braced his shield before noticing the fireball trying to curve and hit his flank.

Of course. I should have expected that, Irskr thought as he braced his legs and swung his shield in a wide arc to hit the incoming fireball, ricocheting it off to hit the stadium a few meters under where the spectators where sitting, sending both cheers and squeals of panic up from the crowd.

He did not come off unscathed from the magic spell, his shield heating up extensively and burning his arm holding the shield.

Endure. Contain the rage. You spent your life before the heat of the forge. Endure the burn!

Sensing movement behind him, Irskr swung his axe arm low as he swiveled to face his opponent yet again.

"It seems my rice man doesn't care for the flame!" Valon drew his swords and spread his aura until both of them were consumed in blue flame. "And here I was not wanting to show off more tricks to my opponents."

Valon tossed his swords up, grasping them by the blades' ends. Blood slipped from his palms. "You've gone and struck the dragon's belly." The fire mage tossed his swords into the air before calling out an enochian spell, casting them down into the arena's stone floor where their blue flames began erupting into stray comets around the arena floor at random.

In his hands, he prepared two new azure fireballs. "Philosophi igne duas incarnatum!"

Just what I need, Irskr thought, This fool is dabbling in Loki's flame. However, if I can reach him, he is without a weapon.

Irskr's eyes marked a course through the flames to his target, who was preparing two blue balls of flame. He was about to charged when he looked down and got an idea.

Although the main structure of the arena floor was made of stone, there was still a layer of sand to ensure that any blood would not spread out on the floor. There was also a thin layer of smoke forming in the air around the flames, which together with the sand could create the perfect cover for his progress.

Time to eliminate his ranged accuracy. Bending down slightly, as if tired, he used the extra length of his cloak that now touched the floor to hit up a flurry of sand into the air.

His opponent had not been a honorable fighter, though, as Irskr discovered when he felt the extreme heat on his back where he had been hit by one fireball. Quickly loosening his cloak, which had started to burn, he hurled it at his opponent, the smoke billowing from the burning fur as he turned and started making his way through the flames via the route he identified, the rage building up on the inside.

Valon, prideful as he heard the grunt of impact and smelled the burning furs, was not prepared for the incoming weight of the furs through the smoke.

Nor was he prepared for the weight of the incoming furs through the smoke.

The elf was knocked to the edge of the arena, sand kicked up around him in a great cloud. The fireball in his hand vanished with his concentration as he heaved the cloak over the edge and down into the falls below. Ambling to his feet, he strafed to the side, slinging fireballs into the dusty clouds kicked up in the wake of the two combatants, but then remembered they were standing on bloody sand. He grumbled to himself and jolted to the middle of the platform between his swords, doing a quick equation in his head.

If he could muster 350* centigrade on his own, and each of his meteor swords could replicate such power in one flash...he absolutely hated wasting good danger, but the dust was simply too much. His aura grew until, with a scream, it, along with the fiery auras around his swords burst into a flashfire through the arena floor, blast-melting the sand into glass.

As Valon turned, picking his swords from their places in the glass floor, the audience cheered for the magic trick. He hated himself, however, because at that moment, his mana was no more.

He turned to his opponent and shook his head, adjusted his mana crystal broach. He swallowed. "I believe you'll agree with me that this battle is about to be over rather quickly."

Irskr had not expected the sudden scream from his opponent followed by the flash fire, but he had thankfully been staying low and had shield up, thus protecting his essential body parts from serious burn wounds.

However, his shield had observed most of the heat that hit it, making it glow of heat. Unable to bear the heat, he threw down his shield and rubbed his severely burned arm.

"I should have expected such a dangerous attack from a warlock," Irskr said, weighing his axe in his mostly unhurt other hand. "I must say I am impressed. Were it not that one of us must die, we could have shared an ale with one another."

"We still could," the mage said, clutching his brooch close to himself. Irskr prepared himself for a surprise attack while he was not on-guard, but the mage seemed mostly exhausted magically.

The viking raised his axe to shatter the layer of glass, which, although still hot, had mostly hardened in the crisp air above the waterfall. However, instead of charging his opponent head-on, he walked to the center of the arena and cleared a small area of glass shards. He then turned to his opponent, gesturing for him to join him in the circle.

"Let us fight this out as equals," Irskr said, "Then one day we may drink together in Valhalla as friends."

"Hmph," Valon scoffed. "Fighting in a tight arena of stone surrounded by glass surrounded by a sure-death fall." He grinned and bowed. "And mine enemy before me, a frost giant." There was a glint in Valon's eye as he entered the circle.

"Tell me, man." He grinned and drew within the man's melee range to whisper.

"I would have asked you to hold your, but I decided I'd rather cut it out."

Without warning, Irskr swung the hilt of his axe at his opponent, drawing blood from his opponent and causing the vikings and more inebriated individuals in the crowd to cheer loudly and rowdily at the blow.

Using the brief upper-hand he now had and the momentum of his axe, he heaved his weight forward to force his opponent back, closer to the ring of glass shards surrounding their fight.

I need more mana... He swore in his mind as he hit the stone arena beneath them. His swords rose to parry a vicious swing of the axe, and as he slid on his rear to get out of his deathly position, he took swipes at the femoral insides of his opponent's thighs.

Valon was swiftly back on his feet on the other side of the circle. His swords were longer, would have better range, so perhaps he could still make use of his agility, though the bleeding in his abdomen argued otherwise.

"Now let's see here," he rasped. "Will you be taking a ship to Helheim? Or perhaps rowing a dinghy?" He swiped at the viking's armor. "Or will Odin simply throw you out to Nidhogg for a snack?"

Conjuring a small reserve of mana, he cauterized his wound and leaped to the side to dodge an onslaught, taking a chance to strike a direct stab towards the lungs.

Irskr winced as the thin blade slid through his armor plating and pierced his skin. He knew that he would be at a disadvantage when it comes to blocking the fast-paced attacks of his foe, but had hoped his armor would block attacks like this. He had been incorrect.

"I will be filled with great pleasure when my axe finally manages to cleave you in half," Irskr bellowed before gasping for air. This fiend wounded one of my lungs. This battle will end soon.

"You'll have to catch me first," his opponent retorted before trying another jab at the gaps in the viking's armor. The blade made contact under Irskr's burnt arm, which he quickly thrust down, pinning the blade and hoping to Odin that he still had enough strength to snap the blade and catch his opponent off-balance.

Along the arena, the ravens were already preparing to swoop in on the corpse of the loser.

Mel yelled at the top of her lungs. "NOOOO-" She was quickly pulled down from standing, shaking her fist from the spectator's bleachers by her brother.

"Mel!" Raj hissed, holding her down. "You're blocking me! I can't see!"

"This isn't fair!" Mel yelled again.

"They both know what they're doing!" Raj said, his eyes glued on the two dueling it out below. Mel climbed behind him, looking over his head and the heads of people ahead of them. It looked like Valon wasn't going to make it - but then the tides turned, and both Raj and Mel let out an audible gasp when Irskr got stabbed in the lungs.