The Talents of the Fallen - 32. Chapter Thirty-One: The Arena

Chapter Thirty-One: The Arena

Formal dueling was not quite the same as club dueling. The gear was completely different. Each combatant was given a symbol to show what position they were playing. Joshua the mentalist was given a gold helm, Jon a gold shield, Sam a whip, Andy a set of gold spheres, and Aaron a pair of gold batons. The other team would be similarly equipped except their equipment would appear to be made of silver.

The rules were as follows:

1. The matches are to be single elimination, lose a duel and are your team was out of the running.
2. A team member is considered out of the games if
   1. They are knock unconscious
   2. Fall outside the dueling area and fail to return in 5 seconds
   3. Fall off their feet and are unable to get up in ten seconds
   4. Surrender by dropping one’s gear and going down on one knee
3. Team members taken out in a duel may not continue on to the next one
   1. However the team is allowed one save through the series to bring one team member back
4. A player is only allowed to use the Talents they had declared
5. The member of the team assigned as the mix player is allowed to use any talent
   1. However in each duel he must use at least two for each enemy player he takes out
6. The Three Wise Men are the only ones who may referee a duel
7. . The team that wins the age group competition continues on to the individual round.

See Section 5 for rules dealing with formal individual dueling.

8. All judgments made by the Three Wise Men are final

Aaron looked over the list four times. Each time he did he focused on Article 7, the rule dealing with the winning team continuing on to the individual round. As he, like most declared mixed duelists, had never taken part in a formal one on one duel, he was ranked too low on the individual list to compete on his own merit. What he didn’t like was that all the other members of the team were ranked among the highest duelists in their perspective fields. They of course were planning to throw the match so he could win. That, to him, cheapened the whole event and would make his victory nothing but a lie.

Not that it hasn’t been tried before. There were plenty examples of teams throwing the match so that some high ranked lord could bask in the glory. What made Aaron’s situation unique was that he was a relative nobody.

“Now entering the Arena the Lakes’ Academy champion team.” The voice of the announcer sent a tremor of panic down Aaron’s legs. “That’s us.” Jon gave him a nudge with his shield.

“Coming.” Aaron looked at himself in the mirror one last them then hurried out to join them.

The arena was something out of ancient Rome. Completely underground the mirrored domed ceiling was lit up by several skylights aimed up at them. The floor itself built like an oval hippodrome was ringed by halogen torches. The group dueling squares were set up on the raised island of stone that split the hippodrome in half.

Filling the lower bleachers and private boxes were members of the 145 remaining original families. Above them in the nosebleed seats was the majority of Talented who, like Aaron, were Blips.

In the north central boxes were the members of House Balthazar and the leading members of the Order and on the other side were the representatives of the Coven, chief among them was Landon Casper, CEO of InterVest, and Chosen of the Central U.S. Covens.

“How dare they; Lord Chosen.” Kate shouted with indignation as the Lakers Academy team entered the center dueling square.

“How dare they what?” Landon asked with attempted feign disinterest. He knew exactly what had her tits in a twist. Over half the Lakes team was made up of escaped converts of the Coven. It would make the Coven look like weak fools to have been beaten by some of their own.

“The Lakes school… they are throwing our failure in our face. We cannot let such an insult go unchallenged.”

“This is only a game madam… not a real battlefield. They’re just a bunch of kids trying to have some fun. They are also supposedly quite good. Who knows they might win.”

“How can you say that? Do you doubt the Talents of our team? They are older and much more experienced than those brats.”

“They’re experience lies on the battlefield, where there are no rules. The Council Games have rules and they are enforced by the referees. Unless you can name an example I do not think there has been a case where the combatants have managed to fool the Wise Men. Now be quiet. The first round of matches is starting.

Landon leaned forward to get a closer view of the center square where the Lakes team was dueling even while the Coven squad competed in the east ring. The first shock came early. There was a flash of mental energy so powerful it could be visually seen. At first no one knew where it came from. That was until the Wise Men declared Lakes win over the Twelve Houses team.

“What the hell was that?” Kate rubbed her eyes.

Landon knew what it was if no one else did. Someone on the Lakes team had set off a mind bomb. As Joshua was the team’s mentalist it had to have been him. That was not the shocking part, at least as far as Landon was concerned. What surprised him and probably everyone who had the inkling of what had happened was that no one on the Lakes’ team appeared to have been effected. Either Joshua was so skilled in mental attacks that he could direct the explosion at individual targets or else someone on the team had shielded them. Only two people could have pulled off the feat and not have gotten eliminated. The first and more obvious one was again Joshua but Landon knew, having set off a few mind bombs himself, the incredible amount of energy and concentration it took to set one off. There wouldn’t be any energy left to control who was affected... That left the less obvious choice of the team’s mixed member.

That person was of course his brother. The ability to take the energy produced by another person’s Talent and redirect it for their own purpose was an ability only his mother had possessed. It was only natural that her son had the same ability. Landon, who took after their father, didn’t have the ability. But how far had his brother come in understanding the nature of his abilities? He knew of ways he could test him but dare he?

Doing so would put his brother at risk of losing but maybe that was for the best. If he won both the group and individual contests he would draw the attention of not just that of the heads of the 145 remaining original families but also the Master. Since his brother had no known loyalties to any faction it was hard for him to predetermine how the families will react if their best were defeated by a Blip who was not even out of high school yet.

Possibly one of the families already had. Using his kinetic Talent he applied a tiny amount of force to reshape his eye and lengthened range of his sight. He could now see the pair of scarves on his brother’s neck and arm. It seemed the fighting had already begun. The blue had to belong to the Balthazars. If so he could use that to his advantage. The other was red… It too looking over the list of combatants but he was able to discern that it had to belong to the Omicrons. That could prove troublesome.

The Omicrons were a stubborn lot and fiercely independent. Both the Master and the Order had made all sorts of offers and counter offers to convince Lord Berg to join their side. Though he acted the part of the grandiose old fool, he skillful played one side against the other. Gaining Aaron as a son in law would add a new complex layer to the game.

Say if Aaron were the win the tournament and married Broom-Hilda; House Omicron would have a new bargaining chip to use against the Coven and the Order. His Master would clearly want to finish Aaron’s conversion while Lord Oliver would not be able to stand it that mere Blip had won. It didn’t matter that neither knew the nature of Aaron’s abilities. In the case with either faction his brother was in for a hard life.

So what was Landon to do? What he wanted to do was to run down to Aaron, lift him in his arms, and swear never to leave him again. Unfortunately that was the one thing he could not do. Declaring Aaron his brother would make the Master more dogged about seeing him converted and increase the risk that Lord Oliver would see Aaron dead before letting that happen. Yet Landon knew he could not deny his desire to take Aaron back.

He would but not now. Only when the time was right. He might have found himself enslaved to the Master but that didn’t mean he couldn’t move against him. He had already replaced most of the people at InterVest with his own.

Kate and her posse was one group he was struggling to get rid of. She might work beneath him but she was the Master’s eyes and ears to make sure he stayed in line. As the saying goes once a traitor always a traitor and the Master knew that among his powerful Chosen was a nest of treachery.

But what to do about Aaron? He would be the perfect ally. With Landon and Greg soon to be Entwined, Aaron ability to not only block but reflect a person’s talent might prove to be the combination needed to overcome and defeat the Master for good. Problem was he never told Aaron he was his brother. It was the only way to save him from the Master’s special training. It was that very training that even now left Landon vulnerable to the Master’s manipulation.

If he were to tell Aaron the truth would he believe him? Should he tell him about the cake? Particularly the cake he had given him. What about admitting he had been the one to destroy the Master’s complex and was therefore responsible for the deaths of all those killed in the fire. Should he tell him he had been the one that made sure he and the janitor escape? Did he dare tell him that part of him he had implanted in Hal was the reason behind his suicide and that of Mary Mays?” All these should a, could a, would a’s… and no good answers to any of them. For a man who prided himself in taking into account every possible factor, whenever he thought about his brother he found himself not knowing what to do.

Before he knew it the group tournaments was over and as he expect the Lakes team was the winner. During it all they had lost only two members, Sam and Joshua, who after setting off the mind bomb had all the other teams gunning for him. With their save they brought Joshua back to take part in the individual championship round.

He was about to ask Kate what her thoughts were but looking around he noticed she was gone.

***

In addition to their four members, five of the top ranked mentalists, kinetics, mixed talents, and six of the top empaths were to fight each other in a last man standing gigantic battle with last one left crowned the winner. As Sam was among one of the top five in the central region he was able to rejoin the group.

While the rules for elimination were the same, combat rules were slightly different. Unlike team battles where every member could all join together in attaching one opponent, each participant in the individual round was only allowed to fight one combatant at a time.

To make sure of that the combatants were given special helms. Whoever was the closest opponent not already involved in a duel would be matched with that combatant. Their helms would then light up in matching colors. When the duel ended then lights would go off and the Wise Men would match them with their next opponent.

Each player was supposed to fight as individuals to win but alliances were often formed between players. Having a team you trained with in the arena with you was the main advantage of winning the group round. Usually that would be enough of an advantage for a member of that team to win the championship. This time however, with 1/2 of the remaining combatants coming from the Coven the advantage was theirs.

Before entering the arena the team had one last strategy session. As captain, Jon led the meeting. “Let’s go over the plan one last time. What will you be doing Joshua?”

“As the rules say I can’t use techniques that attacks more than the person so dueling using mind bombs are out of the question. I will have to stick to pure mind control. I have the best chance dealing with the mix talents as I can have them attack themselves with their own batons.

“Good, how about you Sam?”

“Shucks… you know we empaths are the first to be knocked out. I’ll go after the others and see how many I can take out.”

“You Andrew?”

Andy looked at Aaron then the others. “I’ll be dealing with the mentalists which leave the kinetics to you Aaron. Think you can take them on.”

Aaron nodded. With his reflective Talent they were the easiest ones for him to deal with.

That left only Jon. “I’ll deal with the other physicals. We’re the only ones Aaron seems to struggle with so I better get rid of them first.” Jon could not help but let a hand brush down Aaron’s left cheek. “Don’t worry Aaron… until we get close to the end most will completely ignore you.” Both men shuddered. “Tonight you’re mine.” He whispered into Aaron’s ear.

“Enough you two. There’ll be plenty of time for hanky-panky after we win.” Sam warned.

Aaron looked guiltily at Andy to find him looked calmly back at him. He flashed a smile at him. “It’s for the best.”

“What?” Aaron didn’t believe what Andy had just said. Had he just broken up with him? Right before they entered the arena no less. “What did you say?”

“You’ll see. It will all work out.”

Aaron knew it wouldn’t. Whatever was going on with Andy, Jon had to be in on it. Now was not the time for him to start interrogating them. That would have to wait until after the match.

The trumpets sounded and the gates leading to the main area floor creaked open. Once past the door the group split up. They had five minutes to get as far as possible from one another least they end up dueling each other. As was planned Aaron stayed near the gate.

When he saw two Coven kinetics position themselves close to him he did his best not to snicker. Like in the handbook, kinetics thought they would have the most success against mixed talents. It seemed the Coven had decided to take out the team that won the group competition first. If they expected to squash him like a bug they were in for a rude surprise.

As the end of the five minutes drew close Aaron took advantage of the extra time to size up his opponents. If he were to judge them based on their massive build he would have assumed they were physicals. They could in fact me mixed physical and kinetic Talents. Aaron would have to trust that the Wise Men would know if they were breaking the rules by using both.

The trumpets blared a second time and the contest was on. The closer of the two Coven kinetics moved in on him. When their helmets lit up he sent three of his spheres darting at him. With his Talent Aaron was able to deflect two and partly deflect the third but not enough. Due to sheer momentum the energy sphere brushed against the side of his ribs causing him to tilt over in pain. While he tried to recover the giant sent the other two at him. Having his past attack mostly deflected he used greater force believe it would break through Aaron’s weak defense.

That proved to be his mistake. With the use of greater force, Aaron had a larger well of power to draw from. He stopped the spheres midair. Siphon more energy he used his mental talent to freeze the Coven acolyte where he stood. He then the sent the sphere right back at him, one hit him in the gut the other directly in the eye. The man fell, knock out cold. With his first opponent out of the contest the one minute timer on his helm started. He had sixty seconds to recover and prepare for his next duel.

Looking around he saw that the other kinetic was fighting an empath. With his Talent’s ability to avoid notice he snuck up on the pair and waited for their duel to end. This member of the Coven was clearly playing around with the empath. He had the man hanging twenty feet in the air by one ankle and was spinning him around like a top.

Aaron knew his next opponent possessed more skilled and just plain more kinetic force then his last opponent. He couldn’t be as careless with this one as he had been with the first. One slip up and it would be him flying in the air.

Eventually the kinetic got bored and dropped the poor man on the sandy ground where he stayed. His one minute break then began. He was about to move on to another opponent when Aaron started making snide comments about steroids use and dick size.

Regardless of Aaron’s empathic invisibility he got the giant’s attention. “I’m going to squish you into jelly and rip off your cock. Then we’ll see who has a baby dick.”

“To get you that upset it must be true.”

Thought the minute wasn’t up the gorilla moved in on him. When he was within three yards Aaron finally understood the unspoken rule that while you and your opponent could not fight until the duel started, there was no limit to how close you could get to your opponent before the duel began.

While Aaron could have done something about the man’s Talent there was nothing he could do to avoid being knock out by a left hook. Left with no choice he ran. Looking back he saw the man was giving him the finger but did not follow. He didn’t have to. Before Aaron knew it he had run right into an empath.

The empath didn’t need to use his talent to cause Aaron to scream. Unable to come to a sudden stop in the thick sand Aaron did the only thing he could think. When he was nearly in arm’s reach he spun himself around in a tight 360. . Many of the spectators laughed at the silly maneuver but it did catch the empath off guard. With his batons parallel with his forearms one hit the woman under the jaw and across her breasts. She fell and didn’t get up during the ten second count. By the time she did get up she was spitting out curses that made the taunting he had given the kinetic seem like kindergarten teasing.

That was the second duelist he had managed to piss off. Either the sort of people who competed in the Games were thin skinned or he had a natural effect on people.

With the timer reset Aaron looked to see how the others were doing. According to the score board he had just defeated the last empath so Sam had to be out. There was one mentalist but she was not Joshua. The two last physicals were dueling each other at this moment. He was the last mixed while three kinetics, one being Andy were left.

Another was standing right next to him. “Miss me babe?”

Aaron jumped back only to find he had his back a wall. He had stupidly trapped himself between the kinetic and the wall of the stadium. “Too bad about Trish… she just had her boobs done. I like her… if just a little. I’m going to have to make you pay for that one. I know… how about I rape that tight ass of yours until it bleeds.”

“I would like to see you try.”

“Why? Because the rules say I can’t? Did you even read them? So long as your conscious and on your feet I can do whatever I want and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“You can’t rape someone in front of all these people.”

“It is considered bad form but since when has the Coven given a damn what other people think?” He looked up at the timer. “Looks like your time is almost up.”

Aaron didn’t know what to do. He was cornered by a man three times his weight who intended to make his suffer as much as possible. The most dangerous part was he could easily do so without using his Talent.

The one minute timer went off and the two stood there. “Promise not to squirm and I won’t break too many bones. Knowing you Lakes boys you’ll probably enjoy it.”

Aaron stepped forward.

“Not that way. I want your ass. Show it to me.”

Aaron did as he was told.

He let the man get closer and closer. At the very last moment when he felt the man hook his thumbs into his pants he jump straight up, hitting the man directly in the chin. As the man stepped back he grabbed his attacker’s meaty hands and used them to lift himself up into a backwards flip. Now behind the giant, Aaron took both batons and slammed them between his potential rapist’s ass. “Now who’s getting fucked?”

The kinetic spat out a third of his tongue and chips of his front teeth. . The look he gave Aaron nearly caused Aaron to fall back on his ass. Rules or not the man was going to kill him. Aaron did the only thing he could think of… he ran.

The kinetic, lashed out with his power and trigged a shockwave that knocked Aaron off his feet. Instead of lifting Aaron back he sent his talent under the sand and lifted it up as if it were a giant block.

As he couldn’t see the partials of the kinetic energy the Talent was using he had no means of drawing power from and turn it against his opponent. It was as if the ogre knew exactly how his Talent worked and had been trained on how best to counter it.

As soon as the block of sand was close enough his attacker let go of it. Before Aaron could recover he was on him. With one meaty hand he grabbed Aaron by the back of his neck and lifted him off the ground.

Aaron used one of his batons to hit the man in the chest. The kinetic let go but quickly caught him again. He then took the offending arm and twisted it until it snapped. Aaron screamed and dropped the other baton.

The giant looked down at Aaron and tried to speak. All that came out was a spray of blood. Aaron thought he heard the man say something about a pound of flesh. When the giant took Aaron’s broken arm and brought it to his lips he knew what the man had in mind. He was going to eat him.

With his greatest fear becoming a reality Aaron screamed. He didn’t know what happened. There was an explosion followed by a wave blistering heat. When he had recovered enough to see what had happened he there was little left of his opponent other than burnt jelly.

He then heard screams coming from behind him. Turning around he saw Andy on his knees and he had changed. His skin had gone from pale to tan, his silver hair to gold. From underneath the spots where he had torn off his shirt Aaron could see part of a shield and one whole skull. Andrew was completing his conversion.
Aaron raced to try and help him but Andrew shoved him away. “Don’t look at me!”

Aaron raced back, and tried to hold him but Andy once again pushed him away, this time ripping off his goggles. “Don’t look at me!”

Without the goggles Aaron was completely blind. Desperately he tried to find Andy but only found empty air. Unable to stand the brightness he covered his eyes with his good arm. He then saw it. It started off appearing like the polar negative image of television static. The streak of black began to form into dots. These dots started gather around into shapes of his surroundings. He couldn’t see the stadium but he could see the shadows of the thousands of people inside it. Looking around the stadium he found a figure enflamed by darkness he had to be Andy.

Aaron headed towards the fiery shadow. As he moved closer he could feel the air become hot.

“Don’t come near me!”

“But I won’t leave you.”

“Yes you will.” The voice was Jon’s. “He killed a man so he’s out of the match. It’s just you and me now.”

“But we have to help him.”

“He doesn’t want your help.” Jon replied coldly. “No one can help him. Not you, not me, not the Order.”

“I don’t understand.” Aaron could see Jon, who unlike the others shined white leaving him almost invisible behind the white background.

“The Coven Virus, it finally got to him.”

“That’s impossible. What about the diet?”

“It only serves to delay the inevitable. It cannot stop the conversion. He belongs to the Master now.”

“You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?” Aaron wasn’t asking a question. It was an accusation.

“We knew there was a chance it would happen. Stress, using so much power; it sent him over the edge.”

“Why didn’t he tell me?”

“He didn’t want you to know.” Jon snapped

“But you did and you didn’t think to tell me?” Aaron felt sting of tears and sweat around his eyes.

“It was what he wanted. He didn’t want you worrying and let it ruin what little time he had left. I’m sorry Aaron. It’s over. Now you must fight and I have no intention of losing.”

With his arm broken and bleeding Aaron strangely found himself still wanting to win. If it had been anyone but Jon it wouldn’t have matter but Jon had betrayed him. If denying him the glory of winning would somehow act as his revenge, Aaron was angry and hurt enough to deny him his prize.

He felt something placed in his good hand. It was the baton… even now Jon was trying to pass himself off as the honorable gentleman. Now Aaron knew better. Still, when he felt Jon’s dried cracked lips touch his own; he could not help but gain some level of comfort and pleasure from it. “Time to end this.” He was broken. He knew that now. No amount of tender kisses would change that. He aimed his gaze on where he thought Jon was and gathered his strength to try to fight.

Then, something happened. The white dotes around Jon began to change color. They went from white to red, orange, and yellow, only to settle on green. He could now see Jon clearly but more than that he saw the dots leave Jon and come to him. In his grief he had finally found the means of tapping into Jon’s physical Talent without his permission. The bleeding stopped and he felt some of his strength return.

While drawing the physical energy into him was healing Aaron, it was weakening Jon. He stumbled. Unable to carry the weight he dropped his shield. “What are you doing to me Aaron?”

“I’m winning.” Aaron had to admit he no longer felt angry at Jon… by taking his energy he had gotten a taste of what the young man felt towards him. His love for him was not what Aaron had always thought it was. It was not lust or possession, though both were present. The bulk of his feelings towards Aaron were admiration, respect, if not worship. Jon longed to be with him because he wanted to be a part of him. Now he was and Aaron could not hate him for it.

Still the duel needed to be ended. Stronger but still weak Aaron moved slowly to where Jon had fallen. “If you thought of everything what happens when I beat you.”

“Why… you get me of course, but then again you always had me.”

Aaron placed the end of the baton on Jon forehead and held it there until Jon collapsed on the sand. The ten second passed and though he struggled he didn’t get up. Aaron had won… and by his own effort it was a true victory.

Jon however was not done. He whispered through a mouthful of sand. “Offer me your hand.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

“I don’t see what the big deal is but alright.” He offered Jon his good hand.