Fight Against Fate: Chapter 12

“We’ve had some exciting matches so far ladies and gentleman but we’re wrapping up with the first rounds of the tournament. And this next one ought to be one that many of you have been looking forward to. First, we have a fateless that’s been making waves ever since coming to Roxa. Rumors have been flying that he and the famous Dio have known one another since childhood. Come on up Alec!”

Alec raised his hand forward earning the cheers of the crowd. They enjoyed a good underdog story. No one expected any of the last chance tournament winners to be impressive. And then Lee came up and handily beat his opponent. It was a major upset and with his next opponent being Dio, people were excited.

But it also meant Alec had a big performance to follow up. He kept walking forward and laughed bowing his head before turning around and looking toward his opponent. The woman who stepped into the arena was smiling pleasantly, blades on both sides of her hips. Her braids caught the light and she offered a wave to the crowd.

“The beautiful oracle of the south. Said to have been born under the eye of the God of Wisdom. That she sees things not yet written. But does that mean she’s seen what will happen at the end of this tournament? We shall find out soon. Roxanne come meet your opponent.”

Roxanne walked forward slowly and then paused looking at Alec. She appraised him slowly looking him up and down and smiled folding her arms, “So you are Alec. I have been wanting to meet you ever since I first spoke to Dio.”

Alec’s eyes widened slightly, “You know Dio?”

“Indeed. Dio and I are very close. Or at least we will be,” she smiled. “Though he fights it for now, he won’t be able to forever. We all have our parts to play. You and he have a tightly interwoven fate.”

“What are you talking about?” Alec asked frowning obviously confused.

“Oh nothing,” she shook her head and pulled both her long knives free. She held them in a reverse grip crouching slightly. “I will say this. I’m looking forward to seeing you fight for real.”

“Alec!” He looked toward the sidelines and saw Felix wave at him. “Take off the weights. Don’t hold back even once during this.”

Alec looked at him and then nodded quickly, “Gotcha Coach.” He unwrapped his armor and slid the lead rods from out of his vambraces and then his greaves. As each one left he felt ten times lighter. Shaking out his shoulders he hopped slowly almost forgetting what it was like to move like this.

Drawing his sword and readying it against his shield he faced Roxanna, “Alright. I’ll give you a good show.”

“If you are both ready,” the announcer shouted. “Begin!”

He had barely just said it when Roxanna sprinted at him. She was so fast that she was on him before he even had a chance to blink. But his arm came up in time, his shield blocking one of her swords and then he whirled around blocking with his sword. She was attacking in a flurry of speed and somehow he was able to keep up. It was all instinct.

She was pressuring him backwards with each swift slash and stab. Forcing himself to focus and narrowing his eyes, he stepped to the side and blocked with his shield first. Shoving forward he drove his shoulder into her chest forcing her backwards. Getting his bearings, he stepped after her and brought the sword down.

She crossed her knives catching his sword and he leaned forward and leaned into it. He broke off and spun swinging the sword aimed at her hips. She blocked and this time he saw her flinch under the blow. She took a step back and he kept after her swinging faster and faster.

Roxanne broke into a laugh and pivoted on her heel, turning around and smashed his sword wide with the butt of her knife. She stabbed with her other sword and he brought his shield back and they locked against one another. “You have impressed me Alec. I didn’t expect this.”

“I have a great coach. I wouldn’t have been able to catch up to you before my weight training,” he smirked leaning against her and pressing on their dead locked weapons. “And I got some other tricks to throw out.”

Locking his sword against his shield he lifted himself up and flipped around kicking her in the shoulder with one foot and kicked her in the head with the other. He stumbled as he came back down and heard the crowd cheer at the upset. Sprinting after her he closed the distance between them punching with his shield first.

Flipping her knives around she deflected the shield toward the ground. Lurching forward he twisted at his hip, twinging his back and swung with his sword right at her face. He watched her eyes going wide and swore that he saw something flash in her pupils. A light that he’d only seen before in stars.

From the span of one second, he thought he saw golden strands. Saw them hovering in front him like strands of a spider’s web. They glittered in his eyes and he saw something that didn’t make sense. Swords clashing against metal. A multi headed snake. Monsters that only existed in stories. And he swore he heard Felix’s voice.

When the images faded away and he snapped out of it. It felt like minutes, hours, had passed but in reality, it was just a second. He halted his sword, just shy of her cheek and Alec huffed shocked. But Roxanne wasn’t fazed. She stared at him and nodded, “So you saw.”

“What the hell was that? What did you do to me?” he asked his arm shaking as he lowered it.

Roxanne shook her head and smiled. Rotating her knives, she sheathed them at her sides and turned toward the archon and the referee, “Thank you for allowing me to come here. But this match is completed. Alec is a better fighter than I. I concede the match.” She bowed her head and smiled at Alec. “I look forward to seeing your journey complete.”

She wandered off of the arena, greeted by her baffled sister. Alec was greeted by Felix and Lee both. “That was incredible my friend,” Lee said. “Even having fought it firsthand it’s still incredible. I don’t think I could have moved like that on the fly.”

“That’s my Alec,” Felix beamed at him and Alec blinked startled. “What is it?”

“Nothing. Just winded,” he laughed softly feeling the deju vu of Alec’s voice again in his head from the vision saying those exact same words to him.