The Champion

Chapter Two

The next morning, Kyana woke up to find that there was an old lady in her quarters. 'What is it with all these new people coming into my room! ' she thought. 'Excuse me. I don't mean to be rude, but who in Haven's Kingdom are you?' The old lady chuckled. 'Call me Dorothea, dear.' she said. 'I'm your new maid and advisor!' 'That's great. Um, my name is Chrysanthe-' Kyana started. 'Yes, yes. I know who you are. You're Kyana! Don't worry, your secret's safe with me.' Dorothea chuckled again. Just then, the door banged open and Jack came in. 'Why aren't you dressed?' he demanded. 'Jeez, Jack are you ok? You looked flustered.' Kyana looked him up and down. Judging by the sweat on his face, he ran up to Kyana's chamber, very quickly. 'There's been a dead body found on the other side of the castle.' he said gravely. 'I didn't do it. I swear.' Kyana said. 'I know it's not you.' he said. 'It's... You'll have to see for yourself.' 

The pair got to the crime scene in less than five minutes. In Kyana's opinion, the only way to describe the body was gruesome. Who or whatever had killed this person, sucked up all of their blood. What was left of him was his skin. A shrivelled shell of a man. She looked a bit closer. Then it hit her. It was Varik. Ok, Kyana didn't like Varik, but this? This was way out of the question. Who could've done it? 'Let's go Chrysanthemum.' Jack said. Kyana almost forgot that that was her incognito name. 'We have training now.' Jack motioned for her to follow him.

'OK, Chrys. We'll go over what I've taught you and then we might be able to spar.' Jack said. 'Ok.' Kyana breathed. She wanted to spar with Jack. He didn't know that she knew how to sword fight. It's not like the Shadow Organization would only make her learn to wield one weapon. They taught her how to use a staff, nunchucks, a dagger, a bow and arrow, a sword, darts, blowdarts, and many more. They went over the basics again, and this time, Kyana made sure that she did it right. 'Wow! You've improved heaps!' Jack praised. 'Thanks!' Kyana puffed. Jack decided to let Kyana spar with him. Jack drew a ring around the two of them and said, 'If you step outside the ring, you're out and the other person wins.' 'Got it.' Kyana made a mental note to not step out of the ring.

'3.2.1. START!' Jack shouted. They were off. Jack, of course, lurched forward to attack. Kyana defended. After a couple of minutes, Kyana turned to attack. Jack was in the middle of his next attack when she jumped and spun in mid-air. She sliced her blade through the air and Jack just managed to block it with a look of surprise plastered on his face. Jack looked deep into Kyana's eyes. All he could see was fierce intent on winning. He was starting to get a little bit scared, to be honest. So he switched to defence mode. He deflected every hit she swung. Kyana could only think about showing Jack that she could fight. For real. Kyana slowed down. She knew how she would finish the fight. The pair spun around each other and moved across the ring. They were getting dangerously close to the edge of the ring. Kyana knew her tactic. 

Jack was surprised when Kyana slowed down. He thought she was getting tired and allowed pushing her back and out of the ring. They made their way across the ring and were very close to the edge. Kyana slowed a bit more and he pushed her closer and closer to the edge of the ring. When Kyana knew she was a toe away from the line, she spun around Jack so that she was facing his back and she used the butt of her sword to push him out of the ring. He stumbled and he was out of the ring. ' I win!' Kyana cried triumphantly. 'Yes. You did.' Jack said in a gruff voice. 'I shouldn't have underestimated you. I should've expected more from an assassin.' he said.

That night, Kyana went to the dining hall and found that a young lady was sitting at the head of the table. She had raven-black hair and silvery-blue eyes. Kyana was curious, so she got her food and sat up next to the girl. 'Hello, are you part of the competition?' Kyana asked. The girl shook her head. 'My name is Alumina, Princess of Embre.' 'Ooh! I've heard that Embre is a very nice place.' Kyana said excitedly. 'Yes indeed. What do you go by?' she asked Kyana. 'Go by? Oh! You mean my name?' Alumina nodded. 'My name is Chrysanthemum.' she said. 'That is certainly a long name.' Alumina said. 'Are you part of the competition?' 'Yes.' Kyana replied. Kyana heard a voice behind her say, 'It's time to leave Chrys.' It was Jack behind her. 'I'd better go now. Bye Princess Alumina!' Kyana said enthusiastically. 'Goodbye! I hope to see you around this lovely castle sometime.' Alumina smiled.

When Jack and Kyana were back in her chambers, he said, 'Tomorrow you will be competing in your first test.' That's cool.' Kyana muttered. 'Am I to know what the test is about?' 'Unfortunately not, I'm afraid to say.' Jack apologized. Kyana waved him away and she got into bed, watching as shadows danced across the walls. She drifted into a dreamless sleep, waiting for the next day to come.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey, Queen_Pixel13 here, 

Just like to give some credit to Shannon Messenger, because she wrote the awesome series of Keeper of The Lost Cities. I got these pictures from the internet, but she made amazing characters in the pictures.

Thanks, Guys!