MIND GAMES: Guild Tryouts

Chapter 21

—Axel and Dillan both walked out of the arena with a high sense of reward. They had fought bravely to be the last two remaining players, securing a spot somewhere in the Slayer's Pack, and in turn, becoming Slayers. Jay watched the screen in his waiting area and was proud of his friends for overcoming such a challenge.

Soon it would be his turn to fight, and the players in this room would be his competition. It seemed that once prospects were put in their areas, they would only be let out of their waiting areas for the sole purpose of being placed into the arena. This meant Jay couldn't congratulate Axel and Dillan on their success in person, which made him upset.

Jay's sheath for his sword rustled against the wall as he watched his friends regain possession of their weapons from the confines of his waiting room. Now every prospect knew the unspoken rules of the fight, which made winning even more complicated if his group wasn't going in blind like Axel's.

Regardless, Jay is as prepared mentally as he would ever be.

"What, do you know them or something?" Sandra asks Jay, floating above him.

Not expecting Sandra to talk to him again, Jay was surprised at her presence and cringed as she asked him her question.

"Oh, you mean those two?" Jay says, pointing at Axel and Dillan on the screen, "Yeah, they're my friends."

"I figured you were close to them since you looked so excited when they won," Sandra responds.

"Wait, were you watching me or something?" Jay says, embarrassed.

"W-what? Hey, that part of the story doesn't matter!" Sandra blurts out, "I was only looking at you because I needed to ask you something..."

"Huh? And what's your question?" Jay responds.

"The same one I have." Blaze suddenly speaks up after being silent next to Jay, "How in the world did you get Tide so mad at you? He's treating you like a worthy opponent!"

"Oh, him..." Jay starts.

To be honest, Jay had no idea why Tide suddenly grew to hate him. It was probably because of their first interaction Jay continued to question him on his actions. Tide had killed ten players in the race portion of the tryouts, which Jay argued over a little bit. For some reason, this caused Tide to become angry. Jay assumes it's because he doesn't ever get challenged, but even so, having Tide dislike him like this was terrible news.

"The first time we talked didn't go too well. Ever since then, Tide's been calling me his 'target' or something. I didn't get it at first, but in this final section of the tryouts, it dawned on me what he means." Jay explains, "How do you guys know him? I had never heard of him before the tryouts."

Sandra looks away after Jay asks his questions. It seemed to bring back some disturbance she was trying to forget.

"Nothing, he's just popular." She replies.

Blaze looks away from Jay after Sandra cowers from them in some sort of state that was incomprehension to Jay.

"Look, Tide's just a strong player, and I'm sure it bugs her that you got singled out by him," Blaze explains.

"Yeah, but it's not like I want the attention!" Jay says further, looking in Tide's direction, "I mean, look at him!"

Blaze nods in understanding and turns to look at Tide. Jay had no hope at beating him one on one, but that wasn't Blaze's business.

"I wouldn't want to go up against him either..." Blaze says, "But it's your fault if he's mad at you, I guess."

There was silence after Blaze made his remarks. Sandra was floating nearby but wasn't at all paying attention, and Jay twitches instinctively.