Where Fairies Dwell

Too Tired

The knights trial went on hour after hour until the sun finally disappeared behind the horizon. Even with the arrival of night the chaos and mayhem refused to stop. In the observatory Claire was as diligent as ever watching over the entire trial as the King Tyrell left a few hours ago. "How many candidates are left?", she asked to one of the nearby workers. "Ma'am out of the 3,065 candidates that started only 965 remain!" "One day has passed and over two-thirds of the candidates remain." On a nearby monitor Celti laid on her side watching the trial with a tired look on her face, "Most of them were probably caught off guard and were eliminated right at the start... (yawn), and others were just weaklings that thought they could make it as a knight, the people left aren't gonna go down so easy." "Fair enough, but normally by this point we still have over half the candidates left. This year's group must really be something else.", a smirk of joy started to form on Claire's face. Celti continued, "So how are the boys doing?" "They've been a slowing down for a bit now, can't really blame them after fighting that thing." Celti got up from where she was sitting stretching herself out, "We did everything we could to prepare him, now all we can do is have faith." Claire let out a deep sigh knowing that Celti is right. She then looked over and saw that Celti was starting to look rather tired, "I can handle everything from here you can go take a nap." "Thanks, let me know if something happens."

Ren stood above another defeated candidate bringing the total number of candidates defeated to 15. Ren's breathing was getting heavier and heavier with every fight he took part in, and Noir was aware of this. "Ren how are you holding up?" "I...I should be fine to keep going just...just need a second." Suddenly they heard a twig snap in the distance they turned their heads to see what made that noise and in the tree line they could see a tiger. The tiger's fur was white perfectly contrasting the black stripes, and it's eyes shined blue almost like a gem. This was a strange sight cause up until this point neither Ren nor Noir have seen any animals in the trial grounds. The tiger turned it's head towards Ren and Noir making a low growl while baring its fangs. The tiger charged towards Ren pouncing on him, Ren punched it in the stomach the tiger weighed so much that even with physical magic Ren still struggled to knock it back. The tiger got back to its feet and jumped at Ren again, Ren went another punch but was too slow. The tiger bit down into Ren's arm pinning him to the ground. The tiger let go of Ren's arm going for a bite to the face, Ren moved his head out of the way then shocked the tiger trying to get it to get off. The tiger jolted for a second but refused to move, it went for a sweeping claw strike its claws digging into Ren's sides. Ren let out a cry of pain but gritted his teeth grabbing the tigers arm and froze it solid, before punching the frozen arm snapping it off. The tiger let out a roar of anger, Ren responded by placing his hands on the ground causing a pillar of earth to form behind them. The tiger went in for another bite to the face as Ren went in for a strike with the pillar. Ren braced himself shutting his eyes tight. Once he opened them, he saw the tigers mouth stopped just centimeters away from his face. The tiger just stood there frozen in place with the pillar piercing its stomach. Bits of the tiger began to turn to ash piece by piece blowing away in the wind until it was all gone.

Ren tried to get up but the pain in his side was so unbearable that when he tried to get up a shock of pain ran through his body causing him to freeze in place. "Noir I...I need to-to patch this wound.", with all the pain and fatigue in his voice it was clear Ren needed to rest soon. Noir gave him more magic and Ren to focus it into his wound. The area around the wound glowed green but then started to flicker out, Ren tried again but the same thing happened. "Ren this is serious you're too tired that you can barely use any magic! You need to find someplace to get some rest." Ren knew this would be a risky move but at the same time he knew that the other option would be an even bigger risk letting out a deep sigh he agreed with Noir.

Slowly but steadily Ren walked in pursuit of a place to hide out. He could hear the sounds of fighting happening around him, Ren and Noir were amazed these guys could keep fighting after so long. Ren stopped as he noticed six people in the distance in front of him. They didn't notice him yet so he quickly hid in a bush hoping he wouldn't be seen. Peering through the bush he saw that five of them surrounded one person all with a fighting stance. The one in the middle wore a long blue cloak with a hood shrouding his face in darkness, he also had his hands in his pockets not taking the people around him seriously. The five people surrounding him all charged at once all letting out attacks simultaneously, the hooded figure easily dodged attack after attack refusing to take his hands out of his pockets. One of the attackers then charged in with a flaming dagger, the hooded man responded by kicking him in the groin forcing him to drop the dagger letting out a squeak then gave a swift roundhouse kick sending him flying. The remaining four looked in shock as the hooded figure stretched his neck out. Instantly he vanished out of view appearing in front of an attacker with an axe kick in motion, hitting him square in the head causing him to collapse to the ground as a circle of light surrounded him. Setting his sights on the remaining three he jumped up trapping one of their faces with his legs. He then leaned back removing his hands from his pockets to catch to himself on the ground, then with his leg strength slammed the guy he had trapped into the remaining two attackers. The force of the slam was so great that dust scattered everywhere. 'This guy was strong!', that was the only thought that entered Ren's mind. This man just eliminated five people in an instant, and he was definitely holding back, had Ren been at full strength and fought him he wouldn't be sure that he could beat him. As the dust settled the three remaining attackers had vanished and, in its place, a large crater had formed. The hooded man turned away from the crater walking towards Ren, this caused him to tense up as sweat formed on his brow. As the hooded man got closer and closer Ren could feel himself tensing up more and more. Finally, the hooded man walked past Ren completely unaware that he was there, and when he disappeared Ren let out a sigh of relief as he exited the bush.

Finally, Ren reached a cave that looked safe enough to rest. Ren walked into the cave slowly making sure not to trip over anything. He went deeper and deeper into the cave until he was hid in darkness completely. "This is gonna be our best bet for a place to set up camp.", Ren said. "All we can hope for is that no one else finds this cave." Ren laid down on the cold cave floor, any other day he'd have trouble sleeping here but after today he had no problem. As he slowly dozed off to sleep in the distance, he swore he could see a star shining a bright green just above a mountain. Noir feeling tired himself found a pocket in Ren's coat that he nuzzled into. Sleeping like this felt weird to Noir but at the same time oddly comforting. Day 1 of the knights trial has ended the number of remaining knights 913.