The World of Emns 2: Arena

Chapter 18: Talks of stones

After Steven was able to stand again (Reyna stayed with him until he could) Miss Kasike had summed Ruhnim and Olivia to come down into the arena as well. She walked up to the four semi-finalists standing in a row, together with a young man who Olivia believed to be a servant of her, as he was holding a crate with different items in from of him. Up close, Miss Kasike was just as regal and beautiful as her statue. None of her features there were exaggerated.

"To you, Ruhnim," she said, starting at the beginning of the line, "I give this bronze medal, for making it to the semi-finals." With Ruhnim being a bit taller than the other champions, it was quite hard for Miss Kasike to reach the medal over his head and put it around his neck. Ruhnim kneeled down to help her, which was successful. She then grasped a large back of golden coins from the crate and handed it to the earth mage as well. Olivia honestly hadn't even considered there was a prize other than glory involved. Especially not for semi-finalists.

"Please, miss, I do not need this gold. Rather, give it to the other champions," Ruhnim pleaded, but the mayor shook her head.

"If you wish to give it to the others, be my guest. But I would consider it a bad omen for myself to not reward you for your accomplishments."

Miss Kasike then moved on to Olivia, to which she did quite the same.

"To you as well, Olivia, I would like to award this bronze medal for placing in the semi-finals."

Olivia bowed her head down a bit, but she wouldn't have had to for Miss Kasike to be able to put the medal on. She received a bag of golden coins as well, which was quite heavy. Heavier than any amount of money Olivia had ever held. It made her nervous.

"To you, Steven," Miss Kasike continued down the line, "I would like to award this silver medal, for participating in the finals."

Olivia could see a hint of frustration in Steven's face. His jaw was clenched and his eyes narrower than usual, yet, still, he bowed down to receive his medal and put up the best smile he could.

"Thank you, ma'am. It is more than I deserve," he answered.

"It certainly is not," Miss Kasike answered, handing him an even larger bag of coins than Olivia.

"Finally, Reyna, I would like to award you this golden medal for winning our tourney."

It was only now that Olivia could hear the applause that had been going on the entire time.

Much like Steven, the Fynlone mage received a large bag of coins, but not only that.

"As an additional reward, we would like the winner to receive this," Miss Kasike said as she grabbed a box that reminded Olivia of a box a ring would usually be placed in. Opening it up, it revealed a red stone. A gem, perhaps of some kind. But it looked as if it were glowing. Magical energy was coming off it. Olivia knew it all too well. It was the same stone that was inside of Shadow in the Leafs forest she destroyed. The same thing that supposedly kept Arty's dog running. It gave Olivia shivers.

"Thank you, my lady," Reyna let out at a barely audible volume as she accepted the rewards.

Miss Kasike laughed. "I heard back during the Clipium war a royal from Fynlone took this magic item with them and fled here, where they created Arena. Finally, it will be going back to Fynlone with you now."

"Excuse me," Steven interrupted, "May I ask what kind of magic item it is, if that is not too rude."

Miss Kasike shook her head. "I'm not fully sure myself. Experts tell me it's some form of battery. A powerful one at that, but they couldn't quite figure it out. I didn't want it to go to waste, which is why I decided to give it to the strongest mage here today. Maybe they will be able to use it as intended."