The Secrets of Arcana

Julian

A tie?! There's no way! One of us had to have won! I had to have won!

"Excuse me?! Talk to everybody here if you have to! There's no way we tied! Ash and I had to have beat him!" the girl behind me yelled.

I watched her storm up to the organizers of the race and I couldn't tell what she was saying. But I'm sure it wasn't very ladylike.

I got out of the way as Artemis and Ada flew through the finish line, with the green dragon and then Blaze right behind each other.

Oh, Luka is definitely not happy.

In general, Luka isn't the most cool-headed person.

Who am I kidding? He has a major temper.

He's had a rough life though so it's not super surprising, but still. He's a major sore loser and naturally violent.

And Ada knows it.

As she's crossing the finish line she's already jumping off of Artemis and she immediately passes her off to an assistant. She runs over to Luka and Blaze and hands Blaze off and starts leading Luka away from the course and the green dragon. I'm tempted to follow them but then I hear the girl still yelling.

I could hear some scratchiness in her voice start to poke through but she's still going as hard as she started.

It's mildly attractive.

I decide to let Ada take care of Luka and I walk over to the girl. She didn't notice me at first but when she did she became even more furious.

I thought it was quite amusing.

I smirked to myself and stood in front of her, "What did I tell you? I've never lost. You were never going to beat me."

She scowled and glared right back into my eyes, "We tied you, imbecile. We both lost."

Well, I couldn't just accept that. I am a prince, after all, I deserve respect.

"Let's have a rematch then. Right here, right now."

She smirks and seems to enjoy the idea, "Fine. Let's go."

I start to take a step but before I can take another organizer or at least an assistant runs over and stops us.

"As entertaining as that would be, we don't have the time for that as there are multiple races still scheduled for the rest of the day. Perhaps you can have your rematch later in the week?" he says, avoiding eye contact with both of us.

My eyes darted back to the girl and she made eye contact with me. We make a silent agreement and she turns her head to the assistant.

"A week from today. Be ready."

He nods and walks off. The girl does the same thing, but not before making eye contact with me one last time.

And I notice something.

Her eyes are two different colors. One brown, one icy blue.

That's just like...

I try to get a closer look but she walks away too fast. I watch her for a moment as she meets her dragon, and then I turn my back and look for the other two.

I find them at the caves and Luka has calmed down and Ada is sitting next to him while keeping an eye on all three of our dragons.

"So who won?" Luka asks.

"Neither of us. We tied."

"You can't be serious." Ada says as she starts to stand up, "One of you had to have won."

I shrug, "Our rematch is a week from today."

I hear the two of them talking but I turn my back and start heading back to the horses.

I'm going to make sure I win.