For a second, Altan forgot his name, his whole identity. It took everyone turning in his direction and staring at him to finally bring him back to reality. Altan looked around and in the stands he saw Batu staring off into space with a cosmically terrified look on his face. Abaka was next to him with a similar look but was still in his right mind, looking around trying to say something but couldn't find the right words.
The high ranking Uulyn Daichid standing on the tower next to Uulyn Khün then shouted "THOSE INITIATES NOT PICKED OUT PLEASE MOVE ASIDE TO THE STANDS OR ANOTHER AREA YOU ARE ABLE TO VIEW THE ARENA". After the other aspirants had filed out into the stands the only two people standing in the room they all entered into. Altan and the other boy who must have been Ünenii Akh, Abaka's apprentice.
The two turned to each other and Altan saw that Akh was scarred all over his body. There were cuts and such but there were fern like scars as well covering him. Altan noticed there was something about Akh's eyes. As they stared at each other there was a mix of some sort of tired hatred in his eyes. As far as he knew, Altan had never met this boy before so he had no clue what was up.
Before Altan could come to any conclusion, two Uulyn Daichid soldiers came from the shadows and grabbed the boys from behind. Altan tried struggling for a bit, asking "Hey what the hell?!" but when he looked over at Akh he saw the boy wasn't struggling whatsoever. The two were then thrown down into the arena on opposite sides.
Akh rolled as he dropped and jumped to his feet while Altan simply fell and staggered up. The two stood a solid 16 feet away from each other on the edge of the arena when suddenly a gong sounded. Altan went for his sword but stopped when he saw that Akh wasn't reacting at all.
Until his fingers twitched. Altan attempted to fully draw his sword out but Akh reacted quicker. The Boy made a finger gun and suddenly the fern like scars on his body began to glow and a jolt of lightning shot out of his fingers. Altan tried deflecting it but it struck him in his chest. Staying lodged in like a crossbow bolt the jolt of lightning sent waves of pain throughout Altan's body.
He fell to his knees and tried fighting the pain but couldn't move his body. Akh drew his own sword and began walking over. His body glowing as electricity flowed through his sword. As he drew closer and closer Altan kept trying his best to move but kept failing. Once Akh had reached Altan he raised his sword and swung it down with all his might.
But by some miraculous luck Altan's body fought through the pain and he raised his sword to parry the strike. Akh staggered backwards and looked down at Altan in shock (HAH). Altan stumbled to his feet again, His eyes shot wide open, his legs shaking, and his arms trembling from the pain. Regardless, he took a two-handed stance with the saber and lunged as best he could to attack Akh.
Akh parried the attack, still stunned that Altan was able to withstand that strike. Altan struck again, and again, and again. Akh continued blocking. The audience was amazed but stayed silent as per Uulyn Daichid custom in arena fights. Finally, Akh parried an attack from Altan, pushing the saber to the side and kneeing him in the stomach. Altan fell forward but Akh caught him and with his free hand, pushed the lightning bolt further into Altan's chest until it poked out through his back.
Altan screamed and writhed in pain, dropping his saber. Akh let him go and Altan fell face first to the ground. It looked like Altan was unresponsive. Thinking he had won, Akh bowed and turned to go to the rope ladder that had been thrown into the arena for him.
Once Akh was about to jump over the small moat and to the ladder a hand grabbed his shoulder. A chill went up his spine as he slowly turned his head to see a rugged and battered Altan, with the fern like scars from the lightning to his neck and a grin on his face. "Hey bitch boy" He said, his breath clearly just not in his lungs "If you wanna fight in the real world learn some better sword fighting".
Akh looked on in terror as Altan raised his fist with the lightning bolt shot at him earlier in his grasp. He had pulled it out! Altan rammed the bolt into Akh's forehead and the boy screamed in agony as he pushed Altan off him with an uncontrolled blast of energy that flung Altan back to the other edge of the arena. As he was rolling on the ground he picked up his dropped sword and jumped back up to his feet, ready for Round 2.
Akh pulled the bolt out of his head and threw it to the ground, dissipating it. "Just who the hell do you think you are?! Talking to me like that! I am above you! You are NOTHING special!"
"I don't know who I am but damn don't get salty you're losing to some common bitch" Altan responded shrugging. "This a fighting match ain't it? You fight punching bags all your life or what?". Akh completely lost his shit and charged at Altan with his sword (whilst snarling may I add) but Altan simply side stepped and tripped Akh into falling into the moat. He bumped his head on one of the rocks which made Altan snicker and that only pissed him off more.
Jumping to his feet, Akh turned around and swung his sword wildly at Altan, to which he simply just kept dodging and parrying. Eventually Altan parried Akh's saber at a perfect angle and with his free hand he struck Akh's wrist, making him lose grip of the sword, disarming him.
Akh fell to his knees and went to grab the sword but Altan stepped on his hand. Akh looked up and closed his eyes in shame. He pulled back and just said defeatedly; "Kill me". Altan pointed his saber to Akh's neck and considered it, but instead he sheathed the saber and asked Akh "Why're you giving up so easily? C'mon you can't be THAT exhausted already?".
"Has your mentor taught you nothing? I'm not even worth anything, I'm not even capable of being considered human, let alone a weapon". Altan raised an eyebrow in confusion and asked "What do you mean weapon?" "You really were taught nothing..." Akh replied, "That's what you and I are supposed to be, all the aspirants... we're not even humans yet... this tournament is to see if we're able to even get to that point by becoming weapons."
Altan's eyes widened and he looked up to the stands where, surprisingly, everyone was conversing about this, like it had never happened before. Altan then looked up at the tower where Uulyn Khün sat and saw that he was staring down at him. They made eye contact. Even from way down in the pit Altan knew he made a mistake for not killing Akh. He had dishonored the boy for the rest of his life and had broken a millennia long tradition within the Uulyn Daichid.
Altan looked back down and considered killing Akh to save his own hide but he just didn't have it in him to finish the boy off. He looked away and walked off, not sure if he was ready to face whatever punishment was in store for him. Regardless, he was going to face it anyway.
