The Realm of Magic

Practice

I drew my swords from their sheaths. Jasmine did the same. I took my stance. She did the same. "Tournament rules?" Jasmine asked. "Yeah. If you want to practice for a tournament, you have to follow the rules!" I was so fired up. I could tell Jasmine was too. "3!" "2!" "1!" "Begin!" I ran towards her with an incredible burst of speed. She blocked, my swords pushing against her's, while her's were crossed, trying to keep me away. I jumped back. "Nice block! Your strength has improved!" "So has yours!" She rushed at me, with an amazing amount of power in her step, and the swing of her swords. I blocked, ready for the amount of force she was packing. I gritted my teeth. She was getting stronger! I started to slide back, and at that moment I decided it was time to get serious. Our town has many stories, one of which tells of many great warriors who not only mastered duel wielding, but learned to put incredible amounts of power into their swords in the form of glowing energy. Jasmine and I have been trying to master this power for months, and we have the basics down, but it isn't as powerful, because we haven't mastered it yet. I knew I wasn't going to get out of this position if I jumped, or slid under her and came up from behind. She knows all of my moves. I activated this ability, this power, and pushed back. I knew exactly what she was going to do next, but I wasn't going to let her. I jumped back, and let her activate her "glow". Everyone's glow shines a different colour, mine being red, her's being different every time. This time it was also red, which scared me, just a bit. I dashed forward, and we started battling like this was the tournament. We swung, blocked, jumped back and dashed right back into each other's faces without thinking. Our moves were so fluent, powerful. I couldn't find a gap in her movements, and I was doubting she was having any luck trying to find a gap in mine. We went at it for what felt like an eternity, when I spotted a pattern in her swings. I knew what I had to do. She can in from the left, and instead of blocking, which she thought I was going to do, I instead brought my sword down under her swing, leaving my left side open, and knocked her sword out of her hand. Her eyes went wide, and she jumped back. I dashed at her, going for the win. Tournament rules state that to win a tournament battle, you must knock your opponent to the ground. She dashed in the direction of her other sword, but I had already made my move. I thrusted my sword I front of her path, forcing her to slide. She slid, but as she went under my first sword, I swung my second, blocking her path. Her eyes widened once again, and she knew she had lost. I pulled both swords back, and as she got up to dash for her other sword, I decided to trip her! I put my leg out, and not thinking, she fell right over it. "Match over! Malachi wins!" Vasi was the referee for our match. "You have gotten so much stronger!" I said. "Thank you. I can say the same thing!" Jasmine replied. "A great battle. Both of you. Make sure to bring that energy and power to the tournament and I'm sure this year's tournament will be amazing!" Vasi congratulated us both. "Thank you Vasi." We said at the same time. I kissed her. "I love when we do that."