Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: The Sorceress' Knights Tournament

Chapter 48

It started when one side of the colosseum suddenly exploded. It was like something had struck the wall with such speed that it detonated and caused that part of the structure to collapse. A shockwave spread out from the point of impact, knocking people down. Large chunks of debris soon followed, raining down on the crowd, crushing people like they were ants caught in an avalanche.

Several of the sorceresses, including Sylvia de Floresca, began to chant, but before they could even get past the first verse, a giant golden sphere sprang up around the viewing box. Strange lettering formed along the sphere's surface, moving along it as if they were alive. Runes. It was a basic type of magic that most people neglected. They were used in archaic rituals, such as the bonding ceremony between a knight and a sorceress, but very little was actually known about this brand of magic. Caspian had once heard that it was a type of elven magic.

"What is that?" he asked out loud. He didn't expect an answer, but he still received one.

"I suspect it is some kind of barrier," Darin said. He chuckled in a self-deprecating manner. "Although, without being able to see what is causing such a powerful fluctuation in my senses, I cannot determine what, precisely, it is."

Caspian turned to Darin and nearly gasped. The fedora was gone, having probably been thrown off by the shockwave, revealing Darin's face. While his face looked normal enough, albiet, he seemed a bit prettier than most boys, there was one thing about him that struck Caspian like a bolt of lightning. The blindfold covering his eyes.

"You... you're..."

"Blind," Darin answered, chuckling weakly. "I was born without eyesight. In return, all of my other senses were boosted far beyond those of a normal person's."

"That's how you were able to predict my movements," Caspian realized belatedly.

A human's knowledge of the outside world was dependant on their modes of perception. Each of the five senses consisted of organs with specialized cellular structures that have receptors for specific stimuli. Sight was the most developed sense in humans, followed closely by hearing.

However, what would happen if a person was blind. Naturally, the other senses gained increased perception in order to balance out this deficiency in sight. Darin's sense of touch was probably so strong that he could feel when Caspian shifted based on minute atmospheric changes. This would allow him to react to someone's movements so quickly it seemed as if he was predicting them.

"Now's not really the time to be marveling at my ability," Darin said, pointing up at the sky. "Look."

Caspian did look. High above them, descending rapidly, were several figures that he knew almost intimately. Clad in segmented armor, some bearing swords and others holding guns, they fell. Armored warriors of steel. Magical machines built for the sole purpose of causing harm.

"Shit," Caspian swore.

"Shit is a good estimate of our current circumstances," Darin added. "You might want to get ready. They're coming."

***

While Christo was disappointed that he'd lost to Gustav, he was pleased to have seen Caspian defeat the one who defeated him.

Standing in the viewing box opposite the sorceresses, which was reserved for the candidates who'd fought in the tournament, Christo had been given a front row seat to the exciting bouts that his friend was in.

As expected of Caspian, he'd done quite well, though Christo felt his best friend could have done better. Sure, Darin was ranked number one, but Caspian wasn't number two for no reason. That fight should have been more even, he thought.