Zephyr: The Elemental Clans

15 - The Tournament Begins

Xyder Zephyr - POV;

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, spectators of all ages; Welcome to the first ever Battle for the Crown! In this tournament, the winner takes all; the grand prize being the elusive and all-powerful title of Regulus of the Zephyr Clan. These proceedings aim to find the one most suited to becoming our new leader as per the orders of the wise Regulus Seraphim Zephyr. Now, will our participants please find their way to the centre of the Zephyr Coliseum," the announcer rattled out.

Most of the Zephyr Clan had gathered in the stadium along with a huge population from the city and surrounding areas whom had eagerly anticipated what was to be a most exciting experience.

Catherine, Caitlyn and Cheryl viewed the proceedings from their special reserved place among the esteemed and important guests. Other familiar faces looked down from here including Incendio and the most important figure, Seraphim himself. The old man would even defy death in hopes of seeing me face a painful defeat but I was determined to rub my victory in his face.

"Each of our thirty two contestants will be randomly assigned a number from one to thirty two and then these will be used to determine the matchups in today's proceedings. Contestants, please line up to draw a number from the bag ahead of you," the announcer instructed.

A girl dressed in a provocative bunny outfit stepped forward holding open a sack and we each took turns drawing from it. Following this, we all returned to our exclusive participants' area where we could either rest and prepare in a large backroom and look at a live feed of the battles or we could move to the adjacent outlook and cheer on directly. Even after disqualification, we could still enter the participants' lounge for as long as the tournament lasted.

"Are you ready for this?" I asked Evie while we waited. Evelynn had been chosen as number one which meant she and number two would compete in the first match.

"Of course I am, silly!" she giggled.

"It's just that I have never seen you fight before. I mean, with your nature element.... can you even inflict pain?"

"It isn't about that. Either way, I have a trick up my sleeve," she said with a wink.

"Let me explain the rules to all our viewers on this fine day," the bunny girl began speaking into a mic, "Each fighter is given a special badge. These badges are made of strong resilient material and serve to represent the strength and weakness of our participants. Each person must strive to keep thier own badge safe while simultaneously trying to destroy the badge of their opponent. The match ends when a badge is broken and the first person to have their badge broken in each match is the loser. I will be the Referee throughout the proceedings and I look forward to working with you all. Now, without further ado, please welcome our first two participants: Evelynn Zephyr, Epitome of Vita, and Carl Zephyr!"

There was unparalleled cheering and applause as the audience bubbled with excitement. Evelynn and Carl both shook hands and retreated to their own corners to begin.

"3.....2.....1.....begin!" the referee shouted.

Immediately, Carl dashed forward and curled his fingers into a fist. His hand ignited and he prepared to deliver a flaming blow to Evelynn's abdomen.

Evie reacted quickly and raised her hand into the air causing a tree to burst out of the ground and absorb the blow. Carl jumped back, his face reflecting the pain from hitting the tree and damaging his wrist.

Evie sped behind him and flicking both her wrists she made a barrage of vines shoot out at Carl. He was caught by the thick natural ropes and found himself unable to escape. Desperately, he began to burn the flora around him. Seeing this evie wasted no time.