The box…

Was a box.

It was a very boxy box.

In fact, if Lars had had to use an adjective to describe it…

Box.

Very, exceedingly box.

And that was about it.

There were no hinges, no panels, nothing he could actually figure out about it.

Well, it was a shade of extremely generic brown, but that didn’t particularly help.

He tapped on it lightly, and it sounded, predictably, like a box. It was hard and a bit grainy to the touch.

He tried shooting off a few spells at it and it remained stubbornly box-like.

…Well, this was annoying. And boring.

He sat down on the ground with the box on his lap and began to peer at it closely, running it slowly in his hands, carefully running his fingers over every inch of the surface.

There.

There was a very, very tiny little indentation and it was most likely some sort of hidden hinge- so all he needed to do was cast Decompose-

Cast Decompose-

Alright, that wasn’t working, so how about…

A nice, well placed Lightning Storm.

Nothing happened.

…He’d try that again.

Lightning Storm?

Nada.

Shouldn’t the box be a smoking, miserable wreck by now? What on earth had they done to it?

Well, the indentation had increased by about the thickness of his fingernail, if he looked really closely. Also, it was smoking slightly.

Oh, forget this. He was going to time storm it so hard it no longer remembered having been a box in the first place.

He drew every last ounce of power together and directed it straight at that stupid little hole.

BOOM.

The box exploded, bits of it going flying in every direction.

He’d gone deaf to anything but the ringing noise in his ears.

He wiped the soot out of his eyes and spat to get rid of what had entered his mouth. There was soot all over his clothing as well, he realized in disgust. He wiped at it futilely. Ugh. He looked like a wreck, now.

That…

Had not been such a smart move.

On the other hand, there was a small piece of paper lying on the ground, looking up at him smugly.

“Using display magic, express the theme: First appearances, second impressions” said the paper inside.

---

Rhen was shooed of to the sidelines, where she got to watch Lars explode his box in his face.

She had to struggle not to laugh.

“Please use these items to recover your mana,” the attendant said, handing her a pile of herbs and potions.

She didn’t actually need them.

On the other hand, Lars- storming towards her looking decidedly ticked off- definitely did.

She handed them to him with a flourish.

“Oh, stop grinning,” he said. “Do I look that terrible?”

“No, no,” she said, “You look… you look…”

She burst into laughter.

“You look great,” she managed, at last.

He narrowed his eyes at her.

“Really.” He said. “Then you won’t mind if I give you a nice, big hug-“

“Eek, stay away from me-“ She said, but he had already rubbed his sooty hands all over the back of her robe.

“…That was just mean,” she said.

“Whatever. I’ll just cast a cleanse,” he said, and did so. The soot faded, but not completely.

He rubbed on another covey balm and let the mana sink in.

“What did you get on your paper?” she said.

“Should I tell you?” He said, raising his eyebrows at her. “After all, who says we won’t be competing next round?”

“I-“ she began, but just then the final contestant managed, with a gasp, to pry open his box.

“The second round will now begin,” the announced boomed. “In this round, each contestant will have a minute and a half to portray a theme they received from their box. The judges have a list of the themes given out, and will afterwards be informed by the contestant which specific theme was being displayed. Interference with other contestants is allowed this round. Order of contestants will be chosen by lottery…”

“I got ‘something from nothing’”, she whispered at him.

“Thanks for telling me,” he said, smile curving at the edges of his mouth.

“Oh, c’mon,” she said. “You have to tell me.”

“Nah,” he said. “Don’t feel like it.”

“His honorable Sir Akai Verinns will be first,” the Empress said, looking at the powder-blue paper she had drawn.

A sharp-eyed, middle-aged man with greying hair stepped forward. He stood very still for a moment.

And then in a sudden, swift movement he brought down his sword and the stadium glowed gold and red as a ring of gigantic roses surrounded the stands, before they withered and melted away, producing a black smoke that coalesced into a fiery-eyed stallion, that rode a wave on a raging sea…

And then the entire thing faded away, and the swordsinger strode confidently, almost cockily towards the judges panel.

“Oh, wow,” Rhen said, miserably, as the crowd cheered.

It was painfully obvious to her that she was nowhere near that level. Akai Verinn’s images had been so bold and clear, you could almost feel and smell and taste them. It made her ache with envy.

Next a red-haired woman named Feronia displayed what seemed to be a house on fire, although the flames themselves kept changing into other things- faces and pathways and swords and hands, clasped tightly. The judges, when she whispered her theme to them, looked impressed as they scribbled away in their notepads.

And then, to her shock, the next name was called.

“Lars Tenobor.”

He stepped forward, easily, gave her a cocky smile as he walked to the center of the arena, grasping his staff lightly.

He hadn’t even bothered to go pale at hearing his name called.

He looked around calmly before raising his eyes to look squarely at the Empress. He bowed low, and several girls shrieked. Rhen fought between being amused and exasperated.

He closed his eyes, and swung his staff out in a wide, sweeping arc.

Mirrors, mirrors, everywhere. She’d seen this before.

…Not the part where a thousand Lars’s stepped out of the mirrors, though.

And when his face started changing… That was creepy.

He turned into a tree.

A thin, sickly twisted tree- little more than a sapling, really- times a thousand.

Then she blinked and it was one enormous tree in the center, green and covered in…

Flowers that turned into sharp, deadly blades, that scattered in a whirlwind before settling, as dried, useless leaves.

He gave another bow and walked off to the judges, and Rhen released a breath she had not realized she’d been holding.

---

Someone made the entire stadium turn upside down- or seem to.

Someone filled the whole stage with water and deep-see fish.

A sorceress with blond hair tied back in a braid made a tiny little yellow flower that stayed tiny and yellow until the last ten seconds, when it suddenly flared out blindingly white and looked like the surface of the sun- They’d had to take a small break after that, to allow everyone to recover their vision.

And when she was almost at the point that each presentation had blurred into the other, so that she couldn’t feel nervous so much as absorbed…

“Rhen Darzon,” the announcer said, and she felt like she’d been punched.

She staggered forward shakily- or at least she felt like she staggered forward shakily, although in reality she was probably walking pretty normally as far as people could tell-

Her grip on her sword felt weak, and slippery from sweat.

---

“This is the Sword of Radiance”, Talia had said, holding out a long, slim object covered in cloth. “It’s a fairy sword known specifically for purification.”

“Ah,” she’d said. The implication behind Talia’s statement did not miss her. Well, if it could accomplish two purposes at once…

But she hadn’t actually had the chance to wield it properly yet- It had arrived two days before the competition and had remained wrapped up until she’d grabbed it this morning.

---

“Well, hello,” she said to the sword in her hands.

It hummed pleasantly with magic, but in a much more subdued and polite way than the Sword of shadows had. She’d expected it to resemble the sword of light, but this sword was more humble and deferential. The sword of light liked being noticed. It reminded her more of the sword of dream… or silence…

She closed her eyes, could heart her heartbeat pounding in her ears, a dull thumping that seemed impossibly loud.

But she wasn’t afraid.

No.

Somewhere deep inside her, something hard and stubborn and resistant had awakened.

She recognized it.

It was the same part of her that loved swords, for their resilience and conviction. They were terrifying, yes. But they got what they wanted.

She wouldn’t back down.

All this was… was another battle. Of a different kind. But she could handle battle.

She breathed out and moved, the tempo of her heartbeat the pace she set for her steps, and she let the world fade away into silvery…

A bud twirled delicate, gentle in the air, slowly unfolding, petal by petal, uncurling to reveal, sleeping inside, a tiny, delicate dragon that swelled and grew, eyes flaring, two sets of wings sprouting off its’ back, talons raking rainbow sparks through the air-

The dragon raised its’ head and sang, low and keening, each note a droplet of magic spreading widening circles in the silent arena (and throwing in a silence spell to let each note stand clearly on its own had been a clever touch).

Abruptly it took off from the ground and zoomed, impossibly fast, towards the top of the arena, so that it would impact the roof and shatter-

Instead it vanished.

…what?

She nearly lost concentration.

Someone was interfering with her spell.

How was this-

No no no she couldn’t think about this, right now. She needed to finish the spell. She only had a minute and a half.

“C’mon,” she said. “You can do this.”

Her sword, at least, was a bit irritated by the interference.

She pressed hard against the invisible wall in her mind, and then just as it stiffened to resist her she slipped sideways and squeezed through.

The room went dark, and the fireworks exploded- yellow, green, gold, with swirls of purple and blue, in flames and twirls and dragon-eyes.

They faded.

She lowered the sword slowly, shaking.

“Thanks,” she murmured at it, and she headed for the judging panel.

She darted glances all around. Who had done it? Who? Had all the contestants been interfered with or was it just her? She thought she saw some of the more senior swordsingers looking smug, and her face flared.

“Something from nothing,” she said to the judges, and prayed she saw approval in their eyes, as they bent their heads to confer.

I love it!!!!!!

She's gonna smack a sword-singer!

Someone's messing up Rhen's spell!!! Oh noes!!!! Could it be..... *gasp* Dameon?? Nah, that's impossible... he left already... right?

I love how your wrote Lars having problems with his box. And now I get what you mean by "starting off the chapter by something completely random". The box exploding is a very nice bonus Except ever since my whole party got Time Storm'd to death by Agas about 7 times in a row I'm kinda sensitive about "Time Storm" now... Not that it's a big problem, but just by seeing the woirds written down, even if I'm the one who wrote it myself, it will make me react all weird. Thankfully no one can see it.

You know, for some reason I suddenly wondered what it would be like if Rhen somehow summoned, or made it seem as though she has summoned the seven daevas... I'm sure people would freak out, but it would be priceless Or maybe it would actually get Rhen kicked out of the competition for summoning high-ranking demons?

Eh, the box was less random then, you know, shopping trips, reflections about down blankets...

Well, it's pretty random for me. I would never have done that to my own story...

*still trying to imagine Rhen summoning daevas* Sorry, random. It WOULD have been interesting to see, though.

PS: That thing about Dameon was sarcasm... I don;t think he'd do that to Rhen...

...hmm, i dunno, i have a feeling that it was Sirona who interfered with Rhen...

Nah.

Sirona hasn't got the skill.

Then it can be...? I donno I'm too sleepy cause it's well past mid-night. Just had to see whether you had updated or not,glad to see I wasn't disappointed! ^.^ I'm gonna say that I love Lars' explosion thingy and his display spell! <3 "GO LARS! I'M ROOTING FOR YOU!" XD And Yay's for Jerk-y Lars! Good job Blurble!

hehe! I love it ^^ lars got all messy!

Thanks everyone.

I'm very nervous I will not be able to finish this.

It's ok, Blurb... You can always continue after you return from... wherever it is that you're going to. We've had people having major hiatuses that goes on for more than half a year.

ish ok blurble ^^ just relax =3 its only time after all, just get some chocolate or ice cream... and watch your favorite movie or something X3

GUESS WHAT.
I'M HALFWAY TO A THOUSAND GOLD.
...okay if I had actually tried I'd have been there months ago.
but.
I'M HALFWAY.

...now of course i'll probably leave the site for ages ljfdgdlkjglkdjg irony.

...ages...? please tell me thats not true...

A-Ages? W-well, isn't that...d-dandy...W-well.....AAAHH, YOU'RE LEAVING, YOU'VE PROBABLY ALREADY LEFT AND AAHHH--

Indra: Calm down.
Mist: HOW??!!
Agas: Dunno. Just do it. Why are you screaming like a decapitated chicken anyway?
Nanghaithya: (*kisses Indra*) Blurble's leaving.

((**(Soon, the entire house is filled with screaming lunatics.)**))

You are going to miss us, Blurble. You know you are!

We'll be waiting for you, Blurb...

@DiamondMist: Someone else who has pet daevas? YES!! I know I'm not alone in this!!!

*gasp* she already left us!? *screams of terror*

*Toothy-chan Avey-chan and Ari-chan freak out*
(yep! thats all three of the me people that are soooo upset) now I'll never know if they win! *freaks out more* no no no no no! *cry cry cry and sob and sob some more*

*sniffs* Blurble is...gone...?

and now she wont finish this awesome story inn ages, and now-now i'll have to wait for so long for her to come back and i'm gonna miss her and this story sooooo much!!!!!!!

*cries*

awww but burble wrote the best stories eva! me just love her edXmel stories and this one too. *sigh*