Hello =)
When I got back I went into shock at how green it is here.
And there are squirrels.
And it's green! Green! Super green, like, everywhere!
Anyway in the two months I was gone my Microsoft Word trial expired. Stupid of me to dl it right before I left.
I have a huge project completely un-amaranthia related I want to start on. So I kinda want to wrap up some loose ends...

Whatever.
Back to writing.
Rargh.

You are Back!!!!

I knew you still loved us!

I knew you would be back!!!

FOR A SECOND I COULD NOT FIND MY DOCUMENT AND I FLIPPED.

But I found it.

*deep breaths*

*screams* BLURBLE!!! OMG YOU'RE BACK!!!! =D

YAYZ!! I'M SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO HAPPY!!!! WELCOME!!

Oh, gosh you're back!!! Yay, we'll get to see the end of the story!

Yay you're back!
I thought you're leaving and won't back....
But you're here now and i'm ready for the story!!
The competition, Blurb!

*dance with joy* YAY!!! BLURBLE!!! Did you know how happy I was when I opened my Amaranthia inbox first thing in the morning and found that you posted comments in at least FIVE of my pictures???

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

So I've spent the entire afternoon reading this story.
I love it!

Please show us the end of the story

Heh.

It's long, isn't it?

*sheepish grin*

It was. ^^

But it's worth it! I like your writing style.

Current estimates looking like I will actually make it to a round 40 chapters, if i count the epilogue...

woohoo =)

Love this,
Update Soon.
It made me feel a little bit sorry for Dameon though... WOW.

The hot, midday sun was beating down mercilessly on their heads, possibly trying to fry some eggs for lunch, when the last contestant finished, limply, his presentation. It had mostly involved wilting cacti and it had been painfully clear his heart wasn’t in it.

When it was finally over, the empress announced- much to everyone’s relief- a break for refreshments. Vendors passed through the stadium crowds, selling snacks and drinks, but the contestants themselves were hustled off to a side hall- how big was this stadium anyway? It hadn’t existed the week before- and give proper food, set out buffet-style.

“Did you have someone interfere with your display?” Rhen asked Lars, as she popped another piece of breaded chicken in her mouth.

“Um…” He frowned, thinking. “A little… Not that much, I worked my way around it.”

“Well, someone stopped mine. For a full ten seconds I was completely blocked,” she said.

“Maybe because you’re not so good at display magic, it felt worse?” He suggested, carefully.

“I… maybe. I dunno. It felt really strong, though. And vindictive.

He frowned at that.

“Anyone have a grudge against you?”

“Not that I know of, no,”” Rhen said. “Unless you want to count that teacher I used to work for? It would be lame if she had a grudge against me, though. It was months ago.”

“Is she even in the competition?” Lars asked.

“Er… no. I don’t think so.”

“Then it probably wasn’t her.”

He was shifting, uncomfortably, from foot to foot.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing, I’m just… thinking whether it might be a good idea not to stand together right now.”

“Why?”

“People are looking at us funny. It would probably not be a good idea to make ourselves targets.”

“Oh, pfft-“ Rhen said. But when she looked around, she could see people deliberately avoiding her gaze.

…Seriously?

“This is insane,” she muttered.

“Just a little, yeah,” he said.

She looked at him.

He looked entirely serious. She felt a small knot of misery curl itself up in her gut.

“It's just that this is a competition, you know. So we should be... competing. It looks wrong if we don't.” He said, trying to explain.

“But I thought we could at least- you know, support each other, work together-”

“Isn't that unfair to the other contestants?” he asked.

She couldn't really argue with that, although she was pretty sure there was a perfectly valid argument somewhere to use against him.

She wandered off to eat her waffle by herself. Somehow it was less melt-in-her-mouth than sog-pathetically-in-her-mouth, now.

----

They gathered together in the field again.

Someone jostled against her, hard. She nearly fell, but when she turned there was no apology forthcoming, just several people standing around, ignoring her.

Well then. Their loss. It was not good policy, to act obnoxious in a room full of people who might very well be candidates for High Sorceror or Swordsinger.

Unless of course they had already completely dismissed the possibility of her being a viable candidate.

She struggled to keep calm and composed. She didn't need to get upset. She didn't need to...

Her fingers curled into fists at her side.

Oh, someone was going to get it.

---

“The next part of the competition is perhaps the most fundamental test of all, shaking away all the pretense, all the formalities, a sheer test of skill and magic. As I speak, the assistants are handing out healing items- you will not all be receiving the same items, and some of you will receive none at all. The intention is to balance out those of you with higher HP, so that the next part of the competition will be as close to fair as possible...” The empress smirked. “Not like that really is possible.”

She paused, to take a leisurely sip of wine.

Rhen fidgeted, willing the empress to hurry up. It was maybe a bit rude to be mentally urging her monarch to just shut up already, but then, the empress had such an annoying tendency towards the overly verbose dramatic. She said in twelve sentences what normal human beings said in two.

“Um, thank you,” she said, as an attendant handed her some bread and fruit. Oh right. Healing items.

The attendant just nodded and hurried away. The Empress, in the meantime, had turned to confer quietly with someone at her side...

“Where was I?” The Empress continued, innocently looking up.

Rhen gritted her teeth.

“Oh right. The next stage. The final stage. The idea is really very simple- a free for all battle. You are all armed and supplied. You can do whatever it takes to win. Last one standing- is the winner.”

She paused.

“We have a squadron of healers at ready. Once you die, you're out. We'll revive you and allow you to watch, but you are forbidden to interfere. And with that...” she shrugged, in a gentle, Empress-like fashion. “Begin.”

---

For a fraction of a second no one moved.

Then the arena exploded.

It felt, like a moment, that everything was happening all at once, but then Rhen's brain began processing in slower-motion... there had been only three major explosions, really, and Rhen was in an area that was almost calm-

She pulled back even further from the center of the arena.

There was no point going against some hundred or more top sorcerors and swordsingers at once.

She grasped her sword tightly.

She was ready. She was rea-

She whirled around, sword swinging.

“Agh!” The sorceress- light blue hair, green eyes, Rhen barely registered it in her shock- staggered backwards and fell to the ground, blood oozing from her upper arm.

“Oh god I'm s-sorry,” Rhen stammered. She was about to reach to help the sorceress up when she noticed a slight motion of the sorceress's shoulder.

Some instinct- honed by countless, countless battles with Lars- made her leap back, as a whip of magic crackled through where she had been a moment before.

The sorceress pulled out the wand she'd been hiding behind her back, and brandished it at Rhen, circling slowly.

Rhen didn't wait. Time was always a sorceror's advantage. Another hard-earned lesson.

She lunged, and felt the magic pulse through her, as the Sword of Radiance glowed with power-

The jolt of the impact made her recoil, spring back, land tensely on bent knees...

The sorceress blinked.

Rhen paused, confused.

There didn't seem to be any change...

The cut on the sorceress's arm closed itself up and faded to nonexistence.

Rhen stared.

Wait, what?

The sorceress smirked triumphantly. She raised her wand.

Rhen's mind was racing. The Sword of Radiance... The Sword of Radiance was...

Her stomach sinking, she realized the inescapable truth.

The Sword of Radiance was a bloody healing sword. Or rather, not bloody. Which was rather the point.

“Dammit Talia...” She hissed, inconsolable.

“Prepare to die!” The sorceress declared, dramatically, fireball of power at the tip of her sword.

Rhen slashed at her almost half-heartedly, watched her topple. Clearly not an experienced fighter. Probably specialized in display magic.

What was she going to do now? She thought, staring disconsolately at her sword.

She was doomed.

Maybe.

WHAT?!?!? IT'S A HEALING SWORD! Holy smokes, I wasn't expecting that! Um, I sorta over reacted I guess XD But wow...I wonder what Lars is doing...Update soon!

O.O OMG HEALING SWORD?! TALIA-DID TALIA KNOW THAT?!?! IF SHE DID, SHE IS GONNA DIE! ...is there even a possibility that TALIA interfered with her? Oh well. Hopefully, Rhen will still find a way out of this...

Great update, as usual. ^^

I just read the whole story up to this point, and it is one of the best stories I have ever read! I really hope you keep it up and can avoid the mental-block monster for a while.

I have all of two chapters left to write. I hopefully will be fine.

And I'm always flattered to have new readers! (Especially since my chapter post looks so long and intimidating)

Two more chapters...? Oh, well. I'll miss your story, but I look forward to seeing how it'll end. Good luck writing...^^

you have slightly more than two to go, actually.

*giggles*

A healing sword? Ahahaha! Rhen, you are in trouble...

(Great update!)