"Impossible. This can't be."
I held my head, almost pulling my hair in frustration and helplessness. I quickly turned to see if Aarin had heard the man as well.
"Maybe these are voices in my head, and none of this is real, and Aiden is going to win. Isn't that right Aarin?"
I laughed, asking the question to her, to ease up my nerves. It was just a bad joke, or maybe even a dream. It was then that I realized, everything around me seemed to be a little bit lighter in color, as if my vision had blurred everything from my sight. No, it felt more as if I was watching them from a different dimension.
"Wait. Did I just check if Aarin had heard the man's offer? Why? Why did I look at her like that? Could it be that I wanted to make sure she hadn't heard this man's offer? No no no, that's impossible."
"Little child, let me tell you that right now, we are in a completely different space from that inside the arena. Our negotiations will remain here, and Aarin will never find out the truth. I will give her a life where she is able to grow and you will live your life with that boy who is going to die otherwise. Choose, because I do not like waiting. Making me wait will be bad for our negotiation."
"Ok, ok.. but please, do not hurt her. In return, tch.. please save Aiden, if you have the power to do so."
All of a sudden, I felt a tingly sensation in my head, and the voices of the crowd, their murmuring in horror to see the gruesome beating unfold in front of them, began to clutter my ears once again. The eerie sensation behind me disappeared, and I quickly turned to find Aarin.
"Aarin? Aarin?"
I got up from my seat and quickly began looking for her across the rows, streams of tears flowing from my eyes. I screamed out her name, disrupting the silence, and a few eyes gazed at me, grudgingly. I knew that the media would target my father and his senseless actions later, but for me, finding Aarin was a priority. I began to climb up the arena stairs, my mind now unable to concentrate on anything. Behind me, Aiden was going to die according to that unknown man, and if what I had done was not a dream, my heart crumbled under the fact that I may have just traded Aarin, my lifelong friend, to save Aiden.
"Please please come back. Where are you? Where did you go? Please, I'm sorry just come back, please.. Please."
All of a sudden, a flash of bright orange light covered the entire stadium, and I turned around to see it's source. To my surprise, and horror, the fireball that Aiden had scraped together with the last of his energy, was now a giant orb of lava like plasma, levitating outside the arena. The stadium was filled with screams of horror, and people began to run towards the exit. Soon, chaos took over the entire atmosphere of the quiet arena. I could hear voices of people, making things up from the situation.
"Hurry, head to the exit. The prince of fire has unlocked the forbidden spell that was laying dormant in the Hearts family!"
"Leave some space, you selfish brats. I'm expecting a baby, it'll die if it's exposed to the heat."
People everywhere were running in all directions, and a wild flame shot out of the orb and burned a small group of people, who were now on fire. They screamed for help and I quickly turned around, looking for the security in charge. They were already occupied, and I too began to worry for my own safety.
"What is going on? Why is this happening to me? Wasn't today supposed to be a good day? Why?"
I fell to the ground, staring at the ground. Then, I heard my father's scream, and looked at him expressionlessly. He was pushing against the giant orb of fire and plasma, with his strongest defense magic which was a wall of dense air a hundred times atmospheric pressure, topped with the surrounding of the wall a vacuum. This formation of air particles not only weakened the attack externally, but multiplied the strength of the pressurized wall proportionally. Furthermore, I noted that my father had created multiple tornadoes that worked to reduce the magic power of the orb from behind, thus pushing it away from his side, and pulling it in the opposite direction.
As he screamed various defense formations against the orb, clearly fatigued and almost pressed down towards the ground, I noticed Aiden in the same unconscious state, with his eyes barely open.
"No matter how strong you get, flame boy, I will never yield my daughter to the Souls family. I will never- absolutely never ever, lose to a youngling like you. Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrr!!!"
A loud explosion resulted in light and rubble scattering around the arena, the sound of the blast equivalent to a hundred thunderclaps. As I flew away against the wall, hitting my head against one of the digital chaos in the stands, this time around I had carefully created multiple cushions to protect myself, and especially my vital regions, unlike in the fight with Adem.
I quickly stood up from the ground, and ran to the center of the arena, where I saw my father lay under the rubble and dirt, and Aiden who stood there next to him. Some people emerged from the dust clouds including the judges of the fight.
"Did the boy really do that?"
"Simply unbelievable!"
"I cannot believe I am alive to see the day when the Hearts family of fire are showing their true power. Their future seems to rest in good hands."
All around me, the people's gossip made my ears. As I quickly ran towards Aiden, and was just in time to hold him before he fell on the ground, I cast a gaze into the now broken arena.
"Aarin, where are you?"
My father was severely injured and had to be admitted to the hospital. Once he had recovered, he announced that he was ready to accept Aiden as his son-in-law. According to the terms of the contract, Aiden had succeeded in defeating him and was thus the winner of the match and the contract.
No one seemed to know about my fathers real intentions, and he was seen as a hero who had brought out the dormant power of the Hearts family's successor, who was now in debt to him twice. Only I knew the truth. I asked my parents, and everyone else about her disappearance, but no one seemed to know what I was talking about.
"Aarin? Dear, is this a friend from school? Don't tell me your friend was injured during the arena incident."
My mother exclaimed, worriedly.
"Aarin? Never heard of her. Moreover, did you decide on the wedding dress?"
My father too seemed clueless about her.
I quickly searched through my folder, to show everyone the pictures of Aarin and me but to my surprise and horror, there were no pictures of us. The pictures we took together were now only me with that background, standing in the middle, alone.
"What's going on? What is all of this about?"
For days, I had nightmares, about her crying in a closed room, calling me to save her. I would wake up in the middle of the night screaming, and my parents thought I had gone mad. Then, I got married to Aiden, and my life became calmer, once again. Slowly I began to forget about her, and so, six years went by. Slowly, She became a distant dream, one that had stopped knocking on memories door so very often, until one day, as I lay next to Aiden in bed, a slightly colder wind blew into the room.
"Laiba, I've wanted to tell you something for a very long time. I didn't have the courage to do so, but it needs to be said."
"What is it, dear?"
"Do you remember the story of how I married you? I fought your father, didn't I?"
"You fought like a hero. Even today, people talk about that great fireball you unleashed upon the arena."
"I was too weak. I just couldn't come to terms with the fact, and for a long time I tried to convince myself that I had in fact won. But-"
Slowly the feelings from before began to send in. What I thought I forgot, began to come back faster than I thought it would.
"Are you telling me something? Say it.."
"I didn't defeat your father. I do not know what happened to that tiny fireball, but it seems to be, to this day, that that fireball was not mine. My win was assisted actively, by an external force."
I sighed, and looked at the ceiling above. A chill went down my spine.
"It's true then. That man spoke the truth."
"What are you talking about?"
I told Aiden everything, about my father's true intention, about my forgotten helper Aarin, and how I had sensed unfathomable power emitting from the strange man who's face I had not seen.
"Aiden, I think there are forces that are above us, the elites. I think we both have encountered them, who are beyond the radioactives."
A long silence flowed, and both of us, awake, were busy absorbing the setting reality that had landed down on us. Then I felt Aidens hand on my face.
"We cannot let this slide can we? I'll look into it. Whoever this man is that you talked about, is real. What happened to Aarin, your caretaker, and how this entity seemed to erase her existence will remain a question, that if we fail to solve, may cause greater problems in the future. This man, who has the power to do what he wishes, as it seems needs to be found. Otherwise, we may all just be doomed."
"Dear, please don't put your life in danger. Just… leave it, I say."
"You know very well, Laiba. I cannot leave it like that. I am the Second to the chief of Radioactive staff, after all. I am the second most powerful radioactive, therefore there is nothing for you to fear. It'll be okay. Trust me."
"How will you investigate it?"
"I'll have to leave the 99th floor for a while. Can you look after the Hearts family of Fire's businesses for a while."
"Including those businesses?"
"Yeah. Including those ones."
Aiden meant the shady businesses that were related to the pleasure genre, for which the hearts family was known and had a bad reputation amongst the nobles. My family too had a shady money lending business similar to theirs, and we would often laugh about it.
"I'll handle it. But please, be safe out there."
That was the last night I ever spent with Aiden Dominum, the man who I came to love.