Eram and his group staggered out of the arena, the roar of the crowd fading behind them. They collapsed onto a row of chairs in the waiting area, their breaths heavy and bodies aching.
A woman with a kind smile approached, balancing a tray of moist glasses filled with sweet lemonade.
"You all look like you could use this."
She softly placed the drinks in front of them, before slipping away as quietly as she had come.
Each member reached for the glasses, praying the drinks were as amazing as they looked. After admiring the golden liquid for a brief second, they scarfed them down in unison.
The sweetness of the lemonade, sharp and smoothing, washing away their pent up frustration and stress like a wave on a beach washing away the footprints in the sand.
The quiet waiting room was interrupted by the creak of the door swinging open. All heads turned as the losing team shuffled in, their footsteps heavy and their faces clouded with defeat.
Jones fell to his knees, his face covered by his hands as the weight of his defeat—and an empty wallet— crushed him. With tears in his eyes, whispered.
" I…I am sorry for treating you so harshly, Eram,"
He continued, not even looking up.
" I might have bet my life savings on being the one to eliminate you in this tournament. Oops."
The group exchanged dumbfounded expressions, struggling to understand the sheer stupidity of Jones's confession. Was he serious?
Alexander was the first to move. With a mischievous grin, he reached into his mystery bag and pulled the last thing anyone expected—out a clown outfit. A ridiculous rainbow wig and a bright red rubber nose.Without uttering a word, he slipped it on, and immediately busted a move over the weeping jones.
Everyone stared in horror as Alexander, completely unfazed, shifted into several other dance moves— his clown nose honking with every step.
Cheery laughter filled the room clearing away the storms of stress. Both teams seemed to take delight in every movement Alexander made. Even Lila who was usually annoyed at his antics stifled a laugh.
"That's a bit much don't you think."
Jones tried to hide even more as his humiliation rose to knew heights. He was ashamed of his bet, even more so of the fact that he lost.
Jone's laughed and got up. He stair away from the group as he started to blush, clearly embarrassed.
"Once again, sorry. My friends all advised me not too, however I went against their advice."
He bowed towards Eram.
"It's okay."
Eram looked back with a kind smile, continuing with a serious tone.
" I admit I'm kind of struggling with something right now. I haven't fully yet come to terms with it, however I can see a light at the end of the tunnel."
Jones looked at him with kindness.
" I could tell something was off. It felt like you where holding back, honestly it's kind of embarrassing."
Eram sighed. He gave a small smile, looking around at all of his friends.
Preston got up out of his seat.
"Really, we are sorry. But it's time for us too head out, we're going on a tour to see the city."
Lila looked back with a puzzled look.
"Don't you have to set an appointment up for those."
Ken laughed while looking at the group.
"Yeah, we never expected to win. One last thing before we go, this kid approached us with some grown man."
Ken shivered.
" He looked dangerous, or what I mean to say is, he is dangerous."
Eram and his group looked at him in confusion. Lila's eyes widened.
" What do you mean?"
Preston spoke took a deep breath, and spoke up.
"Basically, if that guy decided to attack me, I would have died with no way to escape."
He took another breath.
"I have the ability to see some possible futures. At least those that I will die in, and that was a bunch."
Preston shivered. Fisch finally spoke up, while stepping forward.
" We have estimated his rank to be around a rank-6 or 7. On top of that, he seemed more interested than the kid, on killing him I mean."
Fisch then pointed at Eram. The group looked around, seeming more nervous by the second.
"Anyways we have to go. The guy that is going to pick us up, will be coming here in a while."
War said while smiling. His wings fluttering as he spoke. Their group left the room. Eram and his companions sat their in the chairs, sweating.
Alexander was the only one who seemed nonchalant about it. Alexander got up and stretched looking around the room.
"Let's not worry about this. Inside the arena we are immortal, so we have nothing to worry about. On top of that, there's many guards around who can protect us."
Seemingly satisfied by that answer the group got up and turned on the T.V. they scrolled through the channels for a the tournament. Alexander dragged over a massive couch directly in front of the tv and plopped down.
The rest of the group followed suit sitting by him. They cheered when Ryker's team came on, all of them where eating snacks to pass the time. Ryker had a hard fought battle, or it was really more one sided.
"Ooh, Ryker has taken down two of the Wild Flowers, single handedly! This is amazing! He's the Spearman, however it seems that he is also an excellent Centerpiece!"
The T.V. announcer was screaming in the mic every time Ryker moved.
"Don't sleep on the rest of the team either, take a look at Kalla she's holding off two of them by herself... wait! One of them just went down. Ladies and gentleman this match will be over before you know it."
Alexander's mouth was open as he watched their group fight. Ryker was running through the field casting multiple spells at once, while Kalla tried to stay in the front. Gunther was standing still, however the group knew he was most likely reducing gravity, and or amplifying it.
Ren was standing in the back with a bow, giving cover fire, keeping the enemy team from advancing, while Taylor was healing anyone that got injured.
The Dragon Crest, Ryker's team, was running like a well oiled machine. Within a couple minutes They won. Ryker went up too the podium with a smile on his face and began to talk into the mic.
Alexander looked at the girls.
"He looks like he's doing way better, has he been alright?"
Yuki spoke up with a smile.
"Yeah, according to the girls, he's been going to therapy and getting help. Honestly, they say this has been the best he's been in his life."
Eram looked down at his hands, staring and blinking.
'Damn the blood won't wash off my hands. I have tried washing them till my fingers have blead but it just won't go away.'
"That's good, I'm glad he's doing okay."
Yuki looked back at Eram's smile and smiled more.
"Yeah, honestly i can't wait to see them again. It would be so cool if we met them in the final round."
Alexander got up on the couch and started to pose, while cackling like a fool.
"I have an idea."
The group was ready to push him down, however he started talking first.
"What if we attack the other team before they get ready, so that way we win by default when they cant show up."
the rest of the group looked at him with a shocked expression, all of them began to tackle him down to the ground. Eram sat still looking at a wall.
'Well i guess that could work... I mean it's a pretty good idea, however i don't think I'm willing to do that.'
Lila got up with a metal bar that she grabbed from underneath the T.V. and waved it around.
"I may not kill you Alex, but this sure is hell gonna hurt."
She pulled out some bubble gum from inside her pocket, and began chewing. Alexander looked back, sweating. He turned around and began to run, unfortunately for him the room didn't have an infinite amount of space he could hide in.
Laughing, Yuki picked up a pillow. She yelled while waving it around.
"Alexander! I am going to smother you with this pillow!"
Everyone began to laugh, even Eram. He let a small smile creep up his face as he picked up a pillow, as well. Seeing the group laughing Michael joined in. They all began having a pillow, and metal bar, fight as they messed around.
Alexander was running for his life while laughing.
'I'm so glad Eram stopped brooding. I don't know how much longer he is going to act like this, but hopefully by the last match, he comes back to us.'
After a while, they knew the next match was going to begin, however they didn't know something bad in the background was brewing.