Chapter 10: The Tennis Match
[Vandrad]
Adrian went on a killing spree when he caught a group of hidden scavengers.
Scavengers are usually deranged beasts where the inner beast has taken the complete control over the human body. They have no concise, and doesn't care about the law.
Vakra stood far away from the fighting area, calmly jumbling his rolling dice in his right hand.
"Yawn..."
The exaggerated yawn made Vakra turn around and see Calhoun sleeping on a tree branch. He slowly limped towards the tree.
"Your Highness. I heard you are unbeatable in archery. I wonder if I can ever get to see your skills myself." Vakra said with a sweet harmless smile.
The little white snake, who was now impersonating Calhoun, lazily looked at Vakra.
"You sure hear a lot old man." He mumbled to himself before straightening up.
"I didn't bring my bow and arrows"
"No issues. I brought them." Vakra immediately responded and ordered a guard to fetch a bow and a bunch of arrows.
Now "Calhoun" was standing with a bow and arrow beside Vakra.
The little white snake had never touched a bow and arrow before. But he was always coiled around Calhoun's wrist, so he knew how perfect Calhoun's shots were.
The snake stood their with the arrow drawn, but confused as to hit what?
He wished to shoot Adrian, but that wasn't an option.
He could aim at one of those deranged beasts fighting Adrian, but that will be equal to helping Adrian. He didn't want to do that either.
So he randomly aimed at a huge mud block in the fighting scene. He wasn't sure if it would hit the block or not, but it eventually did hit the block.
Vakra, Sasha and the few guards standing there looked a bit confused. What exactly did he hit?
The fight was still going on. His arrow made no difference at all.
But the snake looked quite happy and satisfied. The mud block was what he targeted. He was a good as the original Calhoun. Hehehe.
After a few seconds, the fighting scene filled with roars, howls and screams suddenly became silent.
All the deranged beasts fighting few moments ago ran away as far as possible. Only Adrian was left standing, unsure of what was happening. But the ground beneath his feet shook violently.
Not only Adrian, but Vakra and co felt it too.
Everyone looked at the cracks forming in the mud block. The cracks kept propagating downwards and soon even the ground started to separate with cracks.
ROARRRR....
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[Mythiopia]
"Calhoun didn't come" Stella wasn't satisfied with how her birthday turned out.
Sitting infront of the mirror, she couldn't fathom why Calhoun keeps ignoring her.
Did she ever look down on him? No.
Was she ever rude to him? No.
Then why?
"Please don't be upset your highness. It must be the beast king who didn't allow Calhoun to attend. Or else how could someone bare to reject your invitation" her personal maid Carrie consoled.
Stella bit her lips and hesitated for a while before speaking.
"Is it because of the mate thing? Every beast man has a mate right?"
"So what? Didn't the fox clan prince keep pestering you even though he already has a mate?"
"Exactly. This mate thing is completely ridiculous. They say they fall in love with only person, but also have kids with a dozen other women. Does it even make sense?"
"Just take the beast king as an example. He says prince Calhoun's mother is his mate, but he made prince Adrian's mother the queen"
Two other maids chimed in.
The princess pursed her lips. "Calhoun isn't like that"
"Yes your highness. Or else you wouldn't have taken a liking to him."
"What we mean is that the so called mate bond is not that strong."
"As long as you are the one in his heart, having or not having a mate doesn't matter."
A shy smile formed on the princess's soft lips.
"Your dumb maids are making you more dumb day by day." Pixel suddenly appeared on the window sill. It's tiny almost transparent wings flapped twice before closing.
All the maids frowned but kept quiet. Pixel was especially given to Stella by Lawrence. They didn't dare to trouble the pixie.
Stella signaled everyone to go out.
"Pixel. Is the mate-bond really strong?" Stella asked expectantly.
Pixel looked at the infatuated princess and sighed.
"It depends. If you are lower beast like goats and bulls, the beast will have more control, and hence the mate-bond is strong."
"If you are a higher beast like fox or wolf, the mate-bond and the desire will be there, but your mind will still be in control and make decisions whether to be loyal to your mate or not."
"If you are a supreme beast like dragons, the mate-bond will help you recognize your soul-mate. But that is all does. Whether they want to fall in love or not is up to them."
"If your are an immortal beast, then there is no mate-bond and stuff. Love or hate, it will remain for an eternity."
Stella didn't care about the first two. What she needed was to know about the dragon clan. But the fourth one fascinated her.
"What is an immortal beast?"
Pixel didn't give an example for the immortal beast. And she herself never heard of an immortal beast.
Pixel tapped her small flower headband with it's wand as she tried hard to remember.
"There was only one immortal beast that was ever present in this world. It's the black dragon."
"Black dragon? Does it not belong to the dragon clan?"
Pixel laughed hearing this.
"This is what my teacher told me. If you keep the black dragon on one side, and the entire dragon clan on the other side, the dragon clan will look like lizard babies to you."
Stella's brows almost shot up to the roof.
"Then.. Then where is the black dragon?"
"Don't know. No one has ever seen him with their own eyes. It can be considered as a lost legend."
Stella rolled her eyes hearing this. So this was all an exaggeration. Some dragon clan-haters must have made up this story.
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[London]
"G-Guys.. pant.. pant.. pant. My c-crush is playing tennis. Pant.. Let's go and watch." Liam was panting and sweating after running so fast from the tennis court to the common discussion room in the library.
Dylan and other four boys looked at Liam with a bored expression.
"Do we look so jobless to you? Why should we watch your crush play?" Max asked irritatingly.
There was so much work to do, and this guy wanted them watch some girl play?
"It's Isabella. Isabella is playing t.."
Liam didn't even complete the sentence when all the boys except Dylan jumped off their chairs and ran to the tennis court to watch the match.
Liam was shocked looking at their energy. They all looked almost dead when working on the project.
"Let's go" Dylan said and they both set off to the tennis court too.
It was a sudden match between law and arts departments.
Isabella and her classmates were having a fun game in the court when the seniors from the art department demanded them to vacate the place.
There were two courts, so the law students proposed to take one each, but the arts students unreasonably demanded both.
Things got slightly heated, and Mia Cooper pushed a girl to ground, spraining the girl's ankle.
Mia didn't apologize, and arrogantly started taking away their rackets.
So here they were. Isabella vs Mia.
If Isabella won, Mia will apologize.
If Mia won, the law students will never step into this tennis court again.
The game was on full swing by the time the boys arrived.
There were already many people watching the game, mainly because the arts students gathered everyone to see the law department fail miserably.
Dylan and his friends only managed to grab three front seats. So they sat on each other to watch the match.
Isabella was wearing a white t-shirt with a collar and a white sports skirt. Her hair was tied into a tight bun and she had a white head band to not let any strands disturb her.
Her cheeks were flushed because of all the running, but it only added to her charm.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that everyone was more focused on Isabella than the game.
"Damn man. Isabella is merciless." Max commented. His friends agreed.
Indeed Isabella was merciless in the game. Dylan could tell that Isabella didn't want to leave Mia any face at all.
Isabella would make Mia run all over the court, make her exhausted, and then deliver a fast ball right at her feet which was hard to even see, let alone hit.
Mia was sweating and panting severely after twenty minutes. Her arms started to ache because Isabella's hits were so powerful to lift.
The outcome was already crystal clear. Isabella will win. But Isabella was in no mood to finish the game so fast. She would play till Mia would fall to ground.
The law students present couldn't stop cheering for Isabella. Their loud cheers attracted more and more students to watch the match.
Dylan and his friends didn't hold back either.
Since Mia is Benjamin's girl friend, Dylan was aware of her rich lifestyle. She had special and talented instructors for learning every sport. But Isabella was different.
He and Isabella basically played games on street and that is how they learned any game.
After a few more blows the game was over. Mia collapsed on the ground, panting.
Bianca and few other girls ran to Isabella and tightly hugged her, shouting and jumping in excitement. Isabella joined their laughter. Playing really helped her relax a lot. Especially after what was happening with the professor.
"Where are you going miss Cooper?" Isabella stopped when Mia was silently leaving the court.
Mia looked down with tears pooled in eyes, looking all weak and pitiful.
"I lost. We will never step into this court again. You have my word." she spoke as if Isabella was bullying her.
And obviously some boys in the art department fell for her white lotus act.
"You won Campbell. Good. But why are bullying Mia?" A boy shouted.
"When did she bully her? She just asked where she was going. And don't forget the bet. According to the bet Mia must apologize to Lisa." A boy from law department countered.
"And now since senior Mia herself voluntarily gave her word that your department will never step into this court, our department will agree to it with a heavy heart" another boy from Isabella batch said sarcastically.
Did these rich kids think they can bully them so easily? Isabella won this game for their department. It was now their territory.
"We are all busy people miss Mia. Please come apologize quickly." Lory, a classmate of Isabella urged. Mia's entire presence screamed arrogance. They didn't like it at all.
"You all are teaming up and bullying a girl. We will not accept this." Few boys were still stubborn.
"Heh? It was Mia's fault that Lisa got hurt. Are you saying she can hurt anyone and get away without even an apology?" Bianca questioned, and everyone shut their mouths.
Mia's face burned red, and her usual arrogance gave way to discomfort under Isabella's steady gaze. "Miss Cooper," Isabella said calmly, "the apology is still pending."
Mia had no choice but to go forward and apologize to Lisa infront of everyone.