Akai was in a daze for a while afterwards. Lamorie managed to get back on her feet and grabbed a pack they had on the sled. Taking a roll of bandages, she approached and put a bandage around Rei’s leg.

  Taking a few minutes for them to all rest and catch their breath, Lamorie asked. “So, are we taking that thing back with us too?” as she pointed at the now lifeless body of the Graylock. “It looks like it has a lot of meat on it, it’d be a pretty bountiful hunt if we take it too.”

  They sat and rested for a while. Lamorie and Kidd were a bit confused about what happened with Akai. From their perspective, he was fighting on the same level they were. But when things took a sour turn, his power changed. His fire changed from normal fire to something much more special. The way he moved seemed to change. Kidd’s own awakened skill with swords told him that the way Akai had moved was with no wasted movement. He chained his whole body into each hit. But whatever that yellow fire was, it was hurting his body just as much as it was empowering him. Akai only manifested it for less than 6 seconds but that was enough strain to make him fall to his hands and knees, vomiting blood.

  Akai was fairly weak now, and despite Lamorie’s bruises she mustered the strength to carry him and now the graylock too on the sled. Pulling the wooden sled over grass, bumps, and roots as Rei limped beside her. The walk back to their village was uneventful. Taking almost until sundown to get back. When they did return, Jennifer first saw that her husband was limping, and her son was resting on the cart. It was only after that she saw the large gray monster beneath Akai that a moment of fear pierced her heart.

  From the village center where most of their fellow villagers were, she called out “Rei, oh lords what happened!” as she began running towards them. This caught the attention of a lot of the people including Lamorie’s and Kidd’s family.

  Everyone approached and saw Rei limping with Kidd by his side, acting as support to help him walk. The cloth of Rei’s pants leg ruined and bandages wrapped around his calf. Lamorie was sweating as she held the rope over her shoulder, pulling. Green energy faintly flowed over her whole body as she was very exhausted. Kidd had a few bad bruises, Lamorie had more.

  On the cart, Akai was asleep and fairly pale, but he was steadily breathing.

  Jennifer ran up to Rei and grabbed onto his other side, Kidd’s mother Christie came and wrapped him in a hug. Lamorie would collapse into her mother’s arms when she came too and Drake looked at what was on the cart.

  “What in the name of the gods happened?” Drake asked, taking the rope from his daughter. When Kidd’s father Liam approached, he cursed under his breath.

  “How.. How did you three kill a graylock of all things?” He asked.

  Kidd was trying to get out of his mother’s embrace as she was being overprotective again and almost strangling him with how hard she was holding him. When he could finally get a word out, Kidd began to explain the story. How they were surprised by the two of them. They fought but the graylocks were super tough. Kidd said he couldn’t cut through the skin at all and the other one even overpowered Lamorie. But Akai’s power did something weird and turned his fire bright yellow. He killed this one and scared off the other before collapsing. Kidd said Akai needs help because he is really hurt.

  Drake and Liam both had to work together to drag the sled with the graylock after Lamorie was being taken home. Neither one could pull it by themselves due to the beast’s weight, which was shocking. Kidd and his mother helped bring Akai to his home, following Akai’s parents.

  The sight of an unconscious Akai and bandaged limping Rei gave Lacy quite the fright when she opened the door to let them in. She didn’t hesitate to help give attention to Rei’s wounded leg as Akai was laid down somewhere soft in the living room.

  “Oh my god” Jennifer said as she removed the bandages and saw how deep the cuts on her husband’s calf was.. But then both she and Lacy said at the same time “..Wait, why is there no blood?”

  Rei had to explain “well.. I don’t know what Akai did but his fire turned a bright yellow and when he put it on my wound. It eased the pain a little and the bleeding stopped. But it didn’t close the wound.”

  This raised questions for both of them but Rei said “I’m sure he can tell you more when he wakes up.. But we’re all exhausted right now.

  Kidd brought Akai to lie in his bed upstairs.

  As Akai slept he dreamed of being a knight again.

  In his dream, Akai was an adult with short silver hair. A beard of the same color covered his chin and cheeks, trimmed to a neat length. He stood in front of a mirror, golden yellow eyes looking back at him. Clad in beautiful blue platemail. A young squire tightening the last plate to his body.

  “This duel will put an end to this war.” he said, his voice deep yet smooth and confident. He looked down at the squire, a young lad with mildly tanned skin around 12. The silver haired man said “You have done well.” His praise caused the squire’s eyes to light up in admiration. He bowed respectfully and said “Thank you, sire.” The boy, who had a head of black hair with the faintest purple hue to it, left the tent.

  The blue knight smiled and grabbed his helmet, an Armet with a golden yellow hair plume coming off the top. He tightened the strap, grabbed his heater shield and sheathed his freshly sharpened sword.

  The warrior walked out of his battle tent and headed into the field between two standing armies. His side is adorned with the crest of a phoenix, golden in color over green background and gold trim. The opposing side had banners adorned with white banners with the profile of a woman with long, lustrous hair colored gold. Approaching from the other side is a beautiful woman. She wore an armored dress of white scales, adorned with golden highlights to accentuate the beauty of her silver hair and ocean blue eyes. Her hair flowed in the wind, easily long enough to reach past her own waist. A staff made of solid white wood rested in her hands, a crown of 6 different colored jewels held together with platinum at the top, and a single jewel of solid black held at the bottom.

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  The knight’s boots stepped in the grass as his own short silver hair was swayed by the breeze. They stopped when standing roughly 20 yards apart. He stood tall and proud as the woman across from him held a serious gaze. Her lips thinned as she met eyes with the knight. “It is a pleasure to meet you again, Phoenix Ping Ken.” she said coldly.

  The knight gave a small smile as he said in return. “Your beauty is still as radiant as ever, Frost Queen Alea.”. The ‘Phoenix King gave a soft bow of his head and the Frost Queen had to turn her head to look away for a moment.

  “So it seems you will not yield to our terms, then?” Frost Queen Alea asked. The Phoenix King shook his head slowly and said “I’m sorry, but what you ask is more than I am willing to concede. This duel will determine who history calls righteous instead.”

  “So be it.” The queen said as the air began to grow colder around her. As this happened, heat swelled within the king’s body and soon an aura of radiant golden fire formed around him. Fighting off the bitter cold of the queen’s pale blue aura of ice. The air began to grow restless and the breeze grew strong between them.

  The Phoenix King lowered the visor to his helmet and slowly drew his sword. Around the queen, six spears of ice began to grow from snow that began to form in the air around her. Together, they both said at the same time. “May our armies bear witness to this duel of champions. To spare our soldier’s blood, it is ours that will be spilled today. The victor of this duel shall be the victor of this battle.”

  After their proclamation, silence encompassed the entire battlefield. Soon, it would erupt into action. The Phoenix King conjured walls of golden fire around them and ran forwards. The air picked up and the Frost Queen stepped back, carried by the air itself as three of her six ice spears shot forwards. Further weapons made of pale blue ice began conjuring around her. The Phoenix King swung his sword, the blade leaving trails of flame as he fought to either parry or break these conjured spears. Each time his sword made contact, shockwaves of pressure erupted from where the weapons collided. Superheated air from the golden fire mixed with super-chilled air from the pale frost and the wind intensified, growing stronger by the moment. The armies watched in awe as their leaders fought one another in the middle of this field.

  The Phoenix King’s heat increased as more golden fire surrounded him. Coalescing into vibrant feathered wings of his flame coming from his back. The ground beneath his feet scorched as he kicked off, wings flapping to send him speeding through the air like a bullet.

  The Frost Queen pulled both hands together to hold her staff as an ice storm began to form around her. A vortex of sharp shards and bitterly cold snow enveloped her, growing denser and denser. The second it took for the Phoenix King to reach her, it was intense enough to cause the edges of his armor to frost over, even despite his intense heat.

  An ice spear moved and blocked his sword. He raised his shield and deflected the other. The third glanced off his armor. The Frost Queen’s steps appeared to ride on drifts of snow, allowing her incredible movement. The Phoenix King kept up the pressure, forcing her to focus on defense. Their fight continued in this manner for a full minute, dancing around the center of the field sending out waves of fire and snow.

  The wind grew ever more turbulent as steam and vapor rose and filled the air. Quickly gathering into a small cloud above the fight.

  After a minute of this constant pressure, the Phoenix King’s wings grew larger as the heat inside him grew hotter. After parrying a few more spears, he saw an opening in the Frost Queen’s defense. He moved as much of the heat within him to his hands as he solidified his footing. He thrust forth his shield and a wave of fire rose, hitting against the Frost Queen’s swirling shield of jagged ice. Briefly blowing a hole through it as the ice turned to steam stopping the golden fire. She glared at the Phoenix King with sharp blue eyes as he flapped his wings to speed forwards.

  Next, everything was obscured with clouds of steam as fire met ice. Neither army knew what the outcome of the fight was going to be. But looking up, the cloud that formed above the two had grown dark. And now as more steam rose to join it, rain began falling over the center of the field. Washing away the obstructing cloud of steam to show the result.

  The Phoenix King and Frost Queen both stood, but there was a clear victor. The queen’s staff lay cut in two on the ground, leaving her unable to as accurately focus her magic. Both her hands wrapped around the arm guard of the king’s hand currently holding the collar of her battle dress and his sword raised, pointing straight at her and ready to strike. However, he did not get in this position unwounded. He had two spears of ice stabbing through his body. Finding their way through gaps in his armor. He was lucky, however, as neither hit anything vital. He would live from these wounds.

  “Surrender, and you will be spared.” He said, the wind carrying his voice across the field to the two silent armies. He ignored the ice slowly growing from the spears wounds and the Frost Queen’s hands on his arm as he stared her down. Many moments passed before she began trying to form a 3rd spear above her. The Frost Queen was unwilling to yield.

  The Phoenix King pulled his wings of golden fire closer as the heat intensified, he used his full willpower to call forth the heat within him. It began to hurt far worse than the spears of ice stabbing through him. The insides of his veins burned and his heart ached. The air inside his lungs grew too hot and it became painful to breathe. He strained to maintain this level but he did so, letting it melt away the spears stabbing him as he briefly let go of her collar just to lean in and his fingers gripped the soft skin of her neck. The Frost Queen winced in pain as her skin was singed beneath his gauntlet.

  Finally, she lost focus and the forming spear of ice above her blew away as snow. She struggled to breathe in his grasp but she spoke as firmly as she could. “What will you do with my people?”

  “Our land will merge into one. They will become citizens, their mines will supply my industry, and my farms will feed them.”

  A soft smile formed on the Frost Queen’s face as she looked into the Phoenix King’s eyes. She attempted to straighten her posture and let go of his arm holding her neck. With conviction, she said “You may have won, but I refuse to not lead my own people.”

  Before the Phoenix King could respond, what she said next nearly made him fall over in shock. “Instead of whatever fate you planned for me, I propose an alternative. You will marry me, we will rule both lands together.”

  The next moment, Akai woke up in his bed with a jolt. The shock of hearing that after an intense duel managed to startle him awake. Just moments ago he was dreaming with himself in the body of the Phoenix King Ken, staring down the enemy queen. He looked around and rubbed the back of his head, seeing he was in his bedroom.. Akai looked out of the window and stared at the star filled sky just outside. He sighed and said “First one of those dreams in a while..”