The underground arena vibrated like a buried heart under tons of rock. The green-flame torches flickered violently, casting shadows that warped on the irregular walls. The air was warm, laden with the smell of turned earth, sweat, adrenaline… and power.
Suri remained on an elevated walkway, barely lit by the light filtering from the arena. From there, she was invisible to the crowd. A ghost. A blade.
Perfect.
Her arms were crossed, and her dark eyes followed every movement in the arena. She was watching… not the fighters. Not the audience. Not the frantic bettors.
She was watching her.
A small girl, barefoot, legs apart, posture relaxed but alert. Black hair tied in a messy bun, simple clothes, nothing extravagant. She seemed fragile… until she moved.
And when she moved, the entire arena seemed to breathe with her.
Suri narrowed her eyes.
She was used to sizing up opponents. She was a warrior trained to read intentions in the set of a shoulder, to anticipate attacks by the way someone clenched a fist or tensed their hip.
But this…
This was different.
Every step the girl took made the ground tremble. Not with uncontrolled force or clumsy violence. But with absolute precision. As if the earth wanted to move to please her.
The fighter facing her—a man twice her size, covered in marks and dirt—threw a punch at the ground to raise a pillar of rock under her feet.
The girl had already moved before he finished the motion. A slight twist of her ankles. A subtle shift.
The earth opened up in her favor.
The man's pillar missed.
Suri felt a shiver run down her spine.
She didn't see it. She felt it.
An earthbender who didn't need to see, because the earth spoke to her.
A prodigy.
A threat.
A blessing for Ren.
An indispensable piece.
The fight ended with a single fluid movement: the girl slid the tip of her foot across the arena, and a column of rock struck the man with just enough force to knock him down without killing him.
The cheers erupted.
Coins clinked.
The girl's name was whispered in murmurs with no clear origin.
—"The Blind Bandit…"
—"That brat is a demon…"
—"They say she lives alone…"
—"They say she doesn't belong to any family…"
Suri didn't smile, but the glint in her eyes was unmistakable.
Ren was looking for exactly this.
She waited for the match to end. She waited for the crowd to disperse a little. She waited for the girl to exit through the side passage, accompanied by two men who appeared to be her "handlers"—caretakers who didn't care for her, but exploited her talent.
They were trash.
Suri watched them coldly.
They wouldn't last long if Ren set his sights on them.
She followed at a distance.
Silent.
Invisible.
The girl walked without hesitating, her bare feet advancing with confidence on every stone, every vibration. She didn't need torches. She didn't need guides. Her escorts talked among themselves, ignoring her.
As they turned into a narrow hallway, one of the men split off toward a storeroom. The other stayed talking to someone else.
The girl was left… alone.
It was the moment.
Suri descended from the walkway in a silent jump and landed without a sound on the earth. She walked toward her, step by step, stopping a meter away. At that distance, even a blind master should feel her.
The girl stopped. Her eyebrows furrowed.
—"You're not one of them," she said immediately, turning her head slightly toward Suri.
Her voice was firm. Not childish at all. Filled with a confidence that didn't match her size.
Suri replied with equal firmness:
—"No. I'm not like them."
The Blind Bandit lifted her chin with arrogance.
—"Then get away. I don't need company."
Suri let out a small breath, almost a silent laugh.
—"That's obvious…" she murmured. "But maybe you need something else."
The girl tensed her shoulders, alert.
—"What thing?"
Suri tilted her head slightly, as if presenting an offer that only an idiot would refuse.
—"Freedom."
The silence that followed was heavy.
Crushing.
Full of electricity.
The girl took a step back, not out of fear… but out of bewilderment.
—"What did you say?"
Suri took a step forward, slow, calculated, without raising her hands.
—"I've seen fights, girl. I've seen slaves, gladiators, mercenaries… and you're on that line. They use you. They squeeze you. And you…" she tilted her head. "You could destroy this arena if you wanted to."
The girl pressed her lips together.
—"You don't know anything about me."
—"I know enough," Suri replied. "I know you don't belong in this place. I know you're better than everyone here. And I know you could be free… if you wanted to."
The word "free" trembled in the air again.
The girl clenched her fists.
—"Who are you?"
—"A messenger," Suri said.
—"From someone who can actually give you what you're looking for.
From someone who doesn't want to buy you or use you… but to free you."
The girl swallowed. Very slightly. Almost imperceptibly.
But Suri noticed.
The blow had landed.
—"I don't trust strangers," she finally replied.
Suri took half a step back, respecting the distance.
—"You shouldn't trust the ones you have close by, either," she muttered, glancing toward the hallway where the handlers were talking without watching her. "They need you here. We don't."
A pause.
A vibration in the ground.
The girl's senses washed over Suri like a wave.
—"You…" she whispered. "You're not lying."
Suri barely raised the corner of her lips.
—"We knew you'd notice."
The girl frowned.
—"Who is 'we'?"
Suri gave the answer, soft as sweet poison:
—"Ren."
Something in the girl tensed.
Not from fear.
From curiosity.
Talent recognizes talent.
—"What does he want from me?"
—"Nothing," Suri replied.
—"He wants to give you what they deny you…
and then let you choose your own path."
The girl fell silent.
Suri slowly retreated into the shadows.
—"If you desire freedom…" she whispered before disappearing. "Find me tomorrow.
I will take you to him."
And so, Suri vanished into the darkness, leaving behind a girl who, for the first time, stood still not because of the earth beneath her feet…
but because of what she had felt in her heart.