"Who is going to face Tlandar next?" Chieftain Val'katl asked. "Father, send me. I'd like to test the boy," a younger, pure-blood asemeri, hazel-eyed, male, Valkatlan general said. He was sitting near his father, amongst the remaining five Valkatlan generals, and a foster son, in the Chieftain Box. "Xel'Varin, you're very brave, my son. I shall send you. Treat this boy well. I'm beginning to believe he is really the Protector, the Aurora Ascendant from oracle. Did you see what happened, when he fought Gor'Vakor? Did you see the mysterious power that surged from him in a moment?" Val'katl said. "We've seen it. But the real concern is, can his mystical power match my telepathic abilities, Father?" Xel'Varin said.
"We'll see. But don't kill him too soon. I will decide that, alright Xel'Varin?" Val'katl said. "Very well father, I shall proceed to the pit. And you generals, won't need to fight this boy anymore. Stay there and enjoy the sight," Xel'Varin said. He bowed his head at the generals and his father, and walked down into the pit. He stood in one side of the pit, and Tlandar, seated in seiza position, sat in the other extreme. The asemeri Vraek, host of the contest, rose from his seat and faced the crowd. He signaled that the next round was about to start.
***
A Valkatlan soldier blew his asemeri horn. Two Valkatlan soldiers waved two, dark green banners, which had a golden griffon, six stars, and two crossed, asemeri khopesh swords. "Valkatlans of Boulderkeep, the next round is about to begin... Xel'Varin, Val'katl's son, will now face Tlandar, the Protector!" The host Vraek said. A Valkatlan soldier blew his asemeri war horn six times. Tlandar rose up, stood upright in his feet. He grabbed his sturdy, wooden brown, cedar, six feet tall, large staff. Its form looked like a thick, twisted vine, and had tiny leaves on its surface. He stood six feet apart from Xel'Varin, facing him, in the center of the pit. Xel'Varin, who was Val'katl's foster son, a mighty telepath, faced him. He wielded no weapons. But wore a kuprix, scale armor around his torso; holes on the back of his armor and garment allowed space for his tiny bats to sprout from. On top of his nickel, metallic helm, rested an spiked, metallic sphere, the size of an small, football ball.
Tlandar stood unmoving, with his cedar staff resting on the ground, held with two hands. Xel'Varin moved back, almost jumping, a few feet back and faced Tlandar. "Its an honor to meet you Tlandar, in the Thranvalis Contest. Do you think you can beat me?" Xel'Varin said. "I've come to fight" Tlandar said. "Then I'll show you what I'm capable of doing!" Xel'Varin said. Suddenly, he concentrated. The metallic sphere in his helm, detached from the helm and levitated a couple of feet off the ground. It hovered on top of his helm. It began to spin fast, and seperated into multiple fragments. The metallic fragments, changed shape, according to Xel'Varin's will. The fragments changed into the shape of sharp knives. Xel'Varin projected these metallic knives at Tlandar. He leaned on his staff and spin his body, flying high in the air. He used the pit's walls to push himself against it, using his feet to hurl himself up in all angles. Evaded all the cross-crossing knives of the bat hybrid telepath.
"Agility, eh?" Xel'Varin said. "For not too long!" Xel'Varin added. Then he waved his hands, like manipulating the multiple fragments of the metallic ball which were in the form of knives. Those fragments spin around Tlandar, closing in on him; had him enveloped in their own sphere of flying knives. "This is dangerous!" Tlandar said. But he used his staff to redirect and deflect on all sides the flying knives. The knives always returned back to Tlandar and spin around him again. "This is like an swarm of flies!" Tlandar said. "Flies? They're not flies! Respect my work! Ha, ha, ha!" Xel'Varin said. "Now you will die!" Xel'Varin added. The knives stopped in midair, suddenly, abruptly, unmoving.
"What are you going to do now, bat? Kill me?" Tlandar said, as he rotated his staff in all directions, in an sphere around him. "I'll keep harassing you! Enjoy!" Xel'Varin said. Then the knives changed shape again. They changed back to their original shape: interlocking fragments of a metallic sphere. Xel'Varin gestured with his hands, commanding with his hands the fragments what to do. The metallic fragments fired hooked chains at Tlandar. He evaded all the hooks and chains, which had just been fired from the metallic fragments, which laid unmoving in the air, in a circle around him. Some hook chains pierced Tlandar's wooden staff and did not let go of the staff. "You've got me all with hooks and chains like a fish!" Tlandar said.
Then Tlandar's Aurora Ascendat genes got activated again. "Yes! I feel the power again!" Tlandar said. "For Astashica!" He said. Then he motioned at the broken stones and debris, wich laid on the ground, nearby, which had fallen from the pit walls during the previous fights, to levitate. "Is that your Aurora genetics, Tlandar?" Xel'Varin said. Thousands of volcanic stones, and metallic shard, had risen up from the earth pit. These was the immediate debris from the recent fights in the pit. "You're power is broken, for Astashica! Dame of light!" Tlandar said. Then he gestured the stones to hit Xel'Varin, and these fell upon Xel'Varin from all directions. "You're attention is shattered!" Tlandar said. Xel'Varin ran around the pit, trying to evade the flying stones, which Tlandar had thrown at him with his Aurora spirit.
As a consequence, Xel'Varin's chains and hooks, which emerged from the metallic fragments of his sphere, fell on the ground, lifeless. Xel'Varin could not control them with his mind as his attention was disrupted with Tlandar's rain of stones. "Stopp it, Tlandar! You've won!" Xel'Varin said. The stones were following him and trying to fall on him forcefully. "I've seen what you're capable of, Tlandar! I yield, let me live!" Xel'Varin said. "You shall live. Thank you," Tlandar said. He gestured the rocks to fall down, and fell down, unanimated.
The host Vraek got off from his seat and said, facing the crowd, said "Xel'Varin yields. Tlandar wins!". A Valkatlan soldier blew his asemeri. Xel'Varin left the arena, ashamed.
Chieftain Box, Thranvalis Arena
"Just four more of these valiant Valkatlan generals, to go…" Chieftain Valkatl said. "Xel'Varin is a highly trained, telepath-warrior," Vraek said. "I did not allow his tiny bat wings be clipped, removed away, when he was given to me as a baby. And that sets him apart from the other asemeri," Val'katl said. "It was not his thread yet," Vraek said. "We don't know what destiny awaits; the higher powers have the final cast," Val'katl said.
Spectator Rows
Among the spectator crowds, several Salgaran spies were seated, had infiltrated, watched amongs the spectators, undetected. They wore high tech, hologram projector devices on their collars around their necks. They looked like replicas of random spectators. "Just make sure Tlandar lives," a Salgaran spy said. "General Vos forces roam undetected, nearby. If anything happens to Tlandar, we'll rescue him and take him to general Vos," the Salgaran spy said. "Otherwise, keep an eye open for any other threats in this region," the Salgaran spy added, as he talked discretely with his Salgaran comrades. "Aye, sir!" the second Salgaran spy said. "Akoros, I like Val'katl; I don't think he would betray us in any way," the third Salgaran spy said to his boss.