After my fight with Leon, Arya and Sophie, and I went to see Lyla.
"Did you beat him, Caelum?" Lyla asked.
My mouth tensed up. I felt the urge to tell Lyla the truth, who I was, clawing at the inside of my throat.
"I did," I responded simply. "Also, my name isn't Caelum."
Sophie and Arya turned to me so fast. They were about to speak, but they must've seen my determined look on my face.
Lyla had a confused look on her face.
"Your name isn't Caelum?"
"No, my real name is Rain." I looked down, feeling bad. I got so angry when she got hurt, but she didn't even know the real me. Would she have gotten mad for me if I were in her situation and she knew the real me?
"Rain? I think I've heard that name before." She still had a confused look, she was trying to put the pieces together.
"I wouldn't be surprised if you did." Sophie stepped in. "He's pretty famous, but not for the right reasons."
I let out a dry laugh. Sophie looked at me apologetically.
She started murmuring my name. "Ah, I know now. Rain killed the entire Victoria family." She didn't look shocked; she just accepted it.
"Well... not the entire family." Sohpie laughed, "Let me reintroduce myself. I'm Sophie Victoria, pleasure to meet you, Lyla." She paused for a second or two before continuing, "Oh, and, don't blame Rain for what he did, because I don't blame him."
It took me a minute to process what Sophie said. She didn't blame me for killing her family? If Sophie didn't blame me, then I didn't have to blame myself. After all, it was her family I killed.
"I see." Lyla had her hand on her chin, as if she were deep in thought.
"Anyway, enough about that. Are you feeling better, Lyla?" Arya asked.
"Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better. The healers said I can move around now, so I'm going to watch you two duke it out." Lyla pointed at me and Arya.
"You'll get to see me beat my student's ass," Arya said, while laughing.
When I didn't respond, they all looked at me. I was deep in thought, thinking about what Sophie said. Then it hit me like a bolt of lightning.
I felt a surge of... mana? The ground quaked beneath our feet, cracked snaked up the walls, and the doors blew off their hinges. Suddenly, mana burst out of me like a torrent of water. It was uncontrolled and wild, like a tidal wave.
I eventually got it under control by imagining a dome around myself and slowly shrinking it. I looked around the room to see what kind of damage was done. I locked eyes with Sophie and Arya.
Arya and Sophie both just smiled warmly. They were happy that I finally accepted myself, and what I did. They were proud that I was no longer running from it.
Lyla, on the other hand, was shocked. Her eyes were practically bursting out of their sockets.
We got Lyla calmed down and told her everything. After that, Arya and I went up to the Arena, while Lyla and Sophie went to the stands.
The crowd hushed, still not able to get the image of Leon out of their mind.
Arya and I walked up to each other until we were face to face. She extended her hand, and I took it. She squeezed super hard.
"You ready to get your ass beat," her tone quickly shifted from happy, to serious, "my student?"
Just then, I heard someone land to my left.
Arya and I both looked at the man but didn't recognize him.
"Rain, you are under arrest for the murder of the Victoria family. On the King's orders, we are to take you in for questioning. Please come quietly." The man's voice was muffled by the mask he wore.
So they finally caught up to me. Can't say this wasn't expected, but to do this in the middle of the tournament is crazy.
I looked at Arya, a sly smirk graced her features as she spoke.
"Not the final we were hoping for, huh?"
"I don't think that's a good idea, Arya, these guys serve directly under the king," I said in a calm voice, but I was anything but calm.
"Rain, I'm not letting them take you away." Her smirk turned into a deadpan serious expression.
"They only want to question me, it's fine." I once again tried to sound calm, I didn't want Arya to get caught up in this and be branded a traitor.
"Rain, you might be young, but I know you're not that naive." She said, looking back at the men.
There were more of them, four of them now, and more were in the stands coming down to the arena. This wasn't a request, it was a warning.
Arya continued to speak, "You're not alone anymore, Rain, you have me, Sophie, and Lyla. If they want to drag you off," she paused, fire was burning her eyes, "They'll have to go through us. Just then, Lyla and Sophie landed just in front of me and Arya.
Arya took a step forward. Then the first guard spoke.
"Please don't make this difficult, we don't want to spill the blood of children."
"Lyla, are you sure you're good to fight?" I asked.
She turned around and smiled, "I'm fighting for my friend, of course I'm fine."
A woman's voice boomed throughout the entire arena, I could've sworn it shook it.
"My name is Sohpie Victoria, the last remaining Victoria." Sophie's voice was loud but soft.
A loud, audible gasp came from the audience. She turned to me and smiled before continuing.
For the first time, Sophie wasn't speaking as a victim, but as a Victoria, whose voice threatened to shake the entire foundation of the continent.
"Rain indeed killed my family, but I don't blame him. My parents were horrible people; they passed that down to the other kids as well, except me. They said they wanted to keep me away from all the corruption." She paused for a moment, and her eyes went dark. "My parents had a cellar, there, they would beat their slaves to death. Rain just acted on instincts. He did what anyone would do in that situation. It was kill or be killed."
Another loud gasp came from the audience, as they were trying to make sense of everything.
"And I'm sure that's not even the worst of it."
The guards look confused. They didn't know what to do, so they looked up at the king.
The king simply nodded. I had no idea what that nod meant, but my instincts told me it was not good. It was as if he knew the outcome already, as if my fate was in his hands. The question is what outcome he predicts.
"Arya," I whispered, my heart was pounding against my chest, "Get Sophie out of here, she's already said too-"
"Rain, NO!" Her voice was a desperate plea. "We're leaving this place with you whether you like it or not!"
"I'm not going anywhere, Rain!" Sophie stepped forward, her voice still carried throughout the arena, "The world needs to know that you did nothing wrong!"
Arya's hand rested on her sword, Lyla looked at me, waiting for my command, and Sophie stared at all the guards with pure resolve.
I took a deep breath, the kind of breath you take when you know everything is over. I stepped in front of Arya and pushed her hand down.
"I'll go, just leave them out of it."
"No, Rain, you can't-" Arya's voice cracked.
"I have to, there's no other way out of this."
The man nodded, and through the eyeholes of his mask, I could see something in his eyes—respect, or maybe pity.
Chains wrapped around my wrists, cold and heavy.
I wasn't running this time, I was going to face what I had done.
As I was being led away, I heard all their voices in unison.—soft but sharp, like the blades on their hips.
"We'll come for you."