A Large smooth curving purple blade was ordained on a sleek black rack that gingerly showcased the glorious weapon to the wide empty room. The clean wooden planks of the floor were worn and scratched from the constant abuse it had received through the centuries. No one was in the room, just the girl. The sides of her head were shaved so that she only had a short bunch of brown hair at the top of her head. The girl had small soft hands, slender legs, and large birthing hips. The girl wore tight fitting clothes that clung to her sweaty body which just accentuated her curves.

The girl knelt facing the purple blade, her eyes glared as sharp as the blade she was observing. She took long heavy breaths through her nose. She could feel her heart viciously beat against her chest threatening to burst out of her voluptuous breasts. She looked down to the wooden stick that rested on the floor in front of her. A real sword would be far too dangerous and heavy for a lady, and even this practice sword was one of the ones designed for men, her soft hands would be too weak to hold firmly on to such a powerful tool. She grabbed the toy and stood up.

“I’m ready.” The dainty girl spoke with a delicately soothing voice, as a female’s voice should be. A heavily built man with bulging muscles entered the room, the great warrior was also holding onto a wooden blade. The blade fit well into his powerful hands, there was a sense of nobility and power exuding from the reputable man.

“Don’t tell father about this.” The girl spoke her rebellious words firmly, there was something about the way she spoke that seemed unbefitting of a gentle damsel, the words seemed to cut sharply and sullied the girl’s otherwise beautiful aesthetic.

She finally turned to face the man who stood nearly two whole heads taller than her. The man readied himself in a dignified warrior stance pointing his sword at the girl. She also mimicked his positioning, the way her face held a serious glare and how she tilted her toy towards the opponent had a certain cuteness to it. The girl spoke curtly with an authority she shouldn’t have. “Begin.”

The warrior dashed forwards and quickly swiped down onto the girl. The girl barely leaned to the side so that his practice sword pointlessly cut through air and she speedily swiped her fierce weapon to her enemies exposed chest stopping just before colliding. She relaxed her stance.

“You’re holding the sword too far from your body, you won’t be able to defend from your opponent’s retaliation.” She walked around the boy who froze in position pointing out the faults in his stance and readjusting his body. “Let’s try again, but don’t rely just on your strength.”

“Yes, sensei Épée!” The boy formally responded. The two’s training session went on for nearly an hour before the boy was too tired and needed a rest. “Thank you so much for the tutoring sensei Épée.”

Épée gave a hearty chuckle when he gave her a deep ninety-degree bow. “I told you that you don’t need to be formal with me, in fact you probably shouldn’t.”

Épée shared an understanding smile as she handed the boy a cup of cool water. She then walked to the center of the room and knelt down facing the purple blade; she placed down her practice sword in front of her. She let out a deep breath and asked the boy. “How many more are waiting outside?”

“I think twenty or so.”

“Are you joking? They’re not all crowded together are they? Tell them that I only have time for five more and invite the next one in.”

“Yes, sensei.”

Épée threw her sharp glare at the purple blade. The sounds of footsteps resounded behind her. Another well-toned man entered the room. He carried himself meekly and when he noticed Épée fully concentrated on something he nervously spoke up. “Rube said that I could come in?”

Épée silently stared at that sharp blade while controlling her powerful breaths allowing a few flames to form as she did so. After a few breaths she picked up her practice sword and stood up. “Yes, let’s begin.”

After about five hours or so she had finished with her tutoring, she was left alone in that empty room with no one in it. She gave a fleeting glance to the purple blade ordained on the rack before she began cleaning up the room from any sweat and forgotten items left behind. Once finished, she made her way to her room. Her room was exceptionally large, a long desk hugged the right wall and an equally massive mirror stood atop it; the desk was littered with countless documents and paper. On the other end of the room an intricately ornate dresser stood, its locked doors were nearly bulging open from the plethora of decorative clothing kept within.

Épée made her way to her bed; she slid her bed over to the side and removed a loose plank from the floor. She quickly collected an extremely massive sleeve slightly longer than her leg that held a thin hard object within, she also collected a small bag. She put the miscellaneous objects that were left back in the training room into the hole and then returned her room to its undisturbed state. She had a busy day with many chores to do so of course she decided to leave the house and visit the forest.

She quickly made her way out of their property and into the city proper. It was very easy to find the way to the forest, she just had to follow the massive support chains floating overhead. These giant chains connected the thick robust support poles at the edge of the city to the monstrous iron fortress in the city’s epicenter. The massive chains dominated the skyline as they all pulled into that behemoth structure of metal which continuously puffed a billowing plume of smoke out of its incredibly long chimney. That fortress: however, was opposite to where she was planning on going so, she followed the chains to the forest. On her leisurely walk through an empty city street she came across a dog.

The meek dog had dirty and spotting brown fur that was clotted with blood. The dog’s lower jaw was missing, and its front leg was broken giving it a heavy limp. The two faced each-other on opposite ends of the street. She reached into her bag and pulled out a small stick of dried meat. She placed the stick of meat down on the ground and waited for the dog’s reaction. The dog with its missing lower jaw looked down at the food and looked back up to Épée from the other side of the street, a confused look came over the dog as it cocked its head unsure of what the girl wanted from it. They both stood in silence for a while before Épée decided to just walk away and continue making her way towards the forest. If the dog really wanted the treat it could go get it itself.

She found herself at the edge of the forest, she stared at the forest taking in the familiar nature. Nearly all the trees were barren as the forest was composed of just the charred trunks of a dying wilderness. The trees which weren’t barren were not covered in leaves but rather sweltering flames which covered their crumbling branches, these spontaneously created scorching trees never lived for long before they disintegrated and added to the debris of the forest floor.

The forest floor was littered in a fine grey powder which was soft to the feet except for the occasionally crunching sound of hard brittle objects hidden within. Perhaps outside of her homeland one would not call this place a forest, but as this was all she knew, she did not realize that forests usually weren’t like this.

She stood at the edge of the forest, the tree-line like a wall stared at her as a great barrier demanding her to turn around and return to whence she came. She entered the forest.

Épée walked deep into the forest as she made her way to her usual spot, when she arrived it seemed that there was already someone there. She stood off to the side for a while as she watched the man. He was tall and muscular with flaming red hair and various freckles dotted over his nose and cheeks. His prominent abs were revealed as his shirt was strewn aside on a fallen log. The incessant sweat that streamed down his body quickly evaporated to steam that floated away to the sky. The man took a deep inhale through his nose and upon exhaling, a great bellowing flame roared out engulfing his body and the rest of the wide vicinity. The flame expanded a great distance many times larger than a house. The fire was so thick that one could just barely make out the man’s faint silhouette at the center of the explosion. Then with another inhale he retracted the flames back into his body.

Épée ensured to make a lot of noise and even cleared her throat to make sure the man noticed her. “Flammable flesh coming through.” Épée announced as she walked into view and handing a dried stick of meat over to the man. When the man saw her approach, he gave a curt smile and graciously accepted the food. Holding the meat in between his lips he made his way over to the fallen log where he grabbed a dry towel to wipe the sweat from his body. While dabbing himself dry he faced Épée and spoke. “I thought you weren’t going to show today.”

“I managed to find some time.”

“You just skipped out on everything didn’t you?”

Épée gave the man a coy smirk as she unfurled the long sleeve she had been carrying revealing an unwieldly long sheathe. The sheathe was a deep black with a single small red crack at its tip. She turned towards the man and asked him. “Why are you here today?”

“I have a lot of free time now to train for the Tournament.”

Épée replied with slight dejection in her voice. “Oh yeah, of course you’ll be doing the elemental festival again.”

“Not the elemental festival. THE Tournament.”

“Oh, is that this year? Why are you so confident you’ll get invited?”

The man gave out a hearty chuckle at Épée’s teasing question. “The tournament is a gladiatorial duel for the sixty-four greatest warriors in the world, it’s obvious that I would be invited. The sodality knows that there hasn’t been anyone as in tune with the hearth as much as me since the founder of the sodality of cinder. Rumor around the palace has it that its already decided I’ll be appointed as the next phoenix. No one wants to get in my way of training so they’re practically letting me do whatever I want. And who knows, if you get invited not even your father could stop you from participating.”

Épée pulled a long single-edged sword out of her sheathe. The pitch-black blade was incredibly sharp and reflected the day star’s blaring gaze into a thin focal point on the ground. She stared at the burning focal point as it lit a small piece of rotting bark ablaze. “Sixty-four greatest huh.” Épée mumbled with a deep sigh.

“Yeah, I think you’d probably qualify. I think I could count the number of people better than you that I know on one hand.”

“You’re that confident that we’re both that skilled?”

“Well I KNOW that I am. I’d say I’m about seventy percent sure you are. And if the two of us are getting an invitation then obviously that means that Névé will get an invitation too.” A deep passion fluttered within the man’s eyes.

“You know it’s not attractive to be clingy.” The man shot an unapproving glare to Épée. Épée ignored him as she continued speaking. “Besides the fact that she’s a water bug- “

“Not anymore” He quickly interrupted her.

Épée couldn’t resist a short snort at his defensive response. “Alright sure. But even then, how are you even sure that she is still alive? And if she is alive what makes you think she hasn’t like, gotten fat and lazy or something.”

“Our spy in the sodality of rain told us that they think Névé has joined forces with the White Witch now.”

Épée broke out into an uncontrollable coughing fit at the surprising news. “If she wasn’t criminal enough! What do you see in that water bug?”

“She just needs someone to talk some sense into her. And she’s not a water bug.”

“And that’ll be you? I can just imagine how much the chief loves you crushing on the enemy.”

The man refused to respond to Épée’s last statement instead his cheeks began to flush a vibrant red. “She’s not fat and lazy. I think we both know that whatever has happened to her she will only have gotten stronger, terrifyingly so.” His voice had become somber and contemplative as he looked down to his refined body.

“You plan on facing her in the Tournament?” She waited for him to respond, but when he didn’t, she continued. “Do you think you can win?” Still no response. “Sixty-four huh. I wonder what the gap between sixty-fourth and first is?”

The two briefly rested in silence but quickly decided to return to their training. The man worked on his fire manipulation and she on her swordsmanship. Many hours passed with the two training and bantering back and forth until eventually the man had to return.

“Bye prince Scoria.” She jokingly quipped as she waved him away.

“Please don’t.” Scoria reprimanded with a faux annoyance furling his face.

Épée was left alone in the scorched forest clearing. She was sitting on the fallen log thinking of a pair of numbers. Was she that good, was she really worthy of an invitation? Pointlessly sitting alone thinking of unlikely possibilities really wasn’t worth her time, it was probably time she should return as well. She sheathed her sword and returned it back to its sleeve. She gave a final look to the scorched clearing and then made her way back to the house where she lived.

On her leisurely walk through an empty city street she came across a dog. The dead corpse of a mangy mutt was lying on the opposite side of the street. She stopped walking as she looked over to the still body. She looked around to see if there was anyone around, but no passerby could be found. She briefly looked back to the dead dog but quickly returned to walking to her house. She heard a soft snap and felt a buckling pressure under her feet, she lifted her foot to see a crushed stick of dried meat. She walked to the house where she lived.

Arriving at the massive manor she hurriedly went to her room and returned the sleeve and bag to their hiding spot. Just as she finished pushing her bed back into position, a man barged into the room. “Hey Épée, do you have the report?”

Épée quickly fell into her bed and dressed the sheets over her hiding her tired body. “Yes brother, on the table.”

“Awesome.” Her brother quickly ran to her desk and picked up a large pile of papers. “Whoof, that’s a lot of pages.”

“The key points are underlined.” Her brother gave her a firm thumbs up and left the room. Épée immediately tossed her sheets aside and took a bath to hide her sweat and flushed skin, then flopped over on the soft bed falling into a comfortable sleep.

She was groggily awakened by the sound of rustling in her room. A young girl was shyly hiding behind an older woman who was roughly shaking Épée’s resting body.

The older woman angrily admonished Épée. “Madam! What have we said about your sleeping habit?” Épée was naked as she never dressed in her night gown after washing and her sheets were tossed all over as her body splayed across the entire bed. Épée lazily sat up and slowly rubbed her eyes turning to who just woke her up. “You’re making your poor servants lives difficult when you act like this. Now Chattel, quickly help ready the Madam.”

Épée let out a heavy moan as she flopped back down into bed and began collecting the sheets over her body while tiredly slurred. “Why?”

“The master has invited you for lunch.”

“Lunch?”

“You already ignored his invitation for breakfast.”

Épée let out a self-satisfied chuckle. “I did?”

The older woman stiffened in disgusted shock. “This is no laughing matter! Chattel, you are responsible for ensuring Épée arrives at Lunch.”

“Yes, head mistress.” The young girl softly answered holding her head down until the older woman left the room. Chattel struggled and begged the half sleeping Épée to hobble over to the bath so that Chattel could wash her and had to battle the tired lady from her bed and for every article of clothing. “Ms. Épée, I will really be in a lot of trouble if you don’t go to this lunch.”

Chattel bargained to Épée who was laying comfortably on her bed only wearing a pair of pants. Épée looked over to the young Chattel while performing mental calculations in her head. “Ms. Épée!”

“Alright, alright. Fine.” Épée raised her hands in defeat and finally cooperated in her preparations. Chattel quickly dressed Épée and groomed her hair as much as she could despite its excessive shortness. Within a few moments she found herself in a room facing a long table with five other people. At the head of the table was her father, to his side was her mom and younger brother who had visited her the night before. Next to each of them were either of the youngest twin brothers. All five of them had a personal servant patiently standing behind them.

“Épée, you’re late.”

Her father apathetically commented without looking up from his half-emptied plate. Chattel quickly bowed to Épée’s father and apologetically stuttered. “I’m sorry master I was-“

“I was debating whether I was hungry or not.” Épée coldly interrupted Chattel. Chattel’s face was briefly filled with panic while she stole glances at Épée and her father, but relaxed when she noticed that the father was unfazed. Chattel walked over to an empty seat next to one of the twins which had an untouched plate before it. Chattel pulled the chair back which Épée promptly sat into. Épée spoke with an uncaring monotonous voice. “Chattel, you are dismissed.”

“But Ms,-“

“I hate having you just stand behind me like that.”

Chattel threw nervous glances between Épée and her father then bowed and left the room. Épée turned her gaze to the plate in front of her and scoffed in disgust. While everyone else tried to ignore the discourteous grunt, her father was about to speak up when the eldest brother quickly intervened. “As I was saying. Since the sodality of rain are making an attempt on the Pleurothallidinae they will be in great need of armaments.”

The father, not leaving the attempted distraction unnoticed, still gave in and questioned his son “But why would we want to trade with them. Just let them crumble.”

The eldest brother leaned forward excitedly as he gulped down a fatty chunk of sausage. “The Pangean entente is still very strong and until the second human-mokoi war is officially declared over it should continue to be so for the foreseeable future. Our sodalities chief will surely want to take advantage of the rain’s weakened state, but he’s locked in the Pangean treaty from officially declaring any hostilities. The nature of war is changing father, what I’m suggesting is a capital take over. If we can force their industry to be entirely dependent on us, that’s the same as owning them.”

The father was nodding his head in pensive understanding. “This all sounds very long term, and I’m sure the chief wouldn’t be very happy with us trading with the sodality of rain.”

“I wasn’t finished yet, it gets better. You see, according to the Pangean treaties rules on war contribution and land distributions of conquered territories if we supply just thirty percent of their forces with our weapons, we’ll have enough weight to claim one of the smaller islands in the pulchritudinous lake once their skirmish with the Pleurothallidinae is won. We can then gift the island to our chief, then we wouldn’t even need to trade with the sodality of rain as we just trade with the island and then the residents of that island will naturally disperse the goods through the sodality of rain in normal local trade. We’d technically never even trade with the sodality of rain, except for the initial gifting at the beginning of course, which we’d do under the guise of military support through the Pangean alliance.”

The father suddenly burst into a hoarse guttural laugh. “It’s brilliant! you know son, I’ve been thinking that I’m getting old and I wouldn’t mind sitting out the rest of my days in a less authoritative more relaxing position. Why should Bennu be the only old coot to have fun?”

One of the twins shocked, rapidly spoke up. “The phoenix is retiring!?”

Their father let out another powerful laugh; unbeknownst to anyone else in the room it was the boys tragic naivete which he found truly hilarious. “But you didn’t hear it from me.” He then turned back to his eldest son. “So, what do you think? Would you like to take over as headmaster of the clan?”

The eldest son stopped cutting his sausage. He looked up to his father with his mouth completely agape. “I-I don’t know what to say father.”

“You’re clearly smart enough, I’m sure you can take the clan to a whole new generation of prosper-.”

Épée finally spoke up interrupting her father and destroying the wonderful atmosphere of the room. “There’s no meat on my plate.”

Her father rolled his eyes in annoyance “Not now Épée, I was having an important conversation with your brother.”

“Why isn’t there meat on my plate?”

Épée’s father couldn’t resist heaving an exasperated sigh. His body posture turned away from her brother and over to her. “You don’t need meat.”

“I like meat.”

“You already have too much muscle, you could use some slimming.”

“Doesn’t the eldest inherit the clan?”

“The eldest had never been female before.”

“Doesn’t the eldest inherit the clan?”

Épée’s father couldn’t help but let out another grieving sigh. “Not this again. We are a warrior clan; it can’t be run by a woman. Besides, you are too young.”

“Have you forgotten that I’M the eldest!? I’m nineteen, Kin is only fifteen!”

Épée shouted throwing a pointed finger to her brother as he desperately tried to sink into his seat and out of notice.

“Kin has shown himself to be mature and skilled enough through years of aiding the clan.”

“I could show you how skilled I was if you’d just let me hand in my own reports!”

Kin’s eyes grew extremely wide as he jumped from his seat. “Épée!”

“No, I’m done playing shadow leader! Either give me the respect I deserve or start actually running things yourself.” The whole family was stunned confused at the raging girl. “What, you thought that the sudden boon of skill and funds in the clan was due to your work? Are you joking?”

Épée’s father infuriated slammed his fist on the table knocking over his glass and spilling water all over the table, the strike was so hard that it sent a splinter through the table and its legs were beginning to strain under the weight. The father’s servant was too scared to know whether he should clean the mess or not but decided to stay where he was. “Épée that’s enough!”

“No, I don’t think it is! In fact I thi-“

A sudden bell chimed in the room. In the center of the table there was what seemed to be a small pink rhombus that grew out of thin air, or it was a rhombus, but its body would reject any stable state. It would shift and transform, shrink and grow, continuously morphing into other shapes. The pink shape finally locked into a form resembling that of a featureless human with only one limb. Its weight on the table was the final strain for the table and it completely snapped in two causing the rigid human form to fall over. The pink organism’s arm which was outstretched in front of it was now facing the sky as the organism laid on the floor covered in spilled food and drink. The pink organism’s outstretched arm was holding onto a glowing parchment for all to see: it read.

You have been invited to The Tournament You are the repudiate

Épée’s father reached out his arm and was about to grab the parchment when Épée’s sharp voice stung his ears. “Don’t. It’s for me.”