The head brown mage, Ezevan, pelted waves of sand at his challenger. The red mage did his best to run away from the onslaught of sand, but eventually his bloodied body gave out. In one desperate attempt he blasted a fireball so large and so perfectly controlled, that it took the shape of a human skull.

The fireball careened towards Ezevan, hissing with a sizzling whistle that cut through the morning air like an ninjato slicing across a throat. The fireball collided into the earth mage with a shuddering explosion. As the dust and smoke settled, the red mage collapsed to his knees. He gave all that he could, if this didn’t finish the match, he would be doomed.

Koda watched on with keen interest and nail biting tension. He only caught the tail end of Raine’s match against Trent, so Ezevan’s battle was the first mage duel that he had ever witnessed and it thrilled him. He knew that he loved being a mage, but the sheer excitement of watching a mage battle was something else entirely.

“He has to have more in him if he wants to win,” whispered Raine to Koda as they both watched on the sidelines.

“I think he’s finished, Raine. There’s no way Ezevan would give up that easily,” responded the king.

“Easily?” Raine snorted. “Did we watch the same spell?”

Both looked on with their hearts pounding with relentless energy.

The fire mage staggered to his feet, closely peering at the wake of flames that he created. He curled his fingers trying desperately to light a spark of fire.

Before Ezevan stood a wall of glass. He waved his hands in a circle before thrusting them against his shield and sent the glass wall flying at his challenger.

“Watch out!” Koda couldn’t help but cry out.

With bated breath Koda held silent as the red mage leaped out of the way of his oncoming demise. With a spurt of adrenaline, the fire mage dashed to Ezevan’s flank and cried out at the top of his lungs as he unleashed a devastating combustion that shot Ezevan tumbling backwards before sliding to a dead stop.

The red mage panted heavily but fell forward into a heap.

The battlefield was as quiet as a graveyard.

Finally Ezevan’s body stirred as he struggled to get to his feet. He brushed soot and dirt from his earth-toned robes before the referee declared him the victor.

“Jedeo’s red wings! That was incredible!” Koda yelled.

Raine nodded enthusiastically in agreement. “A worthy fight fit for any duel.”

Several brown mages rushed to help the fire mage to his feet. He wobbled forward, shaking off his exhaustion.

Ezevan beckoned for Koda to approach.

Koda bit his lip as Raine rubbed his shoulders to get rid of any lingering tension.

“You have this Koda. You just watched an entire match,” Raine whispered. “What weaknesses did you see?”

“I-I don’t know, I wasn’t looking for them,” Koda sheepishly admitted.

“Ezaven’s defenses aren’t impenetrable. Wear him down with barrages, he’ll slip up.”

Koda nodded.

“Stick and move, keep your attacks relentless,” finished Raine.

Koda took in a deep breath and walked across the sandy battlefield to where Ezevan stood. He took a quick glance at the red mage as he limped away. The challenger put up a fight beyond anything that Koda had ever witnessed, and yet he still lost. Now Koda had to outdo that act?

Koda looked at Wildeye. Maybe he could use the Magi? Koda then turned to Elucard. Well, maybe he shouldn’t. Perhaps Koda just needed the vote of confidence that Raine gave him.

Koda stole a glance from Master Stryneth and his shroud, Cade. Stryneth gave the young king a hardy thumbs up. Right, Koda knew he had the support, it was only a matter of winning now.

“I’ve been looking forward to this match ever since I heard you entered Isa City, Lord Koda,” Ezevan said.

Koda smiled. “I admit, I expected a grander school. However, it seems you prefer a more grounded, open school.” Koda waved his hand gesturing to the wide desert.

The head mage frowned. “This is not my school. My students and I are refugees here. My school was on the outskirts of Nacsirri.”

Koda buttoned his mouth with a grim frown of his own. “I apologize—I didn’t—”

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“You didn’t know.” Ezevan placed a calm hand on Koda’s shoulder. “It’s alright, my lord.”

Koda lowered his head in embarrassment.

“My sister is a refugee as well. I assume you are here to earn your brown sash in order to stand a better chance at defeating her?”

Koda looked up to Ezevan. “That was my plan, yes.”

Ezevan chuckled. “It is a good plan…if you can beat me.” he gave the brave elf a competitive grin.

Koda swallowed his fear. “It isn’t a matter if, but when.”

“Ha!” The brown mage slapped Koda on the back. It nearly bowled him over. Despite Ezevan’s light dune elf frame, his hand packed a hefty wallop. “The rules?”

“One—” Koda stopped himself short. He narrowed his eyes, now deep in thought.

What if Trent didn’t tell me all the rules of a mage battle in order to exact some sort of payback against me. What if a battle didn’t have to be to the death? What if there was a rule that could assist me against Ezaven?

Koda rubbed his chin. I wonder if I could ask for a first blood match? First one to inflict a hit.

Koda knelt down and scooped up a handful of sand and sifted it through his fist. One hit. One hit to win the whole thing. Normally taking a body full of shots would benefit me, but if I was fast enough, if I could find that opening…I wouldn’t have to worry about Ezevans endless supply of stamina.

“What have you decided, Lord Koda?” asked the headmaster.

Koda closed his eyes and with a single breath he stated his terms. “Base color my green versus your brown. The first hit decides the victor!”

“First blood, eh?”

“Koda gave the brown mage a weary smile. “Is that within the rules?”

“Well. It is,” Ezevan said. “However, usually a challenger may ask for the last one standing or the first mage to three hits.”

First to three hits? That might have been easier. Koda thought smacking his forehead.

“But, the first hit is a risky gambit. Very well, take your spot opposite of me.”

Koda shuffled to his position on the over side of the dueling field. No longer as confident as he once was. He took in several quick breaths. No time for doubts, no time for doubts, no time for—

The referee held up a red flag with a diagonal brown stripe. “This a battle for the Brown color! Base colors are only to be used. The first one to score a hit wins! Headmaster Ezevan, are you ready?”

Ezaven nodded.

The referrer looked at Koda. “Challenger, are you ready?”

No time for doubts!

“Challenger, are you ready?” the referee asked again.

Koda held silent, the only disturbance in the air was his own short breaths.

No time for doubts.

“Challenger—”

“I’m ready!” Koda shouted.

The referee swung down the flag. “BEGIN!”

Koda’s eyes widened as a large tidal wave of sand rolled up toward the sky and crashed upon him. He only had a fraction of a second to react. With swift thinking striking through his fingers, he wrapped himself in a funnel of bark and roots just as a quarter of the desert slammed on top of him.

It wasn’t the ideal way he wanted to start the battle, but funny enough, it worked to his advantage. Koda folded his legs into a meditative position. He allowed the makeshift tree to guard him from the suffocation of the tightly packed sand weighing him far below the surface of the battlefield. The king kept his eyes squinted shut and he collapsed his hands in contrition, keeping only a single index finger up. He focused his concentration on extending roots that made up his cocoon. The thin wooden roots wriggled and wormed through the layers until its tips broke through the soil.

Koda twitched his eyes and ears, now hearing and seeing through his magical roots. Keeping them as close to the open surface as possible, he commanded his plants to crawl towards Ezevan’s feet. All the while he listened in on the conversation between the headmaster and referee.

“It is done,” Ezevan told his official. “Call off the match, I will rescue Koda’s body.”

The referee helf the flag by his side. “I sense his magic is still in use,” argued the referee. “The challenger guarded against your advance.”

Ezevan irked his lip in a mixture of doubt and anger. “Impossible, How can that be—Yow!”

The referee raised his red and brown flag. “Challenger wins!”

Ezevan tried to lift his foot, but found it grappled by a vine of bramble and thorns.

“What? How? When?” exclaimed the head mage in confusion.

From across the brown mage, a layer of sand peaked and broke apart as spindly roots and branches scraped through the sand and broke the surface like a funnel spider. Following after the mess of moving wood came the trunk of a tree. Koda pushed open the trunk, splintering a portal for him to step through. He fell to his knees and laughed.

“I got you, Master Ezevan!”

Ezevan ripped his foot away from the prickly weeds. “Indeed you did, Lord Koda. Indeed you did.”

Raine and Wildeye rushed to Koda’s side while Stryneth, Elucard and Cade trailed behind at a slower pace.

“Koda, you were brilliant!” Raine said, choking the king with a strong hug.

The elf blushed. “Thank you, Raine.”

“Stand before me, Lord Koda,” commanded Ezevan. The earth mage waited for Koda before taking a long strip of cloth from his assistant. Ezevan stretched the cloth out to its full length before presenting it to his school’s challenger.

“With this brown sash, you are now a mage of my element and color,” said Ezevan with a stoic expression.

Koda accepted the gift and smiled.

Ezevan placed a set of fingers on Koda’s brown. A swirling miasma of sand and energy rose around Koda and the brown mage. “I unlock your potential to wield earth, Koda Dawnedge!”

A rush of power pumped through Koda’s heart and soul. He could sense a new found source of Magi in his mind. Doors previously locked, now free to open at his whim. No longer was he bound only to that of the Vernal element, now he had the power of stone.

Koda tightened his grip on the silk brown mage sash.

“Congratulations, Lord Dawnedge. You are ready to take on Azeva Emberwake.”