.........

  "It’s almost night. Sky will meet me back at Tork’s. She mentioned the bread and these other stuffs," Ben said, looking over the ingredients he had acquired. 'What could have kept her this late?' he wondered, moving away from the meeting place—a spot where they always met whenever they ventured into the district market.

  As he moved through the thinning crowd, he bumped into a shoulder. "Oh, sorry there," he said.

  "No, it’s fine," a voice replied. Ben looked at the male—young in years, but taller, with dark hair and a pale complexion that contrasted with Ben’s own brown skin and shorter stature.

  "Have we met before?"

  "No, I don’t think so," Ben replied.

  "I’ve got a good memory, a really strong one, in fact. I dare say I remember you being with a girl," the stranger added.

  Ben looked puzzled, trying to search his mind before giving up. "Here? That’s possible..."

  "No, not here. In Os’thera, actually."

  "I don't remember, but I've got to go," Ben said, turning to leave.

  "Sky. That’s her name. But yours?"

  Ben stopped. "Who are you?"

  "Ryke," the man replied.

  While the two spoke, the people around them minded their own business, rushing to finish their tasks before night fully fell. A child sat on a nearby windowsill, staring at the street, when he noticed a punch—not the beginning of the arc, but the impact. He saw the brown-skinned guy getting hit square in the face.

  "Zi, come see this!" the boy shouted, barely moving aside as his brother joined him. "Come on, beat him back!"

  "I told you, I need you to come with me. Sky will join you. I will personally take you if I have to," Ryke said.

  "I don’t know you, how do you—" Ben’s speech was cut off by Ryke’s smile and the sudden pressure of a crowd. Adventurers were starting to surround them, drawn by the scent of a conflict.

  "I just heard a 'beat him back' shout. Come on now—where’s that presence gone? The air feels so light this time," Ryke taunted.

  'Blue eyes... where have I seen those blue eyes before?' Ben thought, just before barely deflecting a punch that managed to bruise his cheek.

  "Come on, boy! I placed a bet on you!" a man shouted, shoving Ben back into the fray. Ben stumbled right into a straight right from Ryke, though he managed to block the following left hook.

  The circle was small. Ben realized he wasn't leaving anytime soon, and Ryke wasn't going to stop. He settled into his stance, raising both guards, keeping his left hand closer to his chin than the right. Ryke took a similar stance, but his hands and legs were spread wider in a southpaw lead, while Ben remained orthodox.

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  Ryke did the honors of moving first, reaching for Ben’s face again. Ben retreated, but his left leg was caught napping. Ryke immediately used his reach to step on Ben’s foot, pinning him, before jumping high and rotating his waist. He delivered a mid-air roundhouse kick that Ben had to block with both hands. The force of the impact created a ringing eeeeerr sound in Ben's ears and sent him reeling into the crowd.

  A loud shout went up as Ben shook his hands, trying to regain feeling in his numb arms.

  Ryke tried the same trick again, but this time Ben cut inside the arc. He landed two heavy body punches before the scuffle truly turned into a brawl. On the windowsill, the young boy grabbed his brother’s arm tightly, his eyes trailing the movements which had become almost too fast for him to follow.

  Ryke threw two punches that Ben blocked. Closing the distance, Ben dug a hook into Ryke’s ribs and connected with a right punch to the face, just under the eye. The skin began to swell instantly.

  'He’s got the strength,' Ryke thought, shifting from blocking to deflecting.

  Ryke returned the favor with an inside right leg kick, followed by a right hook. He added another leg kick to the outside of Ben’s left leg and prepared for a third, but Ben caught him with a lung-collapsing body punch. Ben then returned the leg kick with his own; though Ryke tried to pull away, the strike landed with enough force to echo through the circle.

  They stepped in again, switching stances rapidly as they traded blows.

  "They are faster than before, and much closer," one spectator remarked to his friend, changing focus to his friend.

  "Ohhh!" the crowd roared in harmony. Both Ben and Ryke were now bleeding from opposite sides of their faces.

  "What did I miss?" a man asked, turning to his companion.

  "Gave each other heavy punches at the same time. That’s why they're bleeding," the friend replied.

  The two fighters took a moment to breathe, eyeing each other from opposite sides of the circle. Suddenly—

  "Knights!" the boy on the window shouted, diving back inside his house.

  The crowd dispersed instantly, acting as if nothing had happened. In the sudden scramble of the retreating throng, Ben vanished. So did Ryke.

  ........

  "Come on, Sky, you're disappointing me," Azeya said, giving Sky the space to get up. "Just in case, I’ll probably find everyone else you keep close. That means even that boy Ryke spoke about."

  "Okay. I’ll try to impress," Sky said.

  "You impressing me means you surviving, because I’m about to up the pace," Azeya warned. She dashed in, a right punch swinging with lethal force.

  Sky deflected the strike with her right. While Azeya was still momentarily airborne from the momentum, Sky hammered a heavy left into her abdomen, followed by a right that sent Azeya flying into the darkness where the moon’s light couldn't reach.

  'Time to leave. I hope Ben...'

  "No, Sky! Why run?" Azeya’s voice called from the shadows. "Let’s fight for it—whatever you're hiding or protecting." She walked back into the light. "Beat me, and you've at least won against..." She stepped onto the clear grass.

  "I don’t have time for this..." Sky whispered to herself, her tongue brushing against a loose tooth.

  Sky was about to turn away when she heard Azeya's voice. "If you can’t beat me, then Ben will end up dead. Whether you run for the next fifty years, we will find you. The end won’t be different. We will kill you."

  Sky stopped. "Huh. This is going to be messy," she said, walking back with both hands rolled into fists.

  "Come on, Sky, Show me what Jack wanted to hide, what Neyra fought, and what you hid from Ryke!" Azeya said before dashing in again.

  Sky blocked the first punch and responded with a two-punch combo that Azeya slipped. Azeya’s movements were fluid, masking her flaws. She threw another punch at Azeya's abdomen, but Azeya deflected it, kicking Sky’s left leg twice in quick succession. She went for a flicker jab, but Sky barely blocked it and countered with a punch that landed flush on Azeya’s face. Just as Azeya was about to fly away with the force of the punch, she was yanked forward by the shirt , her nose colliding with Sky’s elbow. A follow-up kick to the ribs sent her tumbling eight meters away.

  ' that punch' sky thought.

  'This will be fun,' Azeya thought, tasting copper in her mouth while she stood up.

  Azeya spat blood onto the grass. "My turn, Sky. My turn!"

  She charged. This time, her footwork was more precise. She deflected Sky’s punch and rocked her with a right hook before connecting a left kick to the outer thigh. Sky tried to step out, but her leg was pinned. Azeya unleashed a barrage: a body hit, a right hook, and a rising left hook.

  Sky tried to counter, but her vision was blurring. Azeya’s flickers began to land at will, flicking Sky’s head from right to left until her face began to swell. Sky raised her guards in a desperate defense, but she didn't see the change in tactics. A jumping right knee caught her cleanly under the jaw.

  Azeya saw Sky go limp—the body motion of a knockout. She thought the fight was over. But as the breeze flowed through the trees of Veilwood, Azeya was suddenly pinned down. It took only a single, blurring takedown to put Sky on top of her.

  Sky landed a right, and Azeya answered with a left, using the momentum to flip the position. 'She’s half-conscious, what is...'

  Azeya’s thought was severed by a right punch. Not just any punch—the right punch. The force of it sent Azeya crashing through five trees.

  Through the haze of pain, she saw the figure that had hit her. 'A boy? Is that...'

  "Ben" She said realizing he had been following her. As Azeya struck the final tree, she managed to raise her hand, blocking a follow-up punch that sent shockwaves through the area, causing a depression.

  "Hi, Ben," Azeya croaked, before punching him back toward where Sky lay.

  'This feeling... what is it? It’s similar, and yet... no, it's different from.....' Azeya thought.

  "Nice one. But I’m surprised you left me out," Leon said standing behind Azeya, who was rolling her shoulders, almost like trying to feel her joints after carrying something heavy.