In Casinum:

  Vod sat, watching the end of the first match. Renlock had handily won, and without even using his ability.

  As Renlock returned to the stands, the announcer spoke. “Next up is Vod against Halast!”

  Vod dropped down from the stands, and another fighter did so, following him.

  They walked to the center of the arena, as Thana, unconscious, was taken outside of it.

  They stepped into the center and faced each other.

  Halast raised her hands, watching Vod apprehensively.

  Vod breathed in, prepared for the fight, and frost formed on his fingertips.

  The crowd held their breath in anticipation, quiet save for a few murmurs.

  “Begin!” The announcer shouted, and Vod leapt into action.

  He punched at Halast, and she dodged sideways, deflecting the attack.

  Not letting up, he kicked out his leg, and she blocked the blow with both arms, letting out an audible oomph.

  She jumped back, and put her hands on her heart, before a spirit emerged from her body, in the shape of a faded version of her.

  Halast moved to attack Vod, and he turned his arm, moving her fist sideways with the back of his hand.

  The spirit rushed forward, and Vod ducked sideways before landing a punch on Halast’s body.

  She stumbled backward, and he attacked her yet again, pressing the advantage.

  She backed up, and he threw shards of ice at her, before dashing in and throwing a barrage of punches.

  Dodging backward, Halast dodged or blocked most attacks, though some grazed her or even directly contacted her, despite all of her best efforts.

  She tried to punch back, but Vod caught her fist, and pulled her in closer, before slamming her down to the ground with a powerful downward punch.

  She’s been very careful about this fight. It almost looks like she’s avoiding her own spirit. To be safe, I should probably keep my distance from it.

  He stepped backward, allowing Halast to stand again, before he would continue the fight.

  She lay for only the first few seconds of the count, and managed to push herself up again.

  Halast stood, unsteady on her feet, and her spirit threw a punch at Vod.

  He sidestepped, and it turned, throwing another punch. Dodging again, he stepped behind Halast, and pushed her towards her spirit.

  Unable to get out of the way in time, the spirit dismissed itself.

  So my intuition was right. It is dangerous to touch. I thought so by the way she kept away, and now my thought is confirmed. She didn’t want to get caught by whatever it could do.

  Halast turned, regaining her bearing, and raised her hands to her heart again. The spirit reformed, and it and Halast readied themselves to fight.

  Vod went on the offensive, carefully placing both himself and each attack so that he never overextended or left himself open to the spirit, while still advancing and placing pressure onto his opponent.

  Halast ducked under a strike and managed to land a direct blow on Vod’s side, but, as far above her as he was, the attack did no more than stagger him momentarily.

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  He sidestepped the spirit, and moved towards Halast.

  She tried to dodge, but his attacks were too quick and powerful for her to escape for long, and she found herself with her back to the wall.

  She held her hands in a block over her face as he attacked, keeping the damage small enough that she would not be overwhelmed immediately despite being greatly outclassed by Vod.

  His fist slipped past her guard, and impacted her side.

  Halast winced, and her hands dropped slightly, leaving her open.

  Vod’s fist collided with her cheek, and she was flung violently down to the ground.

  Vod looked down at her, and she did not move to stand, but suddenly, Vod felt an unearthly touch from behind, and he turned to see the spirit standing behind, finger held out towards him.

  Everything flashed white, and he blinked, before suddenly he was in a white expanse, textured with glowing green strands of some strange material, all leading upward and to the center above Vod, where, directly above, there was an immense beating heart, glowing and ethereal.

  Every beat, the green strands pulsed, and Vod looked in confusion.

  What was that spirit? He asked himself, and turned to look around. I’ve never seen anything remotely close to this before.

  He grimaced. Though if I had, I suppose I wouldn’t remember, anyway, so I can’t really say.

  Stepping up close to one of the green strands, he looked at it.

  At the heart, hundreds of strands were connected, and they all lead outwards, where each split into several other strands themselves.

  He noticed a discolouration on the string, and, seeing that it extended along the strand, looked closely, trying to discern what the discoloration might be.

  It was another strand, wrapped around the green, but this one was a dull blue.

  Vod reached out, hesitant, and touched his finger to the green strand.

  He felt a strange twinging within his chest, and took his finger off.

  Looking again at the strand, he wondered at what it was. Simply touching it had affected him strangely.

  It’s not hostile… or even alive, really, but something about it feels oddly conscious.

  He was still looking at the strand when a voice echoed throughout the strange place.

  It was the announcer, strangely distorted, but still her voice.

  “Halast and Vod are both down! That means that the winner of this fight will likely be determined by the first one standing for a full knockout period!”

  He turned, seeing the strange expanse, but not finding any place where the voice had come from.

  That spirit must have trapped me in some form of construct. If I can’t figure out how to get out of this, I’ll just lose when Halast eventually gets up.

  Vod, more urgent this time, started examining again the room and the strands. Finding nothing, he turned instead to the massive heart, and studied it.

  Nothing was immediately strange, besides the glow and unearthly feeling it gave him, but he still felt that the key lay in it. He jumped, but it was too far above him for him to reach with a simple jump.

  Turning, he looked directly at one of the strands.

  Taking hold of it again, he felt the same strange twinging within his chest, but he ignored it, testing its sturdiness.

  It would not budge, regardless of how much Vod tugged on it, so he jumped upward, grabbing hold of the strand at the summit of his jump. The twinging deepened, but he ignored it.

  Pulling himself along the strand towards the heart, he made it to the web of the many interwoven strands surrounding the heart.

  He stood on the web of hundreds of strands, and reached out.

  As he touched the heart, he felt a more direct pressure within his chest, but he did not halt.

  He pressed in on it, trying to see if it would respond to him, but nothing changed save for the pressure increasing.

  The voice of the announcer echoed again, and Vod turned to the endless expanse above him where the sound came from. Feeling a sense of dread, he listened to what she was saying.

  “Halast has gotten up! The count for Vod’s loss has begun!”

  The numbers she said, counting down slower than they should be in this strange space, began to echo in the expanse, and Vod rushed, alarmed.

  He began to press more intently at the heart, but nothing happened, and he had to stop as the sheer force of the heart’s pressure became more than he could stand.

  In his worry, he used his ability, covering his finger with frost as a last resort. He touched the heart, but this time, besides the pressure, he felt a new sensation, one that he did not recognize or understand.

  He was about to press in again with the frost, when he noticed that there was a different glow coming from the green strands.

  The faded blue strands, wrapped around the green, were glowing, shining brightly with glowing light.

  Half the allotted time for Vod to wake had elapsed, and he looked more closely at the strands, hoping to find some clue for his escape.

  When he flared his ability, the blue strands flared in brightness and intensity, and when he extinguished his ability, the glowing ceased.

  Now understanding the true nature of where he was trapped, Vod flared his ability, and forced the cold of it into the heart.

  It began pulsing, shoving the energy into the strands, and the strands glowed more brightly. As they glowed, Vod felt every sense that he had deepen, until he could feel the inside of his body.

  His heart began to beat stronger, and he felt it move within his chest in tune with the other heart.

  The count was near its end, and Vod’s eyes snapped open.

  Gone was the white expanse, and in its place was the arena.

  He threw himself upward to his feet, and the count cut off as the crowd roared.

  Halast saw his waking, and her face fell.

  Vod raised his hands, prepared to fight again, but Halast lifted a hand towards the announcer and the tournament administrators, accepting defeat.

  The announcer shouted. “Halast has conceded! The second fight goes to Vod!”

  The crowd cheered, though they were slightly quieter due to their disappointment at the anticlimactic ending of the fight.

  Halast wasn’t very strong herself, but her spirit was Vod thought. It took me and put me… in my soul. It was a hard prison to escape, but simple if you realize it. You just need to forcibly reconnect your soul with your body.

  He watched Halast as she left the arena. She knew she couldn’t beat me in direct combat, so she hoped that I would not escape my own soul in time. When I did escape, she knew that she had lost, and so she surrendered.

  Turning, he noticed his squad in the stands above, cheering for him.

  Each one was loudly cheering for Vod, with the sole exception of Seriel, who seemed deeply unsettled by the vast size of the crowd. Nonetheless, even she was smiling slightly.

  He made a clear nod to them, and walked back to the stands, leaping back into the contestant seating, and the announcer called out the next match.

  I suppose this is a lesson. Not everyone will fight by the rules that you will. And prepare for that eventuality you must.