Two fighters stood opposite one another at around fifty paces. Jano sat eagerly forward, with another drink in hand. Dariea was nowhere to be seen, but it didn’t matter he was utterly entranced in the upcoming exhibition.

“Fighters, stand to guard.” A voice rang across the arena.

The fighter closer to his platform was a short woman with long flowing blonde hair. She wore clean functional golden robes of the Shifter clan and bowed before the mass of people watching on. She finally turned to bow towards the platform Jano was sitting on, where the leaders of Molinia gathered. He felt his palms become laced with sweat.

The other fighter was a similarly built man, in tight fitting black and green garments. He repeated the bows of his opponent and then took up an attacking stance, one foot forward and an arm blocking his midsection.

“First we have Brent from the Shadow Air clan, a formidable warrior of seven campaigns.” A full bodied cheer bellowed from a large group in the stands who were dressed in similar black and green colours.

“And standing opposite, his opponent is one that needs no introduction. The famous warrior princess of the Shifters, Eben the shapeless!” This time, it wasn’t just the Shifter clan who cheered. She clearly had fans from across Molinia.

“Fighters.” There was a pronounced pause. “Begin!”

Brent jumped and shot high in the air, almost to the full height of the platform, propelled by swirling gusts of dark wind under his feet. A whirring sound began to ring across the arena, then a waterfall of darkness swirled about him and began to hurl towards Eben, the fighter nearest Jano. The attack seemed so strong, that for a moment, terror gripped Jano and he shifted nervously as the attack came a little too close to him. He thought that those around him would be able to deflect such an attack. Or he hoped so at least.

The Shifter didn’t panic however. She dug her feet in the ground below and sprang forward to run towards the attack. As she ran, her footsteps were growing increasingly thunderous as she got further away which was entirely contradictory.

“She’s making herself heavier to withstand the attack!” Jano looked where the voice came from. An excited small blonde man in what looked like his early twenties cheered from near the Berserker Fire contingent. Their eyes clocked and then they both returned to watching the action.

The Shifter was in the middle of the swirling Shadow Air attack now. Her progress had slowed. When she passed through the centre of the attack, she began to pick up pace once more. Brent, who was still hovering in the air, started another attack, as a dark shadow gathered in his hands. He pushed his hands together and directed a focussed beam of essence towards his opponent.

Eben was out of the swirling gust as it slowly faltered and disappeared. She started to disappear from view as she seemed to get smaller. Jano spent the next few moments trying to locate her, but he only saw the torrent of dark wind crashing into the floor.

Finally the attack cleared and Jano looked around. Many on the platform did the same thing, unaware that the Shifter had shrunk herself down so that she could not be seen as she evaded the attack and prepared her next move.

Quickly, a sound of crunching and laboured movement drew their eyes back to the arena. A golden clad dragon flew toward the man in the air. He started to move but he had been caught off guard and the dragon grabbed hold of him in its massive jaws. The two fighters wrestled in the air with flashes of dark essence firing here and there as the Shadow Air fighter tried to escape. Jano watched in wonder as flashes of Eben the Shifter were visible in the head of the dragon.

There was more struggling and then a blade of flickering shadow cut into the dragon and rippled across the arena, with air rippling across and reaching as far as Jano. The dragon crashed to the ground below. Briefly the man seemed to stand triumphant and then in a second, he was swallowed up by a golden ball. It started rolling quickly around the arena.

Surprised laughter rang out across the arena. The ball hit a wall at the far side and exploded, with Brent stuck against it. Jano strained in his eyes and could just make out small golden pins holding him in place. Eben briefly took her normal shape but quickly morphed into a golden hammer which started to slam against the pinned man. The sound was deafening, and each attack sounded stronger than the last.

A second wall, this one horizontal and made of loud gathering gusts came down on the formerly golden hammer. Dust settled over the arena as both fighters seemed exhausted. Jano was expecting the exhibition to be over, but nothing was said by whoever had announced the fight.

“It’s interesting, because the Shifter is primarily a melee based fighter depending on her form, but the Shadow Air clan specialise at fighting at a distance. I was so glad when they announced this was to be tonight’s exhibition.” The same blonde man said. He was sitting closer to Jano now and clearly speaking to him.

“I have never seen anything like it.” Jano said simply.

“Well it isn’t over yet.” The young man said as the arena began to stir once more.

The Shifter began to take a new shape, transforming herself into a large creature of which Jano didn’t know the name. It was similar in shape to a huge wolf and it bounded over towards her prey and began to bite and snarl at the man. Several long beams of wind began to pull at the wolf, trying to drag its limbs away in several directions. It staggered here and there, but retained its footing and kept snapping at the man.

The beams continued to pull and whip at the wolf’s hind legs, Jano noticed a small spot of shadow on the ground under the belly of the creature. It swirled slowly as though it was a portal of chaos summoned by Dariea. He watched it carefully, finding it hard to ignore the fighting of the two masters.

The swirl grew bigger, but not at a rate fast enough to distract the wolf. A platform of violent wind sucked the wolf down to it and its limbs splayed in all directions as the wind which had been attacking its legs had coordinated with the main attack. As it quickly rose high into the sky, the wolf shrank and the woman tried to change forms. The force of the wind sucked her down and prevented her from changing. Or at least slowed her down for a time. It all happened in a flash and Jano would have missed it if he wasn’t paying such close attention to the suspect spot.

It rose suddenly fifty feet or so, then higher and Jano couldn’t estimate the height any longer. A crack of what sounded like thunder rang out and then the woman came flying back toward the ground at the bottom of a similar beam of wind, sucking her in and preventing her from leaving. She was about to be crushed against the floor, when a violet net caught her and all essence dissipated.

“The exhibition is at an end. The victor is Brent from the Shadow Air clan!” Huge cheers erupted, but most notably from those sitting suspended in the air.

“What an unbelievable sight!” Jano said as he turned to face the man who had been by his side, but he was once again alone. He looked at his empty glass and wondered if he had indeed drank too much.