"See, that's the thing about this city Leonard. Ya asked me to try. So I will," a guy next to me said. "People do what they’re told here.” He looked at me with mismatched eyes and flexed his arms.
Let me backup a bit. I was in Folan, the eleven capital for research purposes on the elegance of elven architecture. All around me were dazzling buildings that seemed to glow in the eternal moonlight. The gilded arches seemed to defy gravity. The elves themselves were a sight to see as well. With their tall, lanky, frames and long white hair, elves were elegant and cool.
Anyway I was walking through the city; looking for things to make note of, when one man captured my interest. He wasn’t an elf. He was shorter, and more stocky, with brownish-red skin. His eyes were mismatched; one was green and the other was gray. He kept looking around, like he was hiding something.
From what I could see, he was the only person who wasn’t an elf. Other than me of course.
He walked to one of the many parks in Folan. This one was called Aelinar park. I followed him in. He sat on a bench across from the children’s playground.
Elven playgrounds are a little different from human playgrounds. While we might have swing sets or monkey bars, they have archery practice and real swords to “play” with. Two kids were sparring with each other and many others were practicing archery. The guy I followed was looking at something on his phone. I sat on the bench he was sitting on. He glanced at me; then moved to the right a little bit. He continued swiping. He looked at me again. Specifically my suit. I paid 100 gold pieces for the suit. He looked at my watch. My gold watch. He smiled. He snapped his fingers.
“Ya know, that’s a nice suit ya got there, Leonard,” he said. “Mind if I ask where ya got it?”
“I got it at a luxury clothing store in Ewhon.” I didn’t ask how he knew my name. The Mayor of Folan announced it to everyone when I arrived. The guy looked around. He high-fived his left arms together. Oh yeah, he had four arms. All of them were muscly and scarred. He was wearing a ragged undershirt and pants.
“Ya know Leonard, I’m not an elf.” he said.
“I know. I can tell you’re not an elf.” I replied.
He smiled. “That means I don’t have any reason not to rob ya. They won’t because they have morals. But me?” He turned to face me. I looked at him. I shook my head. “Try it.” I said.
“Okay,” he said. “I will. See that’s the thing about this city Leonard. Ya asked me to try. So I will. People do what they’re told here.”
I smiled. I stood up and so did he. He was much bigger than I was, but that didn’t matter. I knew I was more powerful than he would ever be. He started stretching his hands and legs. I put my wallet on the bench.
“Here are the rules. There aren’t any.” I said. He smirked. His fists and eyes started glowing red. The elves around us knew what was going on. They gathered around. One guy asked, “What type?”
“All.” I told him.
My opponent punched me with his upper left fist. I dodged out of the way. His fist hit a tree, which erupted like a volcano, spewing ash and lava everywhere. I flicked my hand and the tree went back to normal.
I met his second strike with my foot, smashing his fist and his torso into the ground. I snapped my fingers. He became encased in ice. He broke out of this easily.
I jumped back and grabbed some dirt from the ground. I threw it at him.
“Seriously? Dirt?” he said. He looked irritated. He punched all four of his fists into the ground.
A huge column of lava; large enough to melt the entire park erupted out of the ground. I couldn't let that happen. I knew I said no rules, but he could seriously hurt someone with that lava! So I snapped my fingers. The lava hardened and fell. The watching elves all put up their hands and the lava (now ash) bounce off some air above them.
I knew they probably had put up a shield so I continued to attack him. I stomped my foot. The dirt I threw at him became a massive tree. He had to dodge to avoid getting shish kabobed by the roots.
By now I knew he had some control over lava. He didn’t look like a wizard, so he must have been a pyro manipulator of some sort. Possibly an orc, the no orcs had four arms. By now his undershirt was non-existent and his pants looked like swiss cheese.
He hadn’t been cut at all however. I didn’t have much time to think about it though; he sent more lava at me. This time he spit at me and his spit became lava somehow. That would have been fine; no one can spit twenty feet. But he sort of did it like a dragon, so I had to dodge.
The way a dragon breathes fire is through intense yoga and breathing exercises. When a dragon is born, their “fire” only reaches about two feet. They have to do many breathing exercises and throat exercises to allow their special spit to travel as far as it does.
I decided to end the fight quickly, I had better things to do than fight with some random guy. It was time for the piece de’ resistance. I took off my suit and undershirt. I know, kinda stupid. But I needed to. My opponent punched the ground again, causing more lava to erupt. I channeled my power into my body. It was time for me to reveal my true form. My body glowed. I focused my mind on one thing: dragons. I grew massive wings from my back, my skin hardened into scales, my teeth grew longer and sharper, and my black hair turned into massive black horns the size of my old body. My opponent’s face looked like a theater mask.
“Ultimate Move, Draconic Inferno!” I opened my mouth and blasted fire hotter than the sun onto him.
When I stopped all that was left was a scorch mark.
“KO!” one of the elves yelled.
………………………………….
“Get wrecked you noob! I won again!” Leonard yelled.
“You could have at least told me that character sucks. That wasn’t a fair match. Not fair.” Maxwell looked dejected. Leonard stopped celebrating.
“Okay,” Leonard pointed at the screen. “Arbornearus is supposedly the best character in the game. Try him out. If you like you can make him your main.”
Maxwell smiled. “Rematch?”
Leonard nodded. And so the two boys grabbed their controllers, sipped some Coke and started playing. Well, Leonard did at least. Maxwell just started spamming, but whatever, they continued playing.
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2 comments
Interesting idea. I was intrigued at the start with the idea of the Elven city and admit to actually thinking that was the setting of the story. That part got me but I lost it with the fighting. I'm not really into that kind of sport but others who are, would probably be more gripped. I liked the ending and I wasn't expecting it. It took me a moment to figure what was happening. Sadly, being too old to enjoy gaming, it probably did not impact me as much as a younger reader who would know exactly what you were aiming at. Well written, good pl...
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Thanks Alison. I got the idea after my friends and I played some games together, and we expressed how fun it would be to actually go into the game and experience it like that. So I sort inverted that concept.
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