Lightning or Water?

A Chapter by Kurai.Merodi

2nd chapter of Pure Air. A fantasy novel

"One entry" I coldly said to the person at the desk outside of the arena. It was an old desk but it didn't show its age that much. It was smooth and had engraving on the top quarter of the legs that was now scratched and chipped. It had scratches on top where pen scraped off the varnish. The person behind the desk was a girl with long, wavy blond flowing hair to around the middle of her back but could be longer because she had it in a loose plait starting from the middle of her head. Her clothes were simple, it was just a white dress with thin black lines travelling horizontally round. The dress finished just above her knees but probably ended just below because she had a thick black belt on loosely sitting on her hips. She looked up and her pure green eyes hit me she stood up then bent over to reach for a sheet on the table just out of her reach. Five foot six and nine-teen.

"Here, fill this out then pass it back to me, I'll tell you what to do next then." She said with a higher pitched voice then what I was expecting, she handed me the paper that was a dull white with more grey than black writing on it.

I take it then nod with Ryder closely following behind.

"What does it say on it?" Ryder impatiently asked.

"Name, if I've entered before and... what will I be fighting with." I scanned over the yellowish paper once again before scribbling down the facts it demanded; Tsukiakari, no... Magic.

I just finished writing while I was tapped on the shoulder, I spun round to then look down into pale green eyes sternly staring at my nose. Five foot four with blonde hair. Gender: male. We stood there for a few moments me questioning and him, anger building?

"Yes?" I finally replied.

"Here" he shoved a mirror in my direction and I too it from him, returning a wondering gaze. "Look in it."

I brought the object to my eye level and looked in.

"Look" the midget spoke in a loud, unsuited voice for the body that was in front of me. Her head barely reaching my stomach, at least she looks like a girl. "Hello? Look!" No, it's a he? Really? I was never wrong before with guessing people's genders but this was a time that I really am in doubt. His hair was bleach blonde and wavy, covering his ears and ending just a center meter up from his watery, grey eyes. "Hello? Can you hear me up there?"

"Yer I can, only just though. Have you not been drinking your milk?" I looked down with only my eyes and saw a peculiar site that was defiantly not one I had encounter before. He had tears in his eyes? But he still looked stern.... Like he had a stick up somewhere it shouldn't be. "What? You can't be that short and not begging me to say something. Sorry, but it's just not done."

"I don't care! I still have time to grow!" His voice sharp, getting attention from hopeful contestants near-by. "And I didn't come here to get beaten down by you." His voice calmer. He paused and thought for a few moments, allowing me to think about him.

So he's five foot four and male, yer, I'm still not entirely sure about that last one. He's sixteen and looks innocent but really not. So, he's a boy that looks like a girl, or a girl that acts like boy. I'm thinking it's more that last one if taking the height into account.

"What do you see in the mirror?" A voice so sharp and calm it could cut through an atmosphere at a funeral of a beloved but yet at the same time, sooth a wailing baby

"What?" I replied not quite sure what to do after hearing that question.

"In the mirror, what do you see?"

The same voice.

"In this mirror?" I said gesturing to the mirror that had been shoved in my face for the last couple of minutes.

"Yes! How many times do I have to say it?" The calmness gone but the sharpness still hidden inside.

"Ok." I said simply wondering why I should do what she, or he, said.

I looked into the old circular mirror that I noticed had no scratch what-so-ever on its surface and had a snake wrapped round the edge, the head was at the bottom and biting its own tail. Just above the head of the silver snake, words engraved in simple but fancy letters stating: "What he does to others, let it be done to he as well."

The words hit me with a strange sense of déjà-vu but soon I forgot as the midget kicked my leg what he seemed to think was hard but he barely tapped.

I returned his kick with a simple look of displeasure and answered his questioning gaze "I see nothing unusual" lie, "Just me and my surroundings" another lie. What I really saw was defiantly something abnormal and it wasn't just me and I definitely didn't see my surroundings. I saw me, like I am now standing there but rippling like the tide going in and out of the shore. My surrounding was black no hint or glimmer of colour anywhere. But the most uncomfortable thing was the feeling of having a black, shadowed man behind me and looking at me dead in the eyes with his silver eyes that shone through the darkness.

I quickly turned away from the shadow and, once again, looked at the person in front of me. "Who are you?" I asked then quickly changed the question to what I really wanted to know "what gender are you?"

I watched as he stared at me blankly and blink, mouth gaped open slightly. "What are you talking about?" Another voice came from behind me and I quickly recognised as Ryder's.

"What?" I returned his question.

"I thought you were good at this stuff" I looked at him with a question wavering in my mind and him noticing this, answered my unasked question. "It's a girl" he looked at the, still, blankly staring girl, if we go with what Ryder said. "I think. You can't be that small and cute if your not a girl, it's just unnatural." I don't know why but I felt a hint of hesitation when he said this and his eyes flipped to me when he ended his sentence. But I chose to ignore this and to carry on investigating the gender issue.

We both glanced at the staring person and Ryder knocked on their head with his pointing fingers knuckle, bending his others towards his palm and only bending his pointing finger slightly so it's sticking out more than the others. "Can I try?" He said simple.

And without talking or blinking, he moved the mirror to face Ryder and as soon as the snake’s eye faced him Ryder went wide eyed and stood back.

He was posed like this for a while until I said his name worryingly and he hesitated before he came back to this side. "Sorry, I..." He paused and his eyes flipped back to the mirror.

"Ryder" I said again louder than usual.

"Huh?" His face blank with wonder then turned to reality once again. "Sorry I thought I saw someone in the mirror I knew. The midget clicked his neck to Ryder but Ryder turned round and spoke once again "I thought she was my mum" he pointed his finger towards a tall, skinny and long brown hair that was swaying from side to side, glimmering as she walked down, past the market stalls. Twenty four, five foot six. Too young to be his mum. "Guess I was mistaken" he put his hand up and behind his head and laughed while he scratched.

"Yer, it would be a bit weird if a twenty four year old had a seventeen year old son, she would have been seven when she gave birth." I said still staring after the woman. When I turned back around the two of them were facing me and staring blankly at me with a question on their face. "What?"

"what? Wait... doesn't matter" Ryder replied.

"So he's not here then" the midget mumbled.

I stared at him for a long while but soon broke off as an announcer called through a speaker "Thank you for your patience. The tournament will begin shortly. Audience please go through the public entrances correct to your ticket and find you seat. Contestants go to Entrance X and find your room that has your name on the door. Thank you."

"Ryder" I called to him and he smiled. We then started towards the entrance but was stopped before we could walk through.

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