Excerpt: Stories of Sokuni: Starlight Rising

“Her precious little knight shows up far, far from where he’s supposed to be,” a mocking voice called out.

Amaren’s head snapped up to see a young man, from what he could tell about Amaren’s own age, hovering a few feet above and away from the balcony. A green hooded cloak fluttered in every direction as if stirred by the wind, and a bright aura of sharp lines and a brilliantly glowing, verdant green glow surrounded the flying form courtesy of Amaren’s survey unison.

Instantly, the power meter in the corner of Amaren’s vision lit up to its full extent in a blinding white. A strained version of Zankou’s voice echoed, Full charge. Elemental types?

Some earth, plenty of wind and fire. Leave a buffer of arcane for a shield. As Amaren rattled off his orders, he called out, “Didn’t you learn the last time I schooled you in battle, Ken?”

“That was a fluke,” Ken coldly shot back, “brought on entirely by your lucky break.” He spread his hands wide and smiled maliciously. “This time, we’ll see if you can fly.” While he was speaking, a gathering cloud of white lines began forming between him and Amaren, and as his last word faded, a devastating gust of wind ripped at the tower balcony. Amaren, diving toward the tower interior, half flew and half dove away from the edge of the balcony, crashing into one of the inner walls of the tower as he flew through the archway.

Groaning and shaking his head, Amaren stood back up and yelled out, “Does that count, you bastard?!” Am I allowed to use lethal force against him? he rapidly queried of Zankou.

Go wild! she frantically replied, as the power meter glowed with about a quarter earth and equal quantities of fire and wind.

As Ken appeared in the archway, Amaren continued his response with a spell of his own. A series of small rocks formed in front of him, which lit up to become practically fireballs as Amaren applied the fire energy to them. A further staccato series of cracks echoed through the room as these flaming bits of gravel shot at supersonic speeds toward his surprised-looking opponent.