Amelia is here

She is one of the contestants and standing at the edge of where she is allowed to be. She looks very happy and is waving at me.

“Darx!!!” Amelia yells while waving, trying her best to get my attention.

I almost didn’t recognize her. She keeps a staff with her now. She let her hair loose and her new wardrobe leaves her shoulders bare. A year ago, she never would have been too embarrassed to do.

Ugh, I should have known it was possible for Amelia to be here. Kiara did warn me that this moment would eventually happen, no matter how much I tried to run from it. Alright Darx, time to man up and face Amelia. It’s been over 8 months after all.

I continue returning to the contestant’s area and as soon as I am inside, I receive a big hug from Amelia.

“I’ve missed you so much.” Amelia says.

She holds me so tight and makes me feel like she’s not planning on letting go again. It makes me feel like I am hugging the Amelia of old. I place my arms on Amelia’s back and close my eyes. Then I say in a soft voice, “I’ve missed you too.”

It’s not a lie. I have wanted the Amelia from before Kase back for such a long time. There have been moments where I really wanted her next to me. Like in the castle, training together with Ryul, Shalia, Ari, Wendy, Sophie and Leona. I wonder how the dungeon we did with Kiara would have been like if Amelia was there. But there is this little voice in the back of my head which wonders if this is the honest Amelia which I have missed, or the deceptive Amelia pretending to be the other one.

“I heard from Oliver that you are with the Dark Dragons now.” Amelia says as she finally breaks the hug. “That’s your mom’s old guild! She must be so proud of you. Hey, is Helena still with them? She was always my favorite person from Ilene’s stories.”

I figured it would have been Oliver who told her, and I don’t dare tell her about what kind of person Helena really is. Mom really cleaned up her stories of the Dragonette adventures.

“Well, I wrote a letter to mom when I joined the Dark Dragons. She wrote one back, saying she is indeed proud of me. About my rank, my choice of guild and my skills.” I reply.

As we chat, Amelia and I walk towards some empty seats and sit down. Ari follows but takes a seat a little behind us. I’m not sure whether she wants to eaves drop, keep an eye on Amelia or if we are invisible to her.

This is when I hear the judge’s call for Monica of the Singing Bluejays and also her opponent.

“I went by your guild hall a few times. The second time they said you had gone to the Dwarven capital.” Amelia says. “Did you really make it all the way to the capital? What was it like?”

In the meantime, I notice the next two contestants walk past us towards the judges.

“Oh, it was quite a trip.” I tell Amelia. “I was also with a couple of friends I made in the castle. That girl I dueled just a moment ago was one of them.”

“Yeah, I noticed she was quite good. I think she even made use of a rare ability there. But you made good use of your water magic. You even summoned a water elemental! By Imris, summoners are rare and you are one.”

As Amelia and I are catching up, Monica’s duel begins. I don’t even pay attention to the fight. I am simply too enthralled with my conversation with Amelia. I am honestly surprised at how easy it is. I feared this would be much more difficult. Amelia even notices the cut I got in the duel and heals it. Even I had forgotten about that. But I do notice we are only talking about things we have done in Riledo. Neither of us is bringing up the stuff which broke us apart, like it simply never happened. While I’m sure Oliver has already informed Amelia that Mia and I are no longer together, Amelia seems to avoid the subject of Mia. Even when I bring up Emma, the only thing Amelia has to say about it is that she finally gave birth.

“Wait, she did?” I ask surprised. “Holy shit. When did that happen?”

“Uhm, about 4 weeks ago.” Amelia replies. “You should go and visit them. They have a very cute baby girl.”

“Aw, man. With my quest to the dwarves and the tournament, I have completely forgotten about that.”

All of a sudden, we get interrupted by a judge announcing Monica’s victory, followed by a loud cheer from the crowd. I look over to the arena and see a good portion of it is turned over. Monica must have used her earth magic. Some royal guard mages with earth magic come in to repair the arena grounds and Monica is helping to repair the damage she caused. Her opponent instead is limping in the direction of the Knights hospitaller with a few of them trying to meet him halfway.

“Aw man. We totally missed the match.” Amelia complains.

“Yeah, we were too busy catching up.”

Amelia then bumps her shoulder against mine and with a smile she says, “Worth it.”

“Amelia, of the Celestial Unicorn.” We hear one of the judges call out.

“Well, guess it’s my turn.” Amelia says. “Please, watch my duel, Darx. I want you to know how good I’ve become.”

Amelia then quickly gives me a kiss on the cheek, and then she heads off.

I remember that Amelia received the cleric class at her awakening, but I don’t know much more. This would be a perfect way for me to gauge her capabilities. I watch how Amelia and her opponent take their positions and wait for the start signal.

When the signal is given, Amelia starts by casting a [Paralysis] on Miranda. The dark-skinned beast tamer was so caught off-guard that that she also loses her balance and falls over. Miranda’s wolf however, races straight towards Amelia, but that doesn’t seem to face Amelia. I see a bright light appear in one of her hands. She waits until the wolf is close the her, then she throws it. Amelia misses, but she quickly casts another one with her staff. Then she swings that staff like a baseball bat and launches the second [Ball of Light] that way. This one seems to be going faster and also hits the creature. Amelia quickly casts more [Ball of Light] spells and hurls them at the wolf while backing away. Once the beast seems unable to walk, she stops. That is one opponent taken down.

By now Miranda has already fully recovered from the [Paralysis] effect. She runs toward Amelia and uses her [Cleave] skill to attack Amelia from a distance. Amelia in turn runs sideways while aiming her staff at Miranda. The tip of the staff starts lighting up. Is she going to cast another [Ball of Light]? Suddenly, Amelia gets on one knee and a [Ray of Light] shoots towards Miranda. The beast tamer was unable to dodge and takes the hit right in the stomach. She brings her arms in front of her to block the beam, but Amelia’s spell just burns Miranda’s skin.

Fortunately for Miranda, Amelia doesn’t keep the spell up for long. She does summon a [Ball of Light] in each both her hand and her staff again, in case Miranda decides to continue the duel. But Miranda then calls out “YIELD!!!” and the match is over.

As soon as the judge calls Amelia the winner of the match, the crowd applauds her and so do I. Amelia dispels the attack spells she had prepared and runs over to Miranda to cast a [Heal] spell, before the Knights hospitaller can even get there. She then also runs over to Miranda’s wolf and does the same. I figured Amelia would feel guilty about hurting someone in a tournament like this.

After Amelia returned to the contestant’s area, I congratulated her with her win. We talked a bit more, but not that long. Soon, the last of the contestants had their match and this day’s round of tournaments was over. When we left, Kiara was already waiting at the exit.

“Congratulations on winning, Darx.” Kiara says with a smile. Then she turns to Ari and says, “You did a pretty good job too, Ari. You really had Darx on the ropes there.”

She then turns towards Amelia, who is still close to me. “Amelia, right? Good job on the [Ray of Light]. I remember you struggling with that during your visit in the castle. It does me good to see you have perfected it.”

“Well, if it wasn’t for you, I never would have known about that spell. So, thank you for your teachings.” Amelia replies with a smile.

“You should take care of yourselves and get some rest.” Kiara then advises us. “The next match will be tomorrow already.”

“Right.” Amelia replies. “Well then. See you tomorrow, Darx.”

Amelia then leans over and gives me a kiss on my cheek after which she heads off. I notice Kiara stare at Amelia as she is walking away. Oh dear. I hope she’s not going to become jealous.

Kiara turns back to me and says, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you have issues confronting her last time?”

As we start heading back to the guildhall, I tell Kiara everything what happened between Amelia and me between matches. I was worried about Kiara being jealous, but I needn’t have been. Kiara is actually quite supportive.

“It’s good to hear you and her have finally talked things out. The distrust you had towards her can now be considered vanquished and it will no longer trouble you.”

“Yeah, about that.” I hesitantly admit to Kiara. “We actually didn’t talk about that part. The thing that drove us apart, we kind just avoided that whole thing entirely.”