Find the others.

At the entrance, wedged in the crowd, you find Bek, Hedi, and Thomas all together. You all look ahead to see the announcer standing in the ring with Niki at his side. In her hand is an illustrious, ornate golden sword, and she's raising it high above her head. At the top of noon, the sun radiates straight down into the arena, and reflects off the oiled blade with divine lustre. You can see that her body is tense, though the excitement of her victory has brought a large grin across her face. Against all odds, she came out on top.

"With the ceremony complete, most here probably know that the prize is not the blade itself. It's something more! Please, go to the healers. Rest up. Eat and drink. When you're finished, meet up with us here and decide on which item you'd like crafted. In the meantime, all master craftsmen will gather here and their own little tournament will begin. The one of salesmanship! Only one will be chosen to be the craftsmen for the Golden Sword victor. Swords. Shields. Boots. Helmets. All is available here, so what will she choose? For now, the tournament has reached its climax! The rest of the day will be dedicated to celebration, so have fun everybody... within reason."

Hedi turns to you. "I guess our time together is almost up, Kyle."

Bek snickers. "It was fun though. We should come back next year, yeah? Maybe have a normal tournament."

Thomas heaves the backpack over to you, and you swing it over your back. It feels like it's filled with water.

"Hey Jelly," you mutter.

"How are you and Niki heading home then?" Tom asks.

"We didn't really figure that part out yet," you reply. "We were in a rush to get here."

Your attention snaps back to Niki as the audience hushes. A few other men are whispering to the announcer, and behind them is a familiar face--Zakira. This continues for a moment, but then the announcer lifts up his horn and continues to speak.

"Pardon me for a moment. We seem to be having some debate over the final match. People are claiming that there was outside help coming from a certain boy up in my booth. I did see him shouting, and something was happening in the ring, though I didn't see any kind of attack. However, we must--"

"It was nothing," a voice speaks. It's booming, just like his, though when you turn to see the woman that spoke, you see no horn in her hands. And it's coming from behind you. As soon as you turn, she vanishes, and reappears in the ring right in front of the announcer.

She's a gorgeous woman with dark skin and red eyes. Her wavy black hair flows down past her shoulders--looking like she just finished her appointment at the salon. She has deep red lips and bold lashes, and a golden circlet rests within her hair across her upper forehead. She has several other golden accessories, such as bracelets and rings, and her dress is certainly breezy. It must help during the desert heat, but you can also see much of her body, and it's smoking hot. Her black robe is completely open on the front aside from her midsection where it's bound with a golden belt. This shows a generous amount of her full, perky breasts. Below, there's nothing more than black bikini bottoms decorated with more jewellery. Her feet are within a pair of lovely sandals.

The audience whispers among each other.

"I can't believe it. I didn't even know she was in town," Hedi murmurs.

"Who's that?" you ask.

"She's famous around here, since she spent much of her upbringing in this town. We don't see her much since she's a high ranking member of the Circle of the Unicorn. Vazeela Sulta."

The Circle. Just like Barkis and Eva's dad.

"Might I just say that this year's Golden Sword has been fascinating to watch," she speaks. Her voice still echoes out for all to hear. "But I would also be saddened not to step in when one wrongly accuses magic of foul play. There were no spells cast from that boy. I guarantee it."

"You've got to be kidding me," Zakira mutters. "He definitely used magic on her!"

She sashays over to Zakira, and takes her chin gently between her fingers to stare deeply into her eyes. Her voice returns to a normal volume. "You fought well. There's no need to feel such envy. If you can't control yourself, I might have to step in again, my darling."

Zakira blushes and turns away in a huff.

"Well, it looks like it was a false alarm after all!" the announcer speaks up. "Niki Vakila is still the victor!"

"Thank you," Niki says with a nod towards this sorceress stranger. She then hands the golden blade back to the announcer and turns towards the entrance. "I'll uhm... think about my prize. I gotta go for now."

The announcer lowers his horn. "Of course. Go rest up."

Tom turns to you with a frown. "Hey, man. I feel like I didn't do much for you, but--"

"Hey. You helped decrypt the book," you interrupt.

"Fair enough. Still, you and Niki have a long journey back. Let me give you something."

He takes your hand and places something cool-feeling into your palm, though before you can react, Niki comes storming through the crowd within the gateway. Her might easily knocks everyone side. People try to speak to her, grab her, and generally get her attention, but she bolts straight towards you and grabs your arm almost painfully tight.

She pulls you away from the rest before you can even speak. You're brought around the wall, and Lynx seems to be gone. You're taken farther until you reach an area behind some shops.

Niki shoves one of the back doors open and nudges you inside before slamming it shut behind her. She removes your backpack, which flops to the ground with an audible thud, and then she falls back against the well next to you with heavy breaths. It's a storage room. You see crates and sacks of different foods and other supplies laying about.

She turns to you--hot and heavy. There's a burning lust in her eyes.

In her hand is the key. She fumbles around with it, and is barely able to get it into the keyhole on the side of her collar. She then turns to you, and goes to place it in your palm. However, when it opens, Tom's gift is laying there instead. It's a very familiar vial.

"Kyle," she gasps. Immediately, she swipes it from you, and replaces it with the key.

With an unquenchable thirst, she chugs it down, and then bites her lip as she locks eyes with yours.

Thanks, Tom?