One More

  Dust settled, and the two youngest were drawn out of the game.

  Aureolo, the woman named Tigeralla, and her younger brother, Gibralla, remained.

  I crossed my arms, unworried, as I knew Aureolo would win this game without a sweat. Tigeralla created the mist once again.

  Was this part of the game?

  I asked Coven earlier, but he himself didn’t grasp the game.

  Careless.

  Minutes went by, and it seemed like someone was coming out of the mist. Too tall to be a child. The woman was coming out.

  How did he get out?

  How did he get out?

  Trained by me. Specialized in—

  He was defeated in a children’s game?

  My arms dropped to my side.

  “What happened?”

  I cut in.

  “Well… Gibralla took me out…”

  The kid got him?

  What followed was worse: Coven laughing — hard and uncontrollably. He was going to drag this for as long as possible. I could sense it coming.

  “How did you get taken down by a child?”

  I demanded.

  “He was quiet. They’re all so quiet. It is hard to detect their movements.”

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  “I trained you to be light on your feet, yet you-”

  “You went on and lost to a child!”

  Coven said, stealing what I was going to scold Aureolo on.

  Seriously?

  I crossed my arms, glaring at Aureolo as he shuffled closer to Coven, half-hiding behind him to avoid my stare.

  Damn man.

  My head snapped back to the game. The dust settled once again, and the kid walked out with his forehead covered in sand.

  That meant… the girl won.

  While Coven continued to relentlessly tease Aureolo about his loss, I studied her.

  How light was she on her feet?

  The info chart didn’t have the full scope on Tuttwana’s attributes. Just the known one from centuries ago. According to Sanguine** records, they shouldn’t even have claws, since their current habitat doesn’t require it—or at least nothing this pronounced. Instead, they looked sharp as daggers.

  I need to check this out for myself.

  I took a step forward, moving closer towards Tigeralla.

  “Let’s have another round.”

  Aureolo and Coven stopped talking for once, snapping their heads towards me as if I said something wrong.

  I needed to know how agile this woman truly was.

  I intended to find out.

  ???

  Notes:

  Sanguine: The Sanguine are a group of travelers who work for the Guardians of the Unirex, tasked with collecting and organizing information about the observable universe.