The last 3 days had been fun for the group, with all winning their respective matches handily. One thing was troubling for Vect however, and it wasn't his opponent for today.
(The quarter finals are still 3 days away Vect, plenty of time to try to meet him. And he may not even make it that far in the tournament.) Erress tried to calm him.
(Not likely, we both saw the results of his bouts. Stanley Zagan has totally dominated his matches all tournament long. I don't know what they teach those paladins, but it's definitely impressive.) Vect sighed.
Out of curiosity, Vect had checked out the matches in the other arena the 5th years were using. All of their group's pairings had been held in the one arena, so they'd never seen any of the fights from the other arena. Sara's brother stood out as the crowd favorite by a large margin.
(We can think about it later, right now you have your own match to fight now. What is a bard by the way?)
Vect laughed at the thought of something so much older than him not knowing what something so common in daily life was.
(A musician of sorts.) He explained as he did some stretches. (They are a mixture of storytellers, spell casters, warriors, and supporters. But they aren't much of a threat alone, usually.) Vect explained.
(What is music?)
That question really threw Vect off.
(You don't know what music is? Really?)
(Obviously, that's why I asked.) Erress answered indignantly, clearly upset.
(I'm sorry, it's just strange to hear such a thing. Well, have you ever heard an instrument being played?)
(No. People tend to not play when they see a dragon.)
(What about hearing bird songs, I know you've heard that.)
(Music is declaring you wish to mate?)
(No! Not...) he then started to think about how some used music to win over loved ones. Then the horn sounded for him to enter the arena and he silently thanked the gods for stopping the conversation.
(not exactly. After this, I'll meditate and show you some music.)
As Vect entered the arena he heard the crowd cheering, "Mok, Mok, Mok."
Entering from the opposite end and making a grand show was his opponent. The high elf was spinning around, hands raised to his fans as if to greet them.
Vect noted how he didn't seem to be wearing any protective clothing, just the kind of clothes a performer would wear. No weapons either, just a stringed instrument. However, no visible weapons didn't mean one was defenseless.
The crowd stopped cheering as the bard began to speak. "Hope you all are ready for a show today." They cheered in response. "Then let Magic Man Mok give you what you want."
As the horn sounded for the match to begin Mok strummed the instrument sending a wave of sonic power slamming into Vect. As Vect was reeling from the first wave, a group of voices sang out.
[Now there is actually a song that goes to this. Called Triumph of my glory by Lou Reed if you want to actually hear what I thought of when I wrote this chapter. Not my song. The lyrics in all caps will be the sound blasts.]
"TRIUMPH," followed by another wave of sound "TRIUMPH." There was a pause before he continued. "TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of the glory, TRIUMPH of the will of me. TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of the fortnight I am making history." Vect was struggling to reorient himself from the distortion the near constant bombardment of music was causing.
"You are all witness to my will, I told you I was greater still than anything that had ever come before me."
The sound blasts subsided for a moment before they hit again, forcing him back.
"TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of my logic, TRIUMPH of a dream come true. TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of a visionary, I'm so far above you."
'This guy certainly has a high opinion of himself doesn't he,' Vect planted his feet to keep from being pushed back further. Then he took a step forward and then another. This caused Mok to increase his frequency of attacks.
"TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of the POWER of the GLORY of the MAGIC of the brilliance of me."
Vect stumbled for a moment before he got his footing again and advanced again.
"Anything that came before ME, I told you don't even bother to see it
The quintessence best stands before you now, I'm MOK and I am the GREATEST.
So TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of the GLORY, TRIUMPH of the POWER of ME.
TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of the POWER, TRIUMPH of the GLORY of ME
The POWER that comes through ELECTRICITY is the mere frightening POWER that illuminates me
And I told you that the POWER is ME, is ME, is ME."
Vect began to feel a liquid run down the side of his face from his ears. Erress wasn't faring much better as she felt everything he did. He sent a blast of fire at Mok to disrupt but as it neared him the sound blasts dissipated it before it ever got to him. Mok smiled and continued to play, satisfied of his victory and began to pick up the pace of his song, each blast was getting stronger. And the back up voices had joined back in.
"TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of the glory of the power and the glory of me
TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of the glory, TRIUMPH of the glory of me
TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of the glory, the power and the glory that is ME."
Vect was starting to feel his very bones beginning to vibrate from the onslaught. 'I'm going to be ripped apart if this continues,' he realized, 'but what do I do?'
"TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of the glory, TRIUMPH of the glory of me
TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of the glory, TRIUMPH of the POWER of me
TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of the GLORY of the POWER and the GLORY of ME"
Vect got an idea and looked at his sword, and began spinning to build up speed.
"TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of the POWER and the GLORY of ME
TRIUMPH, the POWER and GLORY and the GLORY of ME
And the GLORY and the GLORY of ME."
Vect used on hand to grab a throwing knife and prayed it worked. Then he let go and sent the sword flying towards the singer, knife close behind. Mok looked unconcerned as the sword spun towards him and continued to play faster and faster.
"The POWER and the GLORY of ME
TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of the GLORY and the POWER and the GLORY of ME
TRIUMPH, TRIUMPH of the POWER and the GLORY of ME."
The blasts just barely knocked the sword off course, but just before he could smile at his victory, he felt something impact his instrument and the music abruptly stopped. Looking down, he saw the knife that had impacted the neck, severing several strings.
"Sorry, show's canceled," Vect gasped and stumbled forward. He felt his bones finally begin to settle back to normal. He then took a step forward then another, closing the distance. As he neared, Vect pulled out another knife. The blood slowly rolling down from his ears.
Mok began to panic. "Wait, wait! You win. I give, just not in the face." He shielded himself. The horn sounded and Vect was declared winner. A second later Vect fell down exhausted.
After the healers had repaired him, Vect called one over to him.
"Hey, who won?"
"You did," the healer answered perplexed. "Didn't you hear Mok surrender?"
Vect laid back and laughed. "No, not really. I couldn't hear anything." 'He gave up just before I passed out, damn I'm lucky,' Vect thought.
"Hey how did you do it? Hit him I mean."
"Hm? Oh, the instrument was sending out these waves of sound and it was blowing off my attacks," Vect felt tired and wanted to sleep a little. "So my sword took most of the hits and blocked the knife from getting knocked off. Hitting the instrument was dumb luck, I was aiming for his head," Vect closed his eyes and heard the healer walk off.
(I don't think I wish to hear music anymore.) Erress sighed. This got him to smile as he drifted off to sleep.