Order of the WEB 4

We hadn’t sensed him. We still couldn’t really put a finger on it; it was like he was both there and not there at the same time. AJ seemed to be on her guard, but there was no lightning; I wasn’t used to seeing her without sparks of electricity dancing around her. I looked at the guy before us and I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

What do you think Kram?

No idea kid, one thing I’ve learnt being around you humans; you are full of surprises. He responded.

“I was waiting on a worthy opponent; and I seem to have found two.” He said with a stern and straight expression. “Let’s not waste any more time. Arsenal.”

A traditional Japanese Katana materialized in his left hand from thin air, it had an unusual golden blade, with a black hilt, clearly not formed in this land or any neighbouring one to be exact. How did he have a foreign weapon? He was probably from a rich family of sorts, that was the only logical explanation.

We stood there waiting for him to charge at us, but instead he just walked at us casually, then it happened, he was standing right between AJ and I; it was like one moment he was at least ten paces away from us, and the next he was between us. It didn’t feel like speed; and it was definitely not Vitesse. I tried to move away, but then something else happened, it was as if he was everywhere; his presence flooded my senses rendering me paralysed. From the corner of my eye I could see that AJ wasn’t moving either. I tried calling Kram but I couldn’t hear him or feel his presence at all.

“I’m sorry, I honestly expected more, but this ends here.”

Just as he was about to swing his sword; a familiar sound resounded very close to me. I watched him jump back, avoiding AJ’s lightning strike by seconds.

Kid! Kid! Can you hear me? Are you alright.

Kram! I could hear him now.

What the hell happened? Why did you not respond earlier? He asked, he sounded agitated.

I have no idea, but that guy did something, and whatever he did made me unable to hear your voice. I explained.

You see what I meant by full of surprises? He added.

I was finally able to move again.

“Are you okay?” AJ asked, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, just a little surprised that’s all” I replied.

“Same here. I never expected a candidate to be this good at manipulating Tumi.” She said, staring intently at our mystery swordsman who seemed to be inspecting a singed part of his clothing.

“Tumi?”

Tumi! Of course, it’s been so long since I experienced something like this. But it’s definitely Tumi.

“I thought no candidate was supposed to be able to use Tumi.” I pointed out.

“You’re wrong.” The swordsman interrupted. “That is not the rule, the rule is; no arena is supposed to train an exam candidate to use Tumi. Since they think most candidates from the arena are too inexperienced to learn how to use or manipulate Tumi. In order words any certified master with no ties to an arena, can teach it to any candidate outside the arena.”

“Exactly like he said; why? Don’t tell me you can’t use Tumi?” AJ looked at me in disbelief. “You know Vitesse, but can’t use Tumi?” She blurted at me in a hushed tone.

“It’s a long story.” I replied.

“Fine, then I guess I’ll handle this; we will have a long chat after this young man.” She jabbed me with her elbow and walked towards her opponent.

As she walked towards him a halo made out of electricity formed around her head. I had not seen that before.

“Hey you!” She called to him. I had a weird sense of deja vu. “Let’s strike a deal.”

“I’m lis-“ She cut him off before he could even finish.

“We are going to use our strongest moves, if you take me down; you can have my cowries, and fight that useless bag of talent over there.” I honestly didn’t know whether to take that as a compliment or be offended.

“Sounds fair.” He said, his katana disappearing into thin air. “What’s the catch?”

“If I take you down, you will not fight us again, and, you will form an indefinite alliance with us.” She replied.

“Sounds fair too.” He responded without hesitation. “Too bad it’s not fair to you. Arsenal; All the King’s Men.”

Another sword began materializing in his left hand. A sword with an expanding dark blade, and a round golden hilt materialized fully in his hand. That wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be real, but the Adinkra symbols on the blade proved its authenticity.

Who the hell is this kid? And how does he own a Royal Sword?! Kram seemed to be in as much shock as I was. I couldn’t see AJ’s face from where I was standing, but I was sure even she was shocked as her electrical halo started whirring round at a dangerous speed; letting off spark after spark.

“How did you get that?” She asked in an uncomfortably calm voice I hadn’t heard before.

“That is none of your concern; strongest move right?” He said, tightening his grip on the hilt of the sword.

“Fine, I guess I’ll just have to beat it out of you.” She replied. I still couldn’t see her face; but I could tell she was angry. Why? Why was she angry?

Pay attention kid, you might learn something new.

A few moments later…

I watched in disbelief as the swordsman walked towards me; still holding the Royal Sword. How was that even possible. My eyes still couldn’t believe what they had just seen. I could feel it; was Kram scared? Only two people had ever gotten Kram this way, Esi and the figure from my dream; to think I’d meet a third this soon.

Kid. I think we found a monster as deadly as your sister.

He was right. I watched the swordsman with a stern look on his face take one more step and fall to the ground. I looked up at AJ who was now standing over the swordsman’s unconscious body. Her electric halo slowly faded away. Who in the hell was this girl?!

“What’s wrong?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Erm… Nothing.” I lied.

After a while the swordsman regained consciousness. He barely told us anything about himself; just his name and where he got the katana from. His name was Ato; and he inherited the blade from his master. He however refused to tell AJ where he got the Royal Sword despite all her attempts to get the truth out of him; and that was all we knew about him. We told each other the number of points we had collected, before splitting the ones taken from the ambush team amongst ourselves.

“Fifty?! Just fifty points? How is that even possible?” I asked Ato, who seemed unconcerned and very unmotivated to answer.

“I don’t just go around fighting weak opponents; I only draw my sword against worthy adversaries. Taking just anyone’s cowries will be like trapping flies with honey, too easy.” He explained.

Well, after seeing what he was capable of; I couldn’t criticize him. AJ was clearly stronger; but she was just something else altogether. But, a part of me knew that if I was to fight the swordsman in my current state, I just might lose.

“Enough with the chit chat; we need to move to the next round.” AJ walked towards where we stood; she was already holding her cowry. “Everyone get yours.”

We did as she asked.

“What next?” I asked.

“Now we toss it into the fountain at the Whale statue.” She explained. How did she know everything? “It is written right there.” She pointed at the instructions inscribed by the fountain.

For a smart kid, you can be pretty thick at times. Kram teased. I laughed in response.

We all tossed our cowries into the fountain, which glowed a bright white light. The voice of the examiner was heard.

“We have three more candidates who have made it to the next round; with the second highest number of points, Adwoa Jameson with 390 points; Ato Kedja with 60 points, and Nana Okai with 210 points.”

It felt good knowing that I had made it through the first round successfully. Things were only going to get even more interesting from here onwards.

A white light surrounded each of us till it was all we could see. It felt as though time had frozen; like I was in a void, a void null of life. Slowly the white light started turning blue, a sudden flash of bright light blinded me. I could feel the ground beneath my feet once more, had we arrived?

“Congratulations on making it past the first round of stage one.” A familiar voice said. Slowly I recovered my sight; A lanky, tall looking man with an afro stood before me, he was in ripped skinny jeans and a black t-shirt with what looked like a painting of grass and Bob Marley? Oh, it was that kind of grass.*  I turned to realize that neither Ato nor AJ were anywhere to be found.

“I am your examiner for the First Stage, Twum.”

“Where are my teammates?” I asked Twum, who looked nothing like I’d pictured.

“Oh, you mean the other two you qualified with? So, you three formed an alliance huh? Interesting, a lot of candidates seem to be doing that this year.” He rubbed his chin, causing the beads he wore on his hands to rattle loudly. He wore similar ones around his neck too. “Not to worry; they are in the waiting room with the other qualified candidates.”

The room I was in was huge. It had only two doors at the opposite ends of it, which were very far apart. The ceiling seemed to be endless. The room had wisps of blue light that floated around and served as a source of light for the place.

“Alright, so what am I doing here?” I inquired.

He sized me up; his eyes locking on the red cap I was wearing. He laughed and rubbed his chin again.

“You know, she told me you looked like him, but I didn’t expect the resemblance to be this much.” He guffawed. He was much louder than expected, considering his looks.  “And that red cap.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, completely confused. “How do you know me?” He stopped laughing and cleared his throat.

“I have a message from your master.” He said with all seriousness now.

“Master Kay?” I asked. What did he have to tell me? I hadn’t used Kram after all.

“No. Your other master.” He said with an intent look.

How did he know about her? Nobody was supposed to know I had a second master apart from Master Kay. Kram snarled dangerously as the man seemed to have gotten his attention. I looked around the room once more; was this some sort of trap?

“Relax, this place is secure; this room is one of my six apparitions, my own version of Nsamanpowmu. No one can hear or see us. And no one can enter or leave without my say so.” He explained, which made me even more weary. However, a part of me knew he was not lying. What could be so important that she would take such a risk.

“Alright, I’m listening.”

At the entrance of the waiting room…

I couldn’t help but be concerned about the message I had received. Who was it going to be? How many people? Was I to inform AJ and Ato? I opened the door to the waiting room, there were at least sixty candidates standing in the room. A larger number than I had expected, considering the time that had passed since the exam started. I walked around the room through the candidates looking for my team.

Did you feel that? Kram suddenly asked, alarmed.

Feel what? I asked confused.

That killing intent. It was sudden; but it was strong. He warned.

From the corner of my eye I noticed a sudden flash of red light.

What was-

I raised my arm just in time to block a kick to the head. There was a deafening crack as I felt the bone in my arm snap. Pain shot through my body as I was sent crashing into the wall.

Kid! Kid!

I couldn’t even master the will to respond. I felt a foot on my head. She wasn’t holding back at all.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t end you right here trash.” Her voice was cold and she meant every single word.

“I can think of three” Another female voice responded. It was AJ. She stood behind her three lightning bolts aimed at her.

“This is an Abusua Manso, stay out of it.” She warned AJ in her usual cold, uninterested tone. “I won’t repeat myself.”

A figure covered in bandages appeared behind AJ; bandages hovered around AJ snapping like serpents.

“I would listen to her if I were you?” The figure said in a muffled voice.

“Well then I’m glad we also have back up.” AJ smiled as a golden blade appeared right under the throat of the bandaged figure.

“How did you do that? I didn’t sense your presence at all; and I can sense everything.” The bandaged figure asked in a calm tone.

“I wonder what is under these bandages?” Ato asked.

“I wouldn’t dare brother.” A voice said behind Ato, a similar golden blade was placed at Ato’s throat.

“It seems we have ourselves a standoff.” AJ announced conjuring additional lightning bolts above the other two enemies, catching them by surprise. “You thought that was all?” She asked them. The other candidates all watched in shock at the events unfolding before them.

“So, Nana, who’s this conceited arrogant bitch, and why is she trying to kill you?” AJ asked.

“Tha- that’s my sister… Esi” I managed to say with Esi’s foot pressing on my head.

“Like I said; FAMILY BUSINESS.” Esi added. There was a sudden loud crack as a pair of stone hands rose from the ground and grabbed AJ’s ankles. “Your move.”

To be continued…

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR (Spoiler Alert!)

Hey guys! Yes, I know, I know, I’m dramatic like that. I just couldn’t resist the cliché anime standoff scene. I just had to. I might have even over stretched a little; but ah well, like a friend of mine would say, “Something must kill a man.”. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this lengthy chapter. To be honest, I started this chapter in a shitty mood (my evening wasn’t going too great), so I wasn’t really feeling it at the beginning. Especially the confrontation between Nana and AJ and the swordsman. However, I began enjoying it as time went on I must admit.

So, the first round has ended. We finally get to meet the temperamental Esi! I really love the character despite those who might support our MC and are hating on her. P.S. I even named her after my sister.

Esi’s team though! Seems to be filled with some monsters as well; we have the mummy looking guy and Ato’s brother- twin brother. Yup! I’m so hyped for what is going to happen next, and I hope you are too.

I would like to thank all my readers for supporting this series, and all the feedback I’ve been receiving, please, I welcome them! It really means a lot. Please do share this series with your friends and any reader you can think of; and do let me know what you think and if you have any questions.

P.S. the part with the * symbol was my sad attempt at establishing comic relief (sad face emoji).

…winging it…

Yours Faithfully,

EverydayGladiator (S.A.A)