(Previously on Immortal Wars.)

(Again, we shall revel in my teenage originality.  Everyone groan in unison.)

Disclaimer: Immortal Wars was the book I came up with and wrote in high school.  I hadn’t even hit college by the time I wrote the first two books.  That means I hadn’t developed my style yet, wasn’t good at self-editing, and the story was fairly basic. So, you’ve been warned that this is the ultimate author throwback segment for my blog and will show my author origins.  FYI-  I put the first book (The Summoning) through a Print-on-Demand publisher and the second one (Light, Blood, & Tears) never saw the light of day.  Enjoy!

Outside is a naturally formed arena that has Adriana’s dragon throne positioned in front of it.  Pointy rocks that form a distorted circle, which is about twenty feet across in every direction, make up the outskirts of the arena.  The inside is a flat area with a few obvious dips in the ground here and there.  Kilanus is already sitting cross-legged in the middle of the arena with her eyes closed.  The only people missing when Adriana arrives is Tegam and Draveon.

“Should have known that someone would be late.  Where’s Tegam and Draveon?” she asks when she sits down.

“Draveon wanted to finish something up first.  He said that he’ll arrive as soon as he can.  And as you can hear, I’m right next to you.  Nobody beside you and Startrix know that I am hiding here and let’s keep it that way,” whispers Tegam, who is invisible near her throne somewhere.

“Let’s start this!” exclaims Psylon.  She starts walking towards Kilanus until Startrix gets in her way.  A sizzling arrow is aimed at Psylon’s throat and the silver longbow glows in the armored immortal’s hands.

“Hold on.  Let’s go over the rules.  This is to either submission or knockout.  There is no killing to be committed in this event.  Unless it is done by my daughter considering she’s the only one that can bring you back.  All of you cannot use the guardian weapons, so you must use all physical and supernatural abilities that you were born with.  The order is Psylon, Hellax, Cybro, Mindtrigger, and Draveon.  That is if the oversized muscle shows up.  Begin.”

“Finally.  I owe you, pipsqueak,” growls Psylon.  She runs at the stationary Kilanus, who is still sitting with her eyes closed.  Psylon grins as she hurls a fireball at the girl.  There is a small explosion and when the smoke clears there is nothing but a burn mark.

“Oops.”  Psylon starts laughing until she notices everyone looking up.  When she looks up, she sees a black boot smash down on her face.  Kilanus nimbly lands on her feet and runs at the redhead.  Another fireball shoots past her as she slides under it and sweeps Psylon’s legs out from underneath her.

“Here’s a new word for you, Psylon.  Aim,” whispers Kilanus.  She picks the other woman up by her neck and tosses her across the arena.  Psylon lands headfirst against the armored back of a large, black-scaled lizard.  It just snorts before looking down at the groaning form next to it.  The massive creature just continues walking off while Psylon stays down cursing at nothing in particular.

“Next victim.”  Kilanus points at Hellax and beckons him with her finger.  The armored man walks toward her.  He throws a punch at her and she simply sidesteps it.  She kicks him in the gut, which sends him flipping into the air.

Hellax lands on his head while he says, “What do I do now?”

“Just leave.  I don’t want you to waste my time.”  The blond effortlessly punts the gold-armored warrior up into the unfinished tower.  As soon as he’s gone, Cybro begins shooting at her.  One of the lasers passes through Kilanus’ left shoulder before she has time to start dodging the rapid shots.  Cybro manages to keep her far away and get some shots in before he runs out of ammunition.  The lasers make a sad sparking noise whenever he tries to use them.

“Ouch.  That hurt.  At least you were a little more of a challenge,” announces Kilanus.  She flings herself into Cybro and knocks him onto his back.  She grabs his head for a knee strike, but the thing comes off in her hands.

“Does this count as a win for me?”  The rest of the body suddenly punches her in the face and reattaches the head.

“Do not act so confident.  There is always someone better.  Now fight,” says the angry cyborg.  He hits Kilanus with a taser prong in his foot and starts electrocuting her with a flurry of kicks.  Surprisingly, she keeps walking towards him and manages to get her hands on him.  His circuits are fried from the high voltage going through her and the electricity also sets off his jet boosters.  The robot goes flying off into a nearby boulder and is forced to try and pull himself back together.

“That’s it.  I’m not going through with this.  She’s already proven herself, Adriana.  Besides, I’m a scientist and not a savage warrior like the others.  I say that we end it!” shouts Mindtrigger.

“I agree.  Good job, Kilanus.  I’m sorry it wasn’t as much a challenge as you had hoped for, but the others want to concentrate of the battle with the guardians.  Let’s go celebrate in the dining hall,” says Adriana as she gets up from the throne.  Mindtrigger walks off and Kilanus is about to leave the arena when Draveon arrives.

“It seems far too early to celebrate your daughter’s success.  Besides, there is still a challenge that the young warrior has to defeat.  And that’s me,” he says.  Without any warning, he shoulder rushes Kilanus.  She manages to cushion the impact with her forearms and cautiously lands on all fours.  Draveon tries to smash her down into the ground with an elbow drop, but she rolls out of the way with lightning speed.

“The rules said not to kill anyone!  So stop trying to kill me!” yells Kilanus as she jumps over another charge.  She turns around and kicks Draveon in the back a few times before he turns around.  When he does, she jumps up and wraps her legs around his head.  They grip his skull like flexible steel as he stumbles blindly around.  She throws herself backwards and slams him into the ground as hard as she can.

“Battle is death.  There is no avoiding it.  This is to show you what combat really is.  So this means you could die.  Sorry.  But that’s how our world works, little one.  You are no longer a child for me to protect.  You are a warrior that is either fighting by my side or lying dead on the battlefield.”  The muscular man grabs her by the leg and starts pounding her into the ground like she was a sledgehammer.

“Bite me, big boy.”  Kilanus kicks herself free and let’s loose with an extremely loud roar, which sounds like a combination of a dinosaur and a lion.  She charges at him and dodges all of his slow punches.

In between growls of anger, Kilanus starts shouting; “There is only one reason you can’t beat me, Draveon.  And that’s because I’m faster.  You can’t hit what you can’t catch, loser.  So this is over.”  She starts punching and kicking Draveon all over the place and she makes every one of her moves melt into the next like liquid.  One move ends just as another begins so that she never has to stop.

“That’s all that you’ve got, Kilanus.  I’m disappointed.”  Suddenly Draveon feels himself get lighter as Kilanus lifts him above her head.  She takes a running start toward the unfinished tower and manages to leap up the side of the infrastructure with Draveon in her hands.  She has his arms pinned to his sides and keeps spinning him so that he can’t get his bearings.

“Give me one reason that I shouldn’t destroy you right now,” whispers the blond immortal.  Draveon spits on her head before she launches herself into the air.  On the way down, she flips Draveon underneath her, so he takes most of the deadly impact.  They land in the middle of the arena, but they go straight through the surface of the planet for about twenty-seven feet.  A minute later, Kilanus drags herself out while carrying the bloody body of Draveon.

“Kilanus?  Are you ok?” asks Adriana as she runs over to her daughter.

“Yeah, mom.  I’m fine.  Draveon’s kind of dead right now.  Sorry about that.  But the bastard deserved it.  Can we go eat now?  I’m hungry,” replies Kilanus.  She strides off toward the warship with a slight limp and is obviously nursing a broken arm.

“Kilanus!  Bring him back!”

The teenager turns around and simply states, “I will.  When I’m ready and after I’ve eaten.  As long a decade has not passed since he died, I can bring him back.  Now, I want food.”  With that she just walks away to heal and get some food.

“What are you thinking, Adriana?” inquires Startrix as the two women look down at Draveon’s body.  His limbs are mangled and a look of closed-eyed shock is on his face.

“I can’t believe I gave birth to something with so much power.  I’m so glad that she’s on our side.  Or else we’d probably be dead before we knew it.”