King Astrell stands at six foot eight, a man whose height is less impressive than the way he occupies it. He settles into the space around him, like stone placed centuries ago with no intention of ever being moved.
Silver hair feeds into a carefully groomed beard, both shaped with meticulous intent. His crown has tall, pointed spikes rising upward, giving it a dramatic, regal look. Its surface is textured with a speckled metal finish, mostly gold with darker accents that add depth. Pale blue eyes assessed everything without haste, holding the calm of someone who had seen generations rise, argue, and vanish beneath his rule.
His robes cascaded in layers of deep black and imperial red, heavy silks woven with intricate gold filigree that curled and coiled to life. Draped over his shoulders was a mantle of white fur, and jewels rested at his throat, fingers, and belt.
King Astrell barely had time to turn before solace was on him again, vaulting over his guard in a blur of motion. Solace came down with a storm of strikes, fists and kicks tearing through the air so violently it screamed around them.
King Astrell met her assault with surprising precision for his age, blade snapping into place again and again. Power reverberated through the space between them as sparks of force burst with each clash.
"Strength without discipline," King Astrell hissed through clenched teeth, driving her back half a step. "That's what happens when peasants think they're warriors."
Solace twisted midair, momentum coiling through her frame, and answered with a powerful strike. Her croc cracked across his jaw with a sound like breaking stone. "Discipline without heart," she shot back, landing in a low stance as the shock rippled through him. "That's what happens when kings forget what strength is!"
King Astrell staggered, disbelief flashing across his face as sand sprayed beneath his boots. Solace didn't give him time to recover, she pressed forward relentlessly, the fight turning raw and furious.
The arena dissolved into chaos as Kingdom guards shouted, fighters scattered, and the crowd roared in confusion and awe. In the stands some people leapt to their feet cheering, while others turned away entirely, pushing through the crowd, unwilling to remain for something that no longer felt like a spectacle.
Thiago fought like a storm, he planted himself between the kingdom guards and solace, a living barrier of motion and steel. Every time a guard tried to break past him toward King Astrell, his weapons answered first. He reached into a pouch and pulled out a blade that fit easily in his palm, it shimmered and surged outward in an instant, towering over him to sweep attackers back.
Then he used a staff that shimmered and grew, then suddenly shrank, turning reach into a close range strike. Nothing stayed the same size for long. The sand around him erupted with flying metal and scrambling boots. Every swing was precise, every movement Thiago made was calculated to block, redirect, and deny.
A soldier lunged, trying to slip past his left side. Thiago reached into a pouch and a chain uncoiled from his grip, he threw it and it wrapped hard around the man's torso. Thiago yanked back, ripping him off his feet and dragging him bodily out of the charge.
The chain shrank instantly, collapsing back into Thiago's hand as he stepped in and drove a bat into the man's chest, launching him backward into the sand and the legs of the guards behind him. "Come on!" he yelled. Then he grinned. "Can you make it a little entertaining navi" Behind him, the path to the King stayed closed. In front of him, the guards learned the hard way that nothing reached Solace unless Thiago allowed it.
A dozen more came. He ducked, twisted, and spun. His necklace flashed, and the word Pinnacle glinted in the light. For every guard that fell, two more took their place, but Thiago didn't falter, his grin only widened.
Prince Austin Astrell strode in and stopped short. For a moment he just watched it all like he was measuring the damage. Then his eyes locked onto one dangerous detail in the mess, Arlenna had a sword.
"Good," Prince Austin said, "A warm up."
He stepped into the sand and rolled his neck, like he was getting ready for training instead of a rescue. Arlenna shifted to meet him, blade ready. Then they began to circle each other in the sand.
Prince Austin carried his presence like a storm held in check. Dark hair fell in loose, unruly waves to his shoulders. His eyes were steady, calculating the arena in a heartbeat, cataloging every detail. His suit was split precisely down the center, one side crimson, the other white, stitched with gold lines that traced constellations. A deep crimson cloak fell from his shoulders, heavy and fastened with ornate clasps.
The prince struck first. His blade gleamed with polish, and every slash was precise, in a way only years of formal training could make it. Arlenna answered by drawing from her left hip with her right hand, steel clearing the scabbard in a fluid motion. Her counter came heavier, each strike carrying more than technique.
When their blades met, sparks burst between them, the impact ringing deeper than the prince expected.
"You fight well, Dim," Prince Austin said between blows, circling faster now. "For someone born beneath us."
Arlenna stepped into his next strike instead of away from it, driving her shoulder forward as she checked his blade and shoved him back through the sand. "You talk a lot, Paleo." She rolled her eyes.
In this world, people divided themselves in many ways, but one of the biggest lines was drawn by skin tone. There were three main groups. Paleo, those with pale skin, Solace called them vampires because they couldn't stay in the sun too long without burning. Permatan covered people with brown complexions, ranging from light to dark shades. Dims were those with dark skin.
Even then the line wasn't simple, dark brown alone didn't decide where you went. If someone was born dark brown and "sun kissed," like Solace, they were considered Dims. If they were dark brown without being "sun kissed," they were known as Permatan.
Throughout the world, being Permatan or Dim in areas Paleo people lived meant watching your back. Not every Paleo person was cruel, but the majority of them only trusted those who looked like themselves and treated everyone else as lesser, making the land dangerous for anyone who didn't fit their image.
Prince Austin roared and charged. Arlenna met him head on, she parried, spun, and kicked his leg out from under him. He caught himself on a palm, and slashed upward on instinct. Arlenna pivoted to the side, letting the blade rise harmlessly past her, then snapped her sword up. The strike cracked his weapon free and sent it spinning into the air, then It clattered down a few paces away. Her tattoos glowed faintly in the sunlight, the Pinnacle mark on her arm catching his attention.
Prince Austin's expression hardened. "You fight for that?" he scoffed. "A Sovereign crew?"
"Watch your mouth," she said, "You don't get to disrespect Solace's crew just because you don't understand it." She gestured toward his weapon with her head. "Pick up your sword, you're pathetic."He hesitated only a second before moving.
"I'll show you pathetic," Prince Austin said, boots scraping as he lunged for his sword.
Their swords clashed again, the rhythm relentless, a perfect mirror to the chaos unfolding around them. Across the arena, Solace and the King battled like light and shadow. King Astrell's strikes grew desperate and his breath was heavy. His sword slammed into the ground where Solace had been standing a heartbeat ago. Sand exploded upward but she was already gone, her next jump carrying her above him.
Each leap left a little crater where she'd launched from, and the crowd gasped every time she vanished and reappeared. King Astrell advanced with his blade held high, Solace slapped the flat of his blade aside with her forearm, twisted her torso, and drove a foot into his ribs.
The impact knocked the breath from him, but he recovered fast. He swung his sword in a brutal upward arc that would have split her from hip to shoulder, but she wasn't there. Solace vaulted, crocs striking his wrist, then his shoulder, using him like terrain. She flipped over his head and landed behind him in the same breath. Her heel snapped out and cracked against the back of his knee.
King Astrell roared and spun, blade whistling low. She dropped lower, then launched herself forward, palms striking his chest. Not hard enough to break a bone, but hard enough to shove him back and ruin his footing.
"You rely on reach," Solace said, circling.
King Astrell snarled and came at her again, faster now. The anger sharpened his strikes and the sword became a storm of arcs overlapping. He forced her back, each swing meant to herd her and trap her against the arena wall. For a moment, it worked.
Solace jumped over him, but Astrell anticipated it. He twisted and his blade flashed up, catching her midair. The Sword slammed into her side and sent her smashing into the sand. "Stay down," King Astrell growled, "You cannot dance forever."
Solace pushed herself up slowly, there was sand all over her, and blood welled bright along her ribs. She smiled anyway, then broke into a sprint. King Astrell lifted his sword for the killing blow. Solace jumped straight at him, King Astrell swung his sword and Solace twisted, letting the blade slide past her torso.
Steel grazed fabric and air where flesh should have been. She drove in under the arc, and her forehead snapped up and cracked into his nose. King Astrell staggered back and blood bursted out of his nose, solace was already moving for the next strike.
Solace stayed inside his reach, where the sword was useless. She struck in a blur, elbows, knees, fists, every movement merciless. Her fist smashed into his throat, then her heel drove into his shin with a forward kick. She seized his sword arm, wrenched it up, and rammed her knee into his ribs again and again.
King Astrell tried to swing. She twisted with him, using his momentum, and flipped him clean over her hip. The king hit the ground hard, sword skittering across the sand.
"You lead with anger," Solace said, "It makes you predictable, pick up your sword." Solace smiled, "Or admit what you already know…you can't keep up."
King Astrell dragged himself upright, chest heaving and his eyes wild. What stood before her was raw frustration and wounded pride. King Astrell snarled as he blocked another kick that came from above.
"You." King Astrell spat, swinging again. "You jump around like a damned frog! A crazy frog!"
Solace landed behind him, grinning despite the fury in her chest. "Focus," she said. "You're falling behind."
Solace spiked her density and drove in fast, slipping past his wild swing and planting an explosive punch straight into his chest. A shockwave rippled across the arena floor as King Astrell was torn off his feet and hurled backward. He slammed into the arena wall with a deafening boom, stone fracturing on impact as dust and debris thundered down around him.
The King was pinned to the wall, and he coughed as he glared at Solace. "You... you crazy frog!" he spat, pointing at her with a mix of fury and disbelief.
The name slipped out mockingly but the crowd immediately erupted, murmuring it among themselves.
Steel rang out as Arlenna and Prince Austin's swords collided, sparks flew across the stone walls with every impact. Prince Austin struck fast, his blade slashing an arc meant to drive her back. Arlenna turned it aside with a tight wrist movement, the force shuddering up her arm as she slid into a counter.
The edge of her blade snapped toward his ribs. He barely caught it in time, his boots scraping as he pivoted away. They circled each other again. Prince Austin pressed in with a flurry of slashes, high then low, testing her guard, trying to overwhelm her with speed.
Arlenna answered with parries that wasted no motion, her sword always returning to center. Their weapons met again and again, metal shrieking as they locked briefly, faces inches apart. Prince Austin broke the bind and stepped in, overcommitting.
That was all Arlenna needed; with a sudden, lightning-quick twist of her blade, she carved a deep gash across the side of his face, etching a P into his skin. Blood spattered across his collar and onto the floor.
The prince reeled back with a strangled cry, his hand flying to his cheek. His eyes went wide as the pain hit, followed instantly by shock, then the crushing weight of humiliation. He had never been marked like this, his knees began to wobble. His sword slipped from numb fingers and clattered to the ground.
"I… I surrender!" Prince Austin yelled, voice cracking as he staggered backward, barely keeping his footing.
Arlenna lowered her blade and stepped closer, eyes cold. The tip of her sword still angled toward his throat. "That mark?" she said calmly. "It's so you remember the crew." She turned away without another word, leaving him branded, and very aware that mercy had been a choice, not a weakness.
All around, the remaining kingdom guards froze mid step. The three of them Solace, Arlenna, and Thiago stood together. The fight was being broadcast across this kingdom and beyond, every leap, and act of defiance reached eyes far and wide. When the King spat the words "You crazy frog!" In frustration, the nickname echoed through the air, bouncing from village to city, inspiring whispers and cheers alike.
Women everywhere watched, hearts pounding, daring to imagine breaking free of their own chains. In that instant, Solace's jumps weren't just feats of agility, they were symbols of courage, rebellion, and a world ready to change.
orld ready to change.