Duelling Dungeons

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Sylvia asked as the two of us crossed the ballroom.

“Sure, why not?” I replied. “You wanted to talk, and I wanted to see your skills up close, so a quick trip into the dungeon seemed like a natural choice.”

Our footsteps echoed around the cavernous hall. There weren’t any practices scheduled for today, so the entire place was empty… again. I’d given everyone time off during the break so they could visit their friends and family, but now I was starting to miss the noise and activity.

If I didn’t have my research and preparation to work on, I’d probably be going a little stir crazy.

As we slowly headed towards the stage, George sprinted past us, bounced off the side of the stage, and then started zipping around the area. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who was going a little stir crazy.

“I’m not sure…” Sylvia muttered nervously. She’d started fidgeting right after I suggested we have a duel, and now that we were in the dungeon itself, she seemed outright jumpy.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Fine,” she replied quickly. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Alright…” I replied, before prancing up to the stage. I couldn’t really help myself. Over the last few months, the Manor had become my home, and the Ballroom was my stage. It felt good to be here, as empty as it was.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” I finally asked as I jumped up and sat on the side of the stage. “It must have been important for you to come all this way, and not just give me a call.”

“You didn’t give me your number,” Sylvia grunted.

“And I’m sure that it occurred to you that you could probably call Kass and get my contact information, if you really wanted,” I replied. “So what’s so important that you came all this way?”

Sylvia hunched over and crossed her arms in front of herself defensively. “You know… Kass told me you were planning to offer me a job ahead of time, and when I came to the restaurant that day, I fully intended to turn you down right there and then.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve had bad experiences with dungeons,” Sylvia replied quietly. “Really bad experiences.”

“Kass never mentioned anything about that,” I said, tilting my head to the side. “In fact, she told me that you occasionally worked as an adventurer.”

“Only a few times, it was my way of trying to deal with things. It didn’t really work, though,” Sylvia said. “In fact, it made me feel worse.”

“So what made you change your mind?”

“Your enthusiasm. I knew a little bit about your background from my previous visits with Kass. I expected you to come to me with a simple, straightforward offer. Not excitement and passion,” Sylvia explained. “It made me hesitate.”

“So did you come here to turn me down in person?” I asked.

“That was the plan,” she admitted, shooting me a weak smile. “After seeing how enthusiastic you were back in the restaurant, I couldn’t bring myself to turn you down by mail or message, so I thought I’d come tell you in person. Now that I’m here, I’ve kind of lost my nerve.”

“I admit, I got a little excited when I met you, but if you wanted to turn down the offer, I’d understand. You don’t have to feel guilty about it,” I told her.

“That’s not it. It’s not about guilt, it's…” she paused mid-sentence, and shook her head. “Nevermind. I guess I just need more time to think.”

“Take all the time you need,” I declared, giving her a confident smile. “I guess I may have jumped the gun a little, inviting you to duel. I’m sorry if you felt pressured to follow me in here.”

“Don’t be. I wanted to come in and see how it felt. See if it influenced me one way or another,” Sylvia replied, trying to smile in return. Hers came out a lot more pained and forced than mine.

“Would you like to disconnect?” I asked, jumping down from the stage. “I don’t want to keep you here if you’re uncomfortable.”

Sylvia froze for just a moment, her brow furrowed as she considered, but in the end, she just shook her head. “No, I promised you a duel, and I’ll carry through on that promise. Do you mind if I take a moment to prepare myself?”

“Of course, I’m in no rush,” I replied.

Sylvia carefully unstrapped the massive blade from her back and started swinging it around, testing its weight. She hadn’t brought a weapon with her today, so after I challenged her, I had to run around and try to find something suitable for her.

It turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected.

Sylvia was so strong and tall that she could wield Rembrandt’s slender greatsword in one hand if she wanted. I had to really dig through the armory to find a zweihander that fit her. Now that I saw how easily she swung the seven-foot-long piece of steel around, I was starting to have second thoughts.

She was so impressive that George even stopped doing laps around the area to watch.

After warming up for a minute or two, Sylvia was swinging the massive blade around so naturally I would have thought she’d been using it for years.

“Alright, you ready?” she finally asked, sticking the blade in the ground and leaning on the hilt.

“I guess so,” I replied carefully, hefting my glaive. Even though I’d been the one to challenge Sylvia to a duel, I wasn’t quite sure how to approach her. In most duels, I had the range advantage with my glaive, and when I didn’t have reach, I could easily outmaneuver my opponent.

This was the first time I was facing someone who not only used a weapon that was larger than I was, but could swing it with enough speed and finesse to prevent me from closing on her, at least, not without taking some serious damage.

“I don’t suppose you feel like helping me?” I asked George as I stepped into the arena. The big spider glanced at me, then Sylvia’s sword, then immediately took off again, returning to his lair.

“Yeah, I don’t blame you,” I muttered under my breath. I slowly raised my glaive as I approached Sylvia. “Are you ready?”

She nodded and raised the massive blade to her shoulder. “Whenever you are.”

I didn’t hesitate, sprinting forward and stabbing with a weapon. I knew how fast the Windigo woman was, and I figured my one chance was to strike before she was prepared.

It turned out her blade wasn’t the only thing I needed to be careful of. Her off-hand shot forward and clamped down on the shaft of my glaive, halting my charge. It took me a second to deal with the shock of being so completely stopped that I nearly missed Sylvia raising her blade off my shoulder and bringing it down on my position.

I ducked at the last moment, putting the shaft of my weapon between myself and the blade. Sylvia released the weapon at the last moment, so I had to withstand the blow with nothing but my own strength.

The impact of the blow nearly knocked me right off my feet; the shock made my arms start to go numb, but I wasn’t going to give up that easily. Gripping my glaive with what little strength I had left, I plunged it downward towards her leg. I expected her to step back, attempt to dodge somehow, but she didn’t move an inch.

The blade sank deep, nearly severing her leg. I glanced up at Sylvia in shock and surprise, only to see an expression of cold indifference as she brought her blade down again, cutting me cleanly in two.

A moment later, I woke up in my projection bed, gasping for breath. As I went over my last moments several time, I couldn’t get Sylvia’s face out of my head. “What the hell was that?”