Paws of Fire: Unwritten Story - Chapter 13

Story by Ambelsyn on SoFurry

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#8 of Paws of Fire: Unwritten Book


Chapter 13: Aveyi vs Nem

Jalhamut was still a little down from the dark spheres that attacked him, but his mind was moving on. Daniel noticed the cheetah's depression, understanding what kind of power Benson had. He's glad he doesn't have to face him.

The next two contestants, Nem and Aveyi, both walked past him to descend the stairs. Nem passed first. He had ruffled up fur, and rags for clothing. He looked poor and pitiful. He wasn't a very good looking otter either. Splotches of burn marks and furless patches cover his body. Daniel felt sorry for the living roadkill that passed him.

Then Aveyi passed, and she stopped in front of Daniel for what seemed like an eternity. She looked up and down him, her jaw dropped as she examined. Daniel said nothing...her look of surprise making him forget to tell her his message. She muttered, "My god..." and walked away quickly. Daniel just about screamed after she was gone. He shouted in his mind, "What the fuck? She was right there and you said nothing! Next time you see her, you tell her Nick is alive...fucking moron!"

"All righty then! Let's get on to the third match! In the South gateway, don't try and mug this otter in the alleyway. He's no wimp!" The announcer paused for a moment, not sure what else to say about the ugly magician. "Here he is...NEEEEEEEM"

Nem walked out, looking as tatty and beat up as ever. The warriors dressed in armor that were behind him were cheering him on. The otter must have been well respected in the military, or whatever combat group they have.

"And in the North gateway. A cold wolfess, with a cold heart, cold fur, and a cold spell. She's...AVEEEEEEYIIIII"

Aveyi walked out of the North gate, looking down at the ground. She had always looked really secluded from the world other than when she and Daniel made contact. The light applause couldn't have done much for her self-esteem, if she had any. She wore what looked like a blue wedding dress, nicely complementing the white fur.

The elephant backed away and put a pane of glass in between himself and the arena. He blew the trumpet and the battle began.

Aveyi's depression seemed to morph into fury, her eyes slanting and nearly closing as she raised up one of her arms. Stalagmite after stalagmite of ice spewed out of the ground in line towards Nem at a rapid pace, the loud sound of ice shattering, although ice was not shattering, echoing through the arena. Nem looked calm and secluded just like Aveyi usually did. He stood his ground, waiting for the last stalagmite to appear just in front of him before he conjured a great flame beneath one of his feet that he raised off the ground. The next stalagmite jabbed at his foot, but quickly melted into water on it's way up. Nem looked up at Aveyi, reaching his arm out far and swiping it to his left, a tremor sending the stalagmite ice shattering down to a bunch of crystals. He held up both arms and an enormous bird made of fire grew from his hands. Aveyi made herself an ice platform and knelt down on it, commanding it to fly. The fire bird screeched and chased after Aveyi as she fled from the burning avian.

The zipped around the arena, the firebird following her every bob and weave, slowly gaining on her. She looked down at Nem who was pointing at the bird. Just as the bird opened it's mouth to swallow her in flames, she sent a barrage of ice spikes down at Nem from her paw. Three of the spikes pierced the otter's shoulders and his chest. He whined, pulling out the impalements quickly. The bird had swallowed Aveyi, and she screamed as she was set on fire. Her fur made excellent tinder, and she had to put out the blaze soon. She held her paws forward and shot snow at the ground, making a sizeable mound before jumping off of her platform and diving into the soothing frozen water. She had a few burns, but nothing serious. Nem was bleeding from three sizeable holes.

Nem held out his paws and conjured two green crescents, smirking as he started throwing one after the other, sending a good amount of them at the wolfess. Once Aveyi left her mound, the got cut on the cheeks by one of the green blades. She immediately covers herself with four walls of ice while she waits for the spinning wind blades to die down. Nem stomped his foot into the ground, shaking the earth violently to shatter the ice barrier and rexpose her to the wind blades. She growled at Nem, making a dash for the otter before the blades had another chance to cut her. The otter started running, each blade one by one falling to the ground. He left a trail of fire in his wake, running around in a large circle and trapping Aveyi inside.

"Now I got you." Remarked Nem. Nem held his arms out wide and slowly brought them together, constricting the circle of flames. He even had flames above Aveyi so she couldn't fly out. Nem stumbled a bit, and Aveyi noticed. "Give up...Avevi?" He was slurring too. Aveyi noticed that he was still losing blood, and took the chance. "Never!" Nem kept constricting the circle around poor Aveyi, forcing her into a little ball that is suffering from great heat. "Last chance...Dana." Dana? Who's that? That's when the otter fell over and accidently disarmed his flames. He was on the ground, snoozing as blood kept oozing from his three wounds. Medics came quickly to assist the otter out of the arena. One of the medics whispered something to the announcer before the elephant wrapped up the match.

"Technical knock-out from blood loss! Nem will be taken to the clerics for further treatment. Congratulations, Aveyi! Well played!"

The applause was a little more enthusiastic than before. Perhaps she gained some respect with the furs in the stadium.

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Aveyi was crossing Daniel's path again as she walked quickly towards her seat. "Wait! Aveyi!"

Aveyi stopped dead in her tracks, turning her head to the human. "What?"

Daniel stood up and approached her, seeing her nervousness in her shaking. "I...have a message from...Nick."

Aveyi turned her head, looking disgusted beyond measure. "Oh...him? What does HE want?" Daniel was taken aback by the tone of her voice. She sounded...angry with Nick.

Daniel coughed, forcing himself to say the message quickly before he would cower out. "He says he loves you, and he watches you through his book...he hasn't been able to watch you ever since I found a book myself...time here stops for both books if I'm not in this world...and he wants to communicate. He really misses you...Aveyi." Aveyi's paws began to glow with a blue aura. She looked down at the ground, shaking more. "If he misses me...then why hasn't he...come back?" "He died in this world, and he can never come back...I'm sorry."

Ayevi jerked around and punched Daniel in the face with that icey cold paw. He felt backwards on the floor, holding his nose and groaning in pain. Jalhamut had rushed over to pull Aveyi back before she tried to get in another attack. She growled loudly and yelled at Daniel. "That traitor said he could still come back! He has my fur, I know it! He can come back." She started crying, her body going limp as she fell to her knees. Jalhamut released her from his grip. Uraku just arrived to help defend Daniel, but Daniel had already crawled over to Aveyi, embracing her warmly. She was so cold...but he had an idea of what betrayal must feel like. Aveyi returned the friendly gesture, crying her heart out into his shoulder. "He...he told me...he could come back...and live here forever."

Daniel didn't understand. Was Nick really able to return to this world? Was he in reality avoiding her? What if he just wanted her for sex, and used the story to get an easy adrenaline rush?

Daniel wouldn't prod her for questions now. She was grieving...not over the death of Nick...but at his betrayal.

Jalhamut lead Aveyi back to her seat after she pulled herself together and apologized to Daniel. Uraku knelt down and whispered to Daniel, "After your fight, I'd like to talk to you. I'm not just curious about what happened here...I also have something to tell you." Uraku smiled after seeing Daniel nod, the tiger returning to his seat.

Daniel went pale, realizing he just scheduled two appointments at the same time. He had to see Jalhamut in his chambers, and see Uraku in their bedroom...at one time.

Daniel got up, sighing that he made such a stupid mistake. Now he had to concentrate on the fight ahead as he walked down the stairs, Sazla already in her position. As he turned the corner on his right, he snickered as he had a perverted thought at such an awkward time. "Maybe I can just invite them both and we'll have a threesome."