"54th Annual Dawn Avengers Guild Battle!!! Come join us in the iconic Fenway Stadium, where the top questers in Dawn Avengers battle it out and show off their skills!"
Sin-Ni had first noticed these posters pasted on the motel entrance at Pittsburgh. As she got closer and closer to Boston, the posters kept appearing more and more around her: on every street lamp, in every restaurant—and then freaking everywhere in Boston. The sheer amount of hype was almost obnoxious.
Therefore, she had to check it out.
After abandoning the idiot trios in Wisconsin, Sin-Ni crawled her way across the rest of America for another three months, trudging through miles of cornfields, almost freezing to death in a lake, and even accidentally ending up in Canada for a while.
Finally, she made it to her destination: the Dawn Avengers headquarters. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting to see, but it was definitely not a giant, dome-like structure that took up half of downtown Boston.
Crowds of people were streaming into the building. There were families with excited children, groups of friends, couples, and the occasional sword-wielding questers saying, "If you ask me, the quality of Dawn Avengers have dropped over the years," in a voice just loud enough for everyone around them to hear. The atmosphere was lively and brimming with anticipation.
Soon, Sin-Ni was swept into the headquarters. The posters she had seen everywhere were now enlarged a thousand times and draped down from the tall ceiling. The way people were pointing and gushing at the portraits made the event feel like a concert or a sporting event.
Her belief was solidified when she followed the crowd and stepped into what looked like a baseball stadium. It was massive, with hundreds of thousands of audience squished together like sardines. There were seats in the lower levels that were spaced out in a much more dignified manner, but she doubted that those were free like the standing zone she was in.
Making use of her petite figure, Sin-Ni squeezed past everyone to get to the front, where a group of kids was leaning against the railing and staring at the arena eagerly. She was sure that she was at least three times their age, but she pushed herself into the group and blended alongside them anyway.
"Hey!" a little boy on her right asked with a toothy grin. "Who's your favorite?"
"Erm, I don't know yet," Sin-Ni admitted. "Who's yours?"
"Azarius, of course!" He proceeded to slash his hands around as if he were holding a sword.
"Oh, Azarius? He's so cool!" the boy on her left exclaimed.
"Is he also your favorite?" Sin-Ni asked.
"Nah, Azarius is cool but he doesn't fight anymore. I like Ender Enric more!" He also started whirling his fists around like the other boy. "He will be fighting later on! His sword is bright blue and so cool!"
"You boys and your fighters." A little girl next to the Azarius fan stuck her nose up and snorted. "They're all the same and so lame. Elemental mages are much cooler."
"Ew, elemental mages are laaaame!" The Azarius fan, presumably her brother, pretended to gag. "Anybody can do elemental magic, but fighters have swords!"
Elemental mages? Sin-Ni had never heard of them. Was elemental magic what was required to work all the appliances she could not get to work? Was it that form of magic that everyone could do, but she could not? And most importantly, was elemental magic the magic required to send her back home?
The little girl snorted again. "Oh yeah? Can you do lightning magic?"
"Lightning?" The boys were as surprised as Sin-Ni.
"What do you mean?" the Ender Enric fan asked, frowning.
Before the girl could answer, the stadium dimmed, and the rowdy crowd became even louder: the show was starting. The three children next to Sin-Ni began to jump up and down, shrieking into her ears.
In the middle of the field, a man clad in a bright purple suit appeared in the spotlight. There was no visible microphone around or on him, but his voice boomed so loudly it was as though he was standing right in front of Sin-Ni.
"Welcome to the fifty-fourth Annual Dawn Avengers Guild Battle!"
The audience exploded into raucous roars as a line of fighters marched into the stadium, pumping their fists or waving their weapons around. Sin-Ni was in awe. Every single one of them had an aura that screamed confidence and strength; they could intimidate the three idiots, and any other questers she had met in her travels, by just standing in front of them.
The announcer introduced each of the questers one by one. There were so many that most of the names went by in a blur. One of the boys went into a frenzy when Ender Enric's name was declared, and Sin-Ni noticed that he had a daughter, Emily Enric, in the guild as well.
"Finally, allow me to introduce, the one and only, the best of the best, the Dawn Avengers guildmaster,"—the announcer took in a dramatic breath—"Azarius!"
The crowd went ballistic.
Azarius—did he even have a last name?—raised his hands to the audience, encouraging the people around Sin-Ni to lose their voices even more. The elder man was at least two heads taller than everyone else and had shoulders at least two times the size of a regular person's. Wrinkles extended from his eyes while strands of grey and white painted his beard. With two long blades hanging behind him in the shape of an 'X', he looked like Mr. Incredibles, if Mr. Incredibles were a ninja.
"Thank you, thank you all." His voice, low and powerful, was as cool as his appearance. "From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all for coming to our annual guild battle. We, as a guild, are truly humbled by everyone's support, and we promise to always strive to be better."
Gesturing to the rest of the fighters in the stadium, he continued, "Allow me to present to you all, the reason for Dawn Avengers' success. We are lucky to house some of the world's best questers, and I am as excited as you all are to see them in their guild battles. So sit back, and enjoy the performance!"
Cheers erupted once again as the questers marched off the field.
The next one hour consisted of short battles between the fighters that were introduced, with the exception of Azarius. Everyone was buzzing with energy, and the children were having the time of their lives yelling at every strike of the swords.
But Sin-Ni was disappointed. The battles, while enjoyable, were very... scripted. These Dawn Avengers folks were just putting on a show: dancing around each other, doing ridiculous acrobatics like backflipping, purposefully missing their opponents to hack at random obstacles... Everything they did was solely to get the audience cheering.
The much anticipated Ender Enric's battle was also a huge let-down. He had only won because his opponent had thrown his weapon away and forfeited. It was made to seem as though Ender had smacked the sword away, but Sin-Ni could smell a bluff even from her faraway standing zone.
His daughter's battle was a lot more exciting, however. She had been up against someone who was twice her size, but her skills were on par, if not better. More impressively, she had fought with a vigor that was unmatched by anyone else in the guild. Unfortunately, like her father's opponent, she had to pretend to lose.
Sin-Ni's shoulders slumped. Was this it? The best of the best, doing performative dances and passing them off as "battles", with the winner and losers already predetermined. Was this all Dawn Avengers had to offer?
"And last but not at all least..." The purple suit announcer's voice echoed in Sin-Ni's head, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Let us not forget about the other mages in Dawn Avengers. They are as important as the fighters in quests! We have the healers, the psychics, the conjurers, the forgers, the specialty mages, and..."
The stadium turned pitch-dark. Before Sin-Ni could figure out what was going on, a wall of fire shot up in front of her, burning her cheeks and blinding her eyes. Her palms jolted away from the railings, while the children next to her squealed in delight. A blazing tsunami of red encircled the field, illuminating a smaller group of people within it.
"The elemental mages!"
These words reverberated as a tornado began to form in the center. With a choreographed movement, some questers in the field directed the flames into the windstorm, while others formed flying orbs of water. Soon, streams of blue and red looped around the storm, weaving and twisting around each other like fiery koi fishes dancing in a lake. The vibrant colors, damp breeze, and smoky aroma made for a truly awe-inspiring spectacle.
Then, blue and red flew into the eye of the hurricane, and the resulting ball of fire, water, and wind exploded into a cloud of grey. Walking out from the mist were the mages who had been controlling these elements. As they waved at the spectators, they looked a lot less intimidating than the fighters, but ten times more charismatic.
Sin-Ni's mouth dropped. She had never seen anything like this before. The fire was a million times more powerful than whatever had come out of the police's blasters. And the water manipulation was a million times cooler than what she usually saw at the water fountains.
Strong, formidable, and absolutely insane—this was the true potential of elemental magic.
"And let's not forget: our special elemental mages!" The announcer's voice returned, snapping Sin-Ni from her daze.
"Watch out for this!" the little girl cried as she beamed in pride.
"We have... ice!"
Following the aftersound of the announcer's voice, the air turned chilly. A layer of ice covered the field. Two questers, a man and woman both dressed in tight bodysuits, skated into the stadium from opposite entrances. As they skated, blocks of ice sprouted from the heels of their legs. Gliding around each other, the ice blocks formed a pattern of a beautiful snowflake.
"Let's hear it for Harumi and Hideo Matsudo!"
The two ice mages curtsied elegantly before skating away.
"Next we have... earth!"
Tiny tremors shook the ground; Sin-Ni staggered a little on the spot. In the arena, a stream of loose gravel shot across the floor, crushing up the ice and toppling the taller ice blocks along the way. From the center of the snowflake, the earth exploded and out jumped a burly, bald man.
"Give it up for Monzo Sai!"
A loud crack resounded through the stadium. Monzo did not bother to hang out for the applause as he scrambled out of the way.
"Lastly, the newest addition to our guild, the rarest elemental magic of them all... lightning!"
A few more cracks. Sin-Ni's head jerked upwards; wait, when was the ceiling opened up? The dome-shaped roof now had an opening, revealing a night sky dotted with stars and painted with clouds. Against the darkness, the clouds twinkled in white, vaguely reminding her of the strobing lights in the club.
The club. The stupid club.
Sin-Ni gripped the railing. A wave of nausea hit her. What was she doing here? How many people were around her? Suddenly, she was hyperaware of the children pressed against her arms, the hair of the woman standing behind her, the group of men blocking the emergency exit...
A blast of lightning struck from the sky. It pummeled through the gap in the ceiling, into the exact spot that Monzo had been standing at, and then into Sin-Ni's whirring mind. She snapped back to reality and blinked.
Whoa... What was that?
"Please, put your hands together for... Lyn Bronte!"
The smoke cleared, unveiling a crater the size of the entire arena. Every trace of crushed ice and crumbled rocks was completely gone, smashed into smithereens by the lightning. The world fell silent as Sin-Ni's eyes landed on a tall woman sauntering towards the middle of the pit.
Her body still sparked with electricity; an armor of gold enveloped her all-black outfit and her auburn braid. As she lifted her head to the crowds, her face wore the most captivating smile Sin-Ni had ever seen.
Sin-Ni's grip on the railings loosened; the deafening cheers slowly flooded into her ears. A gasp of air rushed into her lungs—oh, she had forgotten to breathe.
"Isn't she just so cool?" The little girl smirked at the other two dumbfounded boys. "I told you, elemental mages are the coolest."
"Yeah! Lightning!" the boys screamed in unison. "She's so cool!"
They started throwing their hands around and making weird noises as if trying to summon lightning themselves.
"Yeah," Sin-Ni muttered under her breath. "She's really, really cool."
The woman was like a Hollywood celebrity. A true superhero. The charisma of Captain America, the coolness of Tony Stark, the beauty of Black Widow, and the power of Thor. She was a real Avenger.
That's it. Sin-Ni was joining Dawn Avengers.
✿∅✿∅✿
Sin-Ni stared at the application form. The words, "Application fee: $300," stared back at her.
Letting out a sigh, she looked up at the receptionist. "Is there... Is there any way to waive the application fee?"
"I'm sorry, honey." The plump woman gestured towards the wall beside her office. "How about applying for one of our scholarships?"
Indeed, right next to the office was a wall filled with folders, each of them labeled with a different grant. Sin-Ni scanned the board and took some forms out to read. Some of the scholarships required U.S. citizenship, while others required five recommendation letters from established questers.
She frowned and turned her attention back to the wall. That was when she caught sight of a folder at the very top: diversity scholarship. She should qualify for that. She's super diverse—she was not even from this world!
As she struggled to reach for the folder, a hand appeared from above and grabbed the form for her.
"Here you go."
Sin-Ni took the paper. "Oh, thank you." She lifted her head and almost fainted on the spot.
It was that lightning mage from Dawn Avengers. Lyn.
"No problem," Lyn said with a smile.
Sin-Ni's heart melted into a puddle. The smile was even more captivating than what Sin-Ni had seen in the stadium. And those eyes above the smile were as dazzling as emeralds.
"So, you're applying for the guild?" Lyn asked.
Sin-Ni's body was frozen, but she forced her head to dip.
"That's awesome." The mage's voice was so cheerful and light as if unknowing of her effects on Sin-Ni. "Good luck with your application. We need cute girls like you in our guild."
Then, she winked at her before walking away, a bounce in her step.
Sin-Ni blinked. Did she just... Did she just wink at me?
Heat flushed her cheeks. Her eyes followed the auburn-haired woman as she joined her group of friends, chattering and laughing.
She looked at the application form; it was crumpled up by the subconscious clutches of her hands.
"For U.S. citizens only."
"Oh, come on!"
✿∅✿∅✿
A/N: And Cinna has finally met Lyn! xD The truth is revealed, Cinna has always been the original simp.
I also hope the guild battles seemed fun, despite having zero stakes at all! It's all very performative, especially with this quester worship culture in this world.
