The Warlock's Shadow

Golem Grapple

The next week the school was decorated with, what apparently were, the school’s colors of black, silver and blue. News to me. Everyone was abuzz about a sporting event taking place that weekend. I had found Samuel and asked what was going on.

“You mean you really don’t know?” He said.

“Um, no?”

“The school is getting ready for the best sport ever. Golem Grapple. Every year eight students from the most senior class form a team for Golem Grapple and play against another school. There’s usually only a few games a year.” He ran off to help with more preparations. All morning around school I overheard the anticipation about the game. Olders students were clamoring about who would be chosen for the team and what strategies they might use. All of it sounded elvish to me so I didn’t understand a single bit of it.

#

During our dragon riding class I saw that the whole courtyard was set up like a stadium. Tall risers on either side stood over the walls making room for hundreds and hundreds of spectators. On the far end of the courtyard from class stood two, twenty foot tall, piles of stones. But when I went to look closer, during a small break, I noticed they weren’t piles of stones at all. Each “pile” had two carefully stacked columns of stones as tall as I was, and about as wide, parallel to each other. On top of the parallel columns sat an enormous boulder that looked to be about the size of a small car. On each side of the car-sized boulders were a floating stack of stones similar to the parallel columns that were invisibly attached along with a smaller stone on top of the main boulder.

Taking it all in I realized that the top stone had two glowing green points of light on each “pile”. I realized then that these “piles” were actually stone golems. Puppets created from just about any earthly building materials. Stone, mud, clay, wood, anything. They stood stoic and almost menacing in presence.

“Don’t get too attached,” a voice said. I turned and saw Lisa behind me. I was so entranced I hadn’t noticed that she came up behind me. “One of them is going to be destroyed in the game this weekend.”

“Why have I never heard of this game?” I asked.

Lisa shrugged, “Not sure, alea’sh tat sa’hra?”

“Huh?”

“Translates roughly to, living under a rock?”

“Alex has never really been into sports or games,” Sasha said, coming up behind us both. It was true. I never really paid attention to sports or other games like this. Not sure why. They just never really interested me enough to learn about them.

“This is weird to ask, but can I ask you both to come with me to the game?” Lisa asked. “My parents are making me take my little brother, Aerin, to it and I would like some company to make it bearable.”

“Yeah,” Sasha exclaimed. “Sounds like a blast,” I went and agreed with Sasha.

Later that day we had a school assembly, apparently to explain what was going on. Probably for students like me who don’t follow sports in the slightest. The whole of the student body easily fit on one side of the stands with more than enough room to spare. Everyone was able to be comfortable and spread out rather than crammed together. This time rather than Principal Ashrith giving announcements it was Master Elowyn that came up to the lectern.

“Alright everyone, quiet down,” he said. “Today we’re announcing the teams for the upcoming Golem Grapple matches this year. The first game is next week so whoever is chosen you will be meeting with me for the whole week to prepare.” The crowd murmured in excitement as to who might be picked.

“As per usual this is only available to the senior most class who has been practicing both flying and projecting offensive spells simultaneously so the best of the best will be chosen. If you do not wish to participate I do have others on my list.” Master Elowyn began to name off eight names from the top of his list who apparently were the top of his class. In a surprise turn to Master Elowyn, no one opted out of participating in the game.

“For everyone, and for posterity sake, let’s watch the highlights from the final game of last year’s games.” Master Elowyn swirled his hands around and produced a massive sphere of light which projected a moving image in front of us like a television. People on dragons moved expertly around in tight formations. The uniforms were black pants with shirts blocked out with black, silver and blue. Both teams wore boots as well as leather gauntlets. Some players wore goggles while flying around. The player’s names were displayed on their backs with a number on both sides. Spells were slung at the massive stone giants as they swatted them like flies. Students sat on the golems and stood around them to protect them from incoming spells, using their own defensive magics they had, I assume, been practicing for the last year or two. The referee who was clad in bright yellow called out fowls at one particular student on the offensive team. They apparently aimed a spell directly at another offensive player on the opposing team. Apparently spells were only allowed to be directed at the golems and only the golems could attack the offensive team.

Truth be told the whole thing looked amazing. The highlights came to a conclusion with the team wearing our colors did a coordinated attack and exploded the other team’s golem into rubble.

“Wow,” I said in amazement. “I really have been living under a rock, this looks like so much fun,”

“I told you,” Sasha said as they watched with the rest of us. The assembly concluded and we were all dismissed to go home.

The three of us decided to head to the park and hang out and talk about the upcoming game. Nocturne, Topaz and Zero all went off to, well, do whatever dragons do together. Looked like they enjoyed wrestling and play-fight together. As we sat down I had to admit seeing the game in action, or at least a recording of it, got me excited for it. But as excited as I was about it, I had so many questions.

“So tell me about this other school,” I said. “All I know is that it’s a super exclusive place.”

“Only the truly gifted go there,” Lisa explained. “It’s like a genius school for people who are overly privileged or who are just try-hards.”

“They might be super elite and privileged but they still tend to kick our school’s ass every year.” Now that was a bit interesting.

“Are they just that much better at the game?” I asked. I never really knew what to ask and definitely didn’t know the right things to ask here. This was just all so new.

“Yeah, they boast about being undefeated every year,” Lisa rolled her eyes at this fact. “But every year our school tries to change the inevitable.”

“So how’s it played exactly?” I asked. “I mean, I know what we just saw and I can probably figure it out but I still don’t understand.”

Between Lisa and Sasha they were an unexpected wealth of knowledge. Two teams of eight players divided into two squads of four players. The Defense squad and Offense Squad. The game is to simulate an old type of warfare that sprung up shortly after the first convergence. Towns used to have guardian golems to protect a town from all the new and scary threats. But sometimes one town would declare war on the other and their golems would fight. Townspeople would defend their own golem, while it was under attack from the other town’s attackers and vice versa. When one golem was destroyed that town lost the small war. And just like in the game, two golems fight while trying to deal with flying attackers and getting boosts and help from the “townspeople”.

“Even though I’m sure we won’t, it’d be nice if we actually won for once against Nimbus Heights,” Sasha said, leaning on the table with their elbows and their face in their hands.

The rest of the week went surprisingly quick. The hype of the game increased day by day to an almost rabid level. Our school’s opponent was going to be a rival school from the next town over called Nimbus Heights. Apparently Nimbus Heights is an elite school that was privately funded that specialized in their internship for Knights.

Once the weekend arrived Sasha and I walked over to Lisa’s to pick up her and her brother. He looked a lot like her. Same hair color and similar facial features, but was dressed more conservative than Lisa typically dressed Just about half her size. The crowd around the school was dense with our students from our school and spectators from around town, as well as the students and spectators from the rival school. The air was thick with dragons who wanted to roost and trying to find a place to do so.

Listening to the crowd as we walked into the school and made our way to the courtyard. There were rumors that Nimbus Heights used talismans stuffed into their uniforms to give them more of an edge.

“I swear, watch Nimbus Height’s point position and how they cast their spells,” An adult spectator said. “You’ll see that it’s not in the normal way,”

“Yeah, yeah whatever, you’re just tired of rooting for the underdog and losing so you make up excuses.” The other adult said. “Stop making up rumors, you’ll get people in trouble who don’t need to be.”

With Nimbus Height’s reputation of always being undefeated it was only logical that rumors would start to float around. The talismans they talked about were small figures or tokens that were about the size of your thumb nail that are easily tucked into a pocket or a fold in fabric or whatnot that usually offer some form of artificial enhancement. Some made spell casting stronger with a specific hand sign. Some even alleviate certain ailments and must be held in place with a bandage or something similar. Made me think if there were any such talismans actually existed. It would certainly help with my condition.

Once we got inside the school and got to the courtyard I could see an ocean of fans, students and other spectators. One side full of our own school colors of blue, black and silver. The other side was full of Nimbus Heights’ colors of red, yellow and white. A couple large screens were set up over each side. I saw a few people setting up cameras on the sidelines of the field. As each operator placed their hand on the side of their respective camera a rune glowed. The same rune began to appear on each of the screens above the crowd as they powered on, each displaying their own field-side view.

“C’mon let’s find some good seats,” Sasha said and ran off. Lisa sighed as her brother pulled her along following Sasha. In the short walk from Lisa’s house to the school Aerin and Sasha seemed to develop quite a bond. Which was pretty easy when Sasha has the energy to match a nine year old.

As we approached the main field the golems were moving around, one on each side. They looked like they were set to a routine. They would approach one another, stare each other down, move into a fighting pose with their fists up by their faces, look towards each side of the crowd extending their arms over their heads as if to say, “I am the greatest,” then walked over to their own side and turned around. They bounced lightly in place as if to stay light on their rocky toes.

Everytime the golems did their little faceoff routine each side would erupt in yells and cheers hoping their golem would be the victor. We finally found some decent seats where we could see out onto the field without much obstruction.

The teams started to file out from nearby tents, I assume where they would change and get ready. The cameras focused on them to show up on the display screens. Our team’s uniforms were about the same as the ones in the recording that Master Elowyn showed us, just a bit newer. Black pants and boots, the shirts were alternating chevrons of black, blue and silver pointing to the player’s left with blue leather gauntlets around their arms. Nimbus Heights had the same design but with chevrons alternating in their colors, with white pants, white boots and bright red leather gauntlets.

The principal made his way to the center of the field and held up a microphone. He touched a rune on the bottom side that lit up and suddenly his voice was louder.

“Hello students, spectators and honored guests to our wonderful institution for the first Golem Grapple game of the season,” The crowd went wild with cheers and anticipation of the pending game. The golems ceased their routine and stood quietly on either end of the field separated by about a hundred yards of open space. Principal Ashrith held up his hands again with a big smile and calmed the crowd once more. The fans and spectators finally calmed down and were silent once more.

“Thank you again all for coming. I would like to introduce, for our pregame presentation, a cooperative effort between our two schools. I’m proud to present the Wyvern Glade/Nimbus Flyers,” As Principal Ashrith finished his announcement, seemingly out of nowhere, five people riding on their dragons swooped in and dive bombed the crowds.

“Muh’ish,” Aerin shouted in elvish. He was bouncing in his seat and was just as excited as Sasha was. “That was so cool. They flew so close,” He said barely able to contain his excitement.

The team flew around showing off all forms or acrobatics with their dragons and each other. They would spiral while they flew, even flew in loops. Some of the loops they did were coordinated and so fast where it looked like all five looked like interlocking rings. Their tricks and acrobatics got more advanced as they flew higher and faster. They would fall off their dragons intentionally, while the dragons dove through the air catched them. They even went into death falls, in which the dragon’s kept their wings open but rigid and went into an uncontrolled freefall which they pulled out of at the last minute before hitting the ground and pulled up into the air. All five then drove in a tight chevron formation while they turned around and held out their hands. Smoke issued from their hands to make a smoke trail. They carefully flew together around in different ways that didn’t seem like they should be possible. As they gave a grand flourish with the smoke, what they were doing was made clear. They had drawn a picture in smoke of a golem. The flyers finished off by flying behind it and burst through the smoke image dispersing it as if it was exploding and included bursts of fire for added effect.

They all stood on their dragon’s backs while they flew low and slowly as they could while bowing to the crowd on both sides of the field a few times. They made sure to take a few laps to take in all the cheers and applause and appreciation for the show.

“Wow,” Principal Ashrith said excitedly into the microphone. “What a fantastic show, right everybody?” He joined in on the applause as the performers flew off who knows where. I looked and saw Aerin had been mesmerized the whole time, about as much as me. Lisa and Sasha looked to be having fun too and seemed to enjoy the show.

“And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for,” He said mysteriously. “The main event. Let me introduce the home team. Here they are, Team Wyvern,” Our side of the field erupted once more in cheers and yells in support as our players made their way, from our perspective, from the left side of the field to the center. Principal Ashrith once more raised a hand and the field went silent again.

“And our challengers. The famously undefeated. Our visiting opponents, Team Nimbus,” More supporting cheers and applause as the opposing team did the same from the other side, giving out waves of welcome and acknowledgement. The cheers once more quickly died down upon silent request. “I will now give the field over to our impartial referee from the Regional Golem Grapple Association.” with that he left the field.

Everyone began to settle down as the referee in bright yellow made his way to the center of the field. On each side stood all eight team members. All of which had dragons wrapped around their shoulders. The referee raised his arms and flicked his wrists to signal to the golems to move forward. Once the golems reached halfway between their starting positions and where the teams were located he held them up palms out to show ‘stop’. The two teams then split up into two squads of four players each. The defenders set themselves up in a line in front of each of their respective golems as the Offense team then held out their arms and each shouted their dragon’s names and each one in turn grew and they mounted and began to fly up into the air.

The referee pointed to two of the defending players and signaled them forward. They met in the middle as the referee showed a coin to them and showcased that it was different on both sides. It flew up into the air spinning; I could hear one player calling heads and the other tails. The coin landed on the ground as the referee signaled to the Nimbus Heights team.

“Nimbus Heights will gain the advantage and be the first to attack,” Said the referee.

“Aw, bummer,” Aerin said as he fell back onto his seat. He had been standing on his tip toes trying to see if he could make out the coin toss.

“Don’t worry,” Sasha said to him. “That just means we get to see what their strategy is before they get to see ours. So in some ways, we get just as much of an advantage,”

“Wow. You’re so cool, Sasha,” Aerin said. Sasha gave him a fanged grin as they got ready for the game to finally begin. You could feel the tension in the air. It was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Both sides were on the edge of their seats ready for the golems to start moving and Nimbus Heights to make their first move.

He took his position at the sidelines and blew a whistle.

Immediately the Nimbus attacking squad flew in a tight diamond formation and swooped down on our team’s golem bombarding it with bricks of ice and balls of fire. Our golem in turn swiped at the Nimbus attackers like annoying flies while our defensive squad countered with counter spells of their own as well as shields of magical energy. The two golems began to advance towards each other slowly, trying to attack each team’s offense squad, while attempting to look tough and intimidating towards the other. The camera operators did an amazing job to keep track of all the action.

It was an amazing back and forth between our team and Nimbus Heights. Each attack squad seemed to be doing its job in getting damaging attacks in while each defensive squad tried to counter each spell and help defend their golem. It was like watching one of the battles we would read about in our history books, just more controlled.

As soon as things seemed to be about even, neither golem taking much damage, but some obvious cracks started to show, the Nimbus team shot a fireball directly towards one of the members of our offensive squad. Their dragon luckily saw it and dodge it so only a part of the player’s hair got scorched. The referee blew his whistle, stopping the game.

“Boo. Boo,” Shouted Sasha and Lisa both.

“Yeah, boo,” Aerin mimicked.

“Wait, what just happened?” I asked.

“The Nimbus player targeted one of our player’s directly and intentionally,” Lisa explained. “It’s against the rules.” I looked out at the paused game. The golems stood still rolling their rocky shoulders and necks and attempted to nurse any cracks and chips that they saw.

“So what happens now? The game isn’t over is it?” I asked.

“Oh, no,” Lisa said. “Not even close.”

“We get to take unprotected attacks on their golem. Woo,” Sasha cheered with Aerin being more of a little brother to Sasha than to Lisa. True to their word I saw our offensive squad get into a single file formation in the air and one by one took potshots at the Nimbus golem. More major cracks began to form on the Nimbus golem and it started to look as it spitting on it would cause it to crumble.

After that gameplay began to resume as normal as a back and forth rhythm started up again. Each team went blow for blow. When one team got a hit on the opposing golem, so did the other. Defense was just as good. Blocking, reflecting, negating spells as fast as each team could throw. The crowd was eating up all of the action. Even I was getting into it, and was barely able to tear my eyes away from the game. I kept thinking about what it would be like to be able to ride Nocturne when we got to that level of skill. After about thirty minutes of amazing acrobatics and attacks, one of our defenders reflected a big attack that hit the opposing golem square in the chest that was sure to bring it down. But it didn’t. In fact the Nimbus golem looked better off than it did after our team took our penalty shots at it.

“Is it just me or does the Nimbus golem look, I dunno, healed?” I asked. Both Sasha and Lisa took notice as well.

“Yeah, what gives?” Sasha said.

“Hey, what’s their defense squad doing?” Lisa said as she pointed. I looked like one of the players was swirling their hands and some of the cracks that were present were being sealed up.

“They’re repairing it,” Lisa shouted.

“Nimbus is cheating,” Sasha said and encouraged the crowd to look and chant.

“Cheaters. Cheaters. Cheaters,” Our crowd changed and accused Nimbus Heights. Even all the spectator’s dragons started to squawk and jeer with everyone else. The calls for disqualification or to stop the game altogether were becoming overwhelming. Finally, the referee blew the whistle to pause the game, having heard the chants and thought well enough to investigate.

“They must have been doing this with every match,” Lisa said.

“But how have they never been caught doing this before? I asked. We all came up with our own theories of how they got away with it for so long. Anything from just being good at being subtle, to bribing the referees. They were a school of the elite so anything was possible.

The referee had Nimbus’ defense squad move to the center of the field while the referee escorted Nimbus’ golem to the sidelines for inspection. After a few moments of looking it over as well as reviewing footage the camera operators took, they came back to the center of the field holding Principal Ashrith’s microphone.

“Upon inspection of Nimbus Heights’ golem, I have determined that it was repaired illegally after discovering an active earth healing circle on the golem’s back.” A camera was moved quickly to the golem and showed off the magic circle for all to see on the big screens. The referee snapped their fingers and dispelled the circle. Immediately the golem started to sag as large cracks reappeared, whole chunks of stone fell off of it. The Nimbus’ golem looked as if it could barely stand. There was a collective gasp from both sides at what the true condition of their own golem was in.

“Normally this would otherwise be a disqualification and immediate forfeiture of the match, however due to the condition of their golem, no other penalty will be given. The next landing blow on Nimbus Height’s golem will fell it.”

Once the game continued the Nimbus Heights team was not in a good mood. They were relentless in their strategies. They continued to bombard our golem hard and fast. Their dragons roared in frustration whenever the player’s spell got blocked, the few times that it did. But they didn’t let up. Our defense squad couldn’t keep up and our attack squad couldn’t get any attacks to land.

The two golems finally were able to meet in the middle and started to grapple one another. They swung their arms, pushed, pulled, punched. Neither seemed to want to go down. This did provide a good distraction as both golems were simultaneously swatting at the attacking squads while grappling with each other. Our defense team took to protecting the three sides it easily could and got into a rhythm of blocking and reflecting spells. The rivalry was in full swing, both sides showing their absolute best.

Finally the Nimbus team’s attack squad launched a cooperative attack, where all four launched a massive attack. All our defenders came forward and reflected it in an equal level of teamwork and launched the attack meant for our golem to their own. Once it made contact the Nimbus’ golem staggered back looking stunned. Our golem quickly drew back a haymaker punch and landed it hard into the opposing golem’s chest. The Nimbus’ golem’s glowing eyes turned dark and the stone turned lifeless as it fell into a crumpled up heap on the field.

Our side of the field erupted in a huge roar of celebration. The attack squad of our team did aerials and acrobatics in the air while dragons roared in triumph. Our golem held its hands over its head in victory and marched around the field. Hats, confetti, streamers all got thrown in the air in the excitement of doing what everyone thought was impossible. Nimbus Heights’ team could be seen basically throwing a fit on the field. In being undefeated for so long and having the upstanding reputation they had acquired, they apparently lost the ability to lose gracefully. It got so bad that they started to argue with the referee and eventually had to be escorted back to their tent and eventually escorted off the premises. Apparently being elite and super special wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be.

That evening the celebrations didn’t end. In fact it was a solid week of partying and celebration for most of the city. Even school was a bit of a party for that week as most tests and homework was canceled. We got word later on that Nimbus Heights was banned from participating in Golem Grapple for the next few seasons due to their cheating in this game as well as possibly cheating in other games as well. There was also a rumor that they were also being funded by some black magic cultists.

Many of us took inspiration from our team’s win. Remembering that no matter what, even when you’re backed up against a wall you can still come out on top. When I got home that day I laid in bed and cracked open my Dad’s journal trying to absorb everything he wrote. Just wish it wasn’t so boring.