[i][color=red]I remember thinking taking the detour yesterday was a bad idea.  What do you know, you were wrong for once.[/color][/i]

[i][color=yellow]Your opinion means nothing.  Turn right here.[/color][/i]

Ava Kore found herself speaking to "the voice" once again.  And as always, it was telling her what to do.  And as always, she trusted its guidance; it hadn't let her down yet...except maybe how it told her to attend a small tournament yesterday after her flight instead of finding her lift to the bigger one.  Ava wasn't even really sure how she got where she was now; it was a part of town she'd never seen before, and all the voice told her about how it knew where it was leading her was that "spirits leave tracks."  Whatever that was supposed to mean.
[center]~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[b][u]The previous day...[/u][/b][/center]

[i][color=yellow]There is no need to be there, yet.  This "Khan" will have to wait, as it appears there is a small tournament being held near here.[/color][/i]

[i][color=red]What do you expect me to do about that?[/color][/i]

[i][color=yellow]It should be obvious.  Crush the competition, and turn whoever meets you in the finals into a broken, lifeless husk.[/color][/i]
[center]~~~~~~~~~~~~~[/center]
Well.  Seemed the voice's guidance, as always, led Ava in the right direction.  Probably following whatever tracks it talked about, the voice had led Ava to a large mansion.  The people stationed outside seemed to recognize her, and even led the way in.  Even so, the voice's guiding words didn't cease.

[i][color=yellow]I sense a powerful spirit.  Turn left down this hallway, now.[/color][/i]

Following the advice, Ava turned left.  And there she saw a boy.  One boy.  A dark-haired boy.  The voice had stopped telling her where to go, so this must have been the source of the spirit it felt.  Knowing how the voice operated, it would tell her to turn any threat into a husk.  But first Ava would have to assess if he was even a threat in the first place; that power was something she preferred not using whenever possible.

Stepping up within speaking range, Ava cleared her throat and made her request very clear in what she said.  [color=red]"I would like to duel you."[/color]  That was it.  Nothing more, nothing less.