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Artist
No one present mistakes this for a duel.
The circle is inscribed to contain force, not passion. The spells are permitted, the
limits known, the floor repaired after each use. Fire and lightning are selected not for
spectacle, but because they reveal flaws quickly—hesitation, imbalance, excess.
What cannot be controlled here would be catastrophic elsewhere.
The candidates do not look at one another for long. Their attention is inward,
narrowed to breath, stance, timing. Victory is irrelevant. Precision is not.
The observers intervene only if the structure itself is threatened. Injury is acceptable.
Panic is not.
When the exchange ends, there will be no applause, no declaration. A name will be
entered into a ledger. Another will not. Advancement is recorded, not celebrated.
Power, after all, is easy.
What is rare—and therefore tested—is restraint, clarity, and the ability to act
decisively without needing to believe oneself righteous.
