It all began with just a message… 
Come find me, at the Submucosa peaks.
-Æthian
He was my first enemy in the tournament since this event began, this VOCT, I’ve heard from the forums on the official website that he was a demon in combat. He had only existed as a ghost prior to the tournament matchups…  So far this anthromorphic wolf had been denied of ever existing even from Sefra’s mouth, or rather his posts on his forum.
 Some crazy gossip I have  how he is what remained of a player that had wasted away in the real world after getting so addicted to the game, and just lurked the servers this being his only life. I must admit, I’m somewhat skeptical if it’s the same player, it must be some sort of noob that heard of the stories and used it as his name. Yes, that must be it… I mean I have all different variants of other players trying to clone his appearance claiming to be him… these “AEthian” or even various combinations of symbols or changes of characters, numbers, or even 1337.
A familiar female voice pulled me from my thoughts. “It’s awfully not like you to appear so nervous.”
I was made more aware of my surroundings, the black clouds that blotted out the sunlight, the red glow of the exposed lava on the surface of the volcanic terrain on the outside of the lift windows, as my eyes wandered a bit it focused on the female cat anthro that was tiger striped. I returned a smile and then said back. “Oh it is just that this is the first real fight in this tournament, and well… I’m not too confident.”
She returns a warm smile my way and replied back. “Don’t be so afraid, I’m pretty sure you will do fine.” Her name was Katojana, one of my friends that I played along with in this MMORPG.  She pulled me up every time I’ve doubted myself before any challenge. I had to admit having her around seemed to make things just easier through the preliminaries; I can only hope that this luck will continue. 
I made my way out of the lift, leaving my friend, for the time being on it, the doors opened before me with a mechanical hiss.  The smell of rotten eggs filled my nose as I realized the craggy rocks that filled the treacherous landscape of sulfur and brimstone. Rather bizarre location for a first round, however this isn’t the first surprise I’ve got upon entry to this tournament, first odd thing to me was the inability to log out of our profile, secondly there was that note left behind in that garden. Could this really be him?
I stood up before the canine standing before me, his eyes, gave a resonance. Calculating as he stood there,  his gaze was piercing me like shiv made of Ice. He appeared battle scarred, as if he hasn’t recovered from his the preliminary rounds. I turned away briefly to look toward my friend as she returned a smile and shouted back from the safety of the lift. “You can do this Victor!” 
Feeling a wave of assurance I couldn’t disappoint her now.
The two stared at each other waiting for the other’s move, Victor and Æthian looked each other in the eyes. I stood among them on the plateau near the edge of the flat surface watching the two; I looked on as Victor turned toward me and I couldn’t help but smile and cheer him on before the fight began. “You can do this Victor!” 
I watched as the flareon-rabbit hybrid started to smile meanwhile the canine did the same. There was something unnatural about this player; I started to clench one of my spell books in hand as I heard the sound of the clicking meal scales starting to come in closer,  it appears this Æthian… likes to fight toe to toe with his enemies,  “Could this why he is in such rough shape?” I thought silently as he watched. 
Soon the sound of wind started to blast through the air, I shielded my eyes as the searing hot wind rushed into me, making me cringe for a moment. Right as I opened my eyes I had missed the first blow that commenced the battle, from what I saw was the wolf’s blade in the earth and Victor a good meter or two away. “Heh, I knew I selected a strong one… c’mon give me you’re all… show me your soul!” The wolf spoke out as he gazed toward Victor.
I thought silently to myself. “Why and how did he manage to decide to do battle with Victor?” The thought started to disturb me more thinking the canine was probably cheating, perhaps getting insider knowledge about the next round. Then again the preliminaries are open source and viewable to all users in Pylorus.  I couldn’t help but feel a bit hopeless being a spectator of the bout right from the lift I sat in.
The wolf and Victor started to rush right toward each other into what looked like a climactic scene in one of those climatic war scenes only seen in movies, right as the two was about to collide fist or blade, the ground around me started to quake and shake the lift I sat on. I watched in horror as the ground of the unstable plateau started to split right under the two. I tried to shout out “VICTOR!!”  
Soon it started to split open consuming the two into the caverns below out of my line of sight. I tried to get off the lift only to be greeted with an invisible barrier preventing any entry.  She thought silently in the back of her head, this isn’t good.
I was falling… down into the darkness of the caverns below then all went black…
Soon I woke up The ambient glow of the broiling hot magma gave the only lumination, Just then I saw a figure that held what appeared to be a sword.  I just barely just shifted my weight to one side as the blade collided with the rock as the sound radiated and echoed through the whole cave.  A pair of glowing blue eyes were seen as I felt something slam right into my chest from what I think is his armored foot. Everything went spinning as I uncontrollably rolled up against the cliff that hung over a pool of hot magma. The wolf’s eyes started to give its cold piercing resonance; he attempted to strike again only hitting the energy field I narrowly brought up in time.  The attack caused my field to flux; it seemed to only irritate him as he then shouted back. “FIGHT ME YOU CUR!!”
I cringed in agony from that kick; this wolf was no joke in raw strength. If I plan to survive I will have to be more evasive. His screams to taunt me to battle seem to almost make me hesitate almost as if I was a deer in the headlights, I knew my shield couldn’t survive another attack, a feeling of unexplainable dread started to fill me for a brief moment, I escape from my own skull and I soon responded in kind with the canine’s demands, soon my hand was encased in fire as I put my weight in it toward him. 
My fist had connected right across his jaw as it almost felt like punching right into a wall as the wolf took several steps back from the blow, The punch unhooked his lower jaw from the impact, He then almost immediately without hesitating returned, a sharp pain I could feel in my breast as I looked down, The world around me seemed to slow down as I watched his fist connected as well in exchange, then a crippling pain settled in, it’s all what filled my head.  I haplessly watched him taking the broad edge of his blade and knocking me into the air over the red glow of the lava. I screamed at the top of my lungs the first person to come to mind. “KATOJANA!”
I sat alone near the lift trying to see what became of the two, hoping to the gods Victor is ok. Just then I thought I heard a voice. He was calling my name? Before I could even reply back I found myself in the dark cavern watching Victor about to fall in the pool of lava. I wouldn’t allow it, without thinking I threw my frost spell right into the section where my flareon/rabbit friend was about to fall onto, giving everything I had to the point where ice started to encase my two paws from my ice spell he landed safely onto the rock from a distance. 
The entire area we were standing in was now snowing in the middle of the molten caverns. Then some sort of unseen force started to pull at me, before I could respond I found myself getting dragged away from the fight. Next thing I could recognize is the seat of the lift right below me. I spoke out loud though no one was around, thinking and speaking only to myself. “Did Victor just summon me?” 
I fell for what appeared like a eternity, almost like a plunge into the fires of hell itself, then all of sudden an arctic breeze brushed blasted through my fur, my body collided with what appeared to be rock instead of liquid hot magma, I rise from where I’m standing and noticed a familiar face standing there, her hands in the air chanting, a bunch of violent winds were gusting through caverns, before I could say another thing to Katojana she had vanished without a trace.
Then the rapid changing air cooled magma created a surface safe enough to tread to get back to the fight, just then I watched on as the wolf just gazed, with those wretched eyes, not fazed by the rapid change to the atmosphere he gazed on as his jaw just hung limply open, probably broken from that blow I caused, The wolf in one swift motion of his paw popped in back into what looked like in place as it only left behind a disturbing sound of what I could describe as bone cracking. He crept across the craggy coast waiting for the lava flow to bring me up against the rocks so we may continue our battle. It was a moments respite as the cool breeze from the summon’s attack filtered through my fur, the snowfall in the caverns started to make a thick blanket like fog as I lose sight of that crazed maniac.
The float of recently formed igneous slams right into the coast and with that I leaped upon the tips of the crag trying to get to higher ground to take every advantage I have, the blizzard that was left behind and any trace of it swiftly vanished as the suffocating heat filled the cavern once more, it was rather fortunate I was half flareon. I thought deeply in my head as I wondered what became of the wolf.
 My questions were soon answered as right when I heard the rocks crashing into each other, I turn to face him only to be greeted with the blunt end of his pommel of that impractical sword. The pain caused from the impact was skull splitting, my balance started to wane from the sudden attack. I staggered as I tried to take a step back, my arms was unresponsive as I watched helplessly seeing him move to a killing blow with his sword, He was going to really slay me like this? Right as he was about to strike with his weapon, I stretched my jaws wide as a last ditch effort I gave the last of my strength. In the form of one focused streak of energy.
I heard a slight grunt as the attack was successful; the wolf paused for a moment as the attack had shot right through his arm right as he was going into the thrust. The sound of metal against stone as he had dropped that bizarre weapon, he stood there cringing in pain for a few moments, before I could react to the sudden success to my attack I was simply only received in kind with his armored hand. I could feel my heart shudder once again as I felt the cold steel plates against my breast. Time seemed to all but slow itself with a moment of disbelief of how much pain I was really in, I couldn’t breathe. The body blow the wolf had caused really did cause damage. I could feel my body slowly becoming unresponsive as the heated cavern around me only just become cold. I hear a sound, a slight heartbeat, it sounded as if it was slowing, as my vision started to slowly fade to black.
I waited in anticipation for almost an eternity on that lift, waiting for a conclusion for their fight, all I saw was the environment around just grow more violent with each passing moment, more of the once was plateau their conflict  was upon crumbled away further.  The black clouds over the peaks seem to part as the light made the environment below visible.
Just then I noticed a red glow of the lava below had started to rise as I could feel the arena growing more unstable, the lava flows had started to weaken the foundations of the once was plateau this fight was taking place on. I could see no sign of the two as the ground seem to quake slightly from the unstable ground, swinging the lift from side to side, I could only hope that Victor is ok
Then I saw them, the light shined right through a break in the black clouds above, and the next sight I saw was almost heart breaking. I saw my friend being dragged across the rocks, battered and beaten by that horrible creature. The bastard that Victor was fighting was also injured as his free arm hung limply at his hip, the other grasping around Victor’s ankle. His eyes pierced the darkness, the cold glare staring back up at me as he gave a rather twisted grin for a few moments as if he was reveling in the attention I was giving him. The wolf then said down to his opponent. “I guess I have to devour ye in order to continue… simply slaying ye ‘ere won’t be just enough.”
 The canine’s eyes started to resonate as his arm started to appear to grow transparent, almost ethereal. The wolf reached into Victor with his phantasmal hand gripping into his form, I knew what this wolf was, he was a soul eater, he severs the connection between soul and body, but are things allowed in this world? I swiftly attempt to get off the lift only finding a shield between me and the scene that is unfolding before me. I screamed out to my friend hoping it might wake him. “VICTOR!!”
Just as I come to expect I was only but a mere spectator helpless to save him all thanks to this barrier. The wolf strained in pulling at whatever was in Victor’s body. “Heh… still clinging… to life… are we?” The wolf had continued ripping and tearing, trying to pry at my friend’s soul. I wanted to just turn away at the sight of it, a red ghastly phantom, in the shape of a flareon rabbit, appear out of Victor’s body, struggling to free itself from the wolf’s grasp, using it’s ethereal paws to pry it away from. I couldn’t bring myself to continue watching the sight before me, a feeling of dread started to enter my mind, can such skills actually be allowed, and what impact does it do to the players.
All I heard was my friend’s ghastly screams as he attempted to free himself from that dreadful beast’s grasp, which pulled me back into watching the scene unfold as the wolf had turned both of his arms ethereal as he slowly started to orally devour the ghost, starting with the “feet” of his prey.  The bastard gave a slight quiver at the sensation of Victor’s soul touching the inside of his muzzle. I could hear the spirit trying to struggle to free his self among the satisfied groans of the devourer. Now this feeling of helplessness started to fill me with impatience, to get out of this lift. I stared down at my own tiger striped paws after hitting the barrier a few times, before looking through it again as it progressed further. The wolf “Unhooked” his jaws like some sort of serpent as the red ghost started to slip into gray furred one’s body like a large sculpture of gelatin. The ghost of Victor uses his ghastly hands to push off of the muzzle only to have his arms bend back unnaturally and slip in alongside his torso. Indentions in the wolf’s throat down to his upper to mid torso had features of Victor’s soul pressing out, trying to escape from within as he is slowly getting squeezed into the wolf’s stomach. 	
“It…It can’t end this way.” The Victor’s soul’s muzzle stated as it was the only visible portion of himself aside from a few red phantasmal locks that look like the apparition’s hair.  Shortly after this wolf takes his final gulp and letting the spirit slip right into his stomach he let out a sigh, a slight mist of red that once surrounded my friend soul could be seen escaping from that canine’s muzzle as he exhaled. The wolf gave a brief snicker as he then let off a relaxed sigh as he noticed the indentions of the soul pressing out from within his stomach as the wolf would watch the soul slowly conforming to the shape of his belly. The wolf would peer up toward the lift toward me and return a twisted smile as he leaves the dead body of Victor behind as he climbed up toward the peak to wait for the airship to take him to his next battle and away from the rising lava.
 Without a soul the Victor’s body soon it just turned into dust leaving behind nothing but skeletal remains against the brimstone as the lava had rose over it, I closed my eyes at the sight of my friend’s skeletal remains hoping to the gods that such a fatal blow won’t bring harm to his player. I soon noticed the lift starting to start running again as it stated its next stop.