Divine Realm (30 days before the Tournament)

Radix’s mind was practically short circuiting as the odd inhuman being with the floating dial on her back guided him through the divine realm. “This is the weirdest dream I’ve ever had.”

Lenity, the inhuman being with the floating dial, corrected Radix’s misconception. “This is all very real Mr. Radix, and the devadoots hope you can treat it as such.”

Radix shook his head in denial. “This has to be a dream! This is not earth, you are not human, and there is no way any realistic society would think plucking some random teenager out of ‘space and time’ could somehow miraculously slay an ‘unforgivable evil’. It sounds like the plot of a poorly thought out rpg!” Radix exclaimed in frustration. “I can’t fight! I’m left-handed for goodness sake!”

Lenity looked over to the stump which resided where most humans would usually have their left arm. “Somehow I doubt that Mr. Radix.” She deadpanned.

Radix stopped in his tracks in disbelief briefly before shouting back as they entered a new room. “I wasn’t always missing this arm!”

“Oh we know Radix, but don’t worry we can fix that right up.” Radix’s attention was taken by this sudden new voice. The feminine purr caressed against his ears and as he turned to face its source he was confronted with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her skin perfectly smooth and bronze, eyes bright and full. The woman was dressed in a tight-fitting nurse outfit whose few unbuckled buttons could barely contain her voluptuous bosom. The pencil skirt of the nurse’s dress was enticingly short, barely reaching a quarter the way down her thigh.

The nurse elegantly made her way over to Radix and even the way she carried herself was beautiful, this woman was greater than a goddess and Radix knew that he could never love another. The woman made her way over to his left side. “Now let’s see what the problem is.” She spoke with her honeyed voice as she pulled his stump of an arm close against her chest. Radix’s heart began to rapidly beat as he felt the warmth of her body against his.

The nurse bit on to her knuckle seductively as she pondered over the wound. “Yes, this is quite serious. I think the only way to regenerate the limb is with a …transfusion.”

Radix could feel the heavy thump of his heart in his head. “li-like a blood transfusion?”

The nurse shook her head daintily with puckered lips “nu-un, blood won’t be strong enough for the magic to do its work. We’ll need to…” The nurse leant closer so her lips were right against his ear and her breasts pressed deeply against his side as she whispered the last part. “use a more potent bodily fluid.”

Lenity let out an annoyed huff crossing her arms. “Cicerone, stop messing with our guest.”

The illusion immediately dispersed, the nurse vanishing into nothing as a man Radix had no idea was in the room until now complained. “Aw your no fun.”

Radix’s heart shattered.

Golden country – Outskirt of Unical the capital city (29 days before the Tournament)

A large train of wagons and soldiers stood at the ready waiting for the signal to depart. This was a momentous occasion; the turn of the century had arrived and the centennial Tournament was to take place. This alone would have been cause for celebration but this was different, their very king had been invited to this Tournament and that very king was currently speaking with two other Tournament invitees who had found themselves in his borders at the time.

Rex was standing before the two other invitees, one a young man and based on his rags clearly very poor despite the fine large case he carried over his back. Rex was saddened to see that there were still those within his borders who struggled, especially if that predicament could stretch itself to those talented enough to be invited to the Tournament.

He was still proud of the man though; in fact, he was proud of his whole country. Along with this young man, there were two more of his citizens who were invited to the Tournament, they just didn’t happen to be within his borders at the time. Four of his people had been invited: him included. His country was far smaller and less densely populated than the other countries of Trammel and for his country to have a full four invitees was a wonderful thing.

Rex’s primary concern was more with the other invitee before him. She wasn’t a citizen of his country; she wasn’t even human. She looked like a gargantuan elderly woman easily twice the size of the tallest man around, and that was even with her hunched over posture curling so far forward she had to support herself upon a large cane tipped by a furry sphere. That cane uneased Rex, he felt it dip deeply into the soul sea, that and the fact that its long black fur swayed along oddly with a non-existent wind.

The giant woman was a rough sight, disheveled and haggard, her skin seemed damp to the touch and was riddled in thick mossy clumps. Where her eyes should have been instead was a large clump of moss where a small white flower bloomed.

None of this bothered Rex; no, the issue he had with the monstrous woman was that she could see into the soul sea and so she saw Rex’s spiritual companion, worst of all was how she treated it.

“I have never seen a soul so powerful before.” Her voice croaked in awe. “Not even my little fruit could compare to you.”

Even through Goldy’s inhuman body it was clear to see it fill with pride. “Yes, Rex don’t you see! This is how a mortal should treat a deity such as I! Worship me puny peons!” The elderly woman chuckled as a doting grandmother would to a child.

Rex could only plant his face into his palm “Please don’t encourage it.”

This was going to be a long day.

Anhydrous desert – Edge of the Phlogiston tribe (27 days before the Tournament)

The entire tribe had gathered to see Hiemal off. He hadn’t been born with the tribe but there was no doubt that he was one of them. Yes, his skin tone and accent differed, and unlike their nearly nude forms he was dressed head to toe in layers upon layers of thick woolen winter garb, but nonetheless he was one of them.

The two young fraternal twins Mondo and Zen held back there tears as best they could putting on a stoic face in front of the adults. Mondo was the one who could build up the courage to speak. “You’ll come back right Mr. Crockpot?”

Hiemal felt his heart shatter at her plea. He put a great big smile on his face. “Of course, and I’m sure I’ll have all kinds of new stories to share too.” The two twins ran forward embracing their beloved Mr. Crockpot in a hug. And with their faces buried in his clothes they hoped none of the adults could see the few tears they let drop.

Hiemal then turned to the village elder. They didn’t speak but they shared a knowing look. With a nod to the elder he unlatched from the childrens’ grip and departed.

Cruor Swamps – (24 days before the Tournament)

Squally rode upon a large beast of crocodilian form with terribly tall twig-like legs. Using this creature made traversing the cruor swamps trivially easy and Squally felt honored that he could experience this strange form of transport. The journey from the Tarragon monastery to the mountain pass was not really a trip any human would embark on lightly, but this strange fungal swamp denizen was kind enough to share a seat upon its crocodilian transport and give him a ride. The fungal denizen too had been invited to the Tournament; the swamp denizens were rarely cooperative though, so he still felt surprised that it offered aid.

The creature was a tall vaguely humanoid shaped mushroom. It leant one of its appendages down to Squally where a small circle of reddish fungi sprouted. “Eat, we travel for long time more.”

Squally felt a little strange eating mushrooms offered to him by a larger mushroom. Were they poisonous? It’s children? He didn’t want to be rude, sure he wasn’t a noble anymore, but he had a legacy to still keep proud.

He ate the mushrooms. It was a good trip.

Ocean – aboard a mokoi longship (23 days before the Tournament)

The festering corpse of a dead horse trotted excitedly back and forth across the main deck of the ship. The creature was so excited! It now knew where it could find its master and it would hug her, and lick her, and they’ll live happily ever after! The creature had also found that angry general who as expected was as angry and unfun as ever.

General Zeal stood tall at the stern of the ship watching the mokoi work across the deck trying to steer clear of that terrible weapon. Even Zeal found himself terrified of that horse, he had seen its power firsthand. Regardless, he knew it would help in finding the princess and he hoped that with her support they could reclaim their land.

The mokoi depended on it.

Sodality of Cinder – Carriage traveling east from Sodality (22 days before the Tournament)

Scoria sat silently within the extravagant carriage idly playing with the silken pouch of ash in his hand. A heavy somberness filled his heart as he felt the pouch’s weight.

Sanguine wasn’t sure how to comfort her saddened pen pal. Besides, there probably wasn’t much consolation a thirteen-year-old girl could do without appearing condescending. She wasn’t feeling too fantastic either. She saw the Tournament matchups: she had to fight the white witch. The idea of fighting such a beast filled her with dread. She felt a pull and desire reach up from deep within the soul sea and Sanguine had to quickly clamp down on her emotions to stamp that out.

Scoria pulled his gaze away from the pouch shooting the two girls sitting across from him a hollow smile. “It’s nice to know that you two got invited to the Tournament too. See Épée, I told you you’d get invited.”

Épée perked up at the opportunity to clear the heavy atmosphere. “Yeah, you should have seen my father’s face when I got the invitation right in front of him and my brothers.”

Scoria grinned at the thought. He was really happy for Épée, she needed the win. “I see you brought your own sword though?” He questioned pointing to the large black sheathe resting next to her.

Épée let out a frustrated tsk at the reminder “Father says he’ll only let me use the family sword if I win my first match.”

Sanguine jumped into the conversation trying to distract herself from her own emotional malaise. “Then I guess you just have to win your matchup.” Épée smiled at that.

Bemean – Royal Palace ( 21 days before The Tournament)

They numbered in the hundreds, mighty and towering over him. They fluttered and flowed, blanketing the sky and forming an endless sea of dark horrors. Their threat weighed heavy upon his soul; he knew that this would be a battle like no other he had ever faced, one which would force many sleepless nights of unending ferocity and perseverance. He had been to battle many times before and had shed much blood, but truly these battlegrounds were likely to become his personal cemetery: surely one man could not accomplish the task before him. He knew, however, that to doubt oneself is to willingly take the first step towards defeat. Though haunting him of late, he could not let such insecurities bar him from his ordeal. He firmly clutched his mighty weapon, gathering his strength and steeling his will. With a dash into the ink his weapon was unsheathed, ready to thrust into the first opponent.

A guest list for the Bemeanian royal palace gala. Attendee signature: Ad Rem, guest: None.

A regal attendant silently watched the haggard soldier fill out the paper finally speaking once noticing he had finished. “May I see your invitation captain?”

Ad silently pulled out a glowing parchment and presented it to the attendant. The attendant had already seen eleven other similar parchments, but he still couldn’t help having his eyes widen at the awe inspired by the paper. The attendant didn’t let his amazement shine through his voice however. “Congratulations and welcome captain Rem. You would be the last Tournament invitee to arrive.”

The exhausted captain Rem was guided into the palace as he let out a tired sigh. It felt strange to be so tired when he had spent most of the day doing nothing sitting in a carriage, but there was a mental tax to the endeavor. He belonged in a battlefield not a gala. The only positive point was that this event was a preamble to a battlefield so in that point he held solace.

He scanned around the massive palace great hall identifying a large congregation of excited nobles surrounding many different Tournament invitees. Rem’s mood immediately soured as he spotted his least favorite person seeming aggravatingly youthful.

“Why is that guy glaring at you?” Iatric questioned to her husband with her arms locked against his.

The couple had just finally managed to push the latest crowd away from themselves and though Iatric was well trained to not show it, she didn’t want this new entrant to so soon shatter their peace. After all, as her husband was a Tournament invitee this gala was in part for them, take on top of that that this pair were two of the most famous people in the world and it was obvious that they would be getting a lot of attention. It wasn’t all awful though, Iatric was happy to visit her old home and see her father the king.

“I don’t know.” Her husband responded. Doyen, the hero of New Heirisson conquest and now as decreed by The Tournament also simply: The Hero. “He seems familiar though. I think I must have beat him in a duel at some point or something.”

Iatric squinted her aged eyes to see the man better. “Isn’t that Captain Ad Rem famed leader of Murugan squad?” Now that she had a better look at the man, she couldn’t believe that she hadn’t immediately recognized him. Age had not treated him well and he looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks.

“Maybe.” Doyen just shrugged his shoulders not really caring either way.

Mason awkwardly fidgeted with the sleeves of his flamboyant attire. He wasn’t one that was much for the marketing or socializing side but as head engineer of the TOIL initiative he was asked, more accurately ordered, to attend this gala.

It wouldn’t have been much of a problem; he could’ve just kept low and let the shiny metal hulk that was the Toil do all the metaphorical talking while Starlet and their boss did the actual talking. That strategy could have worked if it wasn’t for one small hiccup: The TOIL initiative’s founder was here.

“You actually completed it.” The man stated with subdued pride. He circled about the large metal being analyzing each and every joint and gear. Mason couldn’t help but grow goosebumps as the founder occasionally hummed and nodded at some understanding only he was aware of. “I must say I’m surprised that you had solved this riddle of mine here so quickly.” The founder stated knocking against the glittering chassis of the TOIL. Mason couldn’t hide his frown from hearing the founder call it his riddle. “How were you able to decipher the incalescent fire’s neural logic through the rotational essence fields? You must have had to build some form of adaptive algorithm, there are far too many moving parts for simple trial and error, right?”

Starlet could see the light flare out from Mason’s eyes as he realized that the founder was not just a businessman but as much of a nerd as they were. “We did precisely that!” Mason excitedly jumped into the conversation “We had been thinking far too complicated the whole time; our final algorithm ended up being beautifully simplistic.” Mason gushed unable to contain himself once there was someone he could share his excitement with that could also understand what he was saying.

Before Mason could lose himself too far in his raving his boss interjected. “I’m sorry for my employee Mason here. I can tell you sir that if it wasn’t for him your project would have never been completed so quickly.” The founder couldn’t help but sense that the man wasn’t actually happy about that fact. It almost seemed like he was trying to stop Mason from speaking anymore about this algorithm of theirs. “I am truly honored to finally meet you in person Mr. Surety but may I inquire why you are here?”

The founder smiled at the man’s question. “Just Surety is fine. And the answer to why I am here is quite simple; I was invited.” Everyone’s eyes bulged as Surety’s smile only grew larger.

The king clinked a silver spoon against his goblet gathering the attention of everyone in the great hall. “I don’t mean to interrupt any of you for too long so I will keep this brief. I have just been informed that all of the known Tournament invitee residents of Bemean have arrived. Firstly, I would like to personally congratulate all of you. Can I have a hand for: Ad Rem The Knight,” Immediately after the king’s announcement a massive chorus of applauds exploded throughout the room.

“Doyen Heirisson The Hero,” The crowd redoubled in their applause with an even grander furor much to Rem’s displeasure. Meanwhile, Doyen still felt strange hearing his last name, he still wasn’t used to it.

“Wish Heirisson The Chosen,” The crowd continued its applause with some cheers and whistles from a few of the younger attendees.

“Sully Surety The Archeologist,” Many of the noble’s gasped in amazement that the notorious scientist had been invited to a combat tournament.

“Tiffany, daughter of Paltry The Craven,” The applause continued out of necessitated courteousness but no one really recognized the name and without a last name the fact that she was clearly a peasant didn’t raise much hope for anyone.

“Copse The Bud,” People craned their necks and searched around to see if they could find this elusive invitee though none could find them.

“The Toil,” Mason straightened his shoulders, pride filling him as he heard the title of his work called out by the king of his country.

“Nymph The Fairy,” Many murmurs and questions spread out as people made sidelong glances to the small glowing green sphere at the edge of the room.

“Poetaster The Flare,” A massive chorus rivalling that of which was given for Doyen exploded from the room.

“Pinna The Friend,” The applause became noticeably quieter as a general hatred filled the room.

“And Liederkranz The Band!” The king waited for the applause to finally die down before continuing his speech. “You eleven along with our prodigious wizard Espy Foofaraw The Obstacle, who sadly could not make it here, are the pride of our country and your patriotic courage will represent your whole people in the Tournament to come. Here also invited to this gala are some of our country’s most influential and powerful people who I’m sure would love to sponsor and support you through your trials. Of course, the royal family will also provide you all with whatever amenities are required to get you to your respective arenas and help you win your bouts!” With a raised goblet and a cheer of excitement the room returned back to its usual mingling.

Copse couldn’t believe that ridiculous speech the big fat man said. He called Copse out as if Copse was just another one of the fat man’s citizens! Unbelievable! Copse wouldn’t have even come to this silly place but needed one of the fat man’s wagons since Copse didn’t know how to get to its arena.

But just because Copse needed the fat mans help wouldn’t mean it would be happy about it. The tiny creature made sure to avoid anyone at the party hiding in one of the great hall’s corners while glaring at a line of wooden chairs and tables not too far off. The audacity of these humans!

Tiffany toyed and pulled at the discomforting strap of the gawdy dress she was wearing. Puce had leant her one of his sister’s dresses so that she didn’t have to arrive at the party in her dirty drawls. Tiffany hated the cumbersome clothes but there was so much on her mind that in a very uncharacteristic bout of silence she accepted the dress without question. Now Puce had taken it upon himself to guide her around the gala introducing her to every stuck-up rich moron he knew.

Tiffany’s aggrieved journey across the great hall was halted by the gravelly call of a large man. “Puce my boy! What are you doing here, and with a beautiful maiden no less?” The large man called over to the two teenagers and when Tiffany caught sight of him it was obvious that this was Puce’s father. “…and in your sister’s clothes.” His father added upon getting a better look at Tiffany. “Weren’t you supposed to be staying at the Yearn estate?”

Puce waved his father’s concerns off more excited to introduce his dame. Tiffany didn’t much like how casually Puce was accepting and even enjoying the building conception that the two of them were some kind of couple. She hoped Puce wasn’t getting any ideas. “Yes, yes father. But when Tiffany here was called over to this gala I knew I had to return home with her!”

Puce’s father raised an eyebrow at his son’s words. “Tiffany… as in Tiffany the Craven, the Tournament invitee?”

Puce’s smile broadened. “Yes, the very same! I was thinking that our family could sponsor her in The Tournament.”

Tiffany scoffed at the very thought. “Yeah right. Like I’d accept your condescending handouts.” Tiffany bitterly spat to the ground causing Puce’s father to take a disturbed step back.

“She would love to accept any aid your family could provide to help her chances in the arena.” Of course that aggravating old coot Care could never help himself enough with interfering in her affairs. As the man who had alerted the royal family of Tiffany’s Tournament invitation, he had been made her chaperone, but there was no illusion that it wasn’t a thinly veiled excuse to tie a warden to keep her in line.

“Guh! I need a drink.” Tiffany stormed off away from the group hurriedly rushing to a food stand at one of the edges of the gala. She pulled at the collar of her dress; it was so suffocating. This place was so suffocating. She didn’t even want to take part in this idiotic Tournament. Tiffany reached in between her dress and pulled out a small vial she had kept hidden. A Dark bubbling liquid was kept within. She uncorked the vial and drank.

Wish was a famous person. It wasn’t just the fact that he was the son of Doyen the Hero of New Heirisson conquest or that he was the son of a princess of Bemean. Those facts helped of course but he had his own fare share of personal prestige, he was invited to the Tournament at the young age of fifteen after all.

Despite the fact that he was among the most acclaimed individuals present, there was not a single noble trying to speak with him. This was because of the mokoi that was here. Under any other circumstances that vile creature would be slain where it stood, but the Tournament invitation it carried served both as an armistice of peace and also a warning of the strength this creature possessed.

“So umm, uh, hi. I’m the Friend.” The mokoi said sheepishly betraying her massive and terrifying form. She spoke slowly struggling to articulate the ‘n’ of friend as her mokoi anatomy made the human language a little difficult to parse. She scratched at the semi-transparent quills on her shoulder with her horrific claws in some kind of nervous tick. “Or well that’s not my real name obviously. My name is…” She scratched her shoulder with a little more vigor as she thought for a few seconds. “Pinna I think is how you say it in human.”

Wish sipped his wine trying his best not to appear too disgusted or offput by the truly gargantuan foe, the one from the same race which his family was famed for slaughtering on mass. “Wish.” He simply replied.

Pinna waved her arm forward making Wish jump back to dodge her attack. “Oh sorry Wish! I didn’t mean to scare you. I thought humans did handshakes as greetings. I haven’t been able to study your culture too well.” Pinna said with a strange sadness to her tone redoubling in her shoulder scratching.

It almost made Wish feel bad for her. “Oh… yes we do do that.” He cautiously took her paw and shook it making the large mokoi curve its transparent beak in a truly grotesque way that sent shivers across his spine.

Pinna hoped she was doing the smile thing right while shaking Wish’s hands. Internally she was squealing in glee, she was at a human event talking with humans and touching humans and not fighting a single one! It also meant she couldn’t eat any of them but that was a sacrifice she was willing to make. “Do you want to be friends?”

Wish took another sip of wine and raised a wary brow at the disgusting mokoi.

The wonderous Poetaster stood among a crowd of dreamy eyed nobles all gawking at the magnificent magics that Poetaster played for them. Poetaster was an impossibly beautiful person many of both the men and women swooning at every word and gesture performed. The attention was intoxicating, and Poetaster found themselves a little irritated that Doyen the Hero had garnered himself an equally fawning crowd.

Both Poetaster and their surrounding crowd were then rocked from their discussion by the high-pitched squeak of a nearby voice. “Hyia there Flare! I’m Nymph it’s nice to meet you!” Everyone turned to see a small glowing ball of green approach them. For those who squinted they could see that within that ball floated a very tiny naked human sporting antennae and four insect wings. Though naked, the tiny human was not immodest as it had no genitalia to begin with. Nymph flashed a bright smile revealing their rows of giant razor-sharp teeth which caused many of the crowd to flinch back.

Poetaster did not react to the teeth and simply returned with a smile of their own. “It is wonderful to make acquaintance with another Tournament invitee.” Poetaster gave a respectful bow which made Nymph clench its stomach in giddy laughter; the laughter was strange and inhuman resembling more like the clicking of cicadas.

The little fairy was very off putting to many of the crowd and ever since its arrival they each began to feel quite nauseous, so the crowd dispersed leaving Nymph alone with a very unimpressed Poetaster.

With the crowd now dispersed Nymph redoubled its smile as it eyed Poetaster hungrily. “You smell different!” It exclaimed with uncontained excitement.

Poetaster cocked an eyebrow quickly realizing that they did not like this little human. “How so?”

“It’s kind of like that hero guy over there but I can tell the weird smell on him is just a topping. You though-“ Nymph licked its lips almost incapable of holding back its drooling saliva. “You’re a full course meal!”

Poetaster was taken aback by the strange little creature which only made it break out into more of that cicada like laughter. “I don’t think I quite follow you.” Poetaster deadpanned hoping they could end this conversation quickly and mingle back with the gala.

“Liver!” Nymph exclaimed throwing up their tiny arms in praise. “I love livers! I’m the pretty generous sort so I tend to leave them for the other forest animals, but I don’t need to share in this Tournament.” Nymph smirked again at the very idea. “Nope, nope. It will be all for me! I’ll get every cut of flesh.” Nymph floated back and shook their head trying to jog themselves out of their own reverie. “Do you have a liver Mx. Flare? You look pretty human on the outside, but I’ve eaten mokoi before and they tend to be pretty diverse inside.”

Poetaster’s eyes suddenly shot wide at Nymph’s proclamation. Poetaster put on an aghast face furling into a frown. “How dare you compare me to such a thing! I would neve-“

Nymph quickly interrupted Poetaster by raising a hand towards them to stop while supporting their stomach with the other as it laughed out in uncontrollable jubilation. “Stop, stop. You’re making my abs hurt from laughing too much!” Nymph wiped some tears from their eyes and took deep breaths trying to fill themselves back with air. “Don’t worry Mx. Flare, I won’t share your secret with anyone just yet, that would spoil the fun of teasing you!”

Poetaster was very angry with the little cretin now and was just about ready to storm off in a huff. “Of course, I’ll have to wait if I want you to share your liver with me. You’ll have to beat her in The Tournament first.” Nymph spoke pointing to a middle-aged woman across the room.

“Captain!” Liederkranz exclaimed as she made her way over to her old instructor. The captain was clearly quite tired carrying heavy bags under each eye, but he visibly perked up at the sight of his pupil.

“Liederkranz it is wonderful to see you! How have you been?” Captain Rem asked out with genuine interest. Liederkranz had always been one of his favorites.

“I’ve been great, the kids at my school are always a blast. A rowdy teenager isn’t much better than a snarling mokoi but I’ll take what I can get!” Liederkranz laughed at her own joke thinking back to her kids in the village. “Though I will admit I’m pretty excited to get some action again.”

Rem gave her an emphatic smile. “You know we could really use you back in our forces. The top brass are having me form a new murugan squad and I tell you, the new generation just doesn’t cut it.” Rem shook his head in lamentation remembering all the paperwork awaiting him.

Liederkranz just laughed at his complaints. “Oh, don’t be like that captain. I think I remember you thought the same of me when I first joined the squad. We should leave the heavy action to the younger generation. Shouldn’t you be thinking of retiring yourself soon? I know my bones feel the toll of the war I can’t imagine how you’re feeling.”

Rem let out a heavy sigh as he ran a hand through his salt and pepper hair before putting his smile back on. “Nonsense Liederkranz I still have some years of fight in me. At least the tournament corporation thinks so.”

That gave Liederkranz a chuckle. “I’d love to talk to you some more captain, but I was hoping I’d be able to catch Iatric and Doyen before they get too overwhelmed by the crowd again.” Captain Rem frowned at hearing Doyen’s name which just made Liederkranz smile more. “Oh, don’t be such a grump captain. I’m sure you’ll get your rematch in the Tournament.”

Rem just waved her off. “Yes, yes, go say hi to your friends.”

Liederkranz turned to make her way towards her old friends but saw that she had been beaten to the punch by another Tournament invitee. Lieaderkranz was impressed by how young the girl was, she was young enough to be one of her students for goodness sake!

Tiffany stumbled her way towards that ‘oh so wonderful and amazing hero’ gosh, makes her sick! Her walk over was far from straight as her booze filled head struggled to place each foot in front of the other.

“Hey hero boy!” She shouted out towards the heavy built man louder than intended and causing a large portion of the gala to turn her way. Unbeknownst to her, the elderly Care blanched as he noticed her state and where she was walking.

The Hero Doyen looked at Tiffany in confusion, he understood that she was another Tournament invitee but nothing else, and he couldn’t really care to know more. Tiffany hiccupped as her body swayed barely managing to stand up right. “You don’t look so tough to me.” She sneered jabbing at his chest with an accusatory finger. He could smell the heavy scent of alcohol waft from her breath.

Doyen was taken aback by the provocation; he really had no idea how to deal with this situation. He turned over to Iatric, his much more socially oriented wife for aid, but it was clear on her face that she was just as lost on how to act as he.

“So lame, only wife you got could outlive a devadoot.” She scoffed. “Mustn’t have much below the belt do you?” She insulted grabbing her crotch in a mocking gesture. Now Doyen would not just stand to have someone openly insult his wife a PRINCESS in the ROYAL PALACE with all these people present. He was about to unleash his wrath upon this girl but before he could she folded over puking on his shoe.

Bemean – Isolated Farm (21 days before the Tournament)

Among the large fields of potatoes a great entity of cosmic turbulence put down its straw-hat. The Noumenon had delayed for long enough. It turned back to its manufactured family and copied the human affirmatory action of waving. Now it had to visit its other family once more, and this time it would not lose.

Country of Smiling Skies – Border to Golden Country (21 days before the Tournament)

He never thought the day would come. He was going to leave his home. Wander back into the realm of the humans and let them again ponder over the use of his powers. This time it would be different though. He would win the Tournament and bring nature to the world, cataclysmic, destructive nature.

Aegis – Abandoned Safe House near Cruor Swamps (20 days before the Tournament)

The girl removed her porcelain wolf mask and ran the fingers of her only remaining arm through her knotted wheat hair. She stared down at the canvas map that splayed across the olden table. From across the room a lithe man wearing a fox mask entered. “Has turtle woken up yet?” The girl asked hoping at least for some good news to come out of this day.

Sadly, her prayers would go unanswered, and the fox shook his head in the negative

“Shame, I always liked turtle.” The two people immediately turned defensively poised at the source of this new voice. The girl was quick to dawn her wolf mask again in preparation. The fox and wolf found themselves facing a person wearing the porcelain mask of a yellow octopus and they immediately tensed in fear.

“Relax-” The octopus tried to soothe raising their arms to show that they meant no harm. “As it turns out, I’m in the same boat as the rest of you.”

The fox scoffed back bitterly at the intruder. “Oh yeah? And which boat would that be?”

“I too have been abandoned by the Masks.” The octopus answered matter-of-factly. It shrugged its shoulder as if it thought the outcome to have been inevitable. “To be expected really, after I let the lamb die. Just wasn’t expecting it to happen so fast.” The octopus shook its head almost disappointed. “Didn’t even get the chance to empty my office.”

The wolf channeled some energy into her one remaining arm causing a faint silver glow to emanate from it. “If you’re not with the Masks then why are you here?”

The wolf couldn’t see through the octopus mask, but she knew that the person behind was now smiling. “I come here with an offer of course!” It raised its arms up as if to embrace the air before it. “We may not work together under the Masks, but that doesn’t mean we can’t work together outside of it.”

“And why would we want to work together?” The fox spat bitterly.

“Because for now our goals align.” The octopus paused for what the wolf knew it thought was dramatic effect. “You want the rabbit; I want the briefcase. Why don’t we help each other out?”

Aegis – Hengist Island (19 days before the Tournament)

There were three moons in the night sky, two of which stood laterally across one another above the inactive volcano on the island. With a jolting lunge the two moons disappeared leaving only one moon to light the night below.

Sodality of Rain – Bathos Pool (18 days before the Tournament)

The Bathos pool was as peaceful as it had ever been, like a blank pane of glass without a single wave or ripple the pond reflected the world around it perfectly. Unfortunately, this meant that the pool was currently reflecting the very heated argument that was occurring right next to it.

“Then that just means we have to strike the Pleurothallidinae now before the Tournament even starts!”

Firn couldn’t even believe that his supposed guards were just idly standing on the wayside while this woman berated their prince. Maybe the fact that this woman sported more muscle mass than the two of them combined and could probably make mince meat of them with a single hand helped encourage their passivity. Regardless, he was getting quite irritated with how his own people were treating him. Had he really fallen so low in the eyes of his people.

“I’m afraid that simply is not feasible Ms. Weltschmerz. The warband won’t be ready in time, to send our troupes on an assault now would be suicide.” Firn tried to placate his subject. He could sympathize with her, he really could. He didn’t want the Pleurothallidinae tainting their territory as much as anybody but eventually pragmatism had to be taken into account.

Weltschmerz wasn’t having any of it though. “Why are we even going to the Tournament!? Let’s just ignore it, fight our own battle!”

Firn released an aggrieved sigh while rubbing his ear as if it would somehow soothe the pain of her yelling. “The winner of the Tournament gets any wish they desire granted. You could just fight in the Tournament, not risk the lives of your countrymen, and then wish for all mokoi extinct. It would be less risk and higher reward.”

Weltschmerz was about to retort but was interrupted by the other man present. “Weltschmerz please, think about it. If you want to stop the Pleurothallidinae with the least number of casualties, the Tournament is your best bet.” Weltschmerz turned to face Errant. The young man with the frankly titanic sword had been sitting off to the side pretending to be interested in a pebble that a strange rock monster was showing it while trying to avoid the argument Firn and Weltschmerz were having for as long as possible. He wasn’t a citizen of the sodality; this wasn’t his conflict to intervene in, but his friend was in distress. He could see her clenching her bandaged fist fighting back the tears.

Weltschmerz turned to face Errant, her face boiling red. “You’re not even-“

She never got to finish her sentence as the doors opening to the pool flew open and the guards collapsed. “Oh don’t vorry about it my little mizzy. Ve can vinish our little curfuffle after the Tournament.”

Everyone turned to the doorway where they saw an impossibly lengthy man nearly three thrice the size of anyone else present with skin so pale it seemed sickly. He carried over his head a giant yellow umbrella shaped like the day star and wore an elegant asymmetrical green sundress with one sleeve that ended with a glove. Everyone present immediately recognized who the creature was.

“Vhat? Vhy do you look at me like zat? You don’t like my drezz?” Weltschmerz charged towards the man throwing her fist against his face. Her attack barely missed as he stepped off to the side. “Now now darling. The Tournament iz only in a few dayz no need to rush. If you attack me now, then my army will retaliate and many will die. Let uz fight vith honor at the Tournament and not make more trouble than nezezary. You humanz like vat yez? Honor and lezz dead?”

The lengthy man with the umbrella suddenly stopped dodging the incoming attacks and scrunched his nose. He tilted his head up slightly sniffing at the air then his eyes bulged wide. “Vat iz that zmell!? Zuch vunderfull blood.” The man squealed almost swooning.

A shadow fell over the pool and everyone looked up to see that the day star had been blotted by the dozen wings of a giant bird. Firn couldn’t help but let out another sigh. “You’ve got to be kidding me! What is it now!?”

As the shape approached, everyone could see that it wasn’t a bird but a woman. Well, not quite a woman; the many wings made it clear that they were now in the presence of a devadoot. The woman flapped her wings to slow her descent causing massive waves to wash over the grass and pool. She landed delicately before Firn and folded her plethora of wings wrapping them around her naked bod until she was as if cocooned. From neck to toes one could only see her brown spotted wings; only her face was left revealed with the wings on the side of her head still extended out.

Firn took a few steps back both puzzled and a little worried. “Greetings devadoot. For what do we owe the pleasure of your presence?” Firn questioned uncertainly, the devadoots weren’t worshipped as gods anymore but he still didn’t want to incur their wrath upon his people.

The devadoot woman fell upon one knee bowing to firn. She spoke up, her voice barely a whisper. “You need not watch your tongue in my presence my lord. My name is Tartuffe and I have willfully cast myself away from the divine realm and the devadoots. If my lord allows it I would like to fight in the Tournament as a representative of your sodality and upon my victory wish to be a human under your domain.”

Firn glossed over the obvious arrogance of her assuredness at winning the Tournament and concentrated more on the very fact that a devadoot was bowing to him. A smile grew on Firn’s face. If only one person in his entire kingdom was going to respect his authority, he was happy that at least it was the person who was once worshipped as a god.

Anhydrous desert – No clue where (15 days before the Tournament)

The man walked on through the heavy sandstorm, his clothes torn asunder, and skin burnt to ragged leather by the heavy breath of the day star. Why couldn’t he have been invited to the arena that was in the desert? He didn’t think much when going into it but now that he had to leave the desert in a timely manner he was really regretting going in without a plan. Any footprints left from when he entered had long since been filled.

The sandstorm blew his frail body into the air flinging him several steps back. He let out a pained and frustrated groan before getting back up and staring at the small valley he had been trying to traverse for the past few hours.

He took a step forward trying again.

Aegis – Adventurer’s guild headquarters main hall (15 days before the Tournament)

Rod crunched down on a hearty carrot as he spied the main hall through his essence lens. Sure his healer told him that the carrots would be good for his eyes but no matter how many he ate, nothing could beat the magical information given by the lens.

The adventurer’s guild was crowded, even by its own standards, and that meant a lot because the adventurer’s guild in Aegis was always crowded. Aegis’s current geopolitical situation found itself in that perfect niche where getting a job as a dangerous monster fighting, trailblazing, disease catching, ruffian was one of the safest things to be. Suffice it to say, the royalty of Aegis was not in the best position to take care of the Tournament invitees within its borders which brought with it a great opportunity of exploitation for the guild. A few hundred platinum was pittance to invest if it meant having nine of the world’s greatest warriors owing them a favor.

Rod didn’t care about any of those details though. He was a bounty hunter not an adventurer. He didn’t even really care about the Tournament that much either. What he was looking for was bounties, and he was not disappointed.

Far outside of the guild hall on a small hill outside of town Tiff watched the party through a window. He needed help finding his way to the arenas but there was no way he could actually go to the guild. Someone of his infamy would be immediately attacked without a second to explain himself; and given the reason for the large gathering at the guild, there was a good chance that such an attack could end with him killed. It had been a long time since the threat of death ever graced his mind.

He wouldn’t risk approaching any more than this. He would watch from a distance tonight and tomorrow he would stealthily follow the wagons to his arena.

The man always dressed for a better occasion than the one he was in, his high-quality suit and tie stood out like a sore thumb against the raunchy gambesons and leathers of smelly adventurers. He kept his pink porcelain rabbit mask hidden within his vest just in case. Currently he was standing in front of someone that had no problems publicly displaying their mask, though he doubted they were a part of the same group as his master. He had never before seen anyone with three masks.

The woman before him wore the mask of a doe on her face but then wore the mask of a mantis and sloth as shoulder pauldrons over her thick cloak. If that wasn’t concerning enough, she too carried with her a briefcase. “Where did you get that?” He asked pointing to her briefcase.

She moved the case behind her leg as if that somehow hid it from his gaze. “What’s a briefcase?” she quizzed in what the man was hoping was feigned ignorance.

“That.” He said pointing again at the briefcase behind her legs. “That thing you’re trying to hide from me is a briefcase.”

She lifted the briefcase up so that it was almost hidden behind her back, its wide frame just slightly poking out. “I’m not hiding anything from you.”

“Then why don’t you just show me what’s behind your back?” He firmly stated beginning to lose his patience.

She neither moved or said anything for a while merely frozen in statuesque stillness. “…I don’t want to.”

The man glowered daggers into her expressionless doe mask but before he could step forward to take the case by force, he was halted by an approaching one armed skeleton. “let’s not cause a commotion and ruin a perfect drink, shall we?” The skeleton chuckled handing out drinks to the two before gulping down his own. Without any organs his drink merely trickled down his exposed bones falling to the floor.

“Besides, you two causing a ruckus right now would just be impatient. You two are about to fight each other in the first bracket anyways.” The man turned away from the skeleton and back to the doe masked woman, an eager smile climbing on his face.

Eddy was a little disappointed. He was hoping that he would be able to see some of those super awesome heroes he always dreamed of as a kid, but it didn’t seem like any of them were here. He had no idea why on earth some random farmhand like him would get an invitation to the famed Tournament, but he was going to use this opportunity to get as many autographs as he could.

Sure, there weren’t any of the Saviors, or murugan squad here but at least Eddy could rest his eyes on what he would swear was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She had a tall slender frame with wild brown hair and carried a strange furry bow slung across her back.

Eddy steeled his will and approached the girl. It seemed she didn’t even notice his arrival and he had to fake a cough into his hand to get her attention. “Um, hello I’m Eddy…” he trailed off meekly before realizing this gathering was for him! He was a big deal now. He tried to deepen his voice and speak with a powerful confidence. “But the Tournament Corporation just calls me the Bolide.”

The girl chuckled as his antics seemed anything but powerful or confident. “Biddy, Tournament calls me the Toxophilite.”

Eddy froze, his stoicism disappearing off as if it had never graced him at all. She was also invited to the Tournament! He was way out of his league. “Entering the Tournament as an archer?” he asked pointing to her bow. She only nodded in response. “That sounds pretty tough, archery doesn’t really make for a good dueling weapon. You’d have to be like Schlemiel the savage archer or something to keep up.” Eddy stated sounding a little more dismissive of her than he actually intended to be.

Thankfully, she didn’t take his statement as an insult. “Well, she was one of my teachers so hopefully I can match her.” Eddy’s jaw dropped; he was so out of his league! “And you? What weapon are you bringing to the Tournament?”

Eddy looked up; his eyes glazing passed the ceiling high up towards a nothingness. He let out a half-worried chuckle “I have no idea.”

Pithy gently stroked the faintly yellow glowing lantern cage hanging by his waist. It never did well in large groups but Pithy had to bear with it so that they could find their way to an arena. A man quickly finding himself on the wrong side of tipsy approached Pithy. “Want to make a bet?”

“No” Pithy responded blandly.

The ‘tipsy’ man ignored Pithy’s disinterest continuing. “I bet that you are one of the Tournament invitees here.

“Not a very hard thing to guess.” Pithy retorted unimpressed.

“Hah!” the man chortled gleefully “Yes, yes, so I would agree.” The man nodded as he spoke, Pithy wasn’t quite sure if it was in agreement or to sleep. A deep grin came upon the man’s face which made Pithy feel a little uncomfortable. “I would like to offer you a game.”

Before departing out on the adventurer guild funded wagons heading to each of the arena’s, the guild was a place to do what adventurers did best when not adventuring: party. The night stretched on and the drinks got more alcoholic as voices got louder. In this rough and tumbling place of burly men and sharp weapons, two short children stood off to the side.

Waif fiddled with her giant spear feeling wholly uncomfortable in this place. Some of the guild staff said they would prepare her a room to stay the night, but she still had to wait a while longer. At least she had the half terrifying half entertaining ranting of Schizo her spear to distract her. “Gaze upon these tiny morsels Waif. The woe that my soul suffers to see that even fellow humans would commit travesties as vile as imprisoning souls drives metaphorical bile to my metaphorical mouth. Worry not though Waif! We will cleanse the world of these evils soon when we rule over them all with an iron fury!”

The second child next to Waif tilted its head. The child’s voice came out muffled through her porcelain mask colored in yellow and purple and was made even more difficult to understand through her thick accent. “Why want you iron fury?”

Waif tensed suddenly “You can hear Schizo?”

Waif’s companion nodded in affirmation “Yes, and see friend.” She pointed to the empty air in front of Waif.

“Friend?” she asked questioningly.

Schizo chimed in. “Oh yeah I forgot to mention there’s this ghost kid whose been trying to talk to us for the past half hour.”

Waif’s eyes grew like saucers. “What!? Why didn’t you say so?”

This time it was the other child who tried to chime in. “Maybe because scary fox monster look for her. Schizo might not want fox sniff him.”

“Hey! I am not afraid of some dirty mutt!” Waif ignored her spear’s aggravated vim.

“I’m sure its very nice, I’m Waif by the way.”

“Human name Vow.” The masked girl said tapping her chest.

Though Waif couldn’t see or hear the ghost she joined in on the introductions. “I’m Ignis, and that fox you’re talking about is called Basal. He’s my pet.” She said excitedly.

Vow nodded at Ignis then Waif. “Greeting Ignis, greeting Waif. It make happy to me to make friend with you.”

Waif pouted at her spear, feeling a little betrayed that he didn’t tell her about Ignis. “Sorry if I was ignoring you Ignis, it’s nice to meet you.” The three children smiled at each other.

Serpentine Mountains – A Cave atop the second largest mountain (14 days before the Tournament)

A large sack flopped at the mouth of the cave filled with dozens upon dozens of literary texts. Still now, even more books and scrolls were being flung into the sack from deeper within the cave. Next to the sack a human woman stood, her eyes glazed as she had long since fallen into the routine tedium of dealing with her master. “Master we really should be departing soon. I’m sure you have enough books by now. If you need more we can just buy some in the city.”

The rustling from within the cave suddenly stopped. “Humans sell books?” The voice was deep and rumbling, the baritone of the voice so deep that the woman could physically feel it vibrate within her chest.

“Yes master.” She replied blandly.

“Why would human’s willingly give away such mesmerizing works of knowledge!?” The voice in the cave exclaimed in bafflement.

“Humans tend to make duplicates of their books to share with others master.” Again, she spoke without an ounce of inflection or emotion.

There was no reply from within the cave for a while until suddenly that deep voice shook again. “That is brilliant! For one to document the discoveries they make to pass to another so that those others can expand upon and make their own discoveries! They’re probably trying to make up for their stupidity through cooperation! Maitre d’ why have you not told me about this sooner?”

“I apologize master it slipped my mind.” Maitre d’ apathetically sidestepped away from the sack as the source of the voice ran out of the cave. The voice came from a massive dragon with a long wormlike body covered in flowing blue fur and lanceolate wings. The dragon grabbed the sack with his one nad only arm and started dumping its contents onto the floor.

“We must change our plans then Maitre d’! We will buy these duplicated books upon arrival and devour all the knowledge the world has to offer!”

Maitre d’ glanced to how the dragon was haphazardly throwing the texts from within the sack all around the cave and couldn’t help but think about how she would have to reorganize it all upon her return. She spoke without any emotion again but deep down she was holding in a sigh “Yes master.”

Aegis – South eastern coast (13 days before the Tournament)

Anchored out a few clicks from sea the Utnapishtim was anchored waiting for the day the rests of the Tournament contestants would arrive. For now, there was only one aboard.

Deep within the dark galley of the ship where not a single ray of light could find its way, a creature stood within a cage. Its eyes were closed as it hungrily munched into the pile of seeds before it. The creature had not felt so much bliss for a long time and it knew; it knew that others would envy the wealth that the creature owned, they would envy the seeds it harbored, and they would come to steal what rightfully belonged to it.

The creature was ready for any that came to steal its seeds.

Proselyte – Ken the preeminent’s office in Ersatz University (12 days before the Tournament)

Ken sat upon his luxurious chair calmy smoking his pipe as he watched one of his most outstanding students anxiously pace across the room while the other stood off the side lost in deep contemplation.

“I can’t fight in the Tournament! I’m still a student, I haven’t graduated. I’m in the theory program for goodness sake! I don’t think I’ve ever fought another human before.” Picayune stopped pacing across the room and began biting his nails. He hadn’t done that since his second year at the university.

Espy remained silent in his corner, mulling over the past weeks in his head over and over again. Something was very wrong and now that he knew it, he had to be silenced. Was he paranoid, he didn’t think so. But then again, paranoid people never think they’re being paranoid. But it’s the only thing that makes sense, or at least the closest thing to making sense since truthfully nothing made sense.

Ken blew out a large plume of smoke and watched as both of his pupils relaxed slightly. “There is no need for such stress boys. The Chauffer never invites someone who is not qualified to receive the invitation. At least have as much faith in yourselves as the Chauffer has in you. If nothing else, you’ll have me to make sure you don’t die.” Ken laughed at his own comment but the other two were not laughing.

Space – Not far enough away (11 days before the Tournament)

A great entity of awesome size lost in enveloping void shifted its trajectory for a child calls.

Bemean – arena of Damocles (10 days before the Tournament)

Damocles filtered through his notebook shaking his head at the worrisome news. He turned back up to look at the three men standing before him, or two men standing and one man slumped on a wheelchair looking so frail he’d look more at home in a coffin than here. Strangely enough, the elder who looked like he had experienced every stage of dementia multiple times over was not the subject of concern but it was the other two; a knight in full plate armor, and a vagabond with a white robe and long empty purple sheathe carrying a basket of strange fruits.

“Why is it that this frail elder is the only person out of you lot that is actually supposed to be in my arena?” Damocles tried to ask with authority, but his voice came out as a mousy squeak, this was most likely due to the fact that he was no larger than a thimble. “You only have ten days left to get to your proper arenas and you both need to go halfway across the world to get there! You’re lucky your respective fights don’t start too early on or you’d be in real trouble. Why did you wait so long to get going?”

“I had another flower to check out.” The knight said matter-of-factly as if that wasn’t the dumbest thing Damocles had ever heard.

“I had to tend to my fruits for a little bit.” Nope, never mind, that was the dumbest thing Damocles had ever heard.

The knight in full plate looked over to the vagabond and his fruit basket wondering for a brief second if this was the single most important encounter of his entire life. This person next to him carried with him the key to his greatest question. Somewhere upon this vagabond was the ultimate solution to his quest. The knight in full plate dismissed this notion finding it as silly. What would that man know about flowers?

“Well I hope you two morons can run as well as you can fight because you better get going if you want to arrive on time.” Damocles said disappointed. Why was this crippled geezer the best guest he had?

Sodality of Rain – Dilapidated farmhouse (7 days before the Tournament)

The sentient carrot minion quivered in place as it watched in horror as its master chopped up the normal carrot for his stew. Very little light could make it into the room, its only source of light being a small yellow rock sitting on the kitchen island.

The carrot minion pried its eyes away from the massacre of its brethren who never even had the chance to be granted life and stared at its master. The master noticed the staring and questioned his minion.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” The man picked up the pace with which he chopped the carrot releasing all of his frustrations upon the inanimate vegetable. “Yes of course I’m still going to get my revenge, why would you even question that?” The man replied to his carrot minion genuinely baffled that it would suggest such a thing. “I just have to prepare and make some plans first.”

The man grabbed the yellow glowing rock and used it to magically adjust the heat that he was cooking the stew at. “This? No this isn’t a part of the preparations I’m just making a stew for supper that’s all.”

He put the rock back down and was about to return to cutting the carrot when his minion said something he couldn’t possibly believe. “What do you mean I’m in no state to seek revenge!? What would make you even say that?”

The man stood in silence in the room carefully listening to his minion’s argument. “That doesn’t make any sense at all. If you can’t speak then how am I having this conversation with you? See, can’t argue against that. The only answer would be that I’m crazy but that would be prepostr-“ The man turned to face the carrot he was chopping to see his dead carrot minion cut into hundreds of tiny pieces. He then turned to where he thought his minion was to see an inanimate carrot laying idly on the counter. “oh.”

Aegis – New Heirisson (1 day before the Tournament)

A group of individuals all circled around a small pond of blood; each figure hooded so that neither could know the others identities. “Is the beta ready?” The hooded figures looked down to the two babies suckling their thumbs facing each other in the pool of blood. One’s skin impossibly melanistic as black as the void and the other’s impossibly albinistic paler than snow. Either of the babies’ umbilical cords left from their navels merging their opposing tips together.

“Yes.” One of the figures answered.

“Then we commence phase two.”

Somewhere not quite spatially locked (0 days before the Tournament)

The clerk rested her chin in the palm of her hand as she watched the entrance of her store. The wooden walls of the small building were lined with hundreds of clocks each with varied sizes and designs. They each ticked away with every second counting the day’s cycle.

From the back room a short amalgam that came no higher than the woman’s hips entered. The amalgam had a smooth chubby body made of brass, its limbs and core each part of a single mold of the alloy yet the amalgam still had complete range of motion even able to manipulate its individual fingers. Atop the stubby neck of the amalgam was a large cube with a clockface upon all four faces.

The short amalgam ran over to the store clerk and tugged at her sleeve with one hand and aggressively pointed at its clock face. The bored shop owner turned to the paniced amalgam and gave it a warm calming smile while patting the top of its head. “Yes, I can see the time. Now we let the show begin.”