Under ordinary circumstances, Unity really despised crowds. Just as the blank, cattle-like stare of authentics never failed to grind on his every nerve, the effect of having many thousands of those stares coalesced together was more irritating than the sum of its disgustingly mediocre parts. He didn’t need to be able to see any particular face to know that it had that very same oblivious, vacant expression plastered across it. Nor did he need to hear any individual voice for their collective screeching cheers to nearly overwhelm his self control and send him stalking towards the nearest stands ripping out throats and splitting open skulls.

Under ordinary circumstances, that was.

Today he felt somewhat more amiable towards the vapid spectators. No, not amiable…. Tolerant? Yes, tolerant. The way one might tolerate a cockroach if it were there in place of a rat, or a heel crushing ones testicles if it happened to belong to Karma Alabaster. Unity would tolerate the moronic hordes, because really he was quite a patient and agreeable person. Or at least he was when the alternative was another session spent writhing around like a fish out of water while every cell in his body tried to commit suicide.

So he smiled and waved, keeping his hatred locked away quite safely in his head.

***

Xeno had thought she’d be accustomed to being watched. She had assumed that countless hours spent having her every skill, dispositional trait and inclination observed and noted down for later examination would have made her more tolerant than the average person to the gaze of a crowd. And maybe it did. After all it was entirely possible that she felt more comfortable than most would in her shoes, yet as she walked out into the centre of the stadium- emerging from the dark tunnel to meet the harsh glare of the sun and volcanic roars of the gathered masses, she couldn’t help but notice herself stricken with a deep unease.

It was a rational one. So many faces at once could easily have held a hundred potential threats without her noticing them, even a thousand. The rationality of her anxiety did little to lighten its weight, but it was something. Of course on the matter of rational nervousness, Xeno supposed her focus should have been placed on the people against whom she would be competing. About half of them had already entered, all stood in one of several designated spots arranged in a circle about fifty metres in diameter. She didn’t recognise most of the other competitors, and a lot were too far for her to properly see their faces even if she did, but some were definitely people she’d heard of.

Unity Eden was playing things up for the crowd, an easy-going smile plastered across his face. He would be one of the biggest threats, artificial though he was the offspring of two Deities would never be something to take lightly.

Astra Tempora was stood in an almost rigid way, her posture perfect, her chin raised and her eyes determinedly held forward as if preventing them from darting around was a physical effort.

Her blonde hair looked even lighter with the sun as strong as it was, and her boyish features seemed to present confidence rather than plainness. Xeno hadn’t gotten the chance to find out much about her capabilities, but anyone who could come in first place for the first stage would be someone to keep an eye on.

A few more contestants made their way out into the centre, Xeno quickly glanced at each one as they came to try and pin a name to the faces she could make out. She immediately regretted doing so, as Gemini Menza was among them. Xeno liked Gem, she was nice, and cool. Xeno had also heard plenty about just how much talent Gem possessed, and so despite being a year older was also completely terrified by the thought of competing with her.

The crowd’s noise reached a new level as Gem took her position three spaces down from Xeno’s. She waved and smiled at them in a similar way as Eden, her pale skin and silver- not white, silver- hair making her look almost unnatural in the bright day. Like a ghost caught out of its element. That was a ridiculous comparison, as Gem looked as though she could be no more comfortable anywhere else in the world even as she became the sole focus of practically every set of eyes in the stadium. She was so calm, more naturally collected than Astra Tempora made herself look. Not for the first time that day, Xeno couldn’t help but wonder what kind of calculations were going on behind Menza’s sapphire blue eyes.

***

Gem’s wrist was starting to get tired from all the waving. She considered herself to be somewhat of an expert when it came to waving, having spent no small amount of time doing it throughout her life, but today it seemed to be taking its toll. Part of her wanted to tell the crowd to piss off and shut up, to leave her alone and let her beat people up in peace. The other part of her remembered how soft her sheets were, how delicious her food was and how all of the money that paid for it came from people liking her. As always, it was the pragmatic, sheet-loving part that won out.

She spared a few glances to some of the other competitors as she mouthed thanks and beamed at her fans. She recognised some of them, or at least she thought she did. Astra… Temporary? Astra whatever was stood not so far away, looking like someone had inserted a moderately sized fae up her backside. There was also that girl she’d seen split the boulder open on Karma’s scrying slate, handling the pressure about as well as Temporary was. Unity Eden caught her attention for a brief moment, Gem was fairly shocked to see that he hadn’t yet started hurling insults and racial slurs at the crowd- though she supposed his public image had come from somewhere. She almost glossed over Xeno, only noticing the tiny girl because she was staring directly at her. Gem gave her a smile, which Xeno returned roughly ten centimetres wider, and turned her focus back to the crowd.

God her wrist hurt.

***

Crow had fully been expecting to feel completely terrified standing back in the centre of attention. He’d also been dreading it. The fear that came with being stared at was a very special kind, one that gave him the very unsettling impression that his every imperfection was being silently mocked- that half of the noises coming from the stands were jokes cracked about some detail of his appearance he hadn’t noticed. He didn’t feel that today. And had he known what not feeling that would cost, he’d probably have chosen to stick with it.

He’d been a total arse. Astra was his sister, and she loved him- at the very least he loved her. All she had wanted was to make sure he was okay, and yet she just didn’t understand. She couldn’t understand. Not what he’d seen, nor what he had to do. But that didn’t make him feel any better about keeping things from her, and it certainly didn’t make it okay for him to scream at her. Eclipse, when had he last done that? Crow couldn’t remember.

He scanned the other participants for his sister. She’d split away from him the moment they walked out of the tunnel, not that he blamed her. Still it would have been nice to have her next to him while they waited to jump back into the proverbial Butcher’s mouth. Instead of Astra Crow saw Unity, meeting the boy’s gaze and immediately turning away from it. He stopped looking after that.

Though even if he hadn’t been forced to avoid Unity’s gaze to keep from confronting the thousand emotions that bubbled up every time, the memory of how easily he’d let himself be talked into abandoning Ethi, he’d still have had his attention snatched away by Karma Alabaster as she strolled into the middle of the now fully assembled participants.

***

Gem almost sighed outwardly with pure relief as she saw Karma make her entrance. There was a single mortal in the world who could take the attention from her, and it was the Princess of Dewlz.

Today Karma wore a large purple gown which caught the harsh sunlight in such a way as to almost appear to glow, something that produced a bizarre effect given its dark colouration. The neckline was low enough for her cleavage to be easily visible, with the fabric held far outward from the chest region making it very apparent just how large its wearers bust was. Cut slightly above the knees and with sleeves stopping short of the elbows, it let Karma show off her comparably expensive jewelry too. Well, the jewelry and her quite frankly breathtaking legs. Gem wondered what she’d needed to do to-

No. There was a time and a place to wonder about that sort of thing, and the middle of a stadium minutes before a fight for her prestige and livelihood was neither. Granted a lot could be learned from how Karma coordinated her wardrobe, judging by the cheers she was getting from the crowds and looks she was getting from certain other participants Gem wasn’t the only one it had an effect on.

***

Eclipse Unity wanted to fuck Karma Alabaster. He wanted to strangle her to death and look into her stupid cunt eyes while the light left them, that was true, but he also wanted to fuck her. It was her fault, too. Any decent princess would’ve taken measures to avoid having a chest that size, certainly those hips and thighs were completely inappropriate. And yet she’d kept them, clearly she just wanted the attention.

Well she was certainly getting it in buckets. The change in volume accompanying her entrance would best be described as volcanic, and Unity was fairly sure he heard at least a few people screaming something about her feet. He found that quite funny, as her feet were quite possibly the only body part she had that was not currently being advertised to every immortal in the world with big magically-incandescent letters over it spelling out the words “not only does impregnating this let you make living superweapons, but you’ll enjoy it.”

Oh shit, she’d started talking.

***

It was amazing how, despite there being many tens of thousands of eyes watching her with the intensity of a sniper, despite Karma having deliberately dressed like a whore as usual, despite the undoubtedly disgusting number of people in the section of the crowd at her back whose looks were fixated entirely on her backside, Karma could still vividly feel Unity Eden's stare.

Whatever level of perversion that little wretch had bubbling behind his eyes must have been near superhuman, because compared to it every other creep ogling her felt like nothing. Like ten thousand candles next to a bonfire.

She kept her smile on, naturally. She always kept her smile on. That was who she was after all. The Princess. Olympus’s pet woman. A national treasure, so long as she continued to look pretty and happy.

Nevermind her talent, nevermind her intelligence, nevermind her accomplishments. She had big tits, therefore she had value. Come to think of it keeping her smile on was probably among Karma’s most impressive accomplishments anyway, given that she'd been labelled a sex symbol ever since she hit triple digits on her bust measurement. Not that the drooling masses cared about how impressive anything but her body was.

Karma reached the centre of the participants, looking at the crowd and sweeping her arms outwards from her body as she addressed them. Their cheers had followed her on her walk to the middle, but died down within seconds of her gesture. God she was good.

She paused just two heartbeats after the last notable whistles, lowering her head for a moment and inhaling deeply for dramatic effect. It made her look like a total moron, but apparently looking like a moron made most people excited. Finally she called out.

“HELLO BERMUDA!”

And then they were screaming again. Just what Karma needed.

***

Astra, as much as she hated to admit it, let out a somewhat audible squeal at the sight of the Princess lowering her head. Where most people would have looked tired and lazy with such posture, Alabaster simply resembled a powerful creature ready to uncoil. And she was powerful. Powerful, beautiful, brilliant and confident enough to hang her head in silence before an entire stadium of people and still keep their undivided attention. All the things Astra was going to have to make herself.

After all, one day she’d take the Princess’s place as the greatest prodigy on Mirandis.

***

Crow could hardly hear Alabaster’s words over the crowd. The distance between the stands and him was maybe twice as great as the space between he and the Princess, and Crow was fairly sure she had some form of magic to amplify her voice- either that or her lungs were as powerful as the rest of her- but the sheer number of voices occupying the seats around them was incredible. He dimly wondered how any of them could hear anything she said when she continued to speak.

“WELCOME TO THE SECOND STAGE OF THE GILASEV INSTITUTE’S SIEVE. MY NAME IS KARMA ALABASTER, EVENT ORGANISER, PRINCESS OF DEWLZ AND YOUR HOSTESS FOR THEIR DURATION. AND IT IS MY PRIVILEGE TO INTRODUCE THE FINE YOUNG MYSTICS WHO’LL BE COMPETING WITH ONE ANOTHER SHORTLY!”

She slowly turned while she spoke, giving people sitting on all sides of the arena a chance to see her face- the beaming smile never leaving it. She had a beautiful smile, just looking at it made Crow feel warm inside. Also itchy, and stupid. Just when he’d considered sucking in his gut and tensing to make his arms look bigger, her slow rotation brought her face out of his sight.

“FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO AREN’T FAMILIAR WITH THE RULES, ALLOW ME TO GIVE YOU A SHORT RUN-DOWN. THOUGH IT WON’T BE AS IN-DEPTH AS THE ONE FROM THE ORIENTATION, LUCKILY FOR YOU.”

There were no fancy lights in the stadium now, or at least none that were active. With the sun as bright as it was there’d have been no use, they’d be imperceptible. And yet with the way Alabaster conducted herself it seemed as though she had an entire fireworks display working to hammer home every little thing she said. The simple act of changing her smile to a more serious tone almost made the arena seem to chill, dampening the energy of the crowd instantly.

“NOW AS YOU CAN PROBABLY TELL FROM THE LACK OF MISSING LIMBS, ALL CONTESTANTS RECEIVED TREATMENT FROM THE SIEVE’S FACILITIES AFTER THE FIRST STAGE. THEY ARE NOW ALL IN ABSOLUTE PEAK HEALTH, HOWEVER THIS IS ALSO THE LAST TIME THIS WILL HAPPEN. FROM THIS POINT ONWARDS, NO MORE FREE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE WILL BE PROVIDED.”

The Princess paused, waiting a few seconds to continue.

“THAT DOESN’T MEAN THEY WON’T HAVE ACCESS TO MEDICAL AID, BUT IT WON’T BE FREE! THE SECOND CHANGE FROM THE FIRST STAGE IS THE EXISTENCE OF CREDITS. CONTESTANTS CAN NOW EARN CREDITS BY COMPLETING OBJECTIVES DURING EACH STAGE, SECOND INCLUDED. THESE OBJECTIVES MIGHT BE AS SIMPLE AS DEFEATING CERTAIN ENEMIES, BUT THEY COULD BE FAR TRICKIER. MORE CREDITS ARE GIVEN FOR THE MORE DIFFICULT ONES. OF COURSE, FOR THE PARTICULARLY CONFIDENT, A WHOPPING THREE HUNDRED CREDITS CAN ALSO BE EARNED BY ELIMINATING OTHER CONTESTANTS. ”

Despite having been present at the orientation, Crow paid heed to every word. Partially because he wanted to make absolutely sure he was going in well informed, and partially because something about how the Princess acted just made him want to.

“CREDITS ARE THE ONLY WAY CONTESTANTS CAN GAIN ACCESS TO THE SIEVE’S HEALING FACILITIES, AND SOME OF THE NICER TREATMENT IS FAIRLY COSTLY.”

Crow felt his chest tighten. In other words, those who succeeded in performing well and gaining the most credits would have a far easier time compared to their competition as they could better heal themselves in-between stages. Once someone fell behind, they’d be swimming against the current to catch up. He’d figured this out himself, or rather Astra had figured it out for him, but somehow hearing the details explained without any of their implications made it feel even more foreboding.

Apparently heedless of Crow’s sudden anxiety, the Princess continued.

“HOWEVER CREDITS AREN’T ONLY USEFUL FOR HAVING YOUR HEAD SEWN BACK ON, THEY CAN ALSO BE USED TO PURCHASE PRIZES. SOME OF THESE ARE QUITE VALUABLE OUT OF THE SIEVE, THOUGH NONE ARE WORTH AS MUCH AS A SCHOLARSHIP INTO THE GILASEV INSTITUTE. SOME ARE USEFUL IN THE SIEVE ITSELF AS POWERFUL COMBAT AIDS….”

Alabaster’s voice trailed off, and the crowds began to quieten in response. After a second she continued, this time at a relatively normal volume.

“And of course, one of them is the Eclipse’s Nectar.”

There was no uproar at this. Only the same nervous silence that always followed the public discussion of relics such as the Nectar. Apparently picking up on this, Alabaster broke out into a grin.

“Of course nobody’s ever won it before, and I have fifty stars that nobody-” the Princess turned to look directly at a silver haired girl with blue eyes “- will win it this year.”

Crow wasn’t sure why, but the spectators seemed to find that hilarious. The girl Alabaster had looked at let out an almost guilty smile, but she didn’t seem embarrassed. Her face was at least ten shades less red than Crow’s would have been if he’d suddenly been singled out like that, but then she was already quite a lot paler than him.

With the now increasing noise, the Princess returned her voice to a shout.

“THEN AGAIN IF ANYONE CAN AMASS THE NECESSARY TEN THOUSAND CREDITS TO PURCHASE IT, GEMINI MENZA CAN.”

With a quick look back to the girl Alabaster had drawn attention to, Crow took her in with a bit more attention. Quite tall, pale skin, silver hair, deep- really deep, now that he looked- blue eyes… Gemini Menza. He was competing against Gemini Menza. He’d almost forgotten about that.

***

Unity needed to fight the urge to walk over and punch Karma when she started turning, cunty and pretentious as it was the act brought his blood close to boiling. And then her rear end was facing him for a bit, that cheered him up a bit. Unfortunately it left him fighting the entirely different urge to walk over and do something else to her.

When she finally got to the fucking point and finished giving the second lecture of the week for all the retarded children in the audience, Unity almost came in his pants from relief at not needing to hear her obnoxious crowd-pleasing voice. It sounded like a child’s.

“NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, CONTESTANTS. GET READY!”

Unity rolled his shoulders, working the tension from them for the umpteenth time. He started looking at the other contestants, grinning as he realised almost all of them were stepping from one foot to another. Completely besides themselves with nerves. Unity wasn’t like that. Unity was made of sterner stuff, and it would take more than an upcoming fight to shake him. In fact he was fairly sure there was only one other person in the entire roster of contestants with will as strong as his. He glanced at his brother-in-spirit, immediately looking away as he saw Crow doing the exact same jittery dance as all the others.

***

“TEN!”

The princess started counting down, and if possible Crow felt himself grow even more tense.

“NINE!”

His mind whirred as he ran through his basic strategy in his head again, step by step. He could do this. He could do it.

***

“EIGHT!”

Astra spared a look for Crow, instinct to watch out for her twin overpowering her anger with him. He looked like he’d just been told he had an arranged marriage to a Butcher.

“SEVEN!”

She stayed still, deciding to focus on keeping all of her nervous energy contained rather than let it run wild. After all she had to start making an appearance for herself in the public eye if she was going to be the next Karma Alabaster.

***

“SIX!”

It occurred to Xeno that when Gemini Menza had told her she would do well, she had been lying through her teeth. Gem was quite a good liar, certainly better than Xeno would have thought, but not quite good enough to fool her. She wasn’t sure whether she’d rather not have seen through it.

“FIVE!”

Xeno found herself biting her lower lip, practically chewing it in fact. Her fingers were twitching and her breathing was becoming dangerously shallow and rapid. She tried to force herself into a state of calm, but every word of that count down shook her from it.

***

“FOUR!”

Gem was growing bored. Ten seconds? Really? A five second countdown would have been more than long enough. It was bad enough she’d had to wait for the catch-up class to finish.

“THREE!”

It was like Karma was deliberately trying to stop people from seeing how awesome Gem was. Wait… was she? Was she scared of being overshadowed? No. Karma never worried about things like that.

***

“TWO!”

Karma seemed to thrust her arms up everytime she counted down, and that in turn pushed her chest up. He’d never been a particularly patient person, but in Unity’s eyes ten seconds of staring at that glorious pair were ten seconds he’d happily live through.

“ONE!”

Oh shit, the countdown had-

***

Crow suddenly felt very itchy and hot. The world seemed to dull, losing all colour and becoming saturated- like one of those photographs he’d seen. It was bizarre, oddly enough even more bizarre than it was when things started to lose their shape and fold in on themselves.

He resisted the urge to scream as a sudden feeling of claustrophobia overtook him, and then gave into the urge anyway- emptying his lungs into the air around him. He couldn’t tell if his eyes were open or not, everything seemed completely chaotic whether he was looking at them or not. As if no form could be held for more than a second. And just when it was on the verge of being too much, Crow suddenly felt fine.

Everything stopped being made of impossibilities, he saw colour through his eyelids- which apparently had actually been over his eyes- and the horrific sensation left so quickly he began to question whether it had been there at all. Slowly, Crow opened his eyes to look around. He saw hot, dry sand. Buildings closer in size to the ones in Selsis than Bermuda, all modeled from yellowish stone and having a worn look to them. He stood in the middle of a road, completely empty but for himself.

Crow looked around himself at all sides, now alert and ready to meet an attack that may well come at any time. Because he wasn’t in Bermuda anymore, and he wasn’t in Selsis.

He was in the second stage of the Sieve.