“So, what are you going to do? Give up in the next match?” Wulfric asked me as the three of us (Tetra, Wulfric, and me) ate a quick breakfast at the cramped desk in the corner of our room.

I kept chewing as I considered, enjoying the strange foods available only here in the city. Among the exotic herd animals that lived within the bounds of the force field protecting the area around the city, there was one that produced a clear sweet fluid to feed its young. It was a bit like very thin honey, except it tended to go bad if not used within a few days, and apparently it was one of the specialties produced here in the territory of House Flameward (meaning they used it in everything). I had to keep reminding me that EVERYTHING I had eaten since I was born here was a crazy alien food, not just the sweet-mammal-juice… And that raised another thought: Were there actually mammals on this planet, or plane, or whatever it was? I had to assume that parallel evolution would not necessarily produce the same types of life, but…

“Heller? Heller! Are you there?” Said Tetra, waving a hand in front of my face. Wait, what was going on? I gave them a confused look.

Tetra rolled her eyes and smiled at me, “You told us last night that you were worried about drawing more attention to yourself in the Black Tournament. Are you going to throw the final round?”

Oh right, that. “Well, I haven’t decided yet. I mean, there is no way I can win, even though it’s point based, without at least using ambient Qi to speed myself up.”

They both nodded. I didn’t like it, but all three of us knew that I just didn’t have the reach, strength, or speed yet to compete against the other trainees. If they were regular fourteen year olds I think I would stand a chance, but these were all cream of the crop – kids who had been training for years just for this moment, and had managed to make it this far already, were no pushovers.

Wulfric looked over at me, taking a break from idly moving food around his plate with his knife. “I don’t know, Heller… you have open offers to join two of the four Great Houses, but didn’t you tell us that you have to win the Black Tournament to be legally allowed to cultivate?”

Wulfric was doing a lot better, but he still got freaked out if we spoke about the Merrik so we just avoided the topic. Tetra had worked hard to get him calmed down, and I figured he just needed a bit more time to process what was going on. Not that I was completely calm: If the Merrik was truly dying… what the hell would happen to my family? Everyone I had ever met as a child would die in the next beast attack if he wasn’t there to save them! And how would that affect the city? Would they even have enough food?

I took a deep breath, clearing my mind. Yeah, I could easily sympathize with Wulfric. The lad was smart enough to realize how terrifying an event that would be for us. But still… go over the mountains? No way could I survive that, not now. A decade might not even be enough for that! How long would I need? What if the beasts were even MORE powerful in the mountains themselves? What the hell would I do then!?

I needed to keep my cool. Deeeeeeep calming breaths…

“That is a good point, Wulfric.” I said. I had already considered that, and it was my main reason for not just dropping out of the tournament immediately. The other reasons involved silly things like pride, or earning the respect of whatever faction I end up joining. It would be hard to get others to take me seriously if they knew I had failed in the Black Tournament yet was still allowed to cultivate, legal issues aside.

I guess I would just try to figure it out on the way to the tournament grounds.

-----------------------------

Aaaaannnnd… stupid pride won. I had actually almost decided to just gracefully lose, but once I got started I couldn’t help myself – I don’t consider myself a violent man (boy), but there was something immensely satisfying about winning a fight. Even the fight itself was cathartic, all my worries and concerns falling away for the duration of the battle. I had won about seven out of every ten duels, but that was only because I tried not to use my speed enhancement unless I was forced to.

I was every bit as skilled as the rest of the contestants (often more skilled due to my ample battle practice under Academy), and the fact that I used paired weapons gave me an advantage in a points-based contest like this, so my lack of strength didn’t matter as much as it had in the first few rounds. On top of all that Qi manipulation neatly took care of my lack of speed and reach (due to shorter legs and weaker arms) whenever I was in a bind.

So here I was, dressed in a formal robe that I was given as a winner of the Black Tournament – some kind soul had even modified it to fit my smaller frame. I was waiting beside Tetra, Wulfric, and few dozen other contestants who had made it this far; tonight was a banquet in our honor, which also doubled as the first chance the Great Houses would have of recruiting us to their side. Here we would meet the recruiters, usually minor nobles who were given the thankless task of watching children fight… and trying to recruit the best ones.

And unfortunately they knew what I looked like: During the final tenday of the tournament there had been massive stands setup for the few interested nobles who decided it was worth their time to come and watch the commoners duel. I hadn’t recognized any of them except one – Kodan, who had been watching us from the top level of the House Flameward stand. He hadn’t been visibly cheering me on (such displays just weren’t in his nature), but he had given me a salute the one time I was stupid enough to look directly at him. It had a nice gesture, I guess, but I was worried about all the other nobles who might have seen it and started wondering why the heck the Heir of House Flameward was interested in little old me…

A rolled iron horn blasted out an impressive sound that somehow combined a deep rumble with slightly higher notes, like a bunch of instruments all squeezed into one. That was supposed to be our signal, so we stepped forward, as instructed, towards the massive pavilion tent composed of some kind of white material. It was wider than a high-top circus tent, though not as tall, and it had been setup directly in the middle of the plaza where we had finished fighting our duels the day before. We entered in reverse order based on how well we had done in the Black Tournament, pausing just long enough for our names to be called out along with the overall rank we had achieved.

“Number thirty-seven, Heller Firehand, Path of Earth!” Cried the man standing next to the entrance as I arrived, causing me to wince (and my right ear to throb). I counted to three as we were instructed (to give the nobles time to examine us after our names were called) and then moved into the main room, which contained a spacious dining area, what looked like a waxed wooden dancefloor, and plenty of tall metal stands with glowlamps hanging from them.

The glowlamps fascinated me, as they were apparently fueled by a liquid produced by the Alchemists; they were sold as glass jars of globes sealed with wax, but once the wax seal was broken the liquid inside would start to emit a brilliant glow until the liquid evaporated. They were quite expensive, however, and this was the closest I had ever gotten to one of them. I had to resist the temptation to take one down and study it…

“Heller? This way.” Said a serving girl who was barely older than me. She led me to a spot at the table with a plaque that had all my information on it. “Sit here, please, and do not move to another spot. This plaque helps to identify who you are.” She explained. I just pretended that I couldn’t read it and nodded away, turning my attention back to the door. Neither of my friends had been introduced yet since both of them had done better than I had. Sure, I had beaten them in the final trial, but they had both gotten a lot more points than I had in the first two rounds of the tournament.

There were a few dozen nobles seated at various tables scattered around the room, but overall it seemed strangely empty in this section of the tent (the smaller sections likely held the kitchens and such). There was clearly a lot more room in here than would be needed, unless hundreds more people would be arriving after the last few tournament champions had been seated. I hoped not, because I was already getting an unpleasant vibe from the few who I could see – quite a lot of them were clearly studying me…

“Number twelve, Tetra Glowbraid, Path of Wind!”

Finally! Tetra stomped into the room, not even pausing for long enough for her name to be called out. Her cold glare swept the nobles seated around us, most of them chatting and drinking as they watched the winning contestants enter.

When she was shown her seat she promptly picked up her plaque and moved it next to mine, completely destroying the order of the table (and terribly flustering our young server). Tetra then looked through the rest of the plaques and grabbed Wulfric’s, placing it on the other side of me. I wasn’t as shocked as the poor girl who was supposed to seat us, but it must have been close. What the hell was Tetra doing!

She had been taught the basics of reading by her father, an Alchemist with close ties to House Runetail, and I had given both her and Wulfric lessons while we were at Academy together. Or, to be more specific, I had simply written out the alphabet as well as a few very short stories (cobbled together monstrosities based on my favorite books back on Earth), and let them teach themselves. I wasn’t sure if they would actually need to learn how to read in this society, but in my opinion literacy should be a basic right so I let them choose for themselves. It had been an easy choice for Tetra (since she had been groomed to enter the nobility from a young age, although she now felt nothing but contempt for them), and Wulfric had more or less just followed along.

I watched the young serving girl as she made her way back to the sectioned off part of the tent, waving down an older man with dark red scales. The next few contestants had continued to arrive, each met at the doorway by young servant who led them to the champions table (there were a half dozen servants who took turns leading us to our place, because the walk between the door and our table was too far for a single servant to run back and forth), and by the time Wulfric was announced the red scaled servant was walking towards us at an impressively speed.

“Number seven, Wulfric Havenforge, Path of Fire!”

Wulfric was being led by a boy who looked to be about the same age as the previous serving girl… and me... Which made me wonder, how the heck were these kids seating us! Surely they couldn’t read, could they? Were they actually nobles, or had an exception been made… it didn’t make any sense...

I wanted to ask the red scaled servant who was fast approaching from the far side of the room (it looked like he would arrive about the same time as Wulfric), but when I glanced at him I could see that his expression was shifting between rage and panic. Maybe I should ask someone else…

Following his gaze, I looked down at the other end of the table, where a number of our fellow champions were following Tetra's lead, standing up and shuffling their seats around! I think most of them took their plaques with them, but a few probably didn’t realize the significance of the strange symbols painted on them. Oh holy crap, Tetra, what have you done! I felt a pang of sympathy for the red scaled servant as he broke into a jog, waving his hands at the champions who were busy moving about so they could sit near people they knew. But I wasn’t at all sure why he was making such a big deal of it; kids will be kids, right?

I clued in once Wulfric was seated… the serving boy set him down at the seat his plaque was on before Tetra had moved it. I leaned over – it was the name of a girl who had ranked third in the tournament, Aluthyl Lonedew. Bloody beast, the servants couldn’t read! What, had they memorized all the positions?

I glanced over at Tetra, who at least had the grace to look guilty – but there was nothing we could do. She could get away with moving her own plaque, maybe Wulfric’s, but there was no way she could keep up the pretense of illiteracy if she volunteered to fix the mess she had created. The poor red scaled servant was pulling at his hair, and I noticed that a number of nobles were either laughing or scowling at us.

“By the blood of a thousand beasts, what is going on?” An incredibly loud voice suddenly drowned out nearly everything else, causing all of us to stop what we were doing and look towards the side of the room. There sat a noble who was slouched down in his chair with his feet up on the table in front of him, looking like he had just woken up from a nap. Something looked odd about him, but I couldn’t figure out what it was until he finally sat up and it clicked – the man was enormous, even bigger than Jaws, if I had to guess! Well, either that, or he just so happened to be sitting at a table full of children dressed up like adult nobles...

“What? She switched them! AHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” He roared in laughter, again drowning out everyone – even the poor announcer had paused, leaving the third ranked contestant stranded at the doorway. The huge man then stood up and had lightly leapt over the entire table before I could even blink, knocking his massive chair (it was at least three times the size of the chairs everyone else was using) skidding back into the wall of the tent behind him.

Nearly all the nobles on either side of us had gone silent by now, and the announcer (as well as the rest of the staff) stood completely still – as if frozen – but the giant didn’t seem to care as he came to an abrupt halt in front of our table, peering at the plaques in front of us. Now that he was closer I could see that he was completely bald and had thick elephantine skin which was crisscrossed with countless scars, making his age nearly impossible to determine; but I would have pegged him at mid-forties if I had to guess. He was wearing the formal robe of a noble of some sort, but underneath it I could see a battered suit of armor… and the distinctive outline of a pair of battle-axe handles were poking up just past his enormous shoulders.

“You, girl, what is your name?” He asked of a girl sitting at the opposite end of the table, his voice quieter voice than I had expected (hopefully only causing minor hearing damage). When she replied he broke out into another fit of laughter… but, strangely, it seemed to be just as loud now as it had been from across the room. He scanned the rest of the name plates, occasionally chuckling, before stopping in front of Wulfric.

“Aluthyl Lonedew, Path of Wind?” He asked.

Wulfric, visibly petrified, furiously shook his head as he reached out and snatched his plaque to take a look. We hadn’t had a chance to tell him what was going on yet…

“That’s-not-me-I’m-a-boy!” Wulfric squeaked out, his eyes widening as he studied the misplaced plaque.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHA!” An even more furious bout of laughter took the scarred giant as he doubled over, pounding his knee, his face turning red… oh-shit! Not turning red, burning red! Without any warning flames burst out of his bald head, creating a rush of heat that I could distinctly feel from a half dozen seats away.

“He’s a boy!” The giant repeated to himself, his laughter to reach new heights. I was fighting back a strange hysterical laughter of my own as we sat there and waited, not sure what to do. It was pretty hilarious, but since I knew the culprit (Tetra) I felt that I had to try and control myself. Everyone else seemed too nervous to find it funny – or, well, too terrified in Wulfric’s case and too guilty in Tetra’s).

Reaching up to wipe a tear off of his face (it hissed into steam as his finger brushed it), the big man’s eyes happened to meet mine… and he froze. It only lasted for a moment, but his laughter was completely gone now as his gaze was locked onto me – or more precisely, the area just above my head. He straightened quietly, moving closer to me before reaching out his hand as if to touch me, nearly making me apply TR just in case. And then his hand waved back and forth, causing a ripple in the ambient Qi surrounding me, his expression puzzled. I was simply stunned, never having seen anyone able to manipulate ambient Qi like that except for Wolfram and me.

“Heller… interesting.” He muttered to himself, glancing down at my Plaque. “Boy, is that your true name?”

Not much point it lying now. If I had to fight my way out of here then so be it, but for now I had decided to just play it cool. He had obviously been able to sense… something… about me. I nodded, deciding to follow a hunch as I smiled at him, “Yep, Heller. What’s your name, old man?”

It was a gamble, but I had a strong sense that this was a person who respected strength above all else, judging by how he was acting. Nobody dared to question him, and he appeared to feel completely comfortable derailing an entire ceremony just to satisfy his personal curiosity. It seemed that he had already figured out that there was something strange about me, and either way this ended up playing out I wanted to set the tone straight right from the start – friendly, polite, unafraid.

He didn’t smile back at me, or reply, but I did see his lip quirk up slightly. He then turned back to scan the nobles surrounding us before facing the announcer, “What the bloody beast are you waiting for!” He roared at the poor man, his flame-hair shooting up even higher as he stalked back to his seat (his chair had already been picked back up). The group of nobles sitting at the same table as him had lifted up the table they were sitting at and moved it aside, clearing the path between the flaming giant and his massive chair, before quickly moving to replace it after he sat down… and I still had no idea who the heck he was.

-----------------------

I looked over at Wulfric as he squirmed in his seat, obviously uncomfortable with the number of nobles walking past our table. There had been a meal which featured foods from all four sections of the city, entertainment (everything from juggling to mock-duels), and now we had apparently reached the point of the evening where the initial offers would start coming in. After the last act had finished (an actress in red winning a frantic ‘fight’ against a group of performers wearing various beast masks), some of the nobles from the side tables had begun making their way over to us, examining our plaques (which had been set into their proper order during the meal).

Like a number of other champions of the Black Tournament, the three of us already had a fairly clear idea of which house we wanted to join – but even that was complicated by the number of factions that existed within each Great House. Jesvae’s offer had been very interesting, but I felt a compulsion to stick with something close to home; Tetra was leaning towards joining Jesvae’s faction, probably because that seemed like the most ‘anti-establishment’ choice; and Wulfric was firmly set on taking up Kodan’s offer and sticking with House Flameward (it also helped that his father was a Captain of the Guard for House Flameward here within The City).

Wolfram and I had spent a lot of time considering what we should do as well, and he really wanted me to join House Spiritwind (for obvious reasons). It seemed to me, however, that there was little chance that I would have any contact with Wolfram whatsoever if I should join his house. He might be the Third Heir, but he was not even close to the age of majority (twenty years old) and I highly doubted he would have any control over where I ended up – but no matter how many times we discussed it he STILL wanted me in House Spiritwind, even considering the fact that Jesvae would probably just use her pull to spirit me away to her secret training camp. I could understand how Wolfram felt (being alone sucks), but I just didn’t really like the way House Spiritwind did things… and then there was the fact that I trusted the instincts of Master Jaduk, who had left House Spiritwind for reasons he refused to share.

I glanced at the noble across from me, who was writing his name down on my plaque (it reserved him a chance to speak with me over the next hour or so). Wolfram had informed me of the plethora of back-room deals that went on at these events, money and favors swapped constantly as nobles tried to secure the unofficial rights to a potential candidate. I found it both disgusting and unsurprising how the rich and powerful had conspired against free will – candidates were supposed to have the final say in which house they joined, but if they only received a single offer it wasn’t much of a choice, was it? In theory we had a tenday to make a final decision, but I was told it was quite common for the majority of offers to be made and accepted right here at this banquet. As for myself, I planned to take the entire tenday to think it over.

There was no specific rule forbidding us from standing up and walking around, so I decided to walk around to the front of the table and see who had the most names. I received a number of strange glances, but I was short enough that it was easy to hide in the crowd (one of the few benefits of being so young). I noticed straight away that something was up: The top three contestants all had only one name written on their plaques! That was so blatantly crooked I had trouble believing it. Seriously? What about thier choice!

Moving on down the table the number of offers grew, barring a few outliers here and there who again had only the name of a single recruiter (my own plaque was actually pretty full, more so than average anyway)… and then I got to Tetra. She was sitting a few seats away from me (having been moved when they were sorting us back into order) so I hadn’t really been paying much attention, but when I met her eyes they held a cold stony look I had only seen her make when she spoke about her past (or about Lord Froggy). And it wasn’t hard to see the reason why… her plaque was blank below her description, without a single recruiter’s name.

I gave her a nod, about to lean over the table and speak with her when a servant tapped my shoulder.

“Excuse me, contestants are asked to remain seated during the Bid, please follow me.” It was the haggard looking red scaled servant, and I didn’t really want to make any more of a scene than we already had so I decided to comply.

I had just returned to my seat when I heard a series of gasps accompanied by the painful sounding squawk that occasionally accompanies the act of strangling someone to death. I quickly glanced up, applying TR on myself and bracing for an attack, when I saw that the noble across from me was being picked up by their throat! His legs were flailing and ice started trying to form around the oversized battered leather gauntlet wrapped around his neck, but it was quickly dispersed by a red glow as the noble was swung through the air and set down (on his feet, and surprisingly gently) a ways away.

Wait… that wasn’t a gauntlet… that was a hand! A scarred hand that looked like it would suit a polar bear better than a man, and it belonged to the giant who had come over to our table earlier. He gave me a fierce grin as he picked up my tablet and proceeded to wipe all of the accumulated names off of it with the side of his hand. His head was no longer on fire, but he looked even larger for some reason; he was at least a head and a half taller than Jaws, and half again as wide (but his teeth were normal).

“Heller, lad, you can call me Firebrand.” He boomed out at me as the surrounding nobles quickly backed up to make space around him. “I want you to join me in House Flameward, what do you say?” He spread his arms out wide in what I assumed was meant to be a welcoming gesture, not even seeming to notice when he knocked over a noble who wasn’t quick enough to move out of the way.

I noticed that my jaw had dropped open, so I snapped it shut. House Flameward? Well, I had suspected as much, considering the flames that had burst out of his head earlier (they were gone now).

Then I suddenly had an evil thought, a way to (possibly) mollify this giant while simultaneously helping Tetra and sticking it to the corrupt system they had going on here. I very much had a sense that this Firebrand fellow was an entity who existed very much outside the system, which was collaborated by the looks he was receiving from behind his back.

“I’d be willing to consider it, if you were willing to consider extending the offer to some of my friends as well.” I shot back, getting to my feet and jumping up on the table. I found the interaction with Firebrand somehow freeing, and wondered if my luck was starting to turn.

The giant nodded impatiently, a faint shimmer of heat distortion appearing above his head. Screw it, let’s just see what happens. It’s not like they are going to kill me, right? At the very worst I might get sent to the Shieldwall until I am strong enough to break out.

“Wulfric and Tetra.” I said, gesturing to them. “And those three over there, the top three finalists of the tournament this year.” I felt a bit bad for them, seeing as they each only had a single name on their plaques. It just didn’t seem fair that they should get their choice taken away simply because they kicked ass, and I had a feeling Firebrand could care less about whatever backroom dealings had been made.

I heard some vocal protests from the crowd of nobles and I figured I had just made a few more enemies, but I wasn’t too worried. After the Merrik I was probably the second most powerful being in this entire civilization by now, and I was sick of having to be so careful about what I said and did. Firebrand gave me a considering look, his lip quirking up slightly again, before turning and giving the five I had just mentioned considering looks. After a moment he nodded, jerking his head back towards his table, and proceeded to walk in the direction indicated with surprising grace. And I say surprising grace because he somehow managed to knock over every single noble, man or woman, who was even remotely in his path – there was no way a feat like that was accomplished by accident.

I turned to look at Wulfric and Tetra, both of them wide eyed and slack jawed. I could tell that Tetra was excited, whereas poor little Wulfric was shaking uncontrollably. I motioned to Tetra, and between the two of us we managed to get him out of his seat and following along beside us.

The crowd of nobles around us had begun murmuring, the looks they gave Firebrand (behind his back, of course) ranging all the way from awestruck to hateful. I glanced back at the three tournament champions just in time to see them being blocked by a small group of nobles who were telling them (quietly) to return to their seats. I was just about to say something when, out of nowhere, five or six of the nobles surrounding them started convulsing, as if they had been shot with a Taser! I whipped my head back and forth, but Firebrand was almost at his table across the room and he wasn’t even facing our direction… he couldn’t have, right?

I looked back at the frightened champions and motioned for them to follow me, breaking them out of their stupor as they leapt over the downed nobles and ran to catch up with us. The entire situation was surreal, my head feeling like it was full of fluff – was this really happening? I was just starting to realize that I had neatly trapped myself; if I didn’t go with Firebrand I would quickly find myself at the Shieldwall, or having to battle my way out of The City. My imagination was going wild, so I took a deep breath and focused on clearing my mind. One step at a time.