Soal

I watch Sachihiro get restless after the departure of his two women, they don’t see the pressure he is under and I don’t blame them, he’s very good at hiding it. I have seen his unease grow with every passing year and because he lets me follow him where-ever I can go without harm I see a lot more than they do.

I ignore him to his own musing as I perform my duties in the small library. I'm comfortable as his henchmen more than I've ever been anyone else's, if he wants to be rid of me I know the knife won't stab me in the back.

I never liked books before associating myself with this young man but as I move through the shelves putting books back into their proper places, feeling the hard wooden spines and leather covers I just don’t understand how more people don’t treasure these little fonts of knowledge. I move to the folklore section and smile at the many gaps between books on the shelves.

This is the most popular section for the young and the curious; a lot of barbarian children start their reading here, a lot of their parents as well. There are different stories from different peoples attracting different cultures but the most popular by far are the books written by that strange white-haired old man Zhen from the stories he collects from tribes. Already three volumes have been written and copied over a thousand times with hopes of immortalising the Barbarian history and culture as known through stories told at the long-houses.

I pass through to the language area and find the little half-elf girl lying supine on the carpet completely absorbed in her reading, one of a very few half-elven children produced by the mix peoples this metropolitan has produced so far. Very few elves are welcome anyways, for whatever reason many of them die in the welcoming arena against that sadist Adrea. How the woman is still alive boggles my mind but she has only ever lost twice apparently, something I didn’t have the pleasure to witness.

I move from the stacks on the first floor down to the ground to my seat behind the libraries main counter. I notice that Esuas is sitting outside with Sachihiro and a tension I didn’t realise I was feeling relaxes from my shoulders.

Taking up the book I’m currently reading, ‘The Savage Humans of Earth’ I continue from my bookmark. If any of this stuff is true then this planet Earth is very fascinating but also completely insane, poor creatures. From what Shravanthi has said a lot of it is true and the book itself is written by a former earthling from his own perspective and the history he knows of the place.

It’s another 80 minutes before Sachi enters the library again, followed closely by a pair of younglings returning books they took earlier in the day. He doesn’t seem to notice them whispering about him but I know he probably does. There are quite a few rumours about this man amongst the tribesmen, some of them even true. But not many as interesting as his actual daily life, not many at all.

He disappears up the stairs and into his office completely ignoring me as he likes to do, coming back down armed with both Razor and Kata. I check to see who is still in the Library before grabbing my long-sword Craven from under the counter and pat my pesh-kabz that’s always on my person.

"I’m leaving!" I shout to no one in particular before I’m on my way closing the double doors behind me. I chase after the illusive Sachihiro quickly, having an inkling of his route and my wood lore has much improved since first I came to this pseudo-city so my pace is respectable. I move swiftly through the trees and open spaces of the districts of Libero, the Outer –City.

There is strange energy about the place as I pass people walking or running with purpose instead of the loitering and laughing that usually fills the Orchard District at this time of day. I mostly ignore the vibe though as I see Esuas far ahead in the distance. I increase my pace and quickly find myself facing the majestic enchanted walls of Paradisum Proper.

I am not challenged as I run through the perpetually open gates for I have long since proven myself and continue to do so on a fairly regular basis accumulating scares and making ‘friends’ amongst the tribesmen and women.

‘’Where are you off too so fast Soal?’’ a sending comes to me and I send a mental shrug in return. Eluna is one of the ‘friends’ I’ve made through the many times I’ve had to fight for in this insane but beautiful place these people call a city. ‘’I haven’t seen you train in years, how did you beat Revlon last ten-day?’’ another sending enquires, fainter and further than the last as I move quickly forward through the crowds of people walking about Blood District.

‘’The day you see Sachihiro train is likely the day you see me train,’’ I send before cutting her off from any further inquiry. Barbarians are nosey, I don’t know whether or not they usually don’t have secrets but they will ask you direct questions about your business like it’s their privilege to know.

I’ve been training with Sachihiro for years now, I used to think I was a good fighter but this place has given me a whole new perspective on what a killer verses what a fighter actually is. I was a relatively good killer, spy, sneak, assassin but never really a fighter. ‘’Anyone as often by my sons’ side needs to be competent’’ Divina said some seven years ago before directing her son to take me to his training sessions.

At that point I had thought I was his shadow and fairly good at keeping an eye on him from a distance, but when he started taking me to the places he trained I realised how often the young man snuck to places right under my nose. To be fair though a lot of the places he frequented at the time I had no access to.

Like Shadow Font, the mansion of the half-fae half-elven monster that trains Sachihiro in magic, spy-craft and occasionally swordplay. Sachi most spars with the Asia twins Pherastasia and Anastasia, masters of their own arts and monsters in their own way but it’s the fae creature Sergei that makes me wet my leggings.

I move into the Central District and straight for the Awakened Arena alley entrance where I know not everyone needs to be an Awakened to be welcomed, just insane.

*

Sachihiro

There is a stir in the ambience of the air around me as the wind sweeps in bringing the aroma of morning grapes and sweet honey strawberries with it. I stand slowly as I pay attention and catch the slight changes in aura and the way people are moving or standing as some information passes from the Springs to the Fighting Orchards and towards me in the library.

I can literary see the wave in people caused by the passage of a sending as news is broadcasted through this area of the city causing a visceral reaction in people. A few people don’t react though, not everyone in Paradisum is an Awakened let alone a Tribesman and connected to the claim of the land.

The Maori imprisoned a Barbarian, found him guilty of a crime and executed him . The message whispers and seems to pass through me like a cool breeze whose memory fades from me as it passes.

My ears move and my neck hairs bristle as I feel the call of battle in my blood. We had always thought it would be the Sandies that called us to war again, provoking us into a fight with their slaveries and disregard for anything not magical. But it seems the Maori are the excuse the Chiefs have needed to wet the blades of the young warriors of this generation and cull the weak and stupid.

I know it has been difficult for many of the old warriors to spend so many years without a tribal battle, but our numbers have kept us from making war upon ourselves and scratching that itch that our culture, our way of life, our blood causes demanding a visceral challenge. Forcing us as a people to curb the worst of our impulses, something easier for Dee and I compared to every other Barbarian I realised long ago.

‘’What are looking tense about now?’’ Esuas asks with a grumble as he gets up to dust himself of the crumbs on his lap.

The powerful dwarf visits often having become a friend at some point in our travels and fights all these years. The man is old, older than Azriel but apparently he isn’t even middle aged for a dwarf and is resistant to my advice that he start a family.

‘’It seems the Maori have given us an excuse to shed blood,’’ I say looking at nothing in particular whilst also breathing and trying to calm the song of challenge in my blood. The anger at the audacity these people have at caging and the executing a Barbarian as though he or she were one of the dumb animals cultivated in the kraals.

‘’Is it war then or what, and considering what we know may happen anytime now aren’t the Maori just a distraction in the greater scheme of things?’’ Esuas asks but even as he does I can feel him testing and flexing his aura as it circulates around his body. He asks valid questions but I appreciate the fact that he will fight where I fight.

‘’I think this is just the distraction the tribes need to prepare for the coming calamity, don’t forget that we already have a score to settle with them for the slaves they took and the atrocities they committed during the War with the South.’’

I sigh as I look around with my awareness as far as I can look and I see the anger in some of the Barbarians in the vicinity, the glee in others, some seemingly completely oblivious or unaffected.

"I think it’s about time another one of the kids joined the Club...’’ I send to Esuas who grunts before jogging towards the arena. I sigh again, so much death is at the precipice... I move into the library to fetch Kata and Razor from my office since I only keep a dagger on me when here.

*

I grin as I walk through the Club in the last floor of the Awakened Arena, da and Esuas at my side with Iki walking behind us in silent wonder trying her best not to completely geek out at being invited into the underground circles of the ‘mythical’ Fight Club. A ‘rumoured’ haven for the battle maniacs and those constantly hungry for a fight only pretending to be normal people that can live in any form of civilized society without snapping now and again.

No one who hasn’t been invited knows about fight club but some people naturally find it as their inner beast smells home. Especially here in Paradisum where many peoples visit just for the rumoured gate arena’s with which we greet all new visitors.

I haven’t fought here in many years but I am eager tonight for my little girl to find out some of what her da is really capable of and why the old men of the tribes threat me and my home with the respect due an active named warrior even in my retired state. The underground Arena chambers dedicated to the club are still standing even after countless titanic fights here because the sidhe fae themselves were involved in the strengthening of the Arena foundations making sure they could withstand creatures much more powerful than any of us here have currently reached.

A few people nod to me as we walk, a few in challenge, challenge I will have to respond to before the night is out. But some in greeting and acknowledgement, here I have fought many battles these past few years, here is where I have been keeping the edge on my fighting instincts honed.

We take a left side tunnel away from the main fights and join two other groups each bringing with them a prospect for Club initiation. We join the queue and talk casually listening to the background sound of clashing weapons, the slight scent of sweat and blood in the air, the ambience of violence and glee. But no loud shouting, no alcohol, no sex, this is all about fighting.

‘’Are you ready to fight Iki?’’ I send to my girl literary bouncing on her toes in excitement as her wide eyes try to take everything in. I get a vigorous nod in return and a nervous excited grin, I shake my head with a smile. I’ve never been prouder as a father.