(10) Two Daggers and a Prayer v (15) Standing Ground

[Ashiakin]

Round One starts at 12:00 AM EST on Sunday, April 30th and will last two weeks. Good luck!

[Lin]

Lornius. Until a week ago, Lin had never even heard the name. Even now as she stood in the rubble of a strange city she didn’t know a thing about it except what a man had told her when she arrived. “Remote, desolate, intolerable.”

It seemed fairly accurate as Lin squinted toward the horizon. The sky was afire as the sun drifted below the shadows of mighty buildings. When she arrived, she was told that things would begin soon and that she should find a suitable place herself.

”Suitable? For what?”

“By the looks of you,” the crass man guarding the docks had said, “to die.”

He had handed her a parchment map with a chuckle and that was the last she saw of anyone. There were others on the boat with her, but by the time she turned around they were all gone. Everyone seemed to know where they were going, except Lin.

“Why am I even here?” she sighed as she stared down at the map.

It didn’t explain anything. Most things didn’t even have names. She stared down at it for a while as a howling wind swept in from the water. It was difficult to determine distances, but she picked out what looked like a city and started walking. She couldn’t even rightly determine where she was on the map, she only guessed that the coast she was on was the southern one and that if she proceeded far enough west she’d arrive at what looked like a city. It was all guesswork.

“What’s the point?”

Why a city? Because that was all she knew. For Lin, a forest alone would be a deathtrap, even without an opponent. At least if she ended up in a city, she could ask someone about the area.

How wrong she was. When she saw the buildings on the horizon, she noticed something strange. It was already nearing sunset and there was not a single light on. She saw no people, heard no voices. The city was dead.

As she walked down its cracked streets, her footsteps echoed eerily off the towering brick structures on either side. Aside from the tapping of her boots against the ground, the only sounds Lin could hear were her sharp frightened breaths and the beating of her heart quickening.

“Hello!?”

She called out and heard nothing but the reverberation of her own cry. Tired from the walk and disillusioned, she sat down against a piece of rubble on the side of the street. It was one of many in the dead city. As she rested she wondered how many years it had been since people had walked the streets, how many years the buildings had sat empty, the air unstirred by the breath of man.

“Why am I here?” she asked herself again.

Of course she knew why. Because this was all she had to go on. She had no home, no companions. All she had was a single sentence stuck in her mind like a splinter.

“Go to Lornius and you’ll find the way to your true home.”

Lin had no reason to believe the woman who had said it. She had a strange manner and Lin couldn’t even see her face under the cowl she wore, but there was a depth and sincerity to her voice. At least that’s what she told herself. Whether there was or not, that’s all she had now. A prayer.

[Raychel]

Raychel still found it amazing that she had actually left home. She had spent years in her parents’ home, feeling bored and stifled, and fantasizing about leaving. She had spent months thinking seriously about leaving. She had spent days secretly packing and making preparations. But still, part of her had not believed she would leave. It felt very much like a dream the evening when she dressed in her travel gear, put on her backpack, and left her carefully written goodbye note on the kitchen table. Now, a few weeks later, part of her was still in disbelief. She tried not to fixate on the strangeness of the situation. She told herself that the important thing was to keep going forward. Giving up and turning back was not not an option. Luckily, because the experience of actually having left home felt so surreal, Raychel was not tremendously tempted to turn back. The oddness of the situation sort of numbed Raychel to feeling homesick, and as long as she didn’t think about home and begin to doubt her decision, her curiosity and sense of adventure carried her forward on her journey.

There was one other thing to contend with though- despite the fact that she was eager to go forth and see the world, Raychel was not exactly sure what she should do. Being a thinker who also loved the outdoors, she would sit sometimes under a tree and ponder- almost agonize really- evaluating all of the different options that were available to her. In the end though, she would frequently find that thinking too deeply was really not the most effective method of figuring out what to do. It is more often the random occurrences and educated but quick and unexpected decisions that move things forward. When Raychel was passing through a small village one day, she overheard some people talking about the LCC in Lornius. Although it seemed crazy, she decided to go. She knew she wasn’t a warrior, but she also knew that she had little to lose and plenty to gain. She could get hurt in the tournament, but there would be excellent medical care to heal her. Although she might fear pain, she wanted to face it and overcome it. And although it was a long shot, if she actually did well in the tournament, Raychel would then have a name for herself outside of the town where she grew up.

Raychel was not sure what to expect when she got to Lornius, but upon arrival, she had to check to make sure she was at the right place. There didn’t seem to be much there, and what was there seemed to be rather dilapidated. Raychel had been expecting a tournament in a large, grand metropolis with a festival atmosphere. She envisioned knights riding in on armored horses and bards singing tales of heroism in tournaments past. Why was it so ominously empty?

Raychel reasoned to herself, “Okay. The captain of the ship that took me here said that the tournament is here, in this town. I don’t think he was lying; I just need to explore some more in order to find everyone.” She kept thinking this as she traversed deteriorated streets and shabby dwellings, finding no one. When she noticed the sun setting, her pace quickened. It became increasingly harder to resist an uneasy feeling.

[Lin]

As she sat dejectedly on the piece of rubble, Lin mumbled to herself.

“This had better be worth it. At least that crazy cowled twit paid my way here. I’d hate to have to give up what little money I have to end up in this god-forsaken place.”

Lin always wondered why her people used terms like ‘god-forsaken’. They had no gods, except the Eudaemonians. And the only place forsaken by them was her home. And yet the people clung to their beliefs, their idioms, their shattered culture.

Lin took the blade from her pack and began chiseling at the cracked stone rubble on which she sat. The white rock chipped off easily, weakened by what seemed to be an eternity of weathering and disuse. The activity numbed her mind and the thoughts of home were driven away and a cloud of white chipped dust.

Sighing, she sputtered into a cough as the dust reached her lungs. Sunddenly she grabbed her mouth with her hand, trying to quiet herself. Footsteps.

The same sort of echoing footsteps she heard as she entered, but they certainly were not hers. They were moving steadily closer from a nearby cross-street. Finally silent, Lin clinched her dagger tightly and pressed herself up against the side of a building and crouched behind another fallen block. She called out from her hiding place,

“Who’s there?! Hello?”

Peeking out from above the stone sanctuary, she spotted a human figure. As she continued to stare, she could distinguish features. It was woman of fair height, taller than herself at least. Her hair was dark, but it looked like a mane of fire caught by the light of the setting sun. She was armored in leather, just as Lin was, but all in all she looked much more at home in it. The armor fit her figure, whereas Lin’s hid hers, or at least whatever figure she had to speak of.

“You! Gamma Spacer—er Human! Friend or foe?”

Another ugly tradition of her town slipped out of her mouth. She sneered at herself and hoped that she hadn’t just changed the woman’s answer from the former to the latter. Even in her sheltered town, she knew that many of the older generations of this world did not take kindly to her people. Unable to quite distinguish the woman’s age, she simply had to hope she was too young to remember the war.

[Raychel]

Raychel froze in place, startled at the sudden sound. She gripped her staff tighter and squinted, trying to see who was addressing her. Seeing no one, she took several steps back from the direction from which the voice was coming.

“Friend!” Raychel responded. “I mean no harm and I’m sorry if I disturbed you—I’m just looking for the LCC, and I think I may be lost. Are you familiar with this area?”

Raychel hoped that the stranger who was addressing her was familiar with the area, because constantly wandering the ruins was becoming unnerving, and she was anxious to find out where she was supposed to be before dark. The unseen individual she was talking to seemed very jumpy and defensive—had Raychel wandered into a dangerous area? Or had the tournament already begun, perhaps? The only thing to do was to stay calm and wait for an answer.

[Lin]

Cautiously and slowly, Lin crept out from behind the rock, dagger still firmly in hand. This was supposed to be a team tournament, and she had been sent out alone. Was this woman in the same position?

"I don't know anything about this area. I was dropped off at the shore and told to find 'a suitable place'. I didn't even want to come here and now I'm stuck."

Lin sighed and lowered her dagger. Precautions gave way to frustrations. If the woman she saw was here to kill her, all the better, she thought. At least then it would be over.

"I don't really understand how all of this works. I hadn't heard of it until I set out for this place. If you wanted to participate, you probably know more about it than I do. I'm just here because-- well, let's just leave it at that. I'm just here. Lin Verai formerly of Ildereth."

[Zerith]

“Alright so let me get this straight. This LCC is a tournament that takes up that entire island?”

He was beginning to understand now. Of course that was thanks to the kind man who was part of the crew that staffed the boat which would take Zerith to his next challenge. Originally the stranger had approached the young fighter just to hand up a piece of parchment, but then the questions came shortly after. What was the map for? How big is the LCC? What’s with the name “Torin Reahkari” on the parchment? Those were just a few of them. But upon realizing the amount of time it took for him to understand, Zerith felt a little bad for all the difficulty.

“Not only that,” the youth added. “But this Torin Reahkari is a man who will be my teammate and this map just so that I’ll know my way around,” he said in a tone that made it sound like a statement rather than a question.

“Aye, that’s right. Though it took you pretty damn long to catch on if I do say so.” The stranger replied. “But now that we’ve sorted that out how about you do me a favor.”

“Sure, what do you need?”

In reply, the crewmember pointed. “Get off the damn ship so we can cast off. We’ve been ashore for half an hour.”

A few hours later…

Who would’ve thought that this LCC would have been so big? Did it really need so much space for a simple tournament? There definitely seemed to be a lot more work involved in the this than the Serenti. But then again, this was different. There were team battles, not one on one duels. Yes, this and the Serenti were in different categories. Hopefully the top prize would be well with the trouble.

The truth was there was more than the prize that brought Zerith here. Instead he entered more for the glory, the chance to become a legend in Althanas. That was what made Zerith enter, he just wanted to become known. He wanted people to stop in the streets and acknowledge him, praising him for his achievements. He was sick of being ignored, put aside by others who insisted he was just a kid. He’d show them all what he was capable of, then nobody would dare to doubt him.

First he and Torin would have to win the LCC. This meant that they would have to knock out one team after another, pushing every hindrance aside like they were never there in the first place. Yet before that could happen he’d have to another pair of fighters somewhere in the deserted, crumbling city that he found his way into. This also made the youth begin to wonder just who lived here in the first place, and why they left.

“I mean no harm and I’m sorry if I disturbed you—I’m just looking for the LCC, and I think I may be lost. Are you familiar with this area?” a voice asked somewhere up ahead.

Immediately Zerith hid behind the closest rock he could find. He wasn’t alone after all, there was at least someone else there. Was it Torin? The possibility was unlikely.

"I don't know anything about this area. I was dropped off at the shore and told to find 'a suitable place'. I didn't even want to come here and now I'm stuck," Another voice replied.

“What the hell?” Zerith asked himself as he popped his head out to see what was going on. There were two people, two women for sure at least. So much for hoping one of them was Torin. What was he going to do now? He couldn’t hide cause they’d probably hear him now. That meant he could run as well. “Damnit, now be a nice time for Torin to show up.”

"I don't really understand how all of this works. I hadn't heard of it until I set out for this place. If you wanted to participate, you probably know more about it than I do. I'm just here because-- well, let's just leave it at that. I'm just here. Lin Verai formerly of Ildereth," the first girl replied.

Was she for real? Didn’t she fill out an entry form like he did? Well if she didn’t know what was going on, maybe the other didn’t as well. Perhaps Zerith wasn’t that unlucky after all.

“Alright Zerith, you can handle them. If they’re both like that then they don’t know what they’ve gotten themselves into. So you might as well show them the hard way. You wanted to show the world what you’re capable of right? Then those girls will be the first two. Alright, breathe and…”

“This IS the LCC,” Zerith spoke out loud as he emerged from his hiding spot. His boots crushed the pebbles beneath them as made his approach. “Y’know, the tournament where teams of two fight each other until only one pair remain. So seeing as how you two seem to be together I can only assume you one of the many teams here. Yet if you really didn’t know what you’ve gotten yourselves into, then I’ll help you catch on.”

Gripping his halberd with both hands tightly, Zerith charged and quickly crossed over the cracked street towards the two of him. He’d make the first move to bring this battle to life. His arms began to move, spinning the halberd in around and around. Until he reached the point where the reach of his polearm was suitable. Then he acted and spun around, his hands still glued to the redwood shaft as the titanium axe-head circle around him. The momentum that it gathered along the way helped tremendously, letting the sharp titanium blade cut through the air with ease. With luck it would cut through the dagger-wielding girl as well, punishment for letting her guard down.

“I’ll just start this without Torin. Besides, fighting two people on my own and winning would be a great start. That’ll show some people what I can do. Look out LCC, here I come!”

[Lin]

As Lin spoke with the other new arrival, a steady clinking came up from down the street. She turned her eye for a moment and then decided the best thing to do was continue to proceed as normal. As she introduced herself she even had to raise her voice to be heard over the obvious noise. It seemed overly foolish to Lin that someone would sneak up on her. She hadn’t a clue who was her enemy. That much should have been overwhelmingly clear from her conversation with the other woman.

Now it was patently clear that the approaching noise was a hostile one. The shout was a foregone conclusion by the time it pierced the eerie serenity of the abandoned city. Lin turned at last to face the oncoming threat and found a man dressed in, surprise surprise, chainmail. He was swinging a large polearm fiercely. There was no time to distinguish his features or even get fully out of the way. No matter how prepared Lin was for someone to “sneak” up on her, a charging man with a weapon wasn’t quite what she counted on.

Thinking quickly, she looked down and saw a pile of the stone dust she had accidentally inhaled only moments before. She kicked her foot up and allowed herself to tumble backwards onto the ground and out of the way of the spinning weapon. A large cloud of dust flew into the air right into the path of the new enemy.

The fall onto the hard street was far from pleasant, but Lin managed to land largely unscathed between mental preparedness and her leather armor. As she attempted to get back on her feet she wondered, “Why didn’t he just say hi and then try to kill us? Sure would have been more surprising.”

[Raychel]

The stranger Raychel was talking to stepped out from her hiding place, and Raychel saw that she was a young woman, perhaps a few years younger than Raychel, and with a shorter and thinner frame.

We seem to be in the same boat, Raychel thought to herself. We’re both here for the tournament, but neither of us have been given decent directions about where we should report to.

Raychel thought it was a bit odd that the girl said she did not want to be at the tournament. If she did not want to be here, then what were her motives? It seemed odd that someone would send an unwilling young woman to fight in a tournament. She did not have the build of a fighter. Furthermore, she seemed somewhat sad and dejected. Raychel could not imagine that her family would send her here against her will, unless they were terrible people… or maybe she didn’t have a family and needed to win some money…

Raychel tried to pay some attention to what the girl was saying, but the clanking of chainmail drawing nearer was a bit distracting. This young woman was clearly friendly, but Raychel was apprehensive about the heavily armored steps she heard approaching. At first she hoped that this person would step up and introduce himself as a tournament official. Perhaps he had partner assignments and information about tournament rules.

When the footsteps stopped and the new company was not in sight, however, Raychel began to suspect that she had indeed found herself a foe. She was ready for action, and action soon came. An armored man popped out from behind a building and charged towards them, yelling some commentary about the LCC.

Raychel was ready to dodge, and she was able to do so under cover of the veil of dust that her new companion Lin had kicked up. Her staff was still in hand, so Raychel thrust it low to the ground, in the path of the armored man’s feet.

[Torin Reahkari]

"I won't lose this time." I mused, watching the sea from the bow of the ship.

"How much longer until we arrive?" I asked, removing the map I had recieved of Lornius from my pocket.

"Uh..not long, sir. I do believe your partner has already arrived, but I could be wrong." the man replied, tugging away at the main sails, curving them ever closer to the docks to the island.

This was so incredibly different than last year..the colisseum like fights were no more, apparently.

"What happened to this place?" I asked, noticing the ruins of a once great city ahead.

"Ah..it's been a year since you were last here, Torin. Things have changed." the sailor called back to me with a wink.

"Things have indeed changed.." I whispered to myself, listening to the sea knock against the ship as we arrived at the docks, dropping anchor. I waited impatiently as the dropped the bridge on the ship and tied the damn thing down, hoping that the tournament hadn't already begun.
____________________

"Maxwell Faust..and Damion Shargath. Will I see them again in this tournament?" I wondered, looking around the ruins. I could hear voices up ahead and increased my pace, passing through half-doors and broken walls with ease. Finally, I found the source. Two women and a man.

"Must be Zerith." I laughed, moving closer as quietly as possible, sneaking up behind my partner.

"How could you start without me?" I called, unsheathing Tanzalis and rushing into the fray. I immediately blocked the shot from the staff wielder towards my partners legs, pushing Tanzalis upwards to try to fling the staff from her hands.

"Go left." I called quietly to Zerith, while I ran right, into a large house. Immediately, I went up the stairs, trying to get the highest ground possible. I raced to the window, staring down at the two women.

"C'mon. This is a tournament! Fight to win!" I laughed, grabbing a handful of sand off the floor and throwing it down towards them. Obviously structural damage and optical imparement was going to be the lead cause of team destruction in this battle.

I will not lose. I will make them remember the name Reahkari with fear.

"For you, Matthias." I whispered, the thought of my dead son haunting my mind forever. I immediately leapt through the empty window onto a sort of boundary-free balcony, all the railings corroded away or fallen to the ground.

"I'm waiting!" I called down, peeking over the edge at the women. What was taking them?