What they always dreamed of was right in front of their very eyes. When they were little, the sight of the Great Tree was not more than a daydream, something that, maybe, one day, they would be able to admire. There are many stories around that magical place, with description different from mouth to mouth: none of them would come close to the reality. The Pantheon was an enormous wood structure, taller than a l houses, resembling an old oak, with massive and knotty roots on the ground that drilled the soil and reach the very center of the world. Its trunk was so large that it would take probably the entire human population of fhe world to try to hug it. But the most mesmerizing, breath-taking part was the branches. Suspended in the air, far from the heads of the people, the long, wooden arms of the Tree departed form the trunk radially in a geometric and simmetric figure, covering with it diameter the city underneath it. And those branches were completely covered by emerald, gigantic leaves. It was said that before the humans, even before the Deities, there was only the Tree of Ascension. Legends say the Tree is the origin and the end of all lives and it was it who first created and designated the Holy Ones, giving birth to them. Only centuries later, the humans were created by the Deities, in an effort to try to find their rightfully successors and companions. That was when the First Tournament took place.
Both Jhun and Ehrin were speechless: never, in their life, had they seen something so beautiful and enthralling. Their mouths were wide open in wonder, their pupils reflecting the crystals that were giving the light to the city of Olympia. Ten minutes passed before they realized that they had lost precious time: Ehrin was the first to come back to her senses and, with little grace, she shook up her brother, waking him from his daydream. Both of them, the heart pounding in their chest, started to walk down the hillside, towards the entrance of the city. There, a crowded queue gathered, moving slowly into the opening of the city walls. Jhun and Ehrin got in line with the other people, looking around themself to getting used to the place: every road from the countryside led there, so there was a kaleidoscope of different people and different races, from the giants to the little micros. They started to fantasize about the tournament. “Do you think we will be able to challenge other living being? Like that giant?” said Ehrin. “Well, I think this kind of event would attire people of every shape and form, so- why not?” replied the brother. He, too, was thinking about them and how he would have loved getting to know them, their traditions and, above all, their abilities. It was said that the Deities created the human being in their resemblances and that was the reason of the different ‘races’: even though all of them were ‘humans’, people tended to distinguish one another and, thus, there were giants, antros, micros, floras and many more, based on their phisical characteristics and their powers.
The queue kept to proceed at pace speed. “What kind of test do you think will be tomorrow at the tournament?” asked Jhun. “I don’t know, every year is different based on what the Holy Ones are looking for and the number of the participants. Hopefully, not some logic games… You will be eliminated instantly.” She smirked towards the brother. His face turned red, a warm feeling reaching the top of his ears: ”Oh yeah?! I will show you. I will defeat you even if it’s a logic game.”
While they kept chatting, a hooded figure surpassed them, bumping the side of Khun. “Oh, sorry” said the stranger. “Don’t worr-“ he started saying the young man, noticing, though, a change in the pace of the figure and feeling, at the same time, like he had become lighter. His eyes fell on his side and he understood what happened: that man took his weapon. “EHI!” screamed, as he left the queue, starting to run behind the hooded cloak who was fasting more than before. In the crowd of people, Jhun had difficulty to move as fast as he was used to while the thief seemed perfectly at ease, moving swiftly among people without even touching them. Actually, when Jhun took a better look, the thief was actually bumping into the persons, but it was like he was made of thin air: he could pass through them! Was he… a Fiery? While Jhun admired the thief, he was able to leave the crowd, looking back for just a moment towards the boy he just robbed. That was enough to not see the man in front of him, who used his own arma s an obstacle: the impact between his limb and the chest of the hooded figure was strong enough to knock the latter down, on his back. Jhun was then able to reach them, while the new man keep the thief by the scuff.
“How many times do I have to tell you, Sari?” It seemed like they knew each other. “How many times do I have to stop you before you’ll learn your lesson?” His voice seemed tired and exasperated, like it wasn't the first — nor the second or the third — that that happened. “Why are you always here when I try to do something? Are you stalking me, Beryu? You dirty old man!” The cloaked figure — Sari? — pulled down the hood, revealing a young girl, her hair black as pitch, her eyes blue as sapphire. Her face had no imperfection apart for a small scar under her cheek, that make her look She was beautiful, in the eyes of Jhun. The man that stopped Sari was tall and slim, with a toned body; hair red and eyes green, Beryu seemed to be older than both Jhun and Sari and, judging by his equipment, he must have been part of the city guard. “Since I don't want to see you waste your life with petty thefts, yeah. Now give beck whatever you took and go back home.” With a flaming look, the girl took the black cylinder from the pocket in her cloak and, with a furious gesture, she offered it back. Than, without a word, she quickly disappeared beyord the city crowd.
Jhun stood still, looking towards the way Sari disappeared. With a cough, the guard spoke to him: “Sorry about that. She's a good girl, if you get to know her. Just, she had a difficult life.” Jhun remained silent, still thinking about Sari: non only she was beautiful, but she was also a Fiery. That meant that she was stronger than the average person. Maybe they would have met again at the Tournament: Fiery usually took part in the event, since they could easily defeat the commoners. “So, why are you in Olympia? For the Tournament?” Jhun look towards Beryu, nodding a responsive answer: “Yeah, my sister and I are going to take part in it.” The man looked surprised: “Seriously? You are… well, young. Are you sure? It won't be an easy fight.” “Yeah, but we trained a lot for this. We're going to win no matter what.” Impressed by his determination, Beryu gave him a smile. “Ok, then get back in line to enter the city. I've finished my shift, so I'm going to offer you dinner just to make you forgive this incident with Sari. And since I'm a city guard, I can tell you something about Olympia and the Torunament.” Before Jhun could replied, he add: “I won't take a no for an answer".
Not really understanding why some stranger would like to offer them dinner — he wasn’t really used to that — he smiled back, telling him that that would be a pleasure and then reunite with his sister, now really close to the registration point. She asked what happened and Jhun tried to explained it with the least amount of words. As he expected, the attention of Ehrin got caught when the word 'Fiery' surfaced on his lips. She would have asked more, if they didn’t arrive in front of the officer. They had to give their names and reason for their visite: when they nominated the Tournament, on his face appeared some kind of smirk, but just for a brief moment; Jhun knew in that instant that he didn’t like that man: he was looking down on both of them. Received the information to register in the Tournament, they surpassed the gate and entered, at last, in Olympia. In front of them, Beryu, in civilian clothes, was waiting for them, raising a hand when he recognised Jhun. They approached him and he made the presentation. “Thank you for helping my brother” said Ehrin. “No problem, it was my duty as guard. So, would you like dinner? I imagined you two would be starving.” And then, he lead the way inside the city.
Comments (0)
See all