“Kiiara, Serena good to see you are both doing well,” Phoenix, in his affirming deep and calm voice, says, with a smile. Phoenix has long dark brown hair reaching his back but not his waist, tinted with wine color at the end, which he packed with a wine colored ribbon, gold color eyes shining like the sun and a very light brown skin with a calm and easy going expression on his face sometimes. For this occasion, he is dressed in a white long jacket with golden thread linings spun to make different designs at the tip of each sleeve and collars which stand up close to his chin with a white shirt on the inside also, a pair of white trousers and a pair of white boots also with the golden thread linings spun around them, all made with a fine material. Diana, having great beauty and elegance, has a long faint colored blonde hair (looks like white with a mix of blonde) which runs down past her waist, unpacked, dazzling blue eyes just like Kiiara’s and a fair skin with a calm but strong countenance. For this occasion, she is dressed in a long white gown, with long wide sleeves which cover a bit of her hands and even her feet such that her footwear cannot be seen, with a gold piece of cloth hanging on her right shoulder, reaching her feet on both her front and back. She is also putting on long slim diamond earrings on both her ears and a ring having small diamond studs round it on her left ring finger.

“Mom, still beautiful as ever,” Kiiara says as they finish the hug.

“Dad,” she says, Phoenix looks at her with a wide smile waiting to hear a good complement too.

“Ugh!! You’re getting old,” she adds, bending her head to one side.

“What?!” he says with his left eye twitching as he reaches to grab Kiiara who quickly runs behind her mother.

Diana stands and folds her arms as she smiles at Phoenix bringing him to a halt.

“Ah,” he sighs.

“Well you can run now but you’re still coming home, right?,” he says with a sarcastic smile.

“Hmph!!” Kiiara sighs, sticking her tongue out at Phoenix and giggles.

They all laugh after her giggle.

“Well, trust you both will do great,” Phoenix says with his hands placed on Serena’s shoulders since she is standing close to him while Kiiara is standing close to Diana.

“And remember, no matter what happens here, just don’t give up,” Diana says, smiling and gently touching the cheeks of Serena and Kiiara.

“Definitely, I’m going to win,” the girls say at the same time.

“Hooo, Interesting,” Phoenix says to himself and Diana smiles at what happens.

Serena and Kiiara turn and look at themselves then smil at each other.

“Fine then, do your best Kiiara and may the best win,” Serena says as her gold eyes shine brighter.

“Of course,” Kiiara replies, smiling with confidence.

“Oh yeah!!!” Kiiara snaps.

“I’ve got to go play the drums for the opening ceremony,” she adds and leaves in a dash.

“Distinguished guests!!! The time for the Glory games is here once again!!!” the announcer shouts. Everyone takes their seats as the event takes off.

“Now for the opening song, the group, Light Beats will be performing,” he adds.

The crowd cheers as the music band performs the opening song, which is in the genre of soft rock, for the Glory games with Kiiara playing the drums for the group.

“A round of applause once again for the music band, Light Beats. A wonderful play from the drummer, Kiiara who will also be participating in the Glory games. Let’s hope she’s as good as she drums,” he says, adding a bit of laughter at the end.

“Now, for the opening speech, with a standing ovation and a round of applause, let us welcome…the King of Central Plains, Echo Forge!!!” he adds.

The crowd stands up as they clap their hands, welcoming the king of the Central Plains.

“Thank you all. You may please be seated,” the king of the Central Plains, Echo says, in his deep strong voice. Echo has long wine colored hair, reaching his back but not his waist which he packs with a black ribbon, wine colored eyes, a fair skin and often times, an expressionless face. For this occasion, he is dressed in a long wine jacket with random gold designs on it, white shirt, a pair of navy blue trousers and a pair of black boots reaching close to his knees having furry material at the top of each. The collar of the jacket also has the same black furry material like the boot. He also has a sword in its black sheath with gold designs on it, strapped to his belt around his waist.

“A pleasure to have you all here to witness another Glory games. We know how this started when the founder, The Absolute Blade, Ryusei Enten Novara, decided to make this school into a common ground for kingdoms to compete while developing their elemental abilities and skills. That legacy will continue for years to come. This Glory games is the ground where the students can showcase their training results and how much they have developed their skills and abilities. So, to the students, do your best and to the parents, teachers, guardians, viewers and scouts, enjoy the event. To this end, Let the games begin!” he says as he unsheathes his sword and raises it, pointing it at the sky while the crowd give a loud cheer. He then goes on to sit down.

“Finally the time has come!!!” the announcer shouts. Large screens hooked to large poles come up from the center of the arena to showcase the events because the games will start from outside the arena.

“Now shall we?!” he adds.

The participants gather in a forest, somewhere afar off from the arena. Participating, are two hundred academy warriors, all clustered together.

“What’s going on?” “Why are we here?” “How did we even end up here?” “I can’t even see my buddies anymore,” they keep on murmuring among themselves.

“Ahem!” a lady standing on a pedestal in the middle front of the participants signals.

“I’m sure you are all wondering why you are here, or how you got here,” she adds.

“Well the answers are quite simple. You are here to start the race for the Glory games. On the maps you are holding, you will see different marked points, you are to proceed to them as arranged on the map. For example, you are at point A now which is the starting point, from the map you can see the next point is A1, that is where you are to proceed to next. You cannot proceed to point B without clearing A1 except in a special case where the rules are so or the administrator allows it. As for how you got here and why you are separated from your normal everyday friends, a special translocation technique was used to bring you here. You are not with your close friends as this activity is to see how well you can survive individually,” she explains.

“Now for the rules of this activity,” she continues.

“The aim of this activity is to get to point B after through point A1. At point A1 you will find there are some beasts to aid your movement. Your goal at A1 is to get a beast and journey down to point B on the beast. During the race, you are free to use whatever means within the rules of the school, to stop other participants as long as you can arrive at point B,” she further explains.

“Just to add a little note: Only a hundred and twenty participants will be going through to the next stage. So it’s more of a first come first serve basis. With this you can see that your biggest obstacles will be yourselves,” she adds with a wide grin.

“Now let the games begin!!!”

With an uproar, the students dash, making their way to point A1 to get their beasts. After all the participants dash forward, one boy remains. He is dressed in a long black jacket, having medium sized ash colored hair with a spiky edge at the back and is standing in front of the lady, with a wide grin.

It is Damian.

“You may have to excuse me,” he says.

The lady quickly moves behind the boy. Slowly, he places his left palm on the ground, facing the direction the students are running in and says, “Elemental Release: Earth Style: Dynamic Labyrinth.”