There was a lot of preparation to be done for those games. Too damn much if you had to ask me. The easy stuff was the time, date, and location. The games took place once every 45 human years, and started on September 18th. Assuming there were no complications, it took about a week to pull off when it was all said and done. As for the location, The Village had a place specifically for meeting and announcing the games, so there was no issue there, but finding where to host the events would be a chore. There were seven events in all.

The first event was the big race that took place in somewhere preferably desolate, deserted, and cold, so probably in either Antarctica or northern Canada. The first 50 to finish move on to a competition of throwing a ball and chain the furthest. Then the 30 highest scores go on to the creative magic showcase, then top 15 to the raw strength contest, top 10 to the magic power competition, top 5 to the no-power obstacle course, and the top two get to have a duel to determine the victor. Real exciting stuff.

My job in prep wasn’t actually that bad I guess when it was all said and done. But I had to referee the whole entire time, and host it too. Which meant I was sitting on the sidelines and watching carvatians have fun. Yeah, that’s definitely a Temple move to make me do something like that. When the first day of the Games came, I went down to meet some other people who would be helping me host it. I’m glad I got help, because otherwise I’d probably be pulling my hair out trying to get everything down.

As I approached the meeting spot, I immediately noticed who was waiting for me. This time I definitely knew it was Iris, caretaker of Heaven. And near her, setting up a chair, was Moon, 12-time winner of The Village Olympics. I remembered now, the year I made it to the final round, she grabbed me by the tail and slammed my back over her knee. I was in the hospital for three days… At least she sent a get well soon card.

“Excuse me,” I waved. “Are you two helping me host the games?”

“The Temple chose… you to host the games this year?” Iris asked with suspicion and intrigue. 

Clearly she knew who I was, and had some kind of weird interest too. She attended yoga on some Fridays, and I saw her in Heaven’s paperwork office while I did janitor duty there. Her prosthetic wing made her stick out from the rest, but also her glasses and strip of odd hair on her head. She looked well put together as a person, but also wildly nervous for one reason or another. Maybe she was worried about the games going wrong, or maybe she was worried because of me. But maybe she was also just hot because she was growing red.

“Yeah, well, I’m hosting them whether I like it or not,” I sighed, scratching the back of my head. “Whatever the marble slab says.”

“I- well- yeah. W-whatever The Temple says.” she stammered. Yeah there was something about me setting her off. “Moon is over there as our event medic.”

I glanced to where she was pointing and saw the carvatian with gray wings and blue hair laid down on one of those beach chairs under an umbrella.

“Yo,” she said, holding a hand up. I’m glad everyone was taking this as seriously as I was. She took another glance at me and rubbed her chin. “Did I throw you one time?”

I closed my eyes and deeply inhaled through my nose.

“Yes,” I sighed. “Yes you did. Finals of your 5th Olympics victory.”

“Oh yeah, I remember now,” she said, snapping her fingers. “I sent you a get well soon card, right?”

“After putting me in the hospital.”

“You put Gryft in the hospital?!” Iris asked, apparently not knowing just how much of a monster her assistant was.

“You don’t know half of what I can do.” Moon said, putting some sunglasses on. “Call me up when someone skins their knee.”

*   *   *   *   *

Iris and I were waiting by the finish line for all the carvatians to finish the race. A small handful of the most skilled ones came in already, but we had to account for about 160 carvatians all crossing the finish line, so it was going to take a while. Moon was following the back of the race to make sure she came across anyone who needed medical attention. I was going to die of boredom if I didn’t make small talk though.

“Which one of these guys do you think is going to win?” I asked, glancing at the top finishers.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, glancing at some flying in. “It’s too early to tell. The tournament’s winner could finish last in the race.”

“Sure, but…” I pointed to a carvatian that looked to be some kind of dragonfly variant. “My bet is on her.” The woman saw me pointing and flashed a smile, which showed off a row of serrated teeth. The surprise made me shudder.

“I don’t think the ref should be making bets,” Iris chuckled.

“Doesn’t kill to have some fun.” As we sat there for longer, I finally took a stab at a question I had been asking myself. “So why is Heaven’s caretaker helping with these games anyway?”

“Oh well, I thought this year I could just help out and pitch in.” I could tell she was lying about something by her face, but I couldn’t tell what about. “What about you? Why’re you doing all of this?”

“Temple made me,” I said, flashing her a look at the brand on my arm. “Made a deal with it, and the thing has me under lock and key now.”

“The Temple is… unforgiving.” Iris sighed. “It took my wing from me.” She stretched and flexed her prosthetic one.

“At least you could replace it.” I said darkly. “The Temple took my immortality. No matter what, I’ve got a clock over my head. And I’m running it out being an errand boy.”

“That sounds… dismal.”

“It is.”

There was a long pause before Iris spoke up again.

“They say a lot of things about you around The Village.”

“Not surprised.”

“Did you really… kill a group of humans to rescue captive carvatians?”

“Every single one,” I confirmed, keeping a scowl. “And I would do it again to rescue more if I didn’t have this curse on my arm.” I said, scratching the brand on it. She looked more nervous, but not exactly what I’d say surprised.

“But why?”

“If people want to do good, I’ll let them. If they want to do something twisted though, they can run for days and nights on end, but they’re not going to escape my sight.”

“Alright Mr. Noir,” she said, rolling her eyes. “How about you try not killing anyone else as long as you’re in our peaceful village?”

“Peace is an illusion. A clever trick from people ready to make more war.”

“Oh my me, you really are just dark and broody-”

“I’m not!” I countered. “I am-”

“Hey!” interrupted an armadillo variant carvation. “Are you going to check me in or what?”

“Don’t get your tail in a bunch, buddy.” I growled. “You just finished in place 93. You’re not winning or anything, so you can wait a minute.”

*   *   *   *   *

When the race was finished, Moon flew over to us.

“Everything look fine?” she asked.

“I’m running over the names now.” I said.

“Did anyone need your help?” Iris asked.

“A few people skinned their knees, and one guy got stuck in a hole in the ground, but that’s it really.”

“Why does someone fall down a hole every time?” Iris asked.

“I wouldn’t ask that anymore.” Moon sighed.

“Hey, we’re missing one.” I said, tapping my clipboard. “Someone named… Carlon. They never checked in.”

“Maybe you just missed them?” Moon wondered.

“I don’t just miss people…” I said, realizing The Temple would have my skin if someone went missing. “I’m going to do a sweep of the track and make sure nobody’s there. Moon, you guide everyone back to The Village and announce the winners.” I said, tossing her the clipboard.

“On it.” she said, flying to the crowd of people.

“You and me are going to find our missing carvation.” 

I spread my wings and jumped into the air. Iris did the same and followed my lead. We flew across the trail that the carvatians all ran across, searching for any sign of red in the stretch of white. Iris was struggling to keep up with me.

“Gryft, maybe Moon was right,” she said. “Maybe we just missed one!”

“No,” I growled. “I never just miss one. Something happened to them, I just know it.”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere! There’s nobody out here to-”

“Got ‘em!” I reported, nosediving down to the ground.

It was really odd though, the carvatian was knocked out, which wasn’t easy to do, and her legs were wrapped in some kind of snare. She was a kind of white fox variant, and blended in semi-well in the snow, but certainly not enough that Moon should’ve missed her. The whole thing was odd to me.

“Still think there’s nobody out here?” I asked, scanning the surroundings. I channeled magic into my hands and turned my fingers into hawk talons, slicing through the wire binding the carvatians, then I slung her over my shoulder. “Tripwire doesn’t set itself.”

“We’re in the middle of a wasteland basically. It was probably set up by some hunters who forgot about it or something.”

“That was meant to catch one hell of a rabbit then.” I grumbled, taking off.