After the wars that had almost destroyed Gitna in the past has finished, the excessive energy and emotions of the people have no other outlet to let out. Hence, they established several forms of entertainment to avoid having the people resort to conflicts again.
There were the rise of the theaters, which our young man had personally participated in. Then, there were different kinds of races for the more active players. Some people still had hands-on fights, but inside a ring this time. However, that was usually held behind the eyes of the prominent figures.
In this city called Ewan, where Ling and Maga was washed ashore, the greatest form of entertainment was a race. With all the dragons and other beast around, everybody could join the competition.
Ewan City consisted of a few varieties of environment which was important for their kind of race. There was the sandy shore beside the ocean with the rocky cliffs on the other side. Then, the populated city with an abundant forest beside it. With all these, they had a race track that was the envy of the other neighboring cities.
This was the reason that people from other cities also visits here for entertainment. As usual, at around noon today, the awaited race was just starting and the people were converging around the starting point.
As they walked briskly together with the city inhabitants, Ling and Maga heard them talk about the race. The opening race was just about to finish and the main one would soon start. That was what everybody was waiting for.
Usually, the race was a competition among the people's raised beasts. Their owners had trained together with them inside or outside the city. Then, the beasts had to pass the set obstacles and reach the finish line first to win.
However, the main event was a race of the beasts together with their owners. This time, the beasts qualified had to be big and strong enough for their owners to ride them.
The track was also longer, going around the city. Sometimes, even outside the city. Then, the obstacles were more difficult that the beasts would need their owners' help.
With the long track, the audience going to the city center would only get to watch the first part of the race. Despite that, the people still went there even just to see these animals' gear and action live.
Besides, for the past years, Ewan City had adopted the more advanced cities' usage of the 'mist' to show what was happening in the latter part of the race. There was a huge 'mist' ball circling above and in front of the audience at the starting point to show parts of the race together with the broadcast.
There were also other people who would wait at the finish line or a specific spot on the track to watch what they thought of as the most exciting part of the race. Still, some people prefer to run with the players and cheer for them as the players run along the track.
Soon, the stands half surrounding the brown field with the starting line came into view. There were already a few people seated on the stands while others were looking around for available seats. Currently, the talk was still ongoing.
"I heard the mayor's youngest son will participate this time."
"Yes, and his mount was bought from the dragon riders of Kal'wa."
Several gasps resounded after that statement. Even the strangers seated beside the person who spoke turned to stare at him.
"I still think Talo will win today."
"But isn't he already older than most of the players? His reputation is already receding."
Ling later ignored the gossips around. He noticed that the gate to the stands was already full so he and Maga were left outside. Several people were even grumbling and arguing around them because they weren't able to get seats.
However, Ling wasn't concerned with the people anymore. His eyes were trained at the sky. The shadows of the flying creatures distracted him earlier, and now, he was looking at them.
Although most of the flying beasts were not the same creature as Maga, there were still dragons flying around, big and small. Ling and Maga even noticed one slightly bigger than Maga, and Ling had to hold his friend's snout to stop it from getting attention to them.
Afterwards, Ling led Maga behind the stands and the two turned themselves invisible before flying up together with the other creatures. Despite this city's different attitude towards dragons, Ling was still a little vigilant. Besides, he had felt that more and more people were staring at them—or most likely at Maga—once they entered the city. Even the riders up in the air were flying closely around their position earlier.
In a while, that thought took a back position in the two children's minds. A bang finally signaled the start of the race.
Like the riders flying in the sky, the participants have various beasts as mounts. Most were large ones with sleek bodies, horns and four legs. But others still used birds which used its two legs to run and its wings to pass the obstacles.
However, the biggest beast in this race has wings and was running on four legs. It was the dragon, which was being ridden by the mayor's youngest son acording to the gossips. It was evidently fighting for the first position against a huge wolf-like creature with three horns on its head.
As the sun was about to set, the participants finaly entered the forest where the last obstacle was. Aside from avoiding the closely clustered trees, they had to dodge the arrows flying around.
The real challenge though was the made up bog covered by a white 'mist'. After reaching this spot, several participants had already shouted their loss.
Some of them were still inside and the audience couldn't determine the situation since even the broadcast was not able to describe it. Only the shouts inside was letting them know how difficult it was.
The whole race took hours to reach this point. After another hour, the first to reach the city was a young rider on a four-legged, winged creature. He raised his hands up in the sky as he roared together with his dragon amidst the cheers.
Afterwards, Ling and Maga watched the awarding ceremony with sparkles in their eyes. They had closely followed the racers, especially in the forest as they remembered the familiar course they had traversed together since they were younger. They had a plan now.