The sun had set a little while ago, and bright lights of numerous fire works took to the sky. Later that day began the celebration of honor. Just like it says in its name, the celebration of honor was simply a festival held eight months before the tournament actually took place, but this wasn't just your normal run of the mill parade.
Acrobats raced through the air on pads of wind, lightning, and fire. Their goal was to see who could get to the finish line fastest while passing through the hoops of sparks. The guy riding on the wind was in first place, leading the men watching down below to cheer in victory as he came upon the finish line. That was who they bet on, but they soon came to regret that. Lightning zipped through the rest of the hoops, and passed the finish line in a surprising turn of events.
"Not fair, I want my money back!" Demanded a cranky drunk guy.
"Oy shut op! You sore lowsa, You luwst!" Shouted another guy.
"What'd you say to me?!"
"I said... you-luwst!"
Four sneaky children used the commotion of the arguing men to slip their hands onto some steamy hot rolls of bread. The old lady that baked them saw, but she couldn't do much about it, because she was busy trying to get these men away from her booth. "Hey hey! Get a move on you ragidy pagidy lot of bafoons!" She yelled as she waved a broom in the air.
"Thank you miss Aniyla!" The children yelled as they scurried into the mass of citizens walking threw the streets. The children pushed and squeezed there way into an ally. One, two, three, and four all sat in a circle. The biggest one of the kids took off the red scarf from around his forehead, and spread it out in the middle. He took a deep breath, and glanced at each of them with his dark, kohl outlined eyes. "Ok yall know the deal, everything in the middle."
A kid with pinkish skin, and elf like ears nudged the smallest child. "You first Dan." He said.
The small kid sniffed really hard, and rubbed his nose with one finger. He then rubbed it on the back of his shirt while holding up the front side like a pouch. When he let it go, a basket's worth of blue, oval shaped fruit rolled out.
"Ooooooo." The children awed.
One of the four children, the one with dark curly locks put his arm around Dan. "Good job Danny, but now it's my turn!" He said before sticking his hands all the way down his knee deep pockets. Golden soft braids of bread came tumbling out as he turned them inside out.
"Nice, you got the old ladies bread." Said the biggest kid.
Curly head bowed. "Thank you, thank you very much my good sir." He said in a fancy accent.
The last of the four kids held his eyes shut as he pinched his lips together. "Fareth..." He said.
"What's wrong stephen?" Asked the curly headed kid.
"I got bread too!" He yelled as he let out his goods into the middle.
"Wait what? I got the cheese, one of you were suppose to get the meat!" Yelled the biggest of the children as he let out a bunch of cheese into the middle.
"It's ok, this is more than enough, we can just have cheese sandwiches." Said Dan. The other kids got quiet, and dramatically looked towards the opening of the alleyway where the hoard of citizens walked.
"What is a sandwich without meat?" Fareth asked dramatically.
"What is meat with out sandwich?" Stephen added.
"Nothing... nothing is what it is." Replied the oldest one. "I'll go get the meat."
The smallest one sighed "Oh brother..."
"I'll be right back, wait for me." He said before running for the raging festival.
Everywhere he walked was impacted with an unreal amount of people. Sometimes he would get frightened when he saw someone that wasn't even human, but this was actually normal here. Arosa was made up of not only humans, but dozens of other intelligent races. Such as the man of Odd, who was leaning against a building, eating the biggest piece of meat the kid had ever seen.
Sure, the abnormally large, well cooked, juicy ribeye looked tasty, and would've solved all of the kid's food worries, but there was two undeniable problems. One, he wouldn't be able to carry it since it was twice his size, and two, the giant holding it made the meat look small in comparison. His legs alone took up more than half of the road. So the thought of taking a piece of that guy's meat quickly left his mind, and he quickly made his way around his enormous foot.
Around the corner of the foot, came another strange person, and the boy accidentally bumped into him in his haste. "Hey would you watch where you're going kid?" Said the guy he bumped into, baring his two very large front teeth. The kid was mute, and stared at his face with wide eyes. "What? Sumthen on my face?!"
The kid stared at the mans whisker's, and huge black eyes with a dropped jaw. Then the guy's small nose twitched like a rabbits, and the kid mustered out a, "no sir, sorry." Before hurrying past him. "I had better make this quick." He thought as he began to rush through the crowd.
After a little bit of shoving and hustling, and all for some meat in a sandwhich, the kid made it to an outside tavern. The kind of tavern with no walls, just a floor, pillars, and a roof. The first thing he spotted was a green man with purple leafs as ears, and long black hair. In the guy's hand was nice big bone with a chunk of meat on it, just what he was searching for. Luckily the guy was busy chattering up a storm with someone that looked much like him, and payed no attention to the scrumptious delicacy on his side.
Slowly by slowly the kid crept up on him, but then he spotted someone attempting to do the same thing. He stopped, and clenched his fist in frustration. The first great opportunity, and someone got there before he did. What a drag, he thought.
Out of curiosity of how good of a thief the man was, the kid stayed to watch. Yes, the man almost had it, the other end of the bone was grasped in his hand. just one good tug and he could've run for the old lands, but somehow the green man knew. He laughed sarcastically as he rolled his eyes back, and casually turned to the thief. One good kick sent the him on his back and running like a rat on all fours, but the leaf man wouldn't let him go so easily.
He snapped his fingers, and out came a green glowing ball of fire. The man caught the baseball sized ball, and tossed it at the panicking thief. Puff he went, and disintegrated into a pile of sparkling green dust.
The boy awed in shock. "I'll just cross him off the list." He mummbled as he went further ahead. On and on he went, relentlessly looking for an easy victim, until he finally caught a glimpse of hope. Two, obviously rich, helpless, overly unaware boys stood outside a griller's booth waiting for the meat to cook. One of them looked impatient, and the other just happy he was going to get something in his belly "Well... i'll be taking that." The kid whispered to himself. "You look like the type to sprinkle gold on it, so just buy another one or something, ok?"
"Thirty more seconds lads." Said the booth owner as he flipped the meat.
"Aww yea, can't wait." Allan said while jumping up and down.
"Actually you could wait, and you could have waited even longer till we got home. I keep trying to tell you, dad already had someone prepare dinner for us." Said Nikolai.
"I know, but this piece of meat looked especially tasty." Allan said as he took the meat. He then marveled at it as he held it up to his face.
Nikolai sniffed in the smell, and took a gulp. "That does smell pretty good..."
"If there is anything left, I may, just may, give you some." Allan said, before opening wide for a big bite.
Looking past the meat, and behind Allan, Nikolai could see the strange kid creeping up from behind him. He too, was eyeing the meat, and from the looks of it, Nikolai could tell the kid hasn't eaten in awhile. By instinct, he almost told Allan to watch out, but then thought, no Nikolai, don't tell him a thing, you deserve the laugh, and acted as though he didn't see anything.
Allan was so close to having a mouth watering, mouth full of spices, butter, and lamb, but then the sneaking kid struck. He snatched it right from Allan's paws and ran for crowd. For a second, Allan just stared at the dumb expression on Nikolai's face, and in the next he was full speed ahead chasing the kid. "Hey you thief, that's my meat!" He yelled.
"Give it up, you won't catch me!" The kid said as he jumped onto a crate. Across from him were more crates and boxes that he jumped to, and climbed on top of to get onto the roof of one of the houses. He kicked them down before Allan had a chance to reach him, and stuck his tongue out. "Told you so."
"You annoying idiot!" Allan yelled, before looking everywhere for a way up. There were no noticeable convienent ways to get up there. All hope seemed to be lost until Allan spotted the fire work booth. "I'll take the biggest one you got!" He shouted as he threw money onto the wooden counter.
"Uhh, sure thing kid." Said the booth lady. She then went under her booth, and dug around a bit. The next moment she came up with a firework as big as Allan.
"Perfect, do you mind lighting it for me?" Allan asked.
"Kid, does your parents know you just spent their house rent?" The lady asked.
"What's house rent?" Allan asked.
The lady sighed, "never mind." She said before kissing the firework's fuse, lighting it aflame. "There you go, point it to the sky so no one gets hurt."
"Thank you thank you." Allan said as he sat on it like a horse, holding it in the direction the kid ran.
"Hey kid that's dangerous!" The lady yelled, but was all too late, with his arms wrapped around the rocket, Allan had taken to the sky in a dazzling fury of sparkles.
Around and around he went, spinning, and screaming as he quickly caught up to the thief. First the sparks were orange, then they blended into green, and at last they became pink, and off Allan jumped. He wasn't a moment too early, or a moment too late, and landed directly on top of the kid. "Who did you say couldn't catch you?!" Allan asked, and the firework blew up right after.
"Agh, get off me!" The boy shouted as he double kicked Allan back, and jumped off the other side of the roof.
"You imbecile, give me back my food!" Allan shouted as he got up, and followed.
"Just buy another one, I know you can." They kid yelled as he cut into a alley way.
Allan had no time to talk. Every last bit of his attention went to following the boy who obviously knew his way around all these corners.
"Stop following me." The boy yelled.
Cutting through all the corners, they finally ran into one, long straight path. If it weren't for the boy trying to protect the meat, he could have gotten away, but Allan was too fast, and tackled him right before he could turn the next corner. They both went rolling across the floor before hitting a wall.
Allan managed to pull himself together before the kid, and grabbed him up with his shirt's collar. "You'll pay for making me waste my time!" Allan growled.
"Noah!" Yelled a bunch of other kids from behind Allan.
"Ughh, just let me go!" Noah yelled, pushing Allan off of him, and running to the group of children. "Here just take your stupid meat."
Looking at all four of them together, Allan was able to get a better idea of the situation. Dirty old clothing, and beat up shoes, if any at all. These kids were abandoned, left alone to fend for themselves for a long time. This was the only way they knew how to survive. So he turned away, and put his hands behind his head as he begun to leave.
"Here, don't you want your filthy meat?!" The kid yelled in frustration.
"No keep it, I lost my appetite already." Allan stopped, and untied the pendant from his neck. "Damnit, I ruined my necklace chasing after your idiot self. Might as well keep this too." He said before throwing it behind him.
The curly headed kid rushed to catch it, and once he did, held it tight in his hands. "Thank you." He said wistfully.
"Don't thank me, thank your retarded friend for destroying my stuff. That probably cost one hundred gold pieces that i'll never get back." Allan said as he continued to walk away.
Noah took the pendant from the kid. "Let me see that Fareth." He said.
"The pendant is in perfect condition..." Fareth said lowly. It was obvious Allan wasn't too good at showing kindness, but they all knew that the favor he had just shown would soon change everything for them.
"So he got away did he?" Nikolai said to Allan, watching him come up empty handed.
"Even you wouldn't have caught him." Allan said.
"No, I would have, his speed was like level two out of fifty."
"Whatever ok, lets just go, Asiya is waiting." Allan said.
"I'm telling you, that kid was slow slow, even Gortin could have caught him." Nikolai said as he followed Allan into the crowd.
Elsewhere, above the streets they maneuvered through, sat the kingdom's castle, where the true celebration would shortly begin. Pearl white armored knights sat at every entrance, near every cypress tree, far and near in the vicinity of the kingdom's courtyard hall commons. This is where all the Nobles of every nation stood, eyeing one another, and talking beside the other tribes they got along with.
With a single glance one could see they weren't very friendly with each other, and there was a bit of racism. This racism had become invisible amongst the nobles, after so many centuries of division, what could one really expect? The giants that were known as The Odd sat near the entrance, and the very few known Nyagraphas sat further away, secluded away from the others. These were a cat like people, taking various different features of the common cat into their genetic appearance, such as their tails and ears.
Even so, there were still certain groups that were more comfortable standing next to each others. Such as the elves and the Faer. Both originating from nature itself, these were the dwellers of the forest. One could expect to see a Faer at any special gathering a elf was at, or vise versa. They would often silently compete in their elegance and beauty. Although most would say the Faer win in these regards due to their extreme uniqueness.
Many of them had glowing eyes that matched their skin color, which normally was a random color of the rainbow. Very rarely they would be mistaken with elves due to their long sharp ears, but make no mistake, the faer's ears were longer, and resembled leaves.
Within each of these groups was a representative. This person was very easily spotted out from the rest of the fodder by their incredibly overwhelming presence, and more dominate look. The representatives of the Elves and the Faer fit that descriptions very clearly as they stood side by side, wearing their other worldly attire.
"Mordrid." Said the elf representative while looking ahead.
"Daimen." Said the Faer, also looking ahead.
The air sat silent for a couple of seconds before the elf spoke again. "I see you came with your people, as did I."
"But of course, you know i'd never miss an event such as this." Said the Faer.
"Yes yes of course, especially since our own families are competing and all."
"As they do every year." Replied the Faer.
The air sat silent for a little while once more, and then the Faer spoke. "But you know my old friend...this year will be especially interesting won't it?"
"And why is that?" Damenthia asked.
"Oh come now, dont act like you don't know. The rose boys will be competing." Mordrid said.
"Ah yes, I wonder how such a thought slipped my mind-," Damenthia paused for a second. "Ah look, there they go now." He said as he nudged his head in the direction of Nikolai, and Allan.
"I must say, humans are of course one of the ugliest creatures next to the odd, but the Rose family has always been quite beautiful." Said mordrid.
"So even you can praise others it seems." Said Damenthia.
"Occasionally." Mordrid replied before walking away.
Above these many conversations of the people of the commons, sat a highly decorated patio attached to the third story of the castle. Four knights stood on each side like statues with their swords drawn to their face. On each side of the patio was a set of twirling stairs that allowed the two princes to run up, and down as they liked.
"Hurry, were so late!" Nikolai said as he and Allan scurried up the steps.
"I know I know!" Allan said.
They both tried to keep their royal postures in front of all the nations eyeing them down as they sped walked up the stairs. As soon as they got to the patio they ran to the huge twin doors at the back. Nikolai took a deep breath. "Ok if dad asks, we were caught in the parade below." He said.
"Ok parade below, got it." Allan said quickly before they both opened the doors and walked in.
The doors opened them into a world of gold, and glistening brown furniture along a pearly white floor. At the end of the room stood Sully, Asiya, and a very lanky man in a weird purple suit. Luckily for the boys, they had their backs turned to them, discussing something in a high tone.
"Findrel, in the next couple minutes i'll have no choice but to go out there with just Asiya."
"I'm afraid so sire." Said the weirdly dressed man.
"Father we're here." Nikolai said walking up from behind.
Everyone quickly turned around. "Boys!" Sully said as he quickly walked up to them. "Where were you guys, we were suppose to go out there fifteen minutes ago to announce the ceremony." Sully grabbed both of their shoulders, and turned them around, pushing them to the large wardrobe against the wall.
Nikolai spoke fast. "We were caught in the pa-"
"No time for that," Sully said as he snapped his fingers. "Findrel."
"Coming sire." Said Findrel.
"Get them something to wear from the wardrobe, we will be going out in a thirty seconds." Sully spoke fast.
"Thirty seconds? That's impossib-" Allan said before getting stuffed into the wardrobe along side Nikolai.
Findrel shut the doors shut and started to count. "Ah one, ah two, ah three," He said as the wardrobe jumped up and down. "ah four, and ah five." Once he was done counting, he opened up the doors and both the boys fell out wearing completely different clothing then they were just a minute ago.
"What is this? Pink?!" Allan said in disgust as he tugged at his fancy clothing.
"Well now we look like a family, everyone is wearing pink." Asiya said.
"That'll do just fine, come now, everyone is waiting." Sully said before walking to the large twin doors. Findrel rushed to the doors and pushed them open. Then they all walked out with Allan standing on sully's left, and Nikolai and Asiya on his right. The knights made way, and stood at the ends of the patio. Sully then nodded at findrel, who then ran to the front of the patio and pulled out a silver horn.
He blew into it as hard as he could, and everyone became silent and brought their attention to the front.
"Attention, attention everyone," Findrel spoke very loudly. "The king of Arosa will now give the residents his words of grace!"
Sully clear his throat before stepping to the front. He then placed his palm over his chest, and began to speak. "My fellow brothers and sisters from far and wide, I greet and welcome you to the three hundred fifty fourth annual celebration of the beginning of many young people's success. The beginning to many people's ends, but most of all, the beginning of the tournament of honor. Many of you may already know this, but for those who will take the challenge for the first time this year, I tell you one thing. Honor is not a materialistic achievement although many of you may believe so in your heart. Honor is something one achieves once they have good character. Even the weakest of you may have the greatest honor, and the strongest the worst. It is up to you to decide which one you are. Listen to my words, and live your life by them if you see fit. Fairy tails are true, but if you happen to not experience one, then create your own. Enjoy the festival."
When his speech ended, he let his hand off his chest and pointed to the center of the commons, where no one stood. There stood a fence, blocking away the people, and beyond it lied a circular indent in the stone with many deep crevices. By the power of his will, a strong wind blew from the thin holes carrying thousands of glowing leaves.
The leaves twisted like tree trunk until they reached the sky and spread out like branches. Once they sat there for a moment, they began to glide down and blanket the dark floor, brightening it up a bit.
A loud thump, and screeching came from behind the royals. Turning back, Allan could see skinny legs pushing a large chair onto the patio. "Sire." Findrel said. "Please take a seat."
"Ah yes, thank you Findrel." Said Sully.
The kids all watched their father slump in the ever so comfortable chair, and then glance at findrel. He knew exactly what it meant. "Yes right away." He said, before going back inside and getting three more smaller chairs. He lined them up perfectly with sully's chair, and the kids waited not a second longer to sit.
They sat there playing with one another from across there seats that they werent allowed to move from. The night quickly became late, but the time seemed so slow for the children, and they fell asleep in no time.
Down below, amongst the others enjoying themselves, were the noble men and woman that whispered, and gossiped amongst themselves. "All that wait, and for just those words." Said the representative of the giants in a extremely echoing, deep voice.
The Faer just so happen to be leaving when they over heard him. "Coming here is more of a way to pay our respects to the king, rather than enjoy this- party, or hear his words. Well at least that goes for the respectful Faer." Said Mordrid.
"Mordrid don't you speak a word to me." Said the giant as he stood up, shaking the ground.
The Faer knights that stood around Mordrid instantly unsheathed their swords, and readied there bows. The ones that specialized in essence unleashed their magically powers. At a moments notice they could send the Odd flying with a barrage of attacks.
Mordrid smiled slightly and signaled his men to stand down. "If you were smart you'd take advice from anyone that speaks the truth, regardless of who they are, or how small your brain is." He said as they began to walk away. "Farewell."
Mordrid in his men left the party with nothing to fear. Not only were they beautiful, but they were highly talented in almost all fields. A natural enemy to the odd's egos.
The moment Mordrid's foot stepped outside the exit, another foot stepped in. He barely barely saw the man's tan skin underneath the long black cloak covering him in the moment they walked past each other. It was only a glance, but in that milisecond Mordrid instantly decided he was nothing to worry about, but for some reason his body reacted. "You there." He said as he grabbed the mans arm.
The man didn't turn around, or speak.
"What business do you have here." Mordrid asked without letting go.
The man quickly glanced at fair skinned noble with red hair and bushy brows. He then turned around and took off his hood. Underneath he was the exact replica of the red haired man. "I'm sorry sir, can I help you?" He asked.
Mordrid looked suprise for a moment, he knew for a fact he saw tan skin. "I must have mistaken you for some one else, enjoy your evening." He said as he let him go.
The man hooded himself as he continued to walk into the masses. As his hood fell over, his face became normal once more. He moved through the shadows of the crowd as silent as a fluttering butterfly. Looking here and there as if he was looking for someone.
At last he spotted someone who seemed to catch his attention. Short combed over black hair, and that ridiculous purple attire. It was findrel, making his way through the crowd with a platter of pastries. He was just a few steps from the stairs that led to the balcony. It would seem he was taking those sweets to the king.
Swiftly, the man pounced through the crowd, unnoticed by anyone and lightly kicked at Findrel's foot. He would have fallen over if the man had not caught him, and the platter containing all of its delicacies. "Are you ok sir, you should watch your step carefully around these stairs." Said the man without showing his face.
"Oh certainly, thank you young man." Findrel said as he stood on his own feet, and took the platter.
"The pleasure is mine." Said the man as he watched Findrel walk up the stairs and out of sight.
A light sound of rattling metal was made as the man clenched his fist. In his hands was a bundle of keys that he took from findrel. He casually put them in his pocket, and disappeared into the party.
That night the party went on until midnight. By that time, everyone had passed out, and was taken away by workers, or had left early like Mordrid. The royal were the only ones left till the end, sitting above the commons. Asiya, and Nikolai were asleep. Allan was too, but woke up due to an annoying bug. He eventually fell out his chair while trying to kill the intangible bug. When he got up, he noticed his father standing alone.
He was standing at the edge of the balcony, staring into nothingness. His relaxed eyes gave away his daydreaming into another world.
"Father..." Allan said.
"Oh Allan, are you awake?" Sully said without looking back.
"There was an annoying bug so I couldn't sleep." Allan said.
"Perhaps it was good for you to wake up, come here." Sully said.
Allan walked over to the railing, and gazed down below. A chill wind blew through his hair, and a feeling of nostalgia entered his heart.
Sully chuckled and began to speak. "When you were very young, there was a time that Id stand here with your mother gazing at the stars. We'd talk about our dreams, our future, your future, and everything good and bad of this world... the way your mother would smile when talking about her dreams...there was nothing like it my boy." Sully said as his eyes began to water.
"Dad I..." Allan mumbled.
"Look up Allan, look as far as you can, to the stars and beyond, tell me what you see." Sully said.
Allan looked at the starry sky, at the shooting stars, and the planets undiscovered. "I dont see anything." Allan said.
"Look closer!" Sully said zealously as a wind blew past them sending the glowing leaves into the sky.
Allan squinted his eyes harder and harder. At first glance all it seemed to be was stars, but as he stared there with the feelings of the past circling through his body- his eyes opened. There were billions of star currents spiraling through the sky, and each one held a different memory or emotion. The shooting stars were the happiest moments that went by too quickly, and the planets were the ones that lasted forever. Space was the ocean, and Allan was drowning in it.
"I can see it!" Allan said as his eyes began to tear up. "I can see it!"