"Name?" The usher in a fancy smancy green suit asked.
"Otto Ire"
"Age?"
"16"
"So what's your superpower? You are required to have one according to the rules, We don't want to waste our time dealing with unnecessary death of those who had no chance."
My name is Otto Ire. Today is the day I go to sign up for a once in a lifetime opportunity! The king of the country is old and dying and soon Princess Renner will become the ruling monarch of Elysis. I can finally live the easy life of fame and fortune I deserve! The only thing is though…
"I don't know what my power is, BUT i do know I have one. It says so right here on my doctor's note." As I reach into my back pocket, the man puts his hand up to stop me.
"Sir, please don't waste your or my time. If you haven't noticed the line behind you, there are actual contestants like The Mage Army General Brutus EarthWood." The usher said in a condescending tone making sure I see his smug smile. He continued, "Now what was it? Otto. I can say with one hundred percent confidence that you don't even have a smidgen of chance. I mean, take a good look at yourself. You ain't got what it takes like the people behind you." He leans on the counter and points behind me. While most of the people looked normal, there were a few exceptions.
The lady behind me was wearing a silky, burning red kimono with foxes illustrated around it. She calmly smiled at me and waved at me. There was a man in a full knight costume accompanied with the sword and shield to match, another person looks like a full on kobold with scales and a dragon head. The last guy was several times larger than everyone else. He's basically what you would call a giant. It was truly bizarre seeing all these strange types calmly standing in line as if this was completely normal. That was until I realized they were all staring at me with disgust.
"That kid needs to hurry up and move."
"Why is this redhead powerless wasting our time?"
The mumblings and whispers suddenly filled the room. As everyone in the room scowled at me, my face turned red and I could feel the pressure of the theater forcing me out. How the hell is my face even red? I'm black! And yet...
I'm just going to leave. There was no real chance of me winning anyway. I don't even know what my power is yet, nonetheless how to even use it. There are people in this with decades of experience. Compared to them, I'm nothing but a bug in their way home to their golden palace.
As I begin to turn away and walk towards the door someone grabs my arm. Why is the geisha lady stopping me? Does she want to laugh in my face or give a snarky comment before I go? My face is completely hot and sweating gives her a concerned look. The geisha lady does nothing but smile at me again. Her powdered face and red lips make it more pronounced than before.
"Sorry ma'am about the INTRUSION, now can you give me your name?" The now supremely polite usher says.
"Mr. Drewfair?" Geisha lady says in a calm yet menacing tone. Her voice immediately makes the usher's smile drop and becomes immediately terrified.
"You're well aware that you just rejected a perfectly potential candidate for the competition, right?" She finished.
Once the usher regains his composure, puts his hand on the back of his head, scratches it and says "Ma-mama I mean ma'am, I think that you s-should consider that he doesn't even have any abilities. He doesn't even look all that strong!"
All while this was happening I got a better look at her. She looked young, probably even around my age. Her bright scarlet hair was carefully put together into a bun with some stick like things sticking out of it. They looked a lot like drumsticks.
"My, my. What will we do about that?" She puts up her heart to her chest while making a pouting face. "It's quite sad isn't it? Wasting all of Mr. MusicHouse's time dealing with the loss of his poor usher over something so small as a single boy who's already an exception. Quite pitiful if you ask me. Just because one may not look the part, does not mean you should underestimate the power they have within. You should know that from experience, right Mr. Drewfair?" She then delivers such a sharp, menacing glare to the usher that he falls to the ground and starts to sweat. She at first had a dramatic tone but now… it seems as if it's diabolical, manipulative even.
"I-i can't do that to Mr. MusicHouse. M-my life would be over before I know it." "Well then, I'm glad we've finally reached to an agreement. Now could you please hand over the ticket to the young man? I believe you've wasted enough time here." She's so terrifying that I almost pissed myself when she turned to me and smiled again. I don't know why she decided to emphasize the words young man or why she was even helping me in the first place, but I was just happy that I got in while getting to wipe off that shit eating grin from that usher. Does she like me? Does she think I'm cute or something?
All my life I never had anybody think of me like that. All I was known for was being that weird kid who always was cleaning the street or making the kids cry when I had to clean off their street chalk artwork. The older kids and the ones my age constantly made life hell. Throwing trash cans on the ground for me to pick up or just straight pushing me down and running. I always tried to make it up to the kids at least by buying them sweets from the corner store later with what little I had to spare from that job.
Alice and Devon were always the only ones who talked to me afterwards instead of just taking it and leaving. Alice always made the best art out of the kids, and even made me a portrait out of me for my birthday. Devon was her big brother and always did his best to protect her from her "friends" He always wanted to talk about the new episode of whatever action show he was watching at the time. Even though I never really understood what he was going on about, I appreciated his kindness and that he cared to talk to me. I miss them so much, considering I left my home city of MustafaMorro to the capital. Nothing much was going on for me, but those two kids continue to give me a little hope that I can do this. This whole world seems so terrifying. I nearly used all my money on paying the charter. Apparently prices went up because of an increase of bandits in the area.
"You can go ahead of me, I'll catch up." Snapping out of my daze I tried to take the ticket from the usher but his hands were shaking and sweating so hard he dropped it. Picking it up I realized that the entire room was dead silent and it felt like every soul in the room was staring me down with red eyes. Every step I took towards the auditorium door squeaked so loudly it was deafening compared to the utter silent peanut gallery watching me. To stop this I have to walk even slower to the door. The door was about 20 feet from the ushers table. I can do this. This is easy, it's literally walking. The first thing someone learns before even talking. I take the first step across the floor, "CREEEEAAAKKK!!!"
It didn't help.
Every step after that was louder and longer than the last. Seriously when was the last time they did maintenance on these floors? They look a thousand years old! And why did nobody else make any squeaking noises? Is that my ability? To make any wooden floor squeak? I move even faster across and all that happens if "Squeak, Squeak , Squeak '' Over and over again getting so loud to the point My ears might bleed. Finally I reach the door and open it "SQUEAAAAAAAAAAAK!" It's the loudest sound I've ever heard in my life. MY ears hurt so bad from the high pitch squeal of the door MY hands instinctively cover my ears and quickly run out through the door, before the door slams shut I heard a slight chuckle.
Please kill me, this is a fate worse than death. To make it worse it seems like everyone from the other room connecting to this main hall also knew what happened . As I walked down the long
corridor, I heard disgusted groans and mutterings through the halls.
"That's him. The boy." I heard one say.
"that's the kid who had to get help from some sympathetic lady to get in."
"Why the hell are they allowing just anybody with powers in?"
"They should just block out those desperate nothing to lose peasants and make it a nobles game only."
At the end of the hall is the Great Tree of Arcadian City. It's a enormous tree that was so tall if you'd think after climbing it you'd to touch the stars. if you looked closely enough and squint your eyes you could just barely see the ornament at the top, a shining golden emblem of the royal family, lightly touching the ceiling. It's so astounding i might fall over from its presence.
I sit down on the small brick "wall" circling the tree. AGH this sucks, none of this fit any of my plans that I spent weeks thinking up! I thought of ridiculous things like what if I lost my papers or money or if I got lost! But why was this the thing that had to happen to me! What did I do to deserve this! I'm alone and hated by the city. I feel like the ball being repeatedly kicked around by the kids back home. I sigh, there's no point going back as well, it's either somehow keep going in this, become a slave to the church, die in the military, or keep being stuck in this poverty hellhole for the rest of my life. There's no choice, I have to keep going, I have to win.
While thinking of plans my eye caught a small brown bag casually sitting on the tree. Going over and picking it up and looking inside there were a bunch of weird coins. They were about the size of the nail of my thumb, and had a dark blue rim with some sort of weird gem in the middle. It doesn't look like I can use them as a kaleidoscope either. Well I'm sure it has some use in the future, maybe it's money in a different country. I could just hightail it out of this country and go to the Kingdom of Dornia. So I quickly stuffed it in my right pocket and decided to enter the theater.
The theater is enormous and beautiful. To put it in words would be an understatement. The ceiling was adorned in an expensive array of beautiful glowing jewels illuminating the room. Each and every type looked like the cost of it alone would be enough to feed the neighborhood family for a year. In the center of the ceiling was a gigantic chandelier so large they have a hole in the ceiling that it looks like it goes back up into whenever it's job is finished, and somehow it all seemed to be hanging by a single golden thread.
Looking around it seems like a challenge just to find a seat. Rows and rows of chairs leading to the stage was like that of an ocean. The expansive advancing attack of red seats overwhelmed me and I had the urge to reach my hand out to it when I felt a hand touch my shoulder. It was a geisha lady.
"Why hello there young man, why don't we find a seat?" She took my hand as she led me down the stairs to find a seat. The entire time my face is completely red and I'm nervous beyond belief. She's so beautiful, why is she holding my hand like this? I can't even open up my mouth to say anything. It feels so nurturing, so caring, so soft, so….
"Why don't we sit here?"
"O-oh yeah ok. Sounds good to me. I mean, ill allow it". Deepening my voice to sound as manly as possible. No plan in the world would have helped me here. So I just had to rely on my gut instincts. That's it Otto! You got this. Show her the man you can be! Turn around. Look at her in the eyes. And show her you got this!
Looking into her eyes is like looking into the soul of a starving predator who hasn't eaten in weeks. Her eyes shone with a bloody red immediately freezing me in fear. I was nothing more than a racoon getting caught stealing sugar.
"S-s-so, I-i n-never got y-your n-name." Nailed it.
"Oh my oh my how rude of me. Forgive me my dear and let me introduce myself. I go by Kana AsugaAI. I immigrated here as a child from the Shonto Theocracy when young. How about you introduce yourself as well."
She's a NOBLE! Only nobles are allowed more than one last name! Wait, Otto if she likes you she could be your ticket out of being poor! If she knows I'm just a poor kid from the inner city, she'll definitely not like me.
"My name is Otto...Otto BigBone."
"My my that's interesting, you say you're from the noble caste like me. But why are you wearing such dirty old clothes like a peasant who passed it down generation after generation?"
Oh shoot, she's right. Well I can't give up the act now just gotta fake it till you make it!
"Well you see… umm I wanted to prove to myself that I Otto BigBone can make it survive on my pure will and strength! Even if I forgoe my noble cloth and donned some beggar clothes" Doing my best to appear confident and brave, I even went ahead and put my hand on my hips and puffed my chest.
"Hey Otto."
"Y-y-yes maam"
"It's starting."
I didn't really even look around till now. But now the auditorium was filled to the brim with people. Apparently they put different races in separate sections as well. Us humans had the Feline people on the left and there were Werewolves people on the right. The bird people were on the other side of the werewolves. I've rarely ever seen other races before except from drawings in books. Most races stay within their race's royal lord's territory. So unless they were a passing merchant or were drawn in a book I've never seen it. In fact this is my first time ever seeing a Werewolf.
"Welcome everybody to our imperial capitals top theater! My name is Steph AbbotCheer and today it's my pleasure to be your host tonight!" The host says in a very excited tone.
The crowd politely cheers, under pressure I do so as well.
He then starts to speak less enthusiastically and his frown turns somber. "Well let's not waste time so let's get right to it. Unfortunately the Great King Mell MerrowWindElysis the First is under frail condition. And as sad as I am to say it he will pass to the heavens soon. This brings me a heavy because we are in the middle of a war with the Ambrose Alliance. And what country can fight a war without a king?"
The crown started to boo loudly and with passion. Looking around some people began to softly cry to themselves. I looked at Ms.AsugaAi and she doesn't seem to be responsive whatsoever. She sat completely still as if she were nothing more than a doll.
The host continued, "And so because of that. We must go on. Because the princess has not found a suitable suitor in time. The king has devised a competition amongst his people to bring forth a worthy suitor. That suitor will wed the soon to be queen and lead our nation into victory against our enemies and prosperity for our people!"
More people clapped and louder than before, others cried loud, people started to stand and chant "EL-LY- SIS!" "EL-LY-SIS!" This continued until the host put his hand up and said.
"Now now I know we are all excited so let's get through the most dull parts so we can get started. The rules of the competition go like this. There are one thousand coins spread and hidden throughout the empire. Whoever can find and collect all one thousand coins will be the champion and suitor to the princess. They have a deep sea blue rim and have a diamond center."
Wait- Those sound exactly like the bag of coins I found near that tree! Oh no, what if they say I cheated. How could I even begin to explain that I found one hundred diamond coins before the competition even starts? I could get arrested and executed oh god.
"....they are also imbued with magic so no one can possibly forge them. Whatever means necessary to collect the coins are allowed as long as no harm is done to non contestants. A king must be able to use any tactic necessary to achieve their goal, even violence, stealing, or any other things we deem immoral. As far as we are concerned as long as you collect the one thousand coins anything is allowed. We will periodically give you hints and clues to where the next coin is if we feel the contest is getting too slow. One last thing you must know for now. To make sure we at the competition council are always aware of what's going on, we have tasked our dear friend Nathanial DrewFair with using his ability Eye of Sauron to watch over every single contestant. Let's all give a round of applause to Mr. DrewFair!"
The applause was deafening. Then something came to me. Mr.DrewFair was the name of the usher from before! You gotta be kidding me he's the damn referee too?
"Mr.DrewFair declined to say any words to us today but he did tell us to say this, Yes, I know this will be a challenge for me to use my ability to watch over all 100,000 peoples and all races at once. It'll especially be tough to watch over the merpeople as they are underwater and it gets cloudy. I also have blah blah he goes on like this for a while. Here we go. But I'm willing to make whatever sacrifice necessary for the empire that made me the proud noble I am today. I'm proud because I know a brave, strategic and above all worthy warrior of the nobles will rise above the mountain and rule over our empire with the strength it needs. Elysar bless the Elysis Empire."
The crowd went wild. The cries from the audience were enough to cause the room to shake. Covering my ears in pain I see a cat person on the floor sobbing inconsolably. I feel like the only person on the audience to not take that stupid jerks words and good for nothing speech at face value. That is until I look over to Kana and see she is completely calm and has not moved a muscle. All that has changed was a small smirk.
I tug on her kimono and say, "Let's get out of here all that's left is for him to start the thing, we should leave before the line gets long."
"I think I'll stay. I want to watch it myself. You can go ahead without me sweetie."
SHE CALLED ME SWEETIE. WHAT DO I DO What do I say oh god oh god. Think Otto think Otto think what would a confident ladies man say in a situation like this.
"Anytime sugar lumps." I then quickly turned around and ran up the stairs as fast as I could so she couldn't see my profusely sweating face. Luckily everyone was distracted crying that nobody noticed when one random person was leaving the theater.
Outside I saw two people standing outside looking around the tree one was the giant man from the line before and the other was a short werewolf girl. They were both wearing imperial knight dress uniforms. Made to fit both of their respective sizes.
"What the hell are you talking about you stupid dog thing! It's gotta be around here somewhere! Where the hell did you put it!" The giant yelled.
"I'm sorry sergeant maybe someone took it."
"How the hell could someone possibly take it if you hid it so well? You dumb tail freaks keep fucking even the smallest things. Someone just took one hundred diamond coins that would've been the generals if you weren't so damn incompetent. I can't believe I got stuck working with this worthless peasant mutt! You know I could probably get away with killing you. At best i'd get a six months paid vacation." The giant screamed in a rage. He raised his huge fist in the air ready to strike her, and as she cowered beneath him, covering her face and closing her eyes preparing to burden the hit.
"Hey fatass!"
He turns around to look at me. While he's distracted, the werewolf girl takes the opportunity to run behind the tree for safety.
"Your next line is "What the hell are you doing here peasant?""
"What the hell are you doing here PEASANT! What! How did you know that?"