That can't be, right?
I mean… it should be mathematically impossible.
No matter how I look at it, it's wrong.
How can I have a loosing streak like this?
I don't get it.
I play cards with the two other kids.
Because I am not allowed in the fenced in area, they gave me a sittingpillow and we are currently playing underneath the cord.
The game is a variety of old maid, but with 71 cards. One joker and 35 pairs.
Their design is quite interesting, as the cards have funny and cartoonish pictures of beasts and spirits on them. Each pair looks exactly the same, just that one card has a picture with a silver border, while the counterpart is golden. The joker on the other hand is neither funny, nor cartoonish and instead looks like a miniature painting of the ancient demon king Al Drem in the middle of a gory slaughter.
I don't like this card.
And this is the problem, because I have it all the time.
When I arrived at the cord, I asked if I could join their game. They looked at each other for a moment and the pretty girl agreed, while the sickish boy looked, as if he just ate something sour.
They came closer with some pillows and after everything was set, they explained how the game works. I played it already in this world, so there was no problem.
But now that I think about it, "they" never explained or said anything to me… Only the girl did…
But that doesn't change anything.
After a few games, I told them my name and asked for theirs, but the only answer was "It's a secret.", together with a lovely smile from the pretty girl.
Maybe it's my grandfathers fault, but when I was told that the names are a secret, I didn't bother to ask.
We finished the round and because I won, I gathered up the cards to shuffle and then deal them again.
The girl smiled at me with a weird glint in her eyes.
"I have a proposal!", she announced, "There are 71 cards, so we will play 71 more rounds and if you win a single one of them, not only will I tell you our names, but also reveal, why they are a secret."
Well, I don't really care why you keep them a secret and I only asked for them out of convenience, but if it's a challenge, then I'm in.
I still had to ask the most obvious question. "What if I can't win a single time?"
The girl didn't answer for a moment and instead looked at the other kid.
The small boy's heterochromic eyes rested on me for a moment and then fixated on a door at the other side of the hall. The doll-like girl reacted to this. "Easy, if you can't win a single time, you are not worthy playing with us and have to leave us alone for the rest of the day."
What a weird rule, but I accept.
I mean, how are the odds to loose 71 games in a row?
Still high enough it seems…
It's the last game, my last chance and I am about to lose for the 71th time…
Actually it is quite obvious that they cheat, but I have no idea how, in what way and actually if they even do it.
Did I underestimate them because they are younger than me? They are still in a place like this, so there has to be something special about them.
It's frustrating.
And still I cant do anything against it.
The last hand.
The girl already finished.
I have two cards left. A flame hound and Al Drem. The boy has one card, so it must be the other flame hound.
He has to take a card from me…
In a slightly desperate attempt I place my cards face down on the floor, hide them underneath a pillow and shuffle them. If I don't even know which card is where, then it should be hard to cheat without making it obvious.
I look at the boy and take away the pillow. "Your choice."
He takes his last card, places it face down next to one of mine and just slides both of them to the pile of already paired cards.
A small sigh escapes his lips and he looks at me with a mixture of pity and provocation.
Is it a game of guts?
I click my tongue, while reaching for the last card.
Slowly I flip it over.
It's Al Drem… of course.
Even if it's just a game of cards, I still got defeated in a game.
Of course I lost some games and fights before, but it was never a real defeat… until now.
Well I'm not a sore looser… maybe just a bit.
I stand up. "Lets play something different tomorrow. You decide what it will be, but no matter what, I will hear your names."
The girl nods in excitement and the boy looks… indifferent.
I turn around and leave them alone.
Even if I still don't really care about their names, I want to win. No, I want them to loose.
It's not the same.
And I want something else; revenge for my pride as a gamer. I will expose their cheating.
But for now… I will probably eat something.
My stomach growls slightly and now that I don't place all my focus on the game of cards, I notice how tired I am.
There is no way to tell the time, but some hours should have passed already. I look around.
The atmosphere is different.
There are only a few serious discussions still going on. Most of the voices are happy, a bit silly even and there is an overall light mood. Most of the drinks look a bit different than earlier and when a goblin butler passes me, the scent of alcohol reaches my nose.
This was not in the stories at all, but now that I think about it it's a bit obvious. As if there was a three day long festival only filled with serious talk and heroic speeches. Especially when the food and non alcoholic drinks are as good as they are. Not that I have an idea about the alcoholic stuff though.
I turn around to the little butler who just passed me.
"Excuse me, do you have something to eat, too?"
He stops, turns around and shakes his head with a wry smile. Before I can apologise for the small inconvenience, he makes a beckoning gesture towards someone behind me.
Again I turn around, to follow that gesture.
I barely noticed the approach, but there is already one of the purple humanoids standing right behind me.
She wears a maids uniform and presents me a tablet with steaming barbecue skewers with meat and vegetables on them. They smell awesome.
"Actually I'm tired." I announce. "Is it okay if I take some with me?"
"Sure!" The purple maid just hands me the whole tablet and starts walking towards the closest door. "Follow me."
A bit perplexed I do as she says while eating the delicious meat.
"What's your name?"
"Rell."
"Okay let me see…" She looks at a list, that she just pulled out of her sleeve. "Hmmmm… we have two guests with that name. Is it a common one for humans? Oh and I need to know where you from."
"I don't know, probably it is. I never heard anything about it being unusual at least." I try to look at the list, but she holds it in a way that I can't see the names. "I'm from Fae."
"Lovely." She grins and pushes the door open with more force than I would have thought.
I follow her through a short, luxurious looking corridor. At its end is a big couch with some butlers and maids relaxing on it. I assume they wait to guide the people back.
There are some doors at both sides that we ignore until she stops somewhere in the middle.
The purple maid again just pushes the door open. "Here you go! There is an adjoining bathroom and if you need anything, please use the talking device next to the door."
Room service, huh? Cool.
The maid shoves me into the room and reaches for the doorknob to close it again, but gives me an observing look instead. "I'm not good with human ages, so you might me a bit young, but I need to clarify that anything doesn't mean `anything`, okay?"
Another smile and the door gets closed. Much more gentle than it was opened.
I don't want to think about why she felt the need to make this statement and instead look around.
The room is simple, but everything in it looks quite exquisite.
The bed is big enough for three, maybe even four adults. There is a small night stand with a remote control on it and next to a door that, I assume, leads to the bathroom, stands a little cupboard. Not the worst place to stay in for a few days.
…
When I wake up, I feel like I haven't slept for long. That's to be expected.
Everyone who sleeps soundly in a completely foreign place is weird in my opinion.
First of all, I have no idea where exactly I am.
And second, there is at least one individual here who can be nearby without waking me up. Proof of that are the neatly folded clothes that someone carefully placed at the end of my bed. Those weren't there before.
I avoid thinking about that forcefully and take the clothes to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
When I'm done, I just leave the room. For a moment I thought about contacting the room service, so I could have some breakfast, but I decided against it. I can instead just eat in the big hall.
The moment I leave my room, one of the butlers, an orange furred Nayka, swiftly leaves the couch and comes up to me.
"Is anything amiss? You have only been in there for about four hours."
I shake my head and nod towards the door that should lead to the festival hall. "This is fine. Can I go back?"
The Nayka nods and leads me towards said door. "Most guests are in their chambers at the moment, so there is not much entertainment." He gently opens the door to let me enter. "Just cal upon us if you need anything."
As gently as it got opened, the door was closed again after I entered the room.
The Nayka is right, there is not much going on.
The music that comes from speakers all over the plays is still very charming, but sounds much calmer.
A few people are still around, but seemingly not a single serious discussion is held anymore. There is even a group of drunk politicians singing a weird song that doesn't match the music.
Mostly out of reflex my gaze wanders towards the small fenced area.
Huh?
I stop walking out of surprise.
The small boy is still there.
Sure, he could have left and just come back, but his kimono looks the same. The thought that he maybe just didn't change got rejected instantly. The way how and where he sits is exactly the same as before. As if I just walked a few steps after my defeat and then turned around…
No wonder he looks so sleep deprived.
He is alone at the moment. The white haired man is delightfully chatting with a group of pretty, young woman who quite obviously show some interest in him. The beautiful girl is nowhere to be seen.
Because the boy is alone, I won't even try getting near him. I'm sure he wouldn't talk.
Instead I saw something else, that piqued my interest. Only a few meters to the left is Anna Vrega. Sitting alone at a small table, drinking some golden liquid and seemingly just enjoying the music.
I don't know about what, but I have to talk to her.
So I go over.
"I saw you on TV. The work you and the heroes party do is really cool." Did I… just child-mind on this? It will do to open a conversation, but I already feel the cringe…
She just looks at me for a few seconds. The aura she gives off is much more astonishing than on the news.
According to the bottles on the table, she drank quite a lot, but when she opens her mouth, there is no sign of a clouded mind, as her words are carefully selected and calm.
"The work we do only brings death. Not seldom in our own ranks."
"A risk one should be aware of when dealing with hunts." I didn't intend to say those words, but my grandfather thought them to me over and over again, so it was more a reflex to answer.
Anna's eyes narrow a bit, while she takes a sip. A few more seconds pass until she answers again. "Say, boy why do we call them hunts?"
Is this a test? But the answer is too easy. "To keep up the morale.", I answer honestly, "Mankind won't stand a chance against the highest hunts, but by calling them a 'hunt', we declare ourself the hunter and a hunter wouldn't be intimidated by his prey. We just have to hunt them down."
She gives me a small nod, but her eyes narrow again. Silence returns for another few seconds. "We?"
"My family are woodkeepers."
Her eyes open up again with a knowing glimmer in them. She shows a thin smile and gestures towards one of the empty chairs. "Your name, boy?"
I take her offer and sit down on the chair. "Rell."
Her smile got brighter for a moment and there is a mysterious aura in it.
"You are an interesting lad, Rell. From my information there was never a child at the feast of champions." I immediately want to look over my shoulder to search for the black haired boy, but Anna's words keep me from it. "Those don't count."
"Why?"
There is silence again, while she observes me once more. This time for a few more seconds than before.
"...Say, can you tell me the story of the three gods?"
Another obvious question.
Of course I know the story.
There are a few versions about it, but they are all basically the same. Some are just more meant for children than the others.
In the beginning, there were two sisters wandering around the stars.
One day, they found a black star without any life on it and just a single inhabitant.
A poor man who could only keep, but never create.
The sisters felt sorry for him and brought life to his star, thus creating this world.
The man was very thankful to the sisters and invited them to stay as long as they want. They took his offer.
The three of them enjoyed the beautiful world, but there was still something missing.
It still felt empty.
The younger sister travelled to the stars once more and when she returned, she brought beings, that she collected from other worlds on her journey, to the once dead star.
With inhabitants, the world was now overflowing with life.
Among those beings were some humans, who understood the greatness of the sisters and praised them every day.
No one praised the man.
Because they often showed their gratitude, the sisters didn't mind helping out the humans and quickly mankind became the dominant species.
There still wasn't a single one praising the man.
He didn't like that and got envious towards the sisters.
But more that that he got envious towards the humans.
When the younger sister was on her journey, the man and the older sister had fallen in love, but now she gave all her attention to humanity.
This made the man furious.
He whispered to other beings, so that they would destroy the humans, but with the help of the sisters, mankind survived.
When the sisters found out about this, the man was already eaten by madness and demanded, that the sisters leave his planet.
But they couldn't, because without them, he surely would kill the life of the planet. So they refused his demand.
Blind by madness, the man created something for the first time, but the creation was born of hate and was doomed to never be anything else.
The man captured the sisters and ordered his creation to annihilate mankind.
The creation obeyed with pleasure and started to slaughter. Turning humanities dream world into a nightmare.
The sisters couldn't stand this and fought against the man's chains. They broke free and attacked him.
As they all where equal, it should have been the sisters win, but the man called his creation for aid. A being filled with so much hate, that it's strength equalled the sisters.
Their fight lasted for eons and almost destroyed the world and all its inhabitants.
The older sister couldn't bear it anymore and begged the man to stop.
He agreed.
But it was a trap created by his madness.
With his power to keep. He trapped the world in the same circle of a millennium. He proposed that mankind has to prove their status as the dominant species within one circle and if they do, he will leave the world and take his creation with them.
The sisters agreed, with the term that they still can help.
What they didn't know was, that the man's creation itself counted as one of the species and he placed his demon against humanity.
He planned that slowly but surely more beings would gather against mankind and he would be right with this. The fall of humanity was thus already certain.
But the man made a mistake.
He didn't know the true love of the sisters towards the world, as they choose heroes who fought back. Decreasing the man's might with every circle it is only a matter of time until he will leave the world.
Anna listens silently, as I tell the story that I'm most familiar with, but when I'm done, she doesn't wait like before.
"Correct." She smiles. "But the last part about heroes slowly winning is just added to make it a happy ending for children."