Huh?
Is she serious? But It is just a story.
Yes, the worlds religion, which has a few proven points, is based on that story, but in the end it's just that.
I look at Anna.
"What do you mean?"
Her eyes slightly narrow again. "You still have to ask? After you came here with the gold haired one?"
"Oh, that's just my sis-…" No, actually it wasn't my sister who I came to this place with.
It may have been her body, but the one on the inside called herself Quariel. And this made it a bit more obvious, because Quariel is the older sisters name in the story.
I am confused.
My thoughts rush from one point to another, without making any progress in sorting the information.
A weirdly rough chuckle gets me back to reality.
Anna takes another sip of the golden liquid.
"You finally getting it?", she chuckles again, "This isn't a happy little story."
"But assuming there is some truth. Then why wouldn't the mad god constantly try to kill us? The world would be a living hell, which is good for him, right?"
Anna puts her glass away to observingly look at me for a few seconds again. "Do you like to play games with your friends, boy? It doesn't matter if it's tag on the streets or a cardgame at home."
If I like games? Oh, you have no idea how much I love games. I nod.
"Then it's easy. All kinds of games have rules. Even for tag you need to establish who is chasing and who is running away. Very simple, but still some rules that are needed for the game to work… to be enjoyable.", she ponders for a few more seconds, "And now just think about it. If you play tag with groups, would it be fun for anyone, if the chasing group is only made out of the fastest runners? Wouldn't it be more entertaining, if the slow ones could at least try getting faster before they start?"
I notice my eyes going wide. Her metaphor actually is shit, but as someone who played games day in and out, I got what she means.
A game where you have to face the Endboss right at the beginning, without even knowing the controls, wouldn't work. It would just be frustrating and barely anyone would even try to play more than a couple of attempts.
Yes, there are challenges for some games, to beat them without taking a single hit on the lowest level and with the worst equipment, but that's not the point.
Those challenges depend on replayability, but that's not possible with reality.
But then there are still questions left.
"Why keep to some rules, if the goal is to get rid of mankind?"
Anna shrugs her shoulders. "Like I know what's wrong in a mad gods head. Maybe its enjoyment of seeing us suffer?"
Fair point. But that was actually the less important question. "How do you know all this?"
A weird smile brightens up her face. "I just asked the sister gods, who help us."
Yeah, that's obvious.
Maybe it's my mind as an outsider of this world, or maybe it's the fact that I am not the one who can destroy this game-like world, but something feels wrong. "Who can confirm that the so called gods are not lying?"
The smile vanishes.
Her eyes stare at me, trying to see something that probably isn't there. I don't look away.
After more than a minute, she reaches inside her jacket and hands me a small metal plate. "You've got something, boy. If you ever think about joining the heroes party, use this one… But now put it away quickly, it would be bad if someone sees."
I obediently follow her words and let the small plate vanish into my pockets. I can just inspect it further later.
"You dodge my question…" I just casually mention it and she slightly smiles. Reaching for her glass again.
"If we don't believe in the gods and their help, then mankind is already doomed. Simple as that."
Ah, I see. "Okay, I'll bite. What are the rules?"
There is a look, as if I asked something obvious.
"Really?", she takes a sip, "Well first the reset of the world and technology… although we are very fast of recreating the latter one I heard. Second; mankind must dominate over everything that opposes us." She empties her glass and her voice gets quieter with the next words. "As a woodkeeper's child have you ever heard of the pillars?"
Of course I have. "You mean the four pillars, right?" Her gaze made me whisper. "It's a metaphor for the mad god's throne; without them, he can't sit and rule over the world anymore." Or something like this.
A gesture with her hand and Anna signals me to talk further, so I repeat the words from my grandfather, that I had to internalise when I was thought about hunts.
"The first is Al Drem R'Lar, the ancient demon who brings death. The second is Maur, the old king of dragons, whose breath creates deserts and starves the world. The third is Feo, the first pixie who whispers into everyones mind to create conflicts. And the fourths is the unnamed ghost that watches the Narrant forest, leaving everyone to rot who means it harm. All of them are said to be powerful enough to annihilate mankind."
I'm still highly confused, that the concept of the four apocalyptic horsemen seems to be reality in this world.
Anna nods. "Yes, those are the ones that exist since the first circle. There should be at least two more, maybe three"
Oh, so not the horsemen, but instead the overused seven deadly sins? Of course Anna couldn't know that thought and just kept going.
"In the second circle the sky queen appeared, who mostly is neutral, but showed hostility in the past. Then, only one circle ago, rumours about the liar began to spread…" Her voice was barely noticeable with the music all around us. "And at this feast of champions a new name was whispered with bated breath… Xyn…" For a moment it seemed as if she already said too much. "R'Lar."
I look at her in confusion, as Anna leans back again. Showing no intention of saying more about this matter.
Is it my outsiders mind that wont let me understand why she behaves like this?
No…
I get it.
It was just a bit too obvious.
R'lar is a word in the old gods language and actually just means humans or mankind as a whole. The first time it got used as a name, was in the case of Al Drem; the Terror of Humanity.
To oppose this, the sister gods began to name their chosen champions with the same term. All of them have pure and positive names, like for example my sister. Solah R'lar, the guiding Light of Humanity.
So it's not unusual to have a new name with the term appearing, but how is there now a new negative one? It's not imaginable, that the name was given by the sister gods, because "Xyn" not only is pronounced like "Sin", but also has the exact same meaning.
"Took you a moment, eh?" Anna casually fills up her glass again. "It's just a rumour though… even if it made it's way here."
I can just nod.
"But as nice as it was talking to you, please go now." She again takes a sip of the gold liquid. "I will have to partake in annoying conversations soon enough, so let me enjoy at least a little while without this serious talks."
Completely dumbfounded, I blink twice.
She just makes a shooing gesture with her free hand until I get up from my chair and leave her alone.
What's with that woman?!
First dropping such a bomb and then just ending the conversation? I want to complain. Sadly there doesn't seem to be a situation, where I can do that.
For a few minutes I aimlessly wander around the great hall that slowly begins to fill up again. Then my rumbling stomach reminds me of my original breakfast plan and I leisurely walk over to the buffet.
The food in this place really is something else, befitting the name feast of champions.
"Should I tell you why only four are called pillars, even though there are more?"
!!
I turn around with stocking movements.
My senses are more than just good and still I didn't notice her.
Not just that, but she is even closer than I feel comfortable with.
The black haired girl with the doll like face that borders on perfection.
She smiles, waiting for an answer, but I can only take a step back to recover from the surprise.
"What? It's not that much of a secret." She pretends to pout in a charming way. "If you don't want it for free, then I will just add some harder punishment to loosing later."
I don't even need to think about it.
Sure, it would be nice knowing this, but it is too obvious, that this is a trap. Especially with the rule of harder punishment after losing another game. The chances of this happening are too high.
I shake my head. "No, thank you."
The girls eyes widen a bit and a very amused smile brightens up her already pretty face, turning it into something that would make an artists heart bleed.
"Not the answer I expected, but that makes it better. So, your loss.", she happily announces and turns around. With movements that remind me of a dance she vanishes into the forming crowd instantly and can't be seen anymore.
Maybe it was a mistake to decline. I just shrug my shoulders. Nothing I can do about now., so I just go back to my meal.
"You are from the woodkeepers family, right? Rell if I'm not mistaken?"
A calm voice saying my name lets me look up.
The owner of said voice is an old man with grey hair and a big moustache in the same colour. I've seen this man before, but only on TV and on posters during voting time. He is the mayor of Fae.
I swallow hard out of surprise.
"Berren the name.", he introduces himself. "I would like you to join our little talk."
He gestures towards a table near the wall, where a group of people of all ages had gathered and then walked towards them.
Why not?
I followed him.
The little talk was not that interesting and felt more like a political debate between Berren and an old Lady with a smoking voice. She was introduced to me as the major of a neighbouring city and was accompanied by a group of her trusted staff.
It was nothing too complicated they talked about, but like most of the topics here, not that interesting for me, even if it affects me personally.
Both mayors simply want to trade memory keepers.
Apparently this is quite normal after the rebirth-day. A memory keeper holds information in their brain, so that it won't get deleted with the reset, like any other form of record. This knowledge can then be used to rebuild the cities as we know them.
Because most larger settlements have some memory keepers and there is a limit to what can be stored, it is usual to have one keeper store special information and then trade them with someone from another city, so that both sides benefit from it. What now is discussed is actually what the memory keeper from each city should store.
The reason for me being here? Even simpler than the topic actually.
The keepers would need to travel quite a distance and of course as soon as possible. Maximum a few weeks after the rebirth-day.
This is obviously dangerous and they need to be protected. This would be my role.
I already accepted, even though I would need to talk with my family about this.
Of course I wouldn't be the only guard, but having someone in the guarding party who actually attended the feast of champions, would give Berren some political advances.
As there is some distance between both cities, the journey without the current technology would be two to three weeks and a return is only possible after everything is restored to a certain point.
So I would need to stay in another city for a year, maybe even two and with this would be a valuable asset next to the memory keeper, as Berren called it.
"I am happy that we could agree on such favourable terms for both our people.", Berren smiled while twirling his moustache and ending the negotiations with this. "For you, young Rell, I see a bright future ahead. I will introduce you to the chosen memory keeper as soon as possible."
I assume it would be someone from Alexis family. He himself probably won't be it, but if the rare chance hits, I would at least not get bored.
I smiled at both mayors and started to nod, but froze up in the middle of moving.
There is a soft touch against my shoulder. Not even strong enough to reach me it only moved my shirt a little. But still it reveals to me, that there is someone behind me. Only after I felt the touch, everyone at the table looked at a spot behind me with a mixture of surprise and shock.
There are way too many individuals here, that can get close without me noticing. I have to talk with my grandfather about his advises in regard to perception…
But not now.
Still sitting down, I turn my upper body too look at the person behind me, expecting one of the staff members or the doll-like girl.
It was neither and a small shock hit me, as I looked down into a pair of heterochromic eyes with dark shadows underneath them.
It was the dark haired boy.
…
And he just stares at me.
After nearly a minute without anything happening, my anxiety grew too large to hold it in.
"Can I be of any help?" I tried to sound as friendly as possible.
For some reason the kid now looked, as if he was about to cry, but nothing else happened.
Even more seconds passed, without a change and the situation grew close to unbearable, until he finally opened his mouth.
"...e…"
'E'? Was that even meant to be a word, or was it just a sound made by accident?
"Yes?", I carefully asked, but he now looked even more miserable and let another couple of seconds pass.
Finally he opened his mouth again. The voice is more than just quiet, barely more than a whisper and sounds hoarse. After every word is a short break, seemingly even within words and I assume, that there is a strong lisp. I can only guess it though, because "**...** … ******… **." I have no idea what language this is supposed to be.
Is that the reason why he didn't talk? He just speaks another language?
Then we might have a problem, because I don't have my phone with me to use the voice translator.
Luckily the old lady mayor came to my rescue.
"I could be completely mistaken, but that was probably vamir, a language used in the Kingdom of Navani.", she pondered, "If it was, the little one wants you to accompany them."
I look at the lady and then at the boy. He nods and a happy smile appears on his face.
With a proud shine in his eyes, as if he just completed an impossible task, he just turned around and energetically walked back to the fenced off area.
"If you excuse me.", I mumbled and just followed him.
The black haired girl was already waiting for us.
A few pillows to sit on covered the floor on both sides of the cord and right underneath it was a game board with some colourful figures placed on it. There also was a tablet with some food and drinks on the floor outside the fenced area.
"I'm happy she convinced you to join us again." The pretty girl smiled. "Let's play lots again today!"
Returning the smile I nod while sitting down. The small kid does the same on their side of the cord and a bit too late my thoughts get interrupted for a moment.
'She'? I look at the smaller girl and apologise a few times in my mind.
Even if I am very sorry to have thought you are a boy, I will not hold back and win today!