King Corym Lichenwind.
***
I found my spot in the upper rafts of the arena complex before the Optimus Regni trickled in to attend this unofficial meeting. Not to witness the wicked marvels and foul creations of the infamous Elven Devil, but to gaze upon and thus document his evil for the sake of my God.
I knew not what they saw when they gazed upon him, for the powers of the divine affected all in the most subtle ways. Minds and senses alike, it intruded just as much as it infected reality, changing these things according to their subconscious will; or ours.
Such things changed the way mortals saw gods. But I saw the truth of this one. I saw him for the monster he was. A Nox devil in elven form- in drow form, smeared in the silver blood of the sacred white horn.
It was sickening, the way his stench infected all. His foul touch. It tainted everything. Everyone. The instructors and even my sister, who saw not Amun's creations as abominations and worse, were proud that he usurped their positions a year early. The other guilds as well, for they look at him with gazes of amiability or neutrality rather than just malevolence. Even those of the light were tolerant of him, sneering from afar. Due in no small part to their newly crowned stellar commander, Lancelot Morningstar.
Though he was not present, many of his lessors were scattered around the audience, appearing just as eager as the other guilds to act as 'observers.' Pretending they weren't the ones to goad Greywater Apothecary into conversing with Telin's Punishment. However, goaded was not quite apt, for they simply took advantage of the interest Gawin Loudspark showed the fiend; and the Cowl's Mr. Mask took it upon himself to join them.
"The unofficial rundown is this," Gawin began. "With the Headmaster's state, he cannot transport and guarantee the safety of the students as before. Thus, they agreed that it'd be best to hold the matches locally, in an arena of our making. Officially, the story is one of dual celebration with the Millennial Class and the Bodhi Tree's last.
"To that end, we of the Greywater Apothecary, Betelle Mercantile, and Ayolia Nursery will provide healing and potions, as well as other items that will be made available for purchase. The Rocks Guild, Sunshield Industries, Cloud Shapers, and perhaps the Legio Noctis would prepare the playing field.
"Now, Ferris Licht has done the diligence of informing all of your, er, technology. And so it has been agreed upon that these will be used for observation and perhaps teleportation in the event of an emergency, leaving the last and most prominent order of business as the encounters themselves."
While he'd been shuffling or adjusting his clothes the entire time, Mr. Mask stayed otherwise indifferent until the moment Gawin stopped speaking. Wherein he stepped forward. "Under normal circumstances, I would never consider something as uncouth as allowing the undead into these matches. These circumstances are anything but normal, however, and neither are you.
"If my tenure in Maru has taught me anything, it is that only the House of Cole- only the Nox has true dominion over the dead. The Necro King reigns supreme over all dead. Even ones he has not raised. He even uses undead minions for Guild Assessments, no?"
"Well, yeah. But again, I'm a Grandmaster Artificer." Amun snorted in that indifferent way of his before gesturing to those corrupted… things he gathered from the Peninsula's muck. "Those of my Troupe are Artificers as well. We don't have to use undead if it makes any of you uncomfortable."
Although many, including me, sneered or openly remarked at the immaturity displayed. Gawin, however, was not one of them. The clockwork mind present in all gnomes whirred as fast as possible in response to the wicked words, forcing his body to bounce in place as he said. "Please! Show us what you have to offer!"
Gawin's clockwork mind whirred faster as the most foul one of all stepped forward- the girl most-tainted by Telin's Punishment. An abominable child of mineral and metal, parading around as if she were human. She stepped forward with no words. Only a wave of the hand that outputted arcana hued the same deep blue as her tunic.
Into the scrying screens of the audience it poured just as much as it condensed in the space next to her, forming yet another abomination.
Despite the metallic texture of its exoskeleton, it had the furry down of a bee, yet boasted the sleek predatory shape of a hornet; albeit with pulsing blue stripes and a size equal to the creator of such a foul thing.
"Technica Apis Vespa, Tech Voney Bee. Model: Adaptive Combat Drone." Announced a horrendously unnatural voice just as the scrying screens jumped to life with visions of the thing firing beams of energy from its stinger and engaging in close combat with bladed arms. And much the same came from the rest of the Elven Devil's Troupe.
The possessed Gerdian in the fine suit stepped forward with a snap that tore a hole in reality itself. And logic too, it seemed, for a seal of pure white raced from the tear to dart around the arena as if it were swimming through the sea.
The other possessed humans did much the same, ripping tears in space itself to allow a winter fox and a blazing coyote to emerge from some disastrous place. That goblin… thing created some crude golem from a mass of bones while the dreary halfling did much the same with a puddle of ooze. Even the human with the arm of death produced something foul- a suit of armor made sentient and empowered by the wicked night itself.
They and those things of theirs were insults to all that was natural. But none were as offensive as what she created. Not even the traitors to our kind made things so terrible, and the monk's spectral jaguar and the wizard's construct of pure mana nearly put me over the edge.
She was the most corrupted of them all. The sacred druid made tainted by him. The sole survivor of not just the Featherfall Clan, but the Feathered Grove in its entirety- Reina.
Her arrogance knew no limits. It could not. Not when she saw no objection to mashing together the best traits of nature's greatest creation, and then had the audacity to refer to those abominations as her 'children.'
It was disgusting.
And so I could hardly fare when all eyes fell on Amun, who was needlessly consulting the list before he too snapped a hole into reality. From his portal came a Rharian tiger in mid pounce. Thundering to the ground, it hunkered low and froze, looking around with its eyes while its nose flared and bobbed.
I muttered a small prayer to Caelarin in the hopes of this tiger mauling this devil before everyone and began to feel Caelarin's grace as the tiger's flesh bulged unnaturally. Its muscles grew more deeply corded, and it doubled in size. Then its gaze fell upon the back of its new prey.
Amun paid the now-giant tiger no mind as it stalked him. He simply squinted at nothing in particular in the opposite direction, feigning contemplation while the tiger continued drinking his corruptive power. Each step saw its fur grow, both shaggier and more lustrous. Soon enough, the beautiful orange and black of its coat phased to white and blue. And only then did Amun turn.
I nearly yelped out in prayer as the tiger smothered Amun in its embrace, roaring ferociously while Amun grunted and groaned. I could have, for those below me, surely did so while others such as his so-called companions simply watched on in amusement.
Soon enough, however, my mirth turned to dismay once the tiger flipped onto its back and I realized it was not blood but water spreading on the ground beneath them. That, and the beast was holding Amun in its massive paws, licking away at his head while the devil only laughed.
Until…
"Oh! D- did you just eat my eye?"
"This time, I did yelp out in prayer. Subtly. Yet it still elicited sharp looks from the tiger, Telin's Punishment, and his Troupe.
"You're alright." Amun sighed heavily, adopting a warm and apologetic visage as he turned his gaze to the monstrous tiger, wherein he stared and stared until a noticeable glint appeared in the tiger's eye. Then he sighed again. "That said, since I gave you a treat. How about you give me one?"
I began to leave at that, for I could no longer bear to witness the facade. Only for an unfamiliar, bestial voice to halt me in my tracks. "Well, that is only fair."
***
Amun Za'Darmondiel-Nox.
1 Septara, 1492.
Tri-Hollow, the Bodhi Tree.
6:31 PM.
***
These show and tell sessions were getting old. Especially when the technology, magic, and now, the cult existed to expedite the process. That said, such things often opened the door to the unforeseen.
Technology could stroke the flames of ego in these guilds, prompting them to do any and everything to get their hands on these wondrous things. Conversely, meddling with mortal minds to pass on information could, on one hand, make the other gods moody; and, on the other hand, start a zealous or resentful streak in those present. And so here we were.
With all that said, however, there was a method to the madness. Openly sharing our abilities would not only lessen the locals' culture shock from the creations we'll be introducing to the Peninsula, but it would create an amiable tone amongst the general purpose guilds that would pay dividends when the Conditor shadow them next year.
Not to mention, it made Corym furious.
His angst saw him leave before it was agreed to evolve the lists creatures according to the abilities of the students, thus negating the need for any other meetings besides our coming address to the students. More so, I suspected few were willing to tell him.
At any rate, it was none of my business. My business revolved around remaining in the arena with Guild Masters ranked in 9th and 16th place, Mr. Mask and Gawin Loudspark, while we- or rather I waited for my new peers.
A Goliath surprisingly regal in both dress and spoken word led them. He introduced himself as Grant, which I suspected was short for Granite, but I digress. The Guild Master of the 17th ranked guild, The Rocks, he was. Described to be a guild of terraformers and battlefield sanitation specialists who worked independently of Polaris and their subsidiaries.
To his left was a particularly rugged deep gnome called Jebed Darkeye. His guild, ranked 27th as Sunshield Industries, acted as a shield to the sun that was Polaris. They worked for the underdog societies who were unwilling to live under Polaris's light. Uplifting them, essentially, to where Polaris's laws would prevent them from assimilating their culture into the ever-expanding empire.
A noble effort. Especially when he explained the scale of his organization. While helping small societies was their aspiration, they specialized in mega-construction, essentially. Mostly for subterranean or nocturnal peoples like his.
To his right was a Sapiavi with a shockingly dwarven stature. Not to say she was of dwarven blood, but in the sense that she held the strong likeness of a hummingbird. Ranked 31st, her Cloud Shapers were also an independent guild working in the heart of Nonus as specialists in weather or environmental control and natural disaster recovery.
Of course, the other genny's, or general purpose guilds, were present as well. However, they mostly remained in the distance while the four of us walked and talked and came to an agreement on the arena.
In short, we agreed that with this event being the last, the intent should be to go big for entertainment. Thus, the superstructure would go to the Rocks and Sunshield Industries to start with. The former was to create a vast earthen and wooden foundation for a coliseum with attached wings for the Regni and the southern peninsula's rulers. A ring, more like, to be filled with seats, accommodations, concession stands, and all the other odds and ends one could expect at such an event by Sunshield Industries.
The Legio Noctis was to imbue the ring with looking glasses and voice boxes, spatially dilate the interior with enchantments, contain the beasts for the engagements, and handle transportation from the Southern Peninsula. Afterward, the Rocks would terraform the battle-space to befit the contestant's abilities. Leaving the Cloud Shapers to do the same with the environment's ambiance.
With the meeting fully adjourned, we agreed to do some last-minute reconnaissance before parting ways with the intent to regroup after the address. And therein served as the perfect time for the other Guild Masters to pounce. Including but not limited to Mr. Mask.
The Cowl's Guild Master and the guild itself were curious to me. Mostly because of the similarities between him and the Owl. The name was only one letter shy, and he and all his subordinates all hid themselves behind faceless masks that even I struggled to see through.
I could see their faces and eyes, but I could not see into them, curiously so. But that was beside the point. We'd been 'talking' this entire time in the Thieves Cant. And the things he told me were… concerning, if not interesting.
He knew my father, for one. A classmate to both him and Admiral Vexx. Moreover, he told me that the Light was boundless in Polaris indeed. And so, I felt a little less bad about the ensuing darkness- not to say I felt bad about it to begin with. Most importantly, he did not pry. Unlike others.
"It's unfortunate I could only witness a sliver of your prowess last year." One of the raspier yet feminine voices came from the rear of the formation; and above. She was built in a way like a few others I'd witnessed; mostly those of Amazonian persuasion. Thus, the nature of her comment came as no surprise. "I hope I'm able to catch another glimpse this year."
Grinning, I turned to meet the eyes of Kai'sha Rama and saw the same things as before, unlike most around me. "I don't want to take the spotlight away from the first-year students. This event is for them, after all."
"Admirable!" The Kodo Knight's Guild Master said. "If not disappointing."
"I fight only when needed." I said. "That said, I train extensively. I'm due to spar with a few of my colleagues later tonight. Perhaps after our work is done, you're welcome to watch."
"We very well may take you up on that offer." Kai'sha beamed.
"That aside, some of us are curious if you've decided upon a guild to shadow next year." The Grekkans' Guild Master droned with unbridled optimism.
"I haven't yet decided." I snorted. "However, I know for certain it'll be a general purpose guild. I'm after field experience, after all. Not patrolling a city or doing desk work. So, any place where the land is vast, the enemies are powerful, and the fighting is constant."
Like the Misty Arbor.