(''Everyone, cast your votes into the ballot box on whether we should dispose of this young man!'')
His strong thick voice accompanied by such a violent agenda sent shivers down my spine. First they help me with my vision and then take a vote on whether or not I should be killed? Maybe this isn't the type of adventure I wanted after all, at least not one I will die in.
Void I'm scared! I didn't survive through our fight just to die by a group vote, what should I do?! You are smart come up with something please, I'll do anything you want after this, no complaints! So please help me out here.
(''Anything you say? Very well then I shall help you boy. Here is what you must do.'')
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(''Alright, thank you all for casting your votes. Again I apologize for how last minute this was, we didn't expect to have a guest descend from Greenwyrm.'')
He must've well built because the steps he took were easy to make out despite the carpeted floor. The clancking of a small lock alerted me to just how little time I have to execute Void's plan. Here goes nothing!
(''Sir. Before you count the votes, would I be allowed to say something to everyone here? It won't take long and you can count the votes while I speak.'')
A sea of gasps erupted from the large hall in front of me, clearly this was something unusual to do. By the reaction I could also measure roughly how many there were here, the ballot voting time also pieced me in a little bit.
(''Very well young, you may speak to the people of Blundir. Mind your words please as there are children in the crowd, though I don't think I have to even tell you that.'') The way he exhaled air as he spoke was different than before, I could tell he had a smile on his face.
My arm was tugged up by a familiar small palm, it must've been the girl that guided me before. She is quite a nice girl, at least she doesn't seem like she wants me dead, though this could just be mercy or pity. The hand pulled me to a certain spot a few feet away, I assume this was so everyone could see and hear what I am about to say.
I cleared my throat of anything that would ruin my chances of success. My hand found its place on my chest, it moved forward as I inhaled a large gulp of air.
(''My name is Abaddon, though friends call me Abby. We have found ourselves in a peculiar situation where one person here is about to disappear from this land. So allow me to tell you my story.'')
(''I'm just 18, coming straight out of a small village up North named Shiwick. Me and some my childhood friend were making our way towards the Kings Game. Along the way we met with a goddess, her servant and a ghost. The goddess thought it was a funny idea chasing me around these woods.'')
(''So to get away I found myself climbing down the ladder inside of a large tree. I meant no harm by coming here, just trying to escape from that goddess who desperately was hunting me. I thank you for curing my eyes but I have one more thing I must ask of you.'')
(''Please. Please don't vote in favour of killing me. I will be on my merry way out of here if you allow me to do so.'')
The crowd was silent, the whole ballroom filled by the rustling of paper as the chief counted the votes. Whether or not my plead reached them will be decided in a few minutes-
(''You know your speech had no effect. The votes were already cast so even if you swayed them. But you are pretty good at talking in front of large numbers of people. Did you learn this somewhere?'')
I can't believe how down to earth the chief of this town is being, complimenting my speech that was scraped together last second. Not answering might hurt my chances of survival.
(''Back in Shiwick I lived with the chief and during the cold season the whole family would catch a sickness aside from me. Which left me to do all of the speeches in the town meetings. At time it was annoying but it proves to be an important skill that I acquired.'')
He chuckled to himself before growing back to the drowning silence from before. Every second passing made me grow more anxious, my hands shook as drip slowly built up around my forehead.
…
….
(''The votes are fully accounted for, the results are in…'') His voice thundered across the room, bouncing off each wall to further amplify his volume.
(''The boy…lives!'')
Huh. I…live?
I LIVE!!
(''Let's Go!! I live!!'')
That means that my speech wasn't even necessary. Wait, Void, did you expect this to happen? You wanted me to ask for your help just to ask for a favour. You slippery devil.
(''Voidling actually. And yes I knew. I look forward to you partaking in whatever fantasy I desire~'')
Just leave me alone, I need time to process your shenanigans.
(''As you wish boy.'')
I felt the piece of cloth around my head untie gently by two small palms. They brushed past my hair and slowly slid down my neck to my chest before lightly nudging me back.
Rays of light blinded me through my eyelids, in a reflex I brought my hands up to block the overhead lights from their bright assault. Slowly my eyes opened to be greeted with a sea of people sitting down on lavish wooden carved chairs.
(''Blue.'')
(''What did you say Abby?'')
(''Blue. Why are your eyes blue?'')
She looked at me as if I was speaking an indecipherable language. But this situation just wasn't clicking in my mind, how were their eyes so blue?
(''Do people on the outside not have blue eyes?'')
(''They do its just that…only the irises are blue. Every part of your eyes is blue aside from the pupil which is dark as the night.'')
(''Oh I understand what you are referring to then. The reason our eyes are this blue is due to the toxic blue light outside. To be able to survive we evolved to have this colour in our eyes. That along with drinking a special elixir that boosts our vitality created from the light.'')
An elixir created from light? Surely that's a joke. You can't change elements into other forms of matter. But they gain nothing from lying about this, so maybe…just maybe we can benefit from this. Void, note everything they are about to say.
(''How do you turn light into a liquid? If you don't mind me asking.'')
The short girl looked at the chief who had crept his way to my left. They exchanged nods and she began to speak once more.
(''Our village has many ancient techniques similar to this. We've stayed hidden in fear of what outsiders would use our knowledge for. But you seem like a fine fellow so just this once we will bestow upon you the secret to our mythical elixir.'')
Gulp. I struggled to swallow my saliva in anticipation of all this. If we grow good friends then perhaps they can reveal more ancient techniques that I could use to win the competition, or better yet, protect Zeraf from anything that might occur.
(''Get your listening ears on because I am about to information dump you harder than a homeroom teacher on the first day of school-'')
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What. The. Hell. That took hours to explain, how can she still look so happy after practically preaching the equivalent of Luminous Bible. Void I hope you caught all of that, I'll leave the paraphrasing job to you. I'm too hungry to think of anything right now.
(''Alright everyone, get ready for dinner time, the cooks are nearly done preparing our meals.'')
The whole ballroom erupted in shuffling and bustling, people pushing each other trying to get a set close to the large double doors on the far side. While being lectured I completely missed the fact that tables were set with snowy white table clothes and pristine plates paired with silver knives and forks.
They certainly weren't lacking in the fund's department, at least not what you would expect from an untouched town under the Greenwyrm Jungle.
(''Come come. Follow me to our seats.'')
Great! I get to dine with these lovely people. Maybe this adventure wasn't so bad after all. At least there is the potential to learn a form of magic that wasn't practised on the surface.
She didn't have to pull this hard though! I felt like my clothes would rip off my body if she tugged any harder. She did appear younger than me though so I'll excuse it since it's a child.
(''Oh by the way. Would you like me to heal your veins?'')
(''Huh?!'')