The streets of Enchark were crowded with all sorts of people, including other tourney members like Karlyle. Some tourney members stuck out as they came from other cities where the fashion was quite different to Enchark's. Enchark's citizens mostly wore all sorts of robes and loose clothes and those who were here only for the tourney didn't obey this norm.
Mimi asked, "Well, what do you think?" while walking in front of Karlyle.
"I'm mostly mad that my parents never took me here," Karlyle responded. He was in awe of the organised architecture of the city. The houses all formed rings around what seemed to be a large tower. There was no division between these rings and everyone was obviously fine with that, living peacefully as a community.
"Yeah it is a great city, Councilman Kyanar sure worked a lot on it."
"I feel dumb asking this but who is Councilman Kyanar? I heard Foster, I mean the soldier, mention him before."
"Don't worry about using Foster's name, but the most important part: you don't know the council?" Mimi stopped walking for a moment and looked back, stunned, but then she continued to walk aimlessly forward. She seemed offended by his lack of appreciation for them but deep down she didn't care about the council.
"The what..?"
"You have a lot to learn," she paused, "ok so, the council are the 4 most powerful kinetic wielders. They were born with immense power and their kinetics matched that. Councilman Kyanar has the power to manipulate a magical essence, otherwise known as Mageiakinesis. He is also the leader of Enchark which is where its name comes from. The city of enchantment, you know?"
"Oh I get it, who are the other council members?"
"Councilman Vinye, Councilwoman Antaria, and Councilman Afin."
"Do they also have their own cities?"
"Have you been living under a rock or something? Anyways, yes they do."
"What powers do they have?"
"Ok, Karlyle, this isn't a history lesson about the world, I'm here to give you a tour around Enchark."
"Yes, sorry, also you can call me Lyle."
"Well then Lyle, where do you want to go first?" Mimi paused, turning around to face him with her hands behind her back.
"Uh..."
"Kidding, I know you don't know where you can even go," Mimi turned back around with her right hand on her chin, "let's go to... the arena!" She pointed her finger at the sky before dropping it back down to her hips, "you should get a feel of what it looks like, from a spectator's view that is. We're not allowed in the arena itself unless you're fighting."
"You're gonna be in there too?"
"Oh, no no, I had my fair share of being in that battle ring."
"Wait, how old are you?"
"Lyle you never ask a lady her age... but I'm nineteen."
Karlyle was shocked to find out her age as he thought she was either 17 or 21, not in between. She gave off an aura of authority that wouldn't pass someone as a teenager but also managed to show the mannerism of one.
"Oh so you fought in the tourney for 18 year olds?"
"No, I passed the first tourney."
"Then why were you fighting in this arena?"
"Because I live here...?"
"But I thought only the tourney for 18 year olds happens in the capital arena?"
"Well yes that is what usually happens, but for citizens of Enchark the nearest arena is only the capital arena so we just do each round there before the round for 18 year olds starts."
"This whole tourney system gets more confusing the more I hear about it."
On the way to the arena, they passed multiple monuments of random figures. They weren't random to the citizens of Enchark but to Karlyle they sure were until he read the nameplate on one of them which had the words "Councilman Kyanar, The Grand Magus and The Ruler of Enchark," engraved into it. The statue was magnificent in nature and was double Karlyle's height, which was 181cm. Around it, spirals of the same green energy that was earlier inscribed on his wrist appeared randomly, going around the statue before dispersing into flakes that disappeared a few seconds after like fireworks and their sparks.
Mimi noticed that Karlyle was distracted by the statue and stopped following her. She walked back to him and grabbed his wrist, dragging him forward.
"Why didn't you do that reappearing act to get to me?" Karlyle asked while being dragged along by a girl that was shorter than him by a head, at least.
"Using kinetics on Enchark grounds is absolutely forbidden unless your citizen status is Elite."
"Who gets the Elite status?"
"The Elite corps, government officials, the council, and, on certain occasions, celebrities if they need to use their kinetic for a show but that is under strict supervision."
"Wait so what about the tourney?"
"That's an exception. As your status is 'Tourney Particpant' you're permitted to use your kinetic on the training grounds and in the arena. However, during training you must not hurt someone with a kinetic unless you're in an official duel with another person, otherwise your right to training will be revoked. In the arena, going as far as killing is fair game and won't be punished so you can use your kinetic as much as you want there."
"Wait what? What happened to being judged on behaviour in battle?"
"Yeah that is a category you'll be rated on, but some people just have that type of bloodlust when faced with a challenge. The council uses the tourney to decide who can control their kinetic and who can't, bloodlust or not."
"So I have the potential to die?"
"Yes, if your opponents want to go that far that is. Killing your opponent automatically gives you an F rank on your behaviour in battle no matter how you acted before or after. That means all your other categories must be A+ or higher so most people don't risk it."
Karlyle continued to walk behind Mimi in silence. He didn't want to ask any more questions in case he found out more uncomfortable facts about the tourney. Mimi could feel his worry but she knew it was better than him going in without knowing what could happen. The central tower slowly came closer to them as they advanced towards the capital arena. Especially since the capital arena was inside the said tower.
After a few minutes of walking, Mimi announced, "we're here. The capital arena, and the central tower of Enchark. This is where Councilman Kyanar resides and also where all the energy that fuels the city flows from."
The central tower was wider than a couple of small towns put together and going inside felt like a separate city of its own due to its size.
"The city is powered by his energy?"
"In a way. The kinetics of every council member hold some sort of energy that they used to construct and power each city. That's also why the City of Union took so long to get power as there was no council member presiding over it."
Karlyle looked around to see all the tourney participants and their welcoming ambassadors gathered in groups, most likely discussing the tourney they were being forced to fight in.
"Why do we fight in this tourney?"
"Boy you have a lot of a questions."
"Sorry.."
"It's okay, it's my job to answer all your Enchark related inquiries. Like that was literally the first point in the job description. Anywho back to your question: you fight in this tourney to prove you're a kinetic wielder that deserves the power."
"But if I was born with it shouldn't I get to keep it?"
"That used to be the case. A little bit over a century ago, when there was no regulation to the use of kinetics and no tourney, the crime rate was way higher in every city; even in Anarchia which ironically is, and was, the most peaceful city. When laws were put in place, people thought they didn't have to listen to the law since they had brute power they can follow instead," she paused to take a breath, talking quickly tired her out after all these questions, "the council came together to organise this system and then proceeded to enforce it. There was a lot of backlash from their citizens so they had to use force and make them accept the law. It's safe to say that the history of the tourney isn't pleasant but it sure helped the crisis. Now at the beginning of every year, everyone that meets the age criteria has to travel to Enchark and partake in the tourney."
After finishing her speech, she quickly muttered under her breath, "oh I wish I could've seen Antaria or Afin enforcing it..."
Karlyle didn't hear her ending and wanted to ask about Anarchia. More specifically, he wanted to know what it was but he didn't want to bombard Mimi with questions he can answer himself just by doing some research.
"Ok well let's take a quick break from the tour and get you to your room," Mimi picked up another badge from the neatly organised row of them on the counter and handed it to Karlyle who already knew what to do.
He tapped the circle in the middle, but now instead of the badge opening, bright green magic enveloped his index finger and sunk into his veins, travelling up his arm to his eye before disappearing without a visual trace.
A notification, per se, appeared in front of him.
[KARLYLE MONTGOMERY assigned to Tourney Placement: 6,789]
It disintegrated into flakes and disappeared after he finished reading it.
"What was that?"
"Now you have access to your room in the tourney's eternal housing. Councilman Kyanar only uses the spell that creates it when the tourney is going on as it takes quite a lot of energy from him to upkeep it. That's also why Councilman Afin," she blushed after saying the name of her second idol who currently was in the same building as her, "is present so he can protect Enchark and enforce its laws while Councilman Kyanar is weakened."
"How do I go into it?"
"Just open the menu by saying 'menu open' then say 'tourney housing' and then finish off with 'enter', now, I'm not telling you to but if you wish to invite me in, or anyone else for that matter, you'll have to say 'invite' while thinking of the person you wish to invite. If they're connected to the Arkana Network they'll get a notification with the invitation."
"Ok let me try this, menu open," the same menu that listed his characters appeared in front of him, this time at the bottom was another line that read [Housing: Tourney Eternal Housing System], "tourney housing," the menu shifted and read out:
[Tourney ID: 6,789]
[Housing: Available]
[Enter]
"Enter."
Karlyle's vision was covered in spirals of green and black, blocking out Mimi and the setting behind her. From Mimi's view, nothing special was happening and all that could be seen was a madman acting as if he saw a ghost. His body dispersed into flakes of green essence and Karlyle appeared in his room. It wasn't that big. The bed was as big as his at home but way softer, the bathroom was fairly compact, and there was access to a small kitchen. The whole room was bland in colour. The walls painted in a silent white colour and the furniture was of neutral colours like beige.