Kanito was sitting on one of the lower seats close to the arena, he clutched his seat and looked infront at the arena with knitted brows, totally mystified. He decided to wait until this match gets over so that he can come to terms with this strange turn of events.
Kanito looked straight at the participants. The androgynous voice announced, "Now... begin !"
The two young men in a swift movement of hands took out a candle from their own pockets and lit them up with matches.
As soon as one of them struck a candle, a flaming spiral was unleashed from the candle's wick which dashed towards the other person
"Aerian is starting off with an Acolyte Tier attack !" The voice commentated.
But apparently, Maxim saw an offensive move coming, he vanished and simultaneously reappeared at a long distance behind Aerian.
Aerian turned back with horrified eyes when in that instant, Maxim quickly took out another match and struck his candle.
Before Aerian could pull out a match, he was suddenly seen to be high up in the sky.
Soon, Maxim drew a different candle from his pocket and struck it. With his hands now covered in a pale blue aura, he teleported directly above Aerian and unleashed a barrage of heavy punches on his chest making him fall, crashing his back on the ground.
The audience was mesmerized by this move, they cheered loudly.
Aerian struggled to move up while Maxim looked at him coldly with an expressionless face.
"I'm one Tier less than you in Trident Domain, still you can't keep up?" Maxim's lips curled into a sardonic smile.
Aerian looked up at Maxim and smiled subtly. Maxim looked shocked when Aerian slapped his ankles with his palm which abruptly made Maxim blow far away in a great speed.
Maxim instantly swapped his place with Aerian that made Aerian hit the wall behind right before crashing hard on the ground.
Aerian quickly got up and struck his candle with a different match and then with a quick hand gesture conjured a shimmering white dagger of light and launched that straight at Maxim with intense speed,
Maxim immediately swapped places with that dagger. That dagger now veered off course, pierced through the wind and unexpectedly hit Kanito hard in the face making him swing off his seat and fall on the ground.
The audience and the two players froze immediately at their places and then came soft murmurs, soon loud concerned whispers filled the area.
"Call the medical staff right now !"
Kanito still confused, only opened his hazy eyes and held his forehead to reveal a blood covered palm.
'Argh, am I a sacrificial lamb?'
A team of people in uniform scurried to the arena and lifted Kanito up, they placed him on a stretcher and took him away.
The audience and both the players, especially Aerian got concerned, palpable from his furrowed brows.
But the voice spoke up again, "The show must go on, gentlemen."
-----
Kanito opened his eyes to find himself in a small white-walled room resembling a small medical office. He touched his forehead to find that it's wrapped in a clean piece of cloth to stem the bleeding.
'Is this a hospital again? I have a wierd way of always ending up in hospitals.'
He looked at a distance to see a young man standing with a quizzical face. The person tried to talk to him but a nurse suddenly interrupted and gave Kanito a medicine.
Kanito rose up, leaning against the headboard and swallowed the pill.
After the nurse left, the person came forward and Kanito's gaze fell upon him, he realized that it was one of the participants from the match earlier. He was Aerian Hoffman.
He was a short and sturdy looking young man who was wearing a long brownish black robe. His short honey tinted curls partly covered his brown eyes, highlighting a spatter of brown freckles that dotted his rough face.
"Why sit in the front row if you can't handle a low-level attack like that?" Aerian scowled.
Kanito was robbed of every clue by the absurd turn of events that happened with no respite.
'Isn't he one of those competitors, I guess this was... Aerian Hoffman. If I tell him that I suddenly appeared here by striking a candle, will he believe me? What place is this even?'
Kanito tilted his head slightly to the right to check the enviroment, the land and the sky was still coloured in soft yellow and orange.
'It doesn't look like it is night-time here, unlike when I escaped from the prison. Wherever I am, I am pretty sure I am in a different time zone and hence possibly in a different country. If that is the case, how can I return back to Bakerheim? Even if I return back to Bakerheim, what will I gain? There's not much difference between staying there and here. Neither of them is home'
Kanito then pretended to know the workings of this new world and with a slight smile asked him, "Who won?"
Aerian waived off the question by rolling his eyes away and moved to a distance and looked outside the window. He flicked his eyes outside pointing to the scene unfolding outdoor.
Kanito looked outside and saw the other participant, Maxim Flores, was standing on a grand stage. Infront of him were two other men wearing a similar black robe, standing on an elevated platform.
A small metallic object with glowing wings wobbled and projected a blue humanoid holographic interface.
A tall man of bulky frame, dark black hair and green eyes stepped forward. Seeing him, Maxim lowered his head in reverence and smiled proudly.
The man smiled back and tied a lustrous golden tassle at Maxim's collars.
The holographic interface spoke, and this was that same androgynous voice that commentated the match earlier,
"Maxim Flores has become a member of Golden Souls Elite."
The audience applauded the scene admiring Maxim.
"See? Maxim looks like a joker now." Aerian crossed his arms and flippantly smirked as he saw Maxim bow and revere the man before him again.
Kanito cleverly hid the candle that brought him here as Aerian turned and looked at him.
"What is your name? What mythology do you practice?"
Kanito didn't prepare an answer and hence became hesitant. But he did learn one thing : being honest about problems only brings more problems. So he decided to play along.
"My name is Kanito Aramishi, I don't practice one." Kanito clutched the bed softly while trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.
Aerian was miffed by the response. As societal norms dictated, every individual should practice some form of mythology. The absence of legal coercion didn't mean that the discomfort of denunciation is diminished.
"I'm quite oblivious of this field, what was that tournament about?" Kanito deftly shifted the topic and deliberately wore a curious expression.
"Golden Souls held it to find a worthy replacement for Harriet, she was a member of their elite team, and she... passed away, last month." A pensive shadow greyed his face as he added "She was a friend."
Kanito did not anticipate a tone shift. He looked outside the window again to see the audience empty the arena, slowly calling it a day.
The man who tied the tassle put an arm around Maxim and probably led him towards the guild, while sharing stories.
"And Who is that person?" Kanito asked.
Aerian's lips pursed and he said in a wry and annoyed tone, "Trevor, Deputy-Guildmaster, Vice-Leader of the elite team and the heir to the Golden Souls' seat in Parfisto Pact. Yeah, he is insufferably rich. Well.. he is also my older brother. One might think that gets me some clout? I think about it too. Yeah.. all I do is think about it."
Aerian leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms again as he savoured the sarcasm.
"What mythology do you practice?"
Kanito tried not to continue talks on his family dynamics. He dodged the topic carefully again.
Aerian's face stretched into a smug smile and his chin jutted upwards, "Constellation of Trident." he declared fervently, maintaining an arrogant smile.
He pulled out a candle from the pocket of his cloak and rubbed it's tapering white texture with a cloth.
Aerian's eyes suddenly flared open in unexpectance as a white dazzling light erupted from the candle's wick and settled in front. Kanito shocked by the scene, recoiled from the bed.
The white light took shape and twisted into a humanoid male figure. It became more lucid and eventually the light took the shape of a bearded man with a horned helmet. His black cloak fluttred as he levitatated decorously infront of Aerian.
"Don't lie, you are only on Acolyte Tier." The man said in a heavy, ethereal tone.
"Argh, he doesn't have to know about it." Aerian agitatingly remarked.
Kanito's shock mitigated after seeing Aerian talk to the mysterious figure normally.
The man again turned into a silvery light, loosing the facial details and went inside the wick of the candle as Aerian looked at his candle, displeased that his lie was dismissed.
Aerian then tried to shift the focus from the topic, he asked, "You seem interested in mythology,"
Kanito was well aware that he was nescient of this world and it's ways, still he let curiosity win for a moment , "What is mytho–"
He paused and immediately swallowed the question, reminding himself the perils of being open. He chose the prudent silence that followed.
"So may I suppose that you are a non-mythologer who is interested in mythology? I don't get why people don't practice it. I know it's hard but, it's just called being grateful."
Aerian looked poignantly at the candle as if it previously saved his life countless times, he smiled gently at it but then, the lines on his face twisted in extreme tension and his face became totally stoic with his eyes popping out eerily.
"You should definitely practice one, you must."
Kanito for some reason found the very atmosphere very odd. The way Aerian's small eyes absurdly enlarged was very disturbing. Something was so terribly off. It was a place where sunsets never end, always colouring the place in soft orange and peach, the room was relatively dimly lit with only a few pieces of furniture scattered throughout it's otherwise empty space.
"I have no idea about it." Kanito felt a little nervous as he tried to bring back the old nonchalant and carefree expressions on Aerian's face.
Aerian's face cooled down and relaxed as he burst out laughing in a soft playful way, the way he would normally laugh. His eyes reverted back to being small and mediocre.
"You looked so scared, was I that good? It's a common tradition where mythologers would try to scare non-mythologers by doing macabre actions like that."
Kanito a bit comforted that it was an act, still felt an itch in his mind. It was clearly not all about traditions.
Kanito knew that if he has to go back to Bakerheim, he would have to talk with the elder and more official people of this place. He showed subtle interest in the phenomena of 'mythology'
Kanito understood that Aerian's superior attitude must be catered inorder to garner insights about this place and possibly the place he came from,
"I know I'm a disgrace to the world for not practicing it but still, what is mythology even about?" Kanito played the dumb role.
Aerian narrowed his eyes, "Only mythologers know what mythology is, if you are interested in it, why don't you come up to my place? Well, my dad is the owner of Golden Souls. No nepotism benefits... again."
'What is this thing which he is calling 'mythology' does practicing it grant magical powers? If I have to find a way to go back to Bakerheim, I think I will need this. Also, this Aerian guy doesn't seem to be a serious person. I need to talk to more mature people of this place.'
Kanito smiled and said, "Yeah, now that I saw that amazing fight between you and Maxim, I am very interested in mythology."
Aerian became excited, "Well, if that is the case, then I will wait for you to recover, then we can go to some Baptism Lake to break your Zeroth Spiritual Lock." he remarked joyously.