The fourth sector of the arena was the realm of the overachievers and the ones who wanted a place to test their ideas born from a spur of the moment. Divided and protected by closed or opened high walls, the groups were hard at work building weird devices, training their bodies or sparring for sport. They all had an unreal focus on their project in common, which was also shared by a Firbolg dragging symbols and lines on the ground. A small bug-boy sporting a little green cape under a set of transparent wings was carefully connecting two circles with the straightest line ever seen, you could have sworn a machine did. In the middle of the distance between them was a long pencil, ending in with a sharp, metallic tip.
??? -" This should do it this time", he muttered, sinking his spear further into the ground. Since every other attempt failed, he thought that maybe the problem lay with the deepness of the ritual. " I'll take it in a literary sense if that fixes this issue"
A young man yelled from a distance, already guessing what the Firbolg was doing: " It could damage your weapon". Tommen and his group arrived just in time to admire the artistic work done by the insectoid Firbolg. "Nice line work by the way Giol, you could work as a house illustrator if we go back home…", he waited to see if the bait was caught.
-" Tommen, my brother, shut up already about that", replied Giol a bit defeated and exasperated, holding his forehead on the spear. " Hi Brigid", he continued, still tired, until Maci caught his attention.
Maci -" Oh, you do look like you're wearing a dragonfly costume. Reminds me of those Sentai…"
-"...Or ranger shows? Right?!" Giol then excitedly waited for a moment to see how she reacted.
Maci -" Wait, you saw them too? I recently got into them", the girl said with a smaller amount of enthusiasm than him. " I just saw some of the newer ones, I still haven't got into the older material."
Giol -" Many of them are so amazing, used to love them as a small one-eyed cocoon! The costumes, the heroic deeds, the fights, goddam the music pumps me up even now!"
Tommen raised his right hand and declared, in a hoarse voice, to "STOP…Because today it's a big day, and not just for us."
Arim and his group found the rest just in time for them to witness an attempt at a Fetch Pact.
-" Oh my, Arim, you finally brought a lady for the family to meet?", teased Brigid in jest, until she saw that he blushed at one of her ribs, fearing that she had taken too far this time. " Ah crap, I made it awkward didn't I?"
-" Is that a thing normally practiced now?" Lian shrugged. "I wouldn't mind meeting Arim's family…I guess you count, he told us you two grew up as practically siblings." Brigid then blushed as well, trying to downplay it while grinning and apologizing." Well, I'm Liandan and…"
-" Nooo, let's leave the introductions later!", intervened Maci with a stomp, then pointed towards Giol and Tommen to start the ritual.
-" Fine, fine", sighed Arim. " But that's not a nice way to make yourself listened to, tu petit diablotin."
The girl then wanted to mock him, complaining in a fake whisper "Oh, now everyone is French, huh" but got flabbergasted by his reply:
Arim -" I'm half-french", then waved at the four spectators to follow Tommen and Giol. " The human sits in the left circle and Firbolg on the right. And before you ask, they tried the other way around and nothing happened." He then pointed toward the object in the middle. "That's where the totem sits. It doesn't matter what it is, you just need an object that both partners can hold and use."
Tommen then took over while cutting tips from his long hair: " The human then must offer part of himself to the ritual, proof of his being." Right as the follicle hit the ground the circle started to glow in the same colored lights as the transport stone. It then rushed towards the Totem, embracing half of it in a rainbow glow.
Giol -" Then the Firbolg does the same, in my case using a scale and…" only a single grayline appeared, covering the circle and the moment it reached the center, both of the glows vanished and broke. "Another fail", he added dejectedly. "Next time Tommen?"
Tommen -" Sure thing man…I just, let's take a breaker, ok?" to which Giol only nodded and the two took a defeated sit-down next to a wall.
Maci quickly grabbed Brigid's hand and tried to drag her with her, but the Firbolg checked with Liandan and Ogda as well.
Lian -" Ogda, are you ok with us being last?"
He didn't blink, respond or move. " This won't work, middle one. An actual pact, much more ancient than this mockery abides. This attempt will fail…pretend when it happens, otherwise you'll put her in danger's sight." …" Right", he replied to both of them a moment later. " Sure, I don't mind", he chippered up, ignoring the concerned looks he was getting. Giol then asked him if their attempt scared him. " No…maybe, a bit", tried Ogda to coyly say, unknowingly believing half of what he was saying.
Maci -" Ugh, reminds me of when two of my team members fought over a middle position, only for them to figure out that neither was good at playing there. Who's to say that this is the only good ritual?" Maci's out-of-left-field insight surprised everyone, actually encouraging them about alternative solutions.
-" Later we should do a deeper research dive on the rituals," replied Tommen, thinking about it.
The girl put their symbol in the middle, a small ceramic statue of a football flying through the sky. Maci's ritual went just like Tommen's, except that the colors quivered in a different dance, followed by a similar performance from Brigid's side. And her lights were drenched in similar shades as her human partner, all culminating with the totem glowing, then it swallowing the light show.
Maci -" Does that mean…", asked the teenager in awe but with a tinge of fear as well.
-" Yap. Congratulations you two, you are now in a Fetch Pact", replied Arim with a light applause. The rest followed his example and congratulated him as well. "Now, Liandan, Ogda, what do you say?"
Before any words could be shared, the Firbolg was already in his place, followed soon by the girl. She was more nervous than expected, unsure if this was the right move. From when it all started until now, she still couldn't overcome most of her anxieties about what happened…Ogda, out of a sudden, asked her a question:
Ogda -" Liandan…did you know that humans had superstitions about weird companions?
Lian -" What…Oh, you mean like about spirits, familiars, and such?"
Ogda -" Yeah. Familiars…They would just pop out of nowhere and become attached to their human…"
-"...but they could also live their own lives," continued Lian." No matter what, though, they served and protected their human companion…Is that how you see yourself Ogda, as my familiar?"
He paused, unsure of what to say. "Sometimes", he replied softly. " Sometimes not. I'm not sure, but I feel like that's how I used to feel before the amnesia. Truth is, I'm still figuring it out."
-" Me too". Lian then cut a nail and the circle lacked color. Ogda dropped a droplet simultaneously, and his circle didn't do anything. Nothing happened.
????"Middle one, tell a lie! NOW!"?????
Liandan changed stares with Ogda, then Arim and the others, cutting another nail, then tips of the hair, until something a voice, her voice angrily, hushed from the past:
(&$^#* -" Look closer, the real connection is not there" and for a few seconds, Liandan could see something else. An oily visage overlaid the real world and she glimpsed something- both she and Ogda shared an invisible, gray line that went way above the skyline of the world, into the void. But they weren't the only ones. Arim had a similar gray line, while pure white strings attached Giol and Zinc to the same darkened sky. For another glimpse, she could perceive maybe water, a still dark ocean hovering above them all. And then it ended, and the girl collapsed on the ground, with a throbbing headache and her eyes were burning with sharp pain.
Lian -" I saw…something.", she muttered after the pain subsided a few minutes later. " There's a blockage; me and Ogda can't make a Fetch pact because I think we're already in another one, with something else."
….
On the east side of the city, there was a tree unlike any other. Its bark was a faded brown, and patches of soot-covered bits and pieces of the vegetal armor, were easily blown away by the lightest breeze. The remaining branches arched towards the ground, touching it with cusps of charred wood. Its leaves and flowers died years ago, but the soot that flew in spirals and circles between the branches made it seem alive. And the tree was alive, as it found a new way of sustaining itself.
Under the tree slept its eternal guardian, a beast who could stand the heat and lack of air that emanated around the timber. Ashen's head and body were hidden under the laid branches, except for a spot from where his eyes could see everything in the distance. That's how he noticed the arrival of his latest guest, someone he excitedly awaited for.
???? -" The sprout of duel and learning has returned. With good news, I hope?" he bellowed in a rugged, old voice, smirking at his visitor.
Perren was well over 70 years old at this point, which for a Firbolg was a somewhat middle point in their lifespan, and if those words came from someone else, he would have felt insulted. But to be called a sprout by this being was understandable for him.
Perren -" Ashen, how are you doing? I see that you're still "guarding" the tree like usual", he responded with a bit of a jest.
Ashen -" Ha ha ha, well, you know how much I enjoy my "guarding" sessions. Especially at my age. Besides, since you left, Victor got a bit antsy and I had to entertain that little ball of energy. Even the other members tried their hand at it, and…"
Perren noticed the hesitation in his voice, a mixture of annoyance but sprinkled with some pride as well.
Ashen -" I don't know if it's because I feel my fire is extinguishing, Perren, but I noticed a growth. More than I ever thought possible for the rowdy children who would pester my naps." The dragon took a second to reminisce, with the warrior patiently waiting for him to address him again. " Huh, I guess talking with someone closer in mind made me think about my passing time…but let's get past all that, sprout. Did you find what I asked you for?"
Perren pulled out from his satchel a small object veiled in layers of cloth, leather, and other materials, removing only the ones at the top. " As you asked for, the egg from a Firbolg that failed to materialize. It's all just mush now...I know you did this nine other times, but still…are you sure this is safe?"
Ashen -" Yes…This curse binds me to yield this form of reincarnation time and time again until I reach the final one. If there's one thing I could count on, it's knowing the preparation needed for this voyage. The egg will be repaired and my tenth and last opportunity will be complete. If I fail once more to remove the punishment set onto me by God in my last life, that will be it…"
Perren -" We will convince them, Ashen. The Platinum Union finally has the chance to get closer to them and maybe even ask for a favor…"
Ashen -" Ha!", replied the old dragon. " My trust in the Union is absolute, don't misunderstand me. But so is my fear of the fickleness of this Deity. My mind, bound to keep on living through it all, has decayed over time, and my recollections of my first life are limited. But that's only because of the multitude of memories I am forced to store, Perren. What do you think about that, what kind of being gives that kind of punishment…how broken is the child?"