NOVEL NEXT Ch. 42: Opening Ceremony
Cass and Marco followed Alyx into the coliseum’s arena the next morning. Salos sat on her shoulder, his tail curled around her neck. They all were dressed in their armor and armed with their weapons. Marco wore a pack with supplies over his shoulder, his shield strapped across the back.
The air buzzed with energy, as thousands of people flocked to the stands. The morning was young, and the high walls still shadowed the arena.
Cass and company stood among countlessly many other armed groups. Most were between six and nine members strong. All were just as armored and armed as Alyx and Marco.
“There it is,” Alyx muttered, staring at the stone doors on the side of the coliseum. “The Vaisom Catacombs.”
Once known instead as the Averentis Family Storehouse, Salos added.
How are you so sure? Cass asked. She hated throwing doubt on his assessment at this stage, especially after his reaction to them the other night, but they just looked like stone doors to Cass and it was better to air this kind of doubt before hopes had risen too high.
Well, for one, that section is much older. Salos indicated the stone doors. It predates the rest of the coliseum.
How can you tell? Cass asked. The doors were a much darker stone than the walls and floor of the coliseum, but stone was stone to her, and differently colored stone was just that.
Racial Skill. The Nyxdra know their stones and hear their stories.
He’d said it like she should be impressed, but I don’t know what that means.
He sighed. My skill is Stone Memory. I can view the things that stone remembers. Stone isn’t very good at holding specific memories for very long, but excellent at remembering repeated actions: feet passing over it every day, hands tracing their way along their walls, constant battle, the daily taste of blood.
You can tell how long a stone has been somewhere by how much it remembers. That darker stone has been here much longer.
That was neat, but, That doesn’t make them the Averentis Storehouse doors. That just means they’re old.
True, Salos nodded. But also, it says as much on the doors.
Cass looked up at the doors. In the light of day, Cass could see the inscription carved in the stone. The script comprised big sweeping symbols, nothing like the words in the books she’d studied the day before.
Is that Jothi?
Yes, Salos paused. Well, it’s the Jothi I know. Ancient Jothi, I suppose?
“If the stories can be believed,” Alyx continued, unaware of Cass and Salos’s sidebar, “It is an endless labyrinth of stone corridors, winding infinitely deep. According to the rumors from the last Festival, there is a central corridor that will take you down nine floors to the Shine of Blessings.”
“Which is where you get what you need to bond with a dragon?” Cass confirmed.
Alyx nodded. “The blessing is said to be more potent the longer between its granting, making the first one down after the last festival, over twenty years ago, the most powerful.”
“So we want to be the first ones down there,” Marco said.
“If we can,” Alyx agreed, though there was little confidence in the words.
“Does that matter?” Cass asked. “Didn’t you say the dragon picks their bond?”
“Yes. But a dragon is more likely to pick the person with the strongest blessing. Additionally, the blessing grants other stat bonuses, and they are supposed to be bigger from the first Major Blessing.”
“Got it,” Cass said. Alyx needed to think about the long term as well. For her, this was more than just earning her way into her family’s Archives, this was her future.
Cass looked around the arena again. There were a lot of people. “How many of them do you think are trying to bind with a dragon?”
Alyx snorted. “Only a handful. The vast majority are treasure hunters. They’ll take one of the side doors inside and look for treasure to change their fortunes. Only the nobility really have a chance with the dragons. It would be foolish of them to waste their time with it when there are more tangible benefits waiting.”
I suspect my soul is one such treasure, Salos whispered. We may need to split off to find it.
How do you expect to find it? She just said it is an endless labyrinth. Do you know the layout of this one too? Cass asked.
Ah, I wish. No, he said. The Averenis family was horribly jealous of their secrets. Not even their own members were allowed to know the entirety of the Storehouse’s layout.
Then the plan? Cass asked.
He shifted uncomfortably on her shoulder, his claws pricking her skin through her robe. I may be counting on the pieces of my soul resonating with one another as we delve deeper.
That sounds suspiciously like you want us to wander around down there until you sense it?
Salos stared off into the distance, suddenly finding the coliseum stands highly interesting.
Salos! Is that your plan?
He didn’t answer.
Cass glared at him. And you say my plans are bad.
With a sigh, she turned her attention back to Alyx. “So, when do they let us in, anyway?”
They hadn’t been standing there that long, but there was a restlessness in the air which had only been growing.
“Soon,” Alyx promised. “First there’ll be some pageantry for the populous. Introducing the dragons to them, that kind of thing. Then, they’ll call the promising contestants and their teams up one at a time and they’ll be let in twenty minutes apart. After all the promising candidates are in, they’ll let everyone else in. That will be a mad dash as all the treasure hunters try to get in before their rivals. We’ll want to get to the front of that as best as we can without wasting too much of our energy on it.”
Alyx had barely finished speaking when a huge shadow swept overhead.
A black dragon, with wide wings blocking out the sky, descended onto the coliseum wall. A woman in shining plate armor sat at the base of its serpentine neck, a spear held high.
Behind them, two white dragons flew into the coliseum. They landed on the wall, just above the door. They regarded the gathered warriors in the arena, their eyes sweeping the crowd with careful consideration.
Then all three dragons roared into the sky. The sound shook the air and rattled Cass’s bones. Terrifying and primal. Cass flinched back, clutching her staff for support.
She wasn’t alone. Most of the crowd was cowed, their shoulders hunched and their feet staggered.
Not Alyx though. Alyx stared up at the dragons with wide eyes. Awe the only emotion on her face.
“Welcome one and all to the opening ceremonies!” a man’s voice called over the stadium. It boomed like a loudspeaker. Cass looked around but could not tell where he was speaking from.
“We stand here at the Vaisom Catacombs,” he continued, “An ancient network of chambers from the last Age granted to us by our patron goddess Alacrity of Stunning Brilliance and Striking Inspiration. Over the next nine-day, our hopefuls will dive deep into these chambers guarded by monsters and more to win her blessing and a chance at the partnership with our youngest dragons.
“Here they are before you, the youngest members of our Guardian Kaidrach’s ever-growing horde: Velkora and Emenes!” The two white dragons gave the slightest nod at the announcement.
A third voice ripped through the morning air, a force of nature and destruction:
Cass, and countless others, flinched under the force of the black dragon’s voice in their minds.
“Tell us all,” the announcer continued after they’d recovered. “What are you looking for in your partner and guardian? Velkora?”
“And Emenes?”
The dragon hesitated a beat before speaking.
“Simple and admirable!” The announcer said. “You hear that, contestants? Do you think you have the power these two need? If you think yourself lacking, now is the moment to turn around. Glory and honor await, but only if you have the means to take it.
“That said, please allow me to introduce our most promising hopefuls!”
The spectators cheered.
“First, the most powerful woman of the younger generation! A genius with the sword and master of the Veldor family’s Lightning Sword techniques! A woman capable of slicing down enemies of our duchy well above her own level! The 32nd Fang! Fioreya Ahdain Veldor! Level 31. The undisputed favorite to win the favor of both the goddess and dragon. The question is not if she impresses a dragon, but which dragon will impress her!”
Fioreya stepped forward from the crowd. She wore her crimson armor, holding her helmet under one arm. Her sword hung from her belt in its scabbard. Both the wrap of its handle and the lacquered wood of the sheath were the same crimson of her armor.
A team of three trailed behind her. One wore armor similar to her own, carrying an even bigger sword on her back. One was dressed in leathers, a short sword, bow, and buckler on his person. The last wore similar light armor, a short sword on one hip and a wand tipped in a jewel on the other.
They walked with easy confidence to the center of the arena. Fioreya ignored the crowds, though the man with the bow waved with a rogue’s smile on his lips.
Fioreya stared up at the dragons, perhaps communicating with them privately, perhaps simply imagining the future in which she’d won and was bound with one or the other.
Finally, the doors of the catacombs swung open and she and her team stepped into the dark, the stands of the stadium roaring with excitement.
“Next, I present Mirzen Sellen Veldor! Daughter of Vaisom’s Steward, the Lady Ashrel Sellen Veldor! Captain of the 23rd Wing. Unmatched with the bow in her generation. Peerless commander. Will this be enough to win a blessing from Alacrity? To win the partnership of a dragon?”
She was a Veldor for sure. She had the same onyx eyes and sharp features that both Fioreya and Kohen had so confidently sported. She was no less arrogant than them. On her back, she carried a bow and a flag. A team of five stood behind her, most carrying spears and shields. They stepped forward with a cheer from the crowd.
She, too, stared up at the dragons for a long time while her team waved to the crowds. A long 20 minutes later, they too stepped into the catacombs.
“And now, Kohen Delim Veldor, eldest son of the Warden, Thaycer Delim Veldor. This man is adept in both the family’s swordplay and also his mother’s dominating school of Force Magics.”
Kohen waved to the crowd. The fine robes he’d worn at the banquet traded for armor like Fioreya’s in an emerald green. Behind him, Daidyn and Tiador walked with easy confidence. Daidyn wore heavy plate mail, all a dusty black. He carried a hulking great sword on his back, as tall as he was. Tiador, in contrast, was dressed in white and gold, each plate shimmering in the morning sun. A pair of scimitars hung from his hips.
Behind them, a hooded figure Cass didn’t recognize looked like a rabbit caught between wolves, her head whipping back and forth with every step. She clutched a hefty-looking tome in her arms. She was probably the mage that Daidyn had been talking about yesterday. She certainly didn’t look like a combat mage. Not that Cass could talk, but she certainly understood Daidyn’s doubts now.
Twenty minutes later, they entered the catacombs.
“Next, also a child of the Warden: a dark horse who only recently made a name for herself for her sweeping clear of Uvana, the first to slay the Lord of the Deep in half a century! Alyx Aretios Veldor!”
Alyx froze.
Marco pushed her forward. “That’s you, girl.”
Alyx shook herself and took a confident step forward, Cass and Marco behind her. The crowd cheered, their eyes heavy on Cass’s shoulders. Cass waved, but she could barely see the crowds. They were doing this.
She was doing this.
It was too late to run now, wasn’t it? It would look bad for Alyx, if nothing else.
Where would she run anyway? Back to the manor? With Alyx’s parents? Back to the city and its assassins?
You can do this, Salos whispered.
She clenched her teeth and took a deep breath. She needed to remember what this was for. This was for him and Alyx. The two people who had helped her since she’d arrived. For his soul and her future.
Maybe they’d even find a hint to get her home down here too, if it really was as old as Salos seemed to think.
Alyx looked up at the two dragons. They stared down at her, their expressions impossible to read. What were they talking about? Was it last-minute encouragement? Instructions to earn their favor? Another interview to decide how much they liked Alyx?
Alyx didn’t give any indication either.
Before them, the catacomb doors hung open. A hallway stretched into the impenetrable dark. Atmospheric Sense whispered that the air was deathly still. That it might stretch on forever or end little more than three steps beyond the light’s reach.
Mana Sense warned of powerful energy somewhere far below. Cold and patient and indifferent to the affairs of those above.
Cass’s gut screamed that this was a bad idea and that she should never have agreed to any of this.
She gripped her staff, trying not to let the fear stop her.
Unprompted, Alyx took a step forward. The crowd erupted in another wave of cheers. Behind them, the announcer began another introduction.
They stepped over the threshold, the stale air of the catacombs enveloping them like a cold film.