Chapter 133 The Game
Wide blue and red eyes met before Evernya picked Aya in a princess carry and dashed out of the house. Her wings spread wide as she took off, teleporting through the barrier protecting the village.
She flew higher and higher until the village was nothing more than a spot before stopping. While inspecting Aya for any issues with her divine eyes, Evernya asked, “How do you feel? Does anything hurt?”
A smile bloomed as Aya stared up at the sky. “Aya feels wonderful.”
Evernya frowned at her mate’s semi lucid response, prompting her to inspect her mate deeper. She met a slight resistance before popping through. Her eyes blinked in confusion as she surveyed the oasis before her. A gentle waterfall flowed into a small lake filled with colorful fish. At the center of the lake, in the middle of a forest, was a cottage on stilts.
A slight mental nudge drew her toward the cottage. With a single flap, she glided to the deck before turning toward the door. After a momentary hesitation, she opened the door to find Aya sitting on a cushion, a steaming tea set on the table in front of her.
Evernya sat on the opposite side of the table. “Hello Aya. Is this your soul space?”
“Our soul space.”
“Our?” Evernya questioned before glancing out the window to find the trees familiar.
At Aya’s nod, Evernya pictured an Evernium cushion for herself. A moment later, the cushion under her morphed into a familiar silky soft material.
After several minutes of silence, Evernya began to fidget. “What’s happening? Are you ascending? I went to my soul space too when I ascended, but mine was a little unusual.”
“Yes Aya is ascending, thanks to Nya.”
Aya’s serene expression vanished as a gasp escaped her mouth. Her ruby eyes sprang open, flicking from side to side rapidly, as if watching something. As fast as it came, it vanished. Aya locked eyes with Evernya with a wide smile. “Aya understands now.”
A shiver ran through Evernya at her mate’s look. “Understand what?”
“Everything, Aya lived many lives.”
Evernya stared at her mate, worry forming, prompting Aya to continue. “Aya is still Aya, but now something more.”
A sigh of relief escaped Evernya’s mouth as her smile at her mate. “So what aspect did you get?”
Aya’s gaze went faraway for a moment before returning to Evernya. “The White Flame.”
“Awesome! I got Mana and Physics.”
Aya stared at her mate, radiating with proudness. “Nya is amazing!”
Evernya returned her mate’s feelings. “So are you.”
Before they could say more, a ripple ran through their shared soul space. “Sorry to interrupt you love birds, but it’s starting.”
Instantly recognizing her mother’s voice, Evernya asked, “What’s starting?”
Icy rage filled Avonya’s tone as she spoke a single word. “Retribution.”
Evernya’s eyes shot toward Aya, who shared the same curiosity. Instinctively knowing how they disappeared from the cottage simultaneously.
Evernya blinked to find herself still hovering in the sky, carrying Aya as if no time passed. She turned to fly back, only to freeze. White flames danced around them in every direction for over a hundred meters. Her gaze shot to the culprit, who was staring at the show with wonder.
A smug expression took hold as Aya declared, “Aya is strong now. Aya can protect Nya!”
Evernya smiled down at Aya. “We can protect each other. Though I doubt anyone could harm us now.”
“Ready to head back? I have a feeling Avonya has something big planned.”
At Aya’s nod, Evernya folded her wings and dropped like a rock back toward the village below. Just before they smashed into the barrier, Evernya teleported, removing all their momentum as they landed softly in the clearing in front of the massive tree.
Evernya glanced at her mother, who was standing proudly in front of a projection floating in the air. As Evernya approached, she paused and looked skyward to realize the sun was high in the sky. A glance at Kya prompted the former AI to speak. “My lady, you and mistress Aya were gone for twelve hours.”
Used to random losses of time, Evernya shrugged her shoulders before stopping beside Avonya and setting down Aya, who seemed content in Evernya’s arms. Two fluffy white appendages wrapped around Evernya’s waist, pulling her in close as they both watched the projection displaying a platform where the Sespinian Palace used to reside.
Evernya poked her concentrating mother, but she swatted away the hand while continuing to drill her gaze into the projection. “Have patience. It’s about to start.”
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“Could you at least give me an overview?”
“Just a little history lesson with a few alterations and some long overdue justice.”
Realization dawned on Evernya, but before she could open her mouth, the space surrounding it became solid. She glared at her mother, but she ignored her.
Giving up, Evernya snuggled into her mate, giving her a tail hug which turned her two more tails around her shoulders. A purr rumbled in her throat as warmth radiated through the fluffy appendages. Her body turned to mush only held up by the strong as steel fluffy tails.
An unknown time later, loud trumpets snapped her awake. She stiffened, eyes scanning her surroundings, but found herself sitting on the ground leaning into Aya, who was watching the projection. Evernya followed suit, tilting her head up to find a yellowish green coloring male Draecath stepping on to the stage wearing a yellow green accented black suit. He scanned the area behind the projection as if observing a crowd before beginning to speak.
The Draecath stood tall before speaking in a clear and loud voice full of exuberance. “Welcome! To the revealed games! Presented to buy the Emerald Queen herself! I’m your host Draha!”
Evernya glanced at Avonya, who was practically vibrating with anticipation and excitement. “Revealed games? You couldn’t think of a better name?”
Without taking her eyes off the screen, Avonya waved her hand at her daughter, tail flicking in excitement. “Shush, it’s about to start!”
Evernya glanced behind her to find every resident of the village seated on chairs watching the projection so she followed suit, just two cloth covered objects rolled onto the stage pushed by two orange colored female Draecath wearing a skintight suits matching their coloring. “Many of you may recognize our first contestant! Please welcome the hero of Druth, Arthur Elliott, also known as Arthur Sespina, the illegitimate son of the king of Sespina!”
Avonya let out a cheer and clap as if she was in the crowd, causing Evernya to shake her head.
The cloth pulled away from the right object to display Arthur strapped to a chair with vacant eyes.
“Now, for our Kitsun viewers, we present Sakue Ito! The granddaughter of your former matriarch! And cousin to your new head of bloodline!” Draha’s tone became somber suddenly as he announced, “Unfortunately, former Matriarch Ito fell victim to a freak accident and will be unable to join us. May she rest in pieces!”
The cloth ripped away to reveal a Kitsune with similar features to Aya but with four tails which were tightly bound in a metal sleeve affixed to the chair along with their owner.
“Now the rules are simple. We will reveal parts of their sins and you dear viewers will vote who was worse! Simply announce your vote toward the projection and it will be counted.”
“As the home contestant, Arthur Sespina will go first!”
The view of the stage shrunk to the bottom left corner as both contestants appeared in an office having a meeting. “Hello Mr. Elliott. I come with a proposal. Our family heard of your struggle and would like to help.”
Arthur Elliott jerked, eyes shooting to the sudden arrival. His eyes drifted between the tall white ears and lazily waving tails behind the woman before speaking. “What’s a Kitsune doing here? I thought your kind only meets with my father.”
“Normally yes, but your father agrees you are the best person to help deal with our issue.”
“And what would that be?”
“Dealing with a certain pest and her runt.”
“Don’t worry, we took care of the setup already. All you need to do is organize an evacuation and frame our target. For a bonus, you may kill the target after completing the job.”
The projection went into double speed, showing Arthur Elliott directing his subordinates to prepare portals all over Druth while Sakue snuck up into the mountains and stole a Dragon egg.
A familiar scene to most Sespinian citizens from a video circulated two years ago played next with Evernya placing the Dragon egg under the hospital in Druth before staring up at the camera and disappearing. However, the next scene shocked everyone as instead of teleporting way the Evernya lookalike walked toward the elevator under an illusion. As the elevator door closed, the figure morphed into Sakue.
The scene next shifted to Arthur, sending his subordinates to kidnap a young elf who was gathering materials in the woods. Following that scene, it shifted to Arthur, threatening the elf’s older sister into helping to imprison Evernya. And finally, the last scene showed Arthur breaking about his actions in front of Evernya before bringing his blade down and beheading her.
The projection refocused on the stage as Draha began to speak. “We could show you more, but I think you viewers have enough to decide.”
Draha stood in silence for several minutes as numbers counted up above both contestant’s heads only to vanish as a teasing smile formed on his face. “Before we reveal the results, we will move on to our next pair of contestants!”
The orange coloring Draecath women rolled their charges off to the side of the stage as another pair of Draecath women, this time of green coloring, rolled on another pair of cloth covered chairs.
“Now these contestants are a fair bit higher profile, but please try to look past their status when making a decision.” Draha paused to let his words sink in before gesturing to the left cloth covered chair. “First, we would like to introduce Iyo Ito or as many of you in Kitsun know her as the Heiress of Ita!”
After another pause, he raised a hand toward the other chair. “Now on the Sespina side, we have someone who many of you have never seen only. The legendary Erik Sespina! The founder of Sespina and king!” Draha went somber a moment later. “Unfortunately, like the former Matriarch Ito his son and the one many of you see daily on tv met a similar fate when the Sespinian Palace spontaneously exploded, may he rest in pieces.”
Following another dramatic pause, Draha continued, “Unlike the last pair these contestants never met, so we will judge them on separate events. In Iyo Ita, it will be a long list of smaller sins while we will judge Erik Sespina on one recent event all you Sespinians are feeling.”
Like last time, the view of the stage shrunk in favor of a view of Iyo Ita beating a young brown-haired single tailed Kitsune for looking her in the eyes. This scene replayed itself hundreds of time with different Kitsune, all of lower tail counts for any number of petty reasons. Sometimes she made up reasons and beat any lower born kitsune she felt like. Following her the long series of beatings, the projection moved on to her many schemes against her fellow royals just to one up them. One particularly heinous one had her frame her sister for treason, resulting in her sister’s execution. The last scene showed her sneaking up behind a young royal kitsune holding a slave band. Without a hint of remorse, she wrapped the band around the young girl’s neck, enslaving her own blood.
After a few second delay, the projection shifted to a view of Erik Sespina and his son standing in a cave next to a pulsating crystal. His son was the first to speak. “Father, are you sure you want to do this? There has to be another way for you to ascend.”
Erik stared at the crystal with greed. “No, I’ve waited long enough. I deserve to join the true immortals. So what if a few million humans become cripples? It’s a small price to pay for my ascension. Besides, with your expert leadership, Sespina will recover.”
Before his son could argue further, Erik sent a blast of pure mana at the crystal, shattering it instantly. He spread his arms wide as if expecting the mana within to pour into him only for it to shoot through the roof of the cave, destroying the Sespinian Palace before exploding outward. As it passed each human Sespinian citizen, it shattered their mana system before impacting the barrier along the dusk and dawn mountains. The last of the blackish mana dissipated as the barrier broke, opening Sespina to the outside world.