Mosh faced the Scraw, examining it as it examined him. It blinked at him and smiled. It was not a reassuring smile, there were far too many teeth! He hesitated a bit and noticed a look of what he thought was confusion on the scraw’s face and smiled back. It looked relieved, giving him a small bow and raising its hand in greeting, and flinched a bit as warm blood from the crane carcass dripped on him. Mosh couldn’t help it, with all the stress, with all the tension, watching as the scraw forgot it carried a carcass and dripped blood on itself just seemed hilarious, he laughed, guffaws far beyond what the situation deserved echoing forth. The scraw looked confused, then a look of enlightenment registered on its face, and it started its own series of hisses.

Mosh draped his spear over his shoulder and walked towards the scraw, hoping he did not come across as threatening. The scraw stood at ease, waiting for him to arrive, its one arm hanging down holding the carcass, the other gripping its bow. Mosh arrived before it, and stood there, not sure how to proceed. He felt a scratching in his mind, as if ants had somehow found their way in and were crawling over his brain and throughout his skull. He shook his head, but the feeling just intensified.

Candidate Li of Clan Cloudstriver is attempting to establish a telepathic link with Candidate Mosh Barmenash. Accept the link?

Telepathy? Mosh had learned of it, he had even studied it as it fell within the realm of Mind and Psi one of the areas he had dreamed of achieving. He allowed the link, hoping it would allow him to communicate with the scraw, as he did not know what languages it spoke.

“I great you, scion of humanity. I am Li of Clan Cloudstriver. I hail from the Isle of Dreams, what used to be called New Zealand before the Mileu Integration.”

Mosh didn’t know how to speak back, so he spoke aloud while trying to send his thoughts at the same time. “Hi, I’m Mosh Barmenash. I am from the HUMAN Polity, near the capital city of Kalthek. Umm, I’m not sure what it was called before the integration, my history teachers always said old national boundaries created division and should be forgotten as we needed unity more than at any other point in our history.” He paused and looked at Li. “did you come in on the lottery two weeks ago? Were you also visited by the Arbiter?”

Li nodded, “The arbiter did indeed visit us, and handed out gifts. I was not lucky enough to gain any Codex, though my Mana index is said to be unusually high.” His mouth opened in a wide grin and a forked tongue darted forward, “For us, Mana is all, so I do not see any lack for not gaining a Codex. Our elders died in deep hibernation when Mana left the world, but it seems our eggs are of sturdier stuff and survived, allowing us to be birthed from Mana, It is why some call us children of Mana and only a few awaken to not follow mana.” Mosh began to lose track as the scraw rambled on. It seemed happy to meet another, its excitement overflowing into exuberance and chattiness. Niah remained silent; it seemed the easiest path.

“Friend Mosh of Clan Barmenash. This Crane is too large for me to dine on alone. Come, follow me to my cave, dine with me!” The exuberant scraw continued, “I am sorry, that was presumptuous! I may call you friend? You do not object?”

Mosh nodded, “No, it is not a problem! We all need friends out here. Lead on, I would love to see your cave and share a meal!”

Mosh followed the scraw, moving in the opposite direction of his encampment. The scraw descended into a ravine, a cleft in the ground that should not have been as it seemed to descend below the level of the river and the water table, yet it remained dry, the ground moist but not damp. They scrambled down, the ravine gentling into a slope after they dropped down less than a meter to a shelf. It was wide enough to walk comfortably, and after a descent of around ten meters a hole opened in the wall and Li entered. Mosh followed him, and found it opened into a much larger cavern with a floor that continued to descend to a pool that was fed by a small stream of water. Li dropped the crane and started preparing it, removing the feathers and the innards, draining its blood and skinning it. Mosh made himself useful, ascending into the forest to gather firewood, He returned to the cave, and built a fire in a firepit, above which he could see a distant sliver of daylight.

They worked together silently, companionably, and in time Li retrieved a large cast iron pan from his pack which he placed on the fire. He threw some of the fats from the crane in to melt to use for cooking and then the large filets from its breasts that it bent over and applied herbs to. It did not take long for a wonderful smell to be emitted. Mosh had not brought many spices, he had never been one for cooking and they would just take up space without him being able to make proper use of them!

They ate in silence, Li glancing at him as he ate his crane breast. “Mosh Barmenash, human. Do you know what happened to my ancestors?”

The mental tone was different from before, sounding harsher and Mosh went on guard. He tried to move towards his pack and his spear, but found his movements sluggish, his muscles not responding as they should. “The details? No, All I know is what you told me, that your elders died from mana deprivation and only the eggs survived.”

Li nodded, “Yes, our elders died from mana deprivation. Can you imagine the hardship of the first generation of the newly born after mana returned? We are told there were three Rememberers amongst them, the lore masters of our species that carry the clan memories. Because of them, three clans survived, guided by them.” He turned, glaring at Mosh, his teeth bared in a snarl. “They remembered, the taught. Of the war against those who hated mana, even as they used it. Of the war against those who saw evolution of perversion of form. Of the traitors within our own race who assisted in the great mana purge, wanting to rid the world of debasement of form! They helped, and now we are punished alongside you! You, humans, slayer of elders who deceived the honourable members of our race.” Li stood, standing over Mosh, a series of hisses and clicks coming out from his mouth as he pointed at Mosh, only to fall to the floor, screaming, clutching at his head!

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Candidate Li of Clan Cloudstriver has broken the Crucible truce. No candidate may directly attack another or directly cause them harm. Candidate Li of Clan Cloudstriver has violated the pact on three counts. Count one, malicious abuse of telepathy to dampen and control the emotions of Candidate Mosh Barmenash. Count two is the use of poison to restrict movement. Count three is the attempted casting of a Psionic Blade to kill Mosh Barmenash. The sentence has been determined. Candidate Li will be stripped of Candidate status and removed from the Crucible. All indexes of Candidate Li will be reduced by one, to a minimum of one. Evolution potential will be reduced to null, no possibility of evolution and all evolutions achieved will be stripped. All equipment will be forfeited. Candidate Li of Clan Cloudstriver is forbidden from discussing the Crucible, or any events and individuals within it in perpetuity. The penalty for ignoring this ban is death.

Restitution for Candidate Mosh Barmenash will be all equipment of Candidate Li of Clan Cloudstriver which was forfeited.

Mosh watched as Li glared at him, his face twisted with hate, as the sentence was delivered. Li spat at him, his forked tongue flickering in and out as he faded, leaving behind his pack and everything laid out in the cavern, Even the clothing he had been wearing remained behind, dropped onto the cavern floor.

‘Well kid, let this be a lesson that you take to heart. A pleasant demeanour and a smile does not mean a friend! It sounds like his race has quite a history with yours, but from the sounds of it, they are not innocent, but do not want to admit to their guilt!’

Mosh winced, the voice of Midkar not welcome as he struggled against whatever poison Li had used. His movement was slowly returning, but it remained sluggish, it seemed the poison was not an effective one.

‘You are awaked foolish child! The poison is probably meant for someone with a lower body index. It did not cross the wannabe assassin’s mind that your body would resist. As it said, surprisingly honest considering the circumstances, his race is primarily users of mana, and he most likely does not have much experience with those with a decent body index.”

Mosh relaxed, and it did not take long before he could move properly, albeit not at his full capacity. He stood and investigated the cave. It was far superior to his barrow, even with the work he had put in to make it more habitable. He looked around, at the pool of water, at the firepit with its natural chimney and the large living area, with a restricted entrance. He made up his mind, he had found his new camp.

Kalthek

The members of the human polity sat within the council chamber their attention focussed on the screen before them. A mixed group of Scraw, both the reptilian and insectoid, looked back. One of the reptilian scraws spoke in heavily accented English. “Our progeny was foolish. Investigation underway.” It stopped and one of the insectoid scraws continued, clicks and scrapes from its mandibles and rubbing together of its limbs automatically translated by the translation stone embedded within the view screen.

“Progeny has been returned by Crucible. Progeny is to be punished after an investigation into the birth creche. We bear guilt. We will hunt out and remove those who teach progeny to hate.” There was no question of guilt or blame. Not everything in the Game was shown, but all was recorded and that recording showing the whole sequence of events had been given to them.

The conversation was short, the Human Polity indicating they bore no ill will to the Scraw and accepted the apology and the reparations to be paid to the Barmenash family by the Li clan. It was far more than was reasonable, the Scraw were communal and did not understand small families but saw them as part of a greater clan. The Barmenash family would be experiencing a great rise in fortune!

Barmenash farm

Night had fallen and the fences were up, mana-driven perimeter alarms set in case any monsters decided to make their way from the outskirts and towards the capital in search of tasty mana-using creatures. Avrami was startled when the perimeter was activated, not by an intrusion alarm, but by a polite pulse activation, a modern-day knocking. He wondered who it would be, few neighbours came by at night.

Avrami deactivated the alarm, allowing the visitors in. A car in the colours of the earth Mileu drove towards the house, arriving quickly. A family figure emerged, Fulan of House Digar, the Kolb from when Mosh was chosen from the lottery and one he hadn’t seen since that fateful day. He looked at Avrami and bowed, “May I come in?”

Avrami stepped aside, waving him in. “Can I get you anything?”

“Many thanks, but I must decline. I am on official business.” He opened a briefcase and extracted a document. “This is a copy of the reparations that the scraw are sending for the attack of one of their progeny on Mosh.” It stopped, holding up a hand as he heard a shriek from the kitchen as Sarah came running and he saw the look of horror on Avrami’s face. “No need for concern, the Game does not allow participants to harm each other, and the one who attacked Mosh has been punished. The reparations are because the Scraw see themselves as responsible for his behaviour as they are a communal species and they take responsibility at a racial level”

He handed them the document. Read it and prepare any questions you have for when I return in the morning. You are the legal guardians and thus representatives of Mosh.” He smiled, his wolf fangs showing as he did so. “I must go, it is getting late and I must return to the city.”

Sarah glared at him. “It is late, the city is far and you will return tomorrow? Nonsense!” She turned towards the inside of the house. “Mindi! Get the guest room ready and make sure that everyone knows it is off-limits tonight!”

A soft “Ok” came from within, followed by someone else giggling and a not very soft “You going to have to make other plans to meet him tonight!” and a panicked, “Quiet, they’ll hear you!”

Avrami smiled and laughed while looking at Sarah. The kids did think they could smuggle others in without them noticing!