Mosh fiddled with his new armour. Shiel had made him wear for the last three days, making sure he got used to it. He had exercised in it, done martial arts drills in it, sparred in it. She had even made him sleep in it for two nights, though the night before he hadn’t as she wanted him as fresh as possible before entering the Crucible. She had worked him hard, teaching him, training him. He had seen his family every morning, all of them making sure they were there when he ate breakfast at first light, all of them eating lunch and supper together.
Even the smaller children knew he was going away, even if they did not know why. The teenagers all looked fearful, the ban on watching the Game lifted, replaced with an almost reverent attitude towards the participants. They tried to mask it, but it was easy to see they pitied and felt fear for what he would go through. Yet, to Mosh, it was comforting, a sign of their love and concern. After all, it just mirrored his own feelings.
Now he stood, waiting for the transport that would take him to the Capital, to the Earth Mileu Headquarters and the portal to the Game. Shiel had emphasised to him to always think of it like that on Earth, a slip-up could be catastrophic, to him and all who heard. The Game, a world where the sapients had lost, monsters had taken over, all vestiges of civilization lost. And he, he would be deposited in a random fringe location. To fight, to survive, to evolve.
He breathed deeply, trying to control his panic, reviewing the lessons from Shiel. His enemies the monsters and the world. Contestants forbidden to harm one another. A silent pact amongst all from Earth, allies, friends, to help whenever possible. Participants from other worlds could be friends, allies or enemies and rivals. Move away from the arrival point, find shelter, take stock. His pack was full, plenty of food, a water bottle that a water mage had enchanted to draw water from the air and would never run dry unless he was in a vacuum. The makings of water were always there, even if it seemed absent.
He breathed deeply. He gripped the spear in his hand, drills from school remembered, the reinforcement of the last few days cementing lessons he thought he had forgotten He was no master, but he was competent. A sharp dagger was sheathed on his leg, more of a utility tool though it could be used in combat. Another, smaller blade was in sheath on his boot. Smaller, but very sharp, and hopefully a last-ditch defence he would never need.
His family came out, surrounding him, and the Earth Mileu staff that had cooked, worked the fields and helped for the last week stood lined up. Neighbours had arrived, friends, school mates and their families, a small crowd in their best clothes. A bus pulled up, a senior Mileu official, in full regalia disembarked. He walked up to the family, bowing low and turning, bowed, to them all.
“We, the Earth Mileu. Great you, Mosh and family. We stand by you.” Turning to Mosh he resumed, Ï am here to escort you and your family to the Portal. Please accompany me.” He bowed again, moving towards the bus. Mosh felt his father nudge him and he followed, the family following. As they moved through the lines of the those waiting, they knelt, hands coming to their hearts, heads bowed. As he entered the bus the crowd stood, the chant roared out, “May you survive, may you thrive, may you return to us! We are always your family!”
The trip was not like the previous one. There was no celebratory atmosphere even if the people were the same. Some of the younger children still played, knowing it was a serious occasion but seeing cousins and a day off from school, even a cousin going somewhere unknown not curbing their playfulness. Mosh was bracketed by his parents, his younger siblings sitting on his lap, older ones behind him. Simo, one of those on his lap and clutching Clumsy was trying to tell the cousins who hadn’t been at the house to see Shiel what she looked like. But that was the only conversation around him. His mother trying to hold back her tears was silent, his father’s arm around both Mosh and her.
The Earth Mileu headquarters was imposing. It lay in the Mileu cut off zone, containing the embassy of the Greater Mileu, the Void Jumper platform, the small Graeter Mileu military compound whose members were more powerful than anyone on Earth, the Earth Mileu headquarters, and the Portal.
The family disembarked and were led into the headquarters, into a room reserved for them, Tables laden with food, drinks, alcoholic and otherwise, in abundance with chairs and tables set out. The official bowed.
“It is time to say farewell. No one will disturb you for the next two hours. We know how difficult this must be, and once you are finished here, please let us know how we may support you.” Bowing he left, closing the door behind him. Mosh’s mother broke down, crying as she clung to him. Everyone came, hugging, wishing him luck. They continued for two hours. Some food was eaten, but most of it was ignored. And in the end the door opened, and they were beckoned out.
The walk to the portal was in silence. As they exited, six other groups joined them. Three were humans, two were kolb, one was serpentis. At the front of each was a youth, some male, some female, others undiscernible except to those familiar with the non-human species. The seven youth looked at each other, each in their new armour, armed, with backpacks on. They looked at each, the camaraderie of facing the unknown, the shared fear.
They arrived at the portal, the final barrier beyond which their families could not accompany them and were stopped. The Earth Mileu official growling at the Greater Mileu soldiers blocking their path.
“What are you doing? This is not your jurisdiction, we will send our children off ourselves. Or have you decided to cancel the lottery and not allow them into the portal?” He signalled with his hand and defence turrets and Earth Mileu security personnel turned, their weapons trained on the Galactic Mileu soldiers. The atmosphere was tense, the Galactic Mileu soldiers remaining silent, though alert, and the Earth Mileu personnel waiting for an excuse to fire.
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“Stop!” Arbiter Zak’s voice boomed out. “What is this nonsense? Captain, you were not told to start an incident, just to provide an honour guard. Stand down. You and your men will be reprimanded for this!” Zak was furious. He was here to try and prevent an escalation of hostilities, to try and use diplomacy to smooth over the broken contract and some idiot of an overzealous soldier was putting that at risk! Well, he would not have another opportunity for such an horrific error, in fact he would have no more opportunities for any errors in the military.
He faced those form Earth, those going into the Crucible, the Earth Mileu officials, the families and bowed. “For those who do not know me, I am Arbiter Zak’Kinli’Liker’Morten, under whom the Earth and all its races fall. I am here to offer an apology to the Earth Mileu, offer reparations and to give gifts to those in this Lottery.” He paused, eyeing the Earth Mileu officials and seeing that the Human, Kolb and Serpentis council members were present. “In terms of reparations for the broken contract, the following has been decided. A teleportation platform will be built on Earth and placed under its jurisdiction. Furthermore. five merchant guild licenses will be granted with full authority to create a merchant guild and subsidiaries to trade with other worlds in the Greater Mileu. Each of Earth’s Sapient races shall receive one such license. Earth will also be exempt from any Greater Mileu tariffs and taxes for one century, starting after the first guild is established or after the teleportation platform is built, whichever occurs later.”
He fell silent, observing the shock on the faces of the council members. They had been begging for the licenses for decades, for just one, now they had five, along with a teleportation platform. Hopefully that would mollify them. “Those selected by the Lottery, step forward.” Zak watched as seven youths came forward. The other three were from the races not represented here, he would attend each in turn, to inform their council members of the reparations and to give the gifts.
Mosh looked at the arbiter before him. He knew from Shiel that meant this being had achieved at least an evolutionary Tier of 100, maybe far more given how long the lives of the evolved were, even more so than the extended lives of the awakened. The Arbiter looked like a dragon man, but a full bestial one, though wings looked like vestigial stubs rather than useable appendages. Mosh was surprised the Arbiter’s voice was so normal, that he could even converse with them given the extended dragon maw.
The Arbiter placed a pack in his hand, into each of their hands and stepped back.
“Each of those is a
From the corner of his eye, Mosh saw the shock on Shiel’s face. Seeing him watching her, she smiled, giving him a big thumbs up and mouthing, “Lucky!”
The Arbiter was not finished, “There are also some of you that have an awakened Soul index. For each of you, there is a Soul Codex within, a means of cultivating and using Soul. The Codex is at the double the maximum possible for you to use currently, so its Tier is double your Soul Tier so it will remain useful as you grow. There is also one of you with Shaping Potential, a similar Codex for Shaping, additional in this case, is within your pack.” He faced the Council members, “This, too, is part of the reparations. You have long asked what the Soul Index and Shaping Potential are. Base Tier one information will be provided, though only information on them, not a Codex.”
Zak bowed, “I again offer the apologies of the Greater Mileu for the broken contract. Hopefully this will help repair the relationship. And umm, something not prepared but necessary after this morning’s events. Captain Darmina, the officer in charge of that contingent this morning, will be relieved of all duties, sent home, and discharged, dishonourably, from the military. Those with him will be individually investigated and disciplined, if necessary. If I must, I will remove the entire current Galactic Mileu military presence and replace it. They are not here to intimidate, threaten and act beyond the law!”
A cheer went up from amongst the spectators, particularly amongst the Serpentis, but it was quickly muted. The Arbiter seemed to grimace, if Mosh was reading his strange draconic face correctly, but he bowed and stepped back, fading away as he did so.
The Greater Mileu military gone, the Arbiter gone, the Earth Mileu official beckoned the seven youth forward. They looked at their packs. “Do as the Arbiter said. He was here to make peace. I doubt they are booby trapped or dangerous to you.”
A kolb was the first to act. He removed his large backpack and started emptying it into the much smaller pack from the Arbiter. In the end, the large pack was empty, and the kolb just grinned picking up the almost weightless pack and settling it on his back. Mosh quickly did the same, as did the others. Seeing this, Shiel stepped forward from the group of Game participants that had gathered, all sporting marks of mutation to various levels, evidently the other trainers.
“Those are more precious than you realise! Keep them well and remember. No matter how others threaten you, no participant in the game can remove them from you forcefully. Though, even with that, try not to show others what they are. They cannot directly attack you but causing harm by sending you into danger so they can retrieve it off your corpse is possible. Guard yourselves!” Her voice dropped, only audible to the seven before her, the shimmer of a mana auditory block behind her, “And remember, as soon as you arrive, if it is safe, activate your interface!”
The Earth Mileu official motioned to them to line up. He moved in front of them and bowed. “May you survive, may you thrive, may you return to us! We are always your family!””
He moved aside, indicating for the first in line to step through the Portal. One by one the scared youths stepped through. Hesitant, fearful, but all did as they had to. None had to be forced, even as the wails and tears rose from families having to watch their children pass into the unknown.
Mosh stepped through, hearing the familiar “May you survive, may you thrive, may you return to us! We are always your family!” being roared out by his family, his mother’s tear-filled voice leading it. He clutched his spear and stepped into the inky black void.
Mosh felt pain, immense pain as the void seemed to fill him. But it was only for a moment, and then he was in a new place. He stood on a cliff overlooking a clashing sea. Waves burst against the cliff and the rocks before it, and in the ocean itself it seemed a confluence of two oceans coming together, greenish water to one side, a greyer blue water on the other, and waves cresting and breaking against each other where they met. He turned, seeing a short area if wild grass and scrub before it entered into a dark forest. The trees soaring into the skies, the ground covered in scrub and bushes, some smaller trees trying to grow in the shade of the towering trees. Bird calls, unfamiliar to Mosh, were cacophonous and rustling could be heard from within.
Mosh gripped his spear tighter, he was in the Crucible!