Alice was ready to call it quits. They’d been standing in the same spot for the past two hours at least, and the Juggarntorn didn’t give any indication of ending soon. Alice laid tired eyes on the children, who were still brimming with energy. Were children supposed to be that lively. . .?

And she’d be more amicable to understanding if they were able to actually see the participants, but from their current location way back at the end of the crowd, they were lucky to catch a second-long glimpse of somebody making a mad dash. The only way they knew the tournament was underway and this wasn’t an elaborate prank were the sudden dips and rises in volume, along with the occasional sound of the earth shattering. Alice wondered how much of the plains would be left after the Juggarntorn..

“This is fun!” one of the children insisted. Alice made a twitchy smile.

“Y-yeah, fun…….” she trailed off, barely holding back from letting out a groan. The heat was racking up too as the Sun climbed up the sky. Alice shook her clothes, shivering at the way they clung to her sweaty skin.

“I THINK IT’S ALMOST DONE!” one of the dwarves in front shouted. There was a mixed reaction to that statement, some dwarves cheering while others looked like they were ready to charge into the plains and force the contestants to continue the tournament. To her slight concern, most of the children seemed to be in the latter category. Alice hoped they wouldn’t grow up to become battle-maniacs like Angelica.

True to that dawrf’s words, the Juggarntorn came to a stop only a few minutes later. There was a period that followed when Alice seriously considered ripping her ears off. This feeling was akin to somebody slamming a mallet into a gong right next to her with the skill of a baby elephant, and none of the subtlety of an actual player.

The noise lasted for much longer than Alice would have liked, but eventually, a silence descended upon the plains. Nobody uttered a single word, the only sound that filled the air being the heavy breaths puffing out. After hours of nonstop noise, it was almost unsettling to be in a state of such quiet.

Lilah pulled on her sleeve and looking to her left, Alice realized the children had scampered off while she’d been crippled. Fear hitting her, Alice followed Lilah to the far left side of the crowd, where the children had gathered to gain a better angle of the proceedings. Alice sighed, rubbing her chest in relief. Thanking Lilah with a pat on the head, Alice strided towards the children, fully intending on scolding them regardless of what was going on. Those plans slipped out of her mind when she actually laid eyes on the events that were transpiring.

In the middle of the plains, looking exhausted and swooning on their feet were the contestants, lined upin a row. Alice noticed that the vast majority of them had a tiny crystal laying before their feet, radiating a blue light. They all varied in size, but there was a clear winner with a contestant who wore red, and possessed a crystal that went up to her knees.

The sound of grass crunching underneath a weight alerted Alice to somebody approached. Craning her neck awkwardly, Alice spotted a lone dwarf making his way towards the line of contestants. As he passed the crowd, everybody stiffened, those that had been previously slouching or poking each other now as tense as statues. Even the children had a visible reaction, some of them crouching behind Alice.

That alone was enough to tell Alice this dwarf was most likely the Chief, but the garments were the nail in the coffin. A tribal crown rested on his bald head, thick robes trailed past his ankles and dragged along the grass behind him, and he carried a gnarled staff. At the top of his staff was a pulsating crystal, held in place by roots. Alice’s eyes darted back and forth between the crystals in front of the contestants and to the crystal situated in the Chief’s staff, and she came to a chilling realization: the Chief was carrying a Manergy Core with him.

Hadn’t Tamara stated the Manergy Core was the most essential part of a person? For the Chief to be having somebody’s soul in what essentially amounted to a glorified walking stick…wasn’t that disrespectful?

The Chief passed by Alice and the children, and an uncontrollable shiver coursed through her body. She blinked. What was that? It felt like somebody traced a finger down Alice’s neck but when she turned around, none of the children were acting guilty. She could think about that later, there were more important things going on!

The Chief came to a stop a few meters in front of the contestants, his back to the crowd. Raising his staff to the sky, the sunlight glinted off the jewel, creating a radiant light shining onto the ground. Again, Alice’s body twitched slightly.

“This is our 76th Juggarntorn, and I am pleased to say that we have fulfilled our Manergy Core quota!” the Chief declared. Resounding cheers rose from the crowd and the contestants clapped their hands politely, looking too drained to raise their voices. Alice cocked an eyebrow at the word he had used. ‘Quota?’ Why did the village need so many Manergy Cores?

“Now, unlike last year’s, we do not need to go through the arduous struggles of determining who is the winner! There is a clear, undeniable champion!” Cue a pause as more cheering erupted. “Present the Core to me, and I will award you with your prize!”

The contestant in red smirked and picked up the Manergy Core. As her hands latched onto the jewel, Alice noted she was wearing black gloves. Actually, now that she was looking, all the contestants were wearing gloves. Alice’s mind raced. If these Cores were as important as Tamara made them out to be, it made sense there was a defense mechanism against those trying to pilfer them. It could be anything, ranging from burning the skin to more exotic punishments.

As the red contestants approached the Chief, a sudden tension in Alice’s skull made itself known. Alice gasped, hand flying to her temples. Waving off the concerned cries of the children and the annoyed grumbles from the crowd, Alice massaged her head, hoping that would derail the pain. Was it a migraine, brought on from all the stress she was dealing with? Agh, but why did it hurt so much?!

To her great disbelief, the uncomfortable feeling didn’t lessen a bit. In fact, it grew, graduating from mild nuisance to a pounding headache. Then it escalated even further, bringing Alice to her knees as her vision became spotted with black dots.

Dimly, she felt tiny hands touch her shoulders and start shaking her, but even if she wanted to lie to the children, no words came out. The migraine was all-incompassing now, filling in every nook and cranny of her mind. It was like something was pushing from the inside, trying to break free.

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Somehow, Alice’s eyes landed on the overgrown Manergy Core. Time slowed, as she watched it get exchanged from one pair of hands to another. The instant it touched the Chief’s flesh, both the Core in the staff and the Core in his hands flashed blue.

//Discharge of Manergy felt. Shockwave rippling out, preparing to intercept. 72936282826. INTERFERENCE. Unable to block. Excess Manergy seeping in, connecting with HOST CORE. Subsconscious activation, initiated.

[Anarchy Flare]

Alice’s left arm tingled, and then the entire length of her forearm burst into black fire.

At first, Alice didn’t realize she was on fire. In her defense, she was more preoccupied with the fact that her horrendous migraine was gone. And the fire didn’t hurt, just causing the skin around it to grow numb. Numb skin paled in comparison to the skull-splitting pain she experienced.

It was only when the shrill screams started that Alice realized something was wrong. It took a few seconds more of Alice trying to calm down the children and being confused when they got more terrified the closer she got before she looked at her arm.

Alice must have blacked out because the next thing she knew, she was surrounded by the crowd of dwarves. Though, mob might be a better way of describing them. They were almost feral, growling and snarling. The ones closest to Alice lunged before flailing backward, wincing all the while. Alice scrambled backward, eyes scanning the crowd anxiously.

They were angry, that was obvious. But why. . . Alice looked to her left arm and she wouldn’t be surprised if people later told her that her eyebrows shot off her face. It hadn’t been a wild dream, her arm was really on fire!

Alice shook her arm frantically, not heeding the way the people around her suddenly toppled over in their haste to avoid her lashing limb. When Alice’s arm got sore from her desperate struggle, she ceased her movements, glancing nervously at her arm.

The flames weren’t hurting her. It was a low tingle, similar to the sensation when people tickled her lightly. Alice worried that whatever immunity she had to the flames was going to run out and then she would be in real trouble, but for now, there weren't any signs that hinted to that problem.

The thing that captivated Alice’s attention the most was the fire itself. It wasn’t only it’s black shade that made it stand out; instead of a normal fire’s properties, these flames almost seemed to have their own consciousness. They wrapped around her forearm and constantly darted out towards the crowd before slinking closer to her flesh.

Alice’s forehead furrowed as she observed their behavior. They were unruly, but they always kept close to her. . .did that mean they couldn’t exist without her body? Was her skin their fuel supply?

Wait, wait, wait, what was she thinking! It didn’t matter what these flames were or what properties they had, she should be focusing on getting rid of them! Trying to snuff it out on the dry grass had the potential to turn this small problem into a bonfire, but waving her arms hoping the wind would extinguish it didn’t work out either.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!” the Chief roared.

Alice jumped and the flames reacted to her emotional state, suddenly flaring up to double its size. Alice’s voice joined the screams of all the dwarves and before she knew it, her other hand was roughly patting down the flames. When her brain caught up with her body, Alice immediately retracted her right hand, thankful beyond belief that the black flames hadn’t jumped ship to attach to her other hand too. Alice glared at the cause of this.

“I don’t know either.” Alice wracked her brains, searching for a reasonable explanation for the phenomenon. “Oh! It happened when the Manergy Cores flashed!”

The Chief scoffed, gripping his staff tighter. “Flashed? The Cores didn’t flash, that would be blasphemous! If you are referring to their gentle glow, that has nothing to do with whatever sorcery you’re attempting—!”

“No!” Alice interrupted. “It was a flash! It definitely was!” Alice lowered her head, analyzing every second of the incident. She recalled the flash of light as clear as day. It had seared through her mind. Alice looked up to find all the dwarves staring at her with unhindered shock. Alice thought back to what she’d said and her face blanched. Now that she thought about it, interrupting what was essentially royalty was most definitely a big issue. Her own village didn’t have a Chief, but there was still a hierarchy based on wealth and influence. The punishment for interrupting a merchant in her village was most likely going to be far less than her punishment for interrupting the Chief.

“Sorry!” Alice blurted, dropped her upper body into a bow. The fire didn’t seem to like that, churning wildly. A tiny spark ejected from the wrathful fire and flew through the air, hitching a ride on the slight breeze. . .

It landed squarely in the middle of the Chief’s cloak and burst into a full on fire, engulfing the expensive-looking fabric in heat and smoke. Alice saw her life flash before her eyes—this was how she was going to die again. Executed in a foreign village for setting their leader on fire.

Alice shut her eyes, unwilling to see the hatred shining in the dwarve’s eyes. There was nothing she could do to save herself; one arm on fire wasn’t going to accomplish anything against hundreds of enraged, super-strong dwarves. Alice resigned herself to her fate, hearing them approach.

Something rustled against her waist. Alice didn’t think much of it, believing it was the first wave of assault, but then a shrill voice rang across the flat plains. “Don’t touch her!”

Alice’s eyes shot open as she recognized the voice. Sure enough, Lilah was standing in front of her, feet out wide in a firm stance and her short arms crossed against her chest. And it wasn’t just Lilah; all of the children Alice was tasked with defending were protecting her instead, touching shoulders and locking elbows to form a line.

“No, no, no, what are you doing!?” Alice hissed. The crowd didn’t seem like they were going to halt because of the children. On the contrary, they seemed delighted this happened, cruel sneers sliding onto their faces and cracking their knuckles. Alice looked through the swarm of heads and her gaze landed on the Chief, who was in his undergarments after flinging his cloak to the ground. He stared at her and a devious gleam entered his eyes. Alice’s stomach dropped; what was going to happen now?

“As expected, these troublesome brats are working with this witch,” one of the dwarves grumbled.

“They’re more than ‘troublesome brats’ now, they’re traitors to the village! Execute them!” another dwarf shouted.

Much to Alice’s horror, the idea caught on. In a matter of seconds, all of the dwarves were chanting, “Execute them!” Alice’s heart shattered when she noticed the children shaking and their legs knocking into one another, but none of them broke out of the link. They remained standing, united against the hatred aimed at them.

The cries continued, and Alice saw red. “WHAT DID YOU BASTARDS SAY!?” she yelled. The flames reached its peak, stretching into sky. The chant died down, fear replacing the bloodlust in their eyes.

Alice smirked crookedly, raising her arm next to her head. “So. . .” Her eyes glowed a crimson red.

“Who wants to die first?”