49. Opening Event
Fable snapped their gloved fingers, and the resulting sound rang far too sharp and loud. Many things happened at once.
First, Isaac felt himself rise. Alarmed, he looked downwards and realized that the earth beneath the little booth was rising towards the sky, forming a tall pillar that kept growing until the top of the booth nearly touched the upper bounds of the barrier. Isaac didn’t even have the time to think, “How the fuck am I gonna get down?” because in the next moment, the air around them rippled.
Flying creatures darted toward the ground, scrambling away as tears opened in the air, revealing swirling vortexes surrounded in glowing gold. They expanded until they almost completely covered the surface of the barrier. From their inky centers, the darkness faded, and Isaac’s eyes widened when he realized that each vortex now showed an up close image of somewhere on the plains. They were viewing screens.
Speaking of which, the ground wasn’t free from the chaos. The grasses glowed gold, and the formerly smooth plains morphed into hills and dips. Great jagged stones rose from the earth, trees spread roots and sprouted thick branches, geysers burst forth from below. Just above the plains, strange discs of translucent gold hovered and swayed. Around the venue, rows of seats formed from shimmering lights, surrounding and overlooking the venue.
By the time the earth stilled again, Isaac’s jaw was hanging open and he had to consciously remind himself to shut it. If he hadn’t seen it transform in front of him, he would never believe the landscape in front of him was the same place. Just how much magic did that take? Isaac couldn’t help but wonder.
From the hovering screens, he could see equal bewilderment amidst the crowd below, bewilderment mixed with anxiety and a touch of fear. Isaac’s eyes shifted over to Fable, whose expression and posture hadn’t changed from their casual, relaxed grin. They brought the microphone closer, and Isaac still had enough lingering shock in him to not immediately flinch at the loud screech that seemed inevitable with the microphone.
“Now that that’s done,” they said as if they were talking about the weather, “you folks can go find your seats. Participants by the start line. Come on, chop chop!” They snapped their fingers for emphasis.
Slowly but surely, the crowd of creatures scattered, splitting between onlookers and competitors. The latter found their way over to an area just below the booth, where a line drawn in golden light hovered above the grass. Isaac hadn’t even noticed it before, he’d been so preoccupied.
Once the center portion, the actual obstacle course, was cleared out and mostly everyone had found their place, Fable resumed talking.
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“Okay, some basics. Oh, wait, I’m the commentator by the way. Everyone’s favorite Traveler. Let’s see, where was I?”
Isaac was almost impressed at the visible lack of shits given in what was obviously an unrehearsed speech. The other Traveler continued.
“Some basics. So, there’s gonna be a bunch of little races and competitions and stuff for, like, the next few weeks. You’re gonna get points, and obviously the better you do the more you get. Simple, right? Well, whoever’s got the most points at the end of all the events wins. Oh, but this first thing,” they pointed at the obstacle course, “is for everyone. Last event too. Think of it like, hm, an introduction.”
The microphone emitted another loud screech, and Isaac winced as he waited for it to fade.
“Ground rules. You’re probably smart enough to have common sense, right? Obviously don’t attack each other with harming intent or the system’ll fuck you up. You know how it is.” They shrugged. “Don’t fuck around. That’s kind of it for rules.”
Isaac shot Fable an incredulous look that they ignored. He shook his head and turned in his seat to look over at his tablet, dutifully hitting the button at the bottom of the table of participants. The screen glowed gold, which he assumed meant that it was updating. By the time Isaac glanced up again, all the hovering screens had switched their displays to show the competitors, the obstacle course, and the finish line on the other end of the barrier. The sheer amount of screens was a bit difficult to adjust to, but he soon figured out which ones pointed where. It also helped that the increased elevation of the booth allowed him to easily get a wide look at what was going on.
Fable leaned forward slightly, and their chair legs finally fell parallel to the floor again. “First up we’ve got our opening event, a wonderful obstacle course. Just stay in bounds, don’t fuck around, and get to the finish line as fast as you can. Got it?” Predictably, there was no response that they could hear. When Isaac glanced at the screens, the competitors looked as confused and done as he did, and some even looked amused. Well, at least some people were enjoying it. In Isaac’s personal opinion, putting Fable in charge of commentating had been a terrible idea.
(Then again, if Fable hadn’t been the one to do it, Lilith probably would’ve put the job on Isaac, so maybe it wasn’t actually that bad.)
Fable held up a gloved hand. “Okay folks, get behind the line. Counting down from eight.”
Any lingering amusement or bewilderment was quickly wiped away as the competitors redirected their attention to the obstacle course. Quite a few of the flying ones rose up into the air, which Isaac assumed was allowed as long as they were still behind the line.
Altogether like this, the hodgepodge of different species was even more evident than it had been when they were scattered around the fields. Shifting, giant Abyss creatures, an assortment of fey of varying sizes and types, humans carrying their own unique equipment and abilities, demons of every variety. They spread out as much as they could by the start line, a visible line of tension drawn between each and every competitor as they listened to Fable’s casual drawl count down the last few seconds of stillness.
“4…3…2…aaaand—“ Fable snapped their fingers, and a flash of blinding light engulfed the area. Blinking his eyes rapidly, Isaac looked up again just in time to see the competitors surge forward less than a second after Fable finished the countdown.
“Go!”