Crow dreamt of a doll falling from a tower, breaking as it hit the ground. Giants wrestling in the sky until it split and fell upon the earth below. He dreamt of a smiling demon holding a beating heart, of a miscarriage tearing flesh. A queen unmasking to unveil a face crawling with maggots and rot. He dreamt great plates shifting, iron barrels glinting and black powder burning. Crows and ravens flocking and moving as a wave across the world.
He woke with a groan, meeting consciousness with a blistering headache and watering eyes.
Feeling for covers to bury his face, he tried feebly to turn his head from the glare. Realising with dawning horror that he lay on his bed unwrapped and bare.
The sun seared his eyes for what felt like minutes, and by the time Crow adjusted to its burning touch, he came to recognise the sound of pounding knocks against his door.
They rang out a half dozen times before their meaning sunk into his addled mind, rolling him from bed to answer it. A roaring pincer of pain at his jarred shoulder was the last push he needed to waken fully.
Through bleary, sleep-marred eyes he saw a woman standing on the other side, wearing the same crisp attire as all the Sieve’s staff and with a face no less stony. She didn’t smile as she spoke, merely nodded. Like the greeting was simply one of a thousand entries to be checked from her list.
“Crow Tempora?” She asked.
“Yes?”
His voice exited him as a croak. Simply using it brought bile to sour his tongue, and it was all he could do to keep from heaving then and there.
“I have been sent on the behalf of the Udrebam Sieve’s organisers.” The woman continued, seemingly unaware of Crow’s plight. “To inform you that your presence is required for the third stage’s orientation at noon today.”
Crow stared at her, unsure of what to say.
“Why?” He asked, mind finally working through the meat of her words.
Her face remained still as she answered.
“Your team’s presence has been requested in its entirety.”
“And why my team?” He asked, irritated.
Crow didn’t know nearly so much as Astra, yet he felt certain attendance was not mandatory before.
“The leading team is to be presented before Udrebam.” The woman explained, and Crow felt the bile fight him ever harder to escape.
“I see.” He croaked, blood chilling. “Noon, you said?”
She nodded, and he dismissed her before hurrying back into his quarters. He filled a chamber pot with his bile before rolling down to lie on his back, the floor serving as bed enough.
Noon. A glance at the grandfather clock propped against one wall told him he had merely two hours.
He was ushered into a carriage with barely time to sit down before it took off down the road, rocking from side to side like a swing as it went. Within a minute Crow felt his stomach protest, pinching his eyes shut and desperately trying to distract himself as each moment threatened to draw the aching of his head back in earnest.
The churning and burning lasted until he arrived, fading only after minutes on flat ground.
Crow made his way through the stadium, barely even noticing his surroundings as they passed him by. He felt the distant buzzing of its crowd as an ephemeral pressure.
It was a relief when the noise died, smothered by the great chamber Crow was led into. He found the rest of his team waiting for him inside.
The black skinned luminar was seated directly beside Unity, an anxious frown on the her face, darkly amused grin on his. She looked smaller next to a human than she did already. Both were eying Astra and the Gemini.
The Gemini. Pit.
Crow felt his guts tighten like a noose as he laid eyes on the silver-haired girl.
She was shorter than he’d expected, certainly than he’d heard. Yet her cyan eyes were no less icy. Her pale skin no less ceramic.
It was surreal to see her in the flesh, doubly so with a face flushed with anger. Eyes wide with frustration and mouth parting to let loose every word as a roar. The sight shocked him so deeply, it took several moments before he realised it was his own sister staring down the girl’s fury.
“People don’t want to see you.” The Gemini said, every flick of her tongue like a whip lash. “They want to see me.”
Astra laughed in her face, cruel and harsh.
“You think… what, that you’re the pinnacle of magic? I wasn’t aware you’d become a Deity already.”
The Gemini’s flush deepened.
“Oh you know what I mean.” She snapped. “Or are you so uneducated as to not know how age and magic correlate? Give me two centuries more and I might be.”
Unity turned to Crow before Astra’s answer could leave her, his face split by its smile. Eyes glittering like refractive sapphires.
“It looks like everyone’s here.” The boy said, loudly enough to cut through the room.
Four sets of eyes came to rest on Crow, seeming to him like the glares of hungry cats. He suddenly found his legs weak beneath him, heart loud in his ears.
“Hello.” He said, waving feebly. A smile crawled across Astra’s face first of all.
“Birdie.” She said. “I was beginning to think you’d gotten lost again.”
“Funny.” Crow answered, stepping forwards in spite of his discomfort.
Astra turned from him to the Gemini for a moment, looked as though she was considering speech again. She seemed to decide against it, walking across the room to take a seat of her own.
Crow had barely enough time to feel relief thaw his veins as the Gemini neared him.
“Good evening.” She said, shocking him with her accent. Crisp, sharp. It was near identical to Unity’s, yet spoken with a stronger voice by far than his weaselly tone.
“Hello.” He answered, tongue suddenly heavy.
“You’re Crow, yes?” She began, then continued before he could answer. “I’ve heard quite a lot about you.”
“From who?” He asked, suddenly finding himself casting concerned glances toward Unity. The artificial took no notice of them.
“Oh, from all sorts.” The girl drawled. She seemed about to continue, falling silent at the opening of a door on the room’s far wall.
An uproar joined the swinging of hinges, born from a million howling voices lining a million padded seats. It sent a new wave of nausea through Crow, squeezing free adrenalin to join the alcohol spicing his blood.
“Are all of you ready?”
The question came from a man who looked little different from either of the women Crow had been guided by. His hair was styled identically, uniform pressed exactly. Even his expression seemed measured to a perfect copy of his predecessors.
“We are.” Astra answered, speaking for all.
A glance at the rest of them seemed to satisfy the man, who nodded quickly, speaking quicker still.
“Very well then. You are all to follow me out into the arena in single file. Keep your eyes forward if you can and do not speak unless prompted to. Do any of you suffer from a fear of crowds?”
All shook their heads. Even Crow, regretting it only after a few moments of thought.
Fear of crowds? What even is that?
The question was pushed from his mind as the man turned.
“Follow me.”
Astra and the Gemini were ahead of him by paces, both silently racing the other to be first. Unity followed more calmly behind them, the black skinned girl further back still.
The quiet struggle ahead died as they came to a tunnel, light burning at one end and the ever-booming crowd’s million voices ringing along through its length. Crow swore he saw Astra stiffen up as they neared the end, back straightening and gait growing rigid.
Even you’re nervous?
He couldn’t fault her for it, only a madman could be without fear facing such a mass.
They reached the end, walking out into the light as sound smothered them from all sides. It took less than a single pace before Crow felt his headache returning at the noise, fighting the urge to tighten his eyes shut against it.
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He found distraction by studying his surroundings.
A stage stretched out from the tunnel, connected to its mouth by a slope that crept upwards sluggishly enough for Crow to have ascended it unnoticing. It held fast under his steps, betraying a body sturdier than wood. The feeling of being held aloft before so many observers brought a shiver to him.
Grow a spine, Crow. You’ve faced down undead bigger than a horse, you can handle a few spectators.
The thought did nothing to quell his fear. Somehow, he only found himself recalling the man’s question before they’d set off.
Fear of crowds. Can any gathering I’ve ever seen be called a crowd, when ones such as this existed?
Ahead stood Karma Alabaster. Tall and beautiful as ever, smiling like a crucible’s fire. Crow stared as they approached, finding a peculiar steadiness in her sight.
Crow could recall her from the last orientation just days earlier, yet somehow the woman seemed different up close. More tangible. More real.
He barely noticed when they came to a stop just yards from her, the crowd’s cries suddenly falling silent as if by the hand of a Deity.
For a moment the she stared at them. Smile not faltering, yet eyes flicking between Crow and his team appraisingly. She turned abruptly, raising her head and staring out into the crowd’s centre as she spoke with as powerful a voice as any he’d heard before.
“Welcome all!”
The words seemed as much prompting as the crowd needed to raise its uproar ever higher. He gazed out into the masses, thousands of faces and bodies all shifting like a sheet caught in wind. Moving almost as one.
Such a gathering’s cries should have left the earth trembling beneath his feet, the air writhing in his ears. Instead he found the noise barely above conversational.
“I thank you once again for attending, and like last time I’ll try to keep this short so that you can enjoy the entertainment quickly.” The Princess of Taiklos called out. Crow felt the noise drop down, awed by the control exerted across so many with such ease.
“You’ve surely recognised the fine young mystics standing by me tonight.” She continued. “But just in case you haven’t, they are the team that came first in the second stage of this year’s Sieve. Now I’m sure all of you are brimming with curiosity about them. And to help sate your appetites, we’ll be hearing what they have to say first-hand.”
The words froze him where he stood. In moments Crow felt sweat crawling across his skin even in the frigid city’s air. Fear turned to spasms in his body, a ringing in his ears eating the stadium’s noise.
He followed the turning of Alabaster’s head without realising it, desperately hoping against hope that she’d not rest those golden eyes on him.
Choose someone else to go first. Please, anyone else. Just not me.
It almost brought a tear to his eye when her gaze rested on the Gemini.
“Miss Menza.” Alabaster said, smile widening across her face as though she were only just recognising the girl. “Would you care to go first?”
The Gemini’s grin rivalled Alabaster’s in its incandescence, and she stepped forwards with excitement to match the trepidation freezing Crow.
“I’d love to.” The girl said.
Crow could hear the eagerness within her tone, clear as sunlight behind a pink horizon.
With a gesture, Alabaster coaxed her forward. She spoke when the Gemini reached her side.
“Well then,” The woman began, “Let’s start with something simple. Can you introduce yourself to the wonderful people of Udrebam?”
“Of course.” She beamed. “My name is Gemini Menza, daughter of Gilasev Menza. I’m fourteen years old and a born and bred Jaean.”
Crow eyed her, marvelling at the girl’s fearlessness. Wishing with all he had that some measure of it would gift his own heart.
“It seems a lot of our contestants come from Jaea,” Alabaster said, “But I’ve never seen one as young as you.”
Laughing like a windchime, the Gemini answered quickly.
“I hadn’t expected to be entered, truthfully. I’m not sure why I was even allowed in a year early.”
“I’m sure whoever made the call did so out of faith in your abilities.” Answered the Taik. “Not many would be brave enough to face the Sieve at such a disadvantage as your youth brings, and I’ve seen your powers first hand.”
It was then that Crow remembered reading of Alabaster and the Gemini’s friendship. A novelty, as seen in many of the magazines so fixated on it, and one he’d always suspected to be inauthentic. Yet their conversation seemed too familiar by half for the pair to be unused to one another’s company.
“And what brings you to the Sieve this year?” The taller woman asked, a playful glint to her question. The Gemini licked her lips before answering, taking her time in thought.
“I want to see how I measure up to the other mystics of my generation.” She said. “Stop simply letting myself be told I’m gifted, find my true limits so I can better myself. Earn my esteem.”
Crow felt a sudden stab of admiration for the girl.
Pit. She’s just like the stories say. How in the world could anyone be that humble, in her position?
He thought back to her argument with Astra, wondering how his sister had irritated such a girl so thoroughly.
The Taikan Princess spoke once more, turning from the Gemini and bringing her captivating eyes to pass over the rest of Crow’s team. They settled on Astra, second in line.
“Astra Tempora, was it?” The woman asked, stepping closer as she spoke.
Crow thought Astra’s head might come off with the speed at which she nodded. Face pinched painfully neutral, excitement and elation bleeding through the cracks.
“You’re quite a dark horse in the competition, you know.” The Taik continued, still smiling as warmly as ever. Astra nodded again. “You are from the Gangorah Princedom, yes?”
“I am.” Astra answered. “In the Rindarth Barony. A small town called Selsis.”
Alabaster smiled, seeming fascinated.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a contestant coming from there.” She said. “You and your brother are quite an unprecedented presence in Udrebam, if you don’t mind my saying.”
“It’s fine.” Astra answered, seeming to hurry the words out of herself. She spoke of Selsis’ mundanity, tripping over her tongue, stammering, blushing. It was a sight Crow hadn’t seen in years; his sister, embarrassed.
Alabaster paid it no heed, if she noticed at all. Simply nodded indulgently and waited for her to finish.
“That would make you quite a peculiarity then, wouldn’t it?” She asked, still smiling. “There aren’t many mystics with your gifts outside of the nobility or central cities.”
Astra paused, looked lost for words and beyond speech. Her mouth worked silently until the Taik spoke once more.
“What is it that brought you to join the Sieve?”
For a few moments Astra’s tongue remained tied. Then she steadied herself, embarrassment seeping away and nerves wrapped tight by corded steel.
“To make it as a mystic.” She said. It was an answer Crow had heard often. “And claim all the rewards that brings with it.”
Crow swore the crowd spasmed at that, like a protesting muscle. No individual reactions could register to confirm it..
He turned back to Alabaster, saw a bemused smile across the woman’s face. She spoke kindly and warmly, perhaps patronisingly.
“Well, this is certainly your best chance to do so. I’ll be urging you on at the very least!”
Astra dropped her gaze, face burning as she stood silent. The sight made Crow want to step across the stage and hug his sister, or else speak up to draw attention away from her.
He did neither.
Crow swore he saw Alabaster’s lip curl fractionally as she laid eyes on the next of them in line. Unity.
“Mr Eden.” She said, an ephemeral chill in her voice. Unity met the ice with a burning grin.
“Lady Alabaster.” He grinned. “I wasn’t aware you’d figured out whose cunt needed tonguing for you to become an organiser.”
Gasps reached Crow’s ears even amid the persistent rumble of the crowd, and he found his own jaw dropping at the remark. Unity was crass, he knew, but to insult someone like Alabaster seemed a dozen paces too far, even for him.
He turned to the woman, expecting her placid bemusement to bleed into fury and shock. Instead she seemed no different. Her face unmoved as much as a millimetre.
“Always the joker, aren’t you Eden?” Alabaster asked, laughing. It was a clear and beautiful sound, amplifying her beauty and weakening Crow’s knees.
Before Unity could answer, the Princess spoke once more.
“Now then, I imagine all present know where you’re from. You’d be the most famous person here, in any other year. All the same why don’t you say it outloud?”
A look washed over Unity’s face, the same manic rictus Crow had seen take him before a thousand other outbursts. Alabaster’s smile never wavered, but something in her eyes seemed to challenge Unity’s jibe. Something hard and sharp.
Unity swallowed, speaking with a blunted tone.
“I’m from Jaea.” He said, quiet. “Created there, grew up there. All under the watchful eye of the Alliance.”
Alabaster was warm again in an instant. Crow wondered whether he’d simply imagined that she ever wasn’t.
“And what brings you to the Sieve this year?”
“The food.” Unity answered, no trace of humour in his voice. Alabaster laughed her angel-song, raising a hand to cover her mouth.
“I see.” She grinned. “Well I can’t disagree it’s worth the trip!”
Before the artificial could say another word, she moved on from him. Crow had barely enough time to feel his heart sink, realising that he was next in line.
She towered over him in a way he’d never have expected. Looking down on him as his mother used to, when he was young and small enough to be carried by the armpits.
Are all Taiks this tall?
“Another dark horse.” Alabaster said, smiling at Crow. Stilling his pounding heart, the crowd proved a stronger presence than even Alabaster. “Crow Tempora, yes? Brother of Astra Tempora?”
“I am.” He managed. Alabaster nodded, eyes drifting, thought seemingly turned elsewhere. It didn’t show in her voice.
“And you’re both fifteen. Two mystics in the same family is a rare thing, nobles notwithstanding. Mystic twins, though? Rarer still by far.”
Unsure of what to say, Crow merely nodded. It seemed his input was unneeded.
“Yet still not nearly so rare as your eyes, am I wrong?”
“Are you talking about my strain?” Crow asked, tentatively. Alabaster’s smile twitched upward, the eyes revealing a feline glint.
“I am.” She answered. “You are aware which gift of the blood it is that resides within your iris, aren’t you?”
“The Eye of Temporis.” Crow answered, hairs standing rigid at the back of his neck as he heard gasps and churning murmurs run through the crowd. Alabaster merely smiled, as always.
“It seems plenty hadn’t heard.” She called out to the crowd. “More of this year's mystics wield unprecedented abilities than just the Gemini.”
Crow wanted to disappear within himself, feeling the stadium’s attentions like a crushing force. He steeled his nerves against it, forced his chin up high and eyes wide.
Galad wouldn’t have backed down at this much. He told himself. And neither shall I.
“Tell me Mr Tempora,” The Princess said, turning back to him, “What is it that drew you to enter the Sieve this year? And at such a young age.”
His instinct was to lie. Somehow, though, Crow found the truth crawling from him.
“I want to show that I’m a child no longer.” He said, voice quiet in his own ears. “And once I do, I’m going to kill an Immortal.”
Dead silence rang out in the stadium, somehow louder than the thousand voices. Crow stared up at Alabaster. Seeing pure, cold fury in place of amused friendliness.
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[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/512595944613740556/1159850895555690526/Sick_of_the_Unixian_army_and_their_rb.png?ex=65328652&is=65201152&hm=acc8430ab2bfefed2ddf99385416c8fc2346bff857ecc28c713e68f575bd7185&]
Udrebam Sieve Advertisement Poster, Location: Udrebam.
Circa 1,195 I.E.