The Patron of the Sun sat with the Pantheon member Alta and watched her squirm slightly. She still seemed to be constantly simmering at the edges. The Patron had a great deal of respect for the woman after watching her handle most of the Ghosthound’s recent Paths. Others had assisted, but the heavy lifting had fallen on her shoulders. She had sworn and raged the entire time, but there was never a moment of doubt that she wouldn’t handle the work.

Compared to the methods in the Nexus, the Pantheon asked a lot more of its members.

“I’m honestly surprised none of you older Patrons want to participate in the tournament,” Alta eyed the Patron of the Sun with a speculative look. “Don’t you want to teach us the mistake of disrespecting you? Demonstrate how age and your influence a thousand years ago makes you superior to all current fighters?”

There was something challenging in the woman’s tone, which rankled against the Patron’s pride. However, he liked Alta. He liked her unrelenting determination and her unwillingness to flinch before hard work. Compared to some of the other, more whimsical members of the Pantheon, the woman was infinitely preferable. “Yes, well, we might have the only competent images in this entire Alpha Cosmos… but I don’t know if our performance would be as dominant as you think.”

“Still struggling against the environment in the Alpha Cosmos?” Alta tilted her head to the side.

“Pah, you think I can’t overturn one little Alpha Cosmos?” The Patron of the Sun lifted his chin and snorted dismissively in spite of himself. Then he eased himself back to the conversation. “Sure, if Blooms, Abyss, Blades, and I worked together, we would probably have a much easier time fighting against the Ghosthound than anything this isolated space could manage. However… our growth has admittedly been stagnant.

“We are improving more now than at most other times, because we spent so long locked away in the Sanctum with severe restrictions on the ability to manifest our images, but you are correct that this comparatively Nether rich environment has been a challenge. Combined with the weird Nether apparatus that is propagating across the Alpha Cosmos…” The Patron of the Sun trailed off. Honestly, he felt quite a bit of fear at how quickly some of the people he oversaw as part of the Pantheon were beginning to grow.

What the Nexus did with Aether, Randidly Ghosthound had begun to do with Nether. The method was rough and simple, but it helped. Compared to the outside universe, their growth speed would be almost doubled. Obviously, they were quite far behind, and incredibly unrefined, but that speed of improvement grabbed the attention. And was the true reason that he didn’t want to participate.

“There is also the matter of us being foreign to this place,” The Patron of the Sun narrowed his eyes. “That is a weapon that the Ghosthound can use against us that would not be effective against anyone who had grown into their image here.”

“You realize that I’m dead, right?” Alta pointed to her chest. “If I participated and pissed him off, he could just snuff me out. Poof, like blowing out a candle-”

“Well, at the very least,” The Patron of the Sun lifted his chin again. “We find respect in our duties. Participating in this tournament… seems to cross some lines.”

“Just admit it if you are scared. No one minds,” Alta snorted. The Patron of the Sun scowled in response. If Alta had been one of the ones participating, he might have forgone the temperance urged by the Patron of Blades and thrown his hat in the ring, just to make her eat her words.

*****

Zack Krum groaned and buried his face in his pillow, hoping the insistent knocking at his door would go away. If anything, it quickened, throbbing at just a high frequency the whole of his apartment seemed to hum with it.

He cursed first building materials and then architects generally for creating such resonant objects. His muscles tightened and spasmed as tension crept into his legs.

When several minutes did nothing to dissuade this mad person from battering down his door, the young man pushed himself out of bed and farted loudly. The knocker didn’t seem to notice this obvious display of dismissal. Zack groaned again and swung his legs off of his bed. He currently was engaging in intensive training to prepare for the All Alpha Cosmos Tournament. Every other day he spent on Randidly’s island, struggling against the Nether atmosphere and engaging in the most demanding physical training he ever encountered.

He made the mistake of asking one of the Vulpis Squad to spar with him. After ten minutes of being a human-shaped punching bag, he realized he still had quite a lot to learn about close-range combat.

Even with System empowered recovery, some days he was so wiped he couldn’t drag himself out of bed to eat in the morning.

His thighs complained noisily and his knees creaked as he staggered to the door and threw it open. “What could possibly be so important that you-”

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Zack paused and sucked in a breath. The slight and ethereal Chimera woman stood outside of his door, giving him one of her frank and unimpressed stares. In retrospect, the unusual style of knocking should have given away who was at his door.

He sagged somewhat, already used to this woman’s capricious demands. “-what is it you want, Allowaen?”

“To join the training for the tournament. I’ve decided that I shall compete and test the thickness of my thread of fate.” She said with her flat delivery. Starbursts of color glittered in her grey eyes, her emotions manifesting in her unique physical form. “You have always stated that I have great innate gifts that would help me be a warrior, if I chose to use them for anything other than destruction and laziness.”

“I- did say that,” Zack licked his lips. He had said those exact words, except not to her. He had complained to Zeta about how crazy it is that they were bringing a Chimera back to their lives on Kharon. Even now, months later, he stood by that assessment. So far as he knew, the still-smitten Zeta spent almost half his time cleaning up messes that Allowaen caused. Zack leaned against the wooden door frame, trying to think of a way out of this situation. “But why are you here, trying to train with me?”

“Zeta will consider this to be a bad idea. I am slightly tired from our last involved discussion of my bad ideas, so have decided to not tell him until after the fact.” Allowaen smiled as she spoke, somehow both unnerving and deeply impressing Zack with her blunt response to interpersonal woes. “Meanwhile, Todd continues to suffer from some… emotional wounds that appear too complex for me to risk getting involved in them. I’ve told him he needs to spend more time in the moonlight, but he doesn’t listen. Most importantly, you are the most martially inclined in my close peer group. You are uniquely positioned to give me the assistance that I desire.”

Zack folded his arms across his chest. “One problem: why should I help you?”

“I will engage in sexual favors with you,” Allowaen said with a grin. Zack looked at her with mounting horror, until her smile faded. “Ah. That was a joke. Did I perhaps not read our playful dynamic correctly? The stars were conflicted on how much you like diverting amusements and the female form. Anyway, I have quite a bit of money that I’m willing to give to you in exchange for your assistance.”

That finally gave Zack some stable ground to stand on. He rubbed his nose and refocused. “How much money?”

“Twenty thousand dollars.”

Zack spluttered. “What?! How the hell do you have that much money?”

Allowaen shrugged. “The BA’s have been combing through trash and cleaning the streets and collecting all the valuables they find. With how many tourists come through Kharon, apparently the income they generate is quite significant. If no one comes forward to claim lost money, the BA’s just keep it. Zeta has given me some of his allowance.”

Zack made a choking noise. That is only some of his allowance?!?

“So, are you in?” Allowaen asked. She waved her hand and produced a sack with a dollar sign on it, the fabric sagging against the heavy weight of metal currency. “I have done some research and I believe this is the most convenient method of transfer.”

*****

The air smelled like blood.

Thousands of warriors hooted and raised their spears in a chaotic mass, standing on the rolling hills south of the city. What had previously been green, rolling hills had been trampled down by so many feet into a muddy moor that left those that traversed its worst pits vaguely splattered and damp.

So many had answered the spiritual call that sounded out five days ago, making an impromptu pilgrimage with weapons in hand in burning hopes in their hearts. And the leadership of Tellus had responded, gathering a vast amount of officials to handle the event. Their experienced warriors watched and judged, pronouncing victor and defeated.

After a brutal battle, a hundred participants had been selected and now the crowd roared its approval as these chosen elites walked onto the top of the hill. They went especially ballistic as the final figure walked out, a well-muscled young man with dark hair and a heavy spear. The crowd clanged their own spears together until the air seemed to be humming with recently kissed metal.

A tall, imposing man took long strides to walk in front of the victorious selections. He raised his hand and clenched his fist. The waiting crowd fell silent. He looked down his heavy nose at the gathered spear users and smiled. “Welcome, Tellus. One more time, greet- your- champions!!”

The crowd barely needed any encouragement. Just the word ‘greet’ was enough to set off another wave of rhapsodic throat undulations. Part of their screams was approval and pride, but the other half was envy. The crowd looked up red-eyed and near-mad with the fresh shame of their own losses and they screamed.

They stood in the mud, the powerful images of the victors still lingering in the air, and screamed.

The man raised his hand and made a fist, squeezing the noise out of the air with the physical force of his image. “However, this is a historic day for more than just participation in this off-world tournament. Because today we found something truly special amongst the participants. Today… we discovered that the powerful foundation of Tellus had not been lost! Although we have not heard from Shal in far too long, we discovered that the Spearman’s legacy was recently discovered! Today we name a new Spearman, a young man whose thrust can shatter expectations with its passage. Everyone, join me in greeting my grandson, Illdan Thai!”

“Illdan! Illdan! Illdan!” The sea of people roared and frothed at the mouth. At the end of the line of victors, the dark-haired young man frowned down at the ground.

The imposing man continued. “With this centerpiece of our history restored, with the fonts of Aether opened on Tellus, we have entered a new age! The time has come for us to seize our rightful place in the history of the Nexus. Prosperity through power!”

“Power through push!” The crowd roared back. “Progress at any cost!”

“Without power, we were stagnant for so long. Struggling to find our identity. But no longer. We’ve found it. We’ve discovered Illdan Thai and he will reignite our destiny.” The imposing man swept his gaze out through the sea of raised spears and fists. He smiled. “Let's let them know that spear-users from Tellus are not to be trifled with.”