Next part of first chapter! Enjoy!
Echo
Chapter One part 2. –
Echoing Lives
The sun burns mercilessly down on the great city Valsh, pearl of the grand kingdom Garce, named after its king, Lucius Garce VI. Every tenth year a tournament is being held at Valsh Arena, in honour of the graceful king and to find the next Dragonblood Champion. People of Earth usually choose which profession they want for the rest of their lives when they become teenagers, but some few people get born with their profession, they are the Dragonblood. They are children of Dragonblood families, which is said to have the blood of real dragons in their veins, since they are able to use magic at will, not through studying. Since these people are very rare, many important people are Dragonbloods since they gain much respect through their talents, even if they aren’t good fighters. The one person to become Dragonblood Champion is allowed one wish from the king, and any wish will be granted. Sita has a wish that only the king can grant her. But Sita wasn’t born a Dragonblood, her family was poor merchants that gave away their newborn child, because they were to poor to feed her. A single family answered to their begging of taking Sita as their own child, the wealthy captain of the Blue Platoon took her and loved her just as much as his real child, the young Ryuka who was to take the command over the platoon when his father passed away. Sita and Ryuka quickly became close friends and later became a couple. She had always dreamed of becoming the Dragonblood Champion, but since she wasn’t of the right family, so that was impossible. But when Ryuka became captain, he asked the king permission to let Sita join the tournament. The king, respecting Ryuka a lot, gave her permission, but she had to study the arcane arts so she at least could resemble the power of a Dragonblood. She studied hard but never really seemed to get quite the touch needed, and the tournament kept drawing closer. One week before the big day, he got her a dark room in the Arena dungeons, where she could train her powers of Fire and Light. He believed that the darkness would make it even more difficult, but also that the difficulty would make her stronger. He was right. She had finished her training the day he came to get her, the same day that she had to fight her first battle, and she had become just as capable as a true Dragonblood. Now, she has reached the age of 22 years, is the highest respected member of the Blue Platoon next after captain Ryuka and is ready to fight for the title of Dragonblood Champion.
Sita looks around the dusty arena; doors are placed at the western, eastern, southern and northern ends of the circle. Over the northern gate is placed a luxury lounge, in which king Garce, queen Semilia, the royal guests and workers, watch the warrior with expectation in their eyes. Feeling their eyes on her, she cramps a bit and looks away. She looks at the southern gate, which has opened and another girl walks out in the light. Sita smiles as she recognizes the girl, as her best friend since childhood, the Dragonblood Alandra. Alandra looks around with a big smile, then notices Sita and lights up in a big grin, while waving frantically at her. Sita waves back a bit more half-heartedly, course she knows they’ll have to fight each other for the title, and she knows that Alandra is much more adept at magic, plus she don’t want to hurt her. Alandra is three years younger, more fragile and not as experienced with real combat, but her knowledge about the arcane arts still makes her a worthy opponent. The eastern gate opens and a tall beast-man of the Kumu-Je tribe steps into out, dust whirling around his bull-like legs and massive human torso and head, eyes shining ruby red with anger, only the symbol of the shaman on his chest shows that he is Dragonblood. The northern gate opens lastly and at first it seems like nothing has come out, but then Sita notices a shadow on the ground. A Reaper; she thinks to herself, her eyes widen in fear and sweat pearls appear on her forehead. She has heard of Reapers, they should be humanoid demons with bodies of fog, but it is impossible to see any fog in this light. Before she can think through, a man in green robes step forward in the lounge, and speaks with a magically enhanced voice. “The Dragonblood Tournament will now begin”, he yells like the sound of an earthquake, and the spectators goes wild, stamping in tribunes making rubble fall everywhere. He speaks again, “at the southern gate, daughter of Duke Grahin and high priestess of Mhalar the Crane… Alandra Grahin!” A bunch of people on the tribune begin to chant her name in a rolling beat, stamping and clapping. “At the eastern gate, prince and shaman of the mighty Kumu-Je tribe in the Valsh-Ki Mountains… Rarh!” Since there is no other Kumu-Je present, the cheering stays as it is. “At the northern gate… Reaper!” Reapers have no names; they give up their names at birth, to receive the blessings of their dark gods. Their lives are also being kept secret, so it’s natural not to mention anything else but what he is. The crowd goes a little down in volume, because of fear for the dark being, but quickly rises again to prevent awakening his anger. “And at last, at the western gate, the second-highest ranked member of The Blue Platoon and fiancé of Captain Ryuka… Sita Rosefield!” The crowd goes berserk, cheering and yelling like mad, but Sita doesn’t notice it. Fiancé, she asks her mind almost as to expect an answer but she don’t remember Ryuka proposing to her. She turns around to look at him, but the gate has long since closed. She looks confused at Alandra, who looks even more confused, almost mad at her for not telling about it. I don’t understand it either, she mimes to her. Alandra looks suspiciously at her, but shrugs and smiles. Yet again before Sita can think it through, the commentator yells the final call. “You fighters represent honour; do not cast away your honour by killing your opponents! Now! Let the tournament begin! FIGHT!” |
