Let the games begin!

The red sun would be rising soon. The yellow star had already risen, and though it was big enough to illuminate the planet, the light it gave off couldn't be called day, it was as though it was a brighter moon, just another source of light in the night.

From a distance, soft drumming could be heard. It started out faint, and was following a specific pattern. With each oscillation of the pattern, the drumming would get louder.

In another side of the settlement, a different kind of drumming started. They were not as loud as the others and they didn't follow the same pattern. Soon, the entire settlement was awakened, with each clan playing their own tune to the drums. They continued to get louder and louder, until it was now more of noise that rhythmic music. It was so loud and intertwined that even some drummers started to miss the beats or get swallowed up by other's drumming.

This went on, until there was another obvious change. It had started out in what seemed to be mistake, or mistiming. Some drummers were being absorbed by other rhythms, completely forgetting their own. Then little by little, there was a gradual transformation of the drumming until they all produced the same rhythm, one different from all the others before it.

At this point, there was a loud shout and celebrations, as this was part of their culture. Lavels and indeed vasils from all over understood the meaning behind the drumming. They had all started out as individual clans, each having their own voice, but they had come together to produce a united voice, not belonging to any of the clans but as a collective whole.

The coming together and the unity exhibited was awe inspiring, even Dane was moved. Truly, it was during communal functions that the sense of duty, patriotism and responsibility. The heroes hearts were reminded that they were part of something bigger than themselves and as they took to the field, they would be carrying the entire clans on their backs.

The drumming also had another purpose. As soon as it started, there was a mass exodus from the living quarters to the arena grounds. The drums acted as a signal to all and sundry that the Festival had began. Looking from above, Dane could have mistaken the jungle as an anthill due to the sheer number of individuals making their way to the grounds. It was an event like no other.

Never one to be left out of an occasion, Arlos made his way to an improvised stage in the middle of the arena grounds. He stood tall and with a booming voice proclaimed:

"Lavels and vasils from Far and wide, welcome all! On this auspicious day, brave lavels will face each other. With blood and sweat we shall determine the next leader of our great settlement, and you all share bear witness to the competition! Arise as one and welcome our champions!"

With a shout, the spectators gave way to the clan champions, the spectacle they had come to see had finally began.

As was customary, every team would pick a rudimentary object that they would use to identify with. It was like a very rudimentary form of symbolism. They weren't advanced enough to have team names as brands or hoisting marvelous sigils and flags, so this was their way of identifying themselves.

As was customary, the team captain would walk up to the adjudicator, hand in the desired object, and go back. Should there be any that match, the team captains would have to fight for the right to have the desired item, it would act as a warm up rounds before the actual competition! The loser would have to pick another item.

This time, Arlos wasn't be eligible to fight in the festival as his time was over, it was time to pass on the baton to the new generation. As such, he was the most obvious choice t be adjudicator. Each of the teams' captain walked up to him and handed him an object. With each of the items he received, shock kept registering in his mind.

Before the previous day, he had never heard of the hexham jades, let alone seen them. When he met Filos who introduced him to this wondrous item, he had immediately decided that his clan would use the item to represent them. What was surprising was that each and every one of the team captains actually handed him a hexham jade, without exception.

Dane was delighted, if ever there was any better customer review, he couldn't think of one. The only thing that dampened his mood somewhat was the fact that he had work for it. This was a key move in his currency plan, and he wouldn't dare leave it to chance.

He turned to the one skill he had been relying on for so long. Mind control wasn't even his best skills, but it was the few that he could use on Endorians without causing irreparable damage to them. Mortals were really too weak for him, and he had to act sparingly, it was like being in a glass house, no, much worse, in a house of cards.

The first part of marketing involves making your product known, and promoting it. That was what he was doing. With such a large spectator crowd, not taking the chance to market would be a great disservice, and there was no better way to achieve it. Right now, all the captains were gearing up to fight for the right to have the hexham jade!

***

It was a well lit room, almost as though the walls themselves were illuminating. It was mostly bare, with absolutely nothing in it. Yet, since she had been employed as a little young maiden human in this castle, her sole responsibility was to maintain absolute cleanliness and make the room spotless.

At first she thought it had been a test, as the butler would come over and do a thorough check to ensure that indeed everything was well arranged, or rather, to put it more precisely, nothing was out of place. Over time however, she came to learn that this duty had been held by several others. None of the staff knew why this was, but for as long as they can remember, for endless generations that came prior, there was always one person assigned to maintaining the cleanliness of that room.

There wasn't much to do, they were in the top most corner of the castle, in a place where there was hardly any dust. She would make sure it was well dusted and cleaned every morning and evening. Her duties were pretty straight forward, and she didn't have much to complain.

On this particular day, it had been particularly cold outside. The room was well air conditioned, sparing no expense. She was at her work leisurely as she usually does. As she did, a certain part of the walls began to glow bright red. Panicking, she set off to go look for the butler, but to her utter shock, the door was locked, and she was in it.

Cold sweat was already pouring out. There were a lot of stories about this room, and all the horror and ghost stories she had ever heard about it began to surface to her consciousness. She was hoping for the worst.

The temperature in the room began to increase slowly at first, but before long, it was no longer cols sweat that was pouring over her brows. Her panic shifted, as she imagined herself being roasted inside this oven.

Suddenly, the light that was glowing flickered and disappeared. In a split of a second, everything was back the way it was. No weird temperature spikes, no lights glowing, nothing of the sort, just a well lit room.

Marion wasn't so quick to celebrate, her panic levels were still up. Just as she was about to move, the area that had the illumination glowered once more. Was it happening again?

Something different happened, instead of the heat, strange scarlet light was emanating from the wall. Without a warning, the glowing area suddenly vanished like a portal, and through the open space, one could see an area that looked like a cabinet. In there, there was a pod, and the pod was the one glowing red. The light faded slowly, leaving behind a scarlet hue around the pod.

Marion's mind was in a turmoil. She had nowhere to run, and she didn't have the confidence to scream, and even if she did, what or who would come for her. She had loved working in the room because it was completely cordoned off, not even her shouts could be heard. At the moment however, she felt as though she couldn't take it anymore.

The pod looked more like a coffin in truth, so the moment it popped as though to open, uncontrollable screams were heard from her mouth. She was hysterical!

As the lid of the pod opened up, it revealed a body lying in what looked like a well kept bed. Though the body itself couldn't be called a body, it was almost quite literally skin and bones. Yet somehow this skeleton sat up, and with eyes glowing of the same scarlet color she'd seen coming from the pod, the body turned to look at her.

The completely naked body stepped out of the pod and walked to the screaming woman. Who such weak and frail looking thing could maintain an upright stance was beyond her. She scrambled and ran as far as she could, which was basically at a tight corner in the room, since she had no other option.

Seeing this, the skeleton changed path and walked to where the door should be. It placed its bony palm on a panel which glowered extremely brilliant for a few moments. Next, the door opened. The skeleton then walked back to the cabinet area where the pod was before turning to Marion as though to say, "Your move!"

The woman only hesitated for a split second, before she took off through the door, as though afraid the skeleton would change his mind. She didn't stop running until she had completely ran out of the castle and the castle grounds, even then, she continued to run until she got home, locked herself in her bedroom and refused to come out.

The castle workers were stupefied. They knew her to be a clear and level headed woman who loved her job. She was a ray of sunshine among fellow workers and for the most part, she was the one who took care of their welfare. She'd started working in that room since she was a young maiden on the cusp of adulthood, and now, many galactic years later, as a wife and a mother of two, she was still at it?

Many were curious, while others just shuddered in fear. Whatever she had seen must have been so terrifying and they wouldn't want to encounter it. Needless to say, A tense atmosphere enveloped the castle.

That night, when the Baron owner of the house came in, he could feel the panic in his employees. He didn't wonder for long, for the butler came and duly informed him of Marion's reaction. After the incident, the butler had separated the entire tower area from any access. This was done in a bid to quell the the panic that was already taking hold on of the staff.

However, what the Baron said next made even the Butler, who knew a lot more about the castle than most, freeze in shock, but the Baron was over the moon with excitement!

"Master is finally awake!"