The Quest of Keeling (2)

In any lavelian settlement that held the Farriga Festival, there was never a more important day than the 5th Day of the Festival. This was it! All the top contender squads would take to the arena one last time that year.

On this year, it was even more special since this would be the year of transition. The old leadership would exit, and the new would take the reigns. Similarly, this was also the first time since the lavels of this generation had ever experienced a Farriga Festival which had supers participating. In fact, this was like a wake up call, a notification to the world that lavels were finally awakening their powers.

There were many that remained hidden, whom not even their closest friends or family knew of their abilities. This was because, up till now, the lavels always had a negative attitude towards awakened abilities. it had always been perceived as some cheap vasilian tricks. While they gave many reasons, even Dane could tell that it was because of jealously. More like since they couldn't have it, they didn't want it.

For Karri, she lived in fear of her power. It had been raining on the day she awakened her ability. She was lost in the forest. This was back when she was not even a huntress. She had followed her brother Ajax and his friends into the forest. Trying to avoid being caught, she ran off when they noticed something was amiss in her direction.

Since they had gone hunting, picking up such details was easy, and she wasn't old enough to know how to conceal herself. Problem came when she tried to find her way back. Young lavels were not allowed to go into the forest alone until they were 10 years old. Past that, they were seen as young adults and were given liberty to freely roam in the jungle. This was because lavels could easily find their way back to the shelter.

Given they were at the top of the food chain, what did they have to fear? Similarly. lavels were hunters. Their instinct was built for survival especially in a jungle, and the only really threat past a certain age was hunger and carelessness.

However, little Karri was still at a tender age. She didn't know what or which way to go. Lost and confused, she wandered in the jungle for days. There was a lot that went on during that time, but that was the most amazing journey to ever happen to come upon, and because of that, she was more special than most present. The only problem was that no one knew it yet. For now, Dane continued to monitor closely, awaiting for her to finally blossom.

For now, he, like Karri, was watching a lavel very closely.

He had been unconquered. undisputed, the stuff of nightmares. He was the one whom everyone was terrified of, the monster that no one wanted to see across the battlefield. In one night, he had lost it all. All the glory and power he had been enjoying just vanished.

Bamboo had never had public approval, or any kind of experience in the limelight. Mostly, he had been a nobody, just another face in the crowd. Yea, something about him stuck out, but he never did anything about it.

Before the Farriga Festival, many did not know him, as opposed to the likes of Hasilo who at one point was a household name. It was in this that he had come up, a true dark horse. Somehow, he had gotten it in his mind that he would automatically win every time.

To him, it wasn't over confidence, but rather, the assurance that come from seeing something happen too often, like the rising or setting of the suns. He even began to take it for granted that he would win, every time. Only to have him lose it all like that. Lose to her.

This was a true test of a warrior and a champion. At some point, they would lose, get hit, put down. It is how they rise from that failure that determined their true mettle. What Bamboo was facing was nothing but a slap on the wrists. He lost the match, but he really actually lost nothing.

At the moment, he was still leading, since he had won all matches except for his last. Badoo even started reminding him of that when he noticed that the confidence of his main star was failing. Today's battle needed him at his best. This was it, the final showdown, and given his outstanding performance, everyone would be gunning for him.

The Farriga Festival was supposed to end with a big bang, and to achieve that, the lavels were pulling all the stops. This was the fight that would see the victor crowned as leader, but to get there, there were some very scary lavels to go through.

This was because every one of those taking part was fully qualified to be there. 4 days of combat, and every squad left was at the top of their game. The very last top ten squads. The best of the best, the top dogs.

The way it was structured, it was all but guaranteed that at Bamboo was the next leader. While every other team had only one squad taking part, Bamboo had his top 3 squads. Bamboo, Hasilo and Maple would finally be fielded in battle together. The other squads were Brom, Khalia, Hasel, Lisha, Julio and of course, Krea.

If ever there was a match that was more anticipated, it wasn't on this planet. Even Dane had held his breath, too bad he didn't need to breath. What Dane didn't know was that at this time, there was another that was about to begin, one that he anticipated so much but wouldn't get to watch. Of course if it was something Dane didn't know, then it was nowhere near planet Endar.

***

"Who wants to know what the Quest of Keeling is?" An old man stood up in a very quiet inn.

Had Kedan just spoken, then it wouldn't have had such an impact in the inn. This was a common story that many humans enjoyed telling, especially to strangers. It was the only good thing that humans had around Harrow City state and the entire continent, so they took every opportunity to tell it.

However, what wasn't common was a mage. This planet was nothing special. If Kedan had to guess, he'd say that this was not a naturally occurring planet, but a colony planet. Of all the planets in the universe, these were at the bottom of the food chain in galactic civilizations. Many didn't even have properly established planetary system.

One of the most unique things about such planets was that they had either been dead natural planets or were actually created. Not all created planets could be said to be colony planets, it depended on the creator.

The reason Kedan thought this was that though he hadn't had the time to tour the globe, he cold feel certain powers that were quite foreign to the planet. To him, it felt as though there were monsters waiting to erupt. He wasn't scared, and if he had the time, he'd have gone to investigate. Only, he was short on time, and that was not a common feeling for beings with an unlimited lifespan.

For now, all he could do was go on with his task of verification. The problem with verification process was that though it was built to withstand the test of time, once the process was initiated, one was on a countdown. Anything could go wrong, and hence they had to act very fast. This was also the reason why Kedan had not taken a moment to rest, not even at the invite of Jason, Astrid's father.

Not many would want to be born in a colony planet. They would fall under the mercy of the planet's owner, to live by their rules. It was like being a pet in someone's house. This was not the worst part. Since it was not naturally occurring, then there was little mana flowing.

Mana is an impersonal supernatural power which can be transmitted or inherited. It was what led to activation and awakening of abilities. Mana was the invisible force in the universe that basically handled the mystics.

In areas of high mana concentration, any latent talent or ability could be awakened with little effort. It also brought about a clear mind and buffed up all other physical and metaphysical attributes. Strength, vitality and of course, the power. The reverse was true too. The sad fact was, unless the one that created them had excellent understanding of mana and was unbelievably power, any artificial or colony planet or dimension was bound to have little mana.

This was also part of the reason why Dane preferred to build his dimensions small. That way, he could fill the entire area he had with mana, as opposed to building something big but with little mana.

It therefore followed that in low mana areas, there was very little to no awakening, even in absolute desperate situations. It could therefore be said that mana was the measure of magic in the universe. Low mana planets had almost no mana, and even those that did manage to awaken were never that overpowered, just minor boosts to an otherwise normal life.

In the planet he was in, Kedan recognized that the planet had mid low mana concentration. In a nutshell, there were chances of awakening abilities, but it was under very extreme conditions. Individuals with abilities were quite powerful. Though they were still not at the point of absolute power, they too had to submit to systems such as governments and societies. They were still not alphas, but they had the teeth to go and become it by hard work.

Needless to say, such individuals were extremely rare and deeply feared. By just his simple act of telekinesis, he had managed to completely blow everyone's mind. However, there was a second reason.

Humans in this continent, which Kedan had yet to discover it's name, were completely wretched. They were at the bottom of the food chain when it came to sentient beings. Fear, shame and weakness was a constant companion. Many of the sailors who dared dock here seemed so out of place, totally unmatched with what their life was.

Under such conditions, any society would be completely broken and bent to the will of the superiors. After a lifetime of being told they were to bow to their betters, it should have become the natural positions. But in the case of these humans, it did not happen.

Now I would love to say that this was because of the resilience of the human heart, but even that has its limits. All this had changed because of one man. He had stood as a symbol, an icon of the free will of humans, and the utter defiance of man kind.

Many sailors came and went in the city states. While many left as soon as they had done the trades, there were those that were curious enough to remain behind. Some came as priests in the name of some gods and they would set up temples or shrines, depending on their god's preferences.

Others came to set up businesses and trade in the cities, while there were those that made quite a tidy sum in the mines. However, there were very few who even thought about causing trouble. This was because they were in a city state.

What is a city state? Built to withstand a 10 year siege, city states were the absolute powers in the continent. They had massive walls built all around them. While the wolf kin race weren't very good with their hands, they had very handy slaves in the form of humans. They also had massive war weapons that protected their city states against any form of attacks.

These massive fortresses were only scary to normal people. The mercenaries, cities and pirates could still have attacked relentlessly, but they didn't. The only thing keeping them at bay was that at the fact that every city state, to qualify to be called that, had to have at least fifty supers guarding it.

Given that one super was already hard enough to find, to consolidate the power of fifty supers or more showed unbelievable power and prestige for the city state. They would show them and their powers off any chance they got, as though to remind their enemies what dangers lies should they make a move. Of course, Kedan didn't know all this, as he had just gone directly to the path laid by Astrid. Time was of the essence.

"I am one who wishes to take part in it!"

Kedan's response made the old man's eyes to twinkle again. It was as though a furnace that had not had fire in so long finally had a tinder. Without dallying he shouted, "Hurry, follow me, We haven't got much time, and by now they know of you."