Chapter Seven

- CHAPTER SEVEN -

The tournament has begun! 

Gaze engrossing fights rage on, and soldiers of nobility and none alike enter the fray, taking victory for themselves, or broken bones and will. 

Weapon choices being left to the contenders, a variety is sure to pass through the theater. With that, armour isn't allowed, and a set time limit of five minutes per fight to make the rounds quick and formidable.

A saving grace given to all of the contenders, by D'tera's request of the King- Successfully running out the clock, proving one's acumen for stamina, speed, and critical-thinking, this would be another way to receives marks for your display. Finding young wards to enter into the Garrison and the Survey G

This newer section of soldiers is to be designed to search the world further to find the lands of these Cythril and to hopefully tell of their origin. This news got the hopes high for some of the recruits, a chance to face the demons that took their parents from them. A negative effect did occur from this news though, where the true fighters of the noble Guard families were concerned, they didn't want to weaken their future ranks with the likes of those who would fight by running around. The victories won by these particular fighters were a brutal ending.

The way the fights are lined up is by pure chance, names drawn just before their announcement to make the treatment equal for all. The names used at the sign-in are placed on a board and stood behind an announcer, and with every announcement, the crowd gets too ooh and ahh. 

The first fight is announced and won swiftly, and the town people and the other recruits lose their peaceful recuperation before fighting as they witness.

"Vientus! Eldest of the previous Head Guard's children"

The crowd blares a wall of sound in excitement for the most prospective next Guard and continues to cheer a little less as loud for the next contestant, a farmer's boy. Grown to have exceptional muscle mass and a rough history of fighting with wild animals to take care of his crop or animals, the farmer's boy had no chance.

Over in an instant so quick that it was barely telegraphed of how it went down, Vientus was simply standing above the farmboy's fallen and limp form. A quick end to the hope for non-nobles was unavoidable in the face of Vientus. The tournament went on in a bit of a lull afterward, luckily for some though, they would end up facing a fellow non-noble, a true chance for someone to rise through the stigma of previous regimes.

Vicadum sits in the barracks with a good many other fighters, one by one, watching them all leave and not return, his nerves wracking around. Not having it in him to want to view the other fighters for fear of seeing someone more frightening than his brother or Armasitis, he hadn't left his seat, not until the nervous tension built up in his stomach. Vicadum has to shyly rush around to find a closeted chamber pot, and in his rush, he sees many familiar faces yet to leave. Filovis hasn't been called yet; he's relieved that this also means she hasn't been beaten up yet.

He scurries his way past Nephaeros, Crassitus, and Armasitis, having had awkward and unfriendly interactions with them. Still happier to see Nephaeros than the other two, he does worry about the likelihood of those he may have to fight now, seeing the current rankings left. Vicadum lets his nervousness run loose from his body.

In the other room, Crassitus spits towards the direction Filovis is sitting with her friends, still angry about the way he was treated. Crassitus has never lost anything in his life, and still feels in some way he won't lose Filovis to anyone or anything. Crassitus reasons with himself.

"There's no way she can just call off our to-be wedding day? She is not her family's head; her mother still holds that honour. And her Mother simply loves me."

Crassitus stands up tall from his seat, shaking his hair to the side, pointing his chin outward and struts over to where his future wife sits.

"Filovis, Darling, I simply must apologize, I have yet to ask how you're doing on this beautiful morning."

Filovis grits her teeth, using her willpower to not immediately stand up, turn around, and punch the words right down his throat.

Filovis' friends see that she didn't answer and want to take their chance at saying hello to the most eligible boy in Regnus.

"H-hi Crassy"

"Yeah! Hi!"

The girls clamour to get in their two cents.

"Are you excited about this tournament?

"Pretty wild, huh?"

Crassitus is mildly annoyed that Filovis won't respond to him, and now he has to pay them mind.

"Yes, it's a rather rousing day, I was just thinking as such when I was taking my bath in preparation for the day. Perhaps before we have to fight we could take a dip, relax our nerves a little."

Crassitus is doing what he can to get a rise out of Filovis, to get her to say anything.

Filovis sets down her sword and turns around to see his winning smile, knowing his plan worked, she quietly and calmly retorts.

"Yes, it is a tough day, I'm sure you'll need a bath or even two after I'm done mopping the floor with you out there. Should the gods be so kind."

Crassitus is surprised, taken aback by her words.

"Do you truly wish to do your Hubby harm?"

Crassitus waves his hand up to his forehead.

The girls both gasp in surprise.

"You're getting awful comfy in your skin aren't you? Doesn't it feel disgusting having your muscle and bone trudge through the slime that must be your blood?" 

Filovis punches his gut with these words. 

Crassitus really has rustled Filovis' feathers. She decides to get at him in a different way, noticing a peeping Vicadum. Filovis always figured that Crassitus' feelings towards her are some misguided affection for the power he'd receive being married into her family. She never really liked him for the person he is, and even the looks that the town's girls say are legendary she has no interest in. Wanting to take this opportunity to knock him down a peg, she stands up and makes direct eye contact with the hiding Vicadum.

Walking her way past Crassitus, the girls and everyone else in the room, she walks to him and stops. Her face is flush with anger or embarrassment, as she looks at him and says

"Please play along."

Vicadum doesn't know what to do, everything about this moment seems unreal to him, the girl he feels everything for noticed him, met eyes with him, walked over, and he can guess as much that she might just kiss him.

"YES!" 

He screams as if she's across the room from where she came from.

"What're you doing!?" 

She awkwardly stutters in a gusting whisper

"Sorry, I just- I get it!" 

Vicadum cups his hands around his mouth.

Crassitus whips his hair to the side, giving room for his eyes to settle on Vicadum and Filovis chatting.

"Hmph!" 

He exclaims in a fit of seething jealousy.

Vicadum takes notice and puffs his chest, this moment is confidence-filling, and he feels as though he can take on the world. His face swells with warmth and a tingling sensation. Swinging his arm around Filovis' half-cape, squeezing her close to him. She notices he too is getting too comfortable, elbowing him in the gut to get him to loosen.

"Play along, but play it cool, kid"

The warmth of happiness becomes a hot shame.

"...Okay" 

Dejectedly.

"Name?" 

She asks.

Vicadum's world crashes down around him, the youth didn't know that she didn't know his name, she wasn't aware of his existence of much more than a fellow Guard Family Noble.

The moment is tinged with a trace of bitterness.

Inside Vicadum's head rages a storm of questions.

"If I tell her my name and she gets to know me from this point, this can only go great, right?"

"Why didn't she know my name? I talked to her before, right?"

"If we kiss now, maybe she'll never forget me again and we can become great heroes together"

"She's totally using me right now, just to get at Crassitus!"

"Do I care? Though? I get to be with Filovis"

"How far do you think she's willing to go with this?"

"Maybe we'll actually-"

"No! Snap out of it! It's too early for that, she just met you!"

"Right! Tell her your name, and that comes later!"

"Okay, let's do this, introduce yourself and tell her something about yourself, get off on the right foot."

"It's Vicadum, I love you." 

His mouth blurts before his brain can do anything.

Filovis stark turns red and pushes him away.

"I know I said to play along, but really kid?"

Vicadum has given up on life for the moment. His mind buzzes with nothing.

Crassitus across the room, smirks to himself, sure of her just using Vicadum as a jealousy tool.

"Oh, Filly! Won't you introduce us to your friend?"

Filovis looks at Crassitus with disdain, and takes a firm grasp of Vicadum's hand, bringing him back to life. They march towards the smarmy teen.

Under her breath as fast as she can, she explains to him the situation.

"This guy is the absolute worst, but you're my new friend so we can take him down together, got it?"

Filovis nods.

Vicadum nervously smiles and gazes at her hand holding his.

"Well Crassy, this is actually my friend Vicadum. He's a noble just as you, from a ranked higher family as well."

"She knew that?" 

Vicadum breaks focus on her hand-holding and snap to hear her remembrance of his existence.

Crassitus remarks that he hasn't even heard of Vicadum.

"Oh? Perhaps we just never got to see one another at Noble Callings"

Vicadum instantly understands the dislike of this man. Wanting to take him down with Filovis, he is quickly refilled with the confidence she gave him, and his chest slowly fills again.

"Right, well I guess the lower nobility doesn't sit within the proximity of the King as we do."

Vicadum fires back at him. 

Filovis looks at him with a slight shimmer.

Crassitus can only hide a gulp of embarrassment.

Filovis acts on his silence and rushes to kiss Vicadum on the cheek.

The girls gasp and giggle.

Crassitus is resolute, deciding he will kill Vicadum if he matches up with him in the next round.

"Well, I sure hope we get to see your acumen as a higher nobility in this tournament"

Hardly hiding his vengeful tone that screams his lust for wanting to harm him.

"I guess we won't know who pairs up with who, do we?" 

Vicadum says as he holds Filovis a little closer to his side.

"Hmm!! Well, ladies-" 

Crassitus turns his attention towards the fawning girls.

"It's a shame we may not be placed together for a dance, but I do hope you enjoy the show should we not." 

He strokes the cheek of one of the girls.

Filovis lets this action trouble her.

"You know what, maybe I do hope we get to have that dance." 

She cracks her knuckles on each fist simply by tightening her grip.

Vicadum squints a look that says "I'm going to hurt you one day".

And Crassitus looks back at him.

"Oh trust me Fili. You and I are meant to be matched. I've seen it in the stars!"

He points upwards with one hand and begins to speak away, his other hand firmly on his hips as he struts off.

Filovis doesn't politely hide her disgust. 

"Ugh!" 

Vicadum grits his teeth and tightens his grip, in squeezing the blade he cuts himself a little, though he doesn't notice it anymore.

After Crassitus has made it out of sight, Filovis looks over the girls in disappointment, and they run away ashamed. They quickly turned on Filovis, even so much as to try and bathe with him. She's not happy with her current crop of friends.

Vicadum looks at her angered face and sighs, audibly enough that she breaks and snaps into the moment and looks back at him, still holding his hand.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" 

Realizing in her anger she was squeezing him maybe too tight. Vicadum minded none.

"Hey, Don't worry about that guy, or them. I'd say the whole lot of them can just screw themselves."

Vicadum waves his sword to where they ran off to. 

Filovis laughs, enjoying the time with Vicadum, even if it was meant to be a revenge jealousy move. Vicadum even says as much.

"My head is racing with stars, moons, and clouds. I'm sure this was just to get back at him-"

Vicadum nods his head towards the direction Crassitus walked off to, now clasping her hands up in between them facing one another.

"-but I had fun with this."

Filovis backs up for a moment, embarrassed but happy, she too was happy with her choice of using him. Filovis breaks the hand holding and looks away to the arena gates, the white shining opening to their futures.

"Well… you did great, you pissed him off enough."

Filovis says, nodding to the tournament entrance. 

Vicadum looks to the gates as well.

"Sure hope you can back up your words."

Vicadum gulps aloud.

Filovis looks back at him and smiles, and wishes him a good fight, and they part ways for now.

Vicadum walks over to the gate to see how the tournament has progressed, raising his hand to shield his eyes from the brightness.

The crowd roars, chants, and screams for their victors, boos the losers, and cries for the broken. This tournament has many contenders in many states. Vientus has gone untouched in his fight, a small farm boy with dreams of taking his family into nobility has his legs broken. Truly this tournament is different from the procession of previous Guardians. Something is different.

As Vicadum ponders the tournament, he lets his eyes drift over to view the King. Maloin wears a dull look on his face, framed with jewelry and golden strands, 

"What could he be so bored about?" 

Vicadum wonders. 

Letting his thoughts fade into the back of his mind, he sets his sights on the center arena, where a fighter can be seen running his short sword through another man's hand. Vicadum's eyes widen and he runs to the edge of the barrier to see clearer. The fight seemingly had ended with one of the fighters successfully staked to the ground by his hand, but the man refuses to give up as he kicks the legs out from under the man who piked him. Once he has the man on the ground, he pulls the short blade from the ground, spurting blood across the area. He throws the weapon to the ground, meters away from where his opponent can fight with it.

A girl's yell parts the crowd,

"CRULOX!"

The viewers look at her in confusion, and the man who's on the ground throws his fist in the air. A sign of strength to showcase that he won't be beaten by just having his weapon thrown away.

Jumping from being down on his back, swinging his legs upward and landing on his feet, he faces the bloodied man. Crulox smiles and sneers disgust toward the lowly farmer-fighter.

"That was good, kid"

Crulox begins to pace slowly, holding his hands up in fists, ready to box him. The farmer puts up his sword to match Crulox's fists.

"I like your style, it's smart. And you sure as shit have balls to be able to put up with your hand in that condition. "

The man winces and retorts.

"Shut up!"

A slight fearful and pained tone is spread.

Crulox smiles wider and quickly jabs at the man to gauge his defence, the man doesn't move.

"Woo! You really are cool… didn't move an inch."

Crulox continues side-stepping slowly.

The farmhand gets tired of waiting for him to strike and decides to kick sand up at his face. Momentarily blinded, Crulox stumbles back away from his opponent and covers his face, letting out a disgruntled and startled yell.

"Agh!"

The man didn't get his chance to use the blinding for his benefit but he smiles that he's caused Crulox some pain.

"Haghhahhahha!" Crulox wipes the sand from his face, removing his hands to reveal his dastardly smile and piercing bloodshot eyes. His laugh turns the man's smile into teeth-gritting fear.

"You are something else, kid! Kicking sand in my face? Smiling like you've won… not watching your footing..."

The man panics and looks down at his feet. Nothing meets his eyes immediately and he panics some more 

"What the hell does he mean, not watching my footing?" 

He worries to himself, and before he can look back up to Crulox,

"Or worse, not watching mine!" 

Crulox terrifies the man by kicking up the sword he moved his way over to, kicking the hilt into his face. His nose is smashed up and he can no longer see anything. The boy swings wildly to try and defend himself.

Dancing in between the man's swings, Crulox makes his way through the air, jumping his knee into the man's face. Crulox brutally breaks his nose, cheekbones, and a few teeth and stands above him, blocking out the sun with himself.

"You don't look too good there friend, kind of uneven don't you think?"

Crulox holds his sword high and caresses the blade, finding a tiny indent in the metal work and pokes at it, tapping away at his sword, he smiles.

"Yeah... definitely uneven." 

His tapping results in a small hidden blade popping out of the middle of his sword, a tiny throwaway dagger that he grasps.

The defeated boy's eyes widen and wince.

"Let me give you a hand!" 

Crulox throws his hidden knife, embedding it into the man's other hand, and laughs away at his pain.

Writhing underneath him, the farmhand tries to yell that he quits the battle, but Crulox moves to step onto his face, smothering his words.

"Oh I'm sorry, I guess I also forgot to mind my own footing!" 

Stomping his other foot into the blade, pegging him to the ground further.

The match judge idly watches the young man be utterly destroyed by Crulox, rubbing clean a gold coin. A dirty judge allows the worst of losses to the man. When Crulox is finished tormenting the man, he walks off of him by way of his crotch and kneels down beside the man.

"You probably don't remember the exact crop of food you had sold in the market, but I remember… it wasn't that great. This is penance."

Crulox was always a cruel and truly awful being. Tormenting the likes of the everyday townfolk, the animals in pens and on the streets, to his very own family. He looks up towards his sister in the stands, the woman who screamed for him.

"Digeto! I hope to meet you in the palace!" 

He throws his fist into the air again,

"And I hope you… get what you deserve." 

Crulox jeers towards the audience and they all look around at who he could be side-eyeing.

Nephaeros whimpers, cowering behind a pillar, knowing his harsh words are meant for her.

Nephaeros is sister to Crulox and Digeto, a vile pairing who act as if it's their reason for living to agonize Nephaeros. 

The tournament continues, and a troop of arena attendants comes to clean up the mess made by Crulox, sweeping away teeth and bits of flesh. The ground is mudded by blood, a dark red and brown flooring to fit all the world is in these moments.

The announcer stands up and the audience follows suit, ever attentive to know who they get to watch be beaten. Filovis grips the door opening she's leaned against, Vicadum clamps his fist around the sword, Nephaeros wipes away a tear with her balled fist, Armasitis sits hot and soundless, Crassitus juts his hip to the side, placing his hand around his belt, and Vientus has his arms crossed silently waiting for the next to enter the victor hall, waiting to see his next competition to beat out.

The competition is growing fiercer, and the best has yet to fight. The King sits atop all, proud. The pride swelling in his chest at the growing opportunity to find his next defenders, to find the planned Heroes for his cause. Only the victors will have been trialed for the worth of his trust, the next step to further take on a New World. He needs them strong, stronger than any generation of fighters before them because what the King knows about the coming war is all too trifling for any normal human. A lonesome Cythril managed to wipe the slate of Guards and could easily have snuck into the castle if not for the clouded and smothered mind of the King. The Quiet Night will be answered by resounding battle cries of the King's men.

The preparations are almost completed, what comes next is a test of true Humanity, and through these trials, the King will find his candidates.