Gathering for the Second

Back at the tent, Vic is making some repairs to his weapon and Hisoki is counting out berries and taking some inventory, he drank a potion to heal his wounds on his hand and even replaced the destroyed glove. Vic clicks the cylinder and gives it a spin. “Alright, we’re good,” he says holstering it. “Are you ready?”

“I think so. Vic… I just wanted to say something.”

“What?”

Hisoki pulls the paper from his hat that Vic gave him much earlier in the challenge. “I opened it when I woke up, and I instantly realized it wasn’t a dream.” He opens it and reveals the word “Clown”. “You made me laugh, then I discovered an important little fact about the curse. I can’t laugh in my dreams. It’s the one thing I can’t do in them. I guess I knew subconsciously. Still, thank you, Vic.”

Vic reveals the one he kept on him, it’s a little torn up and dirty, but it says “Clown” too. “I knew it would work, but now you know what you gotta do to confirm you aren’t in a dream.”

“I want to thank you in a more physical way, Vic,” he stands and walks out of the tent. “Come out here with your things.”

Vic listens and steps out with Hisoki and now he’s tapping the tent, a puff exits the tent as Hisoki steps back in with Vic following. It’s completely different. It’s a table with a deck of cards and two chairs. “One of my jobs, er — I guess hobbies, is reading fortunes and futures. Normally I’d ask someone to pick one. I’m going to do both for you,” Hisoki sits at the table. “Please, I insist.”

“I don’t like the idea of divination shit… Makes me feel like I don’t have a choice in destiny.”

“Really? I don’t know too many that have that problem…”

“I do. I know about free will and choices, but if there’s divination then there must be a lack of free will somewhere.”

Hisoki stands back up from the table. “I’ll respect that, I just thought I’d share one of my tools abilities that helped make my living, this deck of cards is like your… Cannon?” he’s unsure what to nickname the weapon Vic carries. “That’s not the only reason I told you that.”

“I’ll bite, why?”

“My future can’t be read, nor my fortune even.”

Vic tilts his head, “Bullshit, that’s only a thing if you’re a God Knight.”

“Or if you will become one. I don’t think that’s it though.”

“You really think it’s the curse?”

“No… I don’t think the curse can stop that. I have a theory.”

Vic listens, half-interested; he knows he’s never actually cared for God Knights , never will either. They aren’t something he can understand easily. His curiosity has gotten the better of him though.

“What if your future can’t be read if your fate directly involves a God Knight?”

Vic waves his hand, just like he predicted. “That’s too broad for me to think about, how would that even work?”

“I’m not sure. Since that’s too broad for you, I do have another question for you. Just hypothetical,” Hisoki leans against the pole in the tent.

“Just know I can’t promise a good answer, but I’ll try to answer as best as I can,” Vic says.

“Can a moth eat a flame? I know you’ve heard of a moth burning when it reaches the candle. What if the moth ate it? Could it be possible?”

Vic rolls a fresh cigarette, turns around, looking outside. He sees the light from the sun coming over finally. “This may not make a lick of sense… But, I suppose it’s possible, if the moth is prepared enough,” is all Vic says before leaving the tent and lighting his smoke.

Hisoki and Vic are walking toward the hill where they left the portal. When a metal orb zips by, hovering at a distance. “Is that…” Hisoki asks.

“Sight Spheres, The Knight’s Gauntlet has been using them to show off the challenge to the public as of a few years ago.”

“You’re saying we’ve been watched this whole time?” Hisoki asks a little afraid.

“Not exactly, there’s a hundred contestants in just this challenge alone, who knows how many formed teams or not, they don’t have a thousand of these things to spare. Probably ten or so per gate to capture key moments for the public.”

“Okay, alright, we haven’t seen them until now, so, maybe they weren’t interested in us.”

“I dunno, does it matter?”

“Kinda…” Hisoki says.

“It’s not like they saw you mess that guy up. So don’t worry. If they knew, you would’ve been arrested already.”

Up the hill, the gate sits idle when the woman running the challenge, Eta, steps out from behind it. “Finished? Or giving up?” she asks, but both feel like the same question.

Hisoki presents all two-thousand berries and a little more on top in a cloth bag, removed from the magic tube he had them all in. She takes the bag and looks inside, giving a smirk. “Alright, you pass. Just one question before you leave, the cold storm earlier. Did either of you two cause that?”

“No,” Vic says while Hisoki shakes his head no.

“I was going to stop it, but when I got there someone else already had. I don’t mind when people blow up sections of my challenge, but making the whole environment a hazard? That’s when I step in.”

Vic crosses his arms. “I was wondering about that, who did it anyway.”

“Not a clue, but whoever it was had to do something pretty drastic to kill him. Not that I wouldn’t have done something similar if I could,” she shrugs. “Just would be such a shame if that person didn’t pass. They kept me from having to interfere which meant the challenge can’t be called into question now.”

Vic gives Hisoki a nudge. “We’d better get going ourselves.”

“Try to relax until the next challenge, you’ll need a little.”

They both step through the gate, and they are back in the same room as before. All of the gates still there with the numbers above them. But no one is around except the top-hat wearing butler, Tur, to greet us. “Congratulations, gentlemen. You have passed the first trial. Please, make your way to the far gate there,” he points to the furthest gate of a different color and no number marking the top.

Vic and Hisoki look at the gate and then back to see Tur has disappeared. “Alright, finally. We’re gettin’ somewhere.” Hisoki has been quiet which makes Vic a little uneasy. “You wanna share what’s on your mind?” Vic says while they walk.

“That last challenge was difficult. I can only hope the next one won’t be as bad.”

“Hey, listen really quick,” Vic stops at the gate. “It likely will only get worse. My sister said her second challenge made her question if she would still be human after. It will get worse before it gets better, we have to trudge through hell before we get to heaven. Understand?”

“I do,” Hisoki shows his newfound confidence.

“Good,” Vic puts out his fist. “Don’t go quitting on me.”

Hisoki bumps his fist against Vics. “You got it!”

The step through the gate.

The new room is large, but not as large as the last. It’s circular, with a few tables and chairs near the edges. People turn to see us walk in while they are mid-eating, sparring, relaxing, talking. They stop, assess, and go back to their activity. Vic notices Sadi, looking bored sitting on the floor, her hand resting on her chin when she sees him, a smile creeps on her onyx black lips and she gives a little mischievous wave. Lyco just slides in front of Vic; grabbing and shaking his hand. “Glad you made it!” Even hugging him in that massive armor.

“Woah, Woah, hang-on there.” Vic pushes back a little.

“I’m just excited that you’re here! You had me worried when we showed up first.” As Lyco finishes his sentence, his partner appears.

They look male or female, it’s hard to tell. She’s got a bow on her back with a fancy quiver. “He was adamant his ‘saviors’ would show,” she says, arms crossed. She’s got short black hair, green eyes, leather armor.

“Oh yeah, you’re Megan! I can recognize your voice and the fact that you aren’t making eye contact with me after our first interaction.”

“First interaction? She helped me teleport to Lyco’s location. Did you run into her before?” Hisoki asks.

“M-my name isn’t Megan. I lied, it’s Melleni.” She extends a handshake without looking at Vic, clearly blushing as Vic takes her hand and shakes it.

“Pleasure.”

“We just need one more person to show up, we need twenty-four people. According to the counter on the ceiling,” Lyco points up; showing the large counter on the ceiling showing twenty-three out of twenty-four.

“That’s why you were worried. We almost didn’t make it,” Vic says while having a seat at one of the tables. Hisoki, Lyco, and Melleni join.

“What did the other contesting parties do in those gates?” Hisoki asks.

“As far as we know, some were given literally impossible tasks. One of the gated groups was given the task to gather a Minotaur head,” Melleni explains while checking her arrows before she points one at Hisoki. “Question for you. After I teleported you to where I did Lyco. That cold storm died just after a few minutes. What happened? He told me to ask you specifically.”

“Oh… I Just…” Hisoki stammers, standing then performing a handstand next to the table. “I dunno, I just kinda got rid of it?”

“The hell are you doing?” she asks, turning to Vic and Lyco, “The hell is he doing?”

Lyco shrugs and Vic leans forward, “Think of it like a bad habit, when he doesn’t wanna talk about something; he does this. I figured this out a little bit ago.”

“That’s not true!” Hisoki flips back onto his feet.

“Oh yeah? Then tell her how you did it.”

He goes back to walking on his hands. “D-did what?” he asks.

“Uh huh, anyway. Just know that he solved it where I and Lyco here couldn’t. Though Lyco got close.”

Hisoki flips back over and slips in his seat, resting his jaw on both hands. “Yeah, but I burned out too fast,” Lyco states making his arm glow orange before returning it to normal.

“You did better than me, my weapon was practically useless,” stating it to correct Lyco; Vic rolls a cigarette on the table after tossing the old one.

“Those will kill you,” Melleni states as Vic is about to light it.

“And stress kills you faster…” Vic lights it with a long pull after. Blowing it up and away from everyone.

The conversation begins to wind down until eventually, one more person steps through the gate and we all look, it’s this timid-looking guy who can barely hold his weapon. “I-is this where we go? I-is th-this the second challenge?”

Vic yells over “You’re just in time.”

Which wasn’t an understatement. The numbers above glow, everyone stands to watch as it pulses. Almost like a signal. Every table and chair vanishes as a blanket of smoke explodes from the center of the room. A woman stands in the center of the smoke. With a great voice, and a familiar one she speaks. “Listen well! My name is Nozomi, and the next challenge is a tournament!”