Kiyomaro
"CAN I GET YOU anything else, princess?"
"No, thank you Alistair." Replied Abby.
"Very good Young Miss." Alistair bows and steps away – remaining nearby. Along with a few maids.
Alistair is a silver fox demi-human and a mage who specializes in space magic. He is the head butler in charge of managing the other staff members along with the day to day operation of the residence.
Abaddon "Abby" La-tif, Leo Blackbriar, Luna Crestfall, Alice Rose, Corym Elyra, Kiyo Kurosaki, and their newest member Lilly Nova stare down an assortment of breakfast dishes laid before them.
Different types of cooked eggs, cured ham, bacon, fruits, skohns, muffins, and flapjacks. Along with homemade syrups and jams. To drink they can choose juice, milk, coffee or tea.
All of this delicious food can be enjoyed while taking in a unique and aesthetically pleasing three-sixty view of the lake from a gazebo that floats along the water's surface.
Imbued with magic that allows it to: stay afloat, survive the constant changing of the weather and depending on the number of people the size changes to insure comfort for all.
A teleportation circle is how one comes and goes from the floating gazebo. In case of attack an all purpose barrier auto engages and reflects the attack back at the attacker with five times its initial force.
"I don't think I'll ever tire of watching you flinch ever so slightly whenever someone calls you princess. Do you really dislike it that much?" Corym asked.
"I do. However Alistair and the other servants are the exception."
"Why just them?"
It's Alistair who answers, "a proper servant should always address those they serve appropriately."
"There you have it." Abby throws a grape up into the air and catches it with her mouth.
"Any idea what your mother wants, Abby?" Luna asked, while spreading jam on her skohn.
"No idea. Haven't seen her since she got married to that thing."
"I really wish you'd stop referring to your father like that." Chided the now Empress Cesmak La-tif.
Cesmak La-tif recently had a shotgun wedding with Emperor Po La-tif – aka Khaos, a Primordial Deity.
Cesmak herself is a demon of whirlwinds from Earth. She once tried to seduce the prophet Zarathustra, but was defeated.
Alistair pulls out the empress's chair, and promptly pours her a cup of tea.
"Thank you Alistair. Oh, I have some guests joining us for breakfast. Please show them the way upon their arrival. And no need to announce them. I want to have the honor." A mischievous smile dances on her lips.
"Of course Your Majesty." Alistair bows and disappears.
"Who's coming? And do we need to be here when they arrive?"
"Yes you need to be here, Abaddon and as for who it is I will not say. More fun that way. Now where are Teru and Lilith?"
"Teru went back to his tribe, Lilith was heading for her pleasure dungeon last time I saw her. Shiori is somewhere, not that you asked."
Prince Teru is the first born and only son of the La-Tif family. He is an ephialticentaur. A rare nightmarish hybrid variant of the centaur. Teru earned his place as the tribe leader through combat. He's a kind and compassionate person who'll help those who need without expecting anything in return.
Princess Shiori is the first born daughter of the La-Tif family. Although she appears human she is in fact a demon, but as to what kind of demon is unclear. No matter the situation, Princess Shiori always carries herself with dignity and grace.
Due to a diplomatic situation that occurred during a visit to the elves homeland and after some closed door negotiations, Prince Teru and Princess Shiori lost their eligibility for the throne, but kept their 'Authority in Name Only.'
Making only Princess Lilith and Princess Abaddon eligible for the throne.
Princess Lilith is the second born daughter of the La-Tif family. She's a succubus with an extremely unhealthy little sister complex. Lilith spends most of her time entertaining clients as a dominatrix.
"That's because I know where Shiori is. As for your brother and sister, they'll hear about it in due time."
"Hear about what exactly?"
"I see no harm in telling you all now. Just keep in mind I don't know all the details yet."
The Empress sets down her fork, dabbed her lips with her napkin, and waits for everyone's attention to be on her before continuing.
"Rose the White Dragon will be celebrating her birthday in six months and wishes to hold the first ever Fight Festival Tournament."
"A tournament sounds like fun. We should participate. What do you guys think?" Asked Alice.
"It definitely sounds intriguing, but I want to hear more details before deciding on whether or not I want to take part." Replied Abby.
"Is that who's stopping by? Someone who'll tell us more about the tournament?"
"You are half right, Kiyo."
"What's the other half?"
It's at that moment Alister returns. "Your guests have arrived."
"Thank you Alistair. You guys are familiar with most of my guests but let me introduce you anyways. Starting with General Fiora Elyra…"
𝑆𝑃𝑃𝐹𝐹𝑇!
Corym spits his juice out, covering Lilly in a mixture of juice and spittle.
Lilly sits there in utter shock.
"Pretty sure I taught you better table manners than that." Reprimanded Fiora, Corym's mother.
Silver and Poppy can't help but laugh at the comedic site. Holly puts a hand over her mouth trying to hide her laughter, but her shaking shoulders give her away. Corin takes it in stride and doesn't even react.
Silver and Corin are male faeries. Silver is known for his quick and agile magic, and Corin for his combat and tactical skills.
Holly and Poppy are female faeries. Holly specializes in protective and defensive magic, and Poppy for her nature and earth magic.
All four are travel companions of Fiora Elyra, an elf and Templar general.
"Lilly, please forgive me. Mother's sudden appearance surprised the hell out of me."
Standing, Lilly states, "I'm going to go wash up and put on fresh clothes."
Lilly leaves, ignoring Corym's apology.
With a clap of his hands Alistair replaces everything anew. More chairs, and place settings are added.
"Thank you Alistair. Now like I was saying, you guys are familiar with General Fiora Elyra, her travel companions Corin, Silver, Poppy, and Holly.
So allow me to introduce Dale, Chief of Peach Valley, Oz, Headmaster of the Hunter School, and Bonaluria."
The group exchanges pleasantries.
"Come have a seat. As you can see the food is fresh."
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for having us." Said Dale.
The others parrot him as they take their seats. Everyone begins eating again.
"So Dale, how have you been? How's everyone in Peach Valley?" I finally asked, breaking the ice.
"I spoke with Gin yesterday, everyone back home is doing well.
"You can't even tell that a wall was destroyed." Bonaluria said, swallowing down a bite of her flapjacks.
"I don't remember seeing you there. Were you away?" Abby asked.
Setting down her fork. "Allow me to properly reintroduce myself, I'm Bonaluria, but I used to go by Five of The Black Arch…"
Corym lunges across the table, knocking things over, butter knife in hand, aiming to stab Bonaluria.
His momentum suddenly halted. He hangs there – midair, the butter knife having come close to stabbing Empress Cesmak La-tif in the face.
"Huh?!" Confused by what just transpired, Corym drops the butter knife.
"Thank you, Beelzebub. Now kindly return Corym to his seat please."
"As you command."
Beelzebub is one of the top demons whose job is to protect the Imperial Demon Family. He along with six others are simply known as The Seven.
Beelzebub returns Corym to his seat, but now remains standing behind Corym. Once again Alistair replaces their breakfast.
"Cormy," said Fiora, "Dale, Bonaluria, and Oz need your help."
Dale takes Bonaluria's hand, and together they ask "please help find our daughter."
"You and her… you're together?"
"Yes we are." Replied Dale.
"Then you know she's responsible for my father's death?"
"Technically I only planned the attack," said Bonaluria, "killing him was never a part of the plan."
"You're fucking guilty by association!" Shouts Corym. "And now here you are hat in hand expecting me to help the both of you."
"Mind your tongue in front of…"
"Leave him be, Beelzebub." Said the empress, cutting Beelzebub off.
Beelzebub just nods his head.
"Then I'm just as guilty as Bonaluria is."
"Huh?! What are you talking about, Dale?" Confusion written all over Corym's face.
"How do you think I met Bonaluria – a wanted criminal, in the first place?"
"Ummm."
"I was the original leader of The Black Archers, before they became criminals. My code name was Zero. And for the record we're hoping you'll help us." Dale said.
"And why should I care about your kid?" Corym demanded.
"True Believers took our daughter."
Dale's words hit Corym like a gut punch. He too was once taken by True Believers. Becoming a prisoner of war while his people fought them off during an invasion.
"But why would True Believers take a human child?" Leo asked.
It's then that Bonaluria brushes some of her long silver hair behind her pointed ear.
"You're an elf?!"
"Yes, indeed I am an elf. Making our child half-human and half-elf."
"It's not just their daughter. My girls were taken by them as well."
"Oz, I…" Corym curses under his breath. He'd spent time with Oz's family, granted his kids were mere babies at the time.
"Tell us what happened, Oz." I asked.
"My home, Magnolia Village, was attacked. The villagers along with my wife fought back, but later on it was discovered that Freydís, Lagertha, and Gunnhild had been taken. The only silver lining is that my boys were away otherwise they'd have been taken as well."
"There used to be a lot more of us demi-humans and beast-kin living there. But over time the constant attacks on our village became too much. Most moved away in order to keep their families alive." Said Bonaluria.
"Tell me where the rest of The Black Archers are." Demand Corym.
"Sorry, can't say."
"Can't or won't?"
"Can't. I cut ties with them once they had what they needed from me. Any information I had on them I've already passed on."
"Oz and I can validate this." Replied Fiora.
Abby then asks, "how do you know if she's even still alive?"
"We're not sure. However, I've come to learn that a powerful illusion spell was placed on her, making her appear human."
"Are you sure it hasn't been broken?"
Dale shakes his head no. "What we do know is that the spell will remain continuously active thanks to her elven blood, but if a strong enough counter spell is used on her then it might break."
Turning to Corym, I say "if you want to help them I have no problem with it. After all, it seems Alice is interested in the tournament."
"I am." She eagerly replied.
"Same here." Replied Luna.
"I also want to participate." Said Leo.
"I'm not interested," said Abby, "but I will help train you guys."
Cormy sighs, "fine I'll help, but in return, mother, you're going to help me find Aria when this is over."
"Fine by me."
"You see mother… wait, really? I figured you'd put up more of a fight."
"You're right. Normally I would. However, if that's the price I need to pay in order to save innocent children from those bastards. Then I can live with that. Even if one of the children's parents just so happens to be a cold blooded murder responsible for your father — my husband's death."
Dale opens his mouth to protest, but Bonaluria squeezes his hand, prompting him to reluctantly close it.
"I'd like to hear more about the upcoming tournament."
"What do you know about it?" Oz asked.
"Only that it's going to be held in celebration of Rose the White Dragon's birthday in six months." Replied the now freshly cleaned and dressed Lilly.
"That is correct. It'll be held at the Hyacinth Colosseum once the repairs are completed."
"Will this replace the Rank Wars that are held every four years?"
"They are considering it, Lilly. It'll all depend on how this tournament goes.
"How many can enter the tournament?" Leo asked.
"That'll depend on a few things." Said Oz, "the first being which of the two categories will you participate in."
"What are the categories?"
"The first is One-on-One. It's pretty straight forward. You win, you advance.
The other is Team-versus-Team. Winning that one will depend on whether or not the minimum requirement of members is met can a team continue advancing. Currently you can only enter one of these categories."
"Will we have to fight someone of a higher rank than our own?" Alice asked.
"One-on-One: you can fight one rank higher than your own. I don't expect S and SS ranked to participate. Possibly a few A ranks but who knows.
Team-versus-Team is a little bit more complicated. For the adventure and mercenary guild associations are looking to add a party ranking system."
"Party ranking system? What's that about?"
It's Empress La-tif who answers Lilly's question, "this hasn't been revealed yet so please keep it amongst us currently gathered here."
Everyone agrees to keep quiet so the empress continues.
"The adventurer and mercenary guild associations are announcing in addition to a party ranking system there'll be an update to the current ranking system.
"All seven schools have already been informed and will start reevaluating those who participate in the qualifying matches.
"An official announcement will be made at the tournament. It's believed this will help adventurers and mercenaries complete their quests and return safe and sound."
"Why the change?" Asked Corym.
"Even with the current system that's in use, it was discovered that too many adventures and mercenary's were dying, or getting hurt so badly they could no longer make a decent living.
"Several teams have spent years researching the matter. Their results have shown that in some cases where a party should have had the advantage were nearly wiped out, or killed outright."
"What about those who don't participate in the tournament or those who aren't even aware of the tournament?" Lilly asked.
"Those individuals will be notified when they check in with their respective guilds, or return to their respective school." Replied Oz.
"What about those who're already SS-ranked?" I asked.
"Those who've reached SS-rank like you have, won't have a change in rank."
"I see."
"How would the party ranking system work for us?" Asked Leo, "considering we have two SS-ranked in our party?"
"That's not gonna matter." Replied Oz.
"Why is that?"
"Your party's rank outside of any tournaments will be based off of the number of successfully completed quests given through your respective guild. Also if some of your party members are absent it won't affect your party rank, as long as three members can successfully complete the job."
"What about parties that have been together for some time and completed several quests?" I asked, "I can't imagine they'll be happy with having to start over at the bottom of the ranking."
"All parties that have been together will have their achievements looked at, and be evaluated based on those achievements."
"Headmaster Oz, I have a question about the Team-vs-Team category?"
"What is it, Leo?"
"What is the minimum number required in order to participate?"
"A minimum of three or a max of seven is all that's required."
"How do we sign up?" Lilly asked.
"You can sign up at one of the seven schools, or select Adventurer Guilds. But you'll need to win a best of three in the qualification matches to qualify for the actual tournament. Black Mirrors will be used to document everything."
"When can we start signing up and when's the cut off date for qualifying?" Luna asked.
"Sign up starts next week, which is the beginning of the new month. You'll have four months to qualify. The last two months is to ensure there's enough time to figure out how many qualified, establish the tournament brackets, etc cetera, etc cetera."
"I want to enter the One-on-One category." Announced Alice.
"No offense Alice, but healers are notoriously inept when it comes to combat." States Lilly, pushing her empty plate aside.
A maid swiftly removes it from the table along with any other empty dishes
"She's right. I don't think you'll even make it through the qualifiers." Said Abby.
"Then I guess I'll just have to win my fights, no scratch that I'll win the entire One-on-One category, and prove you both wrong."
****
"Thank you everyone for coming. I know this was last minute, but the news I have to share could not wait."
Seated at a massive horseshoe shaped crystalline table are the ones that govern the Marijuana Empire.
"You have our attention Archbishop Judas. You may proceed."
"Thank you, Emperor Williams."