Hanon began, "So, Miss Emory, where are you from originally? We've never met an Ancient in person, though I have studied much of their remaining work."
"I'm from the Sol System, or at least that's what we call it," Emory responded as she tapped a few buttons on her wrist to bring up a holographic galaxy map, "However, I didn't grow up learning about my heritage, so you probably know more about Ancients than I do. In fact, two months ago I didn't even know you all really existed."
"My word, are you serious dear child? That's incredible!" Elimine gasped.
"Are there many Ancients where you come from?" Hanon continued, "I guess I should be asking who are your people and what other sorts of people are around?"
Emory answered embarrassingly, "The Sol System is inhabited by only one major race: humans. They look generally like you except for less lanky and rounded ears. I would say, in general, they are more diverse from person to person than the average Elandrian is. There is a small clan of Hexbloods, my clan in fact, though I was the only Hexblood by birth. I cast Contract on six of my closest friends."
"I'm sorry, I think I'm going deaf in my old age. Did you say you cast Contract six times already?" Elimine stuttered, "Even at your strength, you can't have many more uses of that left. What caused you to use so much of your power already?"
"There's no way you're telling the truth. You mean you were originally multiple times stronger than you currently are and you're Soren's age?" Hanon squawked.
"No, that's not what I mean. I'm the strongest now that I have ever been," Emory explained, "My gift allows me the ability to break a lot of preconceptions people have about magik limits. It's easier to believe if you see it." She placed a hand gently on each of their knees and closed her eyes. Instantly, the three ladies were transported to Emory's mind's eye next to her mana pool, if you could even call it that. They stood at the edge of a beach that went farther than they could see to the left and right, and behind them was only white space. But in front of them stretched an ocean to the horizon and too deep to see the bottom.
Hanon dropped to her knees, "What sort of being are you, Miss Emory? Tell us true, are you a goddess, come to judge the masses?"
"You have the legendary gift, don't you?" Elimine warbled, "The last Elandrian with this gift died in my youth nearly ten thousand years ago."
"This is Limitless, or at least as much of it as I've developed so far," Emory mentioned casually, "I'm not bound by a mana pool, thus I can cast Contract as many times as I need to. You see, humans don't have a magik core, so when I knew I would be away from them for awhile, I resolved to leave them some of my power to ensure their survival." She snapped her fingers, returning them all back to reality.
"To have such power at such a young age, you must be truly crushed by the weight of responsibility. My heart aches for you," Elimine's eyes swelled up, "I apologize for adding to that pressure earlier. That was not my intention."
Hanon began to cry as well, "I am sorry as well. I should have known you were put in a difficult position your whole life for you to end up at strong as you are."
"It's okay; you didn't know," Emory forgave them, "Within the last month, I've become a top member in one faction, the leader of a different faction, and made an ambassador for all my people to a group thousands of times more advanced than we are. Not to mention that I've grown from not knowing I had the Arcane sphere to level four in two months."
"That's the story you should share with the Legion, if you decide to do so. That's powerful," Hanon murmured.
"Tell us more about humans," Elimine pressed, "You said they don't have magik cores, but I assume they still have magik. How does your society work?"
Emory put her hand on her chin, "Well, we use technology that's powered by electricity. We've spread out in our system and even made the jump to other systems which is how I met Athos. Magik is actually a fairly new concept to most humans because the faction that knew magik hid it from the others for a thousand years. I think the only reason it became well-known was because we were attacked by the Mantoan. My mother was born a Hexblood, and my father was an Ancient. We make our gear from an alloy called Orichalcum, which is similar to Adamantine. What else do you want to know?"
"I find it very interesting that your people managed to clear the second Great Filter without magik," Elimine remarked, "That probably makes you the first race to do so."
"And your magik faction, how advanced are they?" Hanon asked.
"They're about the same level as the rest of humanity; they just substitute magik for electricity, although they started using Orichalcum much earlier than the rest," Emory smiled haplessly, "I don't know too much about them because my mother abandoned them long before I was born. But I do know that most of them were content to live in isolation away from the rest of the world. My clan has done some research, yet they still couldn't unlock the secrets of skills or fixing the magik core problem."
Hanon nodded along, "Very impressive indeed because I assume with your limited magik ability and technology alone, you drove the Mantoan out of the system?"
"Yes ma'am, magik and technology," Emory agreed, "And sheer numbers. Only one mothership ever reached the Sol System, and our military is several million strong. Once we had a way to damage them, it only took a few years."
"Your people have taken to magik well then. With some guidance, you'll quickly jump forward as a civilization," Elimine admitted.
Hanon was about say something when the announcer bellowed, "Folks, if you could make your way back to your seats, we'll get the next event started. Thank you for your patience." Emory gazed at the field which had been transformed dramatically during the short intermission. She expected a competition like the previous one where contestants would try to hold onto their unicorn while the creature tried to get them off. Instead, an obstacle course with jumping, weaving, and balancing challenges lay before her. It was an oblong course in the same shape as the arena with two lanes that were woven together. Barrels, crates, pitfalls, and water were scattered along the track to create several different types of problems for the jockeys to overcome. Then Emory locked in on the two steeds because she couldn't believe unicorns were real.
Sure enough, two all-white horses with horns coming out of their heads pranced around the starting line. They were bigger than she expected, roughly the size of Clydesdale horses with horns about three feet long and six inches in diameter at the base. Their size would undoubtedly make the course harder as some narrower parts were skinnier than the steeds themselves. It would also be difficult to do the course quickly because these animals seemed like they were built for power, not speed. The jockeys settled down their unicorns and turned their focus to the track. A trumpet blared and the gates sprung open as the two teams took off at a full gallop.
The first few barrels were easily passed by the steeds, but they were immediately slowed down by a plank walk across a small pond. One of the teams pulled ahead slightly as the unicorn jumped from the edge of the plank over a close barrel instead of weaving around it. It kept its lead around the first curve but lost it during a weaving section. They barreled forward around the track, neck and neck the whole way. Though when they switched lanes on the second lap, a gap was created by a slight misstep by one team. Luckily, they corrected quickly, allowing them to stay on the plank they had almost fallen off. Unfortunately, that team never caught back up to the other and lost the two-lap race by half a unicorn length.
Seven more pairs of teams competed, and even though the first team lost, their time completing the course was the third best overall. Once they had all raced and been ranked, the three fastest teams moved to the interior of the track and lined up on one side. When the trumpet blew this time, all three unicorns took off in a dead sprint to the other side. Just like the overall rankings, the three teams crossed the finish line in the same order. Still, Emory was impressed by how fast these creatures could move since the third-place team had still finished the mile in just under a minute.
"Well folks, that was the unicorn agility course. Congratulations to everyone who participated in this year's course, and a special big round of applause for our three winners! There will be a short fifteen-minute break, and then we'll be back for the main event. Stick around for the wyvern riding contest!" the announcer called as a trumpet sounded.
Emory leaned towards Elimine and asked, "So what is this event like? After I thought the first two events were going to be the same but was wrong, I'm interested to see what wyvern riding looks like."
"It's like the first event but much grander," Elimine explained, "You've never seen a wyvern before, have you?"
"No. We have stories of them, but I've never seen a real one before. How big are they?" Emory questioned.
"The main chunk of their body is the same size as a Hasda, but their tail is almost as long as their body and their head is about a quarter that size," Hanon grinned strangely, "They have long spindly front legs because their wings unfold from skin flaps along the length of those limbs. When they outstretch their wings, they can be twenty feet across."
Emory gasped, "That's huge. Do they really fly or just sort of glide?"
"Oh, they fly. Because of their size and enhanced breathing, they can soar as high as the first layer of atmosphere," Elimine's eyes sparkled, "They prefer to live on mountains but can be found anywhere there aren't many other creatures."
"What about fire-breathing? Can they do that?" Emory pressed.
"Some can while some breathe other things," Hanon replied simply, "It depends on their environment. A swamp wyvern will fire a water jet, but a high mountain one will fire lightning bolts instead."
Emory beamed, "I can't believe they're real. We have stories of all sorts of mythical creatures; I'm just shocked so many are real. First unicorns and now wyverns. I feel like I'm in a fairy tale."
"Silly child, of course you have stories about them," Elimine laughed, "We would have brought them with us when we taught your people magik."
"Both unicorns and wyverns have been kept by us as companions for millennia, When exploring a new planet, we often bring them with us to travel faster without using magik. Teleportation works best when we have a beacon to guide us like engraved pads or sites of power," Hanon joined in the laughter.
"That's wild," Emory sighed, "I wonder how many myths are just stories of other races visiting us." The three ladies got some more food and drinks from the waiters and sat back down. While they waited for the next event, the two Elandrian told Emory a little more about themselves. Elimine was a whopping nine thousand nine hundred years old and had been one of the Five the longest of the current membership for over five thousand years. Besides Arcane, she was also a master with the Radiant sphere. Hanon was merely six thousand five hundred years old but had only joined the Five about five hundred years ago. She practiced the Blood sphere in addition to the Arcane sphere, making her tied for the strongest of the Five with Bramimond. Though Athos and Elimine were both level ten masters as well, Athos's Luck was hard to quantify in terms of a power increase, and Elimine's Radiant was more of a debuff than a raw power increase. Just when they were about to talk about Bramimond, the trumpet sounded and returned their attention to the arena.