~Chapter 2~
People from all across the world migrated to join in the festivities on Challenger's Isle. At the end of every third year The Festival of Peace would take place there, presided over by Mayor Tock from Dialtown. He believed that this festival was responsible for the peace and prosperity their Land of Ralosia was blessed with.
The festival took place over three days, where there were feasts, games, carnivals and many other spectacles for all to enjoy. But the grandest of them all was the Fighting Tournament. It was ironic that the Festival of Peace would glorify fighting, but it was all in good fun. Perhaps a place to battle each other helped promote the peace at all other times of the year.
Razan and Lucar approached Challenger's lake with Emer, Ruben, and their children. They threw hoods over their hoods to disguise themselves and Emer promptly grabbed the hoods and pulled them down.
"If you act like you belong, people will assume you do. No one will suspect anything of you." Emer whispered to them.
Challenger's Lake was surrounded by quaint towns and several docks which ferried people across for a small fee. Ralosians, Densius, Phantine and Mecarne people were all present. All the people were welcome.
The children had never been around such large crowds. All Ruben had known until today was the rocky terrain of Platt Mountain, and the other had never kids were never around such a highly populated area.
Several Mecarne people were stationed around the ferries, the sunlight reflecting off their metal-like flesh. Each of them had varying tints to their bodies. When the ferry was filled, they attached tethers from the boat to harnesses onto their bodies.
The Mecarne dived into the water and swam, and the ferry was pulled along by them. They were particularly adept in the water, and stronger Mecarne such as these could pull boats across the water with ease.
Aero and Jirro watched as the Mecarne pulled a boat of hundreds across the lake.
They looked at one another, "I bet I could make it across the lake before you!" Aero challenged.
"We'll see about that!" Jirro responded.
The two were about to dive headfirst into the lake when Lucar stopped them, "Don't do that boys, save your energy for the tournament."
They boarded on of the boats alongside many other attendees. Most of those on the ferry were civilians here to enjoy the festivities of the event, but they spotted a few that were clearly combatants for the tournament. Any normal child would be nervous at the sight, but it amped them up.
Ruben and Emer were nervous through the entirety of the ferry ride, straying from the edge of boat. They'd heard stories of Densius who fell into water, their stone bodies would simply sink to the bottom, unable to ever escape. They felt a great relief when they came off of the boat onto solid land.
"Jirro!" A young Phantine child approached them.
He had a pink tint to his skin, large ears, tusks, a trunk, all characteristics of the Phantine people. Razan recognized the child as being a friend of Jirro. The massive Phantine that stood beside him was Chief Cmar, his father.
The Phantine child wore bright orange garbs and had his trunk wrapped around him like a scarf, but he unfurled it as he walked to Jirro. He stood a little shorter than him.
"Nout! It's good to see you! What are the both of you doing here?" Jirro asked the two Phantine.
Chief Cmar said, "I thought my boy and I might enter the tournament here."
As Cmar spoke, Nout was noticeably anxious. Very different from Aero and Jirro, who were incredibly eager about the tournament.
The Challenger's Isle was divided up into various sections. The residential district on the southwestern end of the island was populated with inns for travelers who wanted to stay over night. The bulk of the island was taken up by various amusements and leisure activities for all the share and enjoy where most of the people congregated.
The northern tip of the island was the tournament district. There was a registration center for all competitors, preliminary stadiums where several fighting rings were set so many simultaneous battles could take place, and at the center of it all was the finalist's stage, a sizable round stage surrounded by bleachers for as many spectators as possible.
The group arrived at the registration table, where tournament staff members took the names of all those that wished to enter. Among them was a dark skinned man in a heavy coat with white curly hair.
Aero approached the man, "Hi Noel! I didn't know you worked here!" Aero greeted the man.
Noel shrugged and smiled, revealing a single golden tooth, "Looking to enter the tournament, boy?"
Aero nodded excitedly.
"Today is registration, tomorrow we'll have the preliminary bouts. On the last day of the festival they'll hold the bouts for the 16 finalists." Noel explained. One by one he took the names of the group for the tournament. Aero, Jirro, Ruben, Nout, Cmar, and Emer were all registered.
Aero looked up to his dad, "Aren't you going to enter?"
"If I were to enter, I'd win. I want to give you a little bit of chance." Razan said behind folded arms and a smirk, that answer seemed to satisfy Aero.
To be fair, that wasn't the only reason. He'd been getting by without anyone noticing him so far, but entering the tournament would give him way too much attention. People would figure out who he was then.
Corri approached Noel's table, "I'm entering too."
Razan rushed to her side, "Sweetheart, you don't need to do that."
Corri looked up at her dad, "But I want to!"
Noel smiled at the two of them, "If she wants to, you should let her."
Razan reluctantly nodded, and Noel wrote Corri's details down. As the group left the table Noel said, "Don't forget about me alright."
Aero, Jirro and Corri all said in unison, "Never."
While the adults paid for rooms at the many inns on the island, the children explored together. They wanted to see a man who was apparently doing magic tricks somewhere on the island.
Razan and Lucar visited a certain point on the island where a bounty board was displayed. On it were the illustrations of several wanted criminals in the Land of Ralosia, and the bounties for their capture.
There was a photo for a rotund man with a hand shaped scar on his face known as Ekor, with a bounty of 3,000 Ivases. An Mecarne woman known as Coppah had a bounty of 3,500 Ivases. Cook and Chill each had a bounty of 10,000 Ivases.
Then there was a photo of two young men with black hair. One had a thin mustache and both were fairly muscular. Names weren't given but rather titles. 'Sky Bandits 3 & 4'. The bounty for each of them was 40,000.
The photos resembled Razan and Lucar when they were younger, before they could grow beards. Razan took a quick glance around to make sure no one was looking before tearing both portraits down from the board and crumpling them into his pocket. 380Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7cLayeGGl
