Chapter 75 - Long live the champions.
Midar. About a year ago. Prime.
The sun was settling toward the rooftops, drawing a long shadow out of every post and pouring thick honeyed light down the street, while Deron stood at his porch and watched the far end of it, where his daughter was due to appear.
He was waiting for Eveline to come back from Anuxar, where she was to have received her companion.
When she finally came into sight, Deron let his folded arms drop and his lips parted a little, because there was no magical creature walking beside her.
She was carrying something in her hands, though, her head lowered.
He went to meet her and turned over in his mind what could have gone wrong.
"Eveline?... Hey, how are you?" he asked when they met in the middle of the street.
His daughter raised her head, and Rexy lay in her arms with a healing paw.
Deron's brows went up, then drew together at once, and he stepped closer.
He looked the little creature over, then lifted his head to Eveline.
That same low light reached the kitchen later and lay across the table in long bands while Deron brewed the tea, and by then he had already heard from his daughter both how she had found Rexy and how the companion selection had passed her over.
Eveline sat on a chair with her feet drawn up and her arms wrapped around them, her face pressed to her folded knees.
"I see..." said Deron as he set a cup and a plate of pie down in front of her.
She did not turn, looking at Rexy where he lay curled and asleep on the couch.
"More and more of these situations keep hinting to me that I made a mistake when I decided to enroll at that university..." she said.
Deron put his hands on his belt and breathed out quietly through his nose.
"I don't think they're hints," he answered.
"Then what are they?"
"...trials."
Eveline gave no answer as her father came around to her side, lowered himself onto his haunches and drew the back of his hand down her cheek, then touched the tip of her nose once with his index finger.
She raised her eyes to him and found the same warm smile on his face.
"You know... since your mother passed, I keep coming back to things she said, and they help me through the hardest moments every time. Sometimes it seems to me as though she is speaking to me through those memories. And just now... I remembered some of those words, and she probably meant them for you as well. She used to say... 'The harder and the more often the trials come, the more special and the greater the future that is waiting for you. All of it comes down to this, that our god... the god of the sun... sends them only to the special ones... to the strongest.'... And you, my daughter... you are clearly one of his favorites," said Deron.
"A favorite he took a mother from, left almost without magic, and did not even give a companion to?" Eveline asked with an upset half-smile.
"There are times when we have to go through circumstances like these, only because it is our lot to see the world from a different angle... from the one no person can see who has never lived through the hardships you have lived through. That is the price of certain kinds of knowledge... and it always pays for itself in time. All you need to do is believe, and wait for the day you understand why you had to live the life you are living right now."
Eveline's eyes dropped, and Deron looked over at the sleeping Rexy.
"Besides... has our god really left you without a companion?" he asked.
She turned to Rexy as well.
"But he's only a little one... how am I supposed to fly with him, or even ride him?"
"Well... maybe he'll grow?"
Eveline gave a hopeless laugh and started picking at the cuticles of her fingers. Deron covered her hands with his own and stopped them.
"Look at me."
She raised her face to him and met a sternness in his eyes that took nothing away from the warmth that had been there before.
"Your mother is still watching. And she believes in you. Just as I believe in you. And I'm more than certain that we both want you — to believe in yourself as well," her father added.
The girl's lower lip began to twitch and her eyes grew wetter.
"What do you say?... Can you do it?" he asked with a slight smile.
Eveline sniffed, dropped her gaze, waited a moment, then sighed and nodded.
Deron laid his palm against her cheek and rubbed it with his thumb.
"...you're the very best I have... and you'll manage every bit of it for me," he added, and the two of them turned to the couch, where Rexy yawned loudly, stretched a little, and then shook his head and his big ears.
"...I think he believes in you too," her father said, and Eveline barely held back a laugh, even with her eyes still full of tears.
That memory came back to Deron while he sat on the ground among the cloud of dust, beside Lucia.
The same shock had settled on both their faces, their heads lifted and their eyes on the gigantic newborn beast-god that towered in front of them.
He stood close to fifty feet at the withers, his body ran two hundred and thirty feet long, and his wingspan came to almost four hundred.
The spectators in the stands went rigid before the colossal creature, whose aura left them barely able to stay on their feet; the cadets' fliers flattened their ears and lowered their heads in a bow before him.
Artus and Olen felt the air itself turn heavier on them, and a pressure held them down so that any movement came hard.
All of it was fear, and practically everyone who saw Abelion felt it.
Only Aren was untouched by that fear; he stood with his back to the beast-god, directly in front of him, and looked at the cadets, at Uro, at Deron and Lucia, and at Eveline as well.
The dust around her was settling slowly, and out of everyone frozen there she alone came forward.
She rose to her feet unhurriedly, covered in dirt and bruises, without taking her eyes off the beast-god.
Her steps were small, her hands lifted and her mouth open.
Aren moved aside as Abelion lowered his enormous muzzle until it was almost against Eveline.
His jaws alone were taller than the girl herself.
But she was not afraid. Her heartbeat had gone fast with worry and shock, though knowing who stood in front of her took the fear away completely.
Eveline put out her hand and laid her palm carefully against the beast-god's nostrils, feeling the cold and the hard scale under it, while her heart filled with a warmth that Abelion seemed to pass to her through the touch.
"...Rexy..." she said with a trembling voice.
The beast-god let out a deep gentle howl that rolled muffled in his throat, closing his eyes and pushing his muzzle forward until his nostrils pressed against the whole of her and gathered her into an embrace.
Eveline held on to him, her eyes still wide and filling with tears, and her arms tightened around him.
She broke into sobs and buried her face in him.
The cadets and the others began to get up one after another, and Aren stood off to the side with a relaxed smile that Lucia was watching.
"I...I thought I'd lost you..." Eveline said in a whisper through her tears, and the beast-god answered her only with a guttural sound.
Aren came over to her and laid a hand on her back.
"It's all behind you now," he said.
"...Aren..." she began, without turning around.
He waited for the rest of her words, but after a short pause she spun sharply and pressed herself into him, burying her face in his chest.
"...thank you..." she said through his clothes.
Aren breathed out, satisfied, then put his arms around her in return and stroked her head.
"You've still got unfinished business... remember?" he answered.
She lifted her face, reddened and swollen from crying, and looked him in the eyes.
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"The competition isn't over, and the riders ahead of you have nearly reached the finish. Don't waste your chance," he added.
Deron made to step forward, but Uro stopped him with a hand. Eveline's father glanced at his friend, who shook his head, smiling.
When he turned back to his daughter, he watched her stand in front of Abelion while Aren moved away.
One of the beast-god's four tails reached slowly toward her, its spiked tip rebuilding itself into a flat white-stone platform, and Eveline stepped onto it.
Rexy, who had become Abelion, lifted her up to his withers, where she took an uncertain hold of the spikes along his back.
Abelion raised his head and straightened to his full height, so that arcs of wind ran outward all around him.
He spread all four wings, two of them the main pair and two of them smaller, auxiliary ones.
Eveline looked around and gripped the spikes harder; then the beast-god surged into the air, threw up the dust again and forced everyone below and the spectators in the stands to cover their faces.
Aurelius was in the boxes at the finish and followed what was happening over the broadcast; the commentators Kelo and Noro had lost the power of speech and forgotten their work entirely.
Meanwhile the leading riders, Gray, Kerar and Gen, had less than three quarters of a mile left to the finish, though their beasts had pressed themselves to the ground.
"Alvazar! What the hell is wrong with you?! Fly!" Gray shouted, and his beast went on refusing to obey.
Then they heard peals of thunder, and behind them an enormous shadow passed over every one of the riders.
In the next second Abelion landed in front of Gray; the ground shook with it, and the wind was thrown outward with such force that Gray had to grip the saddle harder.
He raised his head slowly and did not believe what he was seeing. Not the sight alone, but the beast-god's aura pressed on him so hard that a shiver went through the whole of him, his breath caught, and his heart seemed to stop where it was.
Alvazar bowed his head and pressed his muzzle to the very ground, and so did the beasts of the other riders behind him.
Gray could not move, and he saw all the while that someone was coming toward him along Abelion's tail.
When he recognized Eveline, his mind lost all its faith in reality.
Abelion brought his monstrously huge muzzle level with Eveline, so that it came to rest directly in front of Gray.
She looked down at him with her back straight, her eyes full of cold and absolute certainty.
"You have something that belongs to me." she said.
Gray managed his next breath at last, only so that he could swallow. He tipped his head back to Abelion's muzzle, which was turning more and more aggressive as a deep growl rose out of the beast-god's chest and went through to the skin.
This was the moment. The first ruinous moment when he truly felt the greatness of the one he had despised and counted as nobody.
Then he understood how worthless the fact of blood was. How worthless the fact of lineage. How worthless he was.
Power. Monstrous ancient power that takes whatever shape it chooses. That was what made him take the first step toward understanding his father's words.
He reached his trembling hands to the bag he had taken from Eveline and held it out.
Eveline took the bag, and Abelion lifted her onto his own back again and rose into the air.
Then they landed in front of the one Eveline wanted to see most of all.
Ilau had gone still on his boar as well, looking up at the beast-god that towered over him, rage and a thirst for blood in its face.
Abelion carried Eveline out along his tail to her former best friend, in whose eyes there was not only astonishment but the same old malice and cold.
She looked into those eyes, and where before she had felt only an emotional pain with guilt in it, now it was only a faint background, and nothing at all set against the anger and the absolute disgust she felt for Ilau.
Eveline moved in until she was almost against him, reached her own hand to his pouch and drew out the red crystal, and her gaze never left his.
She never said a word.
As Abelion began to raise her again, she turned her back on Ilau, and he clenched his teeth with fury at it; he went straight for his belt, took the grip and activated the rod, then hurled it at Eveline with a roar.
It was a stupid thing to do, but rage and malice had taken up the whole of his mind, so that he forgot logic entirely.
The rod spun fast through the air at her and bounced away at once off the white stone of a second tail that Abelion had put in its way.
She turned around as Ilau raised his face to the beast-god straightening above him, whose eyes lit with a greater threat still.
His boar panicked at once and threw its rider off in terror, so that Ilau fell and rolled along the ground.
He had only managed to lift his head when a single discharge of lightning tore the boar into pieces, and Ilau himself was thrown further away.
"Rexy! Stop!" Eveline shouted, and Abelion drew back his bared teeth and settled at once.
She looked at the bloody mess left of the boar, and then at Ilau, who lay off to one side and raised his head with a rasp.
Her lips pressed together, but then she only went back to Abelion, who rose into the air again and flew on, leaving Ilau in the dirt, the dust and the blood.
Abelion passed over the leading riders once more, and they lifted their heads, though their beasts, ready by now to carry on the race, pressed themselves to the ground again until the beast-god was far enough away.
Aurelius stood with his hands on the railing and watched Abelion land at the finish and set Eveline down before she walked forward and held the bag of crystals up above her.
The commentators were silent. The stands were silent. Aren and the others were silent.
Then Kelo brought himself to announce it into the microphone.
"N...N-number...33... has come in first..."
Silence fell again, until Noro broke it by raising his hands and clapping; Kelo looked at him in bewilderment and only then did the same.
Those claps went out through the crystal loudspeakers, and the stands picked them up in turn, so that the rising sound filled the whole course.
Eveline raised her head, took in the applause of thousands, and then stopped on Abelion's muzzle, where he watched her with a satisfied expression, and a smile came onto her face.
Later the rest of the riders did make it to the finish, though there was no gladness on their faces, since the beast-god towering off to one side held all their attention.
All the leaders laid out their crystals and counted them.
Place
#
Name
Points
1
33
Eveline
10
2
17
Gray
10
3
23
Kerar
9
4
48
Gen
10
Aurelius looked the results over and then turned to the whole of the stands under the cameras aimed at him, through which spectators in other parts of the course watched what was happening.
"The winner, who crossed the line first and took first place — Eveline Garden and her companion Abelion!" he announced, though the stands answered with silence again.
He turned to Eveline and saw a slight disappointment on her, and then to Abelion.
In front of every spectator there, Aurelius rose on a platform of light that formed beneath him, until he was level with the beast-god's muzzle.
They looked into each other's eyes, and Abelion found no fear in the Archon.
The Archon reached out his hand and held it there with the palm open.
Abelion did not react at once and went on searching Aurelius's face, but then he pushed his muzzle forward and pressed his nose into the palm.
Aurelius closed his eyes and concentrated for a few seconds, and then a smile showed on his face.
When he opened them he studied Abelion again, and then turned to the public.
"People of Helios... I understand your fear... I understand your doubts and your worries... but as your Archon of Light... as the light of our Republic, I declare — you have nothing to fear! And you have everything to rejoice in, because you have just witnessed not only new champions of the competition, but the birth of our new Guardian!"
Aurelius spread his arms wide and smiled as he spoke his next words.
"So let us rejoice! Let us rejoice in this new and great event that the God of the Sun himself has granted us!"
Every spectator started talking at once, and the stands filled with noise.
And then some of them began to shout with their fists held up over their heads.
"GLORY TO THE NEW GUARDIAN!"
Then others joined, and others, until the voices of tens of thousands of spectators ran together into a single chorus.
"GLORY TO THE NEW GUARDIAN!" "GLORY TO THE NEW GUARDIAN!" "GLORY TO THE NEW GUARDIAN!" "GLORY TO THE NEW GUARDIAN!"
Aurelius raised a hand of his own.
"LONG LIVE THE CHAMPIONS!" he shouted, and the people answered him with the same.
"LONG LIVE THE CHAMPIONS!" "LONG LIVE THE CHAMPIONS!" "LONG LIVE THE CHAMPIONS!"
Kelo and Noro joined the celebration. Off to one side Artus and Olen threw their arms around each other's shoulders and jumped where they stood as they shouted the same words. Deron's eyes went slightly wet, and Uro clapped him on the back for it.
Aren stood beside them smiling and clapped his hands, while Lucia on his right applauded too and kept glancing across at him.
"Looks like there's no avoiding another serious conversation, is there?" he asked without turning his head to her, his eyes on Eveline where she stood on the podium and raised the cup above her.
"I'm afraid you'll have to tell me your whole story, like a damn bedtime tale," Lucia answered, which made Aren laugh a little.
Eveline held the cup up and looked around at the noisy stands and at the confetti scattering through the air. Second place went to Gray, and third to Gen.
Too much had happened in too short a stretch of time, so that the whole of this reality seemed more and more like a dream to her.
The sun shone brighter. The sky was bluer. And her heart seemed not to have recovered yet from the hysteria and the shock of seeing Rexy covered in blood.
Her eyes kept going back to Abelion, and still she could not believe that none of it was a dream.
Even the thought of winning the competition meant less to her than the fact that Rexy was all right, and that he was no longer just her little friend but a true beast-god. The Republic's new Guardian.
At last five Archons came to stand before them: Aurelius, Lucia, Varian, Revareus Flare and Aphira Ray.
Each one congratulated the champions in turn and shook their hands. Varian put a particular weight on the handshake with his own son, held it a moment longer and looked him straight in the eyes, and then moved on.
Revareus Flare, the Archon of Science, came back to Eveline and spoke to her with a smile.
"I must admit, I am deeply impressed that you decided to take this competition on a lightsurf. That will undoubtedly end up in the history books as one of the boldest ideas there has ever been."
"Thank you," she answered with an awkward smile.
He smirked and followed the others, while Kelo and Noro came up to the champions, took them in and then turned back to the public and the cameras.
"WELL THEN, GLORIOUS PEOPLE OF HELIOS! WE ASK YOU TO LOOK ONCE MORE AT THESE MAGNIFICENT CHAMPIONS, WHO HAVE TODAY GIVEN YOU WHAT IS PROBABLY THE MOST SPECTACULAR COMPETITION IN OUR WHOLE HISTORY! AND SO, PLEASE, YOUR APPLAUSE!"
Every spectator broke into cries of support and applause, and the whole course filled with noise again.
Eveline watched it all with a smile, looked her golden cup over once more, and then turned to Kelo's back.
"NOW... I BELIEVE WE CAN DECLARE THESE MIDAR COMPETITIONS CLO—" he began, but he never finished.
One second.
One short second, and it took another ten or twenty to take in what had happened.
Eveline stood there with the cup, blood all over her, while a piece of flesh dropped into the golden bowl of it.
The champions were frozen, still smiling at what they had not yet understood.
Kelo's body had been driven into the ground; a creature none of them knew was devouring the commentator.
It had simply landed out of nowhere.
Every spectator, Aren, the cadets, the Archons and all the rest stood frozen as Kelo's microphone carried the distinct slick sound of flesh and the crunching echoes of breaking bone.
The thing let go of his body and straightened slowly until it stood almost seven feet tall. Its humanoid form was made of naked biomass, of flesh, bone and blood, and its limbs ran disproportionately long.
It turned its hideous muzzle, whose terrible red eyes sat above dozens of bared fangs.
And at that same moment one of the spectators in the outermost upper stands felt something hot drip onto his shoulder, and when he turned he went still at the sight of another creature rising over him.
One of hundreds that were rising at that moment along the outer side.