Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

"You changed it to humans only, as of late."

They seem to be running up on the pavement, up to a line, and leaping as far as they can into the sand pit.
The flare gun goes off one more time, prompting the athletes to start lining up near the paved strip.

 

"Indeed I did. And soon, this whole thing will be resolved, one way or another."

Crystal pays more attention to the athletes lining up.

 

"I will adapt as I always have... when the time comes."

A judge and a few other people holding large pin markers stand off to the side of the pit, signaling one athlete at a time to run, leap, then go to the side as they mark the distance jumped.

 

"Good."

Crystal watches intently.

 

I nod in approval.
"It is god that there are still men who are not tempted by the prospect of assault. Anyways, you are to give each of the family members a flyer, and you are to survey the area around for potentially resource-rich areas."

 

"Don't expect much until then."

The process repeats, but only twice unlike the javelin throw. Cheering comes and goes, but it's more breathtaking than anything else to watch people leap twice their body length in one go.

"Oh, I'm tempted, but getting fired with the consequence of death isn't big on my agenda. I... hate saying this to you, but I really only joined the core to get enough pension to send my kids to school. I had no idea that I'd get sent out here a month before retirement."
Pause.
"I'll go let the others know as well, but... my supervisor said that if I'm not honest with you he'd accuse me of whatever little slip up I made, so... I guess, for the better or for the worse, there's my spiel. Sorry to waste your time rambling." He says, heading off.

 

"I hope for at least a bit, but I don't expect much."

Crystal keep watching, at the edge of his seat.

 

"Good."
Linoa lets out a quiet giggle after glancing at Crystal, the winner jumping 14'9" according to the judge.

 

I continue walking.

"Woah..."
Crystal says to Linoa.
"How do you jump that far?"

 

Eklir seems to lag behind a bit, annoyed.

"You practice, a lot." Linoa comments. "Or if you can shapeshift some wings, you just fly. In their case, it's definitely impressive."

 

Onyx finishes her food, before changing back into her cat form and running off to explore some more.

 

I walk around the village for a bit to see if there are any more beatings.

 

"No, I've know about dragons living here before, but after an 'incident' they left and never came back. And you seem to know a lot about these dragons, almost like they're your family." I say curiously

 

I don't console him.

"Yeah, no kidding."

 

She can smell a significantly colder room, a room reeking of sweat, and the bunk room.

It doesn't seem like there are any more, but it's still slow going.

"You know, the prophet staved off that incident. They never had to move." Anne says, ignoring the question.

He doesn't expect you to, judging by his glare.

"If you think this is crazy, you'll like the high jump. See that mat and the limbo-like bar next to it? People are going to jump over it."

 

I just continue to walk.

"Well, if people can jump fourteen feet, I can only wonder how high they can jump."
Crystal admits.

 

Onyx decides to head to the sweat-smelling room, prior experience giving a clue to what the colder room is.

 

"So where is this prophet anyway?"

 

He tags along, even as you get back to Aral'hrah's territory.

"Guess you'll find out later!" Linoa chuckles.

"I'm not sure, but there's a certain clearing she always seems to appear first. That, or we could go straight to the mountains and ask if her escort left yet."

Inside is the training room, dozens of dome-arenas and loud mouthed spectators on the first floor as an armory bigger than the shadow throne room looms above it all.

 

I keep walking, looking around for anyone I know.

"Yeah, I can't wait!"