The Grand Tournament Read online

  The ground on the plateau was paved with cobblestone paths, while the rest were green surfaces with benches and tables. Morgan could see people sitting on them and just chilling around. Across from the Guard Headquarters was another dormitory—or rather now it was something more like an apartment building: a long blocky building where all the ascended who weren’t part of the Sky Guard lived. There hadn’t been anything like that here when Morgan had arrived and it had been his idea to build them. Not all the ascended lived there, of course, although of those who did only those who worked in the Guild Hold proper were allowed to live there. The rest of their guild’s ascended, along with those who had families or who simply had enough coin, lived down in the Reach Town. There were houses there that Morgan had instructed be built especially for the ascended who worked in the Hold and had families to live with. An entire district was dedicated to just them. Their homes were simple and small, but were their own. Of course, they could also purchase homes or land elsewhere in the growing city and move if they so chose.

  Further beyond the apartments and the Sky Guard headquarters was a large wooden building, a storage facility where most of their more valuable resources were being kept. They had more such storage buildings down in the city, but there was they kept the more mundane resources such as logs, stone, and similar things.

  On the other side of the plateau Morgan saw the mountain’s side and the large cavern hollowed out into it. A tall stone wall covered most of the cavern’s entrance, but there was an open area that showed inside. Behind the mountain Morgan could see a cloud of black smoke moving with the wind, coming from the vents of the Skyreach Forges. Even here, all the way across the plateau, Morgan could hear the rhythmic hammer hits of the smiths. And there, just a bit in front of the forges and to the right was the Guild Hall. The Hall of Myths looked much like Meduseld from the Lord of the Rings movies back on Earth, built with dark brown and golden wood along with white stone, resembling a long Viking mead hall. At least it had looked like that in the beginning—now it looked more like a castle. The original long building had an extra floor above it now, with a slanted roof and a large balcony overlooking the plateau. There were several adjacent support buildings connected to the main hall from both sides and the back. It resembled a mutated hybrid of Meduseld and a Japanese castle. Whatever it was, Morgan liked it. All around the plateau was a wall which was now made of stone, as they had replaced the old wooden walls about a year ago when their Guild Hold leveled and they had enough resources to make such improvements. Constructing it by hand would’ve taken a long time, so instead they had spent the energy they had stored in their hearthstone.

  As they stepped off from the platform, they started to get noticed. A few Sky Guards came running over and took over pulling the cart, Morgan happy to let them have it. The team headed toward the Hall, with Ves instructing the Sky Guards pulling the cart to place it in the storage building until she had the chance to catalog and store it. Morgan’s lip twisted up as he listened to her. There were people now whose entire job was to take care of their loot and resources, but she still liked to do it herself. When they reached the storage building, Morgan and the others emptied their rings of holding of their materials next to the cart, and the workers came out to take care of it. The only thing now left in Morgan’s ring was his combat gear and weapons. Ves instructed the workers about what to do, even though they probably already knew. Morgan smiled at her serious expression but didn’t comment.

  After that they quickly made their way to the Hall. As they climbed the steps, Morgan noticed the two people standing at the top waiting for them. The first was a tall woman with curly black hair falling over her chest and piercing brown eyes, and the second was a man, tall and thin, with close-cropped brown hair and a gaunt look. They were Karissa Huano and Titus Manius, the last two Guild Leaders of Skyreach. The two of them were in charge of the guild while the rest of them were away, with Titus overseeing the dungeon dives and monster hunting as well as patrolling of their territory, and Karissa handling the administrative duties and general management of the guild, the ascended, and Reach Town itself, in that order.

  Lucius hurried his pace and reached the top before them. Karissa jumped into his arms and he spun her around before lowering her and leaning forward. Meanwhile Titus smiled at the rest of them.

  “Morgan, we didn’t expect you for another month at the very least,” he said as he offered his hand. Morgan grabbed his forearm and grinned.

  “We have news,” Morgan said.

  Titus raised an eyebrow, but when Morgan didn’t respond, he looked at the others.

  Ves took pity on him and answered. “We reached silver. We have come for our new badges.”

  Titus’s grin turned into a wide smile. “Congratulations! This is cause for celebration—we will feast tonight!”

  “Silver?” Karissa asked as she and Lucius joined them. She looked at Lucius, who had his arm around her with just a bit of fear in her eyes.

  Karissa had ascended a while ago, but she hadn’t been one of the ascended who went out and faced monsters. Her class was still just the two of her beginner classes, Scout and Wizard; she had elected not to take a class stone to upgrade, since she didn’t really need to. She mostly used her points to increase her wisdom and intellect, which helped her in her duties. She had a few skills that helped her, too, as well as a few abilities, but she wasn’t a combatant. Morgan knew that she was afraid for Lucius. The two of them had gotten along well in the days after the fight with the goblin horde, and the attraction was obvious. A few months later they had gotten together and had stayed that way since. Morgan was happy for Lucius—his friend deserved someone like Karissa.

  Lucius hugged her closer and tried to reassure her. “Don’t worry, we would never bite off more than we can handle. Morgan wouldn’t let us.”

  Morgan gave the roman a droll look, but didn’t comment considering he was right. Ever since the fight with the goblin horde, Morgan had been much more careful about their encounters. The time for risk taking had passed. They had gambled and won a lot, but now… Morgan knew that a single mistake could mean their deaths.

  “It is great news,” Titus said breaking the dourness. “With them being silver, they will be able to gain access to better merchants, get better deals with the Adventurers Guild, access to silver-only contracts and bounties. It will help our guild tremendously.”

  “That is not the only news we have,” Vall added, eliciting curious looks from the two.

  Before he could say it, Morgan interrupted. “We have more to tell, but I think that it would be best if we waited until this evening.”

  Vall saw Morgan’s look and then him shaking his head in the direction of the people standing at the bottom of the steps. He didn’t want the news about the tournament to spread before they had the chance to discuss it with Titus and Karissa. The two caught the exchange, but didn’t comment.

  “Well then, we shall speak more tonight,” Karissa said. “You should get settled while Titus and I go and organize the feast.”

  Morgan nodded and they were agreed. A few moments later they all separated in groups and went their own way.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Morgan and Ves finally reached their room at the top of the hall. It was a new section of the building, and their room was far larger than it used to be. The other Guild Leaders all had their own rooms in the tower above the hall, but theirs was on top. The room itself had a comfy atmosphere, courtesy of Ves’s furnishing; she hadn’t allowed Morgan to do much once he suggested they put a stuffed manticore head over their bed—which he still thought would be cool, but what did he know?

  The room had a few smaller cabinets and chests on the one side. A large hanging brazier that looked more like a bowl suspended from the ceiling occupied the middle of the room, and was already lit, probably by one of the servants once their arrival had been noticed. While it wasn’t yet winter, the nights on the mountain did get a bit cold. The walls were cover
ed in colorful cloths, and the king-sized bed was situated at the end of the room. Fur carpets covered the floor, and on their left were the large glass windows and doors that led to the balcony. Ves jumped on the bed, then splayed herself out and groaned.

  “Oh, I missed our bed,” she mumbled as she stretched her arms over her head.

  Morgan smiled and jumped next to her, eliciting a small squeak as she had her eyes closed and hadn’t expected him to follow suit. “Me too,” Morgan said as he mimicked her movements and pushed his elbow over her head.

  She tried to push it off, but he always pushed it back over her. “Stop!” she said, giggling.

  She then grabbed his arm and pulled it up before using it to roll on top of him while keeping his hand pinned to the bed. “You are so annoying,” she said, and then leaned down to give him a kiss. He pulled her closer, but she pulled back and grinned at him.

  “Sorry, I have to get down to storage and get to work if I want to be finished before the feast,” Ves said, wiggling out of his arms.

  “Oh, come on!” Morgan complained. He raised himself on his elbows as he was suddenly left all alone on the bed while she walked over to their closet, swinging her hips. She stopped at the doors leading into the closet and looked back at him with a twinkle in her eye.

  “You might want to do something productive, too. Don’t want you becoming lazy,” she said before disappearing inside.

  Morgan groaned and let himself fall down on the bed, looking at the ceiling for a long minute, cooling off. Soon, he rolled off the bed and fell to the floor with a thump. He gathered himself slowly and stood up before going over to the balcony. Looking over its railing, he could see the entire plateau beneath him, and beyond the walls surrounding it he saw Reach Town at the base of the mountain. Stretching from the winding path leading up to Skyreach Hold to about several hundred meters beyond, Reach Town was a bustling semicircle that hugged the base of the mountain. The walls were wooden, but Morgan knew that that would change once they had the resources and time. Most of the buildings were wood as well, with stone reinforcements. Still the town had grown much, and he could see the distinct districts when watching from above.

  To the right from his vantage point, hugging the wall on that side, were the orderly rows of houses that had been built by the guild itself for their ascended. Next to it and in the center of the town, all the way to the road that led up into the Guild Hold, lay wide, straight streets with all kind of different buildings on either side—the shops of merchants and various crafters. The main square was a round clearing which was now filled with stalls and large wagons of various merchants, including those that traveled from other towns or even from beyond the pass from other guilds. There weren’t many merchants from other guilds yet, but their number was increasing.

  The square had a street that led directly to the gate of the town, and on its right was another district. The houses there weren’t all that big, and there were actually some tents and open areas. It was the orc district, where the tribes that had agreed to join the guild had settled. The orcs still didn’t ascend, or at least not many of them did. There was only one more orc ascended in Skyreach aside from Clara, as was the orc custom to have only one ascended per tribe and generation. There were three tribes that had settled in Reach Town, and while they didn’t contribute as ascended, they did in other ways. Their hunters, as well as farmers, fed the city, and there were also orc laborers.

  The last district was the smallest, and it was where the human non-ascended lived—those who had come from the other towns but didn’t want to ascend. They had the smallest numbers in the town, but they did contribute in many ways. Non-ascended were not allowed up in the Guild Hold, however; as they weren’t ascended, they were not bound by the rules of the system that governed this world, and because of that could never be truly trusted. An ascended that was a part of a guild could never betray it, while a non-ascended could. Still, Morgan and Karissa had made sure that they didn’t have anything like the discrimination against the non-ascended which existed outside of the valley.

  Reach Town was both smaller and lesser when compared to Irus, even from a distance. Everything in Irus was better; the materials the cities were made out of constituting the likely most obvious difference. Irus was colorful, while Reach Town was bleak looking: squat with small ugly buildings. Where everything in Irus was made with great skill and care, Reach Town looked like everything had come from the same assembly line. It was a cost that they had paid to build the city quickly and cheaply. Still, Morgan loved the town, because it was his.

  Beyond the town was the forest. Starting a few hundred meters away from the town walls, it had been cut down to allow for clear view in all directions. The lush green trees billowed on the wind and hid the road that led through them. Everything that Morgan could see belonged to him—the entire valley was under the rule of his guild.

  He was still not completely sure what to do with such power. He wanted to keep the people that had put their trust in him safe; that was one thing that mattered to him. He had never been a person who had many friends, nor had he ever cared for others, not on Earth at least. Morgan had been alone. But here, he had friends, had people who trusted him, respected him despite all of his flaws. It was heartwarming, and it made him want to be worthy of them.

  Because of that, he wanted to become stronger, and he knew the others wanted to do that as well; but Morgan hadn’t explained what he was seeking to them, not really. He had told them that he wanted strength and power to protect what he loved, and they nodded their heads as if they understood. Lucius understood honor and the need for a leader to protect those who followed them; Ves understood wanting to protect those one loved. Vall knew the journey for more strength, understood the trust that existed between people in the same guild. He had depended on that trust when he had lost his arm. Clara understood duty, understood responsibility. And they all understood wanting to ascend.

  Yet they didn’t really grasp what Morgan wanted.

  He wanted the power he had glimpsed in his father: the power of a god. That was so far beyond their understanding that Morgan didn’t even know how to begin explaining it. They all knew his connection to their Great Lord, but they didn’t really think much on it, which Morgan was thankful for. To them he was still their friend, just plain old Morgan.

  But Morgan knew that the power Oxy wielded was something an ordinary person could obtain—his father had implied as much. The only fear Morgan had was that Oxy didn’t truly grasp that in order for a person to be what he wanted them to be, they needed to be extraordinary. They needed to have a drive that pushed them forward no matter what. Oxy had said that he respected only the strong, and Morgan knew that the level of strength that someone like Oxy would respect was beyond what ordinary people could achieve. That was Morgan’s greatest fear—that he was in fact ordinary. That he did not have what it took to become what his father would respect. That he would never again stand next to Oxylus, that he would never have a chance to get to know him, to build a relationship with the man.

  Oxy had abandoned him at birth, at the very moment of Morgan’s conception, if his words were to be trusted. That alone proved to Morgan that his father lived by a set of moralities and rules that were nothing like the ones he had grown up with, that were nothing like those of this world, even. He didn’t resent him for that, not much at least; Morgan’s greatest gift had always been his mind, as well as his greatest curse. He was capable of grasping at strange concepts, capable of understanding things outside of his personal experience. He could think and plan better than most, but his mind also dragged him down dark paths. It made him act like a fool, made him make fun of things and disregard others, all in order to protect himself from hurt. He had learned long ago that not truly caring, that acting the fool, would spare him the pain of loss.

  But here, because of his father, Morgan had another chance. He had taken great steps in making himself change. Forging another person, he had tried to l
essen his nearly automatic defense mechanisms, to act more in the way a leader should. It was a process, but he was getting there. He had people who he cared about here, he had people who he was responsible for—and yet every time he thought about what he was doing, about getting stronger in order to keep them safe, about putting himself in danger so that they didn’t have to, he remembered his father’s words. Oxylus did not believe in the same things, Morgan knew, and he would’ve never protected the people of the guild, not on purpose. If they had happened to be protected by his actions, then it was just a happy accident. Oxylus believed that people needed to have enough power to protect themselves, or else otherwise they were not worthy of his respect.

  It made Morgan feel conflicted. His desire to protect the guild and its people warred with the words of his father. A man that he had never known, and yet he knew deep down he wanted his approval. And for the last two years this issue had been weighing down on him: Did he want to be a person who was strong for his own sake, or a person who was strong such that he could protect others? Somehow Morgan felt that making that decision would shape who he was to become.

  But that only meant that it was not an easy decision to make.

  He sighed and turned around, getting back to his room. Looking around, he saw that Ves had left. She had probably saw him brooding on the balcony and decided to leave him to it. Somehow she always knew when he needed space to think by himself—it was the one thing he loved most about her. Shaking his head, he realized that he hadn’t changed yet, so he entered the closet and changed into more comfortable clothes. He put on black trousers and a red shirt, then pulled on something that resembled a jacket, being long sleeved and made out of black leather. He kept his ring of holding on him, as it contained all of his combat gear. He never went anywhere without it, not even in his own Guild Hold.