Curse of the Crystals

Chapter 18: Start of the Tournament - part 1

During the next few days, the remaining contestants were escorted to the capital, where the rest of the tournament would be held at a new arena. The place was built solely for this tournament. All teams were asked what they went through during the preliminary round, which was all written down and by some eager bards. They were quick to spread the stories through-out the entire empire as a way to promote the grand finale. Although it was nice to have a bit of a break, the contestants were kept under close watch in order to make sure nothing would happen to them before the grand tournament. It made the situation feel relatively tense.

Ambrose was asked to stay involved, as his healing powers were too much of a luxury to miss out on, and he agreed to work with the Blue Guards. This allowed him to get a closer look at most of the contestants. First of all, there were the six remaining members of their own team, with who he'd been sharing whatever information he'd been able to gather. They also discussed what happened during the tournament, but Itzal remained surprisingly silent. It was clear he wasn't telling everything, but he refused to share what was bothering him. Even Luna didn't get much out of him, as she told Ambrose that Itzal only seemed more bothered whenever she tried to get him to open up a bit. Eventually, Ambrose decided it was better to ignore Itzal for now. He'd probably sort himself out at some point.

Out of the other teams, the one that was talked about the most was the team consisting of Ezer Floros and two of his men. Even the teams that were defeated by them spoke highly of them, whether that was respectfully or begrudgingly so. Ezer's team also managed to bring down two teams that consisted of the Warriors of Dawn, although there were two more teams made up of the mercenaries that remained. They consisted of some of the highest ranking people among the mercenary group, and if their goal had been to gain publicity by joining the tournament, they had certainly succeeded in doing so. Even Maiara said she was considering to hire them in the future.

There were also two teams that remained of a very large group from New Haven. They had entered the tournament with more than a dozen teams, so the fact that two of those teams remained wasn't necessarily the result of their skills. That said, Itzal and the Alchemist had mentioned some crucial details of their encounter with them, which told Ambrose and Maiara that this group might've been more clever and well-prepared than most people gave them credit for. The question was how well these skills and talents would aid them in the actual battles that were about to take place in the arena itself.

The last three teams were about as different as they could get. The first was a team made-up of city guards from the capital, who were minor nobles that were likely looking for fame and fortune. Whereas most of the nobles considered the set-up of this tournament to 'ordinary' or 'vulgar' to join, these guards had been eager to do so. They managed to rush to the centre of the city early on, and true to their guarding nature, they were able to successfully defend themselves from other groups at the remains of the city's castle. Somehow, the story of three guards defending a ruined castle from multiple groups of opponents originating from through-out the empire had spread like a wildfire, and the retelling of it was becoming some sort of modern legend.

The next team was also talked about a lot, but in a totally different way. They looked suspiciously much like members from a mercenary guild called Earth's Grip, which was known to work on both sides of the law. The Empire had even cracked down on its members once, after they had been too brazen with their involvement in the murder of a noble high enough in the hierarchy for the Emperor himself to care about solving the mess that resulted from the murder. There was an insane amount of rumours about them going around. Some said they were hired to kill someone, with Ambrose, Maiara, Itzal and Ezer all being mentioned as their possible targets. Others said they only used the tournament to get closer to the prince. All in all, they were feared and distrusted in equal measure, even by the Blue Guards themselves. Considering there was no concrete evidence against them, they were free to continue participating, although they were under constant watch.