Relic-Verse: Champions of Hope

Chapter 12

-- Part 1 --

Addi giggled, gripping the hands of Felix and Netri as she dragged them through a crowd, with Eric and Alice following close behind. The group each wore a raincoat as a light rain started pelting the crowd. Eventually she pulled her friends to a large hill with a massive hole in the side and a staircase leading down into the earth.

"Here we are! The King's Coliseum!! And we are early!!" Addi grinned as Alice stared in awe at the hole.

"We're barely 10 minutes before the first match..." Felix sighed as the Plityn sped up their pace, dragging them down the grand dirt steps and into another crowd.

"Please tell me you got us seats!" Netri reached his free hand out and gripped Alice's, who just growled in response.

"Oh I didn't! I got us a balcony!" She continued shoving her way through the crowd, earning plenty of swears and hateful looks in her direction.

Felix looked up and stared at the high curved dirt ceiling. Covering it were intricately carved murals depicting every previous championship. Eventually the crowd started to thin out and Addi pulled the entire group into a balcony area.

Alice and Eric let out small gasps as they stared at the massive arena dug out beneath Vilova. Beneath them were dozens of rows, with hundreds of seats each. High above the arena, in another, much grander balcony, was a throne, with the Antlien King sitting atop it.

With them finally coming to a stop, Netri got to examine the King, having rarely seen an Antlien in his shop due to them favoring being underground.

The king was a larger member of his race, having the same bug-like head with antennas and pincers along with the four arms and tall body as the rest of the Antliens. Unlike the vast majority of the bug-like aliens, he was extremely muscular and his antennas curled into slight spirals. The most notable feature of the king though, was his crown. Being the first and only Antlien royalty to not be female in the history of the race, he wore his status with pride, and his coliseum, constructed from those willing to follow him, showed it better than anything else.

Eric looked over the edge of the balconies and examined the stands below them as they started filling up with a wide array of people. "This is cool!" His eyes turned into exclamation marks as he turned to his friends.

Alice stood slightly behind Netri, carefully observing the people without drawing attention to herself. "So many..."

Netri looked down as he noticed the girl now clutching his hand and simply sighed and turned away. "How long till this thing starts? I only gave Borg enough food for a few hours."

Addi giggled, "Relax! It won't take much longer!"

As if on cue, the king picked up a microphone to broadcast his booming voice, "Welcome everyone to the 57th Coliseum Championship, and the 1,000th championship in the history of our glorious race!"

The crowd burst into cheers, getting pumped with excitement, and causing Alice to grip tighter onto Netri while Addi and Eric joined in the cheering.

"Today is a monumental occasion! Even before we moved underground on our homeworld, the gladiatorial traditions have been a centerpiece of our race! Our ancestors fought pincer and claw to claim the title of Champion and provide entertainment to the masses! While our old ways may be gone, and our homeworld far behind us, we are still here! We are still together! And now we celebrate the one thousandth championship, but not just amongst ourselves! This time, we celebrate this monumental occasion with our friends from the stars! We all are under one banner these days, and everyone has done their share to represent their homes and their people! So today we shall represent ours! Today, we shall show you all the greatest warriors the Antliens have to offer! Today, we welcome you into our most sacred and ancient tradition! Today, we are honored to have you with us, at the King's Coliseum!!"