Duel Lyceum

Matter of Soul

Aara waited at the peak of the Altar of the Gods. It was a depraved place that lacked much, but it was one of the only places she ever knew. Brron claimed that the God's world must be flavourless and plain so that they could better focus on things that truly mattered. Aara thought a little colour wouldn't be too bad, but Brron had a way with winning people over to his side with the most pointless things.

When she was in the pantheon, she would sit on the steps climbing up to the Altar and look at the decrepit land of dull grey and red, trying to imagine that there was a purpose of it all, and there wasn't. The only thing that mattered in this world was the Altar. Anything else here had no need to exist.

Storkk the birdman was the first show up at the table, followed by stony Brron, the mass of fire and molten, Pyyre. As always, radiant Divv and depressing Glloom were last. Only Divv nodded to her. They had always gotten along together. They hardly see me as worthy, even if I do manage to work my way back in here.

Storkk was the first to speak. 'Yes. I'll repeat myself, if you defeat the boy that beat you, you'll be back up here. That includes you killing him.'

'I made him lose, though,' Aara said. 'I convinced him to use a moon card that led to his defeat.'

'Don't care about that,' Brron said. 'Kill him or defeat him, your choice. Either one of those and your position will be restored.

'Please don't kill him,' Glloom muttered, his voice quivering. 'I'm the one that will have to deal with that later, and I hate people dying for no real good reason.'

Brron jumped to his feet and slammed his hands on the table. 'You're a god of darkness and death. You have a duty! When we get a duty, we fulfill it.'

'You got an easy duty; you have no right to speak!' Glloom rose to match him. 'Creating mountains and land and whatever. EASY. You just do it once and you're done. With me, there ain't no stopping. Besides, when I find one I enjoy talking to, he has to move onto the next life. INFURIATING.'

Brron's eyes twitched. 'Stop acting like you know what my duty is. You can't just slap down some earth and call it a day.'

'Everyone, stop.' Divv stood up as gracefully as an angel, smiling all the time. 'Aara should re-join our ranks. No one here can tame the sea as well as her, and it is beginning to show. I hired an intern in the meantime and he is barely keeping up. He'll be spent within a week.'

'Aara will defeat Lyder or Ryder or whatever his name is.' Storkk glared at everyone in turn. 'We can't bend our rules to fit her. We will keep going through people until she returns, or we find someone good enough to replace her. That is the end of the matter.'

Pyyre started shaking, spewing flames from his skin and dripping molten onto the altar.

'See.' Storkk pointed to him with his thumb. 'He agrees with me.'

'Why is this oaf still allowed at our table. This place is for IMPORTANT business.' Glloom returned to his seat.

Brron cleared his throat. 'Aara, just duel him or kill him. It makes no difference in the scheme of things whether he lives or dies.'

'Nothing makes any difference whether people live or die to you lot.' Aara spun around and faced the million steps leading up to the altar. 'But it does to them and their friends. I've learned a lot by being their slave. I would hate to see them die.'