127 Quick Visit (Part 6)

When we visited the Grand Stage and Woody's Course the following day, I was really impressed. They really added to the course, and made it more thrilling. Though the first and second section didn't change much, the Air Hike and Dive sections saw a lot of changes. Air Hike section became much more elaborate, and lasted longer. They even introduced an air loop, where people were shot into a specifically designed current.

The Dive section wasn't any different. They introduced more stuff in between the tunnels. Some supported walls with a combination of lifts and falls. Moreover, they added on another new section. From what we were told, that section was called the Maze section. Once we tried it out, we realised why they decided to call it like that.

Our bodies got blasted left and right, but no exit was in sight. The thrill of constantly moving left, right, up or even down was great. The surprise element was present as well. We had no idea where the course would take us, just like travelling through a maze. Better still, they made alternative paths through the maze. Me and Tara got the same path, but Dawn's got a different one. That in itself was a great idea, and probably required great knowledge in Formations.

We all had a few tries on the improved Woody's Course, except for Curly. She really didn't want to go onto that course, after witnessing what happened to people taking it. "This was fun, right? They improved it, but a lot of your things are still left intact. What do you think?", Tara asked. "The course is even better. We could've made it bigger, but of course time was of the essence. I'm really glad they improved it, this is a great attraction for people who live here and those who visit", I replied.

"Yea, Sedon saw a huge spike in visitors. Especially after the Grand Stage got completed. Since we are on this subject, let's go visit the Grand Stage. There's loads of shops to look at, and even more performances to watch", Dawn proposed.

The Sedon's Grand Stage was indeed large, spacious and prestigious. There were shops of all sorts everywhere. We could buy food, weapons, pets, jewellery and of course items that promoted the performers themselves. Other than the shops, the Grand Stage had another unique selling point. There were a few large areas for people to rest, have a seat and perhaps converse with each other. This was something Arena didn't have. There were no sitting places, other than the seats around the stage.

That wasn't the only change though. Formations were there to ease movement between the floors. Who'd use stairs, when a wind Formation could simply blast you to the next floor. This matched really well with the Woody's Course next to the Grand Stage.

After checking out some shops and grabbing something to eat, we headed for the stage. The tickets weren't expensive for normal performances, so we could easily afford them. "Though the tickets aren't expensive now, once a star visits, the prices rise a lot. Some tickets would cost you a few Black Hals just for an average seat. If you were to buy a very good seat, you'd pay in excess of ten Black Hals", Dawn explained.

That wasn't very surprising, since the Arena worked on a similar basis. 'I wonder how the Arena operates now? Perhaps I'll get a chance to visit in the future... After the Formation project is completed', I thought. Once in our seats, we were able to appreciate the size of the stage. Spacious, elegant and all seats were focused onto the stage.

Instead of circular sitting arrangements, Sedon's Grand Stage had seats arranged into a cone. No one sat behind the stage, therefore the performers could simply face the audience and perform. That alone was a good design, saving loads of trouble for the performers, but a bigger surprise awaited us… Or at least me. "We are on the second floor, and I'm sure there's a third and fourth floors as well… How come I can see the sky?", I asked.

"Hehe, I was wondering when you'd ask about that. It's actually a new type of Formations, or so I heard. I'm not exactly sure how this works, but we are really on the second floor, and there are floors above us. There are two more stages to be truthful, the sky you see isn't real… In a way. This is hard to explain, but the Formations make the sky appear here inside the stage, even though it's closed off", Dawn explained.

"New sort of Formations?... I'll pester Suly about them, she must know something…", I said to myself quietly. The Formations acted more like an illusion, but when I asked Dawn about it, she actually shook her head. "No, it's not an illusion. This is the real sky, it's simply not located here. Hmmm… Let me put it like this. Imagine this sky is a painting that reflects the real sky above us. I can't explain this any other way, because I don't know much either".

I surely had no clue how they achieved that, and Tara was even more clueless. The only solution was to ask someone like Suly, or maybe even my aunt. No one was able to provide an answer to me at that stage, therefore we focused on the performance itself.

Singing was the most popular type of performance out there, but other types of performances were slowly catching up. From Dawn's and Tara's explanation, I learned that Formations were becoming a huge thing. People knew about Formations for a long time, but they usually didn't experience them. More Grey Lizards and even other races were going for the performance sector. This in turn made these two types of performers compete for the viewers.

There was a third category as well. Display of one's skills. Although not so popular on the Grand Stage, it became really popular on the Arena. These weren't exactly performances when compared to the other two, but people counted them in. They counted them mostly because the skill and ability performances were not real battles. No one fought each other, and even when someone did, it was fake and for show only.

"I guess the Arena still has some unique points. They actually took what used to be a contest, and changed it into a whole performance section", I said. "Yea, not a bad idea, since they changed to battles once again. Anyway, this one is done, shall we buy tickets for another one?", Tara asked. "Sure, we have time. I still want to visit Ama, and perhaps the guys I worked with on the Woody's Course… If they live here", I agreed.

We watched one more performance, which included more singing. I wasn't a great fan of singing performances, but enjoyed myself either way. "Alright, you guys go visit Ama, while I take care of something. I'll see you at Ama's place, since she'll probably pester you to tell her a few stories", Dawn said, before quickly leaving.

"She's going to meet her boyfriend, is my guess", Tara said. "Yea, the same thought went through my mind", I replied, but then Tara asked an interesting question. "Should we follow her?". "No, she's our friend. We can't do stuff like that, how would she trust us in the future? Once she's ready, she'll tell us. Let's give them some space", I replied.

Instead of spying on our friend, we headed straight to Ama's place. Fortunately, Ama didn't change much during my absence. She spent most of her time in the office, therefore finding her wasn't an issue. "I was wondering when you'd visit me. I even thought you guys forgot about old Ama", she said when we entered her office.

"We were a bit busy. I wanted to check out the improved Woody's Course beforehand. They did a good job. Expanding the course was a good idea, adding in another section made it much more interesting too. Anyway, how have you been? Anything going on?", I asked. "Well, the quick travel Formation at your place. I've been asked to supervise the excavation project personally… You seem surprised, I thought Tara mentioned that to you", she replied.

"... We visited her, so don't look at me like that", Tara said when my gaze locked onto her. "You'll lose the reputation of a blabbermouth, if you continue like that. By the way, an excavation project? What's that all about? I thought we were supposed to make the quick travel Formation", I asked.

"Hehe, yes of course… You haven't visited the Formation here, right? These Formations are below the ground for a very good reason. Mostly due to security, but also protection. The Formation in Sedon is located about thirty metres below the ground. The walls are strengthened at least a few times, with addition to another protective layer provided by Formations. Even if someone razed the whole Sedon to the ground, the Formation would most likely survive without a problem. These things are expensive and really time consuming to make. That's why they require extra protection. The one at your place will not be different", she explained.

"I see, so you have to dig out the place for that Formation, before we can actually place it there", "Yes, exactly. I was supposed to leave yesterday, but Tara brought me some good news. Frosty will be here to pick you up, right? That will save me a few weeks of time already… Of course if that Dragon has nothing against. He is rather moody sometimes", she confirmed. "I'm sure one or two more people will make no difference for him. Since that's the case, Frosty will be here tomorrow, let's just meet outside the gates in the morning. For now, how about I tell you some of my stories? We have to wait for Dawn anyway", I proposed.

"Sure, I'm interested in what sort of stuff you encountered there", she agreed. Although interested in my adventures, she asked many questions about Savala Town and villages in the Endrosian Empire. She was a craftsman after all, her interest in such subjects came as no surprise. Though I haven't paid much attention to the overall design of buildings, my memory wasn't that bad.