Hopelessness

Clothed in a long dark blue robe, adorned with golden lines and clear diamond-like gems on its outer surface, with a rather plain crown that has since turned light brown due to its age on his head, King Lysander Van Tale sat at one end of a long dining table.

On the other end sat a middle-aged man, his formal clothing gave him a royal aura, but with his head lowered and the shaking of his body, he immediately appeared of lesser status.

The space on the table between them was lavishly decorated with candelabras and fancy tablecloths.

Maids quietly entered the hall, hushing by the fully armoured guards around the room to approach both of the seated men, and place metal trays right in front of them.

They lifted the lids that covered the trays, and warm steam that carried a pleasant and rich smell wafted into their noses.

The source: one big cut of what looked like a steak, accompanied by a colourful variety of vegetables and crunchy bread with a soft inside.

A sauce was carefully trickled over the entire tray, finishing off the aesthetic of the meal.

Glasses of purple wine already stood beside the trays, along with the suitable cutlery.

His Royal Majesty turned his sight away from the man, onto the food.

He picked up the sharp knife and fork and began to eat, he was, however, the only one to do so.

Lord Sparrowbrook shuddered continuously, the smell made his mouth water involuntarily, but he was not in the mood to eat, "Your Majesty... my son... I am ready to hear it."

King Lysander already ate a good chunk of the steak, he swallowed the last bit in his mouth, then wiped his lips with an ornate handkerchief, he set down his cutlery and looked the man across the table dead in the eyes, "This steak is not of local origins. No cow died for its sake. It is from the Boundless Sea plane. Of a species deep below the surface of the ocean, we call them 'Depth Dwellers'. Depending on the rank of the creature, eating its flesh will cause changes in the human body. The higher the rank, the greater the improvement of one's physical condition."

Hearing this Lord Sparrowbrook salivated, but he held strong, the state of his child was more important... right?

"Your son died a very honourable death. Humankind depends on the advancements we make in the planes we invade, and he helped doing so by uncovering an entirely unknown race within the Sunless Mire. Thanks to it many lives will be saved, there is no greater feat than this." he spoke, then picked up his cutlery again, and resumed to eat another piece of the flesh of this Depth Dweller race.

He wiped his mouth again then explained, "As dictated by the rules of the competition, your land will be forfeited, and offered to the winners. Your title of Lord shall remain as is. You are a smart man. Taking actions to counteract this will be seen as treason and punished accordingly. I hope your family sees this not as the end, but a challenge to proof your resilience, and the fact that strong mages come from harsh environments."

Lord Sparrowbrook closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, he shut his eyelids as hard as he could, trying to prevent himself from shedding a tear in front of this cruel ruler.

What was revenge in front of an existence that could wipe every remnant of your history away, effortlessly like breathing...

Forced to send his only son into hell, to participate in this cruel and senseless competition, and now forced to swallow the gut punch that was his death.

The world held no regard for the weak, they were just toys to make use of, expendable, objects of entertainment to the rich, the strong, the powerful.

When he exhaled, he also opened his eyes, now a light tint of red within them.

He lowered his gaze and picked up the knife and fork, his hands shaking as he prepared to cut into the Depth Dweller, "...Thank you for this meal... Your Majesty..."

... ...

Frey's eyes were glowing with excitement, his breathing fast and a wide smile on his lips.

He rushed out of his tent, the sky was as dark as always, no indication how early or late it might be.

Without a second thought he stormed right towards Marv's, unable to properly contain himself, or to perfectly abide by Kassan's rules of a calm and quiet campgrounds.

"Marv! Marv! I did it! I-" he forced his way into his friend's tent, removing the curtain that acted as the door to it, but he just as quickly stopped himself, and covered his mouth with both of his hands, as Marv was motionlessly lying there, fast asleep.

Frey tiptoed his way inside and closed the curtain behind him again, then lied down on the other end of the tent, in order to avoid disturbing Marv, but at the same time wake up when he does too.

A few hours later Marv awoke and rubbed his eyes, he focused his gaze at the base of his feet, then rubbed his eyes again, "Frey?" he called out, the vague figure moved in response, "...Yeah?" he yawned.

"What are you doing in my tent?" Marv followed up.

"I didn't want to wake you." Frey slowly got up, to open the curtains for some fresh air.

"Wake me up? What fo- wait! You mean...?!" Marv's tiredness disappeared at once, he got to his feet and grabbed Frey by his shoulders.

"Yup. I think we can give it a go." Frey smiled at him, but Marv thought back to how life-threatening their endeavour would be, "Are you sure though? I mean, even if your idea works, we will end up encountering stupidly dangerous creatures, like, a lot worse than a group of Treemen, you know?"

"We only need to gather information on them, observe from a distance..." Frey tried to entice him.

Marv rolled his eyes and grunted, but he smiled back at Frey, "Alright. I am with you. Let's get our observers and get those points before anyone else can!"

The two of them rushed over and woke their respective observers, Frey gulped as a disgruntled voice came from within Marquis Gomon's tent, "Changed your mind to go and get some points, did you? I was getting bored out of my mind!" he said while stepping out of his tent, his joints made cracking sounds while he did.

His eyes looked more tired than angry, but Winny looked much worse, she followed Marv to Marquis Gomon's tent, to meet up with Frey, but she continuously combed through her hair using her fingers, trying to get some order into this mess.

"The whole gang is here... all eyes on you Frey." Marv whispered to him.

Frey nodded, then began to walk, leading the way out of the camp, towards the edge where the swamp began.

Within his mind he recalled the big map that Kassan had in his tent of operation, and the direction he needed to go to reach the location of the sighting of this unknown species.

He took a deep breath as they crossed over the natural barrier, and the fog once again covered their vision.

Marquis Gomon glanced back at the camp, then continued following the other three.

Frey's heart was beating uncontrollably fast, he knew that everyone's faith and trust depended on his actions, and the results that followed out of them.

His eyes shot back and forth, left and right, his brain was working at maximum capacity, almost causing steam to rise out of his ears.

He frequently stopped by a tree, resting his hand against the giant trunk, like he was supporting himself along the uneven ground.

Their observers had already become one with the surroundings again, leaving just the two; Marv stepped next to Frey, "What are you doing? Are you using earth magic to move on a straight path?" he was too curious to not ask.

Frey smiled slightly "Something like that..." he knew that was a lie, but also that there was some truth to it.

The earth particles in this plane were rich in abundance, so much so, that it became way too easy to lose sight of one's position and direction, there was a need for a different approach...

They moved as fast as they could, covering lots of ground, they encountered a rare few Delightful Deaths, but all of them served as a source of nourishment.

Marv's scalp tingled after plucking each of them; if Frey's method ended up failing, then these were their only method of finding their way back to the camp.

Frey was very quiet for the entirety of their path, "My feet are starting to hurt, how long do you think we've been walking for?" and Marv attempted to gleam some information every once in a while, but each of his attempts were shut down by a single word, or very short responses, "Not sure." Frey answered.

Marv was getting rather antsy, frequently looking around himself, in hopes of remembering one feature or another of their path to find back to it, when a realisation hit him... "Why haven't we seen any locals-"

"We are here!" Frey shouted, drowning out Marv's words.

"We're here? Where?" he squinted his eyes to look more carefully, but the annoying white fog was all he could find, the exact same scenery he had seen everywhere for the last who knows how long they had been to this plane!

"Right..." Frey continued to walk, taking slow steps as the ground beneath him got a lot firmer, "...here." he stopped, Marv walked closer, his eyes grew wider and wider, until his jaw dropped.

The fog had restricted Marv's vision so greatly, that he needed to stand right in front of it to finally realise how close he was.

A gaping hole, big enough to fit several of the massive trees within was right there in his face!

The incline wasn't too steep, perfectly fine in fact for them to descend into it.

Frey hesitated to move forward, "Last chance to back out of this." Marv said both their thoughts out loud.

Frey turned to him, then felt the pocket of his clothes, he rummaged through it while Marv raised his eyebrow.

He pulled out the coin that Agnes had gifted him just before entering the Sunless Mire, "A coin? An artefact! Wait, you aren't going to decide with a coin-toss... of an artefact... right?" Marv rubbed his temples.

"Our luck brought us to Kassan and the information we have... now it will decide the rest too." Frey answered plainly, then tossed the coin into the air, "We go inside if its heads. And we forget about this if it's..." but the coin spoke before he was even finished, tails.

"We came all this way just to give up... damn. You sure?" he complained but sounded somewhat relieved.

But Frey was entirely focused on the coin he caught in his hand, he moved his thumb over its surface, feeling the cracks he could swear weren't there beforehand.

"Why stop here? It sounds like you found quite an interesting thing…" a female voice came from the fog behind the two.

Marv turned around and prepared to draw some of his blood with a dagger, "Who?!" he shouted into the same direction, this was not Winny's voice…

Frey took a step backwards, his eyes opened wide as he quickly stashed the coin.

"Hmpf, I wouldn't even consider resisting if I was you." the voice spoke again, Marv recognised her the moment she stepped out of the thickest part of the fog, Reyna Ironhoof.

His heart skipped a beat, not from attraction, but fear, "Oh yeah? You are just a rank two, you think I can't handle you?"

The chuckling of a male voice now followed from the same direction, and two more people stepped out of the fog, "Whitewood! …Starhelm…" Marv breathed heavily; the sight of Plamus' destructive spell was still fresh in his mind.

"Marv Beckett, right? I advise you to step aside. We are not here for you. Reyna is only after the boy." the rank three mage spoke, his sentence shaking Frey to his core.

Marv turned his head, he looked at Frey, the boy that was supposed to be his ally, someone who should be able to trust in him, yet he was filled to the brim with dread, he turned back to the group of three, then gazed beyond them, "His Majesty forbade us from harming each other. Surely you aren't thinking of breaking this single rule?"

His fingers were trembling, he was grasping at straws, hoping that the arrogant man in front of him still had some fear or at least respect for the observers, who were here to enforce the rules and regulations of the competition…

Plamus spread his arms out, then tilted his head slightly upwards, as if to speak to someone above him, "His Royal Majesty forbade us from killing each other… but if you were to have an accident, an unfortunate run in with the locals, and we happened to be there, no one can hold us accountable for such a thing… am I wrong?" he smiled, awaiting a response.

But all that answered was silence, which was a clear approval for Plamus.

He lowered his arms, his depraved smile grew wider, "So?" he asked again, Marv recoiled, he turned to look at Frey, his heart ached at the thought, but he had no other choice…

Marv stepped out of the three's way, his head held low, and his back turned on Frey, "…Marv…" Frey uttered out in disbelief, tears welled up in his eyes, but he was forced to hold them back, as the greater problem stepped closer towards him.

He flinched as Reyna reached her hand out to hold his chin, "It's a shame for a cute boy like you to die like this, but if you don't go, then my mother is going to give me a serving of hell myself… so… blame your luck."

Frey gulped, he thought of fighting back, but the auras he felt suffocated him, two genuine rank two auras, and a rank three on top… Hodwan's aura, an enemy he struggled against, couldn't hold a candle to any of theirs.

Reyna let go and walked past him, "Incredible… I figured you were up to something after days of you not leaving your tent, or just going to the edge of the camp before returning, but I could have never imagined this."

"Was it your master that gave you this information?" she smirked at Frey, but he remained quiet.

Reyna shrugged her shoulders, "Well, whatever, doesn't really matter. Your death is going to send Aventia crashing, the final nail in the coffin, so to speak. Anything beyond that doesn't concern me anymore."

"Alright now, enough talk. Go on in. We'll be right behind you." Plamus smiled at Frey, then gave him a little push.

Frey wobbled, then regained his bearings after the push, his eyes reddened from both sadness and anger, but he swallowed what little pride he had in him for fear of having an even quicker death than already promised.

He started to walk, to descend into the wide cave entrance in the ground, the three hostile individuals were right behind him.

After some distance, the white fog no longer managed to reach deep enough, leaving them all in pitch-black darkness, Frey however felt oddly comfortable, the many earth particles around him gave him a sense of security and direction, even though he knew that it was no more than make believe, he walked while supporting himself against the earth wall.

He could feel the rough texture, the cool surface, as well as a slight and irregular vibration within.

Then a small spark turned into a bright flame, right within Reyna's open palm, illuminating them all, as well as the cave walls, in addition to the two observers right behind Plamus' group, neither of the two held an amused expression at this turn of events.

The competitors in front of them were following His Highness' words, but not the sense behind them, what should be an offense, was sadly unpunishable for the moment, they would first need to report and ask for permission.

Hadrian looked back at them, and the other person next to them, "Why are you following us?" he sneered at Marv.

"Leave him Hadrian. We have no grievances with the Beckett family, there is no need to antagonise them over a few participation points." Plamus told him off.

"Tch." he voiced his discontent but left it at that.

The deeper they went the narrower the tunnel became, the temperature in the air also fell off quickly, each of their breaths now accompanied by white mist.

The flame in Reyna's hand grew smaller, almost fighting just to continue burning, "How do you feel with so few particles to use, hm? Vulnerable? Scared?" Hadrian taunted her.

She just stared at him blankly "Are you going to try and kill me? If not, then I'd like to hear your voice a little less."

Hadrian fumed, killing her would be the greatest pleasure imaginable, but all of the rank three mages around him would intervene if he actually dared to attempt this.

Seeing him go silent caused Reyna to scoff, but she frowned as she looked ahead again, only to see that Frey had stopped walking.

"What is it now? Getting cold feet? You are a little too late, and a little too deep already to realise that." Plamus wanted to tease Frey with his words.

Frey's head turned to look behind himself, his eyes had already returned to normalcy, he sized up the group that was following him, they weren't right on his heels, several meters of distance separated them… the only problem was the vibrations he felt from up ahead… something was approaching.