Robbed

The following week I put on some fancy looking clothes that were laid out for me and was led into the kitchen where Kara asked me what I had remembered from the day before. I looked down and took a deep breath, "The Horde Tournament was started after a powerful Illusion Enchanter saw undead creatures swarm a castle from his childhood, only to be stopped by three Life mages. He created the rules and the layout and told his designs to the Earth Caster who was creating arenas all over the world. Our arena, the Amethyst Arena, is one of his creations and one of the only ones that can hold a Horde Tournament. The Enchanter gave him a crystal to place in the ground to create solid illusions of both the castle that he saw, and the crypt the undead originated from and bodies that spawn in the crypt for the teams to manipulate. There are two teams of three in the tournament which should consist of an Enchanter, Augmenter, and Caster of both the Life and Death element. The Death element team creates and controls the undead while the Life element team fights them giving the different sides the title of both Hordemaster and Hordeslayer. The goal of the Hordemasters is to tear down the castle and take away the enemy flag to the crypt, while the Hordeslayers are to seal the crypt entrance and kill any remaining undead. The arena in a Horde Tournament has three zones: Base, Courtyard and War zones. The Casters cannot go past their Courtyard, the Enchanters cannot leave their Base Zone, while the Augmenters are able to go wherever they please. The game ends if the Hordemasters get the flag back to the crypt, the Hordeslayers seal it and kill all of the undead, or all players are eliminated. Both teams can eliminate the other by either pushing them out of the arena, or knocking them out. Any crippling injuries caused by a team will get them immediately disqualified." Kara just looked at me in shock as soon as I stopped. "Are you sure you have amnesia? You just explained everything perfectly." I just gave a sheepish grin.

-Cheater.- [So what? I got it right, didn't I?] It was true that I cheated, but not completely. I merely looked at the chat log in the lower left which records everything I hear, and then summarized what Kara told me the week prior. It was already turning out pretty handy. "You forgot the most important detail however," Kara said suddenly, "There cannot be any killing by anyone inside the arena, as there is a formation in place to kill whoever committed a murder as a form of mutual destruction. So none of the bodies inside the crypt are real. This formation made it so that the Arena is a safe zone in case of an attack, so before we leave, no matter who gets you angry, you are NOT to harm them, understood?" I nod then we head outside. This is the first time I have actually stepped foot outside the shop, so I took a minute to take everything in. Next door to the left was a pawn shop, and to the right was the stable where the Mulvian's kept their wagon and lizard beast. We turned left, towards the arena. Walking on the streets were creatures I had never thought existed: ELVES. They were fair skinned with pointy ears, yet all their eyes were closed. [How are they not bumping into anything?] -I'm detecting traces of mana coming from them. Maybe it's a form of echolocation?- "Pick up the pace, or we'll lose the best seats!" called out Volun, who was already a good distance away. I started to run to catch up when a massive shadow went over us, so naturally I looked up, and I saw dragons! They were a variety of colors with a massive wingspan, and they were wearing armor bearing a crest depicting a sword piercing a shield. Then there was a buzzing in my ear, when I heard a high pitched, "EXCUSE ME KID! I'm in a rush! Move it or lose it!" I stepped back to let whoever pass, but all I saw was a bright light floating down the path. [There are even fairies here?!] A loud bark was the next thing to catch my attention, so I turned to see a large fox like creature with horns jumping down a side road, playing with a little girl. There was so much to this place and I fell in love with this city immediately. [Thank you John, you lovable backstabbing asshole!]

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~Volun's POV~

The kid was so amazed at such a common sight, that it was hilarious. I tried to call him over and keep him focused while trying not to laugh at him. "Oh Volun, let's not rush him. He is experiencing everything for the first time again. It's cute." My wife, Kara, whispered. My son looked up at me with a serious look. "I don't buy it for a minute. We don't even know him, everything about him is strange. He could very well be a thief, or worse, a Reaper Bandit." I looked down at Varik with a solemn expression. "You know very well they can't get inside, but don't even joke about it." Just then I felt my shirt being tugged. "Daddy! We're going to miss it! Hurry!" Whined Leia. "Alright, let's get going then. Soran, stop playing around and let's go!" I yelled. On our way there he kept pestering us with so many questions, some of which were hard for me to explain, but I did my best. However I refuse to talk about those damned dragons.

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~Soran's POV~

Amethyst Arena wound up being the massive building with the glowing purple stone. It was massive, at least the size of a five-story building. As we got closer, I started to make out finely craft details of what I could only assume was previous champions, until I saw the details morph into the weird symbols. -They say, "Holy Spirits" on the left and "Zomsquad" on the right.- When we approached the crowd near the entrance, I saw that the door was made of a dark green wood and seemed to be shimmering as if it were holographic. Half an hour passed by as we stood there, waiting for the door to open, when I heard a deep booming voice coming from the door. "Welcome honored guests, to the Amethyst Arena. Present your tickets now." Volun and the other guests threw their tickets into the air, and all but ours turned into a rainbow flame, consumed the guests and flew towards the door, hitting it and making them disappear. "They- they were fake..." said Kaira in a quivering voice, "They gave us fake tickets." Volun clenched his fists and demanded in an eerie calmness, "Return to the store, now."

We started rushing back as quickly as our legs could carry us, with Kara holding Leia in her arms. The surroundings that we passed on our way there were nothing but a blur to us now, and I could feel my heart pounding in my throat. Why were we given fake tickets? How did they know there were five of us? What's going to happen when we get back? Who gave them to us? I started panicking as I ran through all the possible scenarios in my head, before I gave up on it. In this new world, literally anything could have happened and each scenario I did come up with was worse than the last.

When we arrived, we saw the store window was smashed inwards, and we prepared for the worst, but it was not as bad as we thought. All that was taken was a single trinket from the looks of it, and none of the money was taken from the register, as was confirmed by Varik. "Take out a hundred Low Crowns and head over to the glass forge. We need to repair this window before anything else is stolen. Kara, start taking stock and mark anything missing. Soran, start cleaning up the glass, and be careful." Volun barked out orders then quickly went to the stables to check on their beast that I now know they call Scalesman. It took us the better part of the day to get the store cleaned, and Varik had still yet to return, so Volun went out to look for him. Kara in the meanwhile asked me to help her out in the kitchen to get dinner prepared for when they return. I have no knowledge on how to cook though so she helped me out, saying "Every woman loves a man who can cook, so it's better to learn early. I've always tried to get Varik to help but like the typical boy he is, refuses as it's 'too girly.'" I chuckled to myself as it did seem like something he would do. I was taught how to chop fruits and peel vegetables, as well as how to make a fresh soup stock using cured rabbit meat. When we finished a message popped into view.

==New Skill Acquired===

==Cooking {Lvl 1}==

[This is cool and all, but why didn't you just tell me this instead of blocking my view?] -I had nothing to do with that. Most of these messages are showing your knowledge. Just because we can communicate by thought does not mean I have access to your experiences and memories- [But I thought these only showed because you made it show?] -Not necessarily. While I can obtain and transmit data in word form into your view, the functions of other programs are automatic. I have tried to gain access but I start losing myself every time I get close. I fear that if I do, I'll no longer have my thoughts or free will- "Soran! Pay attention! The stew is about to boil over!" Startled, I tried to salvage what I could but made a mess in the process. Kara sent me out to the dining room to instead get the table set, then wash up for dinner.

As I was getting out of the tub, Sy yelled -Volun is back!- [Ok, and is Varik? Is he ok?] -I do not know, he has no mana emissions for me to read- "I don't need your help!" came the agitated voice of Varik. -Update: Varik IS in fact with him.- [I can hear that ms obvious.] I left the kitchen and went to the front of the store, and saw him covered from head to toe in bruises and bloody wounds. "You clearly did! You don't have a mana core so why do you insist on picking so many fights?! If I hadn't intervened, those kids would have killed you!"

"I could have handled it! They weren't that tough!" Volun sighed with his head in his heads, before pointing to the stairs behind the wall. "Just go get cleaned up for dinner," he saw me in the store. "And you help me put the new window in." I struggled to lift my side as it was incredibly heavy for my small stature. It took around 30 minutes but the window was finally put back in, after which we went straight into the dining room and sat down. Kara came out of the kitchen around the same time Varik came down the stairs. She gasped as soon as she saw him, then quickly set the stew down on the table. "Varik! You need to stop getting into fights! I've told you so many times that it is okay to run away! Why don't you?" He just scoffed, sat down, and grabbed some stew out of the pot. Kara sighed before heading into the cupboard and grabbing a sheet of paper and laying it out on the table.

"This is the list of everything that wasn't stolen. It seems they were only after one thing, but I don't even know why." Volun glanced at the paper, which had writing on both sides, separated by a line. [What does it say?] -The right side reads "Safe" while the left reads "Stolen"- [What was stolen?] -"One Appearance Changing Novelty Amulet."- I tried to think of what it looked like, and went into the store after eating to see if I could find it's display case. My heart skipped a beat as I saw which case was empty.

The King's Might was missing.