I was certain of my death, and I had closed my eyes in relief. Finally I was going to go home.
But even as I continued to wait, the certain doom didn't come. Instead a hand stood in its way blocking the hand of the giant man.
Regen was standing there, with a deep frown on his face.
"I am not sure if it is your definition of a joke. But you should have been aware of my brother's condition." Intense heat radiated from Regen's blue eyes, I think that was.
But I was uncertain. Why was I feeling heat all of a sudden?
It was then Feetern laughed, and spoke casually.
"I was actually testing."
He tried to retrieve his arm back, but it didn't move. He tried again, this time with even more force, but his hand in the grips of Regen didn't move a bit.
"You should save that strength of yours for the tournament." Regen spoke calmly and he released the hand, but Feetern who was applying even more pulling force, didn't expect it and staggered backwards.
It took a moment for him to calm himself.
Meanwhile I was starting to sweat bullets, that's what the game has been suggesting wasn't it. He feared that they would start fighting just outside the tributary. After all, he wasn't quite sure if it was even allowed between sacred occasions.
"Hahahahha." Feetern started laughing vivaciously.
"You have become stronger yet again. Burning feathers Regen. This tributary will be interesting for me." He said, while his bones cracked under his attention.
I wasn't sure if that much cracking was good for the body. Nor did I think that heat Radiating from Regen was good either.
"Alright follow me. I will show you inside." Feetern said.
I looked back at Regen hesitantly, who started following Feetern and I followed as well.
Inside, the pathway was short and winding, and we continued to follow the trail of people who were going before us. Finally, the pathway ended, and we were greeted by a massive hall.
Truly I hadn't expected the size of it.
Many people sat in their respective chairs, each of them looked equally important and they all seemed to be exerting some kind of pressure around the hall.
I felt uncomfortable in their presence. Like my insides were squeezing among themselves. And this queasiness only stopped when Regen started emitting his own 'Pressure'. What was going on in this world? How were they doing it? Were they some sort of pressure cooker?
Anyways, my breath eased by then.
"You are okay right?" Regen asked me.
I nodded and then looked ahead. The hall was surrounded by the people who were all in their expensive looking clothing, like flowing drapes, and long winding hair. Silky clothing, and armor that looked rich and similar to gold, Behind each of these people stood a crowd, of other people.
At the end of the crowd stood a podium.This was an elevated space, with some sort of altar in the centre. The altar had a throne, curving exaggeratedly, like the patterns of a snake. The centre of the throne was cracked, not literally, like in the sense of design, and those spreading looked impressive to me.
Incense burned around the thrones, and equally ritualistic flowers were spread along the bottom. Beneath it, were embossed shapes. Like something would fit there, and at the right of it, where there had been nothing before. Now stood a man.
Huh?
Suddenly bells started ringing all around us. Like the start of something. For it was the start of the Tributary Ceremony.
The people, how equally important they looked, stood up in the presence of the man.
The man, otherwise, looked simple at a glance. He wore white clothing that flowed till his knees. With a white belt draped around his waist, etched in golden colours, and a throne at the centre of the heart, he looked aloofly towards others. There was no expression on his face, but his mere presence quieted down the entirety of the hall.
With his hands behind his back he moved towards the centre of the podium and spoke.
"I announce the start of the tributary." His voice thundered across the hall, so loud and clear and powerful that I had no choice but to cover my ears.
I was in pain. My ears hurt seriously, like someone was drilling inside his ear canals, only after a minute or so after the voice had ended did I feel the pain lessen.
Did he just fucking attack me?
I glared in the direction of the man.
And sensing my gaze, the man looked in my direction. That was when I activated the character window.
[Name - Marcus Chambers]
[Affiliation - Chambers]
[Description - Current Head of the Chambers House…]
[Favorability - Unknown]
As soon as I activated the character window, the man's eyes widened slightly in surprise, he looked back at me with a smile on his face.
An intense mental pain invaded my mind.
"Fuck!"
I couldn't help but curse, as I clutched my head, my knees buckling beneath me. But someone took hold of me, and that support helped me stabilize.
Immediately after that.
Something changed in the sky. It seemed to scream, as the cloud parted on its own. For a moment, I was astonished by the development and forgot about my pain.
Something came from the sky, like gods, travelling towards their descend.
But they weren't gods, I realised. They were proper humans, who could freely stand on the skies.
Wasn't this only a sword world, why was it becoming more and more like a fantasy world. Damn.
I didn't dislike this development at all.
Three individuals followed after one another.
One surfing on his sword, with his hands behind his back, the other had a massive beard, that reached till his chest, the person looked old, but he had a jovial laugh on his face and lastly at the front of the duo stood another man,
He wore the same dress as Sokyro but it looked even more majestic around his body. Heat, extreme heat surrounded that man, as he gazed at the podium. A sword stood beside him on its own, equally defying gravity. The sword had lava flowing around its hilt all the way till the centre of the sword, where the other part of the sword started and looked vastly different, like a flowing crystal of some sort.
The man looked in our direction.
"Father." Regen called with emotion.
And I immediately understood.
That man was the current head of the Sokyro House.