Chapter 1: The Gathering of Heroes

The date is January 8th, 3078, at the beautiful and bright port city of Merrisphere. Travelers; men and women alike, gather to the Grand Tower in the center to compete. The air is soft to the skin with a gentle smell of the sea clinging to it as it blows through the hillside. Within the city it buzzes with life, with merchants and fishers selling their wares and products. Laughter can be heard from the children playing in the town square. Merrisphere, being a large prosperous city, is busy with ships and zeppelins coming in and out. 

Inside this tower though, the air feels heavy with anticipation. Inside is as stunning as the tower itself, polished and furbished for the wealthy. While laughter and cheers may be heard inside, it still feels uneasy. There are merchants inside as well, selling weapons and goods for these fighters. There is also bar area for the fighters to drink on the second floor, if they do not wish to remain in their rooms. 

In a corner sits a cheerful young fellow selling along with the other merchants. "Come on folk, get your enchanted equipment before the big day, you never know if you may need it!" Seth calls out. With each purchase Seth finds it harder and harder to hide a sly grin "That's right folks, best magicly embowed gear in the county, hurry before I run out!"

Sericio waded through the thick crowds leading up to the tower.  He had been to Merrisphere a few times before, but it was never this busy.  Eventually, he managed to get through to the entrance to The Grand Tower, and looked up into the seemingly endless spiral of the building.  There were lights everywhere, and all manner of people were busily going to a fro.  He let out a whistle, and then said to himself, "Wow, it's even more roomy than it looks on the outside."  This was a fancy place, not the typical place Sericio was allowed into.

Sericio walked past a few stations that littered the first floor.  This tower was part mall, part hotel, and part casino - there was seemingly everything in here.  After wandering for a while, he scratched his head.  "I'm already lost..."  He started wandering around aimlessly; sometimes looking at his invitation as if it would magically tell him where to go.  Eventually, he wandered into the makeshift shops that had sprouted up to accommodate the tower's new guests.  Stopping by Seth's outpost, he glared at a sign map.  Sericio's eyes darted up and down the map, trying to decipher where his room was located.  He leaned in to get a closer look, his belt buckles and sword clanking against his trench coat.

With most of Seth's merchandise gone he notices Sericio who seems quite lost. With a soft smile seth replies "excuse me, sir do you need any help? you seemed lost, this place is pretty overwhelming and large." Seth give the young boy a gently smile and extends a hand "names Seth, Seth Amon, Pleasure to meet you"

Sericio took Seth's hand and gave it a firm handshake.  "Sericio Roanji."  He then took his hand back and shrugged - "I don't have a damn clue where I'm going.  You wouldn't happen to know where the 8th Wing is?"

The first floor of the tower continued to be filled with the ambiance of idle chatter, with massive shadows looming through the windows from the airships overhead.

Seth thinks "I think I can explain it so you can understand" with that he sticks his hand into his bag at arm length, in a bag a bit bigger than his hand in length. Seth pulls out a map of the tower "You see how there's two areas on each floor after the third?" Seth continues without giving you a moment to respond "after the third floor, the rooms are divided it to two wings, so every floor has two wings, so your floor would be on the 7th floor on the east side...." looks up at Sericio with kind eyes to see if he's getting it "understand?"

Sericio watched in utter bemusement at this "Seth" character's magical item.  Sericio was no stranger to magecraft, but he had never seen this particular trick before.  "I say, that thing you've got there is quite incredible.", he said - completely ignoring the advice just given to him.  "How does it work, exactly?"  He figured the information might prove useful in any upcoming battles against mages.  This peddler was obviously a lot more than he seemed on the surface, and Sericio took a cautious notice.

His knuckles creak and pop as he starts typing away on is keyboard, many monitors are rigged up around him in his dark room albeit unstably. His surveillance drones, the size of a pen head, already dispatched and forming the information web and feed a stable stream of data. He quickly scans through the different data streams and spots two rather interesting subjects shaking hands, he quickly command prompts his drones to prioritize their conversation.

"You wouldn't happen to know where the 8th Wing is?" said the spiky brown haired boy. "I think I can explain it so you can understand" the other fellow said as he reached into his pack and pulled out a parchment 
"You see how there's two areas on each floor after the third? After the third floor, the rooms are divided it to two wings, so every floor has two wings, so your floor would be on the 7th floor on the east side....Understand?"

Victor realizes that the parchment is a map and instructs the drone to scan the map and add the data to the archive. Victor looks to his Skitarii Guard and gestures for two of them to guard the door outside, the other three took up position around the room. "I may need to keep an eye on these two." he says as he wheels around in his chair and looks at the ominous bulky machine slumbering on one side of the room "All will come to fruition soon.".

Seth smiles "this old thing? its enchanted to have a magical link to my chest in my workshop."
Seth then looks the young man up and down and notices the multiple weapons on him. Seth figured Sericio was a fellow competitor, but he couldn't figure out what his fighting style would be. Seth with a proud grin "indeed its quite cool, and even better I created it myself" 

Seth start to pack feeling accomplished with the money he made. "Want me to help you find your room? it happens to be across the hall" while talking Seth packs he items in the bag the the Entire stand in the a briefcase.

Sericio, still eyeing the item with a sense of wonderment, nodded his head in agreement.  As he watched Seth place his entire stand in a small briefcase, Sericio staggered back and then let out a gasping breath, "Pocket dimensions!".  He pointed in disbelief like a medieval peasant witnessing witchcraft.

Sericio's erratic displays seemed unnoticed by the crowd.  The few people he bumped into gave him a menacing glare and then went about their business.  It seemed the crowd here didn't take much care in such magical things.  "Better get going Seth, I think I might have made a fool of myself."

A young female employee pushed Henna's wheelchair along the crowded building, making conversation with the wheelchair-bound girl while doing so.  They passed through crowds of people, some selling trinkets and various weapons to the passerby's - Henna thought it odd weapons would be sold at what was essentially public grounds and an airport, but decided to pay it no mind.  As they got further into the building, Henna turned her head and smiled at her helper.

"Thanks.  I can take it from here."  She put her hands along the wheels to signal she would be able to move by herself.  The employee nodded and gave Henna some contact details in case she needed any help.  

Henna quickly maneuvered herself to a nearby wall so she could stay out of the way of passerby's, and contented herself with watching the motions of the other people.  She didn't often go to such crowded areas, so it was interesting for her.  As she did so, some kind of fly began buzzing around her.  Quickly looking around her to make sure no one else was looking, she extended a finger and spread electrical currents in a small area around her hand, then swatted the fly.  The thing made an odd sound before presumably falling.

*White noise filled one of the many screens around him, Victor turned and looked at the screen gave it a few taps to be sure it was a signal feed problem. Grumbling loudly he rewound the video and saw a girl wheelchair bound swat one of his beloved drones. He wondered if it wad just luck or skill that allowed her to destroy the drone, did she know it was a "bug" or just killed the insect out of annoyance. 


He watched the tape several times while waiting for the diagnostic report to come in,  after several moments another screen lit up with text and a white background. He scanned through several paragraphs of internal reports then started looking at the external reports. To his surprise there was a sudden spike of raw electricity seconds before impact.

"So we have another subject to monitor, maybe..." his voice trailed off as another report came in and he resumed his data collection. There are so many exceptional people gathered in one place and he planned to gather as much as he could from every single one of them.

Seth chuckles amused by the boy fascination. People look towards us as I grab my backpack and the briefcase. Some men seem to take  interest and begin to follow us at a distance, they hope we do not take notice. "That type of enchantment is actual quite easy to create." Seth speaks proudly of his skill. "In my workshop I actually have a ton of different cool trinkets like these" Seth smiles. 

From his appearance he doesn't seem to be much of a fighter, and he is way too kind to hurt anyone. To top it off Seth seems to be unarmed and only wearing a black t shirt, pair of dark blue jean, some work boots and a light red scarf, but he seems to wear many rings and bracelets. To a skilled magic user you could feel intense magic radiate from Seth's body as well as his clothing. Seth turns around grinning childishly "ready to head up?" He seems not a threat at all to any normal person.

Around the first floor as more combatants check in, it begins get crowded and louder, there does seem to have in the air a feel of dread and death coming from a single man lingering in a far corner, jotting down note chuckling disturbingly " This will be very fun heheh" he giggles sickeningly with demented joy as he closes his book "very fun indeed".

After a few minutes, Henna decided it was about time to check out the hotel room she was assigned.  Luckily, the employee brought her quite close to the handicap-friendly elevators, which had more than enough room to fit her wheelchair in.  As she placed her hands on the wheels to start moving, she noticed a peculiar group of three men trailing behind two others.  She noticed that one of the men being trailed was a man who had been selling trinkets earlier.  It was pretty obvious what the three individuals were up to, but Henna did not want to make any rash decisions, so she waited for the group to pass by before following behind as well.

She attempted to be nonchalant with it, but as she followed the creaking of the chair made it a bit awkward.  She reassured herself that no one would be suspicious - after all, she wouldn't really seem like someone who could fight.

Sericio Roanji heard a distinct creaking sound - one of an old, rusty wheelchair.  It reminded him of summers spent at the family mansion, playing with his siblings throughout the study and dining hall.  He didn't see much of Godfather Roanji, he was usually busy talking to Papa and other adults.  Sericio faintly remembers The Godfather's frailty and warm smile.  That old man held so much power, but lacked the ability to even move on his own.

Sericio spun around to see what was making the creaking noise; but instead; saw three large, intimidating fellows towering over him and Seth.  He stood his ground and puffed his chest out.  Sericio flicked out his fingers, and tapped the middle of the three on his chest - "Hey buddy, they don't got personal space where you're from or something?".  His mocking tone seemed to anger the men, and they shoved him harshly into the corridor.  It seems these men were a lot stronger that Sericio thought at first glance.  He also notice that this hallway was particularity empty.  In the corner of his amber eyes, he saw a woman sitting in a wheelchair, just past these thugs.

Seth with the same gentle smile turns holding two heavy solid black pistols from seemingly nowhere. The three men stop in they're tracks Seth smirks "Now we are all civilized men here, lets calm down and walk away" Seth has this look in his eye as if he wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger, the eyes of a killer. The biggest one of the three starts to sweat as he makes eye contact, then runs in terror as the other two follow close behind. 

The few passerbys see this but as it ends abruptly, they turn they're attention else where. As quickly as the pistols appeared they're where gone, Seth sighs in relief "glad that ended with no bloodshed the games haven't even started" Seth smiles again "lets head up shall we?" Waves to the girl in the wheelchair "are you in line for the elevator as well?" Looks at her with a friendly smile most would find it hard to not share the same attitude.

Henna watched quietly as one of the young men who was being followed abruptly confronted the trio.

 "Hey buddy, they don't got personal space where you're from or something?"


She had intended to observe and hope that her presence alone would deter the trio from making any kind of advancement, but she didn't expect a confrontation to occur so suddenly, especially by the two being followed.  Luckily, her braces which she could power-up with electricity were still on beneath her gown, and so she could still fight if it really came down to it.  But she hoped it wouldn't.

Just then, the other man pulled out guns out of nowhere and gave a bold threat.  She didn't even see where they had came from, possibly magic? The trio retreated almost instantly, clearly realizing they bit off way more than they could chew.  A crushing defeat.

'Phew.'  She thought internally as the three flee'd right passed her, one of them tripping over the edge of her wheelchair.  He crawled his way back up to a running position and bolted.

Henna nodded as the man with the guns asked if she were going to the elevator.

"Yes..."  She rolled up over to the two, "That was close.  I saw the two following you and thought I'd be able to help by being a crowd, but it seems like you two had it under control."

Victor watches the confrontation, intrigued by their open aggression to these unkown assailants. Victor grins,  "They could prove useful to me". A audible ping calls for his attention, he turns around and faces a monitor displaying many people and their dossier's.

At the top of the list are the three young ones, he needed to know more about them, how they think, how they perform understress, how their resolve holds. Many many things needed answeres and these government collected dossier's are a big leap forward.

As he digs into the paragraphs he puts up and hand and points to his three Skitarii Guard "Legion take two if your men and go to them, you are to be an envoy for this mission so be on your best behavior. Understood? "

Legion salutes and the remaning two guards in the room flank him as he goes to leave, one of the door guards opens the door for them and then softly closes it behind them.

Sericio was impressed with Seth's quick draw, but he then remembered that this man was probably using some highly advanced form of magic.  Sericio decided that Seth must be a competitor in the tournament; but hadn't given any indication that Seth would try anything underhanded against him.  He was somewhat thrown off by how quickly Seth went from a very disarming personality to a cold, lifeless killer.  He shouted some insults at the group of fleeing brutes, and then shook his head in disgust.

"lets head up shall we?"

Sericio brushed off his shirt and stood upright.  He noticed the doll-like woman sitting in a wheelchair as she found a spot in the elevator.  He assumed she was a lost tourist, or maybe a traveler passing through.  "You alright, ma'am?  Don't let those kind of people bother you - they're just a bunch of losers with no sense.  They wouldn't stand a chance against me or my acquaintance here."  He flashed a cheesy grin and motioned towards Seth, trying to comfort her.  He had been in situations were civilians who had no experience with brutality or thuggery were suddenly victims of it - and it was the kind of thing that made his heart soften.  This woman seemed very calm though, which is not something he expected from someone who was clearly helpless.

The elevator door closed with no one else entering, and quietly whirled as it moved.

Seth picks his briefcase "ay if they had brains they wouldn't have try anything with the people gathered here" eyes the girl finding her peculiar, " Whats a lovely girl like yourself doing here, a fellow competitor of a spectator? " Seth's presence is very friendly and charming. Seth checks his watch. "only 1:36" seth thinks to himself "I bet these two will keep me busy, till I need to rest of course" Seth looks back up to the two and smiles "so after I show you your room Sericio, would you like to do something?"

As the group began to enter the elevator before Henna, she quickly turned the wheelchair around and pushed the wheels backward, getting herself and the bulky vehicle into the elevator with seemingly no hassle.  She even managed to secure herself near the front corner so that she didn't clog up too much space.  Secretly, she always thought that she'd be an expert driver if she ever had the opportunity to get a license and drive a car.  

Now in the elevator, she looked to the floor buttons before realizing the floor she intended to go to had already been pressed.  It seemed like the other two were headed to the same floor.  As she thought of this coincidence one of the two guys spoke up, very obviously trying to reassure her. 

She gave a soft, light-hearted chuckle as he finished.
"You don't need to call me "ma'am" - my name is Henna."  She gave a little bow to him, as well as to the other man "But ooooo you guys sound very capable, huh?"  She said with a humorously serious expression that one could interpret as either teasing or overtly genuine.  

The other man spoke up this time.  Henna realized he was still quite calm about everything, and was still charismatic with how he spoke.  A very interesting character, considering he just recently pulled some guns out and could've hurt some people or been hurt.

"Hmmm, what am I doing here?"  She looked up as if to ponder.  "Well, with such dependable fellows around maybe I really will join whatever competition is going on!"  She gave a small laugh as she said so, clearly not being serious about it.

Legion and his fellow guards on his flanks walk down the hall at a brisk pace, a live feed from the surveillance drones shows the trio enter the elevator.  One of the drones zoomes in behind them and lands on the glass cover for the lights as to obstruct vision of it, it watches the trio press the floor number in. 

Legion updates the pathing program, Legion and his flankers turn in synchronization to the left and make for the stairs. They planned to meet them as the elevator doors oppend. As they walk Legion pulls out a invitation to the Masters personal suite,  and sends thr inquiry back to the Master.

Victor sees Legions train of thought and approves, he calls for one of the guard outside,  as he entered Victor tells him to make preparations.

Seth as they move up the elevator senses prying eyes, but ignores it, in a competition like this that's to be expected. As the elevator stops and the doors open up Seth see three armed robots before him, he stand quietly waiting for their first move.

Legion upon seeing the door open raises a hand and waves at the trio before him, "I am Legion leader of the Skitarii Guard, and hereby cordially invite the three of you to a dinner with Master Skitarri our master" he extends the invitation towards Seth. "Do you accept? "

Seth eyes each one. "it would be good to meet an opponent and if anything I'll escape with ease"
Seth smiles "very well I will make an appearance, legion" Seth takes an invitation and places it in his bag "will you be escorting us for safety protocol or will we find our own way?" He eyes the droids carefully, ready if need be.

An audible optics focusing sounds, legion noted the shifting eyes as a nervous gesture. Heart beat sensors detected no real increase in rate, safe to assume no threat was posed by this man. 

"We will lead you, as dictated by protocol. Do you accept?"