Cyrus Cyrril's Story

A race it can't be that easy... Rayia looked around at the others. Then the roar of Dragons. The racers where off and many right into a invisible wall. Rayia let out a laugh at the fools.

Rayia opened herself to the force sensing what lay ahead she charted a course through the barriers. Using the force she began to increase her speed. But then a shot rang out.

Rayia looked to where the shot came from a man on the air? She focused her force sight seeing the platform in her mind's eye she attacked with the force gripping at the platform and pulling it down.

Rayia didn't wait to see if the sniper fell to his doom or not she had a race to win after all..

“I miss being able to shower…” Brand sighed as he caught sight of the blocks. Arguably the most irritating effect of his heavy use of pyromancy was his weakness to water. Drinking it was fine but when it got on his skin it tended to drain him. Luckily he didn’t sweat and had no need to clean himself up after the first round, and besides, he could have just incinerated any dirt on himself.

Scanning the room, he noted to that he’d spotted a few other fire mages during the performances, and lightning users too. Although they seemed like popular magic types, some of the mages had really stood out in the crowd.

As these thoughts stewed in his head, he ambled over to the table and foraged himself a modest plate of food. He didn’t want to lose whatever he ate now halfway through the next round after all, and he had a pretty average appetite when it came to it. Speaking of which, if the next round was going to be a race he had some planning to do. He thought about what strengths and weaknesses he might have as he chowed casually. Speed and agility would probably be involved to some extent, and he had those plenty, so he was feeling pretty confident on the whole.

When the time came for the next event to begin, Brand listened intently to the speakers explaining how the trial would work. Sounds interesting enough, he thought to himself, until one phrase metaphorically sucker punched him in the face. Winter Mountain Zone.

“Oh no.” he remarked. Water being cold and solid as well didn’t help much. If it had just been a contest of speed he might have been able to blast himself through a snowy zone, but with the gate mechanic, it was clear he was going to have to actively explore the area.

As the starting signal sounded, he shook his head clear (as best he could, anyway) and launched off. If he was going to struggle later on in the race, he reasoned, he should get as far as possible now by powering ahead of-

“OOF!”

Brand clutched his head as several mages left him in the dust. He looked around wildly as he tried desperately to get his bearings. “Huh? Wha-?” he noticed the same tragedy had befallen another hapless mage nearby. Curious, but in a hurry nevertheless the pyromancer prodded the air in front of him. It felt solid. The pyromancer shook his head in frustration and burst into flames, shifting into his knight form and charging ahead.

Bam.

He didn’t fall over this time, but the impact did not help his attitude. He kept going, and kept hitting or near-missing the barriers along the way. He was falling even further behind. This is hopeless, he thought, there's no way of getting ahead, how is it so - then he did something that surprised him. He stopped, wondering why he’d done something so idiotic and then found himself standing still and thinking, much to his own horror.

Suddenly his whole demeanour changed, the frustration was gone, and for a second it was if he didn’t even notice how many mages were overtaking him every second, a few even giving him funny looks. He ignored them, and set off again. The pyro-knight leapt up and glided low through the air, holding one palm out, which he used to project a small but constant gout of flames ahead.

Onlookers might soon realize what he was doing - as he neared a barrier, the flames would hit it as if were a normal wall, making them visible to him and allowing him to figure out a safe passage through the obstacles. Gradually, as he began to overtake some of the more inept mages who kept getting hit by the invisible walls, he would pick up more speed, getting more used to this method, until he was quickly climbing the ranks back toward the middle of the race.

Altian felt a little bit better after the handshake. He wanted that reassurance that no matter what happened, even if they would be forced to compete against each other, their friendship wouldn't ride on the result. But then again, he never had to worry about that with Emerin. He was about as carefree as people could get. His power usage was a direct representation of that. So why did he ask the question? Was it for his own reassurance...or perhaps it was his own reminder to not take this competition so seriously? He did value his friendship over everything else, but there was still a small nugget of competitive spirit within him that wanted to go as far as he could in this competition.

There could only be one winner, after all...

There wasn't enough time to unpack everything battling inside of the bookworm as the PA system blared and the next event was announced to begin shortly. He stayed by Emerin, of course, as they walked back out into the center of the stadium where the next event would begin.

And it was a race he hadn't expected...mostly because it was to be expected. He knew that the Grand Magi Games got crazy and that no two years were ever the same in design or structure, but this felt like he was overthinking the process a little bit. The gimmick (apart from the traps and obstacles they would be racing past) were these gates scattered in each zone that allowed the contestants to progress to the next one. And they weren't specifically situated at the end, so teleporting past all the obstacles would be a waste of time. But he steeled himself and prepared his mentality as he nudged Emerin with a grin.

"Hey Emry-Shu. Ya think we're gonna go through Ezra Desert?" he asked, knowing that if they did, that would be a huge advantage for them.

"I dunno, Alt-shu..." Emerin replied. He did not know the full scale of the race, but he was interested in seeing where they would go. That said...he looked down at their clothes. "However, we are both overdressed for the desert, and underdressed for the cold...well, if we keep hurrying maybe we can pass through before it affects us!"

And with everything explained, the dragons roared and the race was on. Emerin led the way, taking Altian's hand as he started whipping up portals for them to pass through. They passed through the first one with ease and appeared just in time to see the super speedy man run smack dab into the invisible barrier. He couldn't discern exactly what magic spell was being used in the moment as there were several that could allow invisible barriers to exist. But he did have a quick tactic to get around it.

"Try short distance portals," Altian suggested as they went, "Randomly placed throughout. Make the distance no less than a few feet between. That way, we aren't missing anything except walls."

It wasn't a foolproof strategy, though. There was still a marginal chance they would be running into the barriers. But now that they could cut the space they were travelling through down and Emerin had the energy supply of a demi-god, they could keep this up until the walls weren't a problem anymore. With each portal Emerin created, Altian stabilized with a little bit of his own energy, controlling it to ensure it wouldn't collapse on them as they went through each one. He'd heard many stories of portals doing that to people and causing surprise paraplegic conditions to the caster and that would be the dumbest of ways to go out.

"Too much energy," he noticed, "Try using a little less magic. Remember, if you can control this energy, you can be efficient with it."

And that was something he'd told him before. They helped each other out as much as possible, constantly trying to better one another through various ways. Emerin usually tended to overcompensate, creating powerful torrents when a simple rainfall was required. Meanwhile, Altian tended to underperform, his focus on efficient mana use resulting in putting too little mana into the spell. But they both had tips and tricks to help bring out the best of their other and this was no exception.

"Alright! Lets do this!" Emerin stated, and began to use what he liked to call Portal Dash, which involved creating several portals in a row, never fully materializing out of any of them instead of just opening two portals over and over again. Interestingly enough, he had not even realized he was doing this, or that this was not actually what Altian had told him to do technically. Emerin was not the best with directions, which resulted in Altian usually being in charge of navigating them, and it appeared much like a blur of energy in a way.

In truth, Emerin was kind of doing what he told. The theory of Portal Dash was practically identical to what Altian had told him, just with a different result. There only difference was control. With Random Short Distance Portals, Emerin would have far better directional control then with Portal Dash, and it would be harder to track his movements. But with Portal Dash, it was like creating a tunnel of portals, only the tunnel was litterally being created right in that moment and disappearing in the next, allowing only Emerin and Altian to travel through it.

Naturally though, Emerin had little knowledge of this and would need Altian to point it out to him later, as he thought they were just running through as he created the random portals immediately, like running through a lane.

And then, that was when Emerin sensed it...

"Alt-shu! Duck!" Emerin shouted, not realizing that with what he was currently doing he did not actually need to shout that. As they might appear to others as a comet of energy flying around and forward, they would duck as they passed one of the cars...or, what they thought was a car, but suddenly transformed and tried to suckerpunch them! And if that was not enough, Emerin suddenly noticed they had to dodge as the streetlights began shooting out lasers randomly!

All of that caused him to forcibly dodge, which allowed two others to pass them...and then suddenly, fall into holes that opened up as they ran across them and down into the ground.

"They are really going all out!"

"So, who are you all rooting for?" Trisha asked with energy. "Any favorites you think you will win?"

"I-I dont think that we are allowed to have favorites..."

"Dont be so shy! And of course we are allowed to have some opinions of our own, so long as we try and talk about everyone! Its the judges that have to be impartial, not us!"

"I...I see..." Iviri mentioned.

"So, who is it? Who is it?"

"Ummm...Well, I kind of know too many people in the Games to say".

"Oh relax, I am sure you wont hurt their feelings!"

"I really cant though..." Iviri mentioned. He really did know too many people participating. There was Demor, Ixa, Rivyan, Nao, and a couple of others. Iviri knew quite a few people.

"Awww. What a buzzkill. What about you Doctor?"

"Oh no, I am not opening that can of worms either. A lot of my students and alumni are participating. I only wish them all good luck".

"Haaaaaaaaaa...."

Meanwhile, in the race...

Astral and Luna were neck and neck, near the upper middle, or lower upper groups. They probably could be going much faster, but they were constantly clashing with each other, making it difficult for either of them to get near the lead.

Meanwhile, Ixa was gliding forward, and occasionally create a shield of ice to stop Ixian's stun bullets. At the same time, Nao who had shot out in the beginning was nearing the first gate. He had passed through all the checkpoints, so now it was time to enter the first of the transport gates.

It was easy for him to move fast inside a city, especially one he knew the layout for, but now...now was where it would get tricky.

At least he was able to avoid or run past the robots that got in everyone's ways. And so, having passed through all the Checkpoint Gates inbetween the start and the Transport Gate, he went through and...

"You have got to be kidding me! Full Charge Kick!" he called out as he spun himself around in mid air and delivered a kick to a very large snake that had been waiting right at the gate. The electrical burst stunned it momentairily, but this left Nao in a free fall. It appeared the Transport Gate from City Zone to Jungle Zone did deposit into a jungle...but the cave was near the edge of the cliff, and according to the signs and navigation robots that pointed the way, everyone would have to go down the cliff anyways. After all, the next gate was miles away deeper into the jungle.

As Nao landed though, he soon realized roughly where this Zone was, or what it was based on. Some of the swampy jungles to the north, full of peril such as sludge pits, murky water, and quicksand. And those were the normal threats. There was also something known as Sinking Grass, which was like Quicksand but looked like a grassy patch of land. The only difference in how you could tell what it was was that the grass was a slightly different shade of green, and that there wouldn't be anything in it.

There were also giant serpents like what he encountered before, as well as trees that had tops that would shoot out weird tendrils, wrap them around creatures that could fly, and quickly pull them into it to be eaten. Interestingly enough, it only seemed to target creatures that could fly though. You could tell what they looked like from leave shape, size, branches, and the fact you would see a spot that looked like normal bark from the sky...until it opened up and shot those tendrils at you to pull you in and swallow you.

And then of course, there were Murkwolves, Killer Moles, Deathromas (flowers that spew poisonous gas), and so on.

As for what he landed in, it was a Sinking Grass pit. It had already started to swallow up his shoes, but he had no intention of sinking, or running the entire race barefoot, so he let out a powerful electric charge. Unfortunately...Sinking Grass was essentially made of Earth and Rock, so it was fairly useless. As a result, he took out a piece of cloth, and ran electricity though it. This caused it to take the shape of a sword, which he used to cut up the ground as he pulled his sleeve up a little and shot a grapple hook out of a gauntlet device on his arm. Combined with the disruption of the ground, he was able to pull himself up.

"Alright then" Nao said as he surveyed the surroundings. "Lots of trees in the way, not organized nearly like the streets so I wont be able to move as fast in lightning form. Lets just do short zaps from branch to branch for now. I definently do not want to be airborn here. Leaving aside the Skyhook Trees, pretty sure I saw some flying creatures up there that would eat people who tried, and fighting all of those things would just slow me down".

And with that, he began zapping from branch to branch, moving quickly as possible while avoiding any Stickybark trees, which were trees so sticky it was better then military grade glue or duct tape.

Meanwhile, Cyrus who had been flying at top speed sped around the corner in the City zone as he saw a few others enter the Transport Gate to the Jungle Zone before him. Confident in his wings and speed, he rushed right through...and because he was flying, did not fall off the cliff as everyone else did. He also did a barrel roll to avoid the snake, however...

"GRROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRR".

"Uh oh?"

He panicked a little when he saw two flying serpents hop out of the forest to try and eat him, as well as spotting several things that looked like Skyhook Trees.

"This seems extremely prejudiced against people who can fly!" Cyrus complained as he began to take evasive measures.

And back in the City Zone, Jaune and Shinku were also making their way towards the transport gate along with their Armor Spirits, while in Level 3 forms. Jaune was in the lead, but Shinku had been using bursts of fire to keep up. Still, they were not anywhere close to being in the top ten yet.

Well, maybe they were a little close given how many holes they had seen triggered, but they didn't know for sure. Still, they were not out of the race yet either.

Demor quickly found himself dealing with traps and obstacles that not many others in the race were even aware of yet. The random pitfalls, the additional walls of near perfectly invisible matter, and then the challenge of finding the checkpoint gates within a swirling city? All of it was insane, but for whatever reason, either due to his own pure speed or dumb luck, Demor was progressing very well. He didn't know where exactly on the leader-board he was, but based on the fact that he couldn't sense anyone nearby him, he guessed somewhere near the top.

It was as he made his final approach to the gate leading to the Jungle Zone that one of the random laser blasts managed to catch up to him, making him stumble through the gate, skidding to a halt. Once through, the feeling of imminent doom consumed him, and before the giant worm that proved to be the source of that feeling could actually consume him, he moved out of the way, and with a Teravolt Claw, kicked the worm away before darting off the side of the cliff, launching himself a good couple hundred feet in what he thought might be the right direction before beginning to fall.

Using his tail to guide his trajectory, and his Magic to coat his body in Lightning so as to not be snatched up by the trees that seemed to be trying to eat him, Demor landed safely, and took off again, albeit much slower than before due to the unfamiliar landscape and area around him. Slow enough for normal cameras to finally be able to see him, if there were any around for the audience to watch from.

'So far so good.' he thought as he raced through the jungle. If he kept up this speed, he should be out of the jungle in no time, he reasoned. Using his senses, he reached, and found a small influx of magic power, which if anything was the same from the last zone, meant he was going in the right direction. Turning towards it, he burst through the trees and landed, skidding to a halt through the checkpoint gate, and in the middle of an Orc Camp.

There was an awkward pause as the Orcs all stopped what they were doing to stare at the intruder, and then all madness broke loose as they all simultaneously attacked. Most of them were easy to deal with - Demor didn't even have to use his magic. Hand-To-Hand combat was good enough. That being said, however, this was their home, and they were used to the Terrain, Demor wasn't. Using his tail, though, he was able to maintain balance in situations where anyone else would have fallen, sometimes even using his tail as a third leg to stop his falling and then using his momentum to continue the fight. Despite winning against most of the Orcs, Demor was being pushed back.

Then it went Dark.

Dark, hot, and slimy. Demor had been eaten!? A carnivorous plant had ensnared the Male Drachini in its jaws, and was already beginning to digest him! Not taking the time to think, Demor his first gut reaction and thrashed around, only speeding up the digestion, his skin beginning to blister in some spots while his tail was fine, the acid unable to hurt his scales just yet. After taking a moment, he coated himself in Lightning, and let out a mighty battle cry before thrashing around once more, and quite literally tearing his way out of the belly of the plant, steaming as the stomach acid evaporated within his Lightning Cloak.

With a mock salute and a smirk, he left the Orc camp in a flash of lightning, and kept running. The rest of the race wasn't going to win itself!

He might have passed through some of the gates throughout the city, but Brand was still far behind everyone else. Back in his normal form, he was using blasts of fire to propel his movement, having found it almost as effective and much more efficient than using his knight form.

“Oh!” he exclaimed, as he passed through another. As if in response a kinetic blast reeled overhead as he ducked just in time for it to blow his hood over his head. He grunted, pulling it down and looking back, skidding on one leg as he tried to keep his balance. Three grimacing mages were closing up behind him, two of them taking aim. The one in the centre still had her palm out from the spell she had just fired.

“We’ve reached that point already, huh?” he remarked, as the guy to the attacker’s right threw a fireball at the pyromancer. Brand rolled his eyes, yet another fire mage trying to attack him.

The iron ball, coated in flames to trick Brand, hit him squarely in the face with a very satisfying metallic sound and Brand was sent tumbling, just managing to twist in the air and get back on his feet, surfing awkwardly on a stream of flame so he could concentrate on his attackers. The iron ball bounced heavily into the ground between the two parties. The assailant grinned at having read him so easily and caught him off guard. Just as the other two were charging another kinetic blast and what looked like lightning of some sort, Brand swerved to the side, fire-skating in zig-zags either side of the street.

Ducking to and fro, assorted spells zipping over his head and around him, Brand weaved in and out of lamp posts which to all their surprise began firing lasers in all directions. With a short yell, Brand hopped of out the path of one of the projectiles. Grinning, Brand shifted into the form of a firebird and darted from side to side of the street, agitating the turrets enough while dodging them with ease, so that his pursuers were soon otherwise occupied and he could speed ahead.

Feet connecting with the ground as he switched back to normal, he glided through another gate. He could see the next one up ahead, and as one of the competitors passed he swore he saw them disappear. He gritted his teeth with apprehension - if this was the final gate there was probably something in store. Just at that moment, two rather unassuming cars ahead unfurled themselves and two enormous robots stood on the way. The dustbins either side of the street also gyrated, taking aim and firing cannon-blasts which Brand avoided precariously, screaming. He grazed his cheek as he barely got past a robot as it punched the ground. The second he more time for, and passed between its legs. Both followed up with another attack, but he had already passed through the gate and vanished from their sight, giving them a playful sneer.

Elysia might not be good with attention after millennia of isolation, but she certainly knew how to get it.

Waiting until all other contestants left either the zone or the contest altogether, she leisurely strolled forward until she came up to the first invisible wall. She placed her hand on it, trying to understand it's matrix. Unsurprisingly, it worked in tandem with technology. Equally unsurprising was the fact the fact that the magic itself was some of the most complicated she had ever seen. Layers upon layers of it existing, filled with both redundant code to make identifying the correct action harder, and traps to further discourage tampering with the magic.

It did not particularly matter in the end.

Elysia had been the Archmage back on Fysalda, and it was not because of good connections or raw power. (Especially since she used to lack the latter, in the time before the Seed) Back there she simply had an unparalleled understanding of how magic worked. This was of course not the case in this wider multiverse, there simply being too many different styles of practicing magicks. She would have fun with trying to figure them all out though.

But that was neither here or there. What was here and pretty much everywhere though, were these invisible walls standing in her way. She could have just dodged them like the other contestants, but she wouldn't have learned anything about them, and that would be such a waste.

"Ah! That's a weak spot", she mumbled, but didn't quite do anything yet. She wanted to figure out this puzzle the 'proper' way.

About 15 minutes in, she realized she was going about this the wrong way. She could tamper with the wall itself, that's true, but that would still mean there's a lot of other walls in her way. It was not the wall she needed to focus on, but a way to get through it. What she needed to temper was herself.

Having analysed the magic for this long, she had a decent idea how it worked, and how to get herself around it. Manipulating her magic, she tuned her own existence out of phase, just enough to still be able to interact with the world if needed, but also to bypass the -for lack of better words in her vocabulary- frequency at which the magic existed.

After that... Well... She simply walked through, taking care to dodge the other traps.