Book 2: Chapter 60: The First Round Part I

Book 2: Chapter 60: The First Round Part I

Somewhere in the Central Stadium

Julian cant help but smile as he drinks his soda with a bowl of popcorn in his lap, his friends located around him simply chatting away about the tournaments. Ever since he became a Guardian, Julians life has improved by leaps and bounds. To the point that the only moments when he wished he were elsewhere, or that hed made a different choice at some point were the two times he almost died, once in each Fracture.

And even then, those near death experiences led him to meeting her. Not that he has any feelings for her anymore.

If she were my age though maybe

Julian sighs at the thought before shaking his head and grabbing a handful of popcorn to stuff into his mouth as his friends Robert and Julie both laugh at something Larkin just said, the masses of people all seated around them drowning out most of their laughter with their own noise.

I wonder if she wouldve thought of me any differently if we were the same age?

You thinking about her again? Robert suddenly elbows Julian, almost making him spill his drink as he sputters out denials.

He totally is, Julie says with a laugh, meanwhile Larkin just gets an amused look on her face.

Julians silky silver fox ears flop down onto his head as he focuses on the battle currently going on in the arena, one between a man a lot of people recognize from the last tournament as Crim, and another man that not as many people recognize. A man who happens to be losing pretty badly.

And Julian cant help but ignore the small wave of awes that come about from both Julie and Larkin, along with a couple other random people who see his ears.

You should give up, dude, Larkin says while shaking her head, the girls long black hair falling over her shoulder in the process. Shes like, four years older than you, right? Theres no chance. And Ive heard that she has no interest in romance anyways. At least not now.

Julian frowns for a few seconds, only to sigh and slump down a little as he says, I know that already. I gave up on her long ago. Its just

Hey, youre not the only one, Robert says while patting Julians shoulder. A lot of people fall in love with Guardians. Theyre celebrities after all, and most of them seem to look rather beautiful or handsome for some reason, so you absolutely arent the only one. He stops patting his shoulder and grins. Just keep it as a fantasy and not reality, kay?

Julian snorts at that and shakes his head.

Youd wonder if it were just some hidden qualification for the Guardians to be good looking Julie mutters, sounding vaguely saddened by that. But Larkin just shrugs and says, Well, there are plenty of Guardians who arent good looking like that. And I feel like a few of the fae might just focus more on the good looking ones since they tend to stand out more, you know what I mean?

Yeah, guess that makes sense, Robert says, but they all go silent when the battle in the arena begins. And almost immediately upon the countdown hitting zero, Scarlet breaks off into a sprint with small amounts of red steam lifting off of her body as she zips across the barren wasteland, occasionally running around some hills or cliffs here and there.

If Julian remembers correctly, the only humans to have ever gone to Tartarus themselves were the five Knights, which is how theyre as powerful as they are today. So all of the magical realities that are on Earth using images from Tartarus are taking them directly from those Knights descriptions of the places. Or even their memories, assuming the Knights let someone do that.

And the places that the Knights had visited werent exactly pleasant places.

I kind of wish they had seen the cities and villages on Tartarus though, because those interest me more than any wasteland or forest would. But I think the teacher mentioned those mostly being controlled by noble demons. And the Knights didnt want to draw the attention of the Demon Lords, who are stronger than them. Even more so back then.

Julian sighs at the thought, only to quickly become enthralled when he sees Scarlet bursting around a corner to find the Conductor a girl wearing a suit with the black jacket in the back flaring out into two points at the bottom as she holds a conductors baton. The type of thing hed often see band conductors waving around during a concert.

Now thisll be good!