Starflame13
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Curls of dawn fully parted to a sky filled with brilliant blue. Sunlight streamed forth, its rays seeking and catching on each glint of adorned armor that it could find. For all the brightness, Bren’s shadows lay ever deeper, pockets of shade offering rest and respite for those who lingered long enough for a moment of stillness to only themselves. From strangers to old friends, visiting nobles to lowly cutpurses, lone travelers and full caravans - all were enveloped by the Arena’s embrace.
Power hummed under the excited babble, a solemn call that resonated throughout the entire city. Its purpose - stark and bold - dragged the crowd onward. Through the gleaming city gates and across twisted streets of shops and inns. Past grimy alleyways and grand courtyards and all the houses that stood between. Up and over the final bridge to follow in the footsteps of Champions past, treading along the well-worn cobblestones of Supplicant’s Way. Onward, until the Complex itself stood before them; a looming gateway that swelled to meet the rising tide that surged towards it.
Here, the horde parted. Hundreds of spectators streamed towards the stands, shoving and jostling against each other in the hopes of achieving better seating. The handfuls of hopefuls instead found themselves alone. Whether by hired officials, their own finely-honed instincts, or by unseen magic itself, the Arena tugged them forward to their fate. A destiny written in bloodshed and carnage. A chance for one to stand victorious. A hope of earning a boon.
All that stood in their path now was the Arena itself - and the greatest fighters this world had to offer.
Chilly curtains of thick mist draped themselves across the halls, trailing damp and probing fingers over the passing competitors. A series of suspended orbs glowed against the ceiling to light the way, their gleam shifting ever so gradually from ephemeral to eerie as the glow tinged blue and green. Salt stung in the air as rivulets of dark, nearly black water flowed through deep chasms along the pale walls, carving out chunks of soft stone that tumbled to litter the final few steps of the path leading to a vast, silent wall of water that blocked the way forward.
Oppression. Enthrallment. Trepidation. Terror. The currents envelop all who enter the Fountain.
With a hushed sigh, the deluge of inky blackness parted to allow passage into the room beyond. A mirrored ebon floor stretched out across the expanse, in stark contrast to the roughened and pockmarked walls of bleached-white coral, twisted about like claws and fangs of cracked, gnarled bone. Salt stung at the nostrils, mineral deposits clinging at the crevices in the bones of the dying reef.
A single droplet of water fell from nothingness, its echo resounding about the empty room. Then another, and another, until a flood of water poured down from above. Pressure slammed in from all sides, water filled the eyes and lungs, and naught could be seen but faint winks of white light that flickered and vanished as soon as they appeared.
With a rushing roar, the water receded - filling the ceiling with an ever constant shift of roiling waves. Currents of water flowed along sections of the walls, revealing a teaming river of colorful, thriving life. Pillars of ocean remained in the wake of the surge, the currents slowly circulating about them to send the drifting, flickering lights bobbing along amongst the sable sea.
A smooth whisper curled about the room, soft and sibilant and sinister to reach all within its grasp. “And so begins the Trial of the Submerged Fountain. Fight or Die, adventures, but let the Elemental Championships begin!”
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