Not Dead Yet - Chapter 2
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The Great Race
The noise of cheers and grunts and howls was almost unbearable. The stone streets and buildings around the plaza echoed. Gold and White Flags waved in the air on lines strung between buildings, trees and the tall columns of white stone etched with gold lace; many were hanging from rooftops and windows, and nearly everyone in the crowd had their white and gold new year flag waving vigorously in their hands and or just blowing in the wind. It was anyone's guess if it was in fact the crowd noise causing some of the wind in the plaza.
At one end of the blocked off plaza were twelve rather large and unusual vehicles. These were for the Great Race, a race which would require a vehicle to not only drive on and off road, but climb and descend mountains, sail on and under water, traverse the underground caves and steam vents, fly through the air, and then up to one of the Kæav--islands in the sky--and the monorails. Each vehicle had a team to manage it all; those teams were running round their vehicles performing last minute checks on rigging, pulleys, pressure systems, hatch seals, and grain harvesters.
"Ddon OnMwrga," (Good morning) "And happy new year! And welcome to the Finals of the 277th Great Race." A sharp clear voice reverberated over the noise of the crowd, and it grew quieter. The voice that rang out through the crowd was a voice recognized by sports fans everywhere, the voice of Vin Chulcii. Vin walked out from the crowd and into the middle of the plaza. The crowd erupted in cheers.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, I am Vin Chulcii," more cheers; "Today, I have the great pleasure to be announcing the events of the Great Race, and bringing you into the new year!"
The bright sky overhead seemed more empty than it did most of the year; the golden Verroi peaking out from behind the white Merroi, nearly centered, and impossible to look directly at.
"In mere moments, the Roia will be aligned, Verroi will give his ring to his wife, Merroi, and we'll welcome in the year 3885, and the Race will begin!" Popular mythic stories describe the Roia in a husband and wife role, or parental role, looking over the AUAK and the four Alru around it; protecting them from the blackness of Illek: the Devourer. There are many myths and beliefs on the matter, few of these are still followed; excepting those who use Roian or Alrun magic.
"While we have a few minutes, let's meet a few of the participants and their vehicles!" Vin walked the short distance toward the giant Alru Stone in the center of the plaza, the starting line. "We won't have time to meet all 28 teams, I'm sorry to say, but team-submitted write ups can be found on the event scrolls available for free pretty much anywhere. If you don't already have one, well, you've failed your preparation check." The crowd laughed; a few looked around nervously, and scurried from their seats to one of the racks along the back sides of every set of bleachers. Some watching from high windows felt like they were missing out on something vital.
"Actually," Vin was looking over at a small Vanara on the side that was jumping up and down pointing at into the air, Vin looked up, "It would seem we don't have enough time to meet the racers now, I need to get out of the road. We'll talk about each team as the race progresses, likely during the harvest and blending: the first stages of the ale that I get to drink at the end of the race." The crowd laughed, and Vin Chulcii found his way to the announcer's balloon that would carry him over the race through the air. The airship was as much white and gold as the city square that began to shrink as the ship rose to two hundred feet above the scrambling racers.
Vin reached the stern deck of the airship, but before returning to address the crowd, he spun a stern look at the captain of the ship, and pointing at the massive balloon above their heads, he said with gritted teeth, "How am I am supposed to see the sky with that giant thing there, didn't think this through, did you?" Vin didn't give the captain a chance to respond, but turned to address the crowd in his jovial public voice.
"We've got just a few moments to go, any racer not in their vehicles had better climb aboard." Vin continued with a forced smile, "And since I can't see the Roia from here, all you wonderful people are going to have to help with the countdown," the crowd cheered, unaware of Vin's serious irritation at the situation.
The sky began to change colors, and the crowd started to count down from 30. Verroi was beginning to peak out fully behind Merroi, the light hitting the crystal rings that surround the world casting thousands of massive rainbows across the sky. Vin joined in the counting though he could only see the horizon and ground below, which was slightly less beautiful than the view upward. As the countdown reached zero, the whole sky burst in a bright golden light of rainbows, and the racers took off, most of them.
Hurtling across the stone plaza the massive contraptions sped towards the opposite end of the square where they would have to pass through an archway, single-file.
Chapter 2 will be continued
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | TBC
