Mt. Ohm - God Slayer by K. van Marshall (top android ebook reader txt) 📕

“Yeah, are you not?”, replied Judor, optimistically.

“Yeah, obviously. I left my stuff near the stadium”, said Knoah knowingly. “Come, they are waiting”.

“Who”.

“Who do you think? Your precious Els”, said Knoah, before sprinting off.

Stunned and annoyed, Judor paused for second. Then took off after Knoah at full speed. He was late on the uptake as usual, but soon realised that Knoah had just thrown down the gauntlet; the race had begun. This playful, teasing side of Knoah is what drew adoration from everyone around him; even Judor was easily drawn into these little contests of skill and strength against Knoah.

While Judor kept to the ground level of Junction lane, Knoah took to the skies - charging up the side of a tree. This cost him the valuable underhanded lead he stole at the start - Judor was level by the time he reached a decent height. Latching onto a vine, running at pace Knoah jumps off the end of a branch. He was now behind, but using the hanging vines that arch over Junction lane, he slowly picked up pace; swinging hard by kicking his legs. Knoah soon reached a velocity that Judor could not match.

Judor slowed his sprint to a pace just below full pace. Waiting for the right time. Drawing the boalifera spear from his back - he aimed the black wood spear. Stamping his leading leg down with so much force he cracked the hard red stone surface, he almost toppled over with the momentum throwing his spear. The timing was perfect, as was the precision.

Still in the lead, Knoah blissfully swings towards the river when the spear splits the trusty gumo vine that supports Knoah’s race to victory. Sending him crashing to the river below, the spear continues a good distance and plants itself  in the far away surface of Highbury.

Plunging quickly, Knoah let out a cry of laughter. “Khaaaaakhaaa”. The laugh was a bellow of pure ecstasy. I never expected that from you Juds. After dropping into the cool waters of the Wei, he resurfaces gasping then finds his bearings. Sabo would have done something like that, he thought, swimming towards Highbury.

Judor got back to full speed quickly, getting to the river’s edge and climbing the closest tree; a vine is the quickest way over. Reaching a decent height, and grabbing a vine, he looks to the Wei - no sign of Knoah - backing up he throws himself off the tree towards the Highbury. Unfortunately for him, in his haste he misjudged the length of the vine; his hastily aborted swing leaves him in the river.

Below, Knoah had been swimming underwater, slipping through the water like a dragonshark. His momentum was disturbed by the sudden explosion of Judor entering the Wei above him - forcing him to resurface again - instantly it became an all out swimming scrap to the shores of Highbury. As Knoah fought to beat Judor to the other side, he dragged Judor back by his backpack and receives an elbow to the jaw - not letting go, Knoah doesn’t lose a pace - slapping a few heavy wet hands onto the back of his rival in response. By the time the pair reached the shore simultaneously, they were knackered.

“What are you idiots doing?”.

Pulling themselves up, the pair are confronted with a stern faced Els, and an amused Saeko.

“Seriously, you know what we are doing right?”. Knoah opened his mouth, about to reply, something rude, but she continued. “To leave, to travel all the way... I told you to go get him, not act a fool. You know what, y’all are idiots, just come on!”.

Head down like a scolded child, Judor collects his spear. A sly smile stealthily spreads across his face, it soon returns to his normal grimace as the enjoyment of the race with Knoah is quickly forgotten, only to be replaced with worries.

The secretive leavers arrive at the Kizaru festival, after depositing Judor’s things with Els and Knoah’s. They arrived late, or just on time. Wanting a smooth exit the four wanted to sit at the back, luckily they arrived when there were minimal seats left.

“See there was nothing to worry about”, said Knoah, as they took the closest seats to the exit as possible.

“Shut it”, replies Els, with a kiss of her teeth for good measure.

The ceremony, as always, is held the Neergchwi stadium - thousands of rows of staggered seating cascade down to the the main stage and centre of the stadium. On the centre pitch stood Chieftain Asra, surrounded by the seated elders; the real holders of power in Venzeca.

The Chieftain's speech had already started; the group had missed much of the usually boring political nonsense. However, by the time the Chieftain had finished today’s rousing opening address - a strong kick in the backside - everyone present was left full of spirit. The four caught the last heated moments of the speech, it was enough to strengthen the resolve in the hearts of Knoah and Els; although it made Judor want to scream to the elders and Chieftain to stop their misguided voyage, but he could not muster the courage to go against Els; just imagining her potential wrath sent chills up his spine.

After the speech came the announcement of the infinity bound, usually a short affair honouring the old, accidental and those who had fallen in service of protecting Venzeca. Usually most of the deaths consist of elders and or warriors, but today, the horrifically long list was full of Zulons; many in their prime, each losing their lives protecting the community. The able bodied that hid, lower their heads in shame - the Chieftain's message of ‘reigniting our warrior pride’, burns them deeply.

Next came the uplifting part of the address. The announcement of new adults to the people, and a dose of guilt for the leaving trio. A massive roar of pride went up as their names and title of path are made known to the entire population. The three cover their faces, trying not to draw attention during the applause, they will not be here to take up their new roles come next week.

After the formalities of the speech, came escapism as the first game of the bulletball season commenced; it also marks the beginning of Kallel's solar cycle around Zenntri.

The centre podium collapsed as much of the coliseum pitch converts to the bulletball field. It only took a moment  for much of the ground to fall away, leaving hundreds of circular discs. All varying sizes, each is either a short hop or big leap away from each other. At the centre, stood the largest of the round platforms - two posts connected by a crossbar are pitched into the centre.

After the earth bending maji leave the center pitch, fifty players take to the field; twenty five in red bulletball kits, the others in black; there are no subs. The Lonston ‘Goons’ vs the Petrahasa ‘Monks’. After forming a circle around the goal platform, the groups split and each take to their opposing sides of the centre goal. The two goaltends stay put, their objective to stop the opposition from shooting the ekin ball through the goal.

Knoah took a keen interest in the game, this will be his last chance to watch a game for a while. He watches the goaltenders, soaking in the atmosphere.

This game has got a friendly feel alright, even more than a usual opening game. But it’s only natural, I knew the players wouldn’t be able to get into it. Not that I can blame them, in these circumstances.

Usually the goaltenders would have gotten into each other by now. Unlike the rest of the field where bulletball’s full contact aspects come into play, the goaltenders are restricted to only touching the ball, but usually start winding each other up before the whistle; it can get tense and the tensions often boil over when the insults get too cutting. Knoah almost enjoyed the disagreements and salty comments as much as the beef for dominance around the rest of the field.

The match started as slowly as Knoah predicted. A sharp whistle was followed by five balls being cannoned onto the field - four white sadida and a black ekin. The expected rush for possession, does not follow. In true friendly fashion, everyone stood off their opposition allowing the person nearest to the balls drop to take control, those in possession are allowed to pass the ball on without any pressure.

“I wonder who's going to wake up first, the crowd or the players”, said Els, waiting for the real action to kick off.

“Dunno”, said Judor. Bulletball isn’t his thing.

“I know right, it super weak. Even those with sadida are just taking those weak half hearted shots at each other”, said Knoah, clearly frustrated.

The deathly quiet of the library like stadium was intimidating, the silence only made the teams play more timid - the usual; fanfare of drums and trumpets were non existent today. What followed for the next ten minutes, could only be described as a training session - balls being lobbed from one side to the other, and fancy tricks to try and keep the crowd slightly amused, but soon murmurs of discontent grew. Bulletball is not something for the faint hearted or purely fancy footed. Without the blood and thunder of real competition the crowd was feeling cheated.

As if sensing the growing frustration, Kellian Henkamp stepped up. The centre forward for the goon’s brutally dispossessed the ekin from a dawdling monk, and raced forward. She chips the ball forward to a teammate - he responds swiftly, knocking it down to another, whom in turn lays it off to the onrushing Henkamp. The monks began to scramble, but it was too late. After hopping and skipping over several platforms quickly, Henkamp leaps majestically. Her black locks fly everywhere as she rotates mid-air to bicycle kick the ekin pass the hapless goalie. Finishing the wonderful flowing move in such an emphatic fashion started the game proper. A flurry of outs followed as players in possession of sadida balls strike down members of the opposing team.

With the match picking up, the three slink out of the coliseum. At least I got to see Henkamp score a few, thought Knoah as he followed Els and Judor out of the stadium. ‘See you soon’, he gestured to Saeko, with a wink and a nod. Saeko replies with a sad nod of his own.

Leaving the stadium, the three quickly run to the spot they hid their belongings. Trying to minimise encounters, they stuck to the shadows while moving swiftly to the river.

That’s when something suddenly dawned on Knoah. Where are we gonna get hummers from? Not just hummers, but kenpions. Els said leave it to her, but she doesn’t have a clue about hummers. Petrahasa would have been the perfect place, we could have had our pick out of the training stables, but where in Lonston are we going to find three, no four kenpions?

“Yo Els, where are we going?”, asked Knoah.

“What do you mean? To Mt. Ohm”, replied Els, sarcastically.