I let the flood of people pull me along the street as my eyes wandered over the stalls. The owners of which hawked their wares as loudly as they could in an attempt to entice people over to buy something. Some of which I was somewhat curious about, but not to the point of shoving my way through to get a closer look.

  The sight of a giant structure as it came into view reminded me just how short I was. Okay, so it was more like the fact that I was nearly to the damned thing before being able to see it past all these taller people. Sometimes I wished I was just a couple of inches taller.

  The structure looked to me like a copy of the Colosseum, or at least what I had seen in various movies. This copy made the buildings around it look like toys next to the thing. And that was before one even looked at the structure itself. Each stone was a dark blue that shone as if polished in the sun.

  The sunlight was the only thing that seemed to prevent the structure from appearing black. I almost wanted to see the thing after the sun was gone and the night was at its darkest. Would the structure be pitch black as it absorbed all the light around it, or would it shine like the stars high above?

  As we got closer, a portion of the crowd separated. They moved to join a line of people waiting their turn to approach one of the many tables set up along one side of the road. A sign proclaimed it to be where one needed to go if one wanted to sign up for the tournament. I maneuvered my way through the crowd so that, when it split, I was left on my own. No longer being pushed around as I took time to look over both groups.

  While I knew I would have no chance in the tournament, that didn’t mean I didn’t want to join in the fun. I mean, how many times have I read a book where the main character participated in such an event? And, while I had participated in several small tournaments in various games, this would be my first time getting a chance to do so in person. After a bit of time, I gave in to my childish need to participate. I just couldn’t say no to the excited little kid jumping around in my head, pushing me to join in on the fun.

  Thankfully, the line moved fast as people registered. Even if it didn’t, the people around me distracted each other with discussions of weapons, skills, and tactics. Some even talked about how much work they had been putting into training when they had heard about the tournament.

  As I halfheartedly listened to each discussion, I looked around at the competition, curious about who might have grabbed the advantage the SoulStones presented. While I expected there to be one or two non-humans, every person here was human.

  In fact, as far as I could tell, there were no non-humans in the crowd at all. “Next!” Someone called from a table near us. The person in front of me walked off in that direction.

  “Next!” Another attendant called out from a nearby table. I walked over, a bit nervous about whether they would even let me join in. The man behind the table pulled out a piece of paper as he asked, “Name?”

  “Kyren Vulpier.”

  “Race?” I looked at him in confusion. He looked up at me, his expression bored. “There are species that look human but are not. Seeing as you didn’t know that, I will put human down. Level?”

  I took a second to double-check my stats sheet before answering. “Thirteen.”

  “Solo or group?”

  “Solo.” Did I look like I had any friends with me?

  “Weapon of choice?”

  “Sword and magic?” My tone was more in the form of a question than an answer.

  “Sword then. Magic is free to use if you feel like it. The suppression effect of the shield this year can handle anything anyone here could use. Contact information?” His question surprised me. It must have been evident on my face as he blushed. “Not for the tournament. I just thought that, since you were alone, that you might like someone to hang out with.”

  Outwardly, I smiled as my insides clenched in annoyance. Who did this guy think he was flirting with? I had to hold myself back from punching to guy. After all, it wasn’t his fault that I looked like this. When I could finally speak without gritting my teeth, I spoke. “Is there anything else you need?” With a shrug, he grabbed something from a bin under the table. He recorded something on the paper before passing it to me.

  “This is your Tournament Chit. It will enable you to access the stairs to the pit as well as serve as an easy way for the spells to track your stats during the fight,” he said as I accepted the object. The moment it settled into my hand, a prompt appeared.

  So I could choose to let the piece of metal in my hands transmit my information to the tournament officials. I could see where someone might say no. But honestly, I had no reason to do so. It wasn’t like I had any secrets related to my stats, at least not yet. Hell, I was fairly sure most of us were pretty close in stats.

  After all, with the limitation of a seventy percent difference between the highest and lowest stat, there was very little wiggle room at our level. It would probably be this way until someone's stats approached one hundred. If anything, this was probably the most even playing field one could find. Accepting the prompt, I turned and left the tables as I made my way into the tunnels that led into the structure.

  As I passed out of the street and into the tunnel, a window popped up to inform me that I had been charged ten silver as an entry fee. Another window joined it to inform me that, as a participant in the tournament, I was charged an additional forty silver. While the cost was annoying and expensive, it was nothing compared to some real-life events. There were times that my coworkers had bragged about spending more than a single paycheck to go to an event. In my opinion, nothing that was a one-off was worth that much.

  With a shake of my head, I continued walking. Thankfully there were signs strategically placed under lights to direct people where to go. I followed the ones leading to the lower stands where it would be easier to see what was going on during each fight.

  As I stepped up the shallow stairs at the end of the tunnel, I found my path blocked by a chest-high railing. Given the steep drop on the other side, the thing was there to prevent people from falling into whatever fight was going on below.

  I took a second to look over the railing where I found several people raking the bone-white sand. Every once in a while, one of them would reach down, pick something up, and toss it into a cart set off to the side. I tried to not look too closely as I probably didn’t want to know what they were removing.

  Sudden shouting high above my head caught my attention. I rubbernecked to see what was going on and found a sphinx surrounded by guards up near the top of the tier I was currently standing in. Each of the guards brandished their weapons. These ranged from swords, spears, and even a few charged spells. “But why am I being detained?” Came the professor's voice as he demanded an answer.

  “Any non-human visiting the town must be registered and a human named as the party responsible for said visitor.” A voice boomed out from nearby. It captured my attention as it demanded that I listen. I didn’t even notice that I had turned until I found myself looking at a tall human man. His collared shirt and pressed pants would have been right at home in an office setting.

  The professor scoffed at the rule. “I was human less than an hour ago. In fact, I have been living here for weeks without issue.”

  “You were human,” the man spoke calmly. “That came with some protections. As you are no longer human, you have lost those protections. Non-humans have been legally barred from this town without a guarantor. They have also been barred from owning any property. They are limited to renting property when in the limits of the town.”

  “That’s discrimination!” The professor exclaimed.

  The man shrugged. “That’s the law. None of those here make the laws, we just uphold them. If you are unwilling to follow them then we will have no choice but to either kill you or imprison you. So what will it be?”

  That caught the professor off guard. He spluttered as his eyes jumped around. It looked like he was on the verge of panicking as he looked for someone, anyone, who would be willing to help him. I raised my hand to catch the professor’s eye as I hesitantly spoke up. “What does being a guarantor entail?”

  The man turned to look at me. His deep purple eyes caught on mine and we locked gazes for a few seconds. “If he harms, kills, damages people or property, or otherwise breaks any law, both of you will be held responsible. It is up to you to control the beast you have guaranteed.”

  “Define damages?” I asked as I thought over his skill and its ability to give or take points in wisdom.

  “Standard definition.” He narrowed his eyes. His voice tinged with a bit of suspicion. “Are you from this town or just passing through?”

  “I am a traveler. This is my starting town.” I answered, hoping it would be a good enough answer for him.

  “Name? Race?” Instead of answering, I pulled out my tournament chit and held it out for him to take. He eyed it suspiciously but didn’t hesitate to step down a few stairs and take it from me. Reading the information out loud. “Kyren Vulpier, human. So you are the one my daughter keeps talking about.” I thought I saw a tiny flicker of a smile touch his lips as he passed the chit back.

  “Maybe,” I replied hesitantly as my eyes flicked from him to the group surrounding the professor. “I don’t know who your daughter is to say for certain.” With a simple gesture from him, the guards around the sphinx put their weapons away and dispersed. They melted into the crowd that had grown around us. Judging by the expressions of the people standing around, they had been hoping to see some blood.

  “Don’t worry about it. We can talk about it later in a more…” the guy looked around, “…private setting. Enjoy the festival and good luck in the tournament. I will be watching to see how you do.” With that, he vanished from sight.

  “Fucking pigs.” The professor grumped as I joined him at the top of the first level. That part of the section was a wide, flat platform. People kept a fair distance from him which gave me room to stand and walk around his massive body without issue. “Has no one ever heard about civil rights? Discrimination has been outlawed for quite a while in most of the large countries back on Earth.”

  “Doesn’t stop it from happening even to this day.” I pointed out.

  “True.” He acknowledged.

  He sounded like he wanted to say something more but I cut him off. “And this is a video game. Even if anti-discrimination laws worked in cases of species discrimination, there is no need for this place to follow laws that are not from this world.”

  “I get your point.” He sounded resigned. “Just irks me every time I see someone, let alone find myself, being discriminated against.” His expression perked up as he changed topics. “Now tell me, are you participating in this little tournament?”

  I found his change in topic interesting but went with it. “Yeah. Though I don’t expect to do all that well.”

  “I would not be so sure,” he smiled as if he knew something I didn’t. “Want to hear a riddle?”

  My head shook but I could find no reason to refuse. It wasn’t like I was doing anything else. “Sure.”

  “I start with many but end with one, a battle of skill where the best is won. Through rounds of challenge, I narrow the field, until a champion's name is finally revealed. What am I?”

  “Is there a time limit?”

  He shook his head. “No, and I can repeat the riddle if you need to hear it again.”

  “So, many things at the start but end with only one. Either that means the extras vanish, get removed, or otherwise are no longer around. A battle of skill…wait.” I mumbled through the first part only to roll my eyes as soon as I started on the second. How could he get any more obvious in his riddles? “Are you a tournament?”

  He smirked as he bobbed his head ever so slightly. “Easiest I can go without breaking the rules the skill enforces. Want another?”

  I felt my grin spread from ear to ear. “Oh hell yes.” It took me only a second to look at my stats and do some math. “I could use another eleven points in wisdom. If only I could do the same thing for any of my other stats.”

  “Unfortunately, I can only affect a player's wisdom. It also limits each riddle to one-time use per person.” I shot him a worried look at that, concerned that he wouldn’t have many that were easy to answer. His expression looked sly, though, “It is a good thing I know quite a few riddles is it not?”

  I shook my head and rolled my eyes. The guy was cheating the system and we both knew it. Not that I would complain. I was the one benefiting so why not take advantage of the chance while I could? “So, what is the first riddle?”

  “I am here one minute but gone the next, silent as a shadow, I leave no trace, no matter how hard you try to grasp, you cannot hold me in place. What am I?” So much for easy.