Chapter 12: Making the Drop! Part One!

So many familiar faces.

I saw so many people from the time when I had received my Ice Element here. I remember the girl with red hair, a pair of triplets wearing the similar yellow outfits, a boy whose appearance obviously resembles that of an Egyptian Pharoh, and… oh nuts…

The dude that wears black clothes. Oh him… He’s the one who berated Felix at the Element-receiving ceremony, I must had triggered him hard back then, and he must had not made amends with me yet, well it’s probably because that we never saw each other again. Until today…

There was a man with him, who is definitely his father due to their striking resemblance, he wore a fiery-orange outfit, and seems to be sitting on a wheelchair. “Hey Edward, what a-” Felix’s eyes widened when he turned to see where I was looking, “Felix, it’s alright.” Aisha comforted him, and started to pat the fellow on the shoulder.

The dude’s cyan eyes suddenly started turning towards us, and his eyes widened, filled with shock and anger, and I can get the message from his glare, ‘You again!?’. I saw his father talk to him, and turned to check out on what the dude was so interested at, he gasped, and called out excitedly. “Claude!”

My brother must had heard him, because he turned to the direction of the sound. He called back, “Trad!” and rushed towards him. It seems that these two must have been friends, since both of them were so excited to see each other. They shook hands, and started to chat. “Man! I haven’t seen you since the last meeting of the Twelve Protectors!” Trad said, “Yeah! Your legs getting better?” Claude asked. “Oh, it’s not getting any better for now. Guess I’m bound to this wheelchair.”

Their loud voices seemed to attract the attention of the crowd as they turned towards them, they stood there, wide-eyed with, joy and excitement? “It’s Trad, and Claude…” One of them spoke, “Two of the Twelve Protectors! Right here!” Another one said. “The Twelve Protectors rarely show up in public, why here?” The red-haired girl asked, “They must be here to witness our success.” The Egyptian-styled boy answered, but I think he’s talking to himself than to her. “Whoa! We’ve been waiting for this moment!” One of the triplets spoke, “Let’s get their autographs!”

“Oh, boy.” Claude said, “We should have done it more privately. We’re probably drawing lots of attention now…” “Oh, never mind. I’m used to these.” Trad replied. The crowd started to talk to each other excitedly, with topics like getting my brother’s and Trad’s autographs, or fangirling about their heroic deeds. Whoa, I never knew that my brother was this popular even outside Paxsalam…

“Oh! And Claude, your younger brother is participating right?” “Oh yeah! He’s here!” Claude turned to me, and waved at me to come over, my eyes opened wider, Claude must have wanted to introduce me to Trad, and his son… I started to toy-walk towards them, and stood by Claude’s side, further from the fellow.

“Trad, this is Edward, my younger brother.” Claude said, I decided to wave nervously at Trad, and I’ll try my best to not ruin my brother’s mood. “Pleasure to meet you, Edward.” Trad held his hand out, ready for another handshake, well, what could go wrong? I shook his hand, “It’s also, um, a pleasure to meet you too, Mr Trad.” Trad laughed, “No, no. Just Trad. And here is my son, Gunther.”

Oh, Gunther huh? Gunther looked at me, with disgust as if I were an ugly and foul creature. I hope that I’m not one. “Gunther, shake his hand please.” Trad told him, wait, shake his hand!? There’s no way I’m doing that! But I didn’t say that out loud, Gunther must have the same thoughts too. Instead of shaking my hand, he stormed off, or up the stairs. “Gunther! Where’re you going?” Trad called out, “Just continue without me!” Gunther replied, “I don’t want to be late!” It’s only nine or something… And according to Claude, it doesn’t start till twelve or something. Trad scoffed, “Sorry bout that, buddies. He’s always like this, and I don’t know whether I should give him a hug or a slap in the face…”

Great, more climbing to do. I don’t know how Trad is able to manage this, since he sits on a wheelchair… but now he did fine thanks to Claude helping him. The crowd was still talking about the two, and it’s starting to get irritating now, and know they know me too, and I’m not sure of what they think of me. And also… “Say guys, what are these ‘Twelve Protectors’?” I asked Felix and Aisha, they stopped and gasped, and some of the crowd stopped too, and they turned to me. “You seriously don’t know who the Twelve Protectors are?!” Felix yelled at me as if I broke his favourite vase or something. “Dude, I spent most of my life in a palace, I need to start to get comfy in the outside world.” I replied.

“Bruh, this guy.” I heard one guy said, “He really needs to go out more.” Another one replied, which his point is true though. “He’s like a frog in a well.” The Egyptian fellow said. “Okay! Nothing to see here!” Aisha shouted to the crowd, and they continued to walk up the stairs. “Alright, the Twelve Protectors are these group of people who seek justice in this world and helps those in need. Each of them yields and represents one Element, like Claude represents Ice, and Trad represents The Dragon.” Aisha answered me, I nodded as a response, Claude is actually one of these fellas that protect and defend the society. “But from who though?” I asked again, “You know, like from troublesome and evil magicians or hostile creatures.” Felix replied. “Like-” I stopped myself from saying that name, I always get memories of my parents whenever I mentioned, or was about to mention her name.

“Like what?” Felix asked, I feel like tearing up, but I’m not going to act like a cry-baby in front of my best friends. “It’s nothing,” I lied, and I kept moving forward.

It took a while to reach the top, this actually took us thirty-plus minutes just to get to the top, and the sights, were worth it. I did not expect the Games to be so carnival-like… there were stalls all over the place, and the air was filled with the scent of food. “You’re here!” Claude called out. “Now, do you see that huge line over there?” There was a huge line of people lining up towards a stall, no wait, it looks more like a counter. “You three must line up to get your numbers.” “Numbers?” I asked, “And this line, it might take a few hours for this!” “That’s the reason why we came out this early.” Claude replied, “And if you want to participate, you have to do it.” “He’s right you know.” Felix said as he and Aisha started to follow the line of people, I sighed, and followed them.

It really took a few hours for this. The line was seriously long, and it took at least a minute for one person to have their number with them. And as we took a few steps, they were at least sixty centimetres and the line barely changed! I almost fell asleep a few times already, and Felix would have to shake me to wake me up.

After several minutes, or maybe one or two hours, it was my turn. I told myself, to stay calm, because like, what’s the worst that could happen here? “Name.” I heard the person at the counter asked, this should be easy, it’s just answering questions. “Edward.” I replied, the person started to write, slowly, like one letter per five seconds. “Age.” “Um, thirteen.” The person noted that down, “Gender.” “Isn’t it obvious?” Is my gender that confusing? It’s so obvious that I’m a boy. “I said gender.” The person repeated, but louder. “Male.” I replied, and the person ticked a box or something, he then took something that resembles a card and handed it to me. “Next!”

I looked at the card, and the number ‘11’ was written on it. “So, what did you get?” Felix and Aisha rushed to me once they saw me, “An eleven” I replied, “Twenty-three.” Felix said, “Forty-nine.” Aisha added. “What are the odds?” I asked, “All of us got numbers, but they aren’t continuous from the person before us…” Aisha replied, “What do they mean?” “Is it a pattern or something?” Felix wondered.  We were so busy getting theories, that we didn’t know what was happening around us.

Everyone else was frustrated about the numbers too, do the numbers mean anything? Is it a sign? Is it edible? “Good morning boys and girls!” We heard a voice spoke. A man was wearing a pair of sunglasses, and was wearing a unbuttoned shirt that exposed his six-packs. “Yeah, the numbers can be confusing. But don’t worry! It’s not a code for you all to solve!” The man said. “Who’s that?” I asked, now I’m confused about the guy, not the ‘11’. “Wait, that’s Owen!” Aisha said, mostly to herself, “Whoa, three of the Twelve Protectors in one day? Talk about lucky!”

Seriously? This guy? One of the Twelve Protectors? I’m sorry that I’m saying this, but he doesn’t look like one, I mean, I do understand that Claude is one of them, since he is a really strong dude, and Trad must had been strong too, before he was stuck with a wheelchair… but this guy, Owen? “Now! Please remain calm, and all of you, please follow me!” All of us, which includes about almost five-hundred people, followed Owen across the stalls.

And he led us to a harbour for a huge lake, I mean like, it’s probably the largest surface of water I had seen for now, it stretches for kilometres, and by the look of it, it seems pretty deep. And in the middle of the lake stood a tower, at least forty metres tall, and in front of the tower, stood three seating filled with people, all facing towards the tower. There were many yachts waiting at the harbour, and Owen instructed us to board the yachts, they were moving quite slowly, but there were still some people who still got seasick, wait, does seasick only work at the sea or does it work here too?

The tower looks way bigger up close to it, and since there were so many participants, we will have to wait for another round to get up there. And from up there, it looks like we’re hundreds of metres above the ground. The tower was now filled with hundreds of us, and despite us being separated into lines, it doesn’t make me comfortable. Owen stood in front of all of us, he was holding a microphone, he held it close to his mouth, and spoke, with an ear-shattering voice.

“Good afternoon! Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! I’m your host, Owen from the Twelve Protectors, and I would proudly announce, that it’s time for this month’s Magician Games!” It must be connected to some loudspeakers, no wonder my ears were about to explode. “Now, are you all ready for the first task!?” The crowd cheered and roared, which was equally loud as Owen’s voice. “And I’ll also be featuring our special guests,” Lights shone onto two figures, they seemed to have their own special seats as it was located indoors. “My comrades, Trad and Claude from the Twelve Protectors!” The crowd cheered even louder at the sight of my brother and his ally.

Owen turned to us, and spoke with his loudspeaker. “All right participants! Now here’s your first task. Introducing, The Drop! In order to move on to the next task, all of you will fall from this tower!” What? We have to jump off this tower?! But that’s suicide! And I don’t think lake can break our fall…  Everyone stood there, like they feel like they need some hearing aids. “No!” Owen said, as if he were reading our thoughts, “You guys are not going to die. We had prepared a special enchantment that will save you from your fall. Now, you guys will have to use your magical positions to break your fall, and failing to do so, and you’re out! Understand?”

We nodded as an answer, but I don’t think everyone has the guts to do it. “And, for your numbers, they represent you for this task! Now I’m going to call out a random number, like… three-hundred-and-seventy-nine! Step right up!” A fellow with a pretty, please forgive me… ridiculous haircut stood out from his line. “Alright kid, now I would like you step on this plank.”  There was a board, about two metres wide, hanging above the lake, and it leads straight down. The fellow stood on the plank as ordered, “You ready?” Owen asked, the fellow didn’t respond, he just stood there, staring at Owen blankly. “Now, on the count of five! Ready? Set!”

“Five!”

“Four!”
“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

Owen raised his staff, with the head of a bat, and shot a bolt of thunder. The plank disappeared, and the poor dude was sent falling into the lake, screaming like a girl. All of us rushed towards the edge, and saw him suspended a few inches in the air, but he then fell with a splash. “Number three-hundred-and-seventy-nine, you’re out!” Owen turned to us, “Next up!” Okay, this is way harder than I thought…