“No begging! You know the law!” A security guard shouts at a pair of individuals trying to shove their way into the ballroom.

  I stepped outside for a bit of fresh air and a break from all the festivities. It’s gotten all a bit… complicated. I turn to see two individuals who I could only assume are homeless individuals, they are dressed in ragged clothes hanging from their thin frames.

  “Please. Just a few coins, or even the scraps.” One of them cries as they are ushered off to the side by the security guard.

  “Look, be thankful I’m not calling the law. If you’re so desperate for money, just enter the tournament like everyone else.” The security guard pushes them away and practically kicks them to the street. He spins around and walks back towards the door.

  “Lazy bums.” He whispers under his breath as he passes, completely ignoring my presence.

  “Everything okay?” Dardania comes strolling down the stairs and approaches me at the railing.

  “Yep, just doing the thinking thing.” I turn my attention towards the city before me.

  “This,” Dardania motions towards the world in front of us, “it is a lot. So much more than Gaea.”

  “Gaea?” I look to her confused. I’ve never heard the name before. I mean, I have but not in this world.

  “The country we came from. Did you not know that?”

  “Um…” I turn my attention back towards the city. “Gorgeous city isn’t it?”

  “You didn’t! How did you not know that?”

  “I never asked. Honestly it never crossed my mind.”

  Dardania sighs as she leans against the railing, stifling a laugh.

  “It is gorgeous though, the city.” I say, turning the attention away from my snafu. I don’t even want to acknowledge that I didn’t know the name of the country I had been in the entire time I’ve been here. I should have done all the normal isekai stuff when I arrived, which usually consists of a starter town and learning the world history and all that. Even a map would have been helpful, but instead I let everyone else guide me during my journey. I wasn’t much for making plans.

  “It is beautiful. The fact that much of it sits on a hill just adds to the beauty. Really gives the whole thing layers, especially when it’s lit up at night.” Dardania stares out at the city before us, her face lit up with excitement.

  “I never once thought I would see so much of the world. Once upon a time I thought I would never leave Maia, and now I’m in a foreign land across the sea. It’s been quite the adventure the last few years.”

  “Well, I’m glad to have been a part of it.” I smile. I was happy to be a part of it, truly. “Well back into the party I suppose.”

  * * * * *

  The rest of the festivities leading up to the tournament basically played out the same way, minus the dramatic declaration by Dai to enter the tournament.

  That’s not to say people didn’t do the whole Hunger Games I volunteer as tribute thing, they did, just not nearly as famous as Dai. Honestly, no one really knew who the other people were because it was predominately a bunch of workers. You know, regular Joe’s who weren’t rich and powerful.

  Now I’m sitting here in a basement room while the opening ceremony is about to begin. Mind you, people who enter the tournament don’t get to partake in it. We are shoved into an underground locker room basically and told to wait until round one starts.

  “Ah, The Magician of the Major Arcana.” A voice reverberates through the room. I spin around to see Dai entering the room with Avis and Dardania right behind him.

  “Do I have it written on my forehead or something? The entire Zodiac seems to know.” I mumble to myself, but clearly everyone heard me.

  “On the contrary, I heard your brutish friend here talking rather loudly.” Dai sits down on a bench opposite of me. I shoot Avis a dirty look, he just looks away in shame. “Don’t punish the loud mouth for being loud. It’s merely being what it is.”

  “You’re just a charming fellow aren’t you?” Dardania sits down next to me as she shoots daggers at Dai.

  “Don’t get too flustered, you should save your energy for the tournament. You’re going to need it.”

  The room falls silent as we all mentally start preparing ourselves for…. something. Honestly we have no idea what we are getting ourselves into. Avis seems completely relaxed, Dardania is skimming through some book, and I’m panicking silently. Why am I here?

  “What’s the tournament like?” I turn my attention towards Dai whom is just sitting silently staring at the wall. “Any idea what the trials will be?”

  “Only the head’s of the families know what the tournament entails.” The siblings turn their attention towards Dai, who is still staring at the wall. “The tournament consists of several trials, which are made using a combination of the family’s magics. It’s brutal, it’s deadly, and there’s a good chance none of you will survive.”

  “Fun.” Avis remarks as Dai falls quiet. He walked in with such bluster but now, it’s like a switch was flipped. Which, just makes me worry even more. This was a guy who used to help make these games and now he is ensuring us that we won’t make it out alive and I’m supposed to accept that. I’m fucking terrified. I need to find something else to say.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Why can’t we see the opening ceremony?” I change the subject, I just need it to not be silent right now.

  “It’s all just bread and circuses, not worth your time. Besides, they explain the trials to the audience and they don’t want us to know.” Dai continues staring at the wall.

  Geez, this is going well. Hell, at this point I’d rather this whole death tourney start and get me out of this awkward space.

  “So, how’d you get kicked out? Of your family I mean?” Avis blurts out. Dardania immediately smacks him in the back of the head.

  “Ow. What?”

  “That’s rude Avis.” Dardania goes to smack him in the back of the head again but Avis grabs her hand before she can do it.

  “It’s fine. I’m sure the entire country has probably heard the story by now of how my sister usurped me and took the throne.”

  “I mean, we only arrived like a week ago so…. we haven’t heard it.” I throw out there, not helping the situation any. Dardania shoots me a dirty look. If I was her brother, she probably would have smacked me in the back of the head as well.

  Dai spins around the bench to face us, his expression serious.

  “Word of advice, don’t pick a fight with the Zodiac. Pack it up and leave, save yourself some trouble.”

  “We have business here, not so simple.” Dardania responds. Dai sighs.

  “Fine, if you insist. Just remember that you have been warned. This tournament isn’t simply about what happens during these trials. If any of the families want to see you jump, they will make you jump.

  “Their power… our power, dates back even further than your own. The Zodiac existed ages before The Major Arcana or Tabathia, well into the Age of the Ancients. Those who are direct descendants hold the most power in the family, like myself. But, it’s not simply about magic power, it’s also about ruthlessness, and cunning. My sister proved to have more of both and honestly it’s that simple.” Dai straightens up as he stops talking.

  Didn’t really feel like a natural end to anything. You’re bad at storytelling guy.

  “All of that to say…. what exactly?” Avis coming in speaking what I’m thinking. Dardania sighs and turns to him. He shrugs.

  “Just don’t underestimate them.”

  “Got it.” Avis pulls a pastry out of his pocket and shoves it into his mouth. “So, what’s your plan here? Just get back in good with the family?”

  “Where did you even get that from?” Dardania asks, exasperated. I’m pretty sure she has lost all patience with him today.

  “I’m going to destroy the Zodiac.” Dai raises his head to face us, “I’m going to win the tournament, return to my rightful place, and obliterate all that is and was of the twelve families.”

  The three of us slowly exchange looks but remain silent. How do you respond to that? We are here for our personal reasons to try and figure out what The Saint is up to, and take him down, and this guy has just confessed his goal to us. A goal which consists of destroying an ancient group of nobility.

  “That should be fun.” I say, not knowing how to respond to that. Both Avis and Dardania turn towards me. Dardania rolls her eyes and sighs. Avis smiles at me. At least he gets me.

  “And so it begins.” A female voice booms into the room, magically enhanced. A magical projection appears against the wall displaying a circular image holding the symbol of all twelve Zodiac families.

  “That’s Theos, the head of the Leo family.” Dai informs us as he turns towards the projection on the wall.

  “In the beginning, the stars descended from the heavens to walk upon the Earth.” Theos’s voice booms again as the projection begins to change. Twelve stars in the night sky slowly begin to morph until they form the outline of twelve individuals who slowly descend upon the Earth.

  “Thus, the planet was divided in twelve among the stars with each of the Zodiac choosing to rule over one domain.”

  Slowly the world begins to form, with the continents being divided in twelve with the symbol of each ruler appearing over the individual domains.

  “Along with the Ancients, The Zodiac ruled the world for Eons until that fateful day.”

  Large figures, standing like Titans, trek over the land. Every step they take, mountains, forests, and rivers form. This part I find to be a bit dramatic. They’re just people, they’re not gods.

  “As the world shattered, so too did the Zodiac. The Gods fell from the heavens, and blackened the sky.”

  The Earth begins to fold into itself as a duplicate is being born. The titan creatures begin to crumble, and fall apart, staining the world as they crash into it.

  “Thus, The Tournament of the Zodiac was born so that we may discover a champion to return The Zodiac to it’s former glory.”

  The world falls away, and the original crest housing the signs of the Zodiac reappears, except this time a figure stands atop it. They hold their fist in the air like a warrior who has been triumphant in battle.

  The ground begins to shake as the people above begin to stomp the ground repeatedly and cheer at the top of their lungs. This can be heard through the ground without magic, it’s simply just that loud.

  “They don’t know who did it.” Dardania says softly as she stares at the wall where the projection just was.

  “A wolf in the hen house.” I reply, though I’m not sure if that reference means the same thing here or not. Do hens even exist here? Surely they must, but that’s not important now.

  “Who did what?” Dai turns his head so that he’s staring at Dardania, his eyes dark.

  “Shattered the world.” She replies, using the same phrasing from the projection.

  “According to myth, it was you and the rest of the Major Arcana.”

  “The destruction of the world by our hands has been gravely exaggerated.” I say softly, “Or you know, entirely fabricated.”

  “Then who, or what, pray tell caused the world to fall into disrepair?” Dai spins around to fully face us again, but his energy has changed. Rather than kind of despondent like before, he looks much more sinister.

  “If the Zodiac is ignorant to the true cause of the shift in the world, perhaps they should remain ignorant.” Dardania stands up, and walks towards the tunnel leading into the Colosseum. Dai stands up and steps towards her, she doesn’t turn around.

  “Or you can just tell me.” The energy in the room shifts, grows thicker as it rapidly condenses around Dai. His energy is specifically directed towards Dardania, though I’m unsure what he is doing.

  “I think it in your best interest to not try and use magic to get what you want.” I say as I stand up and take several steps towards him. He looks over his shoulder at me as the energy in the room returns to normal. He turns and walks away, giving me a clear view of Dardania.

  As I step up next to her, I see her face is beet red, her mouth clamped shut, and tears are starting to form in her eyes. She exhales and immediately takes a deep breath.

  “Thank you.” She whispers. “I had an overwhelming urge to tell him everything. It took everything I had to not speak. If you hadn’t spoken up, I probably would have.”

  Avis immediately jumps up and rushes to Dardania’s side.

  “Dee, are you okay?” He asks once he finally sees her face, she nods. I turn around to see Dai once again sitting on the bench.

  I’m unsure why, but this royally pissed me off. Like, I’m seeing red kind of pissed off. How dare he even try and use magic to force her to do something like that. What is his problem?

  “Here’s the thing, you puffed up airhead. You’re nothing more than commoner now. The royalty threw you out on your ass just like the rest of us. You may be packing some serious mojo but don’t think for one second that you can just—”

  Before I can finish my threat a bell tolls.

  “Let Round One Commence.” Theos’s voice booms through the room again. Dai stands up and walks towards the tunnel, and as he passes me, he offers me a simple goodbye.

  “See you on the other side Magician.”