Tyrant of the Ruined Sun-Chapter 194: Joust of Jewels 1

Following our buoyant breakfast, we each once again scattered and began to busy ourselves with other matters, with Eve vanishing into shadow yet again, going to resume her surveillance on the northern royal family, while Darius went to supervise the final steps for our exhibitions, and Isaac left to continue his tasks with the Shade Corps, meanwhile my brothers each went to their rooms, busying themselves with either swinging their swords to curb their excitement or picking up a book to pass the time, all the while I sat in my room, cultivating my divine power, as we all awaited the time for the Joust to start.

Time that all but dragged, flying by on impatient wings, as though it was in a haste to usher in the second event.

Yet a couple of small disturbances did occur at the moment of our departure from our room, the first of whom was when I exited my chambers after having dressed for the day, and met the surprisingly calm looking Cyrus, who had been so overzealous the entire morning, but was now patiently waiting in his full attire.

"Brother, is big sister Eve alright?" He suddenly asked in a quiet, concerned tone, as soon as he laid eyes upon me.

Utterly perplexed by his unforeseen query, I questioned in return "Why do you ask such a thing?"

"I knocked on her door a while ago, wondering if she was running late, but then her new lady in waiting said that she won’t be joining us today." He explained with the same tone voice, but now accompanied by a deepening frown.

An expression I could instantly read the true cause of.

"She’s not cross with you." I answered, giving relief to his true and unvoiced worry, instantly easing the stitching of his brow, before then giving him the simple reason for her absence "Your older sister simply has no desire to partake in the second event."

"Why?" He swiftly questioned in reply.

"For several reasons," I answered, before further explaining. "but most importantly, it’s because even if she did want to participate, she wouldn’t be able to enjoy the festivities anyway." I finished my words as I slowly gestured to my eye, instantly reminding him of her power’s peculiarity.

And upon realizing his embarrassing oversight, he instantly declared with a rush of fervour "Then I can describe everything to her! I won’t even leave out a single detail!"

I smiled at his thoughtful words, but before I could say anything more, Eve’s voice suddenly echoed out, as she slowly appeared from behind me with slow steady steps, while the final, lingering wisps of shadow clung devoutly to the edges of her long dress "Thank you for your considerate words, little brother. But you won’t be able to fully savour the Joust you’ve been so eager to attend if you do that."

"No sister! I wouldn’t mind at all!" He vehemently argued back, stepping forward to meet her with unflinching conviction, only to then falter as he bore witness to her unfocused, yet still coldly proud amethyst eyes for the first time.

She said nothing for a moment in reply to his words, but merely smiled kindly at him, before she then stepped forward, bridging the final gap between them, and then reaching her hand forward to gently pat him on the head in a loving manner, saying "It’s very kind of you to say so little brother, but I’ve already decided and made preparations for what I must do today, so promise me to have enough fun for the both of us, and in exchange I vow to accompany you to the Joust all day long if need be once I’m free, agreed?"

Cyrus eventually nodded to her words with a slightly bashful smile, before she then took her leave, vanishing behind her door a few moments later, eager to both resume her training and further perfect her plans for when she begins raising her criminal empire within my lands.

"Well, at least sister Ziyi would be joining us today." Cyrus then muttered in resignation, but as though the Gods ordained a jeering jest upon us at this moment, Cyrus’ whispered words became an ill fated omen.

For the second disturbance of the morning manifested itself directly after that, in the form of Nizam, who had left to invite his fiancée to join us this morning, but has instead returned to us with furrowed brows, feeling both dejected and perplexed.

And when we asked what happened, he simply gave a brief retelling of going to the eastern wing of the fortress, before repeating the same vague words he’d been given by the personal guards and handmaidens of Ziyi "Our deepest apologies my lord, but her ladyship, the princess, can not join you today, for she has a prior engagement she has long since been preparing for; so please look forward to it."

They’d apparently spoken those words to him with what he described as a mixture of barely restrained teasing grins, and piercingly expectant gazes.

Though we all had our guesses, none of us particularly knew what they meant or insinuated by those words, so we simply had to shrug the thought aside for the moment, especially under Cyrus’ persistence then after, as he was no longer willing to wait another moment to see the martial spectacles he’d been salivating for to quench his boredom.

And though he didn’t say it, both me and Nizam could feel both his disappointment at having his new sisters not join us today, but also his latent joy at having just us three brothers attend the event together.

And so we departed to this new battleground we would roam for the next ten days, and as per tradition by this point, the first thing I did once I stepped into the event space of the two hundredth and nineteenth Banquet of Concordia, I instantly began with a scouting look that swept all before me to ascertain what manner of treacherous terrain I would need to navigate this day, something that was proving to be far more difficult this time around.

For unlike the Nights of Masquerade, which were held in the spacious Grand Hall of the Storm King’s ancestorial seat, the Joust was instead held in the far more vast royal gardens of the Thuella Fortress, which had now all but discarded their previous air of regal solemnity, with it’s black soil littered with tall, dark, spear like trees that seemed to want to touch the dominance of the sunless skies above that always rumbled with roiling thunderheads; and instead replaced it with the jovial air of a vibrant, bustling, kaleidoscopic carnival of immense proportions, crowded with a cosmopolitan array of diverse exhibitions from all across the globe.

Yet even so, I still managed to gain some insight into both the event and it’s participants from my initial look, which only grew deeper as we casually began to traverse through wide, makeshift corridors of stimulating displays and effervescent shades that twirled around us in hypnotic dances, as our path twisted and wined through the gardens in neat and orderly paths.

Every participating nation held more or less the same sized allocated land that they may do with as they pleased, giving the realms adequate freedom to fully showcase their nation’s expertise, pride and culture without any constriction.

Such as the Kusuri Kingdom, homeland of the children of the merciful God of Medicine, a vassal state of the Yue Dynasty, and the rightfully hailed Nation of Doctors; despite them not having a tenth rank priest like Adam amongst their ranks, for within their culture the most honourable job one may possess was without a doubt being one related to the healing arts, which explained why a little more than one tenth of their entire population held posts within said professions.

This was doubly so after the recent finding of their divine ancestor’s gift a few years ago, the now renowned Medicinal Gallery, with all it’s rare and incredibly potent herbs they uncovered within, which more than doubled their standing among the world’s nations, heralding untold riches, privilege and distinction upon them.

Which was why they decided to allocate all their land for the sole purpose of showcasing their extensive wits and expertise in them, all of which, despite not really peaking the interest of either me of Cyrus, utterly impressed Nizam without fail, making him award them one of the tokens I’d given them before we departed.

Others, such as the Ulgan Kingdom, the land of the Shepard Lords, decided to split their lands in half, one side to display their ancient wisdom in animal husbandry, and the other was a blood pumping challenge of horsemanship within a large, circular corral; wherein an Ulgan man would face off against another in a competition of who could control truly wild and tamed horses.

And though it wasn’t the most thrilling spectacle I’d ever witnessed, the novelty of it was entertaining enough, a feeling I shared with Nizam as well, but Cyrus on the other hand seemed to have fallen completely in love with the intense sport, as he eagerly awarded them one of his tokens as well.

Another prominent example we came across was the Kingdom of Dionysia, the purveyors of the world’s most expensive and desired ambrosias, who much like the Kusuri Kingdom, allocated all their land to a single skill of theirs, which was unsurprisingly wine making, but the cause of our curiosity was not due their paraded trade specifically, since I utterly despised all things that dulled the senses, something that thankfully seemed to have been rubbing off on my brothers as of late as well, as they too seemed uninterested in the place, but because of the sheer amount of people swarming their exhibition, while dumping their tokens into their overly inflated coffers; firstly, because to the free wine they were distributing for all to partake in, and secondly in the desperate hopes of getting their hands on that substance that forever whispered to them in the haze of their drunken dreams; the famed Dionysian Ambrosia.

And the final exposition that caught our eye was the Kingdom of Aequor, the nation of salt and water, and from where the sons of the Sea God projected their considerable might. They showcased their skills in helm handling, sea fearing, ship building and fishing, all of whom they not only demonstrated with unflinching discipline, but even challenged people against with brazen confidence.

How you might ask? When Katai-Verta, and by extension the entire Astrapi Kingdom is so far away from the sea, and conversely laid on the largest mountain range in the world, the Stenna Mountains?

Well here in lies the cause for our initial interest in the exhibit, for they had surrounded their given land with large, interlocked planks, slightly below the hight of the average man, before they then flooded it whole, creating a large pond in the middle of the event, where small sail ships and paddle boats were anchored or floating. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

They even dug into the Storm King’s garden to deepen the pool further, so much so that one couldn’t see the bottom of it when standing outside of it.

This was so astounding to everyone who passed by, that nearly everyone, including all three of us brothers gave a token to them in praise.

But soon after, as we passed beside more and more exhibitions belonging to increasingly powerful and prominent nations, such as Kleossa, Herimissa and Dunamis, we found ourselves growing ever closer to the eye of the event, where the four cardinal empires’ exhibitions were held.