"Welcome back!"
It had been 7 years since Eros and Lucerio had seen Ivan. He was older now, wrinkles weathered his face. His once bright green eyes seemed dimmer, sadder even. The brown hair covering his scalp had turned gray, matching his new beard.
Age catches up to all of us, I suppose.
"I'll admit, I thought the two of you would've killed each other by now. Perhaps your bond is stronger now?"
"Shut up old man..." Lucerio replied coldly. Ivan was slightly shorter than Eros now due to Eros' growth spurt. Eros was 6'2, no longer a small slave boy that Ivan had to kneel down to talk to. His blonde hair had grown out nicely, strands of his hair covering his elegant violet eyes. Without sounding vain, he was quite handsome now.
I wonder what Elise looks like now...
During the 7 years Eros and Lucerio had been in the academy, Ivan informed them that his spies in the Volarions palace confirmed that Elise had escaped two months after her capture. She left no trail behind, none that even the best analysts within the association could find. Elise had simply vanished.
I'm glad she's no longer being tortured. Wherever you are, be safe Elise. I promise I'll find you one day...
"Come on, idiot..." Lucerio elbowed Eros in the side. Throughout the 7 years, the masked boy had hardly warmed up to Eros. They hardly spoke, if at all. Lucerio had never once showed Eros what he looked like nor had he ever told him where he came from. He was slightly shorter than Eros, about 5'11. "We're going to be late."
"Yes! Lucerio is right, we must hurry!"
"I'm not getting in any car you're driving!" Eros complained, remembering the last time Ivan drove them like a bad taste in his mouth.
"Relax kid-er, young man. They sent a limo this time. Besides, my baby, Vanessa, died 3 years ago..."
"Then the gods finally answered my prayers." Eros cruelly smirked, Ivan made a face at him. Underneath his mask, Eros was sure even Lucerio cracked a smile. "Come on old man, I only jest. Let's go."
The limo arrived, all three men packed their suitcases in the trunk and then got in.
"So, I heard the two of you graduated at the top of your class. Well done!"
"Well, there was a third who also graduated at the top..."
"Forest Gordon..." Lucerio said bitterly. Forest was a prick who had constantly picked on Lucerio for not having any Astral Aura. Despite this, Lucerio aced every test except for the physical demonstration tests. On the contrary, Eros aced all of the physical demonstrations and hardly passed any of the written tests. The three of them each had a 3.8 GPA, the highest in their graduating class and within the entire academy's history.
"He's a bastard just like his father, Alex Gordon." Ivan remarked. Alex Gordon was one of the four heads of the association they had met in that dark room 7 years prior. Eros did not like any of them, and he had a strong feeling neither did Lucerio.
They finally arrived at the association's headquarters, situated within the city of Valors, which was situated within the neutral nation of Bandos.
"It's strange, coming here after all this time..."
"Feeling nervous?"
"Nah, let's go." Eros smiled.
As they walked in, many of the other artists couldn't help but stare in Eros' direction. There was no doubt they hadn't heard about him by now, about the young artist who the professors had named "Golden Star."
A female artist ran up to him, asking for a selfie. Eros obliged the female fan's request, giving her a bright smile.
"Thank you! I'll be sure to tag you when I upload it to LivePulse! Would you mind following me back?"
"Sure, I'll do it right now. What's your user?"
"eros_come_home_the_kids_miss_you_xoxo"
She blushed, covering her face with a hand and looking down while twirling her long black hair with the other hand. Eros softly laughed, not in a mean manner to embarrass the woman who was probably 5 years older than him, but to ease the tension in the room.
"I love your username! But what's your real name?"
"Oh, it's uh-uh... Sasha! Sasha Green!"
"Well Ms. Green, feel free to message me anytime. And I look forward to seeing your lovely face appear on my LivePulse feed."
Sasha fainted, Eros quickly caught her out of pure instinct. He carried her and placed her down on the lobby's couch to rest before rejoining Lucerio and Ivan. Lucerio rolled his eyes at him, already used to the dramatics of Eros and his millions of fans.
They made their way to the elevator, this time going to floor 7. As they exited the elevator, they walked into a huge theatre full of at least 100 Astral Artists. The four heads of the association stood atop the main stage, whispering among themselves in a huddle.
"Ah good, the three of you are finally here. We can begin now..."
They took their seats in the front row, catching many stares from their fellow artists. The four heads were not wearing cloaks this time, instead they were dressed up in clothes for the opera. The female head, Olivia Hord, stepped forward to speak into the mic.
"Fellow artists, we've gathered the 345 of you here today because we have a special mission for you. As you look around, I'm sure many of you will recognize familiar faces."
Everyone began to look around, some noticing friends from far away and some began to strike up conversations with their neighbours.
"And if you're not familiar, I'd encourage you to get to know each other. As many of you know, it is currently May 9, 1378 ASV. On June 27, the Holy Astrean Empire will be celebrating their 121st Festival of War. It is an event that takes place every 5 years, originating back to June 27, 778 ASV, when Juno Volarion decided to host a death battle between slaves for her sole amusement. Since then, it has become a wildly beloved event within the empire and as time progresses, it has continuously evolved to the point where nobles can sponsor slaves to compete for them and win a percentage of the prize money. Normal civilians can also gamble on the event as it is livestreamed worldwide. 100 years ago, Kassum Volarion decided to move the event from the heart of the empire, from the royal city Valens, to somewhere more distant after a slave tried to start a rebellion during the event, and nearly succeeded... That place that they chose was none other than the moon that orbits our world."
The audience of artists murmured among themselves, trying their best to remember all of the information that they had just been told within the past minute.
"He also implemented a new element, he added a champion to defeat. Should a slave manage to defeat this champion, not only would they earn their freedom, but they would become wealthy beyond their beliefs."
That doesn't sound so bad. I could kill them and become one of the richest people in the world.
"However, this champion has never been defeated. In fact, the past 20 festivals since this rule was introduced has resulted in the death of every slave within the game. In other words, there hasn't been a winner in the past 100 years..."
Wait? It's the same champion? How could it still be alive 100 years later?
Ivan interrupted Olivia:
"So? Why are you telling us all of this? Do you want us to stop the festival?"
"No... we want you all to participate in it."
"I had a feeling you were gonna say something like that..." Ivan clasped his hands over his mouth, staring at the ceiling lights.
"I don't understand though. How are we going to participate if only slaves can participate? Surely, they'd notice that we can use arts unlike the slaves who have participated." A voice shouted out from the back of the theatre. It was Sasha, she had slipped in halfway through the meeting. "They would never allow it..."
"Precisely, Ms. Green. As many of you already know, the association and the Volarions haven't been on good terms for quite some time now. To ensure that you're able to enter this festival, we will be giving each of you the Mark of the Moon. This will let you pose as slaves for our sponsors who wish to pay for your services during the festival. For all of you in this room right now, you've been invited to participate in a special program known as "Project Lunar Dragon" which will be solely dedicated to overthrowing the Volarions. This festival provides us with an opportunity to start a rebellion worldwide. But there's also another task at hand..."
"Which is?" Eros questioned, gaining an eye twitch from Olivia at the mere sound of his voice.
"During the festival, you will all have the priority task of finding Belle Seravelle, the queen of the Empyreans, and ensuring that she wins this festival no matter what..."
"I thought you tracked her 7 years ago..."
A vein bulged on Olivia's forehead, her eyes shooting daggers into Eros.
"There was... complications. Belle is the only daughter of the queen we tracked down 7 years ago. We couldn't save her mother in time and she was taken prisoner by Velvo Volarion. He intends to enter her in the festival this year to compete for him..."
"I don't understand, Velvo is already beyond wealthy and is one of the most influential political figures in our world. I doubt he'd care about winning some festival for money, especially if it made the queen of his enemies rich."
"Velvo has a grander ambition. Palaxe Volarion has announced that the sponsor whose slave wins this event will lead the armies of the Holy Astrean Empire against the armies of the Kashin Empire. Whoever wins will be promoted to 'Divine War General' and have complete control over their military..."
Crap...