"They're late. Doesn't anyone know to arrive on time? Seriously, it's been long since someone got a VISIT," the old woman said with a scowl.
"Technically there's a full ten minutes before this meeting is scheduled to begin," a mature, burly man standing by the old woman's right said.
"Really? That's odd. I thought the sky was falling," the old woman said while placing her palm on her cheek.
"What?"
"Yes. And I lost dozens of my Plasma Coins too! It's like being full and starving at the same time."
"Uh..."
"Right, right. It's all here. By the way, I think we're late for the meeting. Let's get going boys!"
"..."
The old woman scrambled to stand up, but the other, similarly mature, chiselled men standing around her – those who weren't the one who had been engaging with her – quickly pushed her back into her seat.
The old woman blinked a couple of times before laughing hysterically.
"You got me there, you got me there. Oh, as I was saying. They are all late!" she screamed with a delighted look on her face.
The well-built man by her right, still looking on in shock, gaped. The other three looked at him, and one of them gave him a pitying gaze.
"You'll get used to it, new guy," he said.
The voice of the old woman as she continued to spout nonsense after gibberish, echoed throughout the enormous Coliseum which was made from dark rock which spotted innumerable points of glassy quartz. The space at its middle had a massive patch of fresh grass – a neat field – that looked to have been mowed recently, its deep green hue impressively appealing.
In typical 'severed' fashion, the Coliseum walls featured countless, clean cracks that ran down its vast size, making it a mystery as to how it was even standing.
It truly looked as though it had been severed countless times.
From these cracks, piercing lights flashed, seemingly coming from around the Coliseum where absolutely nothing could seen, the same being true for the sky. A deep darkness, like one you'd see on dark paper, took over from the end of the Coliseum's height.
It had always been a mystery as to where the light flashing from the cracks came from, as it was the only luminance that could be found here.
At the moment, the old woman with her pack of shirtless, tall, and handsome men was the only one seated in the Coliseum. As one of the men had pointed out, it was ten minutes before the meeting was supposed to begin – that was ten minutes before the half a day duration all the Factions had been given to travel here.
Most of the Faction leaders didn't quite enjoy arriving early. Everyone loved to make last minute entrances.
Suddenly, a bright doorway-shaped glow lit up the green field in the middle of the Coliseum, and two figures emerged from it before it disappeared.
The old woman leaned forward with staggering speed, a look of absolute joy on her face. By the time her guards made the attempt to push her back into her seat, she had already travelled the three hundred plus meters to the field, confronting the new arrivals.
She screamed with a wide, youthful grin unbecoming of her age, beating several stereotypes attached to her age along with way.
"Bright Storm! You're here!"
Replicus looked visibly exasperated by the sudden approach. He had already had it with these sudden and unwanted welcomes.
"Mad Bishop. Good to see you," he said to the woman, looking at her attire which seemed to never change. She was adorned in thick gold and white robes, with a long sash around her neck. Over her perm, fashioned with long, pale hairs, was a tall hat... wait no, it was an odd crown about a meter in length, jammed into her bunched hair.
The Mad Bishop's narrow, hollow sockets focused on Replicus. Everyone else loathed the idea of glancing for too long at those eyeless holes, but Replicus could tolerate it. What he couldn't tolerate, was having the knowledge that she had gouged out her own eyes years before just to make her life 'more challenging'.
Quite the woman.
As her guards made a hurried approach towards her position, the Mad Bishop frantically engaged Replicus.
"How long has it been, Bright Storm? It feels like just last week when we last bumped into each other," she said while forcefully shaking Replicus' hand.
"It WAS last week, and we didn't 'bump' into each other. You attempted to tackle me in the Depraved Side," Replicus said exhaustedly.
Normally, Pherdanta would have acted against anyone touching her master wantonly, but she knew not to be hasty when Faction leaders were involved.
Besides, the Mad Bishop wasn't just any Faction leader as far as she, and their Faction were concerned.
"Is that right? Goodness, we also broke bread together last week, didn't we? I took you to that expensive food outlet, and you forgot to pay the bill. You owe me 15,000 Plasma Coins, Bright Storm," the Mad Bishop said.
"Is that so?" said Replicus as he began walking towards the countless rows of stone seats. He felt like if he didn't move around while getting fed all this bullshit, he'd start to slip himself.
The Bishop and her guards followed.
"You know I was thinking, Bright Storm," the old woman said while patting Replicus' shoulder. "I've been concocting a scheme... an adventure for the both of us to partake in."
"Hmmm. Tell me more."
"You, me and the big proud sea for the next ten years. We'll scour every bit of it, replace the continents with treasure troves, glaciers and bread! Loads of bread!"
"Nice idea. I don't have ten years though."
"Ah, as if that isn't enough, we can sail past Aigas. Imagine what we will see. Maybe a reverse of Aigas? The lands are the seas and the seas are the lands? Fish people, Bright Storm! Imagine it! They fish for mammals like us!"
"Great idea," Replicus said unamused. The Mad Bishop's guards looked rattled but how much she was speaking.
Clearly, she had gotten worse.
The suddenly...
"FRIENDLY FIRE!"
The Mad Bishop pointed her fingers at Replicus helmet... and there was a massive explosion of red fire!
The abrupt ignition caused the entire Coliseum to tremble, a large, red fireball surging where Replicus and the Mad Bishop were positioned.
A bright flash appeared in the seats high up. Pherdanta and Replicus appeared from it, and they watched below as the glow of the fire died down.
The Mad Bishop emerged from the aftermath, which left no traces of damage on the field. She looked appalled to see no traces of Replicus, and began scouring around while calling his name.
Her guards couldn't remain as composed as they had been before.
Pherdanta was the same. She turned to Replicus.
"Master, do we really have to continuously put up with her?" she asked.
Replicus sighed before answering.
"Sadly, yes. She's the reason we managed rise up the ranks and create our own Faction quickly, after all. I can think of worse things than promising to entertain a mad woman for as long as she lives."
New novel chapters are published on fr(e)ewebnov(e)l.com