We pulled into the small town of Pirest and Anne parked the van on the side of the road, “Now what?”
The town was small and butted up against the mountain. There were a few parking lots that were filled and we had parked next to the only gas station in the place. I opened the door and stepped out, my kiseru and coiling dragon staff in my hands. I attached them at my waist and gave Victor a look where he was passed out on the bench seat in the back, “I am going to go ask around for the location of this tournament. Watch Victor for me.”
She frowned, “I still don't know why I was picked to come.”
I gave her a grin, “Anthony and Jacob need to be at the dojo and you are my friend. Who knows you might see something crazy tonight you can brag to your college friends about.”
She rolled her eyes and I closed the car door. I headed for the gas station and the front door jingled as I pushed it open. Inside was a few wooden shelves and a steel counter with an older grey haired man behind it. He had his face stuffed into a newspaper, leaning back, and gave me a glance at the sound of the bells. He waved his hand and said something in a language I didn't know when I stepped up to the counter. “I am looking for a tournament.”
He gave me a stink eye and replied in gibberish. I knew he understood me because the language of the paper was the one I was learning, “I don't speak that.”
He harumped and snapped his paper, returning to reading it. He wasn't a chi user I could tell, he probably knew martial arts just didn't take it all the way to completion. You didn't really need to from what I saw of this world, the only monsters around to slay were other humans. I lifted my hand and set it on the table in front of me, my palm resting against the cold steel of the counter. Reinforcing my body with chi, I lightly started pressing down. The guy continued to ignore me until one of the counter sides started to bow out and a leg shrieked as it slid across the stone flooring. His eyes got wide and he started waving his arms around in a panic, “end of the street! Go to the end of the street!”
I let off the table and it snapped back into place, knocking things off it. He continued to ran in the language I didn't understand while checking on the counter. I stepped back out and headed for the van. Anne was on her phone when I opened the back. She turned to me, “Find out where this place is?”
I nodded at her and gave Victor a shove. He fell off the bench seat and flailed around as he woke up, “What happened?”
Victor hadn't slept much the last two weeks. I stole every free second he had. He ended up sleeping at the gym a lot. His hair was a mess and his clothing was rumpled from sleeping in it. He sat up and let out a yawn as I replied, “We found the tournament. The guy in the gas station said it was at the end of the street.”
Anne and Victor stepped out of the van. Victor raised his hands over his head and stretched. We headed down the street, Anne and Victor chatted with each other while I watched our surroundings. Very few buildings were made of brick or stone. It was all wood everywhere, they looked handcrafted. Any person we saw gave us a glance and turned away, most of them focused on Victor. At the end of the street there was a wooden building that looked like it was built into the mountain. We got to the door and paused to look at the sign above the door. More squiggles met me, “what's it say?’
Anne shrugged and Victor pointed at one of the squiggles, “That says dojo.”
We exchanged looks then Victor pushed open the door and we entered the dojo. The lights were low and I could tell that the place was enormous. The far wall was stone from the mountain and it looked like the mountain was excavated out for more space. To our right was a small reception desk with a young lady sitting on it. She looked up as we entered, “Someone will be with you in a moment.”
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I looked around the room as we waited. The walls we covered in weapons, swords and things of the like. This place was less of a dojo and more like an old war temple. A side door opened up and one of the people that was with Royce stepped out. He waved at us to follow and headed for the far wall. The door we approached looked more like a gateway, I could see the markings where it was chipped out of the mountain. The door was pushed open and Royce was there to meet us. He barely spared Anne and I a glance, staring at Victor, “Good, you have sense. Come.”
Victor glowered at Royce and didn't look like he was going to speak so I stepped forward as Royce led us through the mountain, “What is this place?”
The hallway split off on multiple paths and Royce led us down one winding path. There were electrical lines and lights bolted to the ceiling and the whole place was surprisingly well lit. the hallways were still cut from stone but were surprisingly wide with supports every few feet. Royce looked me up and down as I stepped next to him, “It was an old temple cut out of the mountain. They used to train ninjas here. This whole place is a well cut out maze with hidden doors and everything. That stopped about two decades back though and now we use it for gathering and tournaments.” He looked me up and down, “Normally we would have visitors disarm but you should be fine with those.”
They wouldn't be able to take them if they tried and with how the game had affected me I suspect they wouldn't be able to pick up my staff if I placed it on the ground. I crossed my arms behind my back as we walked, we were going pretty deep into the mountain i guess, “How does this tournament work? What's the point of it?”
He shook his head, “the tournament will be explained.” He gestured with his hand, “rogue practitioners are not something we can allow. We police ourselves and rogue chi users tend to become assassins or the like.”
The hallway opened up into an underground cavern carved out into a theater. There was a massive circle in the center and bench seats surrounding it with a few openings. Massive lights hung from the ceiling giving light to every corner. The benches were about knee height and the whole place was carved from the stone of the mountain. We had come out on a side room and I heard and gasp, “Holy shit.”
Royce let out a chuckle and I took in the whole of everything, “Yes. This place is pretty fancy.”
“I’m starting to think this place is a lot more official than you let on,” Victor said to Royce.
Royce nodded, “Chi practitioners can come from all walks of life. There's some dark aspects we tend to stomp down on.”
I think I had an idea of what he was speaking about. Royce waved at us to follow him and he took us to some seats as people began to funnel into the room. It was quite a few people too. Their ages varied from young teens to older men. The oldest one looked like he should have been carried in but he walked in on his own feet at a slow walk. People started taking seats around us and the whole place filled up. Anne was sitting between Victor and me with Royce on my left. We were soon surrounded. Chatter picked up and the whole room was filled with people greeting others and friends talking to each other.
The oldest man did not take a seat and walked out to the center of the room. He had a beard that stretched down and bushy eyebrows. His head was bald and it shined under the lights. He stepped into the center of the room with his hands stuffed into the sleeves of his poofy robe. He spun in a circle as he looked around and slowly everyone quieted down and the place fell into silence. He gave a nod then, “Welcome to the Annual Display of Arts.” he paused and looked around a bit before continuing, “Good. No pots this time.”
The place burst into chuckles and Victor gave Royce a glance with a raised eyebrow. Royce obliged, “Someone last year showed up and they were a pottery student. They had brought a pot to show off. They were very disappointed being the only one.”
Anne let out a snort and Victor shook his head. That was pretty funny. The old man continued, “Tonight we welcome new practitioners, and greet old ones. We have some people who have achieved enlightenment over the past year that we know and even a few people who reached the lofty height on their own. We have gathered them here tonight so they can demonstrate their skills and the things they have learned.”
Out of the two hundred people in the room only about forty of them had chi that I could feel. The man in the center was moderately along the way, he was close to advancing, the only thing that was stopping him was his age. I don't think his body could take the refinement. There was a small applause and when it stopped he continued, “We have seven new practitioners this time. Two of them are completely new to this place.”
A hush fell across the room, everyone waiting for him to continue. He nodded slowly, “Spars to first blood or until submission. One person gets a free pass in the first round. This isn't a tournament to win, it’s a tournament of learning.”