Chapter 6: Enchark: Tour around the city III
The group got up from the ground and dusted the dirt off their clothes. Mimi admired the waterfall one more time and they were off to the arkana fountain. It was located outside of the park so they had to leave through the gates again. This time they weren't running so it took them longer to even get halfway.
"We're gonna have to speed up if we want to make it in time," Foster commented after checking his watch.
Mimi suddenly remembered how far away the fountain was from the park, "right."
They started to speed up but it still wasn't a jog, more like a power walk. They passed through the park gate and Karlyle had to stop for a moment to regain his breath. He bent over and pushed his hands onto his thighs, holding up his chest. Karlyle looked back at the park and witnessed the land quickly transform back into its hidden form, but his appreciation for the sight was shortly overwhelmed by his loud and obnoxious panting.
Mimi and Foster noticed that Karlyle stopped behind them so they walked back to support their dying friend in his final moments.
Mimi was patting his back, "how are you so... what's the word?"
"Sluggish?" Foster suggested.
"No.."
"Lethargic?"
"Still nope, enough guessing. How do you plan on surviving in the tourney with this lack of stamina?"
Karlyle wheezed his response, "I don't HHHHH know."
"Jeez don't die."
After three or four minutes, Karlyle regained enough stamina to continue walking.
"Guess those are cosmetic?" Mimi questioned sarcastically, pointing to Karlyle's slightly defined bicep.
"It seems you're correct. I have no idea how working on a farm my whole life didn't build my stamina."
"At least we know the safety corps won't try to recruit you after the tourney."
"Were you recruited after the tourney, Foster?"
"Yeah. After I passed the tourney for 15 year olds they sent me a letter detailing recruitment and my foster parents supported me through the process," he answered.
"Foster has foster parents?"
"Yes. Ha. Ha. Ha." The laugh was obviously fake and strained.
"Sorry I couldn't resist."
"Don't worry about it," Foster lightly slapped the back of Karlyle's left shoulder, pushing him forward a little as a result.
The group walked back down the street they previously went through to get to the park. This time, however, they turned left halfway through to enter another street. It wasn't as decorated as the previous street but that was because the parade wouldn't go through it. They'd only begin at the park, make their way through the main street, and then end at central tower where the tourney would begin and the participants would start mandatory training before the first round took place.
The sun was already almost covered by the distant horizon, coating the sky in beautiful gradients of orange, pink, red, and yellow. Those with perfect vision could faintly see the stars which were slowly revealing themselves to humanity and all the other animals in the world. The moonlight got stronger without its competitor, the sun, putting up a fight for dominance. When the sunlight was no longer overshadowing the moon, its radiance could truly be admired by anyone. Apart from those who were afraid of the night that is. The cosmic shine of its fine display was a sight that could compete with the beauty of any galaxy.
"Wait, when is the parade taking place?" Asked Karlyle.
"An hour before the new year."
"But Foster said we don't have that much time left?"
"Yeah because Enchark, though it may not look it, is masssivveee. It takes forever to go somewhere from somewhere, unless you start at the centre."
"But we still have so much time left, the sun isn't even fully set."
"Oh, that's another illusion spell."
"How many illusion spells are there in this city damn."
"Dozens if not hundreds. This one specifically makes the day appear longer and the night shorter. We still operate on the same clock but yeah."
"Doesn't that also shorten how much sleep you get?"
"Not really no. This city rarely sleeps anyway."
Karlyle looked closer at the sunset and noticed the thin trails of green essence that emerged from the sun, twirling around before thinning and disappearing into the air. His eyes were strained from looking into the weakened sun so he blinked a couple of times and his left eye watered slightly. He wiped off the droplet that emerged from his tear duct with his wrist and followed behind Mimi.
'I need to pull myself together if I want to keep pyrokinesis,' Karlyle said to himself in his head.
His nervous habit wasn't going to come out in front of the first friends he made in this life. His only friend throughout the majority of his youngest years was Emilia as Asher was still a baby and then later on, once Asher grew, the friend group grew by 1. His younger siblings managed to make friends easily. Asher was loud and social by nature, Emilia somehow succeeded in making friends even with her cold front, but Karlyle had no hope. The third time was the charm in the Montgomery family. Unless someone confronted Karlyle first and stuck with him, he wouldn't make friends.
Karlyle wouldn't dismiss people if they wanted to be friends with him but he would never be the one to initiate a conversation. With Foster and Mimi, something was different. He enjoyed talking to them first, especially when it came to having questions. It was most likely the stress of the tourney counteracting his introversion in some mysterious way.
A notification opened up in Karlyle's view.
[Welcome to the central point of the Arkana Network, KARLYLE MONTGOMERY]
The notification flaked away from his view but instead of disappearing, the flakes flew into the enormous fountain that was at first hidden behind the notification. It had multiple different streams of magical green essence that miraculously formed different patterns and shapes when in the air. The fountain itself had a diameter of 10 metres and was 20 metres tall. It was made of marble and clear quartz that perfectly refracted the light emitted by the glowing essence.
"Will my name always be in uppercase?"
"You can change that you know."
"How?"
"Just say 'visual correction' and the menu will correct itself, including the name thing."
"Visual correction."
[Arkana Network visual correction beginning]
The notification turned into a couple of dots that spun in a circle. They shrank down and moved to the corner of Karlyle's vision.
"How long will it take?"
"An hour or so, even though you haven't used it yet, the Arkana Network interface is very complex and there are lots of components. Now, if I catch you, I'm beating you up. Run."
Karlyle was stunned and didn't know how to react to the threat but his wrist got grabbed by someone's hand and he was pulled along. It was Foster. The pair ran around the fountain with Mimi chasing them and the entire time Foster didn't let go of Karlyle, knowing he'd get caught if he didn't drag him along. After completing one lap around the fountain, Mimi slapped Karlyle's back with a lot of force, causing him to stumble forward.
"Hey!" Karlyle shouted in response.
"Finally caught you!"
"You definitely... used your kinetic... to catch up!" Now that he stopped running, the exhaustion immediately kicked in.
Foster joined, "I agree, I'll have to arrest you now."
"Well catch me if you can!"
Mimi started running away from them. It was now their turn to chase after her.
"Come on Karlyle," Foster reached out his hand.
"Give me... a moment.." Karlyle replied but his break was short lived as Foster grabbed his wrist again and dragged him to chase after Mimi, "wai- UGHHH"
Forced to run, the two chased after Mimi around the fountain. Karlyle was desperately holding onto Foster's arm. If his grip even slightly loosened he'd trip and fall onto his face so his focus remained on that rather than chasing Mimi. Due to her size, she was way more agile than them and skilfully dodged each time they tried to catch her. Karlyle was visibly on the brink of collapsing onto the floor when they finally stopped running around and sat down on the fountain's edge.
"I guess this isn't a popular spot," Karlyle stated, "there aren't that many people."
"There are usually more people, but right now everybody is busy with the parade so most people don't have the time to be here," Mimi replied.
The sun has now fully set behind the horizon and the eternal darkness of space enveloped the sky. There was only about an hour left before the parade would begin and the trio were now laying on the fountain's edge one after another. Karlyle was in the middle; his feet were directly above Foster's head and Mimi's feet were directly above his. None of them were talking, they were all just staring at the sky above for god knows how long, admiring the stars and the constellations they came together to create.
After 30 minutes of silent laying, the loading icon in the corner of Karlyle's vision faded away and a new notification popped up.
[Arkana Network visual correction complete]
"The visual correction thing finally finished guys."
Karlyle got no response from the others as they were fully enchanted by the beauty of the glistening sky. He didn't mind that he got ignored because he understood why so he returned to being silent and looking at the sky.
After 5 more minutes, Foster checked his watch and saw that the parade would be starting soon.
"We have to get going now," he announced.
"Alright," Mimi and Karlyle replied in unison, both getting up from the fountain at the same pace.
The streets became more compact and the walk to the street was now practically a tenth of what it was previously, another gift from Councilman Kyanar's spells. The streets were crowded with the people of Enchark and some families of the participants, Karlyle couldn't see his though.
A mysterious voice announced all around, "Everyone! Welcome to the 107th Grand Tourney Parade!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
omnivolent
omnivolent I hope you guys are excited to see Karlyle take part in the tourney, but first the parade has to end and he will have to do some training!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone