50. The feast

The feast was on the outskirt of the village large enough for everyone to gather and enjoy themselves. The enormous 2,500 slab stage was finally completed lining the entire center of the area with a large square shape platform for homecoming kids to demonstrate what they’ve learned.

Everything for the festivities were prepared for when the children arrive home for the yearly break. Further away from the stage was a massive fire pit surrounded by the mountainside slabs as seats for nearly a hundred to sit on.

Sitting around the well-lit fire pit was many the participants alongside all the villagers who participated in the scares. They were warming themselves up to the fire and getting to know each other better. The rest of the participants and those who chose to go were up and about inspecting the stage and the miniature marketplace put in place by villagers who had things they wanted to sell.

Familiar faces could be seen sitting around the fire pit. Seth and his friends were conversing with Harmick and Karns who Seth had met a few days before. The two dark-skinned well-built fathers was already drunk from the alcohol served after many bottles were emptied. Both men were telling a story about their early years and talking over each other trying to tell it.

Seth and his friends did not participate scaring the participants this morning to afternoon, they were spending the entire time locked away in their room meditating to better understand their energy. It wasn’t until Cobble came to their door and invited them for the feast did they agree to leave.

Roselyn, Orchid, and Dr. Galil was sitting close to each other, after Roselyn woke up Dr. Galil decided he’ll stay around until the baby was born in case his assistance was necessary. Roselyn and Gran didn’t mind the offer and allowed Dr. Galil to be her temporary personal doctor.

Orchid had always wanted to spend more time with her sister, she was only kept to the Inn cause her obsession with Gran was uncomfortable to him. However, after Roselyn’s situation she didn’t want to be last to know of it again. She promised Roselyn she would be on her best behavior and not harass Gran. Roselyn knew her younger sister the best only laughed at how cute her younger sister was for making a silly promise like that.

The feast was underway the moment Gran slowly walked through the entrance to the outskirts with a large bag of meat floating behind him. The once panic and worried look he had back at home were nowhere to be seen as he sauntered to the fire pit. The enormous floating bag immediately caught the attention for everyone sitting around.

Gran smiled at all villagers and participants alongside anyone else who chose to come and raised the bag well up over his head with telekinesis. He then turned his eye over to the rows of thin slabs spanning the entire diameter of the fire pit.

With a wave of his hands the dozens of long rectangular thin slabs were placed perfectly on top of the fire pit forming the largest grill ever. The participants were amazed at the spectacle, for the average person it was extremely rare to meet and greet a person of Gran’s caliber.

Gran walked over to Roselyn who was sitting with some of the servants, Orchid and Dr. Galil with the enormous bag floating behind him. Gran subconsciously paused his steps when he made eye contact with Orchid however quickly managed to recover and continued towards them. Both Roselyn and Orchid made way leaving a spot for Gran to awkwardly sit in between them.

With no other choice Gran sat down between the two sisters and tried to maintain his composure.

Everyone had already quieted down by the time Gran was sitting waiting for Gran to say a few words. Their eyes continuously glanced at the enormous bag already expecting of what’s to come.

Ahem

“I know that this year was extremely different than all the other years. I know that most of you will not want to step into the village again next year.” Gran’s words caused the participants to laugh, the scare they had this morning was hard to forget.

Gran continued “However, look around you, everything this year was different. This beautiful stage was thought of and designed by our wonderful Elroy Ferrarius for the children to showcase what they’ve learned in school. This marketplace could only come about thanks to you guys for wanting the things we’ve made. This enormous firepit grill that you’re all sitting around tonight was an idea proposed by a wonderful guest of ours.”

“Everything about the festivities and scares you once grew accustomed to have changed compared to the years before it.”

“But this is not necessarily a bad thing...” Gran paused for a moment and continued.

“Now, we have a platform for our children to show what they’ve got.” Everyone eyes turned towards the stage.

Now, we have an area just for trade.” Everyone eyes looked over to the marketplace.

“Now, we have a place to FEAST!”

Whoosh!

The bag flew towards the fire pit grill and slowly tipped over from above. The entire bag filled with meat was poured onto the enormous grill. Sliced up pork, cows, and chicken covered the entirety of the grill as steam quickly filled the chilly air and the sweet scent of the fatty meat oozed from them.

The entire audience clapped madly when the bag started to spill food out covering the grill. The aroma from the grilled meat quickly covered the surrounding area causing those who were further away at the marketplace to scramble over.

“Tonight, I want you all to eat as much as you want, drink as much as you want, and most importantly, to have fun!” Gran finished his speech causing the audience to roar a second time in applause.

“Oh, and I’m not responsible for anything besides putting food on the grill, if you want to eat it just reach in and grab it, we have plates and utensils for you over there for those who don’t want to use your hands.” Gran quickly added, pointing towards an area where some of the villagers were stationed. It was a long table with stacks of plates and utensils enough for everyone in the village tonight.

Everyone in the audience let out a laugh and quickly got up and made their way over to the table.

After his speech was finished Roselyn leaned over to Gran and rested her head on his shoulder and smiled. Gran turned towards his wife and smiled at her innocently beautiful face. However, he couldn’t maintain his smile for long when another person on his right also leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder, causing him to stiffen up.

Orchid’s action and Gran’s stiffness caused Roselyn to laugh, however she didn’t stop her sister from teasing Gran tonight.

The aroma of the meat drifted into town towards the silhouette of five people and two pets walking together.

“The feast has started, c’mon let’s go!” Boss quickly ran ahead of everyone else the moment everyone smelled the meat being cooked. Arthur with Barkie ontop of his head quickly chased after Boss both hungry and excited. Shelly with Silver in her arms was just as fast running beside the three towards the outskirts of the village.

Michael and Julie glanced at each other and smiled. Both of raced each other to the outskirt of the village.

While tonight, Boulderville was lively and festive at another place dark figures started to gather.

In a dimly lit room, fourteen hooded individuals have arrived sitting on their seat at a large round table. There were two with blue robes, two with red robes, two with green robes and 8 with purple robes.

An individual with blue robed turned his attention to the only other blue robed person sitting right next to him. “B2, you were the last one here, what took you so long?”

“Had an unexpected situation to take care of, B1.” B2 replied. He continued, “However, I’ve managed to obtain a piece of Rainbow Stone.”

“Really? How? King Baroque has a strict monopoly over it.” B1 replied.

“Miners are smuggling it out with no idea how much they’re worth. Found this one in Rouge.” B2 replied.

“Ah, I see you didn’t happen to have poisoned someone for it, right?” B1 asked.

“It’s complicated.” B2 retorted and motioned B1 to quiet down a red robe figure made their way over to his seat and sat down.

“We have three things to get finished today, the first is three missions, the first mission is the alliance between the Headmaster of Lumiere and King Baroque, who wants to ruin it?” The red robe figure calmly asked, his voice was deep and raspy as he spoke.

No one at the table replied, they were waiting for the other options to have a final say in their choice.

The red robe figure continued when no one spoke up. “The second mission is gathering intel at the Tillowisk Empire, both the Church of Future Heaven and Safe Haven have been there for too long for it to be a normal matter. Who wants to infiltrate and gather intel?”

The same silence as before, no one spoke up they were waiting on the final question.

“The third mission is already assigned to me; I will be going with R2 and I’ll take P1-4.” R1 finished his statement. No one seemed to bother arguing about the third mission or asked for what it was.

“Does K or B want the first mission?” R1 asked.

“Which do you want B2?” B1 leaned over and whispered. B2 thought for a moment and replied. “Second mission.” B1 nodded his head he too wanted the second mission.

“We want the second mission.” B1 replied.

“First mission.” K1 replied.

R1 raised his eyebrows underneath his hood when he saw K1 ask for the first mission. “I was expecting a fight for the second mission, K1 do you have a plan?”

K1 calmly replied. “We’re better suited for ruining things than infiltrating, that is all.”

“P5 through 8, I’ll let you choose where to go, Zeldova or Tillowisk?” R1 asked.

Three of them decided helping K1 ruin the relationship between Headmaster of Lumiere and King Baroque.

“P7? Mission 1 or 2?”

P7 took their time and thought about the situation, which was less likely to get them killed? “I’ll take 2.”

“Alright, off to the second assignment. This is related to your missions, K1, B1, in your own respective countries we’ll need you to recruit potential talents to our organizations. Don’t get caught.”

K1 and B1 nodded their head. It was standard for their missions to recruit potential talents.

“Lastly, our leader wants something at the upcoming auction held in Da’mere half a year from now, there is rumors that it will be there. If there is no progress in your missions, he wants us to focus on the auction.”

“What if we have made some progress?” B1 asked.

“Your mission is in the Tillowisk Empire, location is close, auction is mandatory for you, B1.”

“Tch, I knew you were going to say that. What about anything else at the auction?” B1 asked.

“It’s all up to you, just don’t get caught if you’re going to kill people. We do not want to be known. Seer’s can’t investigate our organizations, but that doesn’t mean the police force are incompetent buffoons that won’t chase if you leave a trace. Remove yourself from existence if cornered.” R1 replied.

“Any other questions?” R1 asked.

There was an empty silence. R1 scanned the other hooded robed figures. “Go form your groups and get to know each other, 10 minutes from now we’ll each leave one by one.”

P7 walked over to B1 and B2 who were seated from across the table. “P7, if you hadn’t chosen us, we’d have killed you.” B1 stated calmly.

“Yes master, thank you for recruiting me.” P7 replied, he was the 7th person to join the group and the one B1 personally recruited himself.

“I was just kidding, have you met B2 yet?” B1 asked.

“Not yet master.”

P7 introduced himself to B2 who remained seating. B2 nodded his head and waited until the 10 minutes to pass by.

Everyone only needed a minute to form the group and get to know each other, anything afterwards was just silent waiting.

Each member of the groups formed left one by on after the 10 minutes were up, each leaving a few minutes after the other. This was to ensure that no one within the group will look suspicious for leaving.

B2 eventually arrived back to an Inn he was staying and walked up to his room and removed the hooded blue robe he wore the entire day.

B2 looked down the windows of the Inn out to the empty streets of Asmar, his face reflected by the dimly lit candles within the room. It was a plain face, one that would be missed by any person who he had passed by.

“Tillowisk, eh? Charlemagne don’t do anything unnecessary like before, I don’t want to have to clean up your mess. Freaking all that for this stupid stone, I liked those two you know?” The man was speaking out loud while staring out of the window, looking at passerbys down below.

“Not my fault if only they didn’t have it, if only she didn’t buy it, not my fault, not my fault! I WANT IT!” A raspy voice replied.

“Shut up, here’s your stupid stone, now please, don’t make it harder on me I don’t want to have to kill you.” B2 tossed the stone onto the ground but no one picked it up. A raspy voice replied, “Try it if you dare, I’ll take you down with me. Ke ke ke.”

B2 shook his head and sighed, he walked over to the bedside placed the Rainbow Stone on the nightstand, his fingers pressed on the flames of the lit candle turning off the lights.

“Goodnight Charlemagne”

“Ke ke ke, goodnight. Don’t let the bedbugs bite ke ke ke...”