Kat felt herself being tugged into an adjacent space. Lifted off her feet she found herself in an area that felt somewhat reminiscent of a summoning. Except things weren't quite right, the lights faded in and out instead of a constant warming presence calming her down. Instead of the beautiful array of colours, the darkness seemed to press in and the few sparks of light she could see all felt wrong, like meeting an old friend who has changed so much you can't even recognise them.
And yet before the weight of the wrongness could fully impact Kat she felt herself being deposited onto soft grass. *Yuck, what was that. It leaves such a horrid taste in the mouth. Why would anyone travel like that.*
Though Kat's complaints seemed minor in the face of what the rest of the party was experiencing. Everyone else was vomiting profusely except Green who seemed to be holding everything but only barely.
Thyme looked over the faces of the group judging their reactions "Seems you aren't a fan, shame that. It is one of the grandest ways to travel"
Something in Kat's mind threatened to boil over at that. Never had she felt so personally attacked by a statement. Not the bullies, not the flippant comments about loosing her parents, not that time Lily tried to accuse Gramps of something horrible. Kat let her aura flare, calming herself down and helping the others recover their stomachs.
And yet the burning seemed to remain, it was a colder anger now. One that needed to be expressed, understood. "How can such a perversion of a beautiful process be considered a grand way to travel"
"Hmmm" grumbled Thyme as it flipped it's head to gaze at Kat "How curious, you cannot lie and yet you dodge the subject slightly by asking a question. All the same though I see it in your eyes, you truly feel affronted by this. So strange, to cover such great distances in an instant is a wonderous thing no?"
Thyme let its head drift toward Kat extending past the neck and effortlessly brushing aside the aura Kat had been letting out, reinforcing that Thyme was much stronger than he appeared. And yet one thing stuck out to Kat, that the travel was instantaneous, sure it was fast, but that seemed off to her "Do you see nothing during the journey Thyme?"
"Why no? Of course not, the travel itself takes no time at all. What is there to see?" asked Thyme.
Kat bit back a laugh so as to keep at least some civility "I suppose you do not see what I do. That transportation process is corrupted, it is wrong. I see more than nothing during the journey, and what I saw, I did not like"
This actually seemed to shake the strange plant man who had thus far not actually shown much expression at all. Still didn't in fact, but the vibrant colours and lush green vibes it had dimmed quite a few shades and the tips of the few flowers present on its body seemed to wilt slightly. Thyme quickly gazed around and noticed the rest of the party had recovered and said "Well, swiftly moving on, I guess I'll introduce you to the other competitors"
Kat felt a rather significant portion of her anger cool as she saw how unnerved Thyme was, she wasn't one for such reactions anyway and to see the obvious affect on him helped douse whatever remained after her outburst.
Pulling down the grass screen Thyme revealed two other groups of five that were talking amongst themselves. They kept to there respective teams, or what Kat assumed was their respective teams considering each group had five members.
"And so, ladies and gentleman, I'll be introducing you all, so get ready" said Thyme who had now changed their voice into a booming announcer voice that echoed across the fields. "First in arriving, and perhaps first in the competition, are the God Crushers! These guys are ruthlessly efficient and have completed the highest number of contracts out of all the competitors. They are famous for never once turning down a job that has been offered to them, and the messier it is the happier they are afterwards. Give them a hand"
Contrary to Thyme's introduction though, the group he had pointed out looked more like well equipped farmers than adventurers. They all wore the same leather overalls and thick cotton shirts. Their weapons and hats were really the only thing to separate them… if you could call their farming equipment weapons.
The man standing in front held what looked to be a wagon wheel with boards nailed into it in place of a shield with a sturdy iron cap. To his left was a man holding a sharpened pitchfork with the two outer ends chopped down to make it look more like a trident, wearing a leather cap with a spike on top. The man to the right had a sling on his hips and wore no hat at all, and finally the last pair that stood behind the first three looked to be twins, or at least they had similar enough appearances. They held no visible weapon, and instead of a hat they just seemed to have more dirt caked onto them. Perhaps they weren't twins, but with the amount of dirt covering their facial features it was basically impossible to tell.
Kat gave a confused look to Gareth hoping he would explain, he just shrugged in return but luckily Nixilei had the answer "That team, the "God Crushers" are the local handyman group. A bunch of nice kids really, that just go around doing odd jobs like cleaning basements and clearing out rat infestations. There mage and healer just have decent potential and can throw it at things but it isn't that effective to just shove mana at the problem. Technically everything Thyme said about them was true by the way, just, context."
"Why are they even in this tournament then?" Asked Kat
"Well, ah actually I don't know" answered Nixilei
"Because Jim's mother promised us raspberry and honey pie if we entered" shouted the God Crusher with a wagon wheel for a shield. "And I'll be damned if I miss out on some raspberry honey pie uh, no offence demon miss, I think"
"None taken?" asked Kat somewhat confused as to what she should be offended by. Seemingly satisfied with this Wheel stepped back into his group and nodded.
Thyme cleared his throat noisily, which sounded more like crushing bark then a clearing of the throat "Are you quite done my guests? Yes? Good. And now, the next group, the Totally Not Related at All, group. Now yes, I stand by that, despite there appearance they are not related in any way shape or form, though perhaps in form… and I guess that makes them related in a way too… And wait, now that I think about it, shape and form are basically the same thing…"
Thyme trailed off trying to analyse the hole he'd dug himself into. And what a hole it was because the second group he was referring to did look similar indeed. Though even that didn't quite cut it. Despite the groups obvious attempts to differentiate their appearance with accessories and hairstyles they couldn't escape the fact that they all clearly looked the same.
They all shared the pointed ears, marking them as elves, long white hair that extended down to just past the shoulder blades. Matching faces with blue eyes and a small nose. Each member exactly the same height and build. Honestly it was a little creepy. Outside of their weapons which were a more standard affair matching Kat's group they each distinguished themselves with a unique hairstyle and a different take on the outfit.
The first kept the hair hanging free and straight down, and utilised the fact she was wearing plate mail to limit the need for an extra way to tell her apart. The one with dual swords had twin tails with basic strings to keep them separated. The one holding the bow, well, had a bow. Sitting atop her head was a bow that easily stretched thirty centimetres in height, giving her the slightest illusion she was taller than the others. The two casters were harder to distinguish. They had their hair bound in a ponytail on either the left or right side of their head, and held a plain looking wood staff. Which one was the healer and which was the wizard, Kat had no idea.
"Nixilei explanation please" Seriously, there has to be a good reason for this one, even twins don't look quite so similar. If someone told me they'd made clones these guys would be the first suspects.
"I have no idea. I've never heard of these guys" said Nixilei
"What's this? Something the great Nixilei doesn't know! The worlds going to end!" said Kress as he pretended to search for some world ending threat. Of course, it had to be at that moment the ground started to shake.