It was a quiet day in a quiet cafe, a cafe spectacular in few ways beyond the fact that it was located in a giant underground cavern that served as this particular universe’s central world of the dead. The closely related fact that this cafe was frequented by demons contributed in no way to its uniqueness; every establishment gets some of those nowadays. Dragons, however, were another matter even here, so when one of them walked in and didn’t want any publicity for it, they had to be careful to disguise themselves such that no attention was drawn to them. This dark afternoon, one such Dragon chose to make himself unnoticed by entering as a giant figure in a hooded black cloak with glowing red eyes.
Dragons of death are horrible with fashion. Sukizo, the Necrotic Dragon, was particularly horrible.
He half-walked, half-hovered to a table in the back, a two-person table already occupied by a less large, but still intimidatingly so, human man outfitted primarily in purple and black. The Dragon pulled out the other chair and sat heavily, staring at the man opposite him. “Six months. No calls, no letters, and no deaths. You had me worried.”
The man smiled. “You don’t worry. I doubt you have emotions beyond anger.”
“Shh. I had a good head of steam going.” His eyes stopped glowing. “And it’s not any anger. It’s pure, violent, destructive rage. The good kind of anger.”
“My mistake.”
They sat there for a while. “So, Dirk, what did you do? All I know is that I got a memo from Murmur saying you were reviving two people and wouldn’t be back until the tournament. Then those two boys from that twin soul crisis disappeared. Six months later, you enter four people under four different categories not including yourself and ask to meet in a cafe. Not even a good tavern, either.” Sukizo looked around. “We’re in a damned bakery.”
Dirk chuckled. “But a good bakery. Try some hot chocolate. You’ll either love it or it’ll burn your throat so much that I won’t have to hear you complain any more. It’s win/win.”
Sukizo growled. “You’re lucky I don’t hate you.”
“I know.” Dirk leaned back in his chair. “Remember back before you got me, when I had myself split into those different bodies by that one guy?”
“How could I? The most interesting thing you’ve ever done and I wasn’t even there for it.”
“I took Mister Canopus’ body to that guy. What I did was have him split that body into two.”
“And why did you need your trio?”
“Bune, Bifrons, and Murmur? They had to guide the soul back into the bodies and get them situated. Took some adjusting. That body was still ready for two souls, and we had to rearrange things.”
“What about that energy guy? Just for kicks?”
“I was told that when the bodies split, the marbles from which Mister Canopus drew power would be destroyed in the process. So I used Mister Ebask to channel some energy-manipulating powers into the separate bodies as they were forming. That way they wouldn’t be completely defenseless.”
“And the electric boy.”
“Mister Ebask’s powers drew from basic energy. I wanted them to use elemental powers, and they had been using them for a while anyway, so Mister Renil was needed to give them the control over specific elements.”
“Then why not just use him?”
“Not only did Mister Ebask have more variety in energy-related skills, but he had control. Mister Renil had barely used his skills before dying, and even then it was just in a fit of rage. I needed both power and control.”
Sukizo settled back. “And the girl was there because nobody else had both elements you wanted.”
Dirk nodded. “She wanted out so I got her out, and it meant I didn’t have to go searching for anybody who would lend his or her powers willingly. She was perfect for it.”
“So now you have two virtually identical twins, one perky and active with fire powers and the other sullen and introspective with ice powers.”
Dirk raised an eyebrow from behind his sunglasses. “You’ve been watching?”
“I watch all of the recently revived. I know that you’ve been training them in power usage for the last six months. I just didn’t know what happened during the revival. A certain powerful magician blocked my power to watch it.”
“I blocked all magical viewing. Can’t let word get out that person- and spirit-splitting technology exists to that level of perfection. Besides, you could have broken through my shield.”
“I respected your desire to not have the event in question watched.”
Dirk nodded. “You’re a good boss.”
“Anybody who gives six months of leave is.”
“Granted.”
“So you’ve explained who, what, where, and when. That leaves why.”
Dirk was quiet for a long moment. “I have a bad vibe about this tournament.”
“Riley doesn’t.”
“But I do. Enough that I revived and trained two people and invited two more, all of different elements, just to cover our bases. Counting me, that gives us a nice group of five.”
“And five is important because…”
“Because in my vision flash, I saw five combatants who are looking to do something really, really nasty. Don’t know who or what. Haven’t gotten anything since. I’m hoping that seeing them will trigger something.”
Sukizo tilted his head. “Sixty-four combatants, minus nine advisors, minus your other four. That’s fifty-one people, which means that ten percent of people you’ll see there are trying to destroy the world.”
“I said I don’t know what they’re doing, just that I don’t like it.”
The Dragon sighed. “You haven’t been wrong yet, but this sounds especially odd.”
“Then don’t do anything about it. I shall. Or we shall.”
“Fair enough.” They watched each other for a minute. “Well, I think that’s everything. So I’ll see you at the orientation tomorrow. Going right home?”
“After I get groceries.”
Sukizo stood and laughed. “Not working with me has made you too soft. We’ll have to reorient you when you come back after the tournament.”
“You could stand some softening yourself.”
“I’m fine, thanks. See you later.” Sukizo walked out of the cafe.
Dirk took a deep breath and leaned his head back. “Geez, is it just tomorrow?”
