V2 Incline 20: Champion Nin

The Gilded-Bark narrows his eyes at me.

"You are the Champion. The one who saved my precious seed, my son. While I am thankful for that, your failure to save my beloved has left me somewhat frustrated. You were found with so many but not one of them was her... I cannot find her and you were her best hope! YOU FAILED!" he explains with a voice full of malice as his scowling eyes look me and my immediate surroundings over.

Failed...

I gulp quietly as I think that word over again and again. Did I fail...? I wanted to get out of there, I did... People followed me and I tried to...

Fists form as I aggressively blast air through my nostrils. I match his glare with my own and my back straightens out. I accepted no task from anyone when I escaped that place! I did not ask to be called 'Champion,' how can I fail at something I never tried to do!?

What right does he have!?

"I have asked to be put directly against you again and again until this day ends. I will find out for myself if I have any right to look upon you with scorn." he explains to me as he takes up one of the chains. His massive hand wraps itself around the thick link and he does it again to the other chain.

My nose twitches in anger as I reach down to grab the chains myself. But, unlike him, I cannot get a sure grip on the links. The weight of the chain just forces it out of my incomplete grip. I frown angrily at my current problem and lean down further.

Dropping to my knee, I use both hands to casually pick up one of the links and wrap my arm into it. I repeat the process for the other arm and steadily stand up as my awkward grip lets the iron slide about my forearm. Rattles fill my ears as we start to back away from each other with the metres-long chain stretching further and further. I clench my jaw tightly in anticipation as the flimsy series of links fill with tight tension.

One slip up and it goes flying the other way.

The Gilded-Bark jumps slightly and he strikes into the ground at an angle. I move forward slightly when he does and I frown as he continues to worm his way into the ground. I look away towards Rose-sweerui for one moment and a flash of dirt erupts. I suddenly lunge forward and fall down.

Sliding towards him as he throws used links behind him, I draw closer and closer to the marked line. Growling, I get onto my arse and slam my feet into the ground, creating a pair of trenches to slide into. Standing back up as I fall into the drop, I pull back against his efforts, halting them. My body waves between lurching forwards and stiffly pulling backwards.

"Phrahhh!" I blurt loudly when one of my arms suddenly comes loose. Leaping out of the hole, I grab it back with wide eyes and the Gilded-Bark yanks my other side out of the hole. I stop myself from leaning forwards and roll onto the balls of my heels. But he just ploughs me through the ground with massive swings of his arms.

I do my best to keep my knees facing the sky and pull with all I have. I manage to take a few explosive steps back the way I came. However, I stumble when he lets the chains behind him unwind out to me. I counter the stumbling and roar at him as a paleness starts to overtake the iron chains.

Suddenly, my back drops to the ground as the chains snap in multiple places. Breathing heavily, I drop the iron out of my hands and stare up at my blood-flushed palms. Oddly, the noise around me sounds muffled. Like my ears have swollen in but a moment.

I smack the ground with a sneer and get back to my feet, patting the loose dirt off. I try to ignore everything that is going on around me and walk back to Vapooliar. Rubbing my face and flexing my fingers for the sake of it. A bit of limberness thankfully returns to my body.

"Did he feel stronger than you? You were struggling the most during that." Vapooliar remarks in a flat tone and I sneer at it.

I don't want to talk about any of this right now, I'm not in the mood for any of this. Especially not after what the Gilded-Bark yammered on out at me. So many little things are rubbing me the wrong way right now. It's all building up and building up and building up!

But how high can it go...?

Vapooliar's hand moves near me before she then starts to move all of these bound logs into the open. It's nothing much, really, but the aelenvari love her for it. Their heads are lighting up like a second Orbital-Halo and they're cheering for her nonstop. All for something so simple.

Well, I am being dishonest by thinking of this all as simple, small towers of solid oak and iron.

But, Vapooliar seems to be happy for the moment, her smile is growing as she moves on to the heavier ones. Then, when she reaches the largest of the weights, she picks it up as if it is just feathers. Yet, when she throws it high into the air, beyond the mountain peaks, it blasts off like a rocket. I lean into the winds washing over me and stare up at the colossal construct as it spirals during its return descent.

A white-rimmed explosion marks the sky and the grand weight stops. It swings towards the ground with waves of wind but despite all that force, Vapooliar keeps her grip on it. Emerald light dominates the sky and she lowers it to the ground. With how lightly she is handling it, I am left jumping at how heavy its final drop is.

A minor quake rumbles through me and I blink at its immense, iron-studded girth...

How can I even approach handling something like this? Its scale is simply too immense! I'll never find the centre of gravity of this thing. I am probably expected to be able to lift it up too...

A small, hopeless groan leaves me as the aelenvari start to compete in the same pairs once again. Like a never-ending train, they just keep filing in and lifting weights until they cannot do so anymore. Vapooliar spots for them and a lot of the time she seems to be involved to compensate for their badly formed bodies. If these strange, hardened limbs and malformed stretches of flesh weren't a thing...

Rather amusingly, though, Vapooliar also has to pull many of them out of the ground. As their needle-shaped legs just make them sink into it as all that weight suddenly focuses on their points. Though, curiously, many don't even make it close to the final, larger ones. It almost seems like a waste of effort on the part of the aelenvari.

But they probably think I can do it... Lifting a tower of Tobaballe above my head is probably what they want of me. I can't even see myself doing it! The idea someone can lift that much weight on their own without a team of haulers or industrial cranes is...

I clutch my nerve-wracked arm tightly and blink quietly to myself. All these strange things have become the norm for me now, but, now I feel like I am at my limit. There is some curiosity about it all as I don't know what my new limit is. Once upon a time, a thick panel of metal is all I could really see myself lifting.

I guess now is the time to see what they are, under the very literal crushing weight of everyone's expectations... Hopefully, these large ones are just for Vapooliar to show off with. The aelenvari would do all this just for that, right? They enjoyed seeing it!

I tremble to my feet and head on over to the Gilded-Bark as it becomes clear it's our turn now. Even with my current frustrations, I can't hide my nervousness. I stand across from the Gilded-Bark as he maintains this gods damned glare of his. A snort leaves his detestable face and he effortlessly lifts the weights before him up above his head.

I do the same and we move to the next one.

He lifts it.

I copy him.

He moves along.

I follow.

We carry on mindlessly until we start to get to the larger ones.

We actually start to groan as we go through them, our muscles start to ache and the biggest of them all grows closer. The Gilded-Bark might be trying to keep his features in a permanent scowl for me, but I know he's struggling. Watching him lift so many weights in a row, doing it myself, I can see the little wobbles in his arm. We're spending longer and longer between each set of weights, too.

He growls and rumbles with determination as his bulbs flicker at me and I turn towards the final sets of weights... Looking back only when the Gilded-Bark throws the current set down towards me. I stare at the great sets of iron and wood and nod at them as my lungs continue to burn. By the gods, following through with Sraacdchammu's divine purpose is going to kill me...