System Break

"Greetings," he said. His voice was cultured, and enunciation was perfect. I was slightly surprised, but I guess I shouldn't have been if he was a scholar.

"Hey," I said and smiled. "I'm Benzhi, this is Gisael and Sakaala. We're from the forest in the north. And this is Barrin our friend."

He smiled showing us his pointed teeth. The dude was scarier than me. Red eyes, sharp teeth, and a head like a shark; He was wearing very fancy robes, however. The robe ensemble had a white overcoat with gold embroidery and underneath another dark blue one with similar embroidery. A red sash was tied around his stomach and a thin scarf, almost bandanna like, was wrapped around his head and its ends hung loose down his back. He had no hair and the dark scarf suited him.

He was dressed like a noble which made the locals look like country bumpkins. Me - I was bare chested, had bare feet and only wore leather pants made from a troll we killed.

"I am Scholar Rongu. Happy to make your acquaintance. Did you really travel here to partake in the tournament?"

I put my arm around Sakaala. "Sakaala and her brother really wanted to be in it. So we came."

"I am very surprised to see a Dokkalfar and Svartalfar here mixing with the men. It is truly a new island."

It wasn't the first time I'd heard it called an island and I had imagined it was like a regular island, but something kicked off in my brain from the way he said it. 

"Barrin, is this place an island because its surrounded by the ocean? Because no one sails here."

Barrin laughed. "No."

"I sailed here," Rongu said. "But that was from the portal at the edge of the island."

"Wait," I said. "So you came through a portal at the edge. If we sailed west right now what's at the edge? What would happen if we kept sailing?"

"It's the edge, you would fall for eternity unless you hit another island," Rongu said and I tried to wrap my head around it.

Barrin said. "If you dig too deep you can fall through the island. But the rock tells us when we get close because the pitch of a pick changes, when it hits the rock.

"That's fascinating," Rongu said. "I'm so glad I decided to travel here. I'm finding treasures within hours." He pointed at my chest.

"You're different from any Svartalfar I've seen. So tall and the mask. I've only read about those."

"Do you know what an adventurer is?" I asked.

His countenance changed which I took for a slight frown. "I do," he said sadly.

I glanced at Sakaala and her eyes warned me to be quiet. I sighed and met his gaze. "We just met, but I will tell you anyway. I am an adventurer."

He peered at me with his red eyes. I felt like Satan was judging me as evil. "I am thankful for your candour." He looked at Gisael and Sakaala. "Are you all adventurers?"

"I am not," Gisael said while Sakaala looked sheepish.

"Why?" He asked Gisael. "I understand why the men do this; they do not remember what happened twenty thousand years ago. But you, you are one of the exiled."

She peered at him. "We are what we are and would not trade anything to be what we were eons ago." She put a hand on my chest. "He is one of us in heart. This is enough and you should not judge."

The Qizhu looked down for a moment. "I do not judge, and it is not the adventurers which concern me. It is the disruption to the status quo and the bridge the Jotun build that I fear."

Barrin asked, "Not the Fomori?"

The Qizhu shook his head. "This is not the Fomori's doing. But they will react when they learn of the Jotun's influence over the gatekeepers and the creation of these abominations."

I looked at Barrin. "This is going to need some explaining. I'm totally lost."

Barrin looked at the Qizhu Scholar. "It would be better if he explained the histories of the universe. I'm just a smith of another exiled race and not learned like him."

The scholar clicked his tongue and gave a slight nod of his head. "Where to start?" he asked himself. "Hmm, there are three prime worlds known to the Qizhu. One belongs to the Jotun, the other the Fomori and the third is the origin of humanity, men."

"Earth?" I asked.

He made a clicking sound again. "The world, which is full of men, the place you are from. If your name for it is Earth, that is the place I speak of."

"The prime worlds of the Fomori and the Jotun have not interfered in the islands where the lesser races live for a very long time. After the cataclysm their ancestors separated themselves by mutual agreement. And it worked - the endless wars across the realms finally ended with this act. Now wars adhere to a strict code that the prime races set out and the people do not suffer as they once did." He looked at Gisael and Barrin.

"These Alfar were the strongest of us. The Qizhu and the Mogui learned from them in the arts of qi. They strengthened us and we fought back against the prime races." He cast a glance at the gathered crowd. "Men were primitive then and still are to a degree. They did not live in cities but in tribes like their cousins the beastmen. They belong to the third tier of races."

"Lizardmen? Ferals?"

He waved his hand. "Let me finish my story of the Alfar. They lived on the largest island and it floated high above the others. They …"

"Wait did you say float?"

He clicked his tongue. "Islands float in the sky realm. It is where we are now. It is a place both the Fomori and the Jotun can travel to. And they can only reach each other through here. Their prime worlds are far apart in their realm."

"And Earth is like them? A prime world."

"I have never been, but I've read about it. It does not float in the sky realm and is large and round. It is a prime world like the others."

Sakaala asked. "So you're worried about these Jotun interfering in the sky realm again. What does that have to do with us?"

The Qizhu scholar considered her. "The gatekeepers have a special ability to create portals. While it's not entirely unique to them but it is only a few qi masters who have done so over the ages. Where we need to reach enlightenment to do this the gatekeepers are born with the ability."

"They are not like us. They are simple, diminutive, and carefree. They do not plan or seek to dominate. But they are susceptible to being controlled by ones such as the Jotun and this is what I fear is happening."

I asked, "What are they trying to do?"

He tilted his head. "That is why I am here. I'm trying to find out and I can't ask them directly; I do like my head where it is."

"Okay, let me get this straight. There are like three tiers of races with the Jotun and Fomori as apex predators. On the top. And they hate each other."

"That is simplified, they have a complex relationship like any cultures do when they clash. But they have one thing in common, they believe themselves to be supreme."

I nodded. "And your race and another are underneath them? Like second tier."

"The Alfar were once the strongest of the realms, they are now fragmented into Myrkalfar, Dokkalfar and Svartalfar. Then there is my race the Qizhu and the Mogui."

I nodded. "And on the third tier is men. So does that make the Alfar cousins – the Myrkalfar, Dokkalfar and Svartalfar - two point five?"

He laughed. "Yes. I believe that is an apt portrayal of the consensus thinking. This is a simplified story for you - there are many races who live in the sky realms – including the ones you mentioned."

A bell rung and staff began to usher guests through another door to dinner. We had such an amazing chat with the Qizhu that we did not speak to anyone else.

I leaned into Gisael as she walked beside me. "Did you know this?"

She stared. "Not in his words but yes. We do not dwell on it. We live in the now and look to a bright future with the forest. We are simpler and happier than we once were. The Qizhu love to dissect and meddle."

"Benzhi," she said softly. "Do not let them know what you can do."

"Why?" I asked although they had explained in the past.

"Mother fears it will change everything." After she dropped that bomb she slipped behind me and began to walk with Sakaala.

I peered at her as they whispered, and a well-dressed servant guided me to my seat.