C2 - Age of Splendor - Martien 2

**Chronicle 2: Age of Splendor - Martien (2)**

The cat pounced on the wolf. Like a circus clown, the cat did a somersault in the air and landed on the back of the wolf. The wolf growled loudly and turned on the cat. A wasp saw what happened and danced wildly, flying in a figure-eight pattern against the sun. A shadow beast ran towards the finish line, with a unicorn following close behind. Further behind, a little white rabbit and a strange-looking clockwork doll with a clock embedded in its belly ran after them.

"Isn't one missing?"

Back at the starting gate, a dust-covered caterpillar wriggled forward. In the afternoon, cicadas chirped loudly from the trees near the racetrack, as if to cheer for the caterpillar.

"Stop it!" Someone screamed and hurled a glass bottle. It hit Martien's head and bounced off, flying onto the race track and landing on the back of the caterpillar. It curled its body into a ball and rolled itself into the next lane, which was probably a better racing tactic, all things considered.

"Ah, Brother! Are you okay?"

"Come on! Come on! Over the Top! You can do it! Wind Rider! Go! Go!"

At the front of the pack, the unicorn and the shadow beast competed heatedly for first place. Covered in snow, the unicorn ran frantically. The two beasts ran side by side for a while. Slowly, the unicorn gained on the shadow beast.

The caterpillar continued to roll down the lane in its spherical shape, until it was run over by the clockwork doll's small single-drive wheel. The doll fell forward and the flame from the torch that the doll was holding kindled the wick attached to its head.

Tick tick tick... BOOM!

The doll exploded, throwing its wheel into the crowd of spectators. Parts of the doll's body flew into the decorative sign above the race track's main gate. The doll's droll-faced head bounced past the finish line with a loud clatter, distracting the already confused crowd's attention.

All eyes turned to another round object flying in the air across the racetrack. The caterpillar barrelled ahead of the unicorn, like a nightmarish orb on some mad, ill-fated mission.

The sun blazed down upon the white unicorn, speeding along at full gait, as if chasing after something long forgotten. The shadow beast was once a ravenous predator of the night, more accustomed to ripping apart the fabric separating this world from that of the spirits. Presently, it continued the chase for the sheer anticipation of capturing its assumed prey, the unicorn.

"Pounce on it now? Not now. Just a little closer..."

"The first arrival: lane number five, Over the Top! The second arrival: lane number four, Wind Rider!"

A tremendous tumult of victorious screams, curses, and laments congealed to generate a raucous uproar that seemed to shake all of Dion. The torn up pieces of race tickets the spectators threw away flew about the racetrack like confetti. A few wolves loitering about the racetrack were startled by the noise and ran away with a flurry.

The crowd pushed together tightly, wildly shaking the wooden rails that separated the spectator area from the race track. The wooden rails finally collapsed. A few unfortunates were buried in the wreckage and trampled as the rest of the crowd disappeared from view. Some spectators rushed to the monsters and their owners, but were soon restrained by mercenaries hired by the race track.

While hugging, kissing, and dancing around with whomever happened to be standing next to him, Martien burned with a religious fervor so powerful that he could have instantly converted to the clergy. He was deeply grateful to the being who bestowed upon him the Time of Revelation.

He hereby determined that from this day forward he would perform many works of charity in an effort to become a respected member of the community. He would also be generous to his subordinates, who had long suffered financial hardships. "I will obtain a cozy clan hall and buy them all shiny, high-quality weapons!" he promised to himself.

Across the lanes, he saw a female Dwarf near the offices of the race track, fending herself from the guards attempting to restrain her. She pointed to the finish line, complaining about something. Well, since the result was totally unexpected by everyone, it was understandable for someone to become upset. Martien even felt sorry for her.

A little later, the judges gathered around the Dwarf, and before all was said and done, even the highest-ranking officials were called down into the fray. Huddling together, they shook their heads and argued for a while. Finally, they seemed to reach a concensus.

"Attention! We have an announcement to make." A race manager stood at the center of the racetrack, shouting in a booming voice. "We have corrected an error that was made when we announced the winner for the 12th race."

Silence seemed to rule the whole world.

"The first arrival was lane number one, Light My Fire! The second arrival was lane number five, Over The Top!

"According to the rules of the Monster Race, when any part of a participating monster's body crosses the finish line, that monster is considered to have crossed the finish line. Therefore, we have determined that Light My Fire, whose head first crossed the finish line, won the race. We would also like to inform you that those who bet on Wind Rider, the third arrival, and missed your fortune by a very narrow margin, will be given a lottery ticket as a token of our goodwill. The winner of that lottery will be drawn tomorrow."

In the blue afternoon sky, a brilliant sun sent golden beams down like indiscriminate arrows.

"Why would you want to read the eyes of an ant larva? Aren't you a Human?" The race manager seemed to ask no one in particular while sorting tickets.

"Let me give you a lottery ticket as a token of solace. Missed it by this much!" The female Dwarf said as she lifted the ruined doll head.

"Come over here, sir. It's a lot of fun."

In the red-carpeted VIP room located at one side of the coliseum, Sir Athebalt and his guards danced about like clumsy Orcs. When his eyes met those of Martien, he flew into the air and shook his waist while drawing the shape of a figure-eight.

"Hey, would you like to meet an angel?" He asked, looking down from above Martien's head.

"This is all because of you," the unicorn said to Martien with sad eyes. "Why didn't you become an angel as I told you? When you were young, you were such an angelic child!"

"In order to become an angel, you have to train for three years in Cedric's Training Hall, another three years at the Ivory Tower and then another three years in the Servitor's Village. After completing all that, you must still win a game of chess against Hardin! It also takes a lot of money!"

Martien wanted to run with abandon in the opposite direction of the sun. While he was thinking that he wanted to run and run, he suddenly realized he was already running and howling like a crazed animal. The startled crowd hurriedly moved out of his way, yelling and cursing at him. "Ouch!" A young female Dark Elf that Martien collided with moaned with a somewhat seductive voice. With a bewildered expression on her face, she stood there for a while and looked around her. "Ms. Leirynn! Ms. Leirynn! Where are you?"

"El! El! I told you not to wander around on your own, didn't I? It's very crowded here. You can easily get into trouble, and then what are you going to do? A place like this attracts a lot of weird characters!"

Although someone who looked like the young female Dark Elf's companion showed up a few steps away, the young female did not open her eyes and continued to hold steadfastly onto her cane.

"Yes, the person in front of me is acting strange. I think he went crazy after losing his money."

"You shouldn't talk like that about a person while he is right in front of you!" The young female's companion was an ordinary-looking female warrior. She wore light armor and carried a sword. She looked Martien up and down and added, "He does look like he has lost his mind."

"Huh? Does he really?"

Something exploded inside Martien's head. This was a terrible nightmare. While screaming ugly things that would go well with his nightmare, he turned on the girl, blubbering loudly. He felt a terrible pain between his legs like he was pierced by a spear and crumpled into a ball.

"Oh wow, that must hurt." The girl and her companion looked down at Martien, who was writhing on the ground. "He was hit by the Staff of Evil Spirit! If he can never function as a man, will you take responsibility for it? We told you not to make trouble!"

"When someone attacks you, they should be willing to receive a counter-attack. Wouldn't you agree?"

"What kind of ignorance is that? You're older than me. Don't you even have a shred of sympathy?"

"What about you? If you have such great sympathy, why don't you even make a gesture to help me up. Here I am, in pain on the ground!" The words pushed up to his throat, coming out as a muffled groan. The companion put both hands on her waist with a perplexed expression and looked alternately at the girl and Martien. Then, with a sigh, she turned her back on them both.

"Let's go back. Our captain must be worried about us."

The girl seemed confused, looking left and right. Then she slightly lifted her rather imposing staff. Martien, who still sat on the ground, was startled by her action and quickly put his legs together. The girl bent on one knee and carefully groped the ground around herself. Her hand touched Martien's foot.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"I am sorry about everything. I thought you were trying to attack me. Are you still in pain?" The girl bowed her head deeply to him and added as an afterthought, "What are you going to do if you cannot function as a man anymore?"

At a loss for words, Martien opened and closed his mouth without uttering a word. It suddenly occurred to him that the girl was blind. She was shaking the tip of his foot with a worried look.

"Are you badly hurt? If you haven't lost consciousness, please answer me!"

"Ah, I'm, ah, okay... down there."

She sighed deeply with relief.

"Is she really a Dark Elf? For a Dark Elf, she has incredibly diverse expressions." As soon as he was thinking that, Martien noticed her expression darken.

"Something bad must have happened to you. But it's dangerous to attack someone like that." He thought the girl was going to reprimand him for trying to hit a blind girl. But that was not it. "I could have been a murderer who enjoys killing Humans for sport, for all you knew. Were that the case, your limbs would be scattered about and your heart would be bouncing up and down over there."

Her wild imagination reminded him of illustrations from some bloody fairy tale. Martien shook his head, regretting his irrational behavior. He tried to explain why he ran around the race track in such a frenzy. Martien was extremely embarrassed. If the girl were not firmly holding onto his foot, he felt for sure he would have run away screaming once again.

After listening to his story, the girl fell into a contemplative state. Rummaging through her shirt, she took out a piece of paper. Martien became distracted by the Dark Elf's well-developed bosom. He quickly looked at her face, then looked away, remembering that she was blind. He looked at her again, but was disappointed to find she had already adjusted her clothing.

The girl patted him to find his hand and told him, while placing the paper in his hand, "Here, take this."

After waking from his sleep, Martien carefully opened the piece of paper he was holding. The surface of the road was uneven, causing the wagon to shake wildly. Afraid of losing the paper, Martien held it with both hands.

"Brother, are you looking at it again?"

"Yes."

His man let out a sigh and switched his gaze to the window of the coach. His mind was troubled by the sixty-million adena that evaporated, thanks to the evil mischief of the gods.

"Sir Gustaf Athebaldt said that if you failed again this time, he would let you meet with an angel. You must feel the same as I do, don't you brother?"

"Yes."

The thing that Martien received from the girl was a ticket that correctly named the winner of the nightmarish 12th race. Written on the paper was a monetary figure that seemed to be a month's allowance for the blind girl. She had given him the paper in an effort to make amends for an injury she mistakenly thought would prevent him from functioning as a man, and promptly left. Having missed the chance to explain himself, Martien felt a little guilty at the thought of selling his sexual identity for money. But was that all he was worried about?

The wagon rushed forward at breakneck speed towards the capital city of Aden. When the traces of their conversation had almost faded from his mind, Martien suddenly opened his mouth.

"If a goddess suddenly appeared in front of our eyes, she might be in the form of such a thing."

"What?" The voice of his man clearly showed irritation over this foolish talk.

"Blind, unfeeling, and severe, but also filled with good intentions."

"That's certainly a philosophical way of looking at things, isn't it?" Martien's man folded his arms and buried his shoulders in the back of his seat.

Thanks to the coachman who put forth every ounce of his energy and skill, they were already past the White Tower of Wizards. "Oh!" the man who was looking out the window lightly exclaimed. A huge, gray pillar appeared on the horizon. The top of the pillar was buried in the clouds, invisible. In the past, it was a bridge that connected the heavens and the earth. But it had long since been cut off.

"Brother, that's the Tower of Insolence."

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Source : http://legacy.lineage2.com/background/chronicle2/chapter6\_martien2.html

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