Lucy Wickshire 201 Chapter twenty-two 22

"Every hundred years, the realms align. A window opens for young heroes to stand on a grand stage; a stage of fortune and misfortune. Those who wish to stand on this stage, step forward with your token!" Matriarch Lilac was an old power. She could speak softly, yet magnify it to enter each ear seated in the arena.

Young masters representing their clans stepped forward and revealed their tokens. One could tell that others who no one knew had a token to send a representative, had still taken one out. This made one wonder how many tokens were actually available to be given out. The Thraines, did they have more and only gave out as they wished?

Matriarch Lilac nodded to her nuns and Ten of them stepped into the centre of the arena. They moved like wind without tripping, even though their faces were veiled completely. They moved in unison as they flipped and manoeuvred through the air in movements that looked like a martial arts dance, accompanied by the drums. Soon, one could see soft streams of light mimicking their dance. These lights seemed to make tearing sounds through the air as space above the dancing nuns started to distort.

The light swept up those holding their tokens, drawing them into the distorting space. They all disappeared a moment later and the dance stopped.

Many looked up at the distorted space and could now see their representatives standing on a long cracked road. The visual spread wide in the sky, revealing that they were not alone. One could start to see thousands of representatives from other worlds, gates and realms. The alignment made it possible to see the link to other realms and worlds, and these worlds could see them too. The cracked road was attached to a world, gate or realm by a golden string, letting one clearly see the hierarchy. It was a beautiful sight.

The cracked road expanded into a stage with many portals. If one looked hard, they could see two other stages reflected above the heads of the representatives. These were the middle realms stage and the higher realms stage. These stages were much grander and beautiful than the lower realms stage on which their representatives stood.

"The middle realms and higher realms. I never though I would be able to see it, even though it is but a glimpse." someone said in wonder.

Lucy looked up at the web showing the hierarchy and got up.

"Bring up the Harnian gate." she said softly, yet all could hear her. Those from the Harnian gate, who had sneaked into the arena, froze at her words. Matriarch Lilac nodded to the drummers and they begun a different beat. Many wondered what kind of drums these were, as the scene started to change, exposing a world floating in space and surrounded by soft orange clouds. Those from the Harnian gate recognized home at a glance. Many were confused as to what was happening. Were they not supposed to be watching their representatives fight on the battleground? Why were they seeing this instead? They were not the only ones worried. What many did not know was that this image, was the only image everyone from all realms could see.

"Harnian gate, it's beautiful. A pity." she said and those on the battleground and other realms paused. They could hear her speak, but only those in the arena knew she was the one speaking.

"As you can all hear me, Let me introduce myself. My name is Lucy Sharterux, Duchess of Wickshire. I believe many are now in the habit of referring to me as Lucy Wickshire." Lucy said and silence reverberated across all realms, even to the higher realms. In one of the worlds, a very familiar young man sat drinking tea when he heard her voice. He chuckled lightly, "My wife is up to no good again." he said.

Chapter end