The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2

Part 16

"If this goes ahead, he'll compose a simulated scenario of warfare with the demons, to take place all over the world and out in the void as well. Each competitor or team of competitors will fight exactly the same scenario, with exactly the same conditions, in command of The Just Alliance. Whoever has the best result at the end of the scenario gets to rule the alliance, at least until the demons are dealt with. There should be another tournament with a peacetime scenario to see who'll rule after that.

"There are a lot of people who realize that you very well could have ended up ruling Kellaran if you'd played things differently. Regardless of your past crimes, there's nothing in your sentence that says you can't still rule The Just Alliance if everyone agrees with it. If you really are the best, and you really can lead us against the demons better than anyone else, then I want you in command. If you're not the best, but you don't compete in the tournament, the winner will lack complete credibility. There'd always be someone saying that you'd have won it if you'd competed.

"And there's another thing. If we're still alive after the war with the demons here, we plan to go with the Triax to hunt the demons throughout the great void, hopefully to eventually destroy their homeworld and exterminate them completely. I'd like to have you with us in that venture, and if you place higher in the tournament than anyone else who's coming with us, then I want you in command."

"Well." Zarkog said as he sat up on his haunches like a dog. "Now you have surprised me. Twice.

"On the matter of hunting demons in the void after they are eliminated from our sun system, you'll have to ask me then. My decision will depend on what occurs between now and then.

"As to the tournament to rule Kellaran; if you can truly cause such a thing to occur as you have described it, be assured that I will indeed participate. And I would be in your debt."

He paused for a long moment as he considered the four young beings before him. "It is difficult to believe that any of you are as young as you seem. And you truly believe that you would win the tournament, and prove yourselves most capable of ruling Kellaran?"

"We do." Six nodded.

Just then Amirgath and Quewanak appeared hovering above them, then landed on the mountaintop, and both dragon gods were grinning.

"You'll get your chance, impetuous youth!" Amirgath laughed, shaking the mountain with his thunderous mirth. "Of course we've been listening since we were mentioned, and we both think your tournament is a fine idea! We'll both co-operate on conducting and judging the tournament, and we'll likely recruit a few more gods from every faction to assist with it, so that the scenario can be justifiably complex while allowing the tournament to be completed in a reasonable amount of time.

"We can't say if The Assembly of The Just Alliance or the populous of Kellaran will agree to naming the winner the ruler of all, but we will most certainly hold the tournament!

"The tournament will be held in six weeks, which will be two days after the time-bubbles end. Those in the time-bubbles will not be informed of it until forty days before they re-emerge, so they'll have the same six weeks in which to prepare, should any of them wish to compete.

"Be aware that while in the scenario, only the declared members of the competing team will be able to contribute creativity. Every other person on Kellaran will be represented in the scenario, but they'll strive only to obey your orders as exactly and as literally as possible."

"As it should be." Zarkog nodded.

Falgaroth and Visinniria appeared.

"It'll be an interesting project." Visinniria stated to Six with a smile. "I wonder, what limitations would you place on the number of members of a competing team, and what assistance would you allow each team to receive from others?"

"What Amirgath said about only having team members make decisions during the scenario parallels our thinking on the subject." Six told her. "But we envisioned allowing the teams to get any assistance they can get to train and prepare for the tournament, including the assistance and training of the gods, if they can get it. We planned on asking Quewanak's help to complete our training. We estimate that we need about six years of training in his dream-time to maximize our present potential for the task, and he can do that for us in an hour or so of real time. But if others want to do more, we welcome them to do so. If they wish to spend a million years inside a reverse-stasis field to train for it, that's fine. We'd take more than the six years if we though it would do any good, but I doubt it would. It's just diminishing returns after that. We mostly just want it so we can familiarize ourselves with the characteristics of the commanders and troops we'll be commanding."

"It'd be different if we knew exactly what the war with the demons will really be like," Fire stated, "Then it'd be worth it to practice for it a million times. But since we don't know, over-training would just reduce our effectiveness after a while. So there's no need to wait to tell those in the time-bubbles about the tournament. Let them train for it the whole time if they want."

"Very well." Amirgath chuckled, then told Zarkog; "If you want my help with your training, I will give it."

"And I will accept it, my Lord." Zarkog acknowledged with a nod.

"The composition of teams may be problematic." Falgaroth stated with a toss of his long blue mane and a shake of his horn. "For instance; I am certain that Emperor Osbald of Thon will wish to enter a team under his overall command, and that he will want Empress Emeroth of Verzaclon and Overlord Senchak of Kletiuk on his team as consulting members. But it is also certain that both of those monarchs will wish to form teams under their own command, and will want to include the other two on their teams as consulting members."

"Then let them." Six said with a shrug. "Let each individual who wants to lead a team do so, and if someone is chosen to be a subordinate member of more than one team, then the only thing that should constrain them from serving on every team they're invited to is the tournament organizers' ability to manage the scheduling and the logistics. The same's true of the number of teams you'll allow to compete. You may wish to set some minimum qualifications for entrants, so you don't waste your time with entrants who have no real hope of winning. But I think that every team that has any real chance at winning should be allowed to compete, if it's practical to hold the tournament with that many entrants. Same with the permitted number of team members; if you can handle the complexity of it, let each team leader have as many team members as they wish.

"The only important thing is that we have the most provably capable command team in place when we fight the demons. All else is details. And beyond that, I truly respect the determination of the gods to not control or rule the mortals of Kellaran, but it's a luxury that we may not always be able to afford. If it becomes obvious to you in the midst of war that we need you to take command in order to avoid disaster, then I expect you to fulfill your responsibilities and take command. As I said, we need to have our best where they can do the most good, mortal or divine. I think the Triax' culture is very effective that way." "Hmph." Amirgath snorted. "That may be the first time that a mortal has asked a god to exert authority while having no real religious sentiment, no hero worship, and no emotional exaltation of our power at all. Simply recognizing that we are more capable, and asking out of practicality. It's very refreshing."