Champion of the Titan Games

by Brandon Mull

  “Set what right?” Serena pressed.

  “Undo the curse,” Calvin said vaguely.

  “Who placed the curse?” Serena asked.

  “Graulas,” Calvin said.

  “Okay, but who was he working with?” Serena said. “Who handled the details?”

  “Do you know?” Calvin asked.

  “Humbuggle,” Serena said.

  Calvin’s jaw dropped. “No.”

  “Isn’t that why you’re here?” Serena cried.

  “Well, mostly,” Calvin said.

  Two of the candles went out.

  “You didn’t know,” Serena accused.

  Isadore relit the extinguished candles.

  “We’re learning as we go,” Calvin said. “You had a head start.”

  “None of you has much time left,” Merek said. “The dragon war is coming to Titan Valley. Celebrant is here.”

  Isadore’s eyes widened. “No.” She glanced at the candles, still burning. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” Seth said. “And Ronodin has taken over the Fairy Realm. The dark unicorn will almost surely help Celebrant take down this sanctuary.”

  Isadore glanced at Basirus. “This disturbs our plans.”

  “It’s a problem,” Basirus said.

  Isadore looked at Merek. “Why do you need the Unforgiving Blade?”

  “We can’t tell you,” Merek said.

  The candles kept burning.

  “You literally can’t?” Isadore asked. “You’re not allowed?”

  “We’re not allowed,” Seth said.

  Isadore gasped and covered her mouth. “The blade is important. You’re close to winning.”

  “We’re close,” Merek said.

  She glanced at the candles, still burning.

  “Very well,” Isadore said. “Let’s all share what we can.”

  Merek gripped the edge of the table, stroking the smooth finish with his thumbs. “Before we all start comparing notes, I need to know what your side of the table is after.”

  “What do you think?” Isadore asked. “We want the Wizenstone.” She looked at Basirus. “Same as everyone who works for Humbuggle.”

  “Everyone who comes to mind,” Basirus said.

  “And same as everyone who enters the Games,” Isadore added.

  “What would you do if you obtained the Wizenstone?” Merek asked.

  Her eyes flicked to the candles. “What would anyone do? Advance their own interests in one way or another.”

  “I would do the same as I have done for centuries,” Merek said. “I would try to protect the world.”

  All three candles stayed lit.

  “Does that include protecting dragons?” Basirus asked.

  “Mostly,” Merek said.

  One candle went out.

  “I would not seek to exterminate any kind of creature, whether demon or dragon or the undead,” Merek said.

  The two remaining candles kept burning. Isadore relit the other.

  “I want to lift the curse on the nipsies,” Calvin piped in.

  “Do you understand what the curse involves?” Serena asked.

  Calvin hesitated. “I’m learning.”

  “We’re talking about ancient history,” Isadore said. “Before I was hatched. Before preserves were established. Before the dragon war. Graulas was young. Humbuggle was young. The world was new.”

  “So much of knowing how to proceed involves doing the research,” Serena said. “Learning the history. Understanding the context.”

  “We’ve learned a way to win the Games,” Seth said.

  “And what would you do with the Wizenstone?” Isadore asked. “Do you believe you could wield it?”

  “Those I saw try to take it were instantly destroyed,” Seth said.

  Isadore seemed surprised when she checked the candles. “You have actually seen it?”

  “At Stormguard Castle,” Seth said. “Right after I lost my memories. I met Humbuggle there too.”

  “Let me guess,” Isadore said. “A contestant sent the Wizenstone away.”

  “Yes,” Seth said. “It was my sister.”

  “Humbuggle likes to create situations in which the lesser evil becomes banishing the stone,” Isadore said. “If no competitor can figure out how to claim or wield the Wizenstone, and if the Game is sufficiently unpleasant, and especially if there is the risk of an adversary gaining the stone, it can feel like a win simply to send the stone out of reach.”

  “Meaning Humbuggle tends to win even if you complete his Game,” Serena said. “He retains control of the Wizenstone and invents new competitions.”

  “I wonder what might have happened if Kendra had sent Humbuggle away instead of the stone,” Seth said.

  “Now you’re thinking down promising avenues,” Isadore said.

  “I hear the wisdom,” Merek said. “Instead of trying to claim and wield the stone directly, perhaps we should ponder how to replace Humbuggle as the custodian.”

  “Thoughts worth considering,” Isadore said.

  Basirus gestured at Merek. “We can’t allow this butcher to gain power over the stone.”

  “Is it best to leave the Wizenstone with Humbuggle?” Calvin asked. “At least he isn’t using it to destroy the world. With Humbuggle, it’s all about the Games. Could he be a safer custodian than most?”

  “Holding the Games might be what allows Humbuggle to retain control,” Serena said. “If he tried to fully claim the stone for his own, it could destroy him as it has destroyed others.”

  “If someone replaced Humbuggle, they might have to fill his post,” Merek said. “Preside over their own Games.”

  “Or carry out some comparable trickery to keep full ownership in question,” Isadore said.

  “This is all speculative,” Basirus said. “Nobody has these answers.”

  “Would a candle go out if you were wrong?” Seth asked.

  “The candles measure whether you believe you are telling the truth,” Isadore said. “Not whether your assumptions are correct.”

  “This discussion is only productive if you have real knowledge to share,” Merek said.

  “I feel the same way,” Isadore said. “This needs to be productive for us, or else why should we surrender hard-earned information?”

  “We can’t reveal some of what we know,” Seth said.

  Merek looked at Seth. “We may have to obtain what they learned from another source. They discovered it somewhere.”

  Isadore smirked. “Be my guest. It took long years of inquiry, none of it easy.”

  “I have a proposal,” Serena said. “What if, in return for information, Calvin and his friends pledge to take me with them?”

  Isadore gave a slow nod. “I would consent to that.” She glanced at Basirus.

  “So much is in motion,” Basirus said. “We must act soon or risk starting over.”

  Calvin looked up at Seth and Merek. “This is a good deal! We want Serena with us anyhow!”

  Merek grimaced. “She comes with strings attached to wizards and dragons.”

  “Just me,” Isadore said. “And one dragon. Basirus is my brother. We operate independently from other wizards and dragons.”

  The candles stayed lit.

  “Answer two questions, and we might have a deal,” Merek said. “Do you want the dragons to wipe out humanity?”

  “No,” Isadore said.

  Basirus shook his head.

  The candles continued to burn.

  “Do you want Celebrant to gain the Wizenstone?” Merek asked.

  “Absolutely not,” Basirus said.

  “By no means,” Isadore said.

  The candles burned steadily.

  Merek glanced at Seth. “I think I can live with that.” />
  Seth gave a nod. “Serena can join us if your information is good.”

  “Long ago, Stratos and the sky giants floated high above the ground,” Isadore said. “They were the original overlords, rulers of the sky. By what power did their realm remain in the upper reaches?”

  “The sky giants were once mighty in sorcery,” Merek said. “Much more so than now.”

  “By what power?” Isadore repeated.

  “I’m stumped,” Merek confessed, looking to Seth.

  “I don’t even remember my favorite food,” Seth said.

  “The Ethergem,” Serena supplied.

  “A stone of astronomical power,” Isadore said.

  “More powerful than the Wizenstone?” Seth asked.

  “Definitely,” Isadore said. “Powerful enough to keep an entire civilization of giants afloat among clouds, with enough surplus energy for them to perform wonders with magic we can scarcely imagine.”

  “Do the giants still have it?” Seth asked.

  “Why do you suppose Stratos fell to the earth?” Isadore asked. “Why do the sky giants now walk among us on the ground? Why do they no longer grow as tall as in their most glorious era?”

  “Was the Ethergem lost?” Seth asked.

  “I will tell you presently,” Isadore said. “Another question. We currently have five great monarchs with five crowns. How many were there originally?”

  “Two,” Merek said.

  “Which two?” Isadore asked.

  “The Fairy Queen and the Underking,” Merek said. “Yin and yang. Light and dark. Birth and death. Creation and decay.”

  “Correct,” Isadore said. “The giants had the Ethergem, but they looked upon the crowns of the monarchs with envy. The dragons looked upon the crowns with lust. And the demons looked upon the crowns with hate.”

  “Let me guess,” Seth said. “They all ended up with crowns.”

  “At great cost,” Isadore said. “Do the crown of light worn by the Fairy Queen and the crown of darkness worn by the Underking belong to this mortal world?”

  “Probably not?” Seth guessed.

  “Good instincts,” Isadore commended. “They came to this world from immortal realms. Drawing on power from their native realms, the Underking unnaturally prevents death and the Fairy Queen unnaturally prolongs life.”

  “This is true,” Merek said. “Though I have seldom heard it named so plainly.”

  “Mortals inhabit this world temporarily,” Isadore said. “They pass through en route to the realms of death and darkness or to the realms of life and light. The conduit between this world and the immortal realms of death and darkness is called the Void. And the conduit between this world and the realms of light and life is called the Source.”

  “I have heard of the Source,” Merek said, “though the way to it is lost.”

  “Neither the Void nor the Source can be destroyed,” Isadore said. “But they can be difficult to find. They can change location. They can change shape. And they can be walled off. The crown of the Underking derives power from the Void, just as the crown of the Fairy Queen receives power from the Source. Creatures of magic exist in this world thanks mainly to the Void and the Source. The Ethergem came from the Source in the earliest times. It was a gift to the giants that enabled them to dwell apart from the rest of the world, and it was given with the promise that they would not alter or repurpose it in any way.”

  “Something went wrong,” Seth said. “What happened?”

  “In short?” Isadore asked. “Graulas and Humbuggle happened. Together they inflamed the envy of the giants by suggesting the Ethergem could be crafted into a crown for a monarch who would surpass the Fairy Queen and the Underking. Graulas increased the lust of the dragons by telling them the Ethergem could be worked into a crown for a monarch to overpower all others. And Humbuggle aroused the hate of the demons by describing a crown made from the Ethergem that would allow an unrivaled monarch to arise.”

  “How could they keep all of those promises?” Calvin asked.

  “I puzzled this story together from fragments,” Isadore said. “But crowns were indeed promised by Graulas and Humbuggle to the parties I named, with great penalties attached if they failed to deliver. The giants were convinced that dragon fire would be necessary to forge their crown, and that only Humbuggle could craft it. The dragons were convinced that they had to give up the sole ingot of their strongest alloy to produce their crown. The alloy had a name only in dragon speech, but in our tongue we might call it mother-of-adamant. And the demons were convinced to surrender Raglamar, the sword of their leader, a gift from the Void.”

  “Then Humbuggle got the Fair Folk involved,” Serena said. “Remember, their sworn role was to maintain balance in the magical world. Humbuggle convinced the Fair Folk to intervene against the giants, who were allegedly plotting to create a crown out of the Ethergem, which would let them descend to earth as an unstoppable race of unimaginable power.”

  “I learned that many of the Fair Folk broke their vow of neutrality and went to war,” Merek said. “I never learned why. The remaining Fair Folk refuse to speak of it, and I was dormant at the time. I wish I could have prevented the foolishness.”

  “It would have been hard to prevent,” Isadore said. “The Fair Folk managed to confirm with magic that the sky giants meant to forge a crown, and such an act would have granted them unassailable power. Though some of the Fair Folk held to their neutrality, a large portion decided that breaking their vows of impartiality was necessary for the survival of the world.”

  “Enter the nipsies,” Serena said. “Graulas convinced the nipsies that stealing the Ethergem was the only way to save the world. He promised them honor and glory if they successfully delivered the Ethergem to the leaders of the Fair Folk. At the time, the nipsies were the size Calvin and I are now. Because the Ethergem was so precious and powerful, if the nipsies failed to deliver the gem, a curse would make them even smaller.”

  “The stage was set,” Isadore said. “The demons Graulas and Humbuggle managed to pit the greatest crownless powers against one another. Humbuggle flew to Stratos upon a dragon named Abraxas.”

  “The first dragon,” Merek said. “My father later slew him.”

  “Abraxas was supposed to provide heat to forge the crown,” Isadore said. “And Humbuggle was supposed to craft it. Naturally, the giants made Abraxas and Humbuggle vow not to steal the Ethergem.”

  “But nobody expected the nipsies,” Serena said.

  “The nipsies were so small that the giants failed to detect them,” Isadore said. “To the sky giants, the nipsies were like specks of dust. They were smuggled into Stratos aboard Abraxas, and while Humbuggle and the dragon pretended to work, the nipsies swiped the Ethergem.”

  “How did the nipsies get out of the sky?” Seth asked.

  “Working together, the nipsies carried the Ethergem to the edge of Stratos,” Isadore said. “They jumped off and were met by Graulas, riding Velrog.”

  “First of the demonic dragons,” Merek said. “Sire to demon princes of dragons like Gazarog and Navarog.”

  “The same,” Isadore said.

  “What happened to Stratos without the Ethergem?” Seth asked.

  “The sky kingdom began to fall,” Isadore said. “Not straight down. The floating landmass coasted to a crash landing. There was an island here before the sky giants plummeted to the earth. Stratos made the island larger. Also, a significant portion of Stratos sank beneath the waves. Humbuggle and Abraxas fled after the crash.”

  “What about Graulas?” Calvin asked.

  “Velrog carried Graulas, the nipsies, and the Ethergem to the demon mother of witches, Nagi Luna, who used dark magic and the blade of Raglamar to shatter the Ethergem.”

  “They destroyed it?” Seth asked.

  “The Ethergem proved too powerful to destroy
,” Isadore said. “Besides, Graulas and Humbuggle had promises to keep. Breaking the Ethergem fractured Raglamar and injured Nagi Luna. It also brought about the curse on the nipsies, who could no longer deliver the Ethergem to the Fair Folk.”

  “No fair,” Calvin complained.

  “But binding,” Serena said.

  “Humbuggle rejoined Graulas and they set about keeping their promises,” Isadore continued. “The Ethergem had shattered into five pieces—one large, three medium-sized, and a single small shard. Abraxas and Velrog helped the demons shape the mother-of-adamant into three crowns, one for each of the medium stones. Those became the crowns for the giants, the dragons, and the demons. Nagi Luna delivered the crown to the demons. Abraxas delivered the crown to the dragons. Velrog delivered the crown to the giants, along with the small fragment that became known as the Ethershard.”

  “Was that to replace the Ethergem?” Calvin asked. “So Humbuggle could claim he didn’t steal it?”

  “I believe so,” Isadore said. “The salient point is, Graulas and Humbuggle had fulfilled their obligations while betraying all who trusted them.”

  “What about the Fair Folk?” Seth asked.

  “After all that happened, they realized they had been tricked into an unjust war,” Serena said. “The Fair Folk had been trusted to keep the balance for the magical world based on the promise that they would never fight an unjust war. Graulas and Humbuggle invoked the curse attached to that promise, and many kingdoms of the Fair Folk were lost.”

  “Where did they go?” Calvin asked.

  “Nobody knows,” Serena said. “They vanished. Most assume they were destroyed, but some suspect they were imprisoned.”

  Isadore folded her hands on the table. “All of that suffering and destruction so that Graulas and Humbuggle could get what they wanted.”

  “The largest piece of the Ethergem,” Merek said.

  “Otherwise known as . . .” Isadore prompted.

  “The Wizenstone,” Seth finished.

  “Graulas was an extremely powerful demon,” Isadore said. “He attempted to wield the Wizenstone, and he succeeded for a time. He used its connection to the Source to seal off the Source from the mortal world. The effort almost killed him. He never returned to his full strength after that.”