Tournament of Heroes

6. TRICKSHOT

The Universal Castle?” Beams repeated with a frown. “What is that?”

“I will explain, but first, let me give control of your bodies back to you,” said Sigil. “It will perhaps be easier for you humans to listen to me if you can actually move your bodies.”

Sigil snapped his fingers and Trickshot felt his body come back under his control. He patted his chest, happy to feel his body back under his control and even happier to see his body reacting according to his thoughts once again. If there was one thing Trickshot hated more than anything, it was losing control. Losing control of his mind, body, whatever. It reminded him too much of what happened to Grandfather back home and the last thing he wanted was to end up like Grandfather had in that situation.

Trickshot’s first impulse upon getting control of his body again was to attack the other three. Based on their body language, he could tell that they were all thinking the same thing.

But Trickshot’s chance to have a fun challenge was ruined when Sigil held up a hand and said, “Hold on, now. If you keep fighting each other, I will be forced to take control of your bodies again and make you my puppets. Something, I think, that none of you seemed to enjoy very much.”

Trickshot scowled. He was starting to dislike this Sigil guy, but at the same time, Sigil had already shown that he could control Trickshot and the others.

“He probably has other powers at his command as well,” said a familiar elderly voice in Trickshot’s head.

“TW?” said Trickshot. “I thought you were asleep.”

TW—the artificial intelligence which inhabited Trickshot’s Trickshot Watch—merely chuckled. “No, I was simply observing the situation and gathering data on your prospective opponents while you nearly got yourself killed. You know, the usual way we do things.”

Trickshot smiled sheepishly to himself. TW was the artificial intelligence hologram that existed in his Trickshot Watch, a device on his right wrist which gave him his costume and his powers of flight, super strength, durability, and perfect aim. Without TW’s guidance, Trickshot knew he would never have learned how to use his powers nearly as well as he did today. Even though he and TW teased each other quite a bit, Trickshot had nothing but respect for the AI and he knew TW felt the same way about him.

“What do you think about the other three heroes?” Trickshot asked, glancing at Winter, Beams, and Bolt curiously. “Think they’re a threat?”

“They do look tough,” TW said, “but I think we need to watch them a bit more closely before making final judgments. Also, Sigil is still speaking, so you should listen to him.”

TW was right. Sigil was still speaking, so Trickshot turned his attention away from his mental conversation to focus on what Sigil was saying.

“Now that we’re all here, allow me to properly welcome all four of you to the Tournament,” said Sigil. He spread his arms again. “As I said, welcome to the Universal Castle, home of the Tournament of Heroes. You four were specially picked by King Aeno to represent your four universes to determine who will win the title of Greatest Hero in the Multiverse.”

The snowflake guy—Winter, Trickshot recalled hearing him call himself—raised a hand suddenly. “Sorry to interrupt, but when will Cyclone respawn? Will he respawn in my Base back in Adventure City or will he respawn here?”

Respawn? Why was this guy talking about his dead friend like it was some kind of video game?

“He must be totally insane,” said TW in Trickshot’s head. “I would most definitely keep an eye on that one if I were you. The crazy ones are always the most dangerous.”

Trickshot couldn’t disagree with that.

“Ah, yes,” said Sigil. “I almost forgot. Let me bring him back for you.”

Sigil waved his hand and Cyclone abruptly reappeared standing next to Winter. Cyclone looked around wildly for a moment, as if unsure where he was before he paused and stared into empty air for a second or two and smiled. “Yay! I’m back and I didn’t even lose my experience points or money!”

“That’s because you technically did not respawn in Capes Online,” said Sigil. “I brought you back myself.”

“Cool!” said Cyclone. He ran over and hugged Sigil. “Thanks for bringing me back! You’re my best friend in the world right—”

Sigil flicked Cyclone’s forehead and sent Cyclone flying into Winter, who caught him easily and set him down. Cyclone, however, looked like he was almost out of it, his eyes spinning from the simple blow.

“There will be no hugging here,” said Sigil in a calm but deadly tone. “I don’t like being touched.”

“I still say Winter and his sidekick are crazy,” TW said.

“No argument there,” said Trickshot, “though something tells me that Kyle would probably like to talk to them about video games and stuff.”

Sigil then turned to face everyone again, an annoyed look clear on his face. “Now, as I was saying, this is the location of the Tournament. Not this exact spot, of course, but all of the challenges will take place inside the Universal Castle itself.”

Bolt looked up at the Universal Castle with a puzzled look on his face. “You still really haven’t explained what the Universal Castle is or who this King Aeno fellow is.”

Sigil put his hands together again. “I believe I have already explained the Universal Castle sufficiently enough. As for King Aeno, he is the King of the Multiverse. He rules over it all. Very few things escape his notice and even fewer things can match his sheer might. He is easily one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse, perhaps the most powerful of them all.”

“Even more powerful than the Dread God?” asked Beams in surprise.

“Much stronger, my friend,” said Sigil.

Based on the way Beams and Bolt exchanged shocked expressions, Trickshot could guess that this ‘Dread God,’ whoever that was, had been a powerful enemy. Of course, the name meant nothing to Trickshot, who thought it sounded kind of hokey.

“Don’t ask me about it, either,” said TW in his head. “I have never heard of a ‘Dread God’ of any sort.”

“Looks like we’re not the only ones who haven’t heard about him,” Trickshot thought, glancing at Winter and Cyclone, who looked as confused as he did.

“But perhaps it will be easier to show you King Aeno rather than tell you about him,” said Sigil. “He is rather … unique. Besides, King Aeno is a big fan of all four of you and requested to meet you as soon as possible. Let us meet him now.”

Before any of them could react, Sigil snapped his fingers again and the setting abruptly changed. They now found themselves standing in what was clearly a huge throne room, but it was weirder than any throne room Trickshot had ever seen.

For one, it was absolutely massive. Huge stone walls rose so high that the ceiling was barely visible. On the walls were a variety of carvings depicting scenes that Trickshot didn’t understand, such as two heroes who looked an awful lot like Bolt and Beams fighting some kind of cow monster, Winter clashing with a weird purple guy with a metal faceplate, and similar images. He even saw what appeared to be a carving of himself clashing with his Grandfather in the Atlas Armor, an event that happened not too long ago. Based on the surprised looks on the faces of the other heroes, he guessed that they were looking at scenes from their own histories.

The rest of the throne room was equally awe-inspiring. Massive marble columns in rainbow colors rose from the floor like titans, holding up the massive, barely visible ceiling. The floor tiles were in an equally diverse variety of colors, while a massive chandelier that had to be at least as big as a truck hung from the ceiling. Within the chandelier was what appeared to be some kind of glowing white orb, which provided more than enough illumination by which to see.

And standing before the assembled group of heroes was what Trickshot assumed was King Aeno’s throne itself. The throne was massive. It appeared to be made out of crystal, gold, and ruby. It looked big enough for a giant. And indeed, a giant did sit upon it.

The giant looked like a barbarian warrior. He wore a crown on his head which seemed to be made of platinum and emerald. His skin appeared to be made out of bronze while his eyes glowed like burning fires. In one hand he carried a sword that was half the size of a car with a blade as sharp as a razor. His bare chest was slightly concealed behind the golden necklaces and jewelry which hung along his neck. The giant looked down at them all with disapproving eyes.

“That must be King Aeno,” Trickshot heard Winter mutter to Cyclone. “He’s huge.”

The giant seemed to hear what Winter said because his eyes darted to Winter and squinted suspiciously. Winter even took a step back, looking slightly hesitant about being targeted by such a massive being. Indeed, all of the heroes looked at the giant with apprehension, including Trickshot, who was suddenly less sure about his ability to defeat such a godlike foe.

Sigil, however, didn’t even hesitate to approach the giant. He walked forward and, without even bowing, looked up and said, “What end awaits us all?”

The giant snorted, a sound like a cannonball even in the wide-open throne room. “Destruction.”

Sigil bowed. “You are correct. The Prophecy is true.”

“Very,” said the giant. “State your business.”

Sigil gestured at Trickshot and the others. “The participants in the Tournament of Heroes have arrived and I wish to introduce them to King Aeno.”

Trickshot started. “Wait, you mean that guy isn’t King Aeno?”

The giant looked at Trickshot with a scowl. “Of course not. I am not even close to His Majesty’s grace. He is truly a god above gods. In comparison to him, the power of Ardok the Guardian is nothing.”

“Ardok?” said Trickshot.

“He is the bodyguard of His Majesty,” Sigil explained quietly. “Even a servant of King Aeno such as I must go through him to secure an audience with the King of the Multiverse.”

Trickshot nodded, but privately, he wondered what Aeno must look like if this guy was merely his bodyguard. The real Aeno probably looked like God Himself. It made Trickshot take this all the more seriously.

Ardok the Guardian stood up. He held his sword up toward the ceiling and said, in a booming voice, “Creation is at the heart of the multiverse, destruction is at its end! So sayeth the Oracle!”

With that, Ardok swung his sword and he and his throne disappeared in a brilliant flash of light. The flash of light made Trickshot cover his eyes to protect the, but when the flash faded, Trickshot lowered his hands again to see what happened.

The throne room had shrunk in size. Whereas before it had been about the size of a football field, now it was closer to being the size of an average—though still quite big—room. The change in size left Trickshot disoriented and made him wonder if Ardok had deliberately done that just to mess with them.

Even the throne had changed. No longer did it appear to be made out of gold and crystal. Now it looked like it had been constructed from children’s blocks and behind the throne were bright red curtains that had not been there before. That left Trickshot even more confused than he already was.

Sigil, however, looked perfectly at ease. He got down on one knee and said, “King Aeno, King of the Multiverse, I, your servant, Sigilious con Vongar, have returned with the participants in the Tournament of Heroes, per your glorious and wondrous orders.”

Sigil then looked over his shoulder at the heroes and snapped, “All of you, kneel. Now.”

Trickshot almost said no because the throne was still empty. But then he heard footsteps coming from behind the throne and knelt as quickly as he could with the rest of the heroes. It felt a little weird to be kneeling like some kind of medieval peasant, but Trickshot knew that Sigil could easily force him to kneel if he wanted to, so it was better to do it of his own free will than give Sigil an excuse to control him. At least the floor had a nice red carpet going from the throne to the door at the back, meaning his knees didn’t hurt, at least.

The soft footsteps became louder and louder with each passing second, yet Trickshot still couldn’t see whoever was on the other side of the throne. In his mind’s eye, he found himself imagining an elderly, powerful man with white hair, a golden crown, and a majestic cape. Given all of the hype surrounding King Aeno, that seemed like a safe way to imagine him, though the soft footsteps didn’t seem to support such a mental image.

That was when a figure stepped out from the curtains behind the throne. The figure looked almost like a child. The figure couldn’t be more than three feet tall if even that. His pale skin contrasted sharply with his pastel bodysuit, which kind of looked like the bodysuits worn by Trickshot and the other heroes. Indeed, the boy looked more like a kid wearing a Halloween costume more than anything.

“Is that King Aeno’s kid?” Trickshot said in his mind to TW.

“Must be,” said TW. “Though I’m not sure why we’re all kneeling if that is the case.”

The little boy waved at everyone as he sat down on the throne. “Hi! I’m so excited to see all of you. You’re all even cooler in person than on my TV!”

Trickshot exchanged puzzled looks with the other heroes. Who was this kid and what ‘TV’ was he talking about? Trickshot certainly couldn’t remember anyone filming his adventures. Yet the carvings on the walls of the throne room—which featured many scenes from his life and the lives of the other three heroes—indicated that someone was watching him, though who, how, and why, he didn’t know.

Think I’m starting to know who, at least, Trickshot thought, looking at the little boy.

It was Winter, kneeling near the front of the group, who raised his head and said, “Thanks, kid, but we’re waiting for your father to show up.”

Sigil tensed unexpectedly, which Trickshot did not understand. The confused look on the little boy’s face made even less sense to Trickshot.

“My father?” said the little boy with a frown. “But I don’t have a father, though I would like one.”

“You mean you aren’t the son of King Aeno?” said Winter in surprise. “Then who are you?”

“King Aeno?” said the little boy. His face broke into a big smile. “I am King Aeno, King of the Multiverse!”