[Freezair]

The Soveris nodded. "Close your eyes. Take a deep breath." Pear followed along, her chest puffing out again. "Inhale. Savor it. Exhale.

"In that one breath, you can smell dozens of scents the likes you've never smelled before. Sweet things, earthy things, flowery things, metallic things. Each of those scents is the scent of a different world. Each of us here has ties to another universe, another plane of existence. But some force has brought us all together. Here."

The little white-and-blue Kuhna gazed up at her in awe. "You can tell that stuff just by smellin'? What kinda gem does THAT take?"

[Freezair]

The forest began to rustle and crack again. Everyone turned towards it, once again looking ready to scrap, but less so this time--Pear didn't seem to be violent, and presumably this next visitor wouldn't be either. Their voice could be heard, and it certainly wasn't loud and sobbing--if anything, it was mumbling quietly to itself.

"--culiar. Most peculiar indeed."

A teal and purpose Paragon, smaller than most would expect of the breed, brushed his way into the clearing. He pushed sticks and pine needles off of himself with his claws.

Simone and Pear startled as the two Kuhnas pushed their way on passed them. Their eyes were narrowed at the newcomer. In the darkness of predawn, it was hard to tell, but his colors struck something in their memories...

"Goodness. Is this some kind of surprise party? Filled by and large with individuals I've never met until now?"

The Lakundra gasped. "...Quazar?"

[Freezair]

The Paragon's eyes opened wide. "Kelly? Is that you, old boy?" His response confirmed that yes, indeed, he was Quazar--and the Lakundra was Kelly, perhaps after the green shade of his fur.

"I'm here, too!" the Kuhna chirped.

"And Marion! But where's Ace? Is he off somewhere?"

Marion frowned. "We haven't seen him. We've been looking all over for him since we came to this world, but we haven't found him at all! This world's... big, Quazar. Really big. Bigger than you can imagine. It's not like you can just roam around town and run into him at the store!"

"And I'm here too, now? How curious." He tapped his claws in a surprisingly unperturbed fashion.

[Freezair]

The two Kuhnas and the Paragon began to talk amongst themselves, and the clearing reverted back to a state of idle chatter. It was quiet, in that way that rooms full of conversation can be. Off near the ring of trees, the blue Lucain rocked back and forth on his paws. His thoughts seemed to be building up inside of him. Finally, clenching his eyes, he dashed out into the center of the clearing and rushed at the Soveris.

"How can you be sure we have been brought here with purpose?" he asked her. "What makes you so certain there is another hand in this? What proof have you of your hypothesis?"

[Freezair]

The Soveris looked slightly affronted. "You caught the part about the extremely powerful wizard, right? Once you get to a certain level of strength, you can sense another wizard's hand in things. It's like handwriting, you know? It's obvious when one thing was written by one person and another thing written by another person, since they look totally different."

"How are we to believe you in this? Those of us without such magic can sense nothing, and you could easily be lying."

The Soveris scratched the base of her beak. "Ya raise a fair point." The Lucain twitched as if he hadn't been expecting her to agree. "I think there's ample circumstantial evidence, though. I mean, look at those three!" She pointed at Marion, Kelly, and Quazar. "Three people from another world who just happened to run into each other here, in this clearing in Evelon? That seems too planned to be coincidental."

[Freezair]

Drakescale, sleepy and grumpy as he ever was, had been shocked to see Marion, Kelly, and Quazar alike. The truth was, he was from the same sleepy, out-of-the-way world as the three of them... but Gizma had long beaten into him the fact that Evelon was a strange crossroads for many worlds. To him, running into fellow offworlders seemed fairly unremarkable.

But she had also taught him to use his powers of deduction. And at the moment, he was deducing.

His voice, when he spoke, was creaky and soft. "And... we all heard the voice, right?"

A hush fell.

"You were all talking about it before that Soveris showed up. The 'come with me' voice. Everyone heard that, right?"

Slowly, everyone in the crowd nodded.

[Freezair]

The little Stargoyle, smallest in the audience by far, cleared his throat. "Well, a voice implies there's someone on the other end using it. Which implies an intelligent being. And that, to me, implies a purpose. Well, to me, anyway. I don't know what you all think."

With that, he batted his wings in a slightly miffed way and retreated back to the edge of the clearing to grumpily watch.

The attendant crowd began muttering in agreement. The large purple Paragon even said, "I think that little fellow makes a good point."

[Freezair]

"But there are still questions left unanswered," the blue Paragon said. "What purpose, exactly, were we gathered for? And are we really all from other worlds?" She looked around. "As far as I know, I'm a native of this plane. I'm a fairy of nature, tied to its health and wellbeing. I'm sure I was born here!"

What purpose... Dinni mulled the thought over in his mind. He thought back to his dream--the arena, the cheering crowds, the reassurance he was needed. And the black mist... the figure in his dream looked as if it had been made from it. Surely it was the one responsible for this?

He looked around the clearing. He waited for the chatter to die down and stuck out his neck.

"Um. I think I might--well, I don't know what happened here, or who's responsible, but I think I might have a clue."

[Freezair]

Everyone stared.

"I, um, well. I, uh, had this dream, you see. I've had a dream like it a lot. But in this dream--there's this big, white arena, like an ancient colosseum! And there's people cheering from the stands, and I think they might be from all different worlds? And I usually watch this from up above. Usually that's it, but this time, there was this weird person there with me. Not even a person. More like... a figure? And it looked like it was made out of the same stuff as that black mist. And it spoke to me..."

Everyone stepped in closer. Dinni hesitated.

"Well?" the Soveris said. "You can't just leave us hangin'! What did it say?"

[Freezair]

Dinni backed up a bit, tail lashing. "It didn't say much. Just some stuff about how... it's time. I was needed. Something about this being my 'calling.' I guess I can kinda understand the stuff about it being time, since I've had the arena dream for a long time and... I suppose it's time for whatever my dream is about to happen."

"An arena..." The Blue Lucain peered off into the night. "Perhaps some kind of tournament?"

"Oooh! Like gladiator fights!" Marion chirped.

"Mmm," the purple Paragon said. "I've been in a few of those in my day. Not for a long time, though. Not for a looong time."

"Myself as well," Quazar said. "Nice to meet a fellow old warrior!"

[Freezair]

The Soveris flopped down on her haunches and scratched her chin. She pulled back her claw, looked at it with an expression of pleasant shock, and went back to scratching it. "Man, it's awesome I can do this with my front claws now," she muttered to herself.

"Anyway! I'm beginning to see a pattern here. You! Purple guy. I get the sense from your aura that you and Bluebeard over there are from the same world." She jabbed a talon at the blue Lucain. "Is that right?"

The two shared a glance. "That's correct."

"And you guys--" She pointed at Marion, Kelly, and Quazar. "You guys too?"

"Yeah," Kelly said.

"Passing over you with the rocks on your back for now... What about you, Pear? What kinda combat sports they got in your world?"

"C-combat? Sports? No, I... well, I suppose occasionally members of my tribe will fight each other, but mostly we--"

"I'll take that as a yes!" she shouted.

[Freezair]

"What've you got figured out?" Marion asked. "Is it all starting to make sense?"

"It just might be," the Soveris said. "I think all of us here are either from, or have ties to, worlds where certain kinds of combat sports are a big dang deal! Specifically, the kind done by--y'know, people like us. Animals. Beasts. Monsters, if you will, but c'mon, that term is so gauche."

"People usually say 'Pets' here!" Dinni shouted.

"My point stands. Anyway, what if this... mysterious, black-mist-spewing figure is gathering powerful critters from across a bunch of worlds to hold some kind of uber-tournament? Not just to find the best fighter in one world, but the best in all worlds?"

[Freezair]

"There are certainly battles of that sort here on Evelon as well," the purple Paragon mused. "And it is a sort of 'crossroads world,' as you said, Miss--ahh--"

"Jaya," the Soveris said. "Call me Jaya."

"Miss Jaya. So perhaps that is why this world was selected for such a tournament." He cast his eyes toward the blue Paragon. "Perhaps that's why you're here as well. Perhaps you've been selected as this world's representative, to take place in this grand tournament in the name of the world it's hosted by."

[Freezair]

"But... I still don't understand," the blue Paragon said. "I'm a fairy of nature. Although I haven't had many opportunities to fight, I would certainly consider myself a pacifist. Even if these fights are just for sport, as you've alluded to, I still don't think I'm very--" She paused and sucked in her breath. "Well, I wouldn't know what to do in an arena, anyway. My powers just aren't meant to be used that way."

"You can always train for it," Rygar said. "It's what I do, every day."

[Freezair]

"Maybe," Dinni said. "But... Well. The more I keep thinking about it, the more I'm not sure I'm supposed to participate in this tournament. I've dreamed about it a lot, you know? I've seen that arena dozens of times. If I was fighting, you think I'd have dreamed about going down to the actual arena itself. But no! I'm always somewhere above. That's not the place for a fighter."

He waded out into the middle of the clearing. "Maybe I'm supposed to be more of a... an organizer! Or an announcer, maybe!"

He looked at the blue Paragon. "And maybe... maybe you're supposed to help me."