Moho (Part One: Rise of a Symbol) (14 page)

The oversized head of a snake, about three times my height, marks the entrance of our tunnel into the arena. That must be Nonga. She looks terrifying with her long, sharp teeth and piercing eyes. Her three split tongues move up and down in the wind and one of her tongues touches my head when we walk through her huge, open mouth into the tunnel. Like Cosmo’s statue back home she is entirely made of Glowing Stones, dark-blue Nightskystones to be precise.

More Nightskystones float in midair in the tunnel which guides us into the arena. Even before we reach the end of the tunnel, the roaring chant of thousands of exhilarated people pushes into the dark tunnel. I imagine I can see the sound waves rocking the tunnel, dirt falling from the walls and the ceiling. I feel the deep bass rocking my body from my feet all the way up to my head. Then we step into the light of the arena and the chants increase to an ear-deafening level. People pushing through the tunnel behind us push us forward but I don’t know where to go. The walls of the crater practically rush vertically towards the ground. There are people left, right and behind us and a dangerously deep downward slope in front of us. Kai talks to us but I can’t hear him. I tell him but I can’t even hear myself.

"Hold on to the wall. And don’t slip! Follow me, come on,"
he thinks to us. TNOP does come in handy from time to time.

People are standing on very narrow ledges which are carved into the crater walls. It’s a miracle that none of us
falls when we reach our seats. Yes, we have seats. There are no Glowing Stones to sit on but our ledge is broad enough for us to sit down. Anyway, this location is not suitable as an arena. It’s sheer madness.

I can’t estimate the number of fans in the arena but a hundred thousand may be an understatement. It is so packed that I cannot even see the walls of the crater on the opposite
side. Every corner of the crater is stuffed with navees. And they are alive, bursting with energy and excitement. People bump into my back while they are searching for a free space on a ledge wide enough to put two feet. Some enthusiasts would probably already be happy with enough space for one foot.

Drinks and food are spilled all around me. And on me. It’s a mess. What’s not a mess is the separation of the fans. Two broad vertical cracks, running from the top all the way to the bottom of the crater walls divide the crater into two halves. Everyone in our half, except Vijay and I,
is wearing blue and everyone in the other half is wearing orange.

It may be all the shouting and chanting
, or maybe we are actually about to experience an eruption of the volcano, but the walls seem to oscillate. Dirt is rushing down the crater walls and I wonder if I will ever leave this place alive. Kai sees my discomfort.

"It’s fine. That’s how those games always are. Nothing has ever happened,"
Kai thinks to me.

"I feel like I should have watched it with Maya on MNOP. Somewhere safe,"
I think to him.

"MNOP does not replace the actual experience of being in the crater when the action happens,"
Kai thinks. "
But MNOP is great to rewatch the highlights of the fight. There will be thousands of memories of the final available on MNOP and what’s great is that they are all made from different perspectives and by different navees who have experienced the final in  their unique ways."

Now I’m looking even more forward to the end of this.

Suddenly the thousands of tiny Icestones that are spread throughout the crater rush towards its center before they fall to the ground in a perfect circle, leaving the arena in complete darkness. I look up into the sky but I can’t see any stars. The chants fade. Then a man steps onto the circle of brightly shining Icestones and the crowd applauds.

"Ladies and
gentlemen! Welcome to the seventeenth Grand Holo Holo Nalii Tournament of Persadia!"
the man thinks loudly. It’s Yo-Yo. I think he is also saying it out loud but his voice doesn’t reach our seats way above the ground.

"Please
stand up for our fifteen former champions, led by our only two-time champion, Trainer Lee!"
Yo-Yo thinks screamingly. He is also screaming with his voice but I still can’t hear him.

The crowd breaks its silence and goes nuts again. The circle of Icestones around Yo-Yo shoots up into the air and towards the champion’s lounge in the middle of the orange side. Through all the cheers, I hear the familiar voice of a young woman, excusing herself for bothering the fans as she is trying to make her way in the darkness towards us. It’s Maya. Wow, I did not see that coming after last night. She takes her seat next to Reem and Enyo who are sitting on the ledge right above us.

Lee and the other champions enter the lounge through their own tunnel. She obviously loves the attention and is behaving very differently as compared to last night. While she is still this strong, inaccessible woman, I can feel her joy and self-worth from across the arena. She resembles a nice, warm person. It’s like she put on a new persona for this event. Everybody around us is clapping but I’m not. She examines the cheering crowd and her head stops moving when she looks into our direction. The smile on her face freezes. She needs a moment to overcome the surprise over who she is seeing. Then she nods. I turn around and see how Maya nods back. But she isn’t clapping either.

The champions stand in front of their seats and wave their hands before they sit down and Yo-Yo takes over again. The Icestones fly back towards him and form the same
perfect circle around his feet.

"And now, the time has finally come. Ladies and
gentlemen, please give it up for our finalist Nux and his beast of a snake… Nonga!"
Yo-Yo thinks.

The swarm of Icestones flies away and illuminates the huge crack in the wall to our left. A charismatic man steps into the arena, followed by an animal. But that animal is not a snake. Nonga’s shape resembles one of a snake but the diameter of her very, very long body is bigger than Nux himself - and he is a full grown man. Her head is even bigger, and while the replica of it in front of the entrance was slightly exaggerated, it wasn’t by much. Her head looks quite edgy. Her nose is very prominent with the tip of her nose ending above her eye line, letting me look right inside her nostrils. Her alert blue eyes stick out on the sides of her head. A shiny layer of neatly arranged dark scales covers most of her body with only the scales on her belly being brighter
, being some kind of yellow, beige, or light-brown.

Nonga snakes past Nux towards the center of the arena and wherever her body touches the dark ground of the crater, it leaves a deep trace. Nux has to watch his step to not stumble into one of the trenches
that she leaves. He is wearing a blue bodysuit that reminds me of Xerxes and his Chasteners. But his isn’t sparkling, there is no weird hole to show that he doesn’t have a bellybutton, and his head isn’t covered. It looks cool and sporty. And it isn’t entirely blue. There is a small black symbol on his chest but I can’t see what it is exactly.

"Do you know the symbol on his chest?" I ask Kai and point towards Nux. I have to scream even though he is sitting next to me.

"No. But I was wondering this myself. I asked him a few days ago during a lunch for all the participants of the tournament and he said it was nothing. So I didn’t ask any further. But Zaha is wearing the same symbol. We all find it odd but she won’t say anything either,"
Kai thinks.

"I've heard a rumor that it does have a meaning,"
Vijay thinks. "
Supposedly, it means something with 'design'.
"

"What does that mean?"
I think to Vijay in private.

"No idea,"
Vijay thinks to me.

"Who told you about this?"
Kai thinks to Vijay.

"Mh… Can’t remember,"
Vijay thinks. That did not sound very convincing. Kai doesn’t really want to let it go but the show goes on as well.

Nonga curls up in the middle of the arena and hisses towards her fans.  She really has three split tongues, all of them dark blue. Maybe that’s why her fans are wearing blue. They all chant her name but the orange side boos. And I somehow find that a gutsy move. I would not want to offend a beast like that. But Nonga doesn’t seem to care.

"And now, the opponents. Please give it up for Zaha and Cryos!"
Yo-Yo thinks.

The swarm of Icestones heads over to the opposite side of the arena and illuminates the other crack in the crater. The deep, shattering roar of a lion hits the crowd before Cryos appears out of the darkness and jumps into the arena. This time I’m not imagining it. The crater is really shaking when his imposing paws crack the ground in front of Nonga.
He is maybe four, five times her height. As with Nonga who is sort of a snake but not really, Cryos is sort of a lion but not really. His build and strength are those of a lion and yet his fur is silver and gray with a thick, dark-gray mane. His resolute eyes are as colorless as his fur and seem to glow from the inside. But his uniqueness doesn't end there because he has two other unexpected features — wings and horns.

The arena appears significantly smaller now that Cryos and Nonga are in it, and it feels even less safe. I don’t want to be trapped in a space with over a hundred thousand people whose fanatic cheers suggest that they have lost their minds and who stand on ledges so narrow that it is only a matter of time until the first will fall down, maybe on us. Plus, there are very few small exits that lead to freedom and I don’t even see ours any more. And now those two giants will fight each other until exhaustion and probably tear down the arena with them. I feel slightly claustrophobic.

Cryos, while still standing, lowers his massive head until the fur on his chin hits the ground. Is he bowing to Nonga? She doesn’t even look at him. But no, a woman slides out of his dark mane. It must be Zaha. She is wearing a bodysuit that looks similar to Nux’ bodysuit, but hers is, quite fittingly, orange. She also has this dark, small symbol on her chest.

Now the orange side goes nuts and the blue side boos. Still, I can’t participate. I don’t want to learn what Cryos’ wrath feels like.

“Please go back to your marks,”
Yo-Yo thinks and Cryos slowly walks back towards the entrance he jumped out of. His walk is kind of amusing. His swagger, though cool and slick, is a little feminine. Then I notice that Zaha walks the same way. This huge beast is copying this delicate woman. Maybe she really is in control of him.

There is an Icestone buried in the ground close to each entrance that represents their marks. Both couples move towards their
marks and turn around to face each other. They look serious and focused now. Their charisma from before is gone. It’s clear that a lot is at stake for everybody involved. Even the crowd waits in silence. The anticipation is palpable.

“May the best trainer win. Begin,”
Yo-Yo thinks and walks off the field. The swarm of icestones spreads itself thin and illuminates the entire arena once more.

Nonga is curled up on her mark and looks up, directly into Cryos’ eyes. He stares straight into her direction but not directly at her. His head is so much higher up in the air that he can pretend to not see her.  He is a bit of a poser. Then Nonga takes the initiative. She leaves her mark and slowly crawls along the right side of the field. She passes Cryos shortly before she reaches the other end of the field where she crawls over to the left side of the field. Even though Nonga is now behind his back, Cryos pretends to not see her and continues staring straight ahead through the crack in the crater wall where Nonga first came out of. Nonga is hissing her three blue tongues as she crawls past Cryos on the left side of the field. But instead of crawling back to her mark, rushes towards Cryos and starts to wrap herself around his body. Cryos reacts super fast and jumps out of her spiral before she can choke him. Nonga falls to the ground. With one big leap from his mark,
Cryos jumps across the entire arena all the way onto Nonga’s mark and turns around to face his opponent. Cryos, now quite provoked, roars and stretches his thick tail up into the air which then suddenly splits into twelve thinner tails. They seem to have their own personality because they are moving all to their own rhythm. Nonga isn’t above posing either and erects her body until she can look over his head. Then she opens her mouth, moves her three split tongues up and down, before opening her mouth even wider as if she was going to swallow Cryos. Then she reveals her flat, wide hood which makes her look even more imposing. Both sides, the orange and the blue side, chant the name of their hero. Nonga looks over to us and I feel a shiver running down my spine. I can’t shake off the feeling that the two beasts will include us into their battle.

In this moment of self-importance, when Nonga takes her eyes off Cryos to bathe in the admiration of her fans, the tip of one of his twelve tails opens up like a little mouth and spits a milky, sticky substance right into one of her blue eyes. She is enraged and shakes her head to remove the glue out of her eyes but it covers her eyes like a second skin. She is severely handicapped. Cryos’ fans are cheering - but not for long.

Nonga pops up the scales on her body and each of them starts to move up and down. They function like thousands of little wings that carry her up into the air. I have never seen anything fly like that. She shows how she is entirely free in her movements, can move up and down, back and forth, left and right or freely twirl through the air. The blue side goes nuts and she flies over to her fans who stretch their hands as far into the air as possible, trying to touch her. It’s scary how a half-blind, humongous snake-dragon creature flies over our heads. And yet I have to admit she looks really cool.