The Dystopia Spell (Multiverse Mashup Book 1) by Brian Olsen

Author:Brian Olsen [Olsen, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brian Olsen
Published: 2016-05-19T22:00:00+00:00

Ten

“What a year! What a Gauntlet! And what Champions!” The Assemblyperson Prime’s pinched visage leered down at us, a grotesque smile on her face. “All of Oosa joins me in congratulating our winners, who number an unprecedented fifteen! Champions, please climb the hill and take your place as new Citizens of Hedon! And those of you watching at home, join us tomorrow night after the evening work shifts for the Closing Ceremony! You won’t want to miss a second!”

Her giant floating head vanished and we were left alone. The only sounds were the sobs from those of us still reeling from Ryoh’s death. All the losses had hit us hard, but this one, coming after we thought we were safe, was particularly cruel.

On top of that, I had lost Ryoh’s ring, the artifact I had been sent here to find. I didn’t think it would have been destroyed by the boiling water, but for the moment, at least, I had no way to find out.

Astrith untangled herself from Doric and stood. She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. “All right. Let’s see what’s waiting for us. Everybody stay sharp.”

“But it’s over!” Trinna had already taken a few steps up the hill. “We won, Astrith! Our families will be safe, can’t that be enough?”

“Our families, sure,” Astrith said. “What about everyone else’s? What about all the people we’re leaving behind? You’re going to let them keep working themselves to death so you can live in luxury? This isn’t over, Trinna. Not even close.”

I had a feeling Trinna wouldn’t mind at all if people she didn’t know worked themselves to death for her sake, but she had the sense to look abashed.

We started the long trek up the path. The giant stone walls on either side rose to keep the same relative height as we got closer to the top. Halfway up, Kud tugged on my sleeve.

“Do you think they’ll really let all of us win, Jed?” he asked. “They’ll bring this many families to Hedon?”

“I know less than you, Kud,” I said. “What usually happens to the winners and their families?”

He shrugged. “They just live here. Even the poorest Hedonites live better than we do.”

“Do the winners ever visit their old Counties?”

“No. Only the Soldiery and sometimes people from the government come to the Counties. But old Champions go to the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. We see them on the Broadcast. Sometimes one will make a speech. They look happy, I guess.”

“Do all Hedonites look as ridiculous as Gomez? Seriously, what’s with that single spike of hair jutting straight forward?”

He laughed. “They do all look kind of dumb. The hair horn is new. At the State of Oosa speech last year she had green hair shaped like a cube on top of her head. She looked like a protein block.”

“Well, that’s fashion for you. So what happens when we go through those gates?”

“I don’t know. They never show this part on the Broadcast. It’ll be off until the Closing Ceremony tomorrow.

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