This was it. This is where Leo belonged. The red palace steps smelled of honeysuckle and vines intertwined together and laced their way up the banister. Leo stood at the beginning of a bright red carpet that lead up to the great palace doors thrown wide open; vivacious light and riotous laughter radiating out from within. The glass steps reflected the twinkling red light cast by the Isle's glow, making it seem as though the entrants were walking up shattering diamonds that wouldn't break.
"Well, shall we?" Maron's question seemed to shake Leo into action.
"We Shall." Leo said taking his first steps towards the radiating Soner Rast.
Maron had gone all out tonight to intimidate the other competitors. His dark brown suit accented with a green vest and pointed shoes. His mask was an intricate swirl of brown mud-like smears, with jagged rock fragments outlining his cheeks and nose. His appearance and stature presented a confident a capable air to the world, but Leo new better. Maron would be nothing but a ball of nerves tomorrow morning before the first rounds and Leo wasn't sure how long he would be able to fake his confidence tonight once he saw some of the others.
The games this year were packed with nothing but the best. Several of last year's competitors had come back to try and prove themselves this year. Leo had been training for this tournament for the past seven years; which is a sizeable chunk of his life, and yet nothing he could have done would have calmed the butterflies trying to escape from his stomach.
As they moved up the stairs, Leo was trying to place names to the faces hidden behind masks. The masks were mainly decorative and usually don't cover the whole face but they did hinder recognition nonetheless. There was a taller, lankier man in front of them, headed towards the royal guard standing before the door, checking guest's names with a list.
"Good evening Sir, name please?" asked the guard in English, and then repeated in Arnesian. He was about to ask again in Faroan when the man held up a hand to stop him.
The man replied in simple one word responses. "Hello. Loy." He ended this with a sincere smile of accomplishment towards the guard. The guard took a minute and consulted his list. He looked up and said something in Veskian with a smile and an arm gesture towards the lavish ballroom beyond. Loy said replied and gestured a thank you in the guard direction as he moved inside.
Loy was a tall, brunette Veskian who had participated in the games last year but gotten knocked out before "the nines". He was sporting a lavish leather outfit of a rich dark purple with large shoulder spikes. His mask was difficult to make out from behind but seemed to cover the jaw and nose more than the eyes and forehead. To Leo's knowledge, Loy was a respectable enough opponent and a fair magician in a fight.
"Good evening sirs, may I have your names please?" said the guard as Leo and Maron stepped forward.
"Good evening." said Maron before the guard had time to go through anymore languages. "Maron Geonir and …" He paused and let Leo step into the conversation. "Um… Leo Ronllim."
"Ah, very good." said the guard with just a quick reference to the list. "Enjoy the evening and good luck."
"Thank you" said Leo as they both crossed the threshold into the elegant ballroom.