"So I stand still

In front of the crowd

Excited faces

What will be next?

I still don't have a clue" – The Minstrel by Blind Guardian from CD "Nightfall in Middle-Earth"

Gashura surveyed the entire Order. His master commanded him to find defects in the threat to the empire. The first five years of Gashura's mission were unsuccessful until he learned to speak with the younglings immediately before and after the contests. Several of the younglings had defected from the Only World Order during the past two decades, and no one suspected Gashura as the cause.
Despite the incessant babble, he focused on his mission and waited patiently for the contests to begin. Then, he heard rumors: one of the Ancient's followers had become a youja. Intrigued, Gashura mingled with the crowd and learned more. The supposed follower ranted upon his arrival about justice and how youja could still maintain a part of virtue. Then, the follower tried to save the crazy hate-slave from Saranbo's taunts. Interesting indeed! Gashura wished he came to this meeting earlier.
Then, he wondered where Saranbo was. Since the chattering had already lasted for over an hour, the contests would begin soon; the former navy captain was probably double-checking on the water beasts. Determined, he forcefully shoved aside the many youja that stood between him and the cages. A few growled, a few yelled insults, but all glared at him with wicked suspicion. As far as they knew, Gashura had no master; they viewed him as an ambitious loner waiting for a weak lord to conquer. He noticed them with the same amount of attention that a person would notice breathing or blinking.
Sure enough, he found Saranbo near the water cages. The beasts howled as electric energy paralyzed them, checking their powers. Gashura peered inside the cage at the numerous plates, spikes, blood red eyes, claws, and gnashing teeth. The water beasts remained in perfect condition for the contests. Once Saranbo finished, satisfied with the results, Gashura commented, "I heard you had a little brawl with a follower of the Ancient One."
The former navy captain growled. "I assume you are referring to that impetuous youngling, Arden?"
Gashura stiffened in surprise at the eerily familiar name. Arden? Impossible, right? He chuckled inwardly at the concept of the youngling as the same man who he knew during his mortal days. "If Arden is his name. I recently arrived, and I heard only rumors. I heard a youngling intervened between you and the youja hate-slave."
"That indeed is Arden, and he is weak!" Saranbo's eyes glowed red.
Amused, Gashura wondered if the youngling was the same Arden he once knew or was a different Arden. "Do you know how this youngling became a youja?" he inquired. He remembered his mission and realized he could dwindle Saranbo's lands to raise his status in his master's castle.
"No," Saranbo muttered.
"Well, then, he is probably too ashamed of himself to admit being a youja. I cannot comprehend why anyone would bet on him in the contests."
"True," Saranbo muttered. A spiked tentacle charged out from the cage bars; he swatted it back with his halberd.
"There are plenty of other younglings for the lords to bet on," Gashura continued, ignoring the spiked tentacle. Saranbo was the most immediate threat to Talpa, and once he lost some of his lands, his nether soldiers could no longer rival Talpa's. "The youngling, Gogasha, is perhaps the most lethal. I spoke with him a few moments ago. While he was a mortal, he entertained himself by killing pregnant women and children."
"Those are weak victims," Saranbo muttered skeptically.
"True, but why would he want to kill those who have no ill intent? Perhaps he carries some hatred for them from his early past." Gashura left out the fact that Gogasha had only killed under a full moon; it signaled a potential weakness. He then proceeded to inform Saranbo of the other younglings.

Two hours after all the youja of the Only World Order began to arrive, their leader unsheathed his two katanas and swung them horizontally, striking each gong at his side. All conversations ceased instantly as the Order immediately turned towards the leader.
Then, the leader announced, "Soon, we shall defeat Talpa and regain control of our world!" Cheers promptly arose. "But first the contests should begin. A dozen younglings who have yet to find a master are at the Order today. After the bets are placed and the younglings have their masters, we shall prepare for the invasion of Talpa's lands." He stepped aside, revealing twelve new youja who all stood at attention. "Younglings, you may introduce yourselves."
The first was Garyuda. He was an ambitious commoner when he was mortal. His skill at long-range weapons allowed him to conquer a few towns and villages until the local lord's samurai killed him.
All of these younglings probably died in combat. How else should a person with hate die? Gashura thought.
The second was Gogasha who gave a brute speech on how to slaughter annoying brats. He certainly caught everyone's attention. Perhaps he was stronger than Garyuda? Gashura took that time to speak with Saranbo about the second youngling. Yes, Gogasha definitely seemed stronger. However, the psychopath never told anyone that farmers killed his mortal form.
The third was Soretsu, tall with a medium build. His armor was a midnight blue and a dark grey that merged and deepened to the point of becoming black as he showed off his sword skill. He had no forehead – one giant flat spike grew directly out of a deep ridge immediately above his two small eyes on his long narrow face. Two other spikes also grew, one on each side above the "ears." A cousin of his mortal ruling lord and the next in line, he helped in ruling the land and advised his lord. They succeeded in defeating their enemies until several assassins snuck in his tent and killed him. Five assassins were required. Impressive.
The fourth was Hishige, neither short nor tall. His round squat helmet seemed to absorb the light. The only white in his thick armor were his three bone-colored horns, curving and protruding normally from the sides and front of the helmet. The blackness of his face dipped down into his torso. His limbs and the rest of his torso were gray. He wielded a huge spiked ball and chain. His feet resembled a wolf's or hawk's given humanoid form. His foul temper and strength caused his family to fear him while he lived. A fierce fighter, he forced old age to come and slay him.
Well, well, my former comrade. Which wicked armor are you? Gashura wondered, growing anxious.
Hishige stepped back, and the fifth youngling approached the front of the platform to introduce himself. The fifth's armor, perfectly conforming to his short and muscular body, was an ashen gray with reds and yellows melding together the pieces of armor. His round helmet was a pale blue like a frozen corpse with ridges and small numerous round bulges spreading across the back and top from where the ears should have been. Empty sockets replaced where his eyes should have been. Underneath the right socket was a giant tear of blood. The fifth youngling spoke nervously, "Um, my name is Arden. I have neither noticeable strengths nor a past that would interest you, unfortunately. I was a lord, but my family was not very wealthy, and I fought in a war to protect my lands. I was quite a strong fighter, actually. I died trying to protect my family."
Gashura almost shouted at him in shock. Instead, he laughed ironically. Well, my old comrade, you really are here! Ancient be damned!

After all the younglings introduced themselves, they were shuffled away to a waiting room while the nether lords cast their bets on who would be the strongest and in what categories of the contests. The youja lords gambled away their pools, their nether spirits, and their soldiers. It was a tricky, exciting and nonlethal method for them to gain more power.

With a strange sense of nervous dead, Arden waited on a bench for his chance to enter the contestant ring. "I wonder what we will fight," he said aloud as Gogasha left for his battles. He suddenly worried that if he kept all his thoughts to himself, he might assume his current situation as imaginary and would lose his sanity.
Another new youja with pebbly armor scuttled over to a small opening in the wall of the arena. His wide eyes, like an owl made out of stone, peered through the tiny opening. All the younglings heard Gogasha boasting, however his words were quickly drowned out in the din of cheering and jeering youja.
"He's fighting some kind of animal," the pebbly youngling informed the others as they could only hear the rabble from the audience. From his accent, Arden knew he once lived as a villager or traveling merchant. Then, he jumped back in shock away from the opening. "That looked . . . very painful," he commented.
Garyuda fought next.
Arden began to worry, feeling his time to fight draw nearer. He looked at the other youja in the room. They were new to the netherworld like him. He decided to ask them, "When you were human, did you ever think you would be here after death?"
There were several "no"s and a few "maybe"s.
The pebbly youngling with stone-owl eyes took a brief break from watching Garyuda's battle to comment, "I'm certain most of us were too busy just trying to eat and live in the mortal world. We could not think of anything beyond life. I know I was. We must accept what happens to us and make the best of our situations. If I become a samurai of a powerful lord, even a nether samurai of a nether lord, then I would have made the greatest achievement of my entire existence." Then, he saw the youja farther in the back staring at him. He said quickly to those, "Oh, Garyuda's doing just fine. He's a lot stronger than Gogasha."
Bewildered, Arden lowered his head thoughtfully. He wondered if the former villager wanted to be a youja.
Then, Hishige said to the group, "Life is hard and harsh. We have to survive first and worry about the consequences later." The red glow flickered in his eyes and faded quickly.
But what is the point of just surviving if it leads to the netherworld and away from heaven? Arden wondered. He feared to speak that thought or else enrage the other younglings. What is the point in living if survival is impossible?
Suddenly, the former villager announced, "Garyuda's finally defeated." Soretsu entered the arena.
Still thinking, Arden remembered what Saberstryke told him about the Order. All the younglings seemed nice. "Are you proud to be a part of the Only World Order?" he asked them.
That provoked a deeper silence and more responses. Some were indifferent about the mortal world; others never thought about that at all; a few believed the purpose of being a youja was to attack the mortal world; while the rest either viewed the mortals as innocent and therefore unworthy of fighting or as disconnected from the netherworld and therefore pointless to slay.
Soretsu killed beasts until exhaustion overtook him. Then, Hishige swung his spiked ball lightly on his way to the arena. The younglings were fighting in the order that they gave their introductions; Arden would be next! Nervous, he hurried to the small hole in the wall and tried to peer out, sharing the same space with the former villager.
Hishige faced a land creature. Even though the tiny hole did not provide enough room to see, Arden noticed the animal's movements and concluded it had four legs. It was the size of a tiger with matted fur the color of decaying foliage. He could not see the head as it and Hishige began circling each other. Then, the beast charged forward and fell on the ground with a startled yelp. Hishige beat it repeatedly until it was dead. Then, the creature was removed and two more of the same kind brought in. Arden noticed they each had huge dog-like heads with teeth jutting out of their long muzzles. Their eyes glowed red. Hishige forced himself to move quicker to escape their bites. However, those two were killed with almost the same ease as the first, so three more creatures entered the arena. Hishige leaped to avoid them and attacked from behind. This battle proved more difficult, but he won. By the fourth battle against the land creatures, he was clearly struggling. His spiked ball radiated a dark blackish-gray light as he swung and hit. Even though he succeeded in the fourth round, everyone knew he could not win against five land creatures. The carcasses all smoked and shriveled into nothingness.
The audience cheered for Hishige. Without warning, a shriek filled the air. Hishige spun around in time to hit a winged creature. Arden could not see that battle as well, but he noticed the spiked ball glowing grayish-black as sickeningly red energy radiated from the youja armor. Against two of the winged creatures, the blackish-gray streaks circled the red glow on Hishige's armor. Touching the streaks, the two beasts screamed in pain and died. However, in the third round the last animal waited until the others were dead. Then, it charged at Hishige from behind. Arden could no longer see the youngling as the steely feathers filled his vision. He assumed the creature lifted Hishige into the air. Suddenly, the winged beast shrieked. Blood and smoke erupted from its body. Then, Arden saw both Hishige and Saberstryke in the arena. The youngling appeared sullen. The leader of the Order had to save his life.
"You might test your skill in one more type of fighting," Saberstryke informed the youngling and walked out of Arden's vision, out of the arena. Without warning, Hishige disappeared as well. Only the muffled sounds of battle could be heard. Arden waited, his dread and nervousness growing. Finally, Hishige emerged seemingly out of the floor.
Arden stifled his urge to tremble. He never wanted to be in the netherworld! "Well," he tried to speak bravely as though to convince himself rather than the other younglings who heard him, "I am next, so I will go." He opened the door. The arena approached him menacingly.
He glanced at the audience full of elder youja. They stared at him expectantly. A few jeered, but most were silent. They thought Gogasha would be the strongest, but that total defeat bewildered them; they reserved all opinions of this unusual youngling. So, it begins, he pulled his short sword out and listened for sounds of the first land beast.
A snarl . . .
Arden spun around with his sword outstretched and battle-ready. The beast leaped away from the blade and growled. It was definitely the size of a tiger with the head of a dog and sharp serrated teeth jutting out from under its muzzle. While people usually had two layers to their visible eyes – a smaller circle inside the white – the beast had a red circle inside the bloody pink. Its tongue was jagged like its teeth. . . . perfect for shredding armor, my skin, Arden thought bitterly. The monster lunged; Arden stepped to the side and thrust his sword between the shoulder and neck. Boiling blood poured out and evaporated into the air. Some dropped on Arden and stained his armor.
The youngling repressed a shudder and prepared himself for the next two. Suddenly, he felt as though he could lash out at them without making a real movement. The two beasts charged simultaneously. He hit one on the head; blood dripped out of the side. He kicked the second away and screamed as its sharp claws scratched him. Furious, the first lunged again; Arden sliced off its head. Then, he circled the second. Intense bright hot anger and pride surged through him. Arden wanted to laugh. This is so easy! Why do I have to fight something so easy? When the second charged, he struck his sword down its throat.
Three giant canine beasts! Arden felt interested. He also felt strange and scared, trying to grapple with some other part of himself with which he was not acquainted. I must kill! If only I could kill without staining my hand . . . let something else . . . He swung his sword in a manner that killed the first and shoved it into the second. Then, he jumped back and killed the third with a strike to its chest. He decapitated the second.
Four land creatures wanted to tear him up. Arden easily killed the first but knew his sword would not reach the others. However, he was also aware instinctively that he could slay them without his sword. He outstretched his free hand. A narrow orange-red palm-size disk flew out and hit the second's eye. Two more disks killed the third and fourth.
Laughing giddily with power, he proceeded to tackle five beasts. They collapsed all too easily. He always wanted to slaughter those who wished him harm! Wish granted!
After Saberstryke saved him from the fifth land beast, Arden battled the winged creatures with their spiked and steely feathers, their beaks that ended in horns and their poisonous tongues. He killed three of those easily with his new skill but could not fend off the fourth.
Dizzy, he hoped for a few moments' rest as he waited for the final creatures. The wooden floor gave way, and he splashed into the water. He tried to shake out his weariness and noticed a squid-like animal with spikes instead of cups covering its tentacles.

Exhausted, Arden slowly stepped into the water pool. Garyuda, Soretsu, and Hishige lounged around in the yellow water and watched him enter with a mixture of sympathy and approval. Arden sighed, relieved as the water began to wash away the stains of animal blood that did not evaporate. A figure in the water exploded up, startling him.
"Ha! I scared you! I scared you!" Gogasha announced cheerfully.
"Hmph!" Arden waded to the other side.
Hishige sneered at him, "Gogasha, you should not speak! You barely fended off three of those canines, and those are the weakest of all the nether monsters." The other younglings chuckled lightly. They thought the irony of Gogasha's strong statements and of his weak skills to be quite humorous. Excessive pride and confidence floated thickly around them. They were satisfied with how they survived their ordeals and with how they discovered their new skills.
Arden sighed and leaned against the side of the pool until only his head and tips of his shoulders were visible. Even though he could not feel the animal blood wash away from his armor, he knew instinctively that he was becoming cleaner, more fearsome to others' eyes. I guess even the animals in the mortal world feel hate, he thought, but why would they hate? What could they hate?
Then, Garyuda asked the other young youja, "How many of those flying beasts did you kill? Those were some of the most difficult. I killed four."
"Three," Arden replied.
"One," said Soretsu.
Hishige had the same amount as Arden; Gogasha could not kill any.
Suddenly, the sounds of rapid feet hurried towards them. Before Arden was able to turn and see the newcomer, another youngling plunged head first into the water. The youja with the stone-owl eyes popped out of the pool and shook the yellow liquid off excitedly. "Ha!" he cheered triumphantly, "Finally! I, Ishino, have won! I am victorious!"
Arden wanted to smile at the former villager's good humor, but he laughed instead. "Congratulations."
"How many of those water beasts did you get rid of?" Ishino asked excitedly. "I got five." The others stared at him in astonishment and answered him slowly yet truthfully. Arden, one; Gogasha, none; Soretsu, one; Hishige, two; Garyuda, one.
"And how many of the land and air creatures?" Soretsu inquired of the youngling with stone-owl eyes.
"Two land creatures and one air," Ishino replied.
Soretsu concluded, "It seems as though how we fare in battle depends upon our natural skills in addition to our strengths before we became youja. While I was mortal, I was more skilled with swords, so I am naturally able to defeat more of those canines than those hawks and squids."
Garyuda added, "My talents were in the long-range weapons."
Hishige told the others, "Hand-to-hand combat."
Without warning, Gogasha broke his silence and exclaimed, "I don't understand why anyone would kill when there's no moon out. The moon is so . . . commanding . . ."
Ishino began swimming on the top of the pool's surface. Staring above, he suddenly gasped and lowered his legs until he was standing in the pool. "What is that!?" he exclaimed, pointing up. The other younglings lifted their heads to see a floating person whose body tapered with its pale blue robes. Its narrow blank face revealed nothing, not even coldness. A tall blue cap rested on its long head. The younglings stared at it in bewilderment.
"I – I can't control it!" Garyuda spurted out, "I learned that I could control things from a distance, but this is impossible to control!"
Arden looked quickly from the other younglings to the floating person. Was that thing there the whole time they were swimming and chatting?
Suddenly the thing spoke! "I am a nether spirit in charge of informing new youja of the proper behavior and rules for living in accordance with the Only World Order. Certainly, one day you will want to live as lords rather than as warriors. Your instructions will begin once the contests have been completed."

Younglings only had one choice – which master to serve. The lords all tried to hire a youngling with promises of power and by saying how powerful they were. Surprised to find a master, Gogasha agreed to work for lord Nezumi. Geography also played an important part in trying to get a youngling. Garyuda swore fealty to lord Kapei, whose lands were mountainous.
Some younglings wanted to serve a master who needed and could appreciate their skills. Soretsu swore to obey lord Kazuhide. Hishige vowed to work for lord Gazaki. Arden was not certain which elder youja to work for, but he wanted to remain with a fellow youngling. He felt relieved when Kazuhide asked for his services, and he agreed to serve him.