THE WORLD
Zalp Island is a secluded place filled with strange environments and unusual animals with strong sentience. This civilization lives within 7 walled off towns. The capital, Central Walls, is at the center and is known for its entertainment and technology industry. Fate Walls is the southern from there. It specializes in government and military. Gated Walls specializes in classic education. Gifted Reign is a tournament hosted only once every 5 years where people and their zalps fight against other people and their zalps. It’s considered sports entertainment, much like wrestling, where wearing your opponent down is encouraged but killing them will get you disqualified or arrested. Part of the judging is on performance, so you can technically lose the fight but win the match. Every human is legally allowed to own and train, one ZALP. Each ZALP has their own specialty (size, stretch, illusion, poison, water, healing, etc.). People from outside Zalp Island come to see the tournament and sometimes bring horses and dogs. Most normal animals can’t survive on zalp island. Only normal bugs and fish can be found. No one is completely sure how many zalps exist (the island is very large and has a very small population) but there are 9 zalps registered to be capable of fighting in Gifted Reign.
ACT I
GX and RK are riding a slihe when RK’s illusion gives out and the Slihe starts attacking them. They have a brief fight where they manage to trap the Slihe, but GX’s left arm gets badly injured. At the end of the fight they encounter Blue and Sparrow. Sparrow tries to heal GX but fails. They agree to go to the hospital in fate walls. While in fate walls GX and Blue discover the only openings for the Gifted Reign tournament are for two persons two zalp groups. They eventually agree to team up and begin training. They fight some of the kids at the military school. Sparrow is finally able to heal GX and they decide to start heading to central walls.
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ACT II
Shortly into their journey, Blue and GX run into Daisy and a few other members of their rogue group. Daisy assumes they’re new recruits from a rival group and take them hostage. GX and Blue start getting to know the people at Daisy’s camp and eventually it becomes clear they don’t know about the rival group. Blue does some archery training with Dustin while GX and Daisy exchange information and fighting / sneak tactics. They all meet up and head back to the camp base where they discover a few documents have been stolen and the person guarding the documents, Cassius has been poisoned. Sparrow is able to remove the poison. Daisy convinces GX and Blue to help them get the documents back, as well as an important knife. They’re able to steal the items without fighting and they see the poisonous zalps the rival group owns. Instead of heading back, Daisy insists that she goes with Blue and GX to central walls, so they start to head there.
ACT III
They get to central walls and it’s really cool for GX and Daisy. They spend a while getting cleaned up and getting proper fighting clothes. They all come into contact with Blue’s older brother, Lythle. Lythle teaches Blue and GX, but mostly GX, how to turn their fighting styles into more of a show. They learn about the art of performance and building up a persona. RK also makes a lot of progress in turning their illusion abilities into conjuration abilities. Blue resolves problems with Lythle and they sign up to enter the Gifted Reign tournament.
ACT IV
Blue and GX begin the tournament and are struggling but getting by. Meanwhile Daisy is snooping around trying to find BG. Daisy finds BG and discovers he owns several zalps. She tells this to Blue and GX who explain that he’s been granted permission because the original owners where his close colleagues. Blue and GX continue the tournament when a group of two much younger children are placed against someone with a poison zalp. The poison zalp is very clearly the one from the rival group, but daisy confirms the trainer isn’t from that group. The poison zalps try to attack the kids when BG arrives to save them. The scene is wildly similar to what happened to GX almost 15 years ago. Daisy discovers that the other poison zalp is within BG’s possession and they get confirmation from the rival group that their members where killed by people from central walls in order to steal the poison zalps. Daisy is eventually able to stab BG’s left arm with her knife from act II. They all escape and Daisy explains how effectively poisonous the knife is. They decide to head back to Daisy’s group’s camp base, but to keep a close eye on what happens in central walls.
THE STORY
ORIGINAL CONCEPT ART
