“So, Candace. Has my brother informed you of the scores and tallies up to this point?”

“Scores and tallies of what?”

“The Avgo contest.” He clapped a hand and a large virtual screen appeared in front of everyone.

The visual had charts and graphs, much like what would have been seen in a business boardroom conference.

Dante stood up and began discussing the information, as if he was the CEO speaking to his VPs and Directors of management.

“Take a look at the visuals for your scoring, Candace.” He waved a hand and the visual zoomed in on a bar graph with eight names.

“You see where you are, in relation to the other contestants?” He pointed to the chart.

The first name, Dahlia Halloway, had a strike-out line at the starting point. Second to be eliminated was Olivia Faraday. Neither Dahlia nor Olivia managed to gain any points on the board.

The third one to fall off the board was Helene Cordera. She had struggled with the Face and Grace event, coming in dead last.

Candi grimaced as she remembered striking the final blow and cracking Helene’s spine.

“It is possible to earn 100 points for each event if you win first place. Coming in second gives you 90 points. Third gets 80, and so on and so forth.”

He turned back and smiled at Candace.

“Since you won first place in the Face and Grace event, you got a full 100 points for that competition.”

The room gave a loud applause.

“In Strength and Vitality, due to having been delayed at the very start by Helene Cordera, you didn’t get first place. Still, you managed to snag third position which gave you 80 points for a total of 180 points.”

The room again applauded.

“At this point, you and Jenna are neck to neck since she won first position in Strength and Vitality, and third in Face and Grace which also gives her 180 points.”

“However,” he held up a finger. “Take a look at this.”

He snapped his fingers and the visuals began with the shrieking and screaming of the contestants on the platform.

A whirlwind of high intensity swirled around a tall cylindrical glass formation that had been magically created around the platform.

“This is the bonus event that we weren’t even supposed to have.”

The visual showed Dahlia Halloway clinging onto Candace’s legs in desperation as she was being bodily lifted off the platform by the wind surge.

“Aaaaaaahhhh!!! Candace, help me!!!” Dahlia Halloway could be heard screaming as she clung onto Candi.

Candi saw herself looking at Lorem Ipsum with something akin disgust. Her voice could clearly be heard over the noise of the wind and the screaming candidates.

“Avgo. Shut down the wind!”

Instantly, the wind obeyed her command, dropping Dahlia like a bag of rocks onto the floor.

Everyone in the room stood up and applauded.

“The initial event wasn’t supposed to count since there was an impostor who tried to take over your position.” Dante announced with barely suppressed triumph.

“But that event, the ‘Avgo Verification’, was given bonus points due to its spectacular results with the viewing audience. Ratings went through the roof with the Avgo Verification Event and has been rising ever since.”

Dante raised a glass filled with red wine.

“A toast, to our magnificent and beautiful rising star of the Avgo Event, Candace Farrah. May she soar through the Avgo with the grace of the goddesses!”

As everyone cheered and drank to the toast, Dante turned back to Candi.

“In this Avgo event, you won the bonus prize of an extra ten points for shutting down the magic whirlwind, for a grand total of 190 points, as of today.”

He waved his hand and a final image showed her ahead of the pack.

“Congratulations, Candace. You are the front-runner of the Avgo Event thus far.”

“Thank you.” Candi nodded with a smile. She was still a little confused about the entire thing, but luck had held her up so far.

Dante waved both hands into the air and all visuals disappeared. Instantly, music swelled up from the stage area, where live musicians were playing various instruments, some of which Candi could not even recognize.

As the party continued into the night, Candi was constantly plied with food and drink.

She was encouraged to dry a spoonful of this and a bite of that. Everything passed by in a huge blur, none of which she remembered clearly because there was simply too much food and drinks coming at such a fast pace.

Towards the end of the meal, Candi was visibly beginning to wilt. After the third time Candi had to ask Dante to repeat what he was saying to her because she had nodded off to sleep, he ended the meal.

“I was going to have dancing afterwards, but it looks like the only thing our Candace will dance to will be lullabies.” Dante smiled.

“She’s had a hard day.” Slate leaned over and helped her up.

“I know. I watched the entire heroic struggle, several times and in slow motion.” Dante took her other arm and they made their way out of the dining hall.

As the brothers left her in the care of six female attendants who took her into the bedroom suite that had been specially prepared for her, they moved away, to the adjoining war room.

The room was not huge. In fact, there was nothing in the room other than a long oval table with 24 chairs around its perimeter.

Around the walls were plaques and war weapons throughout the ages. Double axes, swords, firearms, phasers. There was even a whip and a ball-on-a-chain flail.

“Take a look at the latest item in my collection.” Dante pointed to a plaque holding the head of a giant cobra that was hanging on the wall directly behind the head of the table.

“Is that Candace’s beast head?” Slate narrowed his eyes as he peered at its two deep orange mandarine garnet eyes.

“Absolutely. When I saw her emerge from that forest with the cobra in her hand, I think my heart fell out of my chest and ran to her side.” He sighed with ardor. “I’m keeping it for her until she decides she wants it.”

“She will never want this thing.” Slate sniffed with disdain.

“You never know.” Dante shrugged.

“Actually I do know. It’s you, who don’t know her very well.”

Dante smiled with anticipation.

“I’ll have all the time in the universe to get to know her. I am looking forward to it all.”

Slate gave a harsh exhale.

“What is your connection to all this, Dante?” He asked with measured tones.

“What do you mean?”

“Viewers don’t care that much about ratings, nor do they have any choice on how much bonus points are allowed. The only people who care are the ones who set up everything.”

Dante smiled.

“I am a viewer, just as you are. I just have a bit more…pull with the organizers, is all.”

“Pull? As in advertising funds?”

Dante turned back to Slate.

“Are you saying I’m setting her up to win?”

“I don’t know. Are you?” Slate stared at his brother.

Dante gave a cold smile.

“If I had that much pull, I’d set her up to lose. I’m sure if she lost, you would be perfectly happy, wouldn’t you, Baby Brother.”

Slate said nothing.

“If she wins, she goes to the Crown Prince,” Dante grimaced. “But if she loses, you might even get a chance to be with her.”

He held up a finger.

“That is, after the rest of us get to pick the woman we want.” He laughed.

“You’re the Baby Brother.” Dante leaned in closer.. “You get…last choice.”