by Ramy Vance
Much like the human squad, this didn’t feel like progress. It felt like holding back a tide at best. If Anabelle had only been fighting the original number of orcs, this would already have been over, but it was obvious the Game Master had the resources to keep throwing at them.
This was a battle of attrition. Anabelle wondered how long she and the team were going to last.
Abby came running out one of the side tunnels of the arena. The scene of chaos was difficult for her to discern. She could tell that one of the dragons was still out cold but couldn’t see where Persephone was. The balrogs were still fighting, all four of them. Anabelle was nowhere to be seen. “Creon, is Sarah ready for the transport?”
Creon replied, “She’s more than ready. Are you?”
“Gimme a second.”
Abby ran toward the middle of the arena, pulling all of the nanobots she could spare out of her body. Her armor began to disappear, revealing the frail human beneath. “How much is this going to take, Martin?” she asked.
“You might want to stay away from anything sharp or life-threatening as the Gate is constructed. I’ll see what I can do. Save you a hand cannon and maybe a few thousand for moving defenses, but like I said, maybe sit this one out.”
Abby slid into the sand as the nanobots continued to leave her body, separating from her and starting to flow together to build a new Dark Gate. Abby slammed the frequency transponder onto the back of the Dark Gate once it was done. “All right, Creon! Send ‘em over,” she shouted.
Creon muttered something indistinguishable and then said, “Gotcha. Tilt the Gate toward the sky! The first ones coming through are going to need a big berthing area.”
Abby rested the Gate on its back so the portal was facing the sky. A massive purple blast of energy surged from the portal, stretching up into the clouds.
Four dragons soared out of the portal. Abby had never seen anything like them. Each of the dragons was a different color and looked vastly different from the red dragons in the arena. Even more striking, a person sat on each of the dragons.
One of the riders, the one who looked to be the leader, had a robotic arm.
“Abby! Second group is coming through! Get the portal upright again.”
Abby grabbed the Gate and began to push it up. It was still heavy, even with the additional strength from being off of Earth, but she got it up.
The portal flashed again, shooting purple and red sparks. Four humans walked out of the portal, each wearing spectacular armor. The one with the wand wore a bone mask and looked to be a wraith. A confusingly muscular young man had on a loincloth and ram’s skin shoulder pads. The other two were wearing standardized armor, customized to their design.
The Mundanes had arrived.
Suzuki drew his sword as he looked around the battlefield. “We’re here on Myrddin’s orders. Who are the enemies?”
Abby fumbled with her words for a second before Beth knelt beside her and repeated the question. “Uh, the orcs and goblins. There are four balrogs, and two dragons,” she finally managed to say.
Beth looked at the sky, where the dragonriders were taking stock of the situation. “Ah, looks like Boundless is already here. They should be good with the dragons.”
“Boundless?”
“Dragonrider platoon. They’re kickass. You might have heard of them?”
Stew shrugged.
“Alex Bound, the first human rider?”
Another shrug.
“Dude, you really need to catch up on your reading.”
Stew scoffed loudly as the wraithlike Sandy floated around him. “Whatever. There’s four of them and only two dragons. What kind of elite group of riders couldn’t handle that?”
“Stop being sore that you don’t get to fight a dragon,” Sandy giggled as she solidified enough to wrap her arms around Stew. “Let’s take the orcs. I want to feel their souls fleeing. I want to feel their blood on my skin. I want—”
“Babe, you’re doing that thing again—the one where you sound like a serial killer. Like a really horny serial killer.”
Sandy giggled again and floated away from Stew, “I’m just saying, let’s get started already.”
Suzuki turned to Abby and asked, “Where’s the biggest problem? What can we do to help?”
Abby shook her head, trying to keep from getting too stressed out by all the questions and new faces. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen…”
Suzuki rested his hand on Abby’s shoulder and said, “Hey, don’t worry about it. We got this.” Then he flipped down his HUD, scanned the area, and shouted, “Mundanes, the biggest threat is the orcs. They need to be thinned out, and only one person’s taking ‘em right now. Let’s go rip ‘em up!”
The Mundanes took off toward Anabelle and the orcs, leaving Abby alone near the Gate, which was still open. She’d frozen, and she knew why. Whatever security or confidence she’d received from the nanobots was gone. Without the nanobots, she was just a frail human.
Maybe she should listen to Martin and get off the battlefield. The whole reason she’d been picked for Middang3ard HQ was that she was smart. She wasn’t supposed to be out here fighting.
A sharp scream interrupted Abby’s thoughts. She turned to her left and saw Persephone flying through the air. One of the balrogs had managed to get free of Blackwell and Naota. It had its whip around Persephone’s leg and was flinging her through the air.
Abby didn’t think. She was already on her feet. The few nanobots left in her body turned her palm into a plasma cannon. She fired at the balrog, catching its attention.
The balrog dropped Persephone and snapped its whip at Abby, who raised her arm, sending the other nanobots into it exactly where the whip wrapped around. She sent a jolt of energy through the bots and up the whip, causing the balrog to release her.
Then Abby felt the comforting weight of tentacles wrap around her and pull her away. Persephone had evaded the balrog and was bringing Abby with her.
Terra ran out of the catacombs, the other slave fighters at her back. She looked out onto the arena. A lot had happened since she disappeared, and a lot more humans were fighting.
A series of roars and screeches tore through the air. Terra looked up and saw dragons fighting each other. “Oh, shit, they definitely weren’t here before. Looks like we might have this one in the bag, guys!”
Across from Terra, the Game Master stared down the contents of the arena. A smile lingered on his face as he cleared his throat, his voice booming over the cacophony of violence below. “Finally, our would-be champion has returned,” he bellowed. “Just in time for round two to begin!”
The Game Master clapped his hands, the crack echoing through the arena.
The arena gates began to slowly creep open across from Terra. A deep, mysterious growl came from the darkness as the gates all around the arena began to open.
Terra sighed and shook her head before turning to face a gate. “Why are there always more things that need killing?”
Chapter Twenty-One
The iron gates of the arena had finally opened. By this time, the crowd was beyond words, beyond cheers. They sat in mute awe, staring down at the spectacle. There had never been a battle such as this in the history of all arenas.
The Game Master’s pompous voice continued to boom through the arena. “Let it be seen what power the Dark One commands!” he shouted. “Our warriors have indeed battled as hard as they could. They’ve even brought in their own reinforcements. Their lives will be cherished, but who are they to stand before the might of the Four Gladiators?”
Terra and Cire were standing beside each other, watching the blackness of the hallways. Cire was breathing heavily as if he were scared. “What is it?” Terra asked.
Cire muttered under his breath, “He can’t be serious. The Gladiators have been dead for ages. Dead since the third kingdom fell.”
A heavy footstep made the ground jump. Cire and Terra stepped away from the gates, as did the other fighters. “M
aybe we should regroup with everyone else.”
Cire continued to walk backward, his eyes never leaving the iron gates. The stench of decay wafted from the darkness.
Terra and Cire made their way toward the center of the arena, where the portal was still flashing brightly. Up above, the dragonriders dipped and dove, fighting the two red dragons, the second one having risen from its involuntary slumber. The sky was alight with fire as if hell had been born of cloud and sun.
The other Dark Gate Angels were also making their way to the center of the arena. They must have all had the idea to regroup. Anabelle and Terra looked worried to see Abby returned to her regular human form. “Where’s all the shiny bells and whistles?” Terra asked. “You don’t look ready for a fight.”
Abby shook her head, embarrassed. “I have enough to fight, but the rest are keeping the portal open,” she said. “Can’t close it until Creon figures a way for us to get back. Right now, that’s our only way out.”
Anabelle sighed as the Mundanes, Blackwell, Naota, and the Marines began to back up into the center of the arena as well. “Been relying a lot on that goblin’s science,” she murmured. “Wish problems like these could just be killed. You’d think they could, you know. Seeing as how they want to kill us.”
Terra laughed as she adjusted her shield, Cire at her side, still staring slack-jawed at the iron gates. “You know, I was just complaining about that,” she said. “Didn’t think there’d be enough to kill. Now it looks like there’s going to be too much.”
“That fight with the dragon was impressive. I’ve never seen a human do anything like that. Hell, I’ve never seen anyone do anything like that.”
Stew, who had just arrived with the Mundanes, gave a shout of laughter. “Wait, you got to fight one of the dragons?” he asked. “Are you serious? Are you a berserker too?”
Terra nervously looked around for someone to explain it to her. “Uh, can’t say I know what you’re talking about. I’m just someone who got abducted.”
Suzuki snapped at Stew to grab his attention. “Hey, focus! You’ll get your dragon eventually.”
Stew sulked as he raised his battle-ax.
Terra, Anabelle, and Abby exchanged glances over the Mundanes. Anabelle leaned close and whispered to Abby, “At least you don’t act your age. Glad you’re a bit more mature.”
The ground shook once more. All of the agents of Middang3ard were silent as they waited to see what was going to come from blackened halls.
Terra said to Cire, “Tell me more about these Gladiators?”
Cire drew a sober breath as he continued to watch the halls. “They were the four finest champions of the arena. Fighting during the third kingdom, the strongest of all orc kingdoms. The four of them were undefeated until they battled each other. That was when they fell. None lived through the battle. They died as champions.”
“Is that supposed to be a romantic story?”
“Orcs don’t tell romantic stories. We tell stories.”
Without warning, the first Gladiator ripped through the stone hallways, sending debris and rocks flying. The creature looked to be an orc but was the size of a mountain troll. Its arms were atrophied, muscles and ligaments hanging from its bones like tattered drapes. Rotting, bony hands gripped a steel club. When the Gladiator breathed, fog emerged from its mouth.
The other three Gladiators tore through their stone entrances as well, looking very much the same as their brethren. Some were larger or smaller than the first but not by much.
Sandy from the Mundanes scoffed loudly at the sight of the Gladiators. “Seriously? That’s it? You’d think the necromancer who did this would have at least been a little creative. Nope, just four identical larger versions—”
One of the Gladiators leaned forward, vomiting acidic bile. Another screamed loudly as bony wings erupted from its back. The third’s waist erupted into a mass of slithering serpentine bodies.
Sandy laughed nervously. “Looks like I spoke too soon.”
“I fucking hate you when you jinx us,” Suzuki muttered. Then he turned to Anabelle. “This is your rodeo. What’s the game plan?”
Anabelle quickly assessed the situation. More troops were following Terra now, but the orc horde was also beginning to fill out again. Plus, the addition of the four Gladiators had the potential for an entirely different set of problems. At best, the reinforcements that had been brought had only bought them all a little bit more time. “We have to bide our time,” Anabelle said. “We’re working on a way out of here. Until then, we’re—”
Abby interrupted Anabelle. “Wait! I have an idea. We could rig the Gate to explode after we use it. I could put it on a timer, inverting the polarity of the—”
“Skip the nerd talk and tell me what you’re going to do!”
Abby bit her lip as she closed one of her eyes, trying to find a quicker way to explain everything. “I can jerry-rig this to explode once we have a clear signal. Two minutes from when Creon gets it fixed. A big enough explosion to take out the entire arena. Dark Gate, orcs, and all. The only thing that’ll be here is a crater.”
“Assuming we make it to the portal in time. If we stay too close to it, the Game Master is going to expect something. We’re going to have to split up and then make sure we get back here in time.” Anabelle turned to Suzuki and asked, “You got that?”
Suzuki nodded and asked Sandy, “Okay, which one do you want? I know you probably have some weird thing you wanna get out of the corpse, like a wart-covered spleen or something.”
Sandy pointed her wand at the Gladiator with the bone wings. “Could always use more wing bone. And if it comes from an undead orc, that’s even better.”
Anabelle extended her hand to Suzuki, who grasped and shook it. “Good luck,” she said. “Seems kinda—”
“Like a suicide mission?” Suzuki finished. “Yeah, but that’s our thing. MERCs say if it has a high likelihood of success, what’s the point in getting paid to do it?”
Anabelle gave her commands to Blackwell and Naota. They and their squad were to continue to handle the balrogs. The fighters from the arena were going to concentrate on the orc horde that was slowly approaching. She was going to take one of the gladiators, Terra another. Persephone would handle the last one.
Terra chuckled as she slapped Cire on the back. “You’re coming with me. Don’t tell me you never dreamed of fighting one of the Gladiators when you were a kid.”
Cire looked dubiously at the Gladiator near the gates, staring them down, waiting to be approached. “Can’t say I did.”
Terra clapped her hand on Abby’s shoulder. “Thanks for coming after me. All of you. Sorry I got you into such a big mess.”
Abby shook her head, trying to keep the tears out of her eyes. “Don’t apologize. It’s the least we could do for one of Earth’s biggest heroes. Besides, all of our planet is watching. Might as well give them a show, right?”
“All of Earth, huh? Yeah, might as well. So, what are we calling ourselves again?”
Anabelle stepped forward. “The Dark Gate Angels. Best name we’ve heard so far.”
Terra cracked her knuckles as she turned to face her Gladiator. “Sounds good. Let’s rough ‘em up some, Angels.”
The Dark Gate Angels split up, each heading toward a different gladiator.
Anabelle called her manna to her hands as she approached the Gladiator spewing acidic bile. The Gladiator was hunched over its club as if it needed it for support. Anabelle knew it would be a mistake to assume the Gladiator was weak in any way. She was going to hit it with everything she had and put it in the ground as soon as possible.
When Anabelle moved closer, the Gladiator lunged forward, trying to grab her with one hand like a giant drunken baby. Anabelle was easily able to avoid the attack, leaping aside, focusing her manna on hardening and sharpening her skin. She brought her attack down on the Gladiator’s shoulder blade, ripping through skin and bone.
The gladiator stumbled backward, grasping i
ts arm, which was leaking the same kind of bile as the gladiator’s mouth. Anabelle ripped off the sleeve of her shirt, which was covered in the smoking bile. “Guess that’s not the route I’m going to be taking,” she muttered to herself.
Across from Anabelle, Terra and Cire were squaring up against the Gladiator with the multiple snake’s tails. “I’m hoping you’re like a combat genius or something,” Terra said as the two ran toward it.
Cire unsheathed his sword and readied his shield. “I wouldn’t say genius, but I can hold my own.”
The two went for the gladiator, Cire circling around toward the creature’s back while Terra faced it with her katar.
The Gladiator slithered forward surprisingly fast, catching Terra off-guard. It swung its heavy mace at Terra, who barely had time to block it with her shield. The force of its attack sent her skidding backward in the sand.
As the Gladiator concentrated on Terra, Cire lunged, preparing to drive his sword into its back. Before the blade could connect, one of the Gladiator’s tails whipped up and slapped Cire in the chest, sending him flying.
It swung again at Terra, who stepped to the side and raked her katar against its arm, causing it to release its mace. Then she dropped her shield, leaned in, and punched the Gladiator as hard as she could in the face, tearing off its jaw.
A stream of ice shot out of the Gladiator’s open face as it reached around, trying to pick up its mace.
Terra stepped back, the ice almost instantly freezing her arm. She continued to retreat as the Gladiator spewed ice everywhere. “Hope he doesn’t keep that up for too long,” she muttered.
While Terra and Cire fought their Gladiator, Abby and Persephone were closing on the last one, the only one that appeared to be somewhat normal. This Gladiator only looked ancient and rotten.
As Abby’s hand converted into a cannon, Creon’s voice came through on her comm. “You have seven to ten minutes!” he exclaimed.