by Kelly A Nix
“Do you still loathe me?” Atae asks. She grins at him with a playful gleam in her eyes that piques Beast’s interest. Sloan shrugs at the hybrid.
“Yes. What’s your idea?”
“If I fall, leave me behind.”
“Duh,” Sloan says. Then he watches Atae pounce off the tree. “Wait, what are you doing?”
When Atae jumps, she does so with enough force to pull her feet from the sap. Naturally, globs of it stick to her shoes. Atae slams into the wall just below the hanging bars and shoves her feet into the wall to run along with it. The sticky sap gives her enough footing to dart across the wall and slip down toward the floor. Moments later, she passes the unconscious runner and lands in the smaller hallway on the safe, dirt floor. She plants her hands against both hips and raises her eyebrows at Sloan, daring him to catch up. Beast bubbles with amusement until she blasts her counterpart with another orange warning.
Atae swirls around in time to receive a nose crunching blow to the face and another to her gut. She keels over, grabbing at her face and stomach, and Beast howls for Atae to get up and retaliate. As Atae pulls herself to one knee, Beast urges her to block an incoming attack with a forearm blade. Atae refuses to shift, and the struggle with Beast’s red wave of anger costs her. The attacking runner slams his fist into Atae’s face from the side to further damage her broken nose, and she stumbles to her right along with the momentum of the attack. As she leans forward, holding her nose with one hand, Atae slips the other onto the hilt attached to her thigh.
She activates the small energy blade, and it zings to life. Atae swirls to face her opponent, expecting to find him unarmed, but his long-bladed hilt disappoints her. She falls into an offensive stance that Sloan taught her, then Atae launches at the runner. He blocks the feint to his head and the real attack to his chest by whipping his long blade down in an arch. She sweeps a leg under him, but the runner jumps over her. Before she can regain her footing, he swings his sword down toward Atae’s sprawled form. She rolls to the side of his blade and into the nearby wall.
“You are really bad at this,” the runner says. He stabs at her prone body as she huddles against the wall. A storm of red and gold rages against Atae’s mind as Beast screams at her to destroy the runner. Atae defends against the incessant stabbing with her dagger and flails against Beast’s mental attacks.
“Yes, she is,” Sloan says. He whacks the runner upside the head with the blunt side of his hilt. The runner falls back from the jarring strike, and Sloan uses the opening to push him into the electrified obstacle course. Ignoring the cries of pain, Sloan offers a hand to Atae.
“That was pathetic.”
“I’m only as good as my teacher,” Atae says. She ignores Beast’s similar assessment of her skills.
“Let’s go,” Sloan says. He holsters the hilt against his hip, and Atae follows suit.
They both charge down the path, and several runners join in along the way as walls slide open. Atae indulges Beast’s urges and elbows a few runners that get too close. She smiles when she smashes against someone’s face, ignoring her own bruised and surely broken nose. When Beast flashes another warning, Atae slams on her breaks and puts her arms out to grab Sloan. They both skid to a stop right in front of a materializing energy field. Several other runners aren’t so lucky and slide right through it. Most of them just shrug and continue onward until they find another more solid wall a few steps later. One runner tries to backtrack through the first energy field, but it remains solid from that direction.
“It’s one-way,” Atae says. “But why?”
“Nothing good. Look, they’re trapped in there.”
Sure enough, a green gas seeps into the small chamber, and the handful of runners panic, searching for an escape. As several fall unconscious, a few smart ones use their uniforms as masks, but that only lasts so long. Lucky for them, the left wall slides open, and the remaining runners stumble out of the gas chamber. Unlucky for Atae and Sloan, the one-way field drops, and the green gas creeps toward them.
“Uh oh.”
Atae backpedals along with Sloan, but their progress halts when another wall slides shut behind them. Pinned against the far wall, the two allies shove the bottom half of their faces into the fabric of their uniforms as the gas seeps closer.
What do we do? Atae asks Beast. Her counterpart points out the still open wall to the left of the gas chamber. Oh, good idea.
Atae motions toward the gap, but another field slams down between her and the toxic cloud. Atae stumbles back into Sloan, and together, they breathe a sigh of relief. Beast’s hackles rise in an orange flurry, and Atae glances around for a threat as an energy floor assembles under them.
“We’re trapped in another cube,” Sloan says.
The metal box that encases them shoots upward, slamming its occupants into the floor. Atae’s stomach lurches along with the box. From the force, she can only assume they are flying high above the arena floor. Pinned to the floor and looking upward, Sloan notices a strap drop from the ceiling of the cube. When the box heaves to a stop, the momentum launches Sloan and Atae into the air. Sloan snags the strap, but Atae isn’t so lucky.
Since she was pinned to the floor facedown, she never noticed the strap, and her stomach flipped when the box flung her into the air. Beast, on the other hand, enjoyed the ride and found it quite thrilling. Neither reacts well when the floor slides open to reveal the arena, a dozen stories below. Atae spins in mid-air, frantic to find something to cling to, and finds Sloan’s outreached hand. She snatches his injured hand, ignoring the grotesque feeling of exposed bone against her fingers. When her body’s weight tugs against Sloan’s grip, he cries out in pain but doesn’t let go.
“Why are you so heavy?” he says. When he glances down, Sloan’s black eyes meet Atae’s terrified fuchsia gaze. He realizes that this is the only time, other than in the throne room, that he’s ever seen Atae afraid of anything. Her lips tremble as the wind whips her midnight blue hair and stings her eyes. Something sharp pinches into his hand as she tightens her frantic grip, and blood gushes from his wound.
“I won’t drop you, Atae. I promise.”
She nods at him with wide eyes. When her buzzing camera reminds her that everyone is watching, Atae takes a few deep breaths. After collecting herself, she searches in and around the box to find a way out of this predicament and finds absolutely nothing. Without thinking, she glances down, and a wave of nausea slams into her. Beast only makes it worse with another barrage of panic and fear. She rages against Atae and demands control so that she can save them both.
Shut up. You’re going to get us killed, Atae says, but Beast refuses to relent.
How have you survived this long? Let me free. I will save us all.
After pushing Beast back, Atae scans the ground for an escape route. She notices Jeqi on top of the maze with dozens of other strategists, although several of them lay across the fields, unconscious. Jeqi wails on a larger purebred after dislocating his arm, and Atae huffs at her packmate’s distraction.
“Jeqi!”
The blonde glances up at the sound of her name. Paling at the sight of her packmate dangling from that height, Jeqi ends her fight with a whack across her opponent’s temple. As the larger strategist collapses, Jeqi faces Sloan and Atae, then lifts both hands toward the hovering cube. Using her visor, she commands the box to return to the maze by swinging her arms downward
Atae sighs in relief when the flooring slides closed below her. She taps her toes on the energy field to test its solidity, then presses her weight against it. Atae releases her iron grip from Sloan’s injured hand and draws her hand against her chest. She hopes the copious amount of blood hides her receding claws well enough. Sloan stares at the new holes in his hand and growls at her.
“Ow.”
The cube descends at a reasonable rate and then lurches in another direction. Atae twists her mouth into a guilty frown and rips a strip of cloth from her pant leg. She wraps it around Sloan�
�s hand to stop the bleeding. He watches her, tight-lipped, and winces when she ties off the bandage.
“Don’t be a baby,” Atae says.
She rolls her eyes before releasing his hand and stepping away. He flashes a crooked smile at her when Atae crosses her arms to wait for their box to stop. She refuses to look at him as Beast shivers with crimson sparks. Atae notices that Sloan’s presence has a calming effect on her counterpart. Well, not exactly a calming effect, but at least she isn’t actively attacking Atae and trying to seize control. The cube finally comes to a jarring halt, and the left wall slides open.
Atae cringes at the bright light from Solis and Cerule shining through the arena’s dome ceiling. She steps out of the box and onto an energy deck that leads to a white energy disc floating above the giant pond. Looking around, Atae notices dozens of bridges that circle the center platform, and numerous unconscious Kaji scattered around. A giant pillar of light stands at the core, with one person standing idle at the top.
“That’s our goal,” Sloan says.
“Obviously,” Atae says. “But how do we get there? Walking up to it just seems way too easy.”
As though answering her question, a wall slides open at the end of a nearby bridge, and two runners, a hybrid, and a purebred pile out. They catch sight of the endgame and run straight for it. Several of the water beast’s tentacles emerge from the pond below and attempt to snag both younglings. The creature catches the hybrid and drags her, kicking and screaming, into the dark pool.
“I saw that coming,” Sloan says. Both Atae and Beast snicker.
The purebred runner manages to evade the tentacles and reaches the disc. Stepping onto the white energy activates the pillar’s defense system, and several energy blades shoot out from the column at the center of the energy disc. The runner dodges one then two but fails to anticipate the third. It nails her in the shoulder hard, and momentum whirls her around. She tries to recover, but a fourth blade spears her through the leg, and she stumbles to the ground. When she crawls on her stomach toward the pillar, a tentacle erupts from the pool below, still carrying her lost packmate. The water beast tosses the unconscious hybrid at his purebred partner, and they both skid across the energy platform. Atae watches to see if the purebred runner will continue, but the blow from her packmate’s body stopped her in her tracks.
Two more runners appear on the opposite side of the platform from Atae and Sloan, while another wall on a nearby bridge opens to a third runner. Glancing at each other, the two allies decide that it’s time to move.
“Get behind me,” Sloan says. He activates his hilt, and a longsword springs to life. He steps forward and swings the blade into a defensive stance, waiting for Atae to follow his instructions.
“What? Why would I do that?” Beast snarls an agreement.
We are strong. We are Kaji.
Sloan sighs at Atae’s protests and glances over his shoulder at her. “Just trust me.”
Atae bites her tongue and decides to comply, but only because she owes him due to the fiasco in the box. She activates her hilt and steps in behind him. He darts across the energy bridge, and Atae follows suit. Tentacles explode from below and strike at the advancing younglings. Atae prepares to defend herself from the impending assaults but finds she’s not needed. Sloan’s fluid movements are graceful and impossible to mimic as far as Atae is concerned. She watches him block every incoming strike and sever several appendages, gaining ground with each movement. They edge their way across the bridge unharmed while Atae watches Sloan’s dance of death as though mesmerized, and Beast licks her crimson lips.
Once they reach the white platform, Atae says, “Okay, I admit it. You’re really good at that,”
“I told you.”
Atae grumbles at Sloan’s typical arrogance, while Beast warns her of an incoming attack. A nearby runner advances upon her with his sword drawn, but Atae manages to sidestep the strike. Then Sloan dispatches him with a couple of swings.
“You distract the other runners. I’ll get to the pillar,” Atae says. Sloan nods and knocks another incoming runner to the ground with an adept swipe to the legs.
Beast flares orange through Atae’s mind and floods her body with alarm. Atae twirls to face the danger just in time to deflect an airborne energy blade with her hilt. Beast’s hypersensitive hearing picks up an almost silent incoming whistle and indicates that another knife is on its way. In the split moment that it takes Atae to register the sound, she raises her hilt to deflect the second blade.
Without hesitation, Atae jumps away from her current position and runs parallel to the pillar. Beast shifts the muscles in her legs to increase speed and power. The corners of Atae’s mouth quirk upward as three blades swish behind her head, one slicing a few hairs. Atae stops in mid-stride just in time for another knife to streak in front of her face. The blue hybrid darts away from the pillar but only for a few strides because the next two blades nick Atae’s arm and leg. With another sudden shift in direction, this time heading toward the pillar, Atae deflects an incoming energy blade with her hilt.
As she closes in on her goal, the pillar surprises Atae with a whip of energy. Beast urges her to dodge, but Atae opts to deflect the attack. The whip swirls through the air and cracks across the energy blade of her hilt. Electricity shoots through Atae’s entire body, and she screams. Crumbling to the ground, the hybrid struggles to stay conscious. The shock was short but powerful, and Atae can still feel her teeth chattering. Beast warns her to move, so she complies. Another whip strikes the ground where she once crouched. Standing, Atae gathers herself for another assault on the pillar, this time vowing to avoid the energy whips.
Another two runners race ahead, and one takes a strike in the chest. Showing no mercy, Atae follows after the purebred and leaps into the air. Anticipating Atae’s attack, the remaining runner watches for her competitor to fly overhead then land ahead of her. The runner cocks her leg and releases a powerful sidekick into Atae’s rib cage the instant she lands. At least, it would have been Atae’s rib cage if Beast hadn’t anticipated the strategic counterattack and instructed Atae to prepare to catch the offending leg on impact.
Instead, the purebred finds herself in a precarious one-legged position. Recognizing the snare, she tugs at her leg. She leans back until her hand touches the ground and then whips her second leg around to strike Atae in the face. The powerful assault causes Atae to release the runner’s leg and stumble backward in a stunned haze. Beast urges Atae to focus, but their opponent attacks too fast with a follow-up jab to her gut.
Atae cringes as Beast’s orange-brown frustration and red fury slams into her mind with each physical attack that the runner lands. The blue-haired youngling growls before she rushes headfirst into her competitor. The cumbersome attack blindsides the runner, and both younglings tumble to the ground. Atae pins the purebred to the floor with her energy blade pressed to the female’s throat. Atae snarls at her enemy with Beast urging her on, and the runner flinches away with both hands fighting against Atae’s hilt.
Atae can feel Beast pushing all her weight into the energy blade, but the runner holds firm against it. Beast’s bloodlust fueling her rage, Atae slams her free fist into the purebred’s ribs over and over again. With each strike, the runner groans in pain but refuses to let Atae’s blade slips any closer to her throat.
“Stop,” Debil says. Like the flip of a switch, Atae recognizes the runner. She pushes against Beast’s bloodthirst until the red fog that saturates her mind ebbs. Fighting the urge to decapitate her enemy, Atae slams her free fist against Debil’s temple, and the purebred groans and struggles to stay conscious.
Atae lunges for the nearby pillar and makes contact. When her hand touches the smooth energy field, several brick-like shapes emerge from the column. As she reaches for the lowest stone, Beast reminds Atae of their ally. She spins around and yells for Sloan, pausing at the sight of him.
With his hilt gone and several injured or maimed runners lying on the groun
d at his feet, Sloan tackles one remaining opponent. Once pinned, Sloan proceeds to beat him into submission. Atae sprints to his side and grabs the purebred’s arm mid-swing. He twists around to face her with his other fist raised for an attack but pauses when he finds Atae’s fuchsia gaze. The blue hybrid grimaces at the blood splattered across his arms and face, and for the first time, she recognizes the battle raging behind his eyes. Sloan’s beast wars against his restraint, and Atae isn’t sure who won this battle.
“You’re done,” Atae says. Beast adds a bestial growl behind her command.
For a moment, she isn’t sure if Sloan will comply, then he nods his head and stands. She darts back to the pillar with Sloan in tow, tripping up an incoming runner and dodging a few energy attacks along the way. This time, she doesn’t hesitate to climb the column when her touch activates the stone ladder. Sloan grabs at a separate stone path beside her, and they ascend together. They are about halfway up the pillar when a couple of runners decide to use their ranged hilts. An energy disc careens by Atae’s head, and she cringes from the heat of the attack. When a second one strikes her abdomen, she screams from the searing pain. Her uniform burns away, and the skin underneath sizzles. Atae’s grip on the stones slip, and she tumbles down a few rungs before Sloan manages to grab her flailing arm. She crashes against the protruding brick and groans.
“Why do I keep using my hurt hand to do this?” Sloan winces in pain. Atae ignores her injured side and grabs hold of the stone ladder again. When Sloan releases her, they both scale the pillar. Atae notices other runners climbing the column now, but she and Sloan lead the pack. Moments later, the two allies reach the top of the pillar and join the one runner that beat them.
“Hey,” Jent says.
Atae and Sloan clamber over the ledge, and the pillar flares gold to indicate their arrival before returning to white. Sloan and Atae lie on the cold, imitation stone floor and catch their breath as runner after runner joins them on the pillar. It isn’t long before a dozen cameras buzz all around, and Atae cringes from the noise.