Primal Darkness

by Ryan Kirk

  Tev didn’t want to say as much, but he was excited for the day’s activities. He would test himself against the warriors of Derreck’s clan. He was excited to see how he compared, but the feeling didn’t seem to be shared by Derreck. Tev noticed that Derreck’s tone changed whenever he talked about the tests. For some reason, Derreck didn’t like the idea, but Tev thought it was fantastic. This was an opportunity for him to compete against some of the best people in the galaxy. He hoped that he could learn from them.

  They entered the building and Derreck introduced Tev to several people. Tev didn’t pay any attention to their names, but he paid attention to their stance and bearing. He was amazed by just how poorly most people in the city walked. He had noticed the problem in space too, but it seemed to be everywhere in Kindra’s society.

  These men and women were different. Their bodies were always in balance, and Tev could tell several of them were ready to strike at any moment. He approved. These were people he had something in common with.

  After introductions, Tev and the others were brought to a room that overlooked several other rooms. Tev was impressed. The rooms were all very different and didn’t even seem like rooms to him. They were large and had entirely separate environments in each one. One room was bare: four walls, a floor and ceiling, and nothing else. The second looked like it was a city street, but one that had been attacked. Walls were crumbling and debris littered the ground. The third room was a forest, and Tev felt immediately at home. He hadn’t seen any green spaces since landing, and the sight of grass and trees soothed his spirit.

  Derreck gave Tev instructions. Tev would take part in three separate fights, so long as he was willing. In each room, he would face a different opponent, a fighter who was considered great in that environment. Derreck explained that they wouldn’t be wearing any armor or protection, and instead everyone was relying on an honor system not to hurt each other. He showed Tev how to indicate surrender in the event he was losing. Tev understood. It was the same way he fought with clan members at home.

  Without further ado, Tev and his fellow warriors went down to the first room. One warrior stepped forward, a young woman with a fierce countenance. Tev glanced her over. She was one of the strongest women he had ever seen, far stronger than Neera was. He probably outweighed her by at least five kilos, but she wouldn’t be an opponent to take lightly.

  The first room was the bare room where the environment wouldn’t have any effect.

  Derreck nodded, and the fight commenced. Tev was tempted to rush in, but something about his opponent made him wary. To an untrained eye, it might look as though she was open to attack, but Tev decided it was a feint. She wanted to lure him in closer. He tried striking at her instead.

  Tev lashed out with his fists but hit nothing but air. She moved around his attacks with ease, not even flinching. Tev tried a combination of punches and kicks, and the woman stepped back, allowing the strikes to pass harmlessly in front of her.

  Tev was in a dilemma. Striking wasn’t working. He would have to be more aggressive if he wanted to hit her, but he worried that if he was, he would be falling into the trap she was setting for him. He came in for another series of punches.

  This time, she didn’t dodge, but stepped inside his attack and delivered a fierce punch to his stomach. He could tell she had pulled her punch at the last moment, but the blow still knocked him backwards. She didn’t give him a chance to recover, leaping at him and pulling him to the ground.

  Tev had always thought he was a good wrestler, but within moments she had him pinned with her arm across his throat. He slapped the ground twice, and she let go and let him stand up.

  Tev wasn’t angry. Whoever this woman was, she was a far better warrior than he was. He wasn’t even sure what had happened once they were on the ground. She had moved with such surety he never had a chance. He thanked her for the match and asked if sometime she might show him some of her techniques. The woman looked at Derreck for approval and then nodded. Tev was grateful. He could tell he would have much to learn, especially when it came to combat.

  As a group, they moved towards the second room, the city that had been destroyed. Tev explored the room for a few minutes, getting a feel for where everything was. His opponent, a slim man, did the same.

  Derreck came forward and explained that for this fight, they would use weapons. Tev hesitated for a moment, but as Derreck continued, his hesitation disappeared. Derreck gave Tev a handgun, a small silver weapon that fit nicely in his hand. He explained that all Tev had to do was point it at his opponent and pull the trigger before his opponent could do the same to him. Derreck explained that the guns didn’t fire anything. They simply determined whether the opponent had been hit fatally.

  Tev nodded his understanding, and the two warriors separated to opposite edges of the room. Tev was smiling the entire way. This was learning he never could have received at home. His senses felt alive, a rare occurrence in the artificial worlds of Kindra and her people. This was fun.

  The lights dimmed, and Tev knew the contest had begun. He didn’t rush. The time had come to hunt his prey. He scanned his surroundings, deciding on his best course of action. He thought about taking to the rooftops. Most people didn’t look up or down, so it would give him an advantage.

  Tev found a place where he could climb a wall, flattening himself against the rooftop. Slowly, he peeked his head over the roof and looked around. He didn’t see any sign of his opponent. He worked his way to the center of the roof and came up to a crouch. If his opponent was on the ground, he should be safe from view.

  He didn’t want to make the same mistake he was hoping his opponent would make. He took a moment to look across the other rooftops, but in the dim light he couldn’t make out any other shapes moving. The path looked clear.

  Tev mapped out his next steps, running and leaping across a narrow gap to a nearby rooftop. Once there, he stopped and repeated the procedure, peeking out onto the streets and checking the other rooftops. Then he listened.

  The temptation when hunting was always to rush. Sometimes it was necessary to use haste, but those times were rare. Much more often it paid to remain still, to move slowly. Patience wasn’t a practice Tev enjoyed, but he could be as still as a stone for as long as it took. He could feel the familiar tension in his body, and he had to fight the urge to move, to do anything.

  He continued to listen, but he couldn’t hear anything. After a few minutes passed, Tev moved to the next rooftop. They were in a big room, and it might take them some time to find each other. He didn’t mind. If he could find his opponent first, he would easily win the match.

  Tev leapt to the next rooftop, his landing silent. Again, he repeated the procedure of checking the streets and rooftops. Once he was certain he couldn’t see anything, he remained still and listened. The urge to move was stronger than ever. A part of Tev’s mind kept reminding him that he wasn’t just the hunter. He was also the hunted. Tev kept his focus and stillness. He wouldn’t succumb to foolish decisions.

  He heard a sound not far from the building he was on. It was soft, as though someone had accidentally kicked a pebble. His instinct was to run towards the noise, but he resisted. Making sounds appear in other places was an old trick, and he wouldn’t fall for it if it was one. Instead, he moved carefully, gun in front of him, towards the edge of the roof, his eyes scanning left and right over and over as he approached.

  He approached the edge but saw nothing, which most likely meant the sound had been made as a distraction. Suddenly, he heard a sound directly beneath him. His eyes tracked down and saw movement. Tev only had time to react. He stepped backwards, and he heard the click of a trigger below. Tev panicked, but the lights didn’t come back up, so he must not have been hit.

  Tev debated and discarded options. His advantage had been neutralized, and most of his actions would expose him to the warrior below. His best idea was to get down to ground level. He figured at most, his opponent could cover two of four sid
es. Tev just had to decide on a side and let himself down.

  He listened, hoping he could catch some sound from below, but this environment wasn’t very conducive to it. In the woods, there were leaves and branches which cracked and gave away a person’s position, but here there was only the same hard rock found everywhere else. Unless someone’s footfalls were heavy, there was no way of making out where they were.

  Tev chose the side of the building opposite of where the shots had come from. It was a guess only, but he figured that at least for a minute his opponent would stay in place. He peeked over the edge before dropping down. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught motion once again, and he shoved himself back on top of the roof as he heard several clicks.

  The lights didn’t turn on, but Tev wasn’t surprised. It hadn’t been much of a chance. If his opponent had been a little more patient, he might have been able to shoot Tev as he was descending, but he had reacted too hastily.

  Tev was getting frustrated. Ultimately, this was only a game, and he was losing. It was time to play around and see what happened. He stood up and sprinted back the way he had come.

  Tev’s actions forced his opponent to make a decision. If the warrior wanted to keep track of Tev, he would need to give chase. Otherwise they would go back to playing a big game of hide and seek. Tev assumed the warrior would chase him.

  He was right. The warrior stood up from behind the rubble he was using as cover and chased after Tev. Tev pointed his gun and pulled the trigger a few times, but he was running and aiming to the side. He missed all his shots, but as he leapt across the rooftops, the warrior didn’t hit him either.

  Tev kept running, heading for the first roof he had climbed onto. He could hear the warrior down in the street below. He couldn’t see his opponent, but he decided they were running just about parallel. When he leaped between the rooftops, he saw his opponent clearly for a fraction of a second. He pulled the trigger repeatedly, and below him he saw his opponent doing the same.

  Tev was so distracted he forgot about his landing, and he lost his balance as soon as his feet touched the other rooftop. He rolled to his feet, but as he did, the lights came up. Someone had been hit.

  He wasn’t sure if he had won or not, but that had been some of the most fun he had had in a while.

  Tev walked to the edge of the roof and allowed himself to drop from it. He landed and rolled smoothly to his feet. His opponent was grinning ear to ear, and he stepped forward, his hand extended. Tev had already learned about the handshake, and he took the other man’s hand and shook it firmly.

  His opponent spoke. “I don’t know who won, but that was one of the best duels I’ve ever been in. Thank you.”

  “Thank you. You were brilliant.”

  Derreck rolled up to them. “Well, I have bad news. Both of you died. Tev, technically you got off your shot last, but it was close. For all intents and purposes, you tied, although if you want to get picky, he won,” Derreck finished by pointing his thumb at the warrior.

  Tev nodded. A part of him chided himself for letting himself go at the end, but it had all been fun.

  Derreck looked over at Tev. “Ready for a third match, or do you want to take a break?”

  There was nothing Tev wanted more. “Let’s go.”

  The third room was the closest Tev had felt to home in a very long time. A part of him recognized the fact he had only been gone for months, but still, Tev’s journey seemed like it had been much longer. His life had changed an enormous amount in a very short time.

  The room could almost pass as the forest Tev grew up in. He dug his toes into the dirt floor and exhaled a deep sigh he didn’t realize he had been holding on to. His body missed the diversity of angles and feelings of the forest. Everything in this world was smooth and hard and shiny. He didn’t like it.

  For the last time, Derreck gave instructions. Each warrior was given what appeared to Tev to be a stick, about half a meter long. Derreck pointed to the end and told Tev that if he could touch the point to the other person, he would win.

  Tev watched as the other warrior spun his stick in fancy patterns. Clearly, the man had received a lot of training in the weapon. Tev didn’t care. He was at home here in the forest. There wasn’t any way he’d lose.

  Derreck gave Tev the opportunity to wander into the forest first. He said he’d send the other man in after him in a while. Tev resisted the urge to skip into the forest. The only things missing were the sounds and traces of wildlife, but Tev wasn’t going to be picky. It was a blessing to be here. Tev felt almost as though Lys was looking over him once again.

  Within a few minutes, he found the place where he wanted to stage the battle. It was surrounded by trees and bushes and gave Tev ample opportunity to hide and move around. The other soldier wouldn’t have a chance against him.

  Tev found a place that gave him good cover, and he crouched down into it. Here in the woods, he was certain to detect the other man. The ground was covered in sticks and leaves, and Tev was certain the man wouldn’t have any ability to move quietly in such an environment.

  He was right. It was several minutes later when he heard the soft crunch of a footstep on the leaves. The man had come from a different direction than Tev had suspected, but that wasn’t surprising. The man would want the element of surprise, so he wouldn’t chase Tev directly, not in a room that was still pretty small, all things considered.

  Tev tracked the sound with interest, not feeling any need to break from cover. The woods were his home, and he wouldn’t be drawn out. He heard a noise in a different place, and he took a few moments to place it. The man had thrown a stick in a different direction, trying to throw off Tev’s idea of where he was. It wasn’t working. The man didn’t have any idea how to move in the woods, and it was proving impossible for him to move silently.

  Eventually the man came into the clearing near Tev’s hiding place. Tev didn’t wait. As soon as he had a clear opportunity, he took it, leaping forward and trying to hit the man.

  Tev didn’t count on the man’s incredible reflexes. Tev didn’t have any doubt he had surprised the man, but his opponent moved with speed, blocking Tev’s strike before it landed.

  If it came down to a battle with the sticks, Tev knew he would lose. This man was trained in exactly this style, and Tev wasn’t. But Tev was home. He darted off to the side, narrowly dodging the man’s return attack. The man chased him towards a set of two trees, set about a meter and a half apart from one another.

  Tev leapt at one tree just as the man swung at him, the stick passing just centimeters behind Tev’s back. Tev’s right foot struck the tree, and he planted it there, holding for just a fraction of a second as the man approached.

  His opponent must have thought Tev would try climbing the tree. He had watched Tev scale the building in the previous room and must have expected him to go high. But Tev had other plans. He shoved off his right foot towards the second tree to his left. The soldier’s overhand swing passed harmlessly to Tev’s right.

  Tev bounced off the other tree with his left foot, ending up behind the man who was desperately trying to turn to keep up with Tev. As he passed, Tev slapped him gently with his stick. He landed off balance, but allowed his body to collapse and roll back to its feet.

  When he stood back up, the other man had a look of disbelief on his face. “I’d heard that you could move really well, and I saw hints of that in the other room, but I’ve never seen anything like that before. Impressive.”

  Tev smiled. “Thank you. Your reaction was also very fast. I thought for sure I’d defeat you on my first strike.”

  The man accepted the compliment as the others approached. Derreck was grinning from ear to ear, and Tev saw all the other men were making a swiping gesture towards him, a gesture Tev had learned signified the exchange of money from one person to another. Tev still didn’t understand why these people worried so much about their money.

  Derreck spoke, his enthusiasm contagious. “I told you he was
good.”

  The last soldier Tev had fought grumbled in return, making the same swiping motion. “I guess so, sir.”

  Derreck laughed and addressed the group. “That’s enough fun for one day. Y’all care to join us for some food? It’s on me.”

  A chorus of grumbles answered him, but they all left together, discussing their most recent battle.

  Kindra wasn’t sure what she was experiencing. She knew what she was supposed to feel: Fear, trepidation, nervousness. But she couldn’t bring herself to feel any of those things. When it came to the administrative review, the only emotion she could come up with was boredom.

  She knew she wasn’t looking forward to it. She imagined that they would review evidence of her actions on Tev’s planet, and she’d rather not look through that again. Her actions haunted her memories every day. She didn’t need to see them played out in front of her.

  Try as she might, she couldn’t bring herself to care about the review. She was responsible for killing a person. Worse, the person had been a member of her own crew. She had never liked him much, but that didn’t matter. This wasn’t a review to find the truth. She already knew the truth. Everyone already knew the truth. This was to decide on her career, and that seemed much less important to her than her own sanity.

  At times, she considered just giving up and resigning. This was a battle for her to fight alone. No one else had anything to do with it. Her decision would end her career in Fleet, but she wasn’t sure that was such a bad idea anymore.

  She didn’t know what kept her going, but her mind wandered as she went through the preparation for the administrative review. She took a nice, long shower, finding comfort in the steam that curled around her. Afterwards she put on her dress uniform, a piece of clothing she hadn’t worn a single day since she graduated from the academy. She added a handful of decorations she’d been awarded for her service, decorations she’d thrown in a drawer in her apartment and never bothered to put on until today.