by Ross Buzzell
Konner stops at the top of the hill. He looks down into the ravine below and there, dug into the ground is a large round arena with a small circular pedestal in the middle raised a foot off the ground. The walls are high which would make escape without assistance difficult for one of the older cadets and downright impossible for him. Mustering up all of his courage, the young prince gradually makes the decent to the Training Grounds. He is greeted by Ti’Zellor and his brother Do’Zellor, a soldier of the same stature as his brother, only quite a bit thinner. His family crest glows a soft red against his mat black armor, unlike his brother’s sickly green. His eyes have a tint of red in them as they lay sunken into the pale skin of his gaunt face. The sandy blond haired general looks Konner up and down and scoffs at the boy. A sinking feeling gradually grips Konner’s gut. The cold general speaks with a firm and uncaring tone as he addresses the young, nervous prince.
“You have made contact with the Origin Blade Starfall, for this, were you any other’s son, you would be expelled. Seeing as you are, however, the High King’s son you will be given a chance at clemency by spending three hours in the Training Grounds. Here you will face wave after wave of soldier, creature and beast that we are aware of from around the universe. Should you not complete a stage, you will fail. Should you yield, you will fail. And, should you perish on the Training Grounds, you will fail.”
The tone of the general’s voice sends a very real and very terrifying chill down Konner’s spine. Movement behind Do’Zellor catches his eye, Konner focuses his vision to the viewing platform behind Ti and Do to see Ja’Sanfur and Sal’Der, the fourth and final general of the Boronian military take their place to observe the test. Sal’Der is significantly shorter than the other generals; his long black hair dangles in front of dark piercing eyes. His family crest shines with a black light giving off a white aura around the symbol. His legendary skills on the battlefield caused him to climb in the military ranks faster than any other officer in history. While being small he packed a punch none would wish to be on the receiving end of. And a mind so tactically sharp he had, on more than one occasion, gone into battle out manned, out gunned and with the terrain advantage against him and would time and time again emerge victorious losing only a fraction of his men. Konner’s attention is brought back to Ti’Zellor as he puts up his hand and opens it. A ramp lowers into the center of the pit which draws Konner’s attention. The tension in the air is palpable, near all-consuming for all three Boronians. Ti takes a deep breath and opens his mouth and his words are meticulously chosen and laced with care.
“Konner, if it becomes too much for you to handle there is no shame in bowing out in there. You may always reapply to the Academy next year, it is better than you failing for nothing.”
Konner nods to his general as he rebuttals to both men with respect and an undertone of sarcasm.
“I am my father’s son; nothing you can throw at me will break me.”
Konner turns and begins to descend the ramp into the Training Grounds. He hears Ti’Zellor snap at his brother as the two fall further behind him.
“He is the High King’s son. You have no right to treat him otherwise.”
Do’Zellor responds callously.
“As far as I am concerned, he is just another cadet until he proves otherwise. That sword has softened your judgment; you are no longer fit to carry it.”
Konner steps into the middle of the arena and turns to face the generals. The ramp gradually raises turning back into an earth wall. He sees Do turn from his brother and storm up into the observation deck followed closely by Ti’Zellor, where they both stand near Ja and Sal’Der.
Chapter 2
Konner’s heart races, pounding in his chest with such force his body shake in tremors with each rhythmic ‘thump’. The light from the day sun, still setting over the horizon, pours light into the Training Grounds which amplifies the heat inside drastically. Standing still Konner feels beads of sweat forming on the nape of his neck. Spheres of perspiration roll down his cheek as the heat begins to get to him. Konner puts the heat out of his mind. A deep breath of the dry hot air fills his lungs. Holding his calm, Konner’s heart rate begins to gradually slow and restore itself to its normal pace. The young prince closes his eyes as he clears his mind bringing focus to his turbulent senses. First thing in training, control your body, don’t let it control you.
Konner takes a mental inventory of his training, recalling all he had learned from Ti’Zellor, Do’Zellor and Ja’Sanfur. He feels the fear, anxiety, stress, even adrenalin all melt away. As clarity grasps the boy, something that he least expects happens. Sound rapidly amplifies around him. He rustle of the wind through the Training Ground’s sandy floors has grown from a soft rustle to a roaring ocean of torrent wind slamming boulders around. The shifting of the mechanics behind the walls are not lost on him either. Grinding gears, metal abrasively rubbing against metal and the shrewd screech causes Konner to wince. This catches the generals’ attention who all leans in to observe. They begin to speak with one another. Konner looks up at them and focuses his heightened sense forward.
“Has he discovered the gift of sound?”
Ti’Zellor questions in amusement.
“It appears he has.”
Ja states with confidence brimming with pride for her pupil. She crosses her arms and stands straight a smile forming from ear to ear. As Ti exclaims:
“That shouldn’t be possible! It takes years of training to attune ones senses to that level!”
Konner does not need to hear the conversation ahead of him to tell that Do’Zellor is upset at this development; this is no surprise, Do’Zellor was known for his temper and while both generals were revered, held to a high standard and known for being tough, Ti’Zellor was the only brother known for being fair. Ti steps in to quell his brother’s frustration. He places a firm hand on Do’s shoulder and pulls him from the edge. Konner’s’ eyes stay trained on Ti even as sweat drips into them causing them to sting. The young prince is unwavering.
“Brother, calm yourself, Konner is not like others. He’s a quick learner just like his uncle.”
Do’Zellor shoves his brother off in frustration as the power panel raises from the floor into Konner’s limited view.
“That’s what scares me.”
Do’Zellor glairs at Konner with great distain as he places his hand on the pad; instantly hard light holograms domino into place all around the arena. Konner places his hand on the hilt of his weapon; with his small fingers which are barely able to grasp the girth of the blades hilt. The holograms take the shape of three Spinara, large spider-like creatures, who stand one to one and a half meters tall. With ten legs and dozens of eyes these massive arachnids scuttle around the arena searching for their prey.
Konner keeps his eyes on these creatures, having heard horror stories of Boronians who had unwittingly wandered into Spinara nests only to be eaten alive. Quickly the prince takes note of each creature’s ten legs, five on either side; each creature’s dozens of eyes scanning wildly around the arena in search for food, each eye darting frantically in different directions. The smallest of the Spinara wizzes by Konner, not noticing the boy; its thin brown body is long and smooth with a hint of translucence to it. Konner gets a clear look at the fangs that seem to dangle limply from the creature’s mouth. The second Spinara takes its place on one of the walls, its body is short and bulbous, tinted a grey base with highlights of yellows and reds swirling over its body. The third and final Spinara climbs onto one of the few boulders that are raised out of the sand, holding close to it the short spiny hairs that cover its body. Its hairs bristle against the stone chipping away the rock wherever they touch.
Konner keeps perfectly still as his memory reaches back to information he obtained on one of his previous and frequent frowned upon adventures into the Sco’lor Academy. It reaches to knowledge that he had not yet been taught in the Sol’lor Academy, the Spinara’s vision is based on movement, if one does not move they wo
uld not be seen. As the first wave of tests settle into their routing Konner notices a pattern in their movements beginning to occur. The smaller brown Spinara made rapid laps throughout the colosseum, while the middle one would leap from one side to the other. The largest and clear alpha would just stand on the boulders, unmoving, waiting for the moment to strike, each of its ten bristle-covered legs flexed, waiting for its prey to reveal itself.
Konner’s muscles stay ridged as he is exceedingly careful not to move a single one. Only his eyes are mobile keeping an eye on his targets before resting on the generals overlooking the test. Ja and Ti are both visibly rooting to themselves for Konner unlike Do who is quite the opposite. Sal keeps his wits sharp as he observes without a bias eye. Konner mentally counts the seconds on each of the smallest Spinara’s rounds. Three, two, one, pass, three, two, one, pass. His grip tightens around his sword as he prepares for the next pass. Three, two, one. Konner keeps his eyes trained on the Spinara as it closes in for another pass. With a desire to buy himself as much time between attacks as possible, the young prince holds his assault till the very last millisecond. Just as the Spinara passes by Konner, the boy thrusts his blade out with a rapid jab, not aiming for the body of the creature, nor even its legs, but for the empty space between them. The jab is perfectly timed causing the newly sharpened blade to find its place between the first and second leg. As the Spinara draws its hind four legs forward they are hewn cleanly off by the sheer force of the Spinaras speed. The first of the creatures’ tumbles with a loud screech onto the ground; its limbs tumble along the colosseum’s floor as its dark tar-like blood oozes and congeals into the sand.
The second, more colorful Spinara catches Konner’s movements, all two dozen of its brownish yellow eyes train onto the young boy ravenously. Facing away from the second Spinara Konner perks up his ears, his luck holds as the alpha had missed Konner’s sudden movement. Listening intently for the sound of muscles flexing, preparing to leap, fills his ears as water when he’d swim. The groaning of the tightening muscles is replaced by a loud pop. The Spinara was air born. Konner closes his eyes and tracks the Spinara mentally through the air. Feeling for displacement and listening to the rush of wind through its open, impending legs as they prepare to close around him, the young prince, with a single, decisive strike, spins and swings his blade as hard as he can. The shimmering metal passes through the second Spinara as if it were not there. Being completely destroyed, the Spinara shatters into millions of splinters of light as it dissipates around Konner. It is completely gone before its two halves even hit the ground. Two for two, you’re not done yet. Konner thinks to himself as his mind and focus shift to the alpha, who by this time, was already well on its way toward Konner in a feral charge. Konner spins his blade around. Holding it with a firm reverse grip, the sharp end of the blade faces outward as the cold back of the hardened Boronian metal rides up the back of Konner’s sweat soaked triceps. Konner leaps into the air toward the Spinara, blade gleaming in the waning daylight. He slams his blades tip into where the Spinara should be but isn’t. Only then does it sink in that he had closed his eyes for only a second, taking them off his target. Still in a reverse grip Konner gets himself into a defensive position and works his way back toward a bolder. Every muscle in his body was taut as they prepared for an ambush or whatever was to come. Konner’s eyes dart from one side of the colosseum to the other, the sting of sweat from his brow still ever present.
There is a moment of silence. Konner’s heart begins to pound as he is unable to get a visual on his target, giving him the disadvantage. He pauses for a moment and in the dead silence the ground gives way under Konner’s foot to a massive fanged mouth that engulfs the young soldier’s leg up to his knee. Konner quickly turns his blade downward and with a single hard jab his leg is spat out. Konner stumbles backward from the alpha Spinara’s pit; he feels his leg with a free hand as the other keeps his sword trained on the Spinara’s location. He wasn’t about to look down again. Relying on his sense of touch Konner miraculously feels no wound. The sand erupts in a geyser of dirt and tar-like blood as the massive Spinara surges from its hiding place toward the shocked prince. Konner swings but his blade glances off the spines of hair leaving only a glancing blow to the creature’s hard exoskeleton. The Spinara rears onto its hind six legs and spews a volley of venom at Konner who ducks and rolls out of the way. The volley misses and lands on the boulder behind Konner, rapidly eating the rock away.
Konner decides it would be best to press his attack and does so with great ferocity as the Spinara drops back down on all ten legs. Konner slices for the legs once again but to no avail; this Spinara is far tougher than the other two. They engage in a dance of lunges and dodges. Konner begins to feel weary as the heat of the colosseum takes its toll. Konner begins to slow as his vision becomes completely obstructed from the sweat now pouring into his eyes.
The Spinara swings its powerful front leg at Konner and makes contact. A shock rattles throughout all of Konner’s system like a percussion instrument, followed by the burning of a thousand needles. All the air in Konner’s lungs is forced out as the prince is engulfed in the sensation of weightlessness. It is only right before slamming into the ground that he realizes what had happened. With a loud ‘thud’ Konner crashes to the floor and slides to a stop. He looks down to see spines sticking from his shoulder. The Spinara rears up once again to fire its venom at Konner who rededicates his grip to his weapon. Konner digs his feet into the ground and shoves off as hard as he can. The young prince dashes across the battlefield closing the ten meter gap between him and the Spinara. His blade’s aim is true and the cold shimmering metal finds its home imbedded into the mouth of the massive creature. Having achieved victory, Konner drops to his knees as the Spinara alpha breaks apart and slowly dissipates into light around him.
As the realization of victory strikes Konner, he reaches up with his left hand and wipes the sweat from his brow as the day sun’s last rays of light dissipate from the arena to be substituted by the light of the night sun. Everything grows dark as the brown dwarf begins to rise and the sweltering heat is rapidly substituted with an unforgiving chill. As the arena amplified the day sun’s energy to be much hotter it does the same with the night sun’s energy to be far colder. With a steady exhale, Konner can see his breath condense against the frozen air. Konner follows his cloud of breath as it dissipates in front of the generals. His focus hones in on them once again. The sting of sweat in his eyes is gradually subdued causing his vision to focus clearly once more. Sal and Do both look impressed with Konner’s victory but Ti and Ja are clearly concerned that Do’Zellor is crossing a line. After a moment of silence Ja’Sanfur speaks, her voice near a whisper in Konner’s ears as the prince focuses his hearing on them once more.
“You just gave him a test meant for someone nine years older than he.”
Ti growls at his Ja.
“And he passed.”
Do snaps back, quieting the other general.
“He was to spend three hours in the Training Grounds as punishment not as torture. That was far too advanced for his age. Now dial it back!”
Do turns and glairs at Ti’Zellor as he places his hand on the pad once again.
“You said yourself he had moved faster than anything you’d seen before. He is far stronger than the other cadets his age and you. Ja’Sanfur, you say yourself that he learns at an exponential rate… I want to see it!”
The walls begin to groan and shift once more. Konner’s attention is brought back down as he feels a chilling sting around his feet. Water, icy and cold gradually covers the sandy floors of the Training Ground. Konner lifts his sword with his left arm, keeping his right arm bent and close to him; the spines from the Spinara are still protruding from the cloth of his robe, now damp with his blood. Konner runs to one of the boulders. Using his right arm, he grips the rugged surface and pulls himself out of the water with an agonizing shout as fire shoots throughout his body from the movement of the spines
within him. Gritting his teeth Konner puts the pain out of his mind, plants his feet and focuses his eyes on the platform in the center of the arena, fifteen meters away. Every muscle in Konner’s legs tightens like unto a spring as he coils his knees beneath him. With a powerful lunge, the boulder slides backward slightly as Konner propels himself through the air. His aim is accurate and with a graceful spin midway through the air Konner’s feet land firmly on the pedestal as he comes to a jarring stop. The pain in Konner’s shoulder begins to throb. He looks down at the spines. Grabbing one he gives it a tug and lets out a feral yelp in pain. Tugging on it once more, the spine leaves Konner’s shoulder after having penetrated over half way into his flesh. The spines were tipped with natural venom to induce agonizing pain when removed to allow the Spinara to track down any escaped prey through sound.
Dropping the long barb to the ground, there are still eight others embedded into his flesh. Konner reaches up to pull the second one out but a soft, almost whisper of a hiss fills the arena. Konner’s eyes shoot up and dart over the surface of the water; ripples shoot across the now freezing floor of the Training Ground. Konner’s lungs burn with the frozen air as it rushes in and out of him with each deep, intentional breath. Konner’s eyes stay trained on the water, following any ripple or tremor on the water’s icy surface. Another hiss rings out throughout the arena only to be followed by the distinct sound of electrical discharge. The ‘pop’ that ends the surge of electricity comes from behind Konner. The young prince quickly spins around to see a long gelatinous creature with a row of hideously sharp teeth and electric blue eyes lunging at him from the water. Konner leans to one side. The monster’s dive misses; as it passes Konner’s face he rapidly studies the creature. It has one row of jagged sharp teeth, electric eyes capable of seeing heat, gelatinous body, coursing with electricity; Nelaka. Konner is able to identify the eel-like creature almost instantly. They were known for dwelling in the icy waters of deep caves and capturing their prey using the electric currents that course through their long bodies.