Monty put away Leo’s file and sat back in his chair. His smile stretched from ear to ear and he laughed, quite amused with himself. He folded his hands in his lap and looked at his prisoner with curiosity.
“Now with all these crimes put together, your sentence has been decided as life in Adras prison, cell block ‘X’. Quite ironic given your name.” The warden laughed hard at his joke. Leo was not amused, but he faked a smile to avoid another neural shock. “You should be proud Mr. X…that cell block is reserved for some of our most dangerous and notorious criminals.”
Leo thought about the prospect of living the rest of his life in Adras. In only a week, he had reached a delusional state of mind and had contemplated suicide. He had doubts that he could last a year, let alone an entire lifetime.
“Now with all this being said, Mr. Exe, I have an offer for you.”
Leo’s heart stopped. He held his breath. Did he hear correctly? The warden had an offer for him—Just like Coté predicted. This had to mean that the shifter was real! Leo did all he could to hide his excitement, even though the possibility of escaping Adras seemed more likely. He had to stay composed. He didn’t want to show Monty his true feelings and make the warden suspicious.
“What kind of offer?” said Leo in his usual timid tone.
“Well you see Mr. Exe, every year I like to hold a little tournament here at Adras. It’s a way to entertain my guards while offering a very generous opportunity to a few selected prisoners.”
Leo listened intently to the Warden. He still hated and distrusted the man but if it meant the possibility of getting out of this wretched place, he would do almost anything.
“The tournament involves contested fights to the death between our more…aggressive prisoners. The champion of the entire tournament will get paroled and enlisted into the Royal Army.”
The young speedster was silent at first, taking in the warden’s offer. He didn’t know how to respond. He never thought that he would have to fight other prisoners—dangerous prisoners, in order to escape. He didn’t think he could last one minute against a hardened criminal of AzzaNation. He would be fighting against killers, mercenaries, rapists and who knows what else. The royals only thought he was dangerous because they had found him with the mutilated bodies of his former comrades. He wanted to explain to Monty that it was all just a misunderstanding—that he wasn’t the one who caused their deaths. It was true he killed the royal guard and Len, but those were done with aid or in self-defense. There would be no way that he would be able to survive in a death tournament, and even if he did manage, by some miracle, to win the tournament, his prize wasn’t worth fighting for. To be enlisted in the Royal Army meant that they would break him until he was an obedient killing machine—who followed every whim of Grindaull or some other sadistic officer.
He wondered if this is what Coté meant by giving Leo his freedom. If so, the smug fly could go to the fifth. He didn’t want to risk his life for the slight chance that he would be allowed to join the Royal Army. However…it didn’t take long to be reminded of the alternative. Life in Adras would be death itself and a slow death at that…He knew in his heart that if he stayed in this prison, he would only last a few years at the most.
“Well Mr. Exe, do you accept my offer?”
After all his internal deliberations, he had finally decided to put his faith in the idea of freedom, even if it would be a controlled freedom. “…Yes, Monty. I will participate in your tournament.”
“Excellent!” The warden was ecstatic. “This will be an amazing tournament—the best one yet! I can feel it!”
Monty rose out of his chair and walked over to the door. He opened it and signaled to the guard standing outside that they were done. A second later, the guard was in the office and had picked up Leo from the chair. As they passed the warden in the doorway, Monty grabbed Leo’s arm and spoke intimidatingly close to the speedster’s ear.
“Now before I let this fine guard escort you back to your cell, I almost forgot to inform you of something.”
The warden’s face turned serious and Leo instinctively flinched.
“I regret to inform you Mr. Exe, that upon finding out that you were an unregistered evolved, we had to investigate how it could have happened. Our search led us to your father, Mr. Karl Exe at the AzzaNation Academy, in KL’en. After questioning him thoroughly, we found out the truth that he was the one responsible. And since he was confirmed to be your accomplice, he was immediately brought into custody…and executed.” Monty’s smile returned as he patted Leo on the back. “I just thought you ought to know.”
Monty gave a nod to the guard and let them leave his office. The guard led Leo back through the prison, shoving him to keep a quick pace. The walk was long as they went through each level, all the way down to cell block X. As they walked, Leo didn’t make a sound, but his eyes let out a river of tears.
CHAPTER FIVE
T wo weeks had passed since Leo had met with the Warden, and he was still grieving in his heart for his father. In his tiny cell, trapped in Adras prison, he was left alone with only his thoughts—and all he could think about was how his recklessness had gotten his father killed.
His dad didn’t deserve it, thought Leo, as he wailed and cried inside the pitch-black cell. Karl Exe was a truly good man—better than most people you could ever meet in AzzaNation. Although, it was true that he had killed students if they didn’t meet the academic standards of the Royal Academy—but that was never his choice. He was forced to kill them by Grindaull and the king’s regime. If he didn’t take his knife to his own students when it was required, he would have been tortured and beaten and then, only after they were sure he had suffered an incredible amount of pain, would they execute him.
The grieving son didn’t want to think about the ways they tortured his father for being an accomplice in hiding an unregistered evolved, but it was all that was going through his mind. Every day since the warden told him, Leo’s dreams kept showing him the image of his father strung up in some barbaric dungeon, being skinned and amputated and cut and broken over and over and over and over…until death was finally given as a merciful gift—and then Leo would wake up, and be left to think about how scared his father must have been. Alone, until his last moments…no one to comfort him. The son’s guilt was eating him up inside. His father was a good man. Karl Exe had done everything he could to make sure that his only son lived an honest and peaceful life, far away from the military. He raised Leo on his own, while working one of the most stressful jobs a civilian could have. Leo owed Karl Exe everything…and how did he repay his father? By being stupid and getting caught—exposing the truth about his evolved ability and getting his father killed.
Some son he was.
Pathetic. Shameful.
So, there he sat, crying when he had enough moisture to make tears, and beating himself over the one major mistake he made that led to the death of his best friend.
Sometimes, he found his thoughts wandering into anger. Did the man who raised him truly do everything he could to protect Leo? Did he really? Why didn’t he do more to stand up to the Royal Government? After all, there are resistance groups fighting against the royals on AzzaNation—Karl could have joined one of them with his son. Or if he truly refused to fight, he could have made a deal with some passing cargo freighter and stowed away on their ship, getting off the planet. If he would have done that, then maybe he would still be alive, with his son safely out of prison.
However, even when Leo tried to be angry at his father and tried to blame the man for the tragedies that had taken over their lives, he always understood his father’s decisions. It’s true that Karl could have tried to run away or stand up to the royals, but what good would it have done? If they had escaped AzzaNation, Grindaull would have placed a bounty on their heads and the two of them would have lived the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders. And if his father tried to fight by joining some resistance group, then they both would have surel
y died in some bloody battle. The resistance groups on the planet never lasted long. Grindaull always found a way to find them and obliterate them into dust.
No, thought Leo. His father did the best he could. He lived his life as good as he was allowed in this blasphemy of a planet. He wasn’t perfect, but perfection had decided to give up on AzzaNation a long time ago. Karl Exe had protected his son, and he did what he had to do to survive. The speedster knew that that was the key to living in AzzaNation, and that’s why he agreed to participate in the warden’s tournament. Leo hated killing, the few times he had to do it, but whenever he did, it was always for his own survival. The royal guard in Newon, Len in the desert. Both of them would have taken his life if they had the chance. And now he was faced with a difficult choice…would he kill someone else to gain his freedom? It hurt him deeply inside to think about ending a life so he could escape this place, but the more he thought about it—the longer he weighed his options, the more he felt a pull towards going through with the tournament. He didn’t want to hurt or kill anyone, if he could help it, but if it meant survival, and more importantly, freedom from Adras, then he decided that he’d do whatever it took to win.
_________________________
He sat alone in a dark and damp waiting room. The room itself was empty and barren, except for the bench Leo was sitting on. He could see vacant weapon racks along the walls, which he assumed were filled at one point. When that was, he didn’t know. He figured that it was possible the contestants in these tournaments used to have weapons offered to them, but that was not the case anymore—especially with the contestants being highly dangerous by themselves. It was also possible, that the racks had been empty since the days of the Desert Drakes. The wood did have an old and moldy texture to it, untouched for a very long time. Either way, Leo wished the racks had been filled for him. He had no idea what he was going to be walking into, and with the inhibitor chip neutralizing his power, he was less dangerous than a butterfly.
On the other side of the door was the arena where he would have to fight some maniac killer to the death. He could hear the guards as they entered. They were talking with one another and taking bets. He did his best to tune them out. The last thing he needed was to hear his odds said out loud.
Then the door opened, and Leo had no choice but to get up, pushing his fear deep down within himself. It was time that he faced his certain death head on. The light from the arena covered his secluded room, and the noise of the crowd was deafening as it spilled through the door.
“Am I ready for this?” he asked himself. Knowing the answer, he put one foot in front of the other, and walked through the door confidently unconfident.
The arena was exactly how he imagined it would be. A boxed pit, with walls twenty feet high surrounding it. Sitting above the pit were all the guards and other spectators, laughing and gawking. Normally, the royals wore helmets that covered their faces, with their armor, so he could never see their expressions. But for the fight, they were in casual attire—simple tunics or plain shirts and pants, with their faces exposed, allowing Leo to see how disgusting their sadistic blood-seeking desires were. After observing them for half a minute, he could say with certainty that he preferred the facelessness of the helmets.
Among the crowd, sitting above everyone else, sat Monty. He watched Leo intently with his eerie smile as the speedster entered the pit. Then Leo watched as the warden turned his gaze to the opposite wall, as the other fighter entered from across the arena.
Leo was somewhat puzzled at the man standing across from him. He didn’t see a ruthless, sadistic killer that he had pictured in his mind—huge muscles, scars everywhere, with a face that could smash a boulder. Instead, he saw a tall, skinny man, completely unassuming. The mystery man stood on the other side of the pit, slouching and barely moving a muscle. His hair was long and curly, and it covered his eyes and face. Leo thought the man looked like a sheep, with his wild ungroomed hair. The young speedster chuckled to himself, softly as he pictured a sheep’s head on the man’s body. He had been so worried that he would have to fight some glorious titan, someone who would cause fear and terror just by looking at them. Instead, Leo was faced with this twiggy sheep-man…He was underwhelmed to say the least. He still didn’t want to kill anyone, but he figured his odds had just gotten better.
The doors that led the two contestants into the pit slammed shut with a loud bang. The sound startled Leo, which he assumed was the point. In the next moment, Monty was standing on his elevated platform, addressing the crowd.
“Welcome everyone, to another year of the exciting and deadly Tournament of Adras!”
The crowd erupted with applause and cheers. Then as Monty raised his hand, they all fell silent, in an instant.
“It has always been my pleasure to bring the highest quality of entertainment to my beloved workers,” Monty let his depraved smile grow large. “…It is simply my way of saying thank you.”
The crowd showed the warden their gratitude, filling the arena with sound. Then yet again—with a signal of his hand, they stopped.
Leo was utterly creeped out by the scene and everyone’s behavior. He realized that Monty was lying to his guards. This tournament wasn’t for them. It was purely for the warden—all some sick way for him to show-off his power and maintain his control over Adras. His guards had to obey his every whim, and if they didn’t, they could easily end up in the pit themselves one day.
“…Now, the rules remain the same. Two prisoners fight until one is victorious and the other is dead. Just to make these fights interesting, I will be shutting off the contestants’ implants to allow them full access to their…lethal abilities.”
Leo felt the implant imbedded in his neck, tracing its outline with his fingers. The little device was the only thing suppressing his speed, and now they were going to turn it off. He instantly thought about running—but he quickly realized that he would be dead before he left the room. With a press of a button, Monty could turn the implant back on and use it to fry Leo’s brain from the inside.
“Now let me introduce today’s contestants.” Monty’s hand signaled towards the skinny man first. “From cell block ‘W’ we have a Royal Army deserter, Mr. Ben Manden.”
The crowd booed the man relentlessly. Leo could see clearly in their eyes, the hatred they held for this man. Army deserters were not common in AzzaNation, but when they did appear, it spurred absolute disgust and fury from the loyalists. Ben Manden, to his credit, just remained still, with his eyes covered. No one, including Leo, could tell what he was thinking. The speedster couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for the man. He was clearly brave enough to stand up against the indoctrination that he had been fed all his life. Maybe he was tired of killing innocent people? Maybe he wanted to help others instead of hurting them? But it was also possible that his reasons were less altruistic. He could have been tired of being a soldier on the bottom rung. Maybe he wanted more power and more money, and he thought the only way to get it, was by turning to a life of crime? Leo had no way to know the truth behind the deserter’s past, and the man’s expression was revealing nothing.
“Now now people, he has paid his dues,” said the warden, moving his arms in an attempt at calming his hostile guards. “Mr. Manden has been in our loving care for seventeen years now. I say that he has earned the right to compete for redemption.”
With the warden’s approval, the crowd began to cheer in favor of Ben Manden—as easy as turning over a coin. Leo was disgusted at how mindless they all were. He wondered if any of them were even capable of forming a unique thought. His time in the Royal Academy may have been filled with psychological stress and torture, but at least he had been allowed to think.
The crowd quickly became silent once again, as the warden turned his focus onto Leo. Suddenly, the speedster felt every eye in the arena looking at him. He swallowed a lump that formed in the back of his throat, trying to keep his nerves at bay.
“And his opponent!” exclaim
ed Monty, “One of our newer initiates…However, his reputation has already grown throughout AzzaNation, and I’m sure you have all heard of him by now. He is The Butcher of the Forbidden Desert…straight from cell block ‘X’—Mr. Leo Exe!”
The crowd erupted, which made Leo flinch. Apparently, they thought he was a famous and brutal killing machine. He wondered if they were expecting him to mutilate Ben as soon as the fight started. As his view panned across the screaming and merciless faces in the crowd, he realized he had another threat to his life, other than the match itself. If he didn’t live up to their expectation and provide them with their sick form of entertainment, then there was a strong possibility the guards, or even the warden, would end his life out of boredom.
His gaze left their evil faces, and glanced across the pit at his opponent. Ben Manden was as still as ever. Leo still didn’t know what the man was thinking—but it didn’t matter. The desperate speedster knew he had to win, and that Ben was in his way. Leo may not be the butcher they claimed he was, but he had killed before for his own survival…and he knew he would have to kill this royal deserter if he wanted to get out of here alive.
“Now without any further delay, let us begin!” Monty smiled and signaled to a guard sitting beside him at a computer console. The lights in the crowd went out, and the only illumination that remained was over the pit. A loud buzz sounded off and the crowd erupted with noise.
Leo felt his implant twitch on his neck, and he assumed that his powers were restored. He kept his gaze tight on Ben, expecting the man to attack first, but Manden never moved a muscle.
Knowing nothing about his opponent, Leo decided to proceed with caution. He could only assume that Ben was an evolved, due to the man’s dangerous reputation, but what was his power? Leo had no way to know…and he decided that he didn’t want to wait to find out. Using his speed, he immediately rushed towards Ben as fast as he could. He threw his fist hoping to catch Ben off-guard in a quick attack, thinking it would be easy due to the deserter’s stillness and lack of vision. However, that was not the case.
The Chronicles of AzzaNation: Dawn of a New Age Page 9
