by Eva Brandt
There was just one problem. Pollux wasn’t very far from me and if I followed that path, I’d run straight into him.
Shit, okay, I needed to choose another route.
Don’t panic, Selene, don’t panic.
I didn’t have the time to find a way around Pollux, so I decided to retrace my steps. At first, it seemed like a bit of a waste of time. But as it turned out, other people had had the same idea as me and were making their way to this area. I ran into three men one after the other, all from various star fleets. I took them out quickly, before they could see me coming.
This mental projection thing was pretty neat. The only problem was that the Sphinx was right and I didn’t enjoy touching their minds. Two of them felt slick, like touching an oily substance I couldn’t wash off. The third felt icy and deadly, in a way that paralyzed me and almost made me drop my sword.
When I sensed him, I had the overwhelming urge to run. The knowledge that I had nowhere to go forced me forward. I didn’t feel particularly proud when he fell under my blast. Without the element of surprise, he would’ve kicked my ass.
“That doesn’t matter, Selene,” Sphinx reasoned. “In battle, you use whatever advantage you have at your disposal. Your talent just happens to be more subtle. That doesn’t make you weaker.
“That man is one of the most experienced soldiers in the tournament, and his defeat is just another lesson for you. No one is unbeatable, no matter how much power they have.”
The thought encouraged me. Deciding to take a small breather, I activated the holographic display embedded on my uniform and checked my status.
The number of points that showed up was a very impressive 783. “When did I gather that many points?” I asked. I couldn’t remember the exact number of points each of the men had been worth, but they’d all been below 100.
“I believe that when you take out a person, you get that person’s points too,” Sphinx replied.
“Wow,” I said. “That’s awfully convenient. I didn’t think they’d make it so easy for me.”
“It didn’t occur to anyone that you’d have a chance. Besides, you’re not out of the woods yet. Don’t get cocky. Focus and keep going.”
That sounded like an excellent idea. This number might seem high, but I didn’t know where I stood in the rankings. Hopefully, if I could stick to my plan and escape the labyrinth, I’d be able to solidify my position.
Calling onto my talent once again, I started to make my way forward. I was making progress, since I was getting closer to the overwhelming number of presences—the spectators. That also meant I couldn’t keep using my skill for much longer and had to rely on blind luck once again.
The ‘keep going and hope for the best’ method failed me. I was out of time and out of luck. I took a few more steps and entered another part of the labyrinth, only to run into Jared Glass.
The moment I saw him, every horrible thing he’d told me came rushing back. I lashed out at him with my sword, tachyons wildly sweeping through the labyrinth in a dazzling, lethal whirlwind. Jared cursed and ducked, but my blast was too powerful for him to completely avoid.
I took a step back, reminding myself I didn’t want to kill him. He was an asshole, but I didn’t want his blood on my hands. This was a competition, not a war, and as much as I wanted to pass these qualifiers, I couldn’t take it too far.
The moment of hesitation cost me. Jared snuck underneath my guard and tackled me to the ground. It was the second time I’d fallen since the beginning of the tournament and even with the protection of the uniform, my body was starting to protest the abuse. The physical impact wasn’t the worst of it. His power trickled into me, forcing my restless gift back. I lost my grip on my sword and on every other weapon I’d been using.
Normally, I might have tried to retaliate, but I was exhausted after my past battles. The Sphinx’s mental gift had been tough to use. I hadn’t felt that much strain while I’d been chasing my previous opponents through the labyrinth, but now that I’d stopped, a strange mellowness had started to settle over my limbs. My thoughts felt fuzzy and jumbled, and the pain Jared was causing reached me through a distant veil.
“Let me go,” I said. The words came out weak and shaky, and I hated myself for it.
If Jared noticed my condition, he didn’t mention it, nor did he find it strange. “Sorry. Can’t do that. Listen to me very closely. We don’t have a lot of time. I’m sorry about everything I said at the school, but it was necessary.”
I shouldn’t have believed him, but his tone gave me pause. Now that he was touching me, I could feel an undercurrent of panic and an urgency I hadn’t noticed before. It gave me enough clarity to push back the strange fog that had settled over my mind. “Necessary for what?” I asked slowly.
“I need you to remember a message, or rather, a code. You’ll know when you have to activate it.”
I couldn’t have been more confused if I tried. “What? But…”
Before I could ask what he meant, Jared trailed off a string of letters and numbers. The moment he finished saying the code, something in my mind seemed to click into place. A pressure settled on my brain and tears sprang out in my eyes as the onslaught of unexpected power exploded over me. It was different than the side-effect of my earlier use of my gift, and for a few seconds, I thought I’d black out.
Jared’s hold on me faltered and he let out a low hiss. “For what it’s worth, I am sorry. But this is the only way now. The mission isn’t safe with me anymore.”
Mission? What mission? What was he talking about? And why the hell would he think I could protect his code? I could barely protect myself and I was hanging onto my position at the academy by the skin of my teeth.
I didn’t understand what was happening. Until ten minutes ago, I could’ve sworn Jared Glass hated me, as evidenced by that whole thing with the bet. And now, here we were, in this weird situation, with him forcing a strange burden onto me and me unable to process what he wanted.
“Now, I’ll go ahead and let you go,” he continued after a few moments of pause. “Knock me out. No one will think it’s weird, since plenty of people have probably reveled in taunting you.”
Yes, they had, and it occurred to me Jared might have had something to do with that. The drones were transmitting everything that was happening in the stadium, but they couldn’t register conversations. After my earlier exchanges with the others, no one would deem the outcome of my battle with Jared strange, even if he’d surrendered to me.
I still couldn’t fathom what he was thinking, but I’d have to worry about it later. For the moment, I decided to go along with what he’d said. I didn’t have much time at my disposal anyway and if the qualifiers ended while I was still under Jared, I’d lose.
Without another word, I headbutted him in the face. He let out a shocked grunt, having obviously not expected that move. Maybe he’d believed I’d use tachyon manipulation. I took advantage of it to struggle to my feet and pick up my fallen weapon.
I was about to knock him unconscious, like he had asked, when the metallic walls started to vibrate. “The qualifiers are over,” a robotic voice announced. “All competitors, make your way back to your platform.”
The walls of the labyrinth withdrew into the ground. Befuddled, I sheathed my sword and offered Jared a hand. He didn’t take it. Instead, he sneered at me, once more the asshole who had made that horrible bet with me. “Are you so eager to touch me, Terran whore? Don’t worry. You’ll get to, in a bit. You might have gotten lucky a few times, but I bet you don’t have enough points to qualify.”
I didn’t know why, but I got the feeling that thought filled him with dread. More confused than ever, I left Jared where he was and headed back to the rest of my companions. Things had just become far more complicated and I hated it.
* * *
August
The qualifiers sucked. When I watched Selene disappear into the labyrinth, I tasted ash in my mouth and felt like I was about to explode. My mi
nd was all over the place and I couldn’t focus on the battle. Three times, I almost got knocked out and it was only my connection with Charybdis that kept me anchored. I still came close to losing control of my power. That hadn’t happened since I’d been a child, before I’d met Pollux.
Something was horribly wrong and it made my skin crawl, as if strange vermin were trying to wriggle their way under my skin.
“What a charming imagery,” Charybdis commented. “You know I’d never allow that to happen. I’m the only parasite allowed inside you.”
“Yes, yes,” I told her, “but you’re a welcome parasite. I just have a bad feeling.”
“If it helps, Sphinx is monitoring your broodmate. She says Selene is doing well.”
The information cheered me up, and I managed to go through the qualifiers without getting anyone killed. I almost crossed paths with Brendan and Knox once or twice, but we successfully avoided one another. The powers Charybdis had awakened inside me might be difficult to carry, but right then and there, I was so grateful I could’ve wept.
As the qualifiers ended, we all returned to our previous spots. As soon as I saw Selene, a surge of fury coursed through me. Her neck was covered in bruises and minor burns. Her wrist was swollen red, the sign of another wound created by Tartarus’s power.
By comparison, we were mostly fine. As expected, Brendan didn’t have a scratch on him. Pollux and I had a few bruises and Knox was favoring his right arm. It wasn’t nearly as bad as Selene’s injuries. But I supposed it could’ve been much worse. She was standing on her own feet, not immobilized, clear-headed, not bleeding. As long as that was the case, I wouldn’t insult her by panicking over her wounds. We’d have to see to the issue, but in private.
Brendan seemed to have the same idea. “You did well, Selene. We’ll have to help you with your injuries after the results are announced.”
He didn’t ask her if she was healthy enough to stay and Selene rewarded him with a smile. “Thank you. It’s not so bad. I just hope I managed to get enough points to qualify.”
She had, and so had the rest of us. When the results were announced, the fire burning inside me settled down a little. The highest of us was, predictably, Knox. He was in third place, although I was pretty sure he could’ve gotten first if the numbers of points assigned to each person hadn’t been so weirdly assigned. Brendan was in eighth place, while Pollux and I were in tenth and eleventh respectively. Selene had earned an excellent twenty-two.
Not bad if I did say so myself.
Selene let out a relieved breath. “That went better than expected. I guess I got lucky.”
“Luck had nothing to do with it,” Pollux said. “You’re a good fighter. Give yourself some credit.”
Behind us, Jared Glass scoffed. “As if. If I’d had a few more seconds, I’d have taken her out.”
“Really?” Selene drawled. “I think I’m the one who should say that. As I recall, you were on your knees at my feet.”
Jared twitched in irritation. “A temporary setback. It wouldn’t have taken me long to fix the problem.”
He’d qualified too, although just barely. He was the second to last person, which meant that his bet with Selene was officially over and done with. Neither of them had achieved their goals. Selene didn’t seem too mad about it. In fact, she didn’t seem too upset with him at all. When she looked at him, her eyes held a speculative light. It was very different from her previous anger, reminding me a little of the way she was with us.
What had happened in the labyrinth, during their fight?
I wanted to ask, but when we were ushered out of the arena, I didn’t get the chance. Medical staff rushed to tend to the wounded. Selene was whisked away and came back with the bruise around her neck looking much better.
A drone brought us some rations and we ate in companionable silence. It was nice, peaceful, and I wanted to prolong these simple, quiet moments, to not have to think about all my questions and duties. But now that Selene had qualified, we were back to our previous dilemma.
What were we supposed to do in the following stages of the competition? Could we use the tournament to turn her away from the school? I didn’t really want to, not anymore, but I didn’t have a choice.
“Any idea what the next test will be?” Selene asked, snapping me out of my musings.
“If they turned the qualifiers into a battle royale, I’m thinking the second stage might involve piloting in some way,” Brendan replied.
Selene frowned. “Would they use chimeras, though? I mean, it doesn’t seem fair to the others.”
Sometimes, it was so easy to forget how new Selene was at this. “The others will all have different vessels, although granted, they will be inferior to our chimeras. But nothing in life is fair, Selene. War is the most unfair thing of all. There’s always going to be a person who’s more powerful than you. If we have chimeras, it’s because we’ve earned them. The Grand Judiciary won’t hide that, no matter how much of an issue they have with you.”
“That makes sense, I guess,” Selene offered. “It’s not like the first stage was all that fair.”
No, it hadn’t been, since the whole thing had been set up specifically against Selene. But The Grand Judiciary couldn’t have guessed Selene would pass the qualifiers, so maybe it hadn’t occurred to them to prepare a second stage of the same nature.
I really should’ve known better than to jinx us like that. When we returned to the stadium and saw the mirrors set up all over the field, I was instantly horrified.
“Mirrors?” Selene asked, completely unaware of the danger she was now in. “What’s this all about?”
Pollux looked like he was about to throw up. And how could he not? He hated this technique, since it reminded him of the true brutality of The Grand Judiciary.
Mirrors seemed harmless, but for us, they had long ago become a weapon, one that could easily kill those unprepared to use it. And Selene was not prepared.
King Philip hadn’t taken any chances. He must’ve decided to make sure Selene was out of the picture, just in case something extreme happened and she did pass the qualifiers. The first stage of the tournament had been more versatile, but this was very specific and not something Selene had gotten the chance to learn.
It was advanced tachyon manipulation, nothing like the uncontrolled blasts Selene had used before. She’d encountered some success while wielding the sword, but this was on a whole new level. Most of us could do it, although for Pollux, it was tougher than it was for me and Brendan. He wasn’t a big fan of mirrors in general. He and Stella had been twins and on occasion, when he looked at his reflection, he was still reminded of her.
Knox struggled a lot, for different reasons. The technique required a level of concentration he couldn’t use, not with the burden he was already carrying. He managed, but it was very painful. Cerberus had already been angry before. Knox might not be able to handle his own power, especially not if Selene failed to complete this task. Tartarus help us all. Selene.
“Guys?” Selene asked, having noticed our shock and panic.
“Tachyons are fundamentally particles of light, Selene,” Brendan explained. “While they do burn you, that’s not the only thing they do. When they come into contact with reflective surfaces, their power levels change. Each individual blast is heavily amplified.”
Selene paled. She’d clearly understood what we were getting at. “How heavily?”
“That’s the basic concept of how chimera engines work. Tachyons reflect off the surface of Tartarus diamonds. Those mirrors aren’t actually glass. They’re polished fragments of Tartarus diamonds.”
“Ah.”
One simple word, a tiny syllable. Ah. It said so much. Selene had learned enough about our technology to grasp the kind of energy output necessary to make a chimera function. “Are we required to absorb that?” she asked.
“That would be insane and would carbonize three-quarters of the competitors, at least at maximum level,” I answered. �
�But who knows? Anything is possible.”
Brendan had started to shake. He grabbed Selene’s wrist, his fingers tinged a dark, poisonous green. “If that’s what my father wants, drop out, Selene. There’s no shame in it. Even if there are consequences at school, it’s better than you being burned alive.”
Selene nodded, but I had the feeling she wasn’t really listening. “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” she offered. “There has to be some other explanation.”
But there wasn’t. When the king showed up once again, his face was a grim mask. “Welcome to the second stage of The Grand Tartarus Tournament and congratulations to everyone who’s made it so far. Throughout the course of our lives as soldiers, we often have to face our worst fears. We have to face a fire that threatens to boil the blood in our veins, and we have to embrace it. To honor that blaze, we invite our competitors to display the strength that allows them to protect Terra.
“The trial is simple. A blast of Tartarus fire will be directed at the mirrors. It will then echo into each competitor. Whoever remains standing at the end will pass to the next stage.”
I felt like I was about to hurl. In a way, it made sense now that the qualifiers had weeded out so many people. The king wouldn’t want to lose a lot of capable soldiers to horrible immolation, so he’d taken steps to remove those who had most likely not mastered the technique. I suspected he’d had an easier task planned and wouldn’t have gone through with something so horrible had Selene not passed.
Why? Why go through this whole thing to get rid of Selene? It seemed so crazy and unnecessarily convoluted. If the king wanted her out of the way, he could’ve found any other method instead of carbonizing her. Was it just sadistic enjoyment?
“This is insane,” Brendan suddenly blurted out. “I’ll speak to him. I’ll agree to marry Penelope if I have to, but I won’t allow this madness.”
Could that be it? Was he doing this to make a point, to show Brendan the consequences of his actions? I hadn’t deemed King Philip capable of going so far, but what did I know? I had never met him in person. Brendan might be right.
