by Quil Carter
I believe that was a large chunk of these negative emotions I was experiencing, just feeling helpless to save the person that you loved. I was just a kid and I had power over no one, I barely had power over myself and Silas made it clear he could, and would, take that power away at the snap of his finger.
I promised myself as we pulled into Stadium… that when I was older, I’d never let anyone else have power over me. Once I became an adult, I would be my own man and never let things like this happen. And if I ever had kids, I wouldn’t make them feel helpless and sad, and I definitely wouldn’t feel jealous if they liked their sengils because I understood it was two different kinds of love.
Okay, there, Elish. You know what you’ll do different when you’re older, and you know what you’re going to be learning from this. Just concentrate on that and you’ll be okay. This is just a game you have to get through and some levels are harder than others.
And with that small pep talk, I managed to disassociate myself from these churning, awful feelings I had rotting my insides, and became Player One.
“Are those people all here for us?”
I glanced up as Nero gasped this and was surprised to see a crowd of people gathered in front of the entrance to the large stadium. There had to be at least a hundred people and the ones at the front were holding cameras.
“Yes, bellua,” Silas said. I could see him smiling in the reflection of the windshield. “I told you, did I not? All of Skyfall was glued to their televisions after we made the announcement that you two had been kidnapped, and every Skyfaller was tearing their districts apart looking for my lovelies.”
My siblings were vibrating with excitement when the long black car pulled up beside a pathway that had been roped off with velvet red rope. The people waiting for us were excited as well and already I could hear cameras clicking and men and women calling our names.
A thien opened the car door for us, and on Silas’s orders, Nero and I stepped out first with King Silas only a pace behind.
It was like I’d walked into a physical wall of energy. The crowd exploded into cheers and claps, and the cameras were clicking so fast they were making their own music. I felt overwhelmed by this so I kept my head down and continued to walk towards the entrance to Stadium. People were calling my name and asking me questions, but I didn’t answer. I could hear Nero behind me answering though, he sounded like he was loving all of this.
I couldn’t have entered the inside of the stadium fast enough. As soon as I was inside, I got as far away from the entrance as I could and sat down on a bench beside the far wall.
Stadium was usually fun… it took place once a week on Saturdays and everyone in Skyfall could attend. It took place inside of an actual Stadium which used to be called B.C Place, but the stadium had been altered so the benches and seats were in the middle of where the playing field used to be and there were skyboxes above the fighting arena which were reserved for us, the royal family, and elites that could afford the tickets.
It was really fun to go to Stadium. Master Silas said that the first time my siblings and I were at Stadium we were only three days old. He loved to show us off to the Skyfallers, and it was fun to stick around for the shows that were put on. The shows usually involved some sort of pre-Fallocaust animal doing tricks or just being shown off, and since Silas says culture is important, he’d also let any person or group apply to put on a show. It was a lot of fun, Nero especially liked the convicts getting killed. I didn’t like nor dislike it, it was a part of my job as future king to watch them die.
The rest of my family came after me. Nero, of course, was smiling and Garrett and Ellis seemed pretty happy too. I wish I had simple minds like them, perhaps it would be easier for me to smile then too. I had too much on my mind though; I had an adult mind with adult thoughts and feelings… my siblings were still too immature to understand.
I put my hands into my pockets and tried to stay behind Silas. We kept getting stopped by elites which was annoying. They’d fawn over us with their plastic smiles, and bow deeply to Silas and call him Your Grace. These people were all fake but Silas says it’s not polite to call them on it, unless they’re in trouble.
We were led to our skybox and Silas let us loose on the catering. I wasn’t hungry, even though they had chocolate cake with real icing. I was too worried about what Cristo’s punishment was going to be, and I hated being out of the house. I just wanted to go back home and lay in the dark in my bed. Maybe take a Xanax…
“Elish, I got you your favourite.” Garrett appeared beside me and offered me a piece of angel food cake with vanilla icing and sprinkles. “Silas says we’re allowed one piece each but Nero’s already eyeing up the rest of the angel cake.”
I stared down at the cake. “I’m… not really hungry.”
“Elish!” Silas snapped. I turned towards him, surprised to see such a look of anger on his face. “Why are you moping around?” His tone ripped my heart out of my chest and his glaring eyes pierced it like a javelin.
I stared at Silas, too taken aback to answer him. Did he… did he know I was upset because I knew he was going to punish Cristo? Those eyes tore me apart piece by piece and told me without a doubt that my fears were correct. Silas knew, and he was angry at me for being scared for Cristo. The king had ripped the mask of calm off of his face and had shown me the green-eyed monster that dwelled within.
“I’m – I’m not,” I stammered. I grabbed the cake from Garrett, and the fear I was feeling made me defy my own dignity by forcing a smile on my face.
Silas glared me down before nodding slowly. “Good.” Then he turned from me and walked to the sliding glass door that would lead to the skybox’s patio.
I choked as soon as the sliding door closed and turned around. I sat down on one of the stuffed chairs and put my cake on the table beside me. I buried my face into my hands then and slowly wiped them down.
Every muscle in my body twitched at me to run, but I knew if I ran I would disappoint Silas. I was going to be a king one day, and that meant doing things I didn’t want to do.
If I ran now, I’d lose the game. I couldn’t lose.
I rose, held my head up high, and walked to the sliding glass door and towards where Silas was standing.
Silas glanced behind him, and I saw a brief look of surprise cross his face. It vanished quickly though, and he nodded me to him.
And just as I stood beside him, the cheering crowds of Skyfallers below us roaring with excitement, I saw Joe walk into the large arena, a portable microphone in his hand.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” Joe called. He raised a hand to the air and turned in a circle, as he spun, the Skyfallers all jumped to their feet and the entire stadium shook with their noise. It wasn’t just loud, the energy these people were exhibiting seemed to make the stadium into a flesh and blood beast, one that demanded tribute and would not settle for anything less than sacrifice.
They were wild tonight, louder and more ferocious than they were the previous times I’d attended. It seemed, as I stared down at the tight cluster of people, jammed together like flies on a rotting corpse, that they knew this time would be a special. That the roaring beast was promised carnage and would feast on it until its stomach was swollen and splitting.
“What a night, what a night! What a night for a stadium fight!”
CHAPTER 9
The crowd was going wild; I’d never heard them this loud before. Everything had them cheering and clapping, and when the animals came out, I was sure Skyland could hear the roaring that erupted from the stadium.
We saw a man who trained dogs and did tricks with them. Dog Man was really popular and Master Silas says his family was given custody of the remaining purebred dogs to keep the line going. He loved dogs and trained them to do performances for money; he was really popular in Stadium. Skyfall had to go through him if they wanted to adopt a purebred dog.
After Dog Man was done, the acrobats came out, and then the legionaries came out to do a ce
remony for an important officer who died. After that was done, Joe came out and grabbed the microphone and I knew the convicts were going to come out.
I squirmed at this. The other performances had distracted me from what I knew was going to happen, but now it looked like it was time… sometime in the next hour… Cristo was going to come out for his punishment. I knew this was the reason Silas wanted us at Stadium tonight, there would be no other reason.
My hands kneaded the wooden railing and I began to chew on the side of my cheek. I didn’t want to be out here right now. I could make the excuse that I hadn’t eaten my cake…
I turned around and started walking towards the sliding door, my brothers and sister staring down at the arena.
“Stay here.” Silas’s voice snapped the trepidation surrounding me; it was enough for me to jump up into the air.
I slowly faced him and saw Master Silas glaring down at me like I was poison. My shoulders slumped and I nodded, then shuffled over to my spot beside him.
A convict was in the middle of the arena now and Hulk Logan was in front of him kneading his knuckles. Hulk Logan was a part of the Legion Gladiators, a group of top ranking legionary who would kill the convicts during Stadium. How it worked, was that one of the Gladiators would be pit against the convict in question. The Gladiators each had a special weapon they were allowed to use, but the convicts only got a small dagger. If the convict managed to kill a Gladiator, which didn’t happen often, he or she would be set free and given an offer to become a legionary. Most of the time though, the convict was killed in front of a cheering audience.
Hulk Logan was the executioner this time. He was Nero’s hero and he’d met Nero a few times. His costume made him look like the old wrestler Hulk Hogan, except he had red hair and dressed like a yellow lumberjack. He even had an axe he used as a weapon.
I watched with disinterest as the match started. The convict was a man in his late thirties or forties and he looked to be a businessman. Definitely not prepared to face an axe swinging wanna-be wrestler.
I decided to inquire about him to show that I was interested in what Master Silas did. Truthfully, I didn’t care and my stomach was bubbling with nervousness over the possibility of Cristo coming out for his punishment, but Silas had already shown he was cross with me and I knew it would be a safe move.
“He pushed his husband into an industrial meat grinder,” Silas said, his voice dead. “All for the insurance money. Oldest trick in the book.”
I swallowed hard and stuffed my hands into my pockets. “That’s… horrible,” I said. I watched the man with new interest, now staggering away from Hulk Logan with a hand clutching a bleeding thigh. The crowd was going insane around us, the roar deafening but my ears had shut themselves down in favour of listening to my worries. Now that I tuned them back however, I could feel my own chest vibrate from the explosive sound. Stadium was packed, absolutely packed, and I would bet the Stadium Channel was getting thousands of television views.
“Indeed,” Silas said dully. “I once chopped Sky’s head off with an axe. It was satisfying.”
I stared at Master Silas. “W-why?”
“Once you’re immortal, you’ll understand, love,” Silas replied. “We snap every once in a while.”
We snap? I didn’t understand what he was saying, but I got the feeling that this was adult stuff that kids weren’t meant to understand. Either that or Silas was edging near one of his breakdowns…
The red lights turned on above our heads. I immediately looked down, the red lights always signalling that a finishing blow was near, and saw Hulk Logan raise the axe above his head before swinging it down onto the screaming man’s face.
I saw the man’s face split in two, his eyes drifting apart as the axe slid down his face. It gave him the appearance of being a fish, but then the axe fully separated the two halves of his head and blood covered the rest of his features. I could see his brain too, a light pink against the grey ground now pooling with red.
The crowd roared, everyone on their feet cheering and clapping, money was thrown into the ring and young boys ran around the ring to collect the money that would be given to Hulk Logan later. I even watched as Silas reached into his pocket and tossed a silver token into the ring, worth fifty dollars and quite the honour for the man who had pleased King Silas.
“Elish?”
My attention turned from the carnage below, to Silas. He was looking down at the arena, his body coated in a red glow from the lights above him.
“Do you love your master?” He didn’t look at me while he said this, his shining eyes were fixed on what was happening below us.
“Yes,” I replied, confused over this odd question.
Silas slowly turned to me. He rested a hand on my cheek and a smile crept to his face. “You know how much master loves you. Don’t you, Elish?”
A quiver of unease pulsed in my heart. “Yes…” I said slowly. I took a step back from him but he grabbed my shoulder.
Then a spotlight shone directly on us, and the crowd hushed. I looked around in shock, and jumped when a sengil came sprinting in with a portable microphone. He handed it to Silas and ran off into the skybox, leaving the two of us alone on the patio.
Every person in Stadium was looking directly at us.
“My lovely citizens,” Silas said, speaking directly into the microphone. There was a low rumble of applause, but then Silas raised his hand and everyone quieted down. “After a horrible week of worrying about your princes, Prince Elish and Prince Nero, we were able to recover both boys after a fire alerted the legionary of their location.”
My stomach dropped out of me and I felt absolutely sick, like I was going to throw up. This was the last place I wanted to be and my body twitched to run out of there. Everyone was staring at us, staring at me.
“And as you’ve learned from the news… that my former sengil, Cristo Massey was apprehended and is now in custody. Or he was in custody anyway.”
This is it.
“Bring him out.”
I didn’t want to look, yet I couldn’t tear my attention away from the arena. The heat of over a thousand Skyfallers were burning into me but I couldn’t return their burrowing gazes. I was looking at Joe, and waiting for Cristo to be brought to his fate.
This’ll just be a punishment… and then I can visit him wherever Silas says he’ll be. That’s all, this won’t be that bad. Cristo deserved punishment for what he did.
I said this over and over in my head, but when I saw Cristo get dragged out by two legionaries, all thoughts ceased and all emotions froze like ice was being pumped into my veins.
He was facing away from me, but his hair looked greasy and unkempt and there were bruises and dried blood on his bare arms and neck. It looked like he could walk, but there was a noticeable limp to him.
Then he turned around, and I couldn’t hold back the cry.
Cristo’s face was swollen, one of his eyes even sealed shut like a closed clam dyed purple. His lip was cut and he had scraggly and bloodstained facial hair. He’d been beaten on, and looked like a vagabond more than my sengil.
And when the crowd saw him, they jeered and booed. Food and drink were tossed into the stadium, raining around Cristo like debris falling after a tornado, some even landed on him.
“No!” I cried unable to hold it back anymore. “Tell them to stop throwing things! Tell them to stop!”
Cristo somehow heard me. He looked up, and when he saw me on the balcony, his face dropped. My sengil’s remaining eye watered and I saw a tear drip down his face.
Then he looked to King Silas and shook his head back and forth, before mouthing something to Silas but I didn’t understand what.
Silas could hear, I knew he could hear because when I looked to him, he was smirking.
I hated him in that moment.
“And here he is!” Silas said into the microphone. The crowd’s jeering became louder, over a thousand men and women making the stadium shake from their nois
e. It was overwhelming out here, noisy and chaotic. I didn’t like it, and I realized then that I was terrified. Terrified for Cristo, and terrified for what was going to happen to him.
Silas is just going to humiliate him… then he’ll let him go.
“Cristo Massey, you kidnapped my children,” Silas said lowly into the microphone. “You almost got them killed, and you got my sengil Dylan, who was also your boyfriend, killed as well. Tell me, sengil, do you have anything to say for yourself?”
My fingers clenched the railing. The fear was taking over me now, that and an overpowering feeling of being helpless. There was nothing I could do and it was driving me mad.
Cristo looked up at King Silas, but he said nothing.
Silas was still smirking. So badly did I want to wipe away that derisive smirk. I’d seen Silas in turmoil many times and hated seeing him in such a state. But now? Now I wanted that man to scream underneath my foot.
“Nothing?” Silas whispered into the microphone. “You have nothing to say for yourself? Nothing to say to Elish? My heir that you so dearly wanted to claim as your own. Interesting.”
That wasn’t true at all. I loved them both. Why couldn’t I love them both?
“Well, Cristo. It so happens that I have nothing to say to you either,” Silas said.
“I have something to say,” I whispered.
Silas’s attention shot to me and I looked back. “I have something to say,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady and controlled.
The king stared down at me. I remembered when he scooped me up in his arms after Nero and I had been pulled out of that fire, the expression on his face, the tears as he held me tightly to him. What had been graciousness and relief on his face, had turned into an expression that told me if the crowd wasn’t watching, he would’ve backhanded me.
