by KJ Harlow
“Fireball!” Kai aimed and released a six-foot high ball of fire into the air. The wind- and fire-based attacks met in mid-air. The tornado won out, digesting the fireball and spitting embers all over the arena before it dissipated.
“What’s wrong, Cal? Your pet not as strong as my kick ass angel of doom?” Hector sniggered and started walking towards them.
“Who are you calling ‘pet’?” Kai sheathed his weapon and bolted towards Hector on all-fours. Laish folded her wings and fell into a nosedive. She held her sword straight towards the ground and her buckler close to her body. She swooped and Kai narrowly avoided being slashed open. Laish spread her wings out again, watching the werejaguar.
Cal’s dazed status disappeared and he got to his feet. If it wasn’t for Laish, this match would have been over in an instant. She would probably be airborne for most of the battle, so that took Earthquake out of the equation. Kai’s Blood Lance couldn’t be used as a projectile. The only way they could win this fight was by defeating Hector.
Kai thrust his weapon at the soldier, who parried it and jumped back. “Your chief was pathetic. He barely put up a fight.”
Kai roared, his weapon exploding to life. “Murderer!” He ran at Hector, who kept backing away. Laish rushed through the air and put herself between Kai and Hector, only enraging the werejaguar more. He thrust wildly, moving faster than Cal had ever seen him move before. Just like the last time, Laish effortlessly accounted for his attacks, blocking, dodging and parrying every single one. She chose her moment, moved toward Kai and using the back of her wing, knocked him across the arena ground as if he were ragdoll.
-33 Damage!
“You don’t have to protect him, Laish,” Cal yelled. She dragged her gaze away from Kai and focused on the orc. “Whose orders are you following? Fetter’s?”
“She’s following my orders, you noob!” Hector shouted. “Go and cut him down!” Laish dipped her her head. With a single flap of her powerful wings, she flew up 20 feet into the air. She floated for a moment, then dropped into a curved dive, short sword pointing straight at Cal’s chest.
Cal raised his hand. He should have thrown an Earth Wall up, but he could sense something desperate and sad in the way Laish had stared at him that made him hesitate. Cal raised his axe and turned it flat against his body just before Laish’s sword crashed into it. Sparks flew as Cal’s feet were pushed back through the dirt, resisting the force of the flying warrior.
Karst’s light was bright, so bright that it reflected off Cal’s Wild Axe. Beneath a proud and cold exterior, the reflection illuminated old tear trails on Laish’s cheeks.
“Why are all of the eryn paired up with a soldier?” He asked her mid clash. Laish’s momentum stopped and Cal pushed her back. She wafted back a few feet, did a backward somersault then rushed at Cal again. Cal swung his axe and countered her attack. She’s not trying to kill me. Her eyes were purple, just like his but a shade so dark it almost looked black. They were wide with fear. She’s afraid to talk.
“What will happen if you disobey your orders?” Cal threw a glancing strike against her buckler, continuing the pretence of battle. You can talk to me. Laish drew back her sword arm and drove it straight at Cal’s heart again. Cal drifted his fingers into the air and raised a small Earth Wall, trapping her blade inside it. His axe hovered in the air above her.
“Strike me, orc,” she whispered. “Strike me and I will be finally put out of my misery.”
“Not until you tell me what’s–”
-60 Damage!
-55 Damage!
Critical Hit!
-204 Damage!
Laish’s eyes were wide and round, like ponds of dark lavender. Cal flicked his wrist and released the Earth Wall. Kai pulled his lance out, casting the eryn’s blood all over the arena floor. Cal dropped his axe, catching the eryn as she fell forward.
“Finally…” she closed her eyes.
“Rargh!” Hector slashed vertically, his sword clanging into Kai’s horizontally held lance. Kai spun and swept his weapon into Hector’s feet, bringing him crashing to the ground. He drove his lance over and over at Hector, who managed to roll out of the way each time just in time. He scrambled up and ran away from Kai.
Kai chased after him then suddenly stopped. Where there had initially been one Hector, there was now two. Satisfied that they had put enough distance between them and their opponents, the two Hectors turned around. They moved at the same time, breathed at the same time, their blond hair sticking out from underneath their mail cap also somehow ruffled in the breeze the same way.
“Laish!” They both yelled in unison. Her dark eyes fluttered open and closed again. “I order you to strike the orc.” They paused for a moment, identical smirks appearing on their faces. “I hear your queen isn’t so well recently.”
Laish’s eyes flew open. She twisted her body out of Cal’s grip and using the momentum, she batted Cal away with her right wing. It struck with the force of a yacht’s swinging boom, crunching into his raised forearms and sending him skittling into the dirt 10 yards away.
-48 Damage!
He dry retched into ground, looking up at the eryn as he wiped his mouth. She too was on the ground, clutching at the wound in her torso down on one knee.
“End Round 1!”
The two Hectors walked towards Kai. The werejaguar gripped his lance, pointing it at one then the other. They split up, one walking past his left the other his right. One stood over the eryn while the other stood off to the side, his arms crossed. The former Hector kicked Laish in the side, eliciting a cry of pain from the winged warrior.
“Up! Now!” He rummaged through a compartment in his armour, taking out a vial of Health Potion. “Here.” He dropped it on the ground and together with his copy, walked back to their side of the arena.
“Kai.” Cal was already back at his side of the arena, nursing his ginger arms. Kai had planted his lance into the dirt next to the vial at Laish’s side. He looked up at the orc, who was shaking his head. The werejaguar hesitated then slunk back to join his comrade.
“Scum like her deserve to die,” he seethed. He threw a vicious stare at Cal. “Why do you insist on protecting her?”
“I’m not protecting her,” Cal said. She was the enemy, both in the arena and out of it. Yet for all intents and purposes, he was protecting her. When Hector had mentioned her queen, she sparked back to life as if she hadn’t had an eight-foot lance driven through her at all. Was Fetter holding her for ransom, blackmailing the eryn to defend him and his soldiers?
“She killed Zkar!” Kai said, pointing at the other end of the arena, his roar of anger a single thread in the arena’s cacophony of voices.
“I know, I was there remember? But she isn’t acting on her own accord. She is being used.”
Kai narrowed his eyes. “I don’t care.”
“Round Two, begin!”
“Why is there two of him?” Cal asked. He gestured towards the Hectors that were running towards them, both with their swords raised in the air.
“Two dungsnatchers aren’t stronger than one.” Kai skipped forward then, in mid-air, sheathed his weapon before landing on all fours. “They just stink twice as much.” He sprinted towards the Hectors and leapt in the air, doing a forward somersault before pulling his lance out. The Hectors split up and ran in opposite directions. Kai pulled out of a jump attack, landing on his feet before chasing after the Hector running towards Cal’s left. Laish had been floating at a stationery point at the eye level of the people sitting in the lowest tier. She swooped, bending around the pillars of earth that Cal pulled up from the ground towards Kai. He must have chosen the real one!
Kai threw himself forward, his Blood Lance coming alight as he flew horizontal to the ground. Kai’s weapon glanced off Hector’s side as he took a sharp right. Flying directly above Kai, Laish pulled up and stomped down on Kai’s back. He thudded into the dirt, the eryn standing on top of him. She drew her sword and deftly drove it into Kai�
��s lower back. He roared and thrashed, but the eryn wouldn’t budge.
-25 Damage!
-29 Damage!
“Hector!” Cal yelled, running towards them. “Call Laish off!”
“I’m over here!” He said in a sing-song voice. Damn it. He had completely forgotten about the other Hector. He was charging at Cal, sword raised. Cal waited until he was five yards away. “Earth Wall.” Other Hector collided into it…
…and exploded.
Fire and dirt flew out in every direction, destroying Cal’s Earth Wall and sending him sprawling into the arena wall.
-150 Damage!
Everything was black but eventually, his senses came out of shock. There was a ringing in his ears.
“…Round 2!”
He looked to his left where a motionless Kai lay face down. Laish still had her sword pointed down at him. She flapped her wings, kicking up dust before flying back to her side. Hector (the real one) spat on Kai before he scurried back to his corner.
“Kai!” Cal crawled over to his comrade. He had more than eight stab wounds all over his back, oozing blood into his fur. His face was turned away from him. “Comrade Status.” He only had eyes for one line of the table:
NAME: Kai
AGE: 48 (Terrafaytum)
CLASS: Werejaguar Warrior
LVL: 25
HP: 7/262
He hurriedly flipped open his satchel, pulled out the Health Potion and turned the werejaguar onto his back. He uncorked the vial and poured into the back of Kai’s throat.
“Round 3, Start!”
“Wait!” Cal said, gesturing up at the referee. “We’re not ready yet!”
For what felt like an eternity, Kai didn’t move. Then he swallowed and opened his eyes. “Did we lose?”
“No.”
“Good.” Using his lance as support, he forced himself to get to his feet. The crowd standing immediately behind him cheered wildly, willing their gladiator on. “We are not going to lose to them.” Kai swayed slightly then righted himself. “I am going to kill them if it’s the last thing I do.”
“Kai…” he held a hand up to Cal’s face. Hector had already created another replica of himself. They both stood, leaning their swords into the dirt. Laish was in the middle of the arena again, waiting for their first move.
Kai lifted his lance. The air rippled and he swung down. The fireball rolled through the air towards the Hectors. They laughed and stepped aside, not bothering to watch it disintegrate into the wall behind them.
“Kai, we can defeat them but–”
He shoved Cal in the chest and ran towards the Hectors again. They laughed and obliged, running towards the werejaguar with their swords raised. For several moments, the arena was just a flurry of movements and metal clashing on metal. Kai stabbed and drove his lance at both Hectors. They would take it in turns to distract him while the other nicked him here and there. It only infuriated him more, making his attacks wilder and wilder.
Cal ran towards them, his axe raised. Laish swooped down yet again. This time, instead of trying to skewer her enemy, she simply landed in front of him, barring him from moving any further. She was a tall figure. She looked down and gave the smallest shake of her head.
“If you want your friend to live, surrender.” Cal stared at her. It wasn’t a threat, it was a warning. Cal put his hands in the air.
“I surre–”
-70 Damage!
Critical Hit!
-170 Damage!
An explosion sent the werejaguar high and far, spectators scrambling out of their seats just as his broken body clattered into their seats. The blast lifted Cal and sent him spinning through the air. He landed on his stomach 20 yards away.
“Pick up the orc.”
There was a gust and Laish was behind Cal. She bent down and effortlessly dragged Cal up under his arms. His head lolled to the side. Hector stood in front of him, swivelling his sword around in his wrist.
“My how the tables have turned.”
Cal wriggled free from the eryn and put his hands in the air. Kai was going to hate him, but it just wasn’t worth it. Not for the EXP, not for the shards. “I surrender.” The crowd was reserved but clapped nevertheless.
“The winner of the semi-final is Laish and Hector!” The referee’s voice boomed from the center of the arena.
Cal dropped his hands. It was hard to see, but it looked like Kai still wasn’t moving.
“You fucking bastard, did you kill him?”
Hector stood there, pondering the question. “No.” His short sword flashed across Cal’s neck. “But you are.”
Cal’s head thudded into the dirt, rolling a few feet. One person screamed, then two, and then suddenly the entire arena was flooded by pandemonium. Hector’s boots got closer and closer to Cal. He squatted down, his abnormally calm face blocking Karst’s light.
“An eye for an eye or in your case, a head for a head.”
Hector stood up. He drove his sword through Cal’s head, nailing him to the ground. He didn’t feel anything.
You have died.
You will continue from last save point.
OK
22
Javal’s Letter
20,156th Cycle
13-Karst
Cal sat up, drenched in sweat. He looked around, trying to get his bearings. Left: adjoining bathroom. Right: desk. Window rattling in the wind. Karst continued her progression down the horizon. Straight ahead the door was shut. He closed his eyes, his breath slowing down. Memories started trickling back into his consciousness: two Hectors, explosions, Laish’s tortured face. He swallowed, his dry throat protesting with a sticky click.
He got out of bed, wincing. Everything hurt, except… Cal rubbed his hand over his neck. His orc skin was rough with bumps, tags and random tufts of hair, but it was in-tact. There was no scar. The floorboards creaked as he crossed the floor. A simple, blue jug sat on the top right corner, a shallow drinking bowl to its left. He poured the water out and put the jug back down. He lifted the bowl and gulped it down. He took the jug and poured more water out. This time, he let the water settle.
He stared into the liquid mirror. This was him. Cal the orc. Cal the immortal orc.
Keizen’s face appeared in the bowl of water. Cal blinked and it was his again. The Urath. Cal had wanted to know who they were. Then that lady admin appeared. Gave him the choice to go back and never come back or stay and never go back. She had mentioned the Battle of Urath too; she knew what it was. That would have made sense though; if she was an admin, then she probably also had a hand in organising these events.
Cal looked down. The parchment was bathed in white light from the wind moon, bare of his inane scribblings. Why had he written that? Did he think he was a hero? Cal shook his head. He stared out the window. It was awfully quiet. Karst’s languid heat warmed up the glass.
There was a knock at the door.
“Come in.” The door creaked open.
“You’re weak.”
“No, I’m Cal.”
The werejaguar was across the room in a flash. He punched Cal in the back of the head.
-8 Damage!
“Why did you surrender?”
Cal spun around and grabbed Kai by the scruff of his chest. “Why did I surrender? Why did you have to go and get yourself blown up?” He let go of Kai, pushing him away.
“We get nothing,” Kai said. “No glory, no revenge, no EXP. Nothing.”
“Hey you’re still alive, I’d say that’s a win.”
“So is that human scum and the treek!” Kai roared, jabbing a finger at the door.
“Excuse me, Masters Kai and Cal.” Katrina stood at the door, hands behind her back.
“Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something?” Kai spat.
Katrina moved remarkably fast for a non-fighting NPC, slipping across the floor like sexy water.
She laid a hand on Kai’s shoulder. “You could be in the middle of me instead.” The werejaguar
’s face became slack. “Just… be… quiet.” She inched her face closer and Kai leaned in before she pulled away at the last second.
“Go back to your room and wait for me like a good kitty.”
Kai shook his head, trying to rid himself of the Charm. “But…”
“Come on now.” Completely under her Charm Kai complied, turning on his heel and walking away from Cal. He grabbed her by the waist and tried to nuzzle her, but she pushed away at his chest. “Go in first. I’ll be there soon.”
Kai shuffled out of the room and Katrina closed the door behind him silently. She lay back against the door, exhaling.
“Thanks for–”
“I’m sorry to interrupt you Master Cal, but we’ve got a bit of a crisis on our hands.”
“That’s all he left?”
Cal sat at the dining table. He was holding a piece of cream-coloured parchment in his hand. It bore Javal’s mark.
You have obtained Javal’s Letter!
“That’s right. I opened it, only realizing afterwards that it was addressed to you.” She bowed deeply in apology. “Please have a read.”
Katrina rested her cool hands on Cal’s shoulders. Whatever stupor was left from his beheading earlier lifted away.
Hello Cal,
I hope this letter finds you well. Congratulations on winning the semi-final. I know you surrendered, but that Karst-forsaken soldier did the unthinkable and lopped your head off. In front of all those innocent people too! He and his eryn have been disqualified, meaning that you and Kai have been crowned the victors. You will be moving into the final!
It’s been a real pleasure having you two here. I know you have been staying around Bracewell to keep an eye on me in case Fetter comes back. However I’ve never been the one to sit idly by, waiting for something to happen. Sending his crony to destroy the peace I worked so hard to build is unacceptable. I’m going to Thaylia to find him.
“What?” Cal looked up from the letter.
“Keep reading,” Katrina urged.
By the time you wake up, I will already be half way to the capital of Dresham. It would take normal travellers one and a half, maybe two moons to get there, but then I’ve never been a normal traveller. You will not be able to catch up to me. Don’t follow me.
