Battle time.

  I smashed my right fist into the nobody opponent’s eye socket. He yelped. I opened my fist and jammed my fingers between the eye and bone, feeling the snaps of flesh as my fingers penetrated. I whipped my hand back. The eyeball burst, a trail of gooey blood connecting my fingers and the last bloody quadrant the man managed to keep.

  The pain snapped him back into action. He pointed a torch at me, and it glowed blue. I raised my hand. A burst of ice magic flew out—it was an icy dart. It tore through my hand, lodging halfway through my hand.

  I growled at the idiot, and reached for him with New Arm. I grabbed him by the back of his head and rammed my head into his.

  I released him. He stumbled backward, giving me the time to rip the icy dart from my hand. My regen kicked in. I grabbed the guy by his ear, pulled him in, and gripped his head again.

  His swimming eyes cracked open.

  I drove the icy dart into his neck three times. He gurgled and spasmed, too overwhelmed to do anything else. I stabbed him one more time, lodging the dart in his throat and backhanded him with my metal hand.

  He fell to the floor, spasming and disintegrating.

  “Come on!” I yelled. “Get up! Try again, huh! I didn’t get a single smite!”

  And he vanished. Out of the round, and leaving behind one of the puzzle cards.

  “Guess that’s it,” I said, picking up the card.

  Another battle down. Another card in pocket.

  I had wandered into another arena enclosed by hedges and dotted with statues, and I had found this man attacking another like a rabid dog. And as for that victim…

  “Nico,” I called.

  Nico was sniveling, eyes wide, pressing his back against the hedges like he hadn’t realized he couldn’t escape.

  “Hey, man, get up. You’re going to get targeted.”

  I extended my hand to him.

  “Come on, man. Let’s get through this.”

  He locked eyes with me for a few seconds before nodding. He wiped his face and stood up. Still a trembling mess, but better than nothing.

  I turned my back to him and looked around for more enemies or attacks. “I take it you haven’t seen your brother–”

  My words were cut off by the sound of roaring flames and the red blade sticking out of my chest.

  I looked over my shoulder. “Seriously?”

  Nico was clutching a torch handle, tears streaming from his eyes and snot running from his nose as he tried to smile. “It’s okay. You won’t die from this–hic–you’ll be okay!”

  “I’ll be okay?” I chuckled. “You’re right… But I’m also going to be so happy, Nico.”

  Nico’s teeth chattered.

  “If you’re going to stab me…”

  I stepped forward with a grunt and quickly pivoted on my heels, Levels flickering. Nico’s eyes widened as he choked on his own spit. My right fist flew.

  “You better make it a one-hit KO!”

  [DIVINE SMITE!]

  The announcement boomed, and the world shook. Golden winds whipping from my fist, Nico flew into a statue’s base and toppled it, thunderous crash shaking the grounds.

  “Guu–buu, ugh,” Nico groaned, eyes rolling to the back of his head.

  Before he got up, I approached him, crouched over his body and yanked his head by the hair. Had to slap him a few times before his eyes found me again. The first thing that escaped his throat was a shriek.

  I shook his head again and bashed it against the stone base for good measure. “Listen here, Nico. I’m going to leave you here, because I’m going to tell myself that your fear got the better of you and because I appreciate your brother. Pull that shit on me again, Nico. I dare you.”

  Done with him, I lifted him into the air by his pants and tossed him into the hedges like he was trash and went on my way, ignoring his sobs.

  All this action cost me 4 points of HP. Wild to think that holes through my hand and gut were only worth 4 HP, but there you go.

  “Nico!” I yelled. “I dare you to come at me again. I’ll fist you out of this round with extreme anger. It’s a promise.”

  ***

  Some things were eerie. From bashing one brother to then saving the other brother from a hungry ooze.

  “Makes a guy wonder,” I mused, watching Noah wipe the ooze from his body.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  I looked at my fist. I wanted that Smiting high, but I was a rational man.

  “I’m a rational guy…”

  “You say something, Set? You’re rational?”

  I met Noah’s gaze. He really had kind eyes.

  I sighed and smiled. “This place can mess with your head.”

  “Which is why we should stick together, right? I wouldn’t have survived that without you, Set.”

  I nodded. “Yeah. I’d rather have a kind face with me… And standing around might not serve us at all. We should keep moving. Do you mind if I take the lead?”

  “Oh! No, not at all. I can keep an eye on our backs!”

  And so, with an exchange of nods, we started walking. But Noah was a caring brother. Of course, he would have concerns.

  “Hey, Set… Have you seen Nico?” Noah asked with earnest eyes.

  “Yeah. I went to help him, but when I turned my back to him, he stabbed me with a flaming sword.”

  Noah’s eyes widened with shock.

  “I punched him into a statue. Then I bashed his head in once. Then I tossed him into the bushes. He was still in the round when I left him.”

  Noah didn’t immediately start flinging fists. Instead, he looked so ashamed, unable to look me in the eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Set… Nico’s just–Nico’s just overwhelmed easy. I’m sorry.”

  My eyes narrowed. “You want to get revenge for your brother?”

  Noah bared his teeth and held his arms out without a word.

  “What’s this supposed to be?” I asked, stopping to turn.

  “You can punch me!” he shouted. “Go ahead! For my brother’s stupidity!”

  I shrugged. “Alright.”

  I wound up and threw my punch, but softened it right as I hit his cheek. It was more gentle than a baby’s pat.

  Noah cracked an eye open. “Huh?”

  “No point burning bridges when we don’t know if we have to,” I said. I turned my back to him. “I’m not sure that everyone’s on their own in here. Call it an informed hunch.”

  I was hoping he’d attack me too. But he hadn’t done it earlier. Was he really going to do it?

  I heard Noah’s relieved sigh. He took a few moments and then spoke as we walked on.

  “I think so too. Me and Nico came here together. What are the odds that more of them came together?”

  “Really high–I’m sure… Noah, you had a Shadow Flame in your village too, right?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Did anyone ever talk about extinguishing it?”

  “No. That’s crazy. That flame’s the only thing keeping the Shadow Beasts away. That’s crazy…”

  “Yeah. That’s what we believe too…”

  “Set, are you crazy?”

  “Maybe,” I replied. “But don’t get the wrong idea. I was like you a few days ago. I was lost in the caverns. While I was out there, I met another survivor. Someone snuffed her village’s flame out.”

  Noah’s relieved mood evaporated within seconds. “What happened?” he asked, already wincing.

  “After that? Well, she was out in the caverns, right? Shadow Beasts attacked the village and she ran.”

  “And she’s not in this Trial?”

  “She’s dead. Died saving me from a Shadow Beast. It was a whole thing.”

  “I’m sorry, Set.”

  “Don’t be. People die. It happens… I learned things, though. Do you have a forest around your village like we do?”

  “Yeah we do. That’s where all of the wild beanstalks are.”

  “Yeah, we don’t have those. Just a lot of mushrooms… Do you have any other special trees in your forest that might be dying in a weird way?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” he replied, clearly giving it some thought.

  “You brothers were shocked when you appeared here. How are you doing now?”

  “I’m doing as good as I can be. Still overwhelmed by everything. I mean… have you ever seen anything like all of this before?”

  “Not in this life.” I grabbed one of the torches and handed it to Noah. “Have you used these yet?”

  “Unfortunately,” he said, looking grim. “The person chasing me ‘taught’ me how to use them.”

  “Is that person still in the game?”

  “No.” Noah, without prompt, dug through his pockets and revealed a glass card. “He left this behind after I torched him.” He gestured to hand it to me. “Do you know what they do?”

  I refused it immediately. “Don’t give me that. We don’t know if it’ll transfer ownership.”

  “Oh. Sorry… Thanks. Guessing they’re important?”

  “Apparently. When you collect enough, they’ll tell us what we’re supposed to be doing.”

  “Tell us like how the torches tell us?”

  “That’s the idea.”

  Noah and I came to a stop. The path split off into three directions. The paths to the left and right were the same as all the rest, but the path directly ahead had our attention.

  “Noah, do you see that too?”

  “It doesn’t look human, but it’s not covered in shadows like a Shadow Beast.”

  It stood still, like it had been placed there on purpose like all of the other statues. Its lower half was a serpentine coil, scales reflecting the flickering lights of the nearby torches. The upper body was broad, the scales lighter and smaller, but not hiding the muscles definition of a bodybuilder.

  There was no doubt it was real. It twitched so often–shifted so often. Told to be a statue, but unable to perfectly contain itself, like it was unable to handle its boredom.

  Snake-like tendrils spilled from its scalp, writhing in slow, breathless motion like underwater weeds. Two thick arms ended in what looked like the gaping jaws of lizards—crocodilian, almost—but as the creature flexed its grip, we saw human hands inside the mouths. Fingers curled tight around a heavy bronze spear, the other hand holding a round stone shield–this thing looked ready for a duel.

  Its face was the worst of it. Elongated. Reptilian. A vertical maw split where a nose should’ve been, and when it exhaled, it hissed the way wind traversing a tight passage would.

  And behind it—just barely—space wobbled. The edges of its body weren’t clean. Like someone had overlaid two versions of it, slightly off-center, and couldn’t decide which one was real. I blinked, and one of its slitted eyes moved before the rest of its head did. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was an illusion.

  “It’s looking at us, Set… Why isn’t it coming for us?”

  “Noah, listen, that thing looks special.”

  “Can’t say I disagree.”

  I cracked my knuckles and my neck, shocking Noah.

  “I’m going to take it on,” I said, before he could say anything else. “Don’t stop me.”

  “Alone? No, man. I’ll help, then!”

  “Sure. Don’t want you dying though. I’ll steal its attention.” I flickered for a moment to get a better sense of the torches in the upcoming arena. “I’m pretty sure those are more of the special torches. Run in and blast it whenever it’s distracted.”

  Noah nodded enthusiastically. “I can do that! You can count on me!”

  “Great. Let’s get a better sense of these Trials.”