From Other Worlds

4 》The Arena

The arena is big, filled with sand to make it harder to walk on, and surrounded by spectators. They watch us as Vilkas, still in his new Trihaix form, and I walk out. I look around us as we head to the center of the arena, where four others are standing.

A Bohir, her red and white fur stained with her green blood. The Bohir are humanoid dogs, and this one has auburn hair and black eyes that seem to know our doom is coming. And coming fast. She wears a collar around her neck, and I see the name, her name, etched into the metal. Adhmara.

The next one is a Krain, or a demonic being of pure darkness. His black and red bat wings curl around his strong body, and his horns, which are the same colors as his wings, curve down by his cheekbones. Claws tip his fingers, and his pale skin is marred with scars from battle. His amber eyes are shielded by his longish, black hair. And this one's named Castien, apparently. A collar around his neck has his name on it, like Adhmara's.

Next is Tallan, a Qharci with tan skin, purple eyes, black hair, and pointed ears. They stand beside Adhmara, their gaze on Vilkas with obvious disdain. Adhmara looks at him, too, and I know that Trihaix are enemies of the Bohir, as they tend to hate one another, simply because of their pack mentality.

Finally, there's a Sahull, named Sebastian. He has short, black and white hair and gray eyes, and his dark brown skin  is flawless. No sign of any scars from fighting. But his pointed ears, sharpened teeth, and extra tall legs show off that he isn't human. Sahull are the closest to human as most of us can get.

The male Krain, the one that the Ehlo had called Dain, steps out onto a platform overlooking the arena. Dain stares down at us, a dark look on his tan face, red eyes shining with malice. I look over at Vilkas, who bares his fangs and growls low in his throat.

"Time to see which of you survive," Dain declares, smirking. He pushes a button, and then, a door at the other end of the arena is sliding open.

I feel my body tense, and unfurl my wings, lowering my head so my dark purple horns are aimed forward. Then, the beast bursts free. Vilkas whimpers beside me, and I watch as it runs right at Sebastian.

The Sahulli male grabs hold of the beast's horn and its sharp jaw, and he digs his feet into the sand floor. "Aaahh, help!"

Adhmara leaps forward, climbing up the bull-thing's back and slashing at it with her claws. The Bohir slashes the beast over and over, and it roars, tossing its head back, and it throws Sebastian into the far wall. I look at Castien and Tallan, who both charge at the monster. No one pays attention to Sebastian, but I run to his side.

"Get up!" I hiss, skidding on my knees in the sand as I land beside him. I curl my wings around us, and offer my hand to Sebastian. He looks up at me, gray eyes wide in confusion.

"Why help me?" he asks. "Haven't you figured it out yet? They mean for us to kill each other!"

"Well, I'm not killing anyone," I whisper. "No one in this arena, I mean. Dain, however, is another story...."

Sebstian chuckles.  "Call me Bas."

"Sihnion, but you can call me Si," I reply to him.

I help Bas up, and we turn as Vilkas is thrown back away from the beast, its claws leaving a trail of blood from his chest. Vilkas lays on the sand, unconscious, and I cry out and run toward him, but Bas holds me back.

"No! He is as good as dead!"

"No, he's not," I say, ripping my wrist free of his grip. I run to Vilkas, and just as I reach him, the Qharci, Tallan, is brought to the sand beside me. Their screams fill the arena, and they hold their hands up, just as the beast bears down on them.

I gasp, realizing that this is when Tallan is likely going to die. But then, a blast, a sonic blast shoots forth, throwing the beast up into the air, and as soon as gravity seizes its body, it crashes back down. Tallan screams again, and I realize why.

Their leg has been torn up, badly. But Castien is there, curling his wings around them, and helping them up. Their blue blood pours from the wound in their leg, and Tallan hisses as they put weight on their leg.

Adhmara runs to them on all fours, then stands on her legs, her black eyes wild as she looks around.  "What was that?"

"I - I don't know," Tallan wheezes, their breaths coming fast. "I think they experimented on me at some point, but I can't fucking remember.  I don't know anything other than my name!"

"Wait, what do you remember before this place?" Adhmara asks.

"Is now really the time for this?" Bas demands. "That thing is getting up!"

The monster roars from across the arena, and as it stands back up, shaking its massive, horned head, the beast paws at the sand. The sand, now covered in varying shades of blood, is muddy now. That could work to our advantage.

"Look, the sand is muddy. If we can trip the thing, get it on its back, we could disembowel it."

Everyone looks at me, and I see Vilkas morph back into his human shape, his clothes torn. I help him up. Adhmara scoffs.

"Great, just when we actually need a werewolf."

"Fuck off," Vilkas growls.

She snarls, but Bas steps between them. "Later. Si is right, we don't have much time to do this, so let's just kill this thing. Get this over with."

Castien spreads his wings, and launches into the air above the monster's head. It lashes out with its tail, and Tallan looks at me as he banks and dives, weaving around it.

"If I can blast it again, I could get it on its back," they say.

I nod. "Okay, then we get it distracted."

They nod. "I just .... don't really know how I did that."

"Shit," Bas mutters. He turns to me. "Thank you, Si.  For everything."

"Bas? What are you —"

He runs through the muddy terrain and leaps, punching the monster in the face, then climbing up its face and onto the top of its head. He grabs the horns, and pulls. The monster roars, and Castien dives, kicking the horn on the left side of the monster's head. The horn is torn from the monster's skull, and Castien back-flips, then tosses the severed horn to Bas, who plunges it into the beast's neck.

"Now, Tallan! Now!" Bas yells as black blood pours from the wound in its neck and head.

Tallan raises their hands, and Castien swoops down, Bas removes the horn from its neck, and is lifted off the thing. Tallan blasts another pair of shockwaves at the monster. It is thrown onto its back, and Castien releases Bas. Bas falls down, through the air, and he drives the horn into the monster's chest. Black blood sprays out around the severed horn. The monster shrieks.

"Holy fuck," Vilkas whispers.

The monster begins to calcify and slowly, it turns to dust. Bas jumps off the thing's body and runs to us. Castien and Adhmara come over to us then, too. Vilkas laughs and claps his hands excitedly. Tallan looks at him, their face betraying their thoughts. Vilkas didn't do much, neither did I, but we did help. So even though Tallan thinks they did most of the work, they can't deny we helped.

Vilkas turns to the platform that Dain is still on, the Krain's eyes wide in shock and disbelief.

"Fuck you, buddy!" he yells.

Adhmara laughs. "He doesn't mince words, does he?"

I laugh.  "No, he does not."