GLADIATOR | ELYSIUM RISING 1 ✔️

⍢ | 18

As punishment for inciting a riot, Iggy, Tenn, and the other tributes involved in the brawl in the training center were denied access to the cafeteria for the day. They'd be forced to participate in the night's challenge on empty stomachs. Iggy could've thought of worse punishments. He didn't think he'd be able to eat anything anyway.

Adrenaline still lingered in his veins. He couldn't stop wringing his hands and tapping his foot in an erratic rhythm. He'd never been in a fight before. The race a few days ago didn't count; people might've died, but he never fought anyone. Technically, he hadn't fought anyone in the training center either, but it was the closest he'd ever gotten to any real violence.

None of his sparring sessions with Tenn could've ever prepared him for that.

He never threw a single punch, but the experience lit a fuse inside him. His body tingled with nervous energy. The brawl only lasted a few minutes.

An entire combat-based game waited for him in the arena.

A piece of him dreaded it. Another, much smaller, piece, anticipated the experience. The challenge wouldn't start for another hour. That meant he had sixty minutes to stew in the millions of scenarios racing through his head. Shaking his head, he fell back onto his bed in the sleeping chambers and stared at the nondescript ceiling.

The keycard concealed in his shoe dug into his ankle as he moved. He pulled it out and tucked it underneath his cot.

While he might've lost out on dinner for the night, he won where he mattered. Jaxon's request had been fulfilled. He'd done his part. Now the man just had to pull through on his end.

The rebel didn't have all the power in this deal, though. Not quite. After Tenn questioned whether Jaxon could truly be trusted to hold up his end of the bargain, Iggy got to thinking of ways to make sure the trade went on without a hitch. People had been taking advantage of him all his life. Squok, Commander Au Victorus, Ivy Brightway, and countless others in the past. That ended here.

If Jaxon wanted decided to snake him, fine.

But it wouldn't be without consequences.

He knew things now—things that would ruin whatever plan Jaxon and the Axarian Alliance had brewing. He might not have had any real power behind the stadium walls, but he had leverage. And that's what he'd use to protect himself and his mother.

Leverage could only protect him so much.

Once he stepped into that arena, he'd need more than information to stay alive.

The intercom in the bright room crackled to life. A voice ordered all tributes to gather in the training center for the reveal of the second challenge. Iggy sat up and glanced at Tenn. The man had been sat on the ground near his bed with his legs crossed and hands placed gently on his knees. His eyes were closed, and his chest rose and fell in a slow, steady tempo.

His father used to do something similar.

"It's showtime, old man," Iggy said as he stood up.

He cracked one eye open. "Watch it, Iggorii."

"Sorry, sorry." He tilted his head at him. "What were you doing?"

Tenn rose to his feet and cracked his neck with his hands. Iggy cringed at the sound. "Meditation. A practice I wish I discovered much earlier in my life."

"How much earlier? Like two centuries ago?"

"You don't even know how old I am."

"I can't be too far off."

Snorting back a laugh, Tenn left the room. Iggy trailed behind him

#

Moxi Daystar wasn't present for the explanation of the night's game. Instead, one of the gamemakers took his place. They weren't given any information as to why their host was absent. No one asked, anyway. They were too focused on the holographic board displaying a diagram of the ever-changing layout of the arena.