Part 9

I was worried. The countdown timer on my screen had just reached five minutes. There were only five minutes until this competition started, and I still had no idea of what it would entail.

There was nothing unusual about feeling a little nervous before a big game. In fact, it was kind of expected. However, before now, I’d always known what I’d be going up again before the game started. Whether it was the football field, the wrestling mat, or even a swimming pool, I always knew what to expect, and I’d been able to do everything I could to train and prepare ahead of time. But this time, it was like I was going in blind. It was like being asked to play in a baseball game, when you’ve never even seen anyone play the game before.

“And these stakes are higher than any game I’ve ever played before,” I muttered.

“You don’t have to compete,” Matt said, having overheard me. “You can refuse…”

“No, I can’t,” I told him with a weak smile. “I made a deal with Maelyne, and she’s held up her part.” I took a deep breath, silently reminding myself that even if everything was different, I was alive. I was alive because Maelyne had saved me. Then, with a broader grin, I added, “Besides, I’ve never run away from a challenge before, and I’ll be damned if I start now.”

“Well, good luck,” Teri said, looking a little self-conscious

I’d already told Teri that, even though she was now my companion, I planned on leaving her behind. I didn’t want to drag her into this and put her in danger. I was the one who’d made the deal with Maelyne, not her.

I glanced at the clock, then slowly walked out of the house and into the front yard. The contest message had said that transportation would be provided, though that did bring up a few questions. What kind of transportation did it mean, and how would they know where to find me? Were all the champions tagged with tracking devices, maybe through the screen system?

“So,” Matt asked. “Do you have any ideas about how they’re going to pick you up for this thing?”

“Maybe they’re coming by helicopter,” Teri offered with a grin. She looked up into the sky with an eager expression.

“No idea,” I admitted.

I watched the timer count down on my screen, and once it reached 0 seconds, a new popup suddenly appeared.

THE CONTEST IS ABOUT TO BEGIN. PREPARE TO BE TRANSPORTED.

The air around me was suddenly filled with sparks, similar to when I shifted into my armor, but much stronger. There was the crackling of electricity, a flash of light, and then, everything was different. I was no longer standing in front of Matt’s house, but in what appeared to be a large parking lot, which was surrounded by old warehouses.

“Eeep,” a familiar voice cried out from behind me. “Where are we…?”

I turned to look at Teri, who was looking around with an expression of surprise. There was no sign of Matt, even though he’d been standing right beside his sister. It looked like I wasn’t being given any choice about whether or not to leave her behind.

“Sorry,” I told Teri, feeling guilty about dragging her into this. “It looks like you’re in this after all…”

My attention went back to my surroundings, but not to the old and apparently abandoned warehouses. I looked around the parking lot, which didn’t have a single car that I could see. Instead, the pavement was heavily cracked, and had weeds sprouting up all over the place. There were also a dozen other people nearby, most of whom were wearing costumes or armor of some type.

“Are they the other champions?” Teri asked me warily.

There was a flash of sparks and light, and suddenly, two more people appeared. One was dressed up in some kind of samurai armor, or at least, some armor that was inspired from the samurai. The other was a woman, who was wearing black leather armor.

“I think that’s a good assumption,” I responded grimly. A couple more champions appeared.

Since I didn’t want to be left out, or be open and vulnerable without armor, I activated mine. A couple seconds later, I was wearing my armored dress and feeling ridiculous. Still, it was better than nothing, and not really any worse than what everyone else was wearing.

I clutched my staff tightly as I looked around at my competition, trying to get some idea of who they were and what they could do. The costumes and weapons were pretty varied, which made me feel like I was in the middle of some cosplay competition. I’d never been to one, but Matt had shown me some online videos.

A short distance away from me, there was a blonde girl, who appeared to be Teri’s age, or even a little younger. She was wearing a frilly pink dress, and was holding a gold metal staff that was a lot more intricate and fancy looking than my own. Matt had jokingly called me a magical girl, but this girl really looked the part.

While looking around, I noticed that I wasn’t the only one with a companion. One guy had a huge wolf beside him. I didn’t know if it was a worg, a dire wolf, or something else entirely, only that it looked dangerous as hell.

But if the guy with the giant wolf was intimidating, there was another guy who was completely terrifying, though in a completely different way. He was big and a bit on the chubby side, but he was wearing some kind of black latex outfit, which had a lot of chains and zippers, along with a hood which covered his entire face. One look at him was enough to make me think of the Gimp, from Pulp Fiction. And then, as if this wasn’t all creepy enough, he was actually holding three people on leashes, two women and a man, all dressed in similar fetish gear.

“Who is this guy?” I whispered to Teri. And who was his patron…the god of BDSM?

“Some of these people look really scary,” Teri whispered back, looking more than a little worried.

I nodded agreement, then froze as I caught sight of one champion that really did scare me. He was wearing green and black robes that made it difficult to determine his build or features, and he held a large scythe, which I’d seen in action before. It was Robe, the man who’d killed Heather. No, he hadn’t just killed her. He’d destroyed her very soul, which was far far worse.

“What’s wrong?” Teri asked me, before quickly adding, “Besides the obvious.”

“The guy with the scythe,” I responded in a grim tone. “Don’t go anywhere near him. He’s the one I told you about…”

“No way,” Teri gasped, staring across the parking lot at Robe.

A moment later, a familiar voice exclaimed, “YOU!”

I snapped around and saw Nadine, wearing the same black and red armor that she’d been wearing the last time I saw her. She was staring at me with an expression of surprise and anger. Obviously, she’d never expected to see Heather again.

“You look surprised to see me,” I said, clenching my staff more tightly.

I was afraid. Hell, I was terrified…of Nadine. I wasn’t used to being scared, at least not like this. My heart was racing and my knees suddenly felt wobbly, but I refused to let Nadine see that. I wasn’t about to give that bitch the satisfaction of seeing what she’d done to me.

“We killed you,” Nadine snarled. “You were supposed to be gone for good…”

“It looks like you failed,” I responded, taking a certain delight in the fact that she didn’t know who I really was. It wasn’t much, but even small victories counted. “All that trouble, and I’m still here.”

Nadine’s eyes flashed in rage and I saw her form a ball of fire in her hand. I was braced to activate my shield wall in an instant. However, she made no move to attack me. In fact, none of the champions were actively fighting each other. Was there some kind of truce or ceasefire before the official competition? I was starting to suspect there was. Nadine wouldn’t have held back otherwise.

“I see you have a new sidekick,” Nadine said with a cruel smirk. “Honestly, your old ones looked a lot tougher…and they were easy to kill.”

“Bite me, bitch,” Teri responded, flipping Nadine off with both hands.

“I’ll deal with you soon enough,” Nadine told Teri. Then, she looked back at me, “And then, we’ll finish what we started with you. One way or another, you’re going to leave the game…”

Before I could think of a good comeback for that, Nadine turned and walked away, going straight towards Robe. Knowing her, she was probably going to give him an earful over his apparent failure.

“So,” Teri said, trying to look brave. “That must be Nadine. She’s a bitch.”

“Tell me about it,” I grumbled.

A moment later, I finally noticed the three people who were standing in front of the group…and above it. They looked like they were standing on an invisible platform, ten feet above the ground.

One of them was an old man, with severely thinning hair and a short and well-trimmed white beard. He had a serious expression and scowled as though he’d just taken a bite out of a lemon. Standing beside him was a slender black woman, who appeared to be in her forties. She had extremely short hair, little more than peach fuzz. It looked like her scalp had been completely shaved a week ago, so all that she had now was the stubble which had grown since. The last person on this invisible platform, was a dark-haired man with richly tanned skin, who appeared to be in his thirties.

“Do you know who they are?” Teri asked me, looking towards those three.

“They work for the Arbiters,” I quietly explained, thankful for the ‘reminder’ that Maelyne had sent me. It was nice to actually know more about what was going on than someone else, though I was pretty sure that I still knew a lot less than any of the other champions. “They’re called the Coordinator, the Referee, and the Cleaner. Apparently, they only go by those titles, and I have no idea which one is which.”

According to the ‘reminder’, these three worked together as the Arbiters’ agents on Earth, and each of them had different responsibilities. The Coordinator was responsible for organizing the contests and setting up anything necessary for them. The Referee was just that, a referee who watched over the contests and made sure that nobody broke the rules. And then there was the Cleaner, who was apparently their version of a janitor. He or she was responsible for cleaning up afterwards, and making sure that no outsiders interfered. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know what that last part meant.

The old man held up his hand for attention, and immediately, everyone went silent and gave him their attention. “A new contest begins,” he stated in a calm voice that somehow carried. “Somewhere among this warren of buildings, are three glowing pillars. The first three champions to claim a pillar, will be declared the winners, and will receive the rewards of victory. And remember, whether you claim victory or not, your performance will reflect upon your patrons.”

“What does that mean?” Teri whispered to me.

“Apparently,” I said wryly, remembering something that had been mentioned in Maelyne’s message, “the gods have a bunch of side bets going.” I shrugged at that. “Maybe it’s like a boxing match, where they give points for how you fight. I don’t know.”

At this point, the woman took over and said, “The boundaries for this contest are clearly marked. Leaving the designated contest area will be considered a disqualification. Once the third pillar has been claimed, all hostilities will cease.”

Since the woman was the one who was talking about the rules, I assumed that she was the Referee. That meant, the old guy was probably the Coordinator, which left the younger one as the Cleaner. I felt a faint stirring of satisfaction at figuring out which of these guys was which.

After this, the Referee announced that the contest had officially begun, and all the other champions immediately rushed towards the various buildings around us. I hesitated a moment, saw where Nadine and Robe were heading, and then went in the opposite direction. Since I had no idea where these pillars were, it didn’t really matter where we started.

“Stay close,” I told Teri, knowing that it wouldn’t be safe to leave her behind in the parking lot. It was better to keep her close, where I could use my abilities to protect her. “Basically, it sounds like this is a fancy game of capture the flag.”

“Yeah,” Teri responded with a nervous laugh. “It sounds simple.”

“Yeah,” I agreed with a deep scowl. “Simple.”

Teri and I went into one of the warehouses, which had clearly been abandoned. There were several holes in the ceiling, which provided a pretty good clue about that. However, the place wasn’t completely empty. Dozens of stone cubes, varying from a couple feet across to about ten, were scattered about the place. This meant, there were plenty of places to hide a pillar, or for people to hide themselves.

“Careful,” I whispered to Teri. “There could be an ambush…”

“Okay,” Teri said, looking around warily.

I gave her a worried look. Teri shouldn’t have been here, and wouldn’t have been if I’d been more careful while testing out my new abilities. That specific ability had been meant to turn someone into a tank, but her original stats would have been too low to allow for that. As it was, Teri didn’t even have any armor or weapons, so she was vulnerable and I’d have to look out for her.

We slowly moved around the warehouse, looking for any sign of either a pillar or one of the other champions. Just as I was starting to think that we’d picked the wrong warehouse, I saw a faint glow, coming from a dark corner between some of the cubes. If I hadn’t been standing in just the right spot, I never would have noticed it.

“I see something,” I told Teri, getting excited.

This was my first competition, and it looked like I was going to get one of the wins. I guess there really was such a thing as beginner’s luck.

I hurried over to where I’d seen the glow, but it wasn’t until I was much closer, nearly on top of it, that I saw that there was no pillar. Instead, there was some kind of glass or crystal sphere, that was about the size of a tennis ball. It was dark green, but glowing from somewhere inside, which gave it an eerie and mysterious look.

“What’s that?” Teri asked.

“No idea,” I admitted, getting tired of saying that. The ‘reminder’ hadn’t said anything about crystal balls, nor had anyone mentioned that during the contest briefing.

Just then, I heard steps behind me and snapped around, only to see a skinny guy who was dressed in black fetish gear, which included a ball gag. I recognized him from earlier and knew that he wasn’t alone.

“Watch out,” I told Teri, right before I spotted two more of the S&M minions. “The Gimp has to be around here somewhere…”

With those words, the Gimp came stepped out from behind one of the cubes. He slowly reached up and unzipped the zipper that covered his mouth. That was really creepy.

“Give that to me,” the Gimp ordered. “Give it to me, and I’ll make it worth your while…” He stuck out his tongue and made licking motions which made me cringe.

“Ewwwww, gross,” Teri exclaimed. “Total perv…”

“I don’t think so,” I said. I had no idea what this crystal ball was, but if he wanted it, I wanted to keep it for myself.

The Gimp gestured with his hand, and his three companions all started to come closer. I raised my staff, not sure if I should even hit them. From the way they all looked, they might enjoy it.

One of the Gimp’s companions jumped at me, but I dodged to the side and then smacked him alongside the head with my staff. When the other two came at me, I swung the staff and hit each of them as well. I’d never used one of these things to fight before, but it was coming pretty easily for me. Of course, staff fighting was listed as one of my skills.

While I was dealing with the latex minions, the Gimp came around behind me. I’d just barely noticed him when he attacked, using what had to be one of his abilities. A bunch of glowing ropes or tentacles, which seemed to be made of light, appeared in the air in front of him and came reaching for me. I immediately tried swatting them away with the staff, only to have them grab hold of it and yank it from my hands.

“On your knees, slut,” the Gimp commanded.

I punched the Gimp as hard as I could, though he barely seemed to notice it. I didn’t know if this was because I was so weak now, or if he was tougher than he looked. Either way, my knuckles hurt and I didn’t have anything to show for it.

“Crap,” I exclaimed, calling up a shield wall, right between me and the Gimp. Unfortunately, that still left his three goons free to come at me from the other side.

“Oh no you don’t,” Teri exclaimed, throwing herself at one of the latex minions and knocking him back, right into the girl.

The last of the three fetish pets pulled out a wicked looking knife and lunged at Teri. She jumped back, letting out a shriek.

At this point, I finally remembered one of my abilities, which should be perfect for this. I activated ‘protect companion’, and Teri began to shimmer as a force field appeared around her body, just in time. The Gimp’s minion sliced at her with the knife, but it seemed to bounce right off, giving Teri a chance to knee him in the balls. Whether he liked pain or not, that seemed enough to take the air out of him.

Teri’s protection wore off just a couple seconds after my shield wall. The Gimp was already taking advantage of that opening, forming a ball of swirling green energy in his hand. I had absolutely no idea what that could do, but had no intention of letting him use it on me.

“Why couldn’t I get some offensive powers?” I exclaimed in frustration and even a little fear. “I’d kill for a freaking magic missile.”

“You’ll make a lovely pet,” the Gimp said before giggling in a way that was incredibly creepy. “Once I break you, Hachthar will reward me…” He giggled again.

The Gimp threw the ball of green energy at me, but I threw up another shield wall. Fortunately, my shield was strong enough to block his attack, much to my relief. I began to feel just a little more confident. I might not be able attack, but I seemed to have a pretty decent defense. However, defense didn’t win games.

“You are one serious creep,” Teri announced, right before she threw herself at the Gimp.

“Watch out,” I cried out, wondering what she was thinking.

The Gimp was already forming another ball of green energy in his hands, so I desperately tried to protect Teri the only way I could, by putting another shield on her, right before she reached him. I just hoped that shield was as tough as my shield wall.

“You’re MINE,” the Gimp said triumphantly.

A moment later, the Gimp was face down on the floor, with Teri pulling his arm back, in what looked like a VERY painful way. Then, she dropped down, driving her elbow right into his back. I could almost hear the crack of his arm breaking in the process.

“Two years in judo class, pervo,” Teri exclaimed.

“Wow,” I said, staring at Teri in stunned disbelief. I remember a couple years ago when she’d been taking those judo classes, but I’d completely forgotten about them. “That was…impressive.”

“Thanks,” Teri said with a broad grin, giving the Gimp a couple swift kicks, including in the groin. He moaned a couple times, but they sounded almost like moans of pleasure. “Creepo.”

Two of the latex goons were still up and trying to sneak up on me again. I threw up a shield wall between us, took advantage of the opportunity to grab my staff, and then gestured for them to come at me. They both paused, looked at each other, then ran away.

I let out a sigh of relief then leaned on my staff. That whole fight had been scary and exciting at the same time. In a way, it was exhilarating to be able to actually use my new abilities for real, but on other hand, this just reminded me of how weak I now was. I had no offensive abilities at all, other than being able to smack someone with my staff.

Then, I looked to Teri, who had a few good bruises forming from the fight. But in spite of that, she was grinning, obviously pleased with herself and how she’d taken down the Gimp. I felt a stirring of jealousy, though I was proud of her at the same time.

“Good job,” I told Teri, giving her a faint smile. It looked like my new companion was going to be a little more helpful than I’d expected.

A seconds later, a new popup suddenly appeared in the air in front of me.

THE FIRST PILLAR HAS BEEN CLAIMED.

I looked at Teri and told her, “One down, two to go. Let’s see if we can get one of them for ourselves.”