Harper was staring open-mouthed. In front of him wasn’t a small camp of maybe six or seven people. No… this was a bustling village with easily over a hundred people. Men, women, everything in between, and even children.

Harper looked over at Malgren. “Are all of them…”

“Prisoners. Same as you and I. And none of them know what they did either, before you ask.” Malgren tightened his jaw in clear anger.

Harper noticed Malgren’s anger, but chose not to pry further. Instead, he decided on a different angle. “What’s this place called?”

Alvieri cleared his throat before speaking. “Maledictum.”

Harper hummed in understanding. “Cursed. Okay. That makes sense.”

He saw someone walking up in the corner of his eye. He looked over, but didn’t recognize them. It was a woman that just barely reached his shoulders with gray hair that had the flow and texture of mercury. She leaned up and kissed Alvieri on the cheek.

“I hope Alfie was able to help you plenty. You must be Harper, the new fellow. Name’s Puck, it’s a pleasure to meet you!” She held out a hand with a cheery smile.

Harper reached out and clasped her hand hesitantly. She immediately grabbed it with the other hand and shook vigorously. She felt ice cold to the touch, and her skin had a rubberiness to it that was distinctly unhuman.

“I’m sorry if this is rude, but can I ask—”

“I’m a Lumenian, dear. We’re practically walking batteries. Our rubbery skin is the only thing that keeps us from shocking everything we touch. And yes, my hair is made of mercury!” Puck slid a hand through her hair. It broke apart and came back together, leaving none of it on her hand. “And don’t you worry ‘bout a thing, my hair won’t poison you none.”

Harper was left in shock at the pleasant woman with a smile that melted hearts and a twangy voice that reminded him of home. This was a scourge of the Cosmos? Surely this was a joke. He looked over at Malgren, who was clearly trying his best not to explode in anger.

A crack sounded near them, causing Puck to flinch. “I-I’m going to head back inside now. Y’all don’t get into too much trouble now!”

Alvieri looked at them. “Be back.” He walked off behind Puck.

Harper looked back over to Malgren again. “Do we have somewhere we can talk in private?”

Malgren nodded. “Follow me. He’ll know where to go.”

Harper did so, following behind Malgren until they came to a large three story building. It had the name ‘Leaking Barrel’ on the front and even a barrel that constantly dripped a golden liquid hanging by the door. Up above on the second and third floors were balconies with people lounging around.

Malgren pushed the obvious inn’s door open and walked in. Harper followed after and was nearly blasted back by the deluge of sounds. Glass breaking, raucous laughter, and punches landing. This wasn’t an inn at all. It was a fight club.

Malgren led him through the room. In the middle of the room was a pit with four people fighting in it. Harper winced when he saw one get punched hard enough to knock out several teeth. The crowd surrounding the pit groaned in response.

On his right was a board covered in numbers. Despite being drawn on a chalk board, they all changed by the second as the fight progressed. A gambling board, then.

They both walked further into the room and past tables with people sitting and conversing or eating and drinking. Some tables had five, some had just one. One had what looked like a person sitting at it, only they were half melded into the seat like a centaur. He shook his head and tried not to think about it.

They walked all the way to the back of the room where there was a bar loaded with patrons and an exhausted looking barmaid running drinks. She had several arms coming from her back but, other than that, looked human. She smiled when she saw Malgren approaching.

Without a word, she tossed him a key with another arm that spontaneously sprouted from her back. They went to the right, where a door was in place. It led to a narrow hallway Malgren could barely fit through with numbered room doors. They walked all the way down until they reached a stairwell. They continued downwards.

Harper tapped Malgren, who simply grunted without looking back. “If we’re going somewhere private, shouldn’t we be going upstairs to a room?”

“We aren’t going to a room. Now keep quiet.” He spoke in a restrained tone that spoke to a powerful underlying anger.

Whether it was directed at Harper or not, he decided it would be better if he simply did as he was told. There was no point in angering a giant who could kill him by looking at him too hard. It didn’t matter that he could respawn, dying still sucked.

Malgren unlocked the door at the bottom of the steps. It was another hallway, only this one was twice the size of the one upstairs. Not only that, it had much fewer rooms, going from the roughly ten upstairs to just four. Three were on the side opposite the stairs, while the other was on the same side as the stairs. They each had a label above them.

The one closest to them said ‘Locker Room’. That was rather self explanatory. The next one was the one on the stairs’ side and said ‘Arena’ in bolded capital letters. The one after said ‘Equipment’ and was directly across from the Arena entrance. That left only the last one at the very end, which simply read ‘Training’. That was the one they entered.

Malgren entered and held the door for Harper. He then closed it behind him, at which point he screamed at the top of his lungs for at least a minute straight. He punched at the wall by the door, which left a dent that slowly repaired itself.

He started to vibrate violently, to the point he was blurring to Harper’s eyes. He punched the floor instead of the wall, leaving a giant crater that also started repairing itself. He repeatedly punched at the floor, then started to two-handed hammer fist the ground over and over. By the time he stopped, he was in a crater several feet deep.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Harper stood in shock and watched the entire process. He considered stopping Malgren, then realized that he might accidentally kill him. He would just let the man get his anger out.

After a long while, Malgren wiped sweat from his brow and stood up. He looked over Harper’s shoulder and held up a hand. Confused, Harper turned around.

Luna returned the greeting. Her trademark orange hair was tied up into a bun the size of her head. She still had blurry features, like she was censored top to bottom. “What took so long?”

Malgren pointed a thumb Harper’s way. “He killed the Beast.”

Even through the censor, Harper could still see the doubt on Luna’s face. “Is this true?”

“It’s easier to prove if I show you.” He backed up to one wall. “Cosmic Flames.” He belched out the blazing hot rainbow flames, careful not to hit anything. Despite this, the wall opposite him still had a scorch mark just from the residual heat. And still, the flames only lasted half of a second and left him feeling like he was being boiled from the inside out.

Cosmic Flames(Rank 0) RP: 2/10 > 3/10

“I also got this. Warhammer.” The hefty warhammer materialized in his hands. He swung it around a few times just to remember the weight, then sent it away. “But that’s not from killing the Beast, that’s from the guy in charge, Marik.”

Luna made a sound between a ‘huh’ and a ‘what’. “You’re on a first name basis with the Warden?”

Harper chuckled. “I only know him by his first name. I totally forgot he was a Warden until you mentioned it. He’s honestly a pretty chill guy.”

Luna walked closer to him, the padding of her feet surprisingly rough for someone as lithe as her. She leaned into his face, making his head hurt from trying to discern details and failing. “What do you mean a Warden? I said the Warden.”

He tried to take a step back and bumped into the wall right behind him. Damn it, I literally backed myself into a corner! “Y-yeah, he’s a Warden. There’s several, each with their own battlegrounds. Didn’t you know that?”

She turned away from Harper. “Tch. Of course we didn’t know that. Most people didn’t think to break into the rear area of the dungeon. And not one person got buddy buddy with the—sorry, a Warden. Do you understand what kind of information you just brought us?”

How does she know I—ah, right. Alvieri.

Harper raised a finger. “Actually, Marik said they aren’t dungeons, they’re battlegrounds. Think of it like a tournament, with everything before the last fight being the preliminaries.”

Luna looked over her shoulder at him. “Did I ask you what they prefer to call them?” She shook her head. “No, no, that’s not fair to you, that’s actually helpful to know. That tells us what to expect in the future. What else did this Ma… Warden tell you?”

He shrugged. “Mostly that there’s people everywhere and several battlegrounds across the planet.” That’s when Harper remembered a key detail. “Oh, he also mentioned that the point of my rehabilitation is to save the Cosmos. I gotta beat all the battlegrounds, then kill all the Wardens.”

Luna was doing her best to maintain composure, but the conversation was clearly getting to her. She was tapping her foot on the ground and had undone her bun during the explanation. Her orange hair was wildly strewn about. Despite himself, Harper tried not to look directly at her.

How is someone who’s censored from reality still pretty? Especially when she’s all disheveled like that. It makes her feel… approachable.

Malgren cleared his throat. Harper shook his head and looked back at Luna. She was staring right at him.

“What are you thinking?” If she was suspicious, she didn’t make it clear in her tone of voice.

“Oh! Um, I was just trying to figure out what this room is for? I-I couldn’t help but notice it has a really high ceiling and everything in it regenerates.”

Malgren was pinching the bridge of his nose. Luna just stared at Harper. Finally, she spoke again. “It’s for training. It said so on the door. Also, you’re red. Might want to get yourself checked out.”

Apparently, Malgren could hold it no longer, because he burst out laughing. He fell to one knee, then back into a seated position as the laughter overtook him. Luna just kept saying ‘What?’ over and over, causing Malgren’s laughter to double in volume.

Eventually, she sighed and shook her head before looking over at Harper. “We’ll talk more later.” She stepped on Malgren as she walked out. He didn’t seem to notice, continuing to laugh until she left the room.

The moment the door clicked shut, his laughter died. He stood up from the ground, dusted himself off, and looked Harper dead in the eye. They stared at each other for a long while, neither saying anything nor breaking eye contact. Before either one could say anything, the door behind him opened.

Alvieri walked in and approached them. He looked first at Harper, then at Malgren. “Angry?”

Malgren turned his head to Alvieri without moving his eyes. “No, just testing him. He’s developing an attraction to Luna.”

Harper also looked to Alvieri without moving his eyes. “I mean, she’s breathtaking. Have you seen her?”

“No.” Alvieri let out a coughing chuckle.

Despite the circumstances, neither Harper nor Malgren could hold it. After a moment, they both burst out laughing. They clasped hands and pulled each other in for a hug and pat on the back.

“He gets a pass from me. For now.” He poked Harper in the chest. “But I’ve got my eye on you. She may seem tough, but she’s softer than she lets on.”

Harper grinned at Malgren. “What, like you?”

He barked out a laugh. “Fuck you.”

Alvieri raised an awkward hand. “So, why down here? Meeting Luna?”

“That, and this guy over here needed to let off steam. Speaking of, crater’s already gone, huh?” He pointed towards the general vicinity of where it was before. Only smooth ground remained.

“He angry when see Puck. Me too. Not show.” Despite his words, Alvieri’s central core was letting off quite a bit of heat.

“Oh, I was furious, but I can’t exactly destroy a room like he can.” He gestured to himself, then to Malgren’s much larger form. “So I just let off steam by watching him destroy it.”

Malgren tightened his fists, then closed his eyes and let out a breath. “There are children in Maledictum. Fucking. Children. You tell me how a void-damned child can be a scourge of the Cosmos. I know the Cosmic has his reasons, but damn it, a child?”

Harper pat Malgren on the back. “I know what you mean. I was in fucking shock when I saw kids playing in the streets. Who knows how many times they’ve died on this planet. And Puck. My god. When she flinched because of a branch cracking, I knew what I had to do. I gotta beat this whole planet, then punch the Cosmic right in his face. That’ll be my payment for saving the Cosmos.”

Alvieri nodded along. “Sure, you punch Cosmic. For now, we move spawn.”

Harper’s eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up. “Wait, what? Move my spawn?”

Malgren chuckled and patted Harper on the back hard enough to make him stumble. “Oh, you’ll love this.”