As soon as Altessa disappeared, a raft of notifications scrolled by. These were all tucked away in a window that I could open or minimise whenever I needed to. My inventory, skill list, quest log, maps, and status screens were all now unlocked, and a new quest was added to my quest log.

New Quest: Preparations

In exactly thirty minutes, the Contest of Valour will begin. You can access information about how this contest works from the kiosks spread around the Temple of Awakening. This information will not disappear for the duration of the contest and may be reviewed at any time, including after you have died. You must also form a squad of five warriors, which will make up your team for the duration of this contest. If you do not join a squad willingly, warriors will be assigned at random to squads that do not yet have five members.

Bright lights erupted from the temple walls around us, which opened into alien tech information kiosks with headings like Loot, Enemies, Quests, Settlements, and the like.

“Who do you think we should invite to our squad?” I asked. “I assume we’re all sticking together on this one.”

Kaiser barked an affirmative, and Naginata nodded decisively.

“We know Bastard and Scythe are capable. What about them?” Naginata asked.

I shrugged. “Better the devil you know, right? Hey Bastard! You wanna squad up?”

The mask-wearing warrior turned towards me and shook his head. “Sorry, Hatchet. There are five Edgebreakers here already, so we’ve got our squad sorted.”

Two others had joined Bastard, Scythe and Shuriken. One of the newcomers was absolutely huge, with fists the size of watermelons. He looked about two and a half metres tall. The other was a twitchy, nervous guy whose eyes darted between us.

“This is Zweihander,” Bastard said, indicating the big guy. “And this is Cleaver.”

Zweihander offered us a good-natured smile, and when he talked, I was surprised to hear an Austrian accent. He sounded like a bit like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but looked more like Dolph Lundgren. “Greetings, tiny ones. Looks like we’re in for some fun, huh? Does your puppy bite?”

Kaiser growled.

“His name’s Kaiser, and he’s his own dog,” I said.

“I can see that! You’ve got spirit, little one!” Zweihander laughed.

“Who are you going to pick to round out your little squad of three?” Bastard asked.

Before I got a chance to answer, Scythe interrupted. “We’re going to figure out what the hell’s going on. Shuri and I will scour these info stations for every bit of intel we can.”

Bastard nodded, and they left.

“The dinosaur guy seems powerful,” I said, but when I went to find him, Lockjaw was busy talking to Grendel. “Okay, Lockjaw is a no-go if he’s teaming up with Grendel.”

Then I saw the other big guy making a beeline for us. The one covered in tattoos. He was almost as big as Zweihander but with a golden tan and a mane of long blond hair. This was Macuahuitl.

“Oi, are you buggers EDGE Force?” Macuahuitl asked. His accent was one hundred per cent Aussie surf bogan. He was the kind of guy who spent his weekends splashing around in the surf down at Byron Bay.

“We are,” I said, indicating Hikaru, Kaiser and myself. “But they’re Edgebreaker. I don’t know how to pronounce your name, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t sweat it, mate. Just call me Big Mac. What the bloody hell is Edgebreaker? You guys all have stabby slashy names too. I thought that was just an EDGE Force thing?”

Bastard explained, and I was quietly impressed at how easily he’d asserted his leadership amongst the other squad. “Until recently, Edgebreaker was devoted to destroying EDGE Force. We were all kidnapped and forced to fight against our will, but many of us defected over the years. EDGE Force had us on a path of destruction, but now, well, thanks to Hatchet and Naginata, things might have changed. However, there’s no way to know for sure. If we’ve been in stasis for ten months, EDGE Force might have already pressed the big red button.”

Mac’s eyes widened as Bastard spoke. “So you guys just said nah fuck this, and went and did your own thing? Fuck me, I didn’t even know that was an option!”

“We each have our own reasons for leaving,” Cleaver said. His voice was quiet, with a distinctly sneering quality to it.

“If you’re EDGE Force, you’re with us,” I said to Big Mac. “I’m Hatchet. This is Kaiser and Naginata. Kaiser and I have been on two missions together, and our group here might be responsible for this whole situation.”

Bastard laughed. I couldn’t see his mouth under that mask, but his eyes showed his smile. “The powers at play in Romania echoed from our pale blue dot far into the cosmos, it seems. I expected things to change, but I never expected this.”

“I don’t think anyone did,” I said. “Hey, does anyone have any phones or communications equipment with them? We had a bunch on us when we were taken, but we’ve got nothing now.”

No one had any way of contacting the outside world, and nobody had been allowed to keep any weapons they had on them when they were abducted. I still had my claws, which meant that the Empire either couldn’t take them, or wouldn’t take them from me.

Someone began speaking aloud from across the room, and the name on his nameplate took me by surprise. Robert Forge Jr.

He read from one of the luminous kiosks that ringed the room. “Every chosen warrior was selected for their unique abilities. All have been touched by the raw powers of creation and destruction that fuel our universe.” Robert laughed then spoke quietly to the grizzled man who stood next to him like a bodyguard. “These gifts have not gone unnoticed, and now they will be tested. Victory over our three champions will require every bit of strength, cunning and guile humanity is capable of.”

Robert Forge Jr. turned back towards us, and I was shocked to see that the left side of his face was an incredibly sophisticated robotic replacement from his hairline down to his chin. His left eye was blue. The same colour as the anima of Mnemnhion. He settled his gaze on me for a little longer than was comfortable.

“I didn’t expect to see him here,” Bastard said.

“Is he a robot or something?” Big Mac asked.

“Or something. He’s the son of Robert Forge, Director of Mnemtech, and became very sick as a child,” Bastard explained. “I’m not sure what with. It was all very hush-hush. Little Robbie himself hasn’t been seen in public for years, and now I think I know why. Daddy is using all the advances in technology he’s spending billions on to keep Robbie alive.”

“Who are those people with him?” I asked. Robert had another couple of people standing around him like an entourage. One was the bodyguard looking guy, whose name was Jeremy Gilmour. Then there was a woman with a shaved head, about the same age as Robert, and her name was Arclight. Another chubby middle-aged guy who looked very uncomfortable and out of place stood with them. “They look like they know him.”

Bastard nodded. “Jeremy is Robert Forge Senior’s right-hand man. I’ve always thought that he’d been enhanced some way by Mnemtech, and he must have been to be chosen for this. Isaac McMillen, the dumpy looking one next to Jeremy, is Forge’s fixer. If there’s someone causing trouble or sniffing around where they shouldn’t, Isaac is usually the reason why they disappear. I have no idea who Arclight is.”

Arclight stood at Robert’s side with a look of pride on her face. She put an arm around his waist, and he put his around her shoulders. Robert whispered something inaudible into her ear, and she grinned.

“I’d say they’re together,” Naginata said. “Look at that. We’re not the only couple in this competition.”

I drew Naginata close and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Kaiser growled. He’d made it very clear that he expected the affection I gave to Naginata to not interfere with the number of pats and belly rubs he received. Sometimes it felt like being in a throuple. Nevertheless, I reached down and scratched his head to quieten him.

“I don’t know how much time we have left here,” Bastard said. “It would do us well to find out all we can before the competition kicks off.”

I nodded my agreement.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Big Mac groaned. “Man, I hate reading. It just doesn’t sink in, you know? Why don’t they make tutorial videos for this kind of stuff? If I read a recipe or something, all the words jumble up. But if I watch a YouTube video, I can make anything, you know?”

“We all learn in different ways,” Naginata said.

“If you’re EDGE Force, you’re with us,” I said. “We’ll work to everyone’s strengths.”

A big smile spread across Macuahuitl’s face. “Man, I’m so glad you said that. I didn’t want to get stuck on a team with randos.”

“We need to choose a fifth member, so maybe we should all get out there and canvas those who are undecided,” I suggested and was happy that we were all in agreement.

“You’re our squad leader, yeah?” Big Mac asked.

“I, uh-” I said, then looked to Naginata to get her take.

She nodded with her eyebrows raised like I’d asked her a dumb question.

“I guess so,” I said.

Kaiser barked once, giving his approval.

A message appeared in front of me.

You have been nominated as your squad leader. Do you wish to form a squad?

Yes / No

I selected yes, and then it asked me to nominate members. While focusing on Naginata, another window appeared, which let me send her an invite to the squad. She accepted, and I did the same for Kaiser and Macuahuitl.

“I have to ask, what the hell is a Macuahuitl? I can’t even pronounce it,” I said.

Big Mac laughed. “Oh it’s this rad sword. Well, actually it’s more like a club… The Aztecs used it as a ritual execution weapon. The weapon’s shaft is wooden, normally carved with gnarly Aztec glyphs, with sharpened obsidian chips tied around the edge of the club. Lops off heads and limbs real good.”

“Obsidian can have a razor-sharp edge when it’s sharpened right,” Naginata said.

“Yeah, right? It’s gnarly! The one I used on my missions before was as tall as I am,” Big Mac said.

That was insane. This guy was about two metres tall.

“I feel a bit naked without it, you know?” Big Mac asked. “Why do you think we were chosen for this, and other EDGEs weren’t? I mean I’ve been on missions with plenty of others.”

“That’s a long story,” I said as I shared a knowing look with Kaiser and Naginata. “Did something weird or crazy happen to you on one of your missions, Mac?”

He laughed long and hard. “Yeah, man, it was insane! I was getting some surfing in on shore leave, down on the north coast of New South Wales, when I was suddenly dumped into this ghost ship floating dead in the water. Turns out that there was this crazy deep-sea virus that turned everyone into monsters, and I survived. The stuff I saw out there… Man alive, it was almost enough to make me not want to go back in the water.”

“So you are a surfer,” I said with a grin.

“Shit, does the tan give me away?”

“The tan, the bleached hair, the physique. All of it contributed.”

Mac grinned back at me. His teeth gleamed almost as brightly as his hair. “I love the sea, man. Maybe even more after coming so close to being destroyed by it. It’s like it looked at me, found me worthy, then spat me back out to keep going. Surfing is how I commune with nature. There’s nothing but you, the water, the sun, and the wind. It makes you leave all your troubles on the shore. You can’t bring it with you, or you can’t surf.”

“I’m afraid we’re riding a wave right now, about to smashed onto a reef,” I said. “Come on, we can play twenty questions when we’ve got more time. We need to figure out the rules and choose another squad member before our half hour is up.”

We split up, but Kaiser stayed by my side. We deliberately stayed away from Grendel, who seemed to hover around with Lockjaw. The German Shepherd monster and the dinosaur monster on one squad would make them a deadly duo alone, but they’d have another three allies by the time this all shook out.

Some of the folks around the temple were happy to have a chat. Kaiser was a hit with some of them, but others were aggressively standoffish. One group in particular, most of whom looked in their late teens or early twenties, didn’t want anything to do with us. Felix Fortuna, Willow, Murmur, Astrid McKillop, and X. They’d already formed their squad and given it a name: Reality Benders.

I moved on and spoke to Quinn, the fellow who’d woken up opposite me in the temple. He said he was still weighing up his options but might come back to me. The guy who looked like a walking corpse was suspiciously named Franklin Gaunt, but he was already talking to Lockjaw and Grendel. So was an older woman named Marilyn Bywater, and Quinn was about to canvas them too.

Lockjaw and Grendel appeared to be the most physically dangerous warriors chosen to participate in this contest, so I didn’t blame others for seeking them out.

Robert Forge Jr. had already claimed his fifth squad member: Hafthor Magnusson, a familiar-looking guy who looked to be in his forties, but in really good shape. I couldn’t place his name or familiar face, but I was sure it would come to me eventually.

I didn’t like the idea of being lumped with someone who was an unproven quantity. If we didn’t choose someone and integrate them into the squad, we’d get whoever was left over.

There weren’t many other potential recruits left. I idly rubbed Kaiser’s side as we walked together, as our bond still required touch to communicate.

[What about that puppy?] Kaiser thought. His gaze was focused on a pale young girl sitting alone against a nearby wall. Her name was Spook, and she hugged her knees close to her chest.

[She looks like she’s all alone. We should make sure she’s okay,] I thought back.

Two ideas fought each other in my head as we headed over to Spook. On the one hand, we needed strong warriors if our squad would be able to compete against the others. On the other hand, we couldn’t leave someone vulnerable behind. That’s just not how I operated.

I knelt in front of Spook, and Kaiser gently nudged one of her arms that held her knees. Spook recoiled at the touch.

“Hey Spook, I’m Hatchet, and this is Kaiser. Are you okay?”

She said nothing and just hugged herself tighter. Kaiser put his nose against her arm, then swung his big black and gold head towards me.

[She can hear me!] Kaiser thought. [And I can hear her. Not words, just a jumble of thoughts spinning round and round like the water going down the drain after your subject me to the untold horrors of the bath.]

Thoughts spinning around like a whirlwind? Spook’s chest rose and fell quickly, like she was hyperventilating. It sounded like Spook was either in the grips of a panic attack, or about to succumb to one.

“Hey, Spook, we’re not going to hurt you. Kaiser can sense what you’re going through, and if you need to, you just give him a hug, okay?”

Spook lifted her head, and her wide eyes brimming with tears. She couldn’t have been more than a couple of years older than my daughter Lorelei. A sudden image flashed into my mind of Lorelei and Seth, confused at why their Dad wasn’t home when their mother came to drop them off at my place. Then the terror and sadness they must have felt when their father dropped off the face of the planet washed over me.

To them I was just gone. No explanation, no chance to say goodbye, and now their lives rode on our defeating these monsters from the Alarendei Empire.

Spook threw her arms around Kaiser’s neck and held on tight.

[We need to protect this puppy,] Kaiser thought.

“How would you feel about joining our squad, Spook?” I asked. It wasn’t a sound strategic choice, but it was the right choice.

She lifted her head enough to see me over Kaiser’s neck. Spook nodded, and I invited her to the squad.

The interface prompted me to enter a squad name, so I picked the one that felt right.

EDGE Force.

I had faith that EDGE Force would stay the course in our absence. We’d shown them there was another way, one that wouldn’t result in ninety per cent of humanity being sacrificed, and Balaur would be working with them even without us around. If there was anything we could do here to change the future that led to the reality crash, we would.

An alarm blared through the atrium, accompanied by a broadcasted warning.

Five minutes remain until the contest begins.

Once those five minutes elapse, you will be teleported to a random location within the Plateau of the Architects.

Big Mac and Naginata joined us a moment later to share what knowledge they’d learned.

The rules of the contest seemed clear. Survive through any means necessary and grow strong enough to defeat the three champions of the Alarendei Empire.

Enemies came in varying levels of danger, with one in particular that was very dangerous. The Gargonath could only be killed once per day, but it would rise again on the next dawn, deadlier than the last time.

Loot came from a number of different places. Enemy drops, quest completions, rewards from hidden criteria, and from hoards hidden around the plateau. Skills were considered part of this loot, and could only be obtained from those various objectives. Levelling up through experience points granted a skill token and an equipment token which could be used to increase the statistics or effects of a single skill or piece of equipment. That was the only way we would grow stronger during this contest.

Big Mac had uncovered that each squad would be scored as the contest continued, and the highest scoring squad at the end of each day would receive a boon. Likewise, anyone who survived to the dawn of the next day would also receive a bonus that those that fell would not. This reward would grow in quality and size the more days a warrior survived.

Naginata located some further information about the death and rebirth mechanics, and the news was not good.

“If you die each day, you will be denied the chance the grow strong enough to stand against the champions. You’ll lose the chance at gaining skill and equipment tokens, and will have a long way to catch up if you fall behind. The further behind you get, the further you’ll stay. It’s nasty. However on the seventh day, the very last day of the contest, if you die, there is no coming back. What Altessa said before was true,” Naginata said sombrely.

Spook’s eyes went wide, and she locked her arms around Kaiser’s neck even tighter.

“The worse you do, the worse you become,” Big Mac said. “This is a cutthroat situation.”

“There’s no blue shell in this race,” I said, drawing confused looks from Naginata and Big Mac. There was some recognition in Spook’s face, though. “You know what I’m talking about.”

Spook nodded.

“Do you want to explain to the others?” I asked.

Spook shook her head.

“Okay, I will. In Mario Kart, there’s this technique called banding,” I explained. “It’s there to make sure that no matter what, the players feel like they’re being challenged, but not overwhelmed. The artificial intelligence that powers the computer-controlled racers are tuned to play to the level of the player. If you’re really good at the game, you’re in for a hell of a fight. If you’re not so good, the bots will go easier on you. If you fall behind, the game gives you the tools to catch up.”

“What does a blue shell have to do with any of that?” Big Mac asked.

“If you’re in last place, the game might give you a winged blue shell with crazy spikes on it,” I explained. “You’ll never see that item if you’re in the front of the pack. The blue shell’s only goal is to seek out the player in first place and blow them up, thereby levelling the playing field a little. If you’re coming first, playing with pure skill, the game gives you crap items, and you become vulnerable to those unfair game-changing items.”

“This contest is the opposite,” Naginata said, understanding. “The better you do, the stronger you become.”

“The worse you do, the further you fall behind,” Big Mac finished.

“Precisely,” I said. “We’ve got four other squads that we’re competing with, and we must give ourselves the best chance at success. Who’s to say what will happen on day seven? If we’re not in control of the game, these arseholes could change the rules at any time. We must be strong enough to resist anything they throw at us.”

“…especially blue shells,” Spook said in a voice barely louder than a whisper.

I nodded. “Right. Especially blue shells.”