Chapter 155: A Tense Interaction (Part 1)
"First things first, congratulations on surviving the first stage of the 44th Annual Trials of Iasa,” says Zeris, facing the seven survivors before him with Kane at his side.
Staring at Armaros trying to adjust his cuffed wrists, Kane thinks to himself.
When Armaros woke up, his first instinct was to kill me. Why is he so intent on following through with his mission, even years later? He said he’s never failed; could his pride be pushing him on? And when I asked if he had parents, it looked a lot like whatever he did know was erased or twisted enough to screw with his mind. Maybe he just has a deep loyalty for Stryde? Does he not see how he’s being used…? Damn, it might just be something else, who knows? But he understands now that he could never kill me. So what will he do?
Kane glances at his son for a moment before looking at Armaros again.
Target Alex? No, he’s grown attached to him. We can’t let him go back to Racafi, and we can’t allow Divine to seize control of him again. The paragons also don’t know Armaros is alive, so he must stay with us. But… we do have one glimmer of hope. When I asked him what name he wanted to be called, there was hesitation. His dilemma was short-lived, and he didn’t give much of a physical reaction…
But for a moment, he was genuinely thinking about which name to pick. “Scar” wasn’t a name that Stryde gave him for this mission, and he didn’t need it to continue flying under the radar. It was only his name during stage one of the trials, a name he used and responded to when he had no memory of being a paragon, operator, and assassin. He still chose Armaros, but he’s now, as brief as it might’ve been, lived a life without being Armaros, and part of him values those few days he was liberated. But why?
“Congratulations?” says Ember. “You’re applauding us for not getting murdered by you?”
“Well, when you put it like that… yeah, I guess I am,” says Zeris.
Ember scoffs with a nervous grin.
“You’re kidding, right? You’ve been making me, Sky, Hazel, and Forest wait for these three shitheads to wake up, and the first thing you do is congratulate us? You shouldn’t be praising us for not getting killed by you! For not killing each other! And speaking of killing each other, what the f*ck is going on with Code, Ace, and Scar? You teamed up with Ace, that much I know! But Scar and Code, I have no f*cking clue! Only thing that I understand about them is that all three know what their lives were like before these trials, they have powers, and you just referred to Scar as ‘Mr. Assassin’, and…”
“Well, if you let me–”
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Ember snaps her fingers, “Moved on like that. I know you told us you were in charge of this exam or trials or whatever the hell you called this shit, so I kind of understand that you had to kill people, I guess? But what the actual f*ck is wrong with you?! Why is this a thing?! And why are you trying to pretend like everything’s cool with us?!”
Zeris gestures for Ember to stop with his hand, and Ember does so.
“Okay. Want to get anything else off your chest before I start explaining this shit?”
Ember considers his question for a few seconds before shaking her head.
“Okay. Anybody else?”
“Zeris. That’s your name, right?” asks Forest, and Zeris nods. “I think we’re all just very confused, and– you know, I can’t speak for the rest, but I’m pissed about what happened to Hunter and Falc. They died because of your gimmicks or whatever, and– I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget that last look I had… you know… of them. They died because of you. You had the power to control those mazes and the traps, so that’s really all it is.”
“Actually, I didn’t. The mazes are part of the trials, but I don’t actually control what happens with the traps there. They’re preset like that and have been for the past forty-four years.”
“But you still killed people,” says Sky, glancing at Hazel. “Don’t pretend your hands are clean.”
“I’m not. As a trial runner, part of the job is killing participants that the queen wouldn’t find beneficial to society or her rule. The people I killed wouldn’t have survived the mazes on their own and especially wouldn’t have fared better in stage two.”
“But you chose to help Ace and me and said it was because I had potential. You even brought me to live here for a few days before I went back into the trials. Is that common for a trial runner to do? Because the more I think about it, it doesn’t seem like that’s allowed,” says Hazel.
“It’s allowed. Trial runners can help certain participants they think could go far in the trials.”
“So why did you help Ace? He had powers while most of us didn’t. He didn’t need your help.”
“Because I gave him those powers,” says Zeris, surprising everyone except those who already knew, along with Armaros, who didn’t express anything other than his usual plain look.
Zeris sighs, “He was the strongest and fastest in the group, the most physically capable. I would've helped him anyway, regardless of his past. And I know what you’re thinking right now about how Ace killed a few people, but I’m going to start explaining stuff, and maybe you won’t have as many questions once you actually hear what I have to say.”
“I doubt that,” says Quinn, leaning back in his beanbag with his arms folded.
Looking at Quinn momentarily, Zeris says, “Besides Scar, each of you is a citizen from a kingdom called ‘Iasa’. Every year, the Queen enforces an event called ‘The Trials’, where every eighteen-year-old must register and compete against one another. Supposedly, twenty to thirty years ago, the survival rate for the trials was much higher. I have no idea why they originally started. However, nowadays, the trials still exist to control famine and overpopulation within Iasa.”
After taking out a remote and clicking a button, a screen powers on behind Zeris and Kane. Different silhouettes of floating headshots appear on the screen, some crossed out.
“By killing off whoever isn’t best suited for society, the Queen not only has to worry a little less about people starving to death, but she also gets a nice crop of handpicked individuals every year like yourselves. Depending on how you do with the rest of the trials, the queen plans to plug you into society wherever she wants. And from there, she plans to make you work until you die.”