Under the gloomy sky, a shower of rain cascaded down upon the Pit, enveloping it in a mournful mood, while the roar of the crowd echoed in my ears as I stood in the center of the fighting floor, confident. Throughout the cycles, I have fought too many battles in this arena to feel any jitters in my guts. The cheers of the crowd no longer rattled me. In fact, I deliberately let it reach my ears as it tickled my pride. No longer was I tense about what was about to slither out of the other side.
The beast entrance creaked open, and with a mesmerizing display, its scales glistening with raindrops, the Thorn Serpent, the beast I had faced here twenty-eight times before, emerged.
The Pit erupted in a thunderous roar. Except this time, I deftly pushed aside the noise of the crowd, and instead of reveling in the atmosphere of the place, I locked eyes with the piercing gaze of the serpent. This was it. This was the time to prove I had what it took to be on the battlefield. For the first time, Stella and I impressed High Commander Ronnu enough for her to bother going to the Pit to watch us fight. It turned out that, understandably, the display of our skills in a fight with her at the beginning of every third day of the cycle was not really enough to convince her. Or maybe it was, and she just wanted to see more to relieve her boredom.
Be that as it may, what mattered was that she was here.
And so closer than ever to the way out, I found myself oblivious to the pitter-patter of raindrops all around me, to my soaked fur weighing me down, or to my feet buried in the mud. I remained steadfast, unyielding in my resolve, eyeing the beast, my prey.
Slithering slowly toward me, the serpent moved with a disturbing grace, its sinuous body contorting with fluidity. The beast watched my every move as I watched its.
And then it came, a move I already knew well. The Thorn Serpent coiled back, its body taut with tension, and launched a flurry of thorns in my direction. Without a second thought, I swung my now wet and heavy as hell bushy tail. It served me well as a shield to intercept the incoming projectiles. As they had a dozen times before, the thorns harmlessly embedded themselves in Sage’s long, fine hair.
And every time they found their mark in my tail, I enjoyed a moment of triumph, even goading the serpent with cheeky yelps. Of course, I wasn’t just standing there, nailed to the ground, hammered by thorns, waiting to become a pincushion. Driven by my instincts, I weaved and dodged effortlessly, peering out from behind my tail, waiting for a chance to pounce.
The serpent’s angry hissing filled the air, clashing with the sound of raindrops falling to the ground and my light strides. With graceful poise, I danced silently through the soaked mud, prowling as Vienlin had taught me, a hair’s breadth away from making a blunder that would draw blood. Deliberate, to taunt and frustrate my prey even more.
There was no doubt. Over the past few weeks down here in the fucking Pit, I had become a true predator through and through, the very embodiment of skill and finesse. Every dodge, every weave, was a testament to my increased prowess, a declaration that I was no longer a novice in this deadly game.
The crowd, though a distant hum in my ears, could only marvel at the display of mastery before them. Too brazen a thought? Most likely.
»Sssubmit.« The Thorn Serpent, its rage and madness driven by this world evident in its hissing, opened its damned mind game. Unfortunately for the serpent, I’d heard the same thing more than a hundred times through various beasts and never once gave in. Each attempt only made me stronger in resisting the foul temptation. And so I met its gaze, undaunted, standing strong, silent to its whispers.
Instead of pointless chatter, I studied the Thorn Serpent’s movements, looking for a change in its patterns from those I knew, searching for a weakness to exploit. The rain-soaked arena provided the perfect backdrop, obscuring the beast’s vision, while to my Rairok-trained [Midnight Shine] eyes, it was like fighting on a bright sunny day.
Its patience with my silence gone, the serpent lunged forward. Nothing I hadn’t expected, though. With a quick flap of my wings, I leaped aside. The rush of air brushed against my fur as its jaws snapped shut mere centimeters away from me. Surely too close for comfort, but not close enough to make me sweat.
This was it. This was the time, and so I prowled, maneuvering closer to the serpent, my body low to the ground, ready to pounce. Time seemed to slow as the rain intensified, its rhythmic pattern blending with the pounding of my heartbeat.
There! As the beast recoiled from its failed attempt to bite me, I seized the opportunity. In a swift, coordinated movement of my entire body, I launched myself at the exposed underbelly, sinking my teeth and claws into the beast’s flesh. I may not have mastered [Fierce Pounce], yet the belly scales offered the beast little protection.
Painful hisses filled the air as I tore into the serpent’s flesh, tasting its cold blood. As much as I wanted to spit that shit out, killing the beast came first. And so, while I had the Thorn Serpent’s throat in my mouth, keeping its maw away from me, I did everything I could to keep its body from gripping me in its thorny embrace. The beast tried, desperately tried, to wrap itself around me, but each time it came too close, I reminded it by slamming it to the ground who was the prey and who was the predator.
Blood mingled with rainwater, painting a vivid tableau of the battle in progress.
I could feel it. The more blood flowed down my throat and stained my paws, the weaker the serpent’s resistance grew. Its once powerful movements became feeble and sluggish, a testament to how much I had improved since our first fight. I could taste victory in the air.
And then, with a final thrash, the Thorn Serpent collapsed to the ground, free once again from Eleaden’s clutches. A few heartbeats later, the roar of the crowd and the applause from the Pit faded into the background as I let out a triumphant roar of my own. I stood tall, a sense of pride surging through me at the strength and skill I had honed, my heart pounding with exhilaration. The beast that had nearly brought me to my knees in our first encounter I had now brought down without so much as a scratch.
‘Thank you, and rest in peace,’ I whispered to myself over the Thorn Serpent’s corpse before turning to the crowd; some victory laps were in order.
While I was basking in the glory of my triumph, knowing that I had earned every moment of it, the rain washed away the evidence of our fierce battle, leaving only the echoes of victory in the air. And with that sense fading, so did my zeal.
“Not bad, Grey!” The force with which Ronnu shouted made me jump and silenced the entire Pit. The fact that she hit everyone with her presence did its part as well. “Pretty impressive, actually - for a one-star shifter facing a one-star beast. Although I can’t help but feel that this isn’t the first time you’ve faced the Thorn Serpent, you’ve shown me that you can take care of yourself on the battlefield.”
The embarrassment of being spoken to, lauded even, in front of so many people aside, I almost yelped as my heart leapt for joy. In fact, I was having trouble staying on my feet, shaking all over. I did it. I finally did it. I got her approval. The reality hit me harder than I expected.
“I won’t mind having you in our rear,” Ronnu continued, amusement at my reaction in her eyes. “ However, since I’m here, it would be a shame not to see everything you got, don’t you think?”
‘Oh, shit!’ While what she said seemed reasonable - after all, I showed more in the fight with her than I did here - a shudder ran through my body. My instincts were screaming at me that I wouldn’t like what she had in mind.
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“What I’m thinking of is a two-star beast. Do you dare, Grey?”
I hated her. I hated this version of Traiana so much. She knew damn well how to strike the right chord with knights, and even better with my inner beast. So while Pit erupted into an excited roar, my inner pride wouldn’t let me back down. A shortcoming that became more and more glaring the more I surrendered to my beast. One that, according to Vienlin and Geran, was common to all shifters and only faded with experience. The young beasts tended to be more proud, brash, and cocky. I simply couldn’t back down.
“I dare.”
“Wait!” came the voice of a man from the other side of this makeshift arena, no less powerful than hers. It belonged to the Pit Master. “Are you sure she’s up to it, High Commander?”
“Haven’t you seen her yourself?”
“She wouldn’t be the first to overestimate her strength, and you wouldn’t be the last to send someone to their death.”
The change in Ronnu’s presence let everyone know how much she hated hearing that. “Should it come to that, I’ll step in. Happy?”
“Sure, that sounds good. Do I have your word? I’d really hate to fill out a report on another death in the Pit.”
“You have my word.”
“Very well. Any preferences in beasts for your shifter?”
“I’ll leave that to you.”
The man nodded and disappeared into the bowels of the Pit. I could only imagine him frantically giving orders as to which beast to transport to the fighting floor. A beast I had certainly not faced here before. Regardless of the cycle, it was usually four other beasts besides the Thorn Serpent. Swamp Hound, Frost Weaver, Ironclad Boar, and Blood Ram. All one-star beasts. What mostly differed was the order in which I faced them. But that was about to change.
Hence the knot in my throat. The uncertainty of what I was about to face took me back to that day, my first fight in this dreadful arena. Back in my corner of the fighting floor, my heart pounding, I had my eyes glued to the barred door on the other side, and only one thought in my mind. What would emerge this time?
The door creaked open, and with a squeaking roar, the floor shook under the weight of my opponent. Or so I thought. I couldn’t help but feel confused when a Crystal Rat the size of me stepped out of the entrance. The size simply didn’t match the tremors its steps sent through the fighting floor.
Something wasn’t right.
The Crystal Rat moved closer, each step creating ripples in the mud. Yet for whatever reason, its steps seemed lighter than mine. On top of that, there was the beast’s fur, or should I say lack of it. The beast’s body glistened with a coat of crystal shards, refracting the dim light of the arena into a dazzling display. I didn’t know if the Pit Master had noticed my little trick or if it was just luck on his part, but when I set my shiny eyes on the rat, I winced in pain. The crystal reflections were too much.
And of course, the Crystal Rat noticed.
Without a moment’s hesitation, the beast sprang into action.
Even though I wasn’t fond of them, I knew what rats looked like and how they moved. Hell, I even made friends with a mouse in the cellar, sort of. Yet the movements of this beast were alien to me. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it was skating through the mud. And it was damn fast at that.
The arena faded into the background as my senses went into overdrive. Every muscle in my body tensed, ready to react, to defend against whatever the Crystal Rat had in store for me.
And then it struck.
Not with its oversized crystal fangs or crystals instead of fur, but from beneath me. The rat manipulated the ground below us. If I hadn’t felt the tremors through my paws long before the spikes of solid stone jutted out of the ground, this fight would be over before it even began.
What an absolute shame that would be.
Nevertheless, a shiver ran down my spine as the spikes grazed my fur. Despite my reflexes, I was barely fast enough and now on the run from the rat that gave chase. In retrospect, it might have been better to be knocked out cold than to suffer this shame. But what could I do when the rat wouldn’t give me a chance to observe it in peace?
And when I thought it couldn’t get any more embarrassing, the Crystal Rat jumped into the air, squealing. Could the beast fly? Didn’t its magic require contact with the ground? Or was it going to throw its crystals at me like the serpent threw its thorns?
All my assumptions turned out to be wrong. Almost as if the earth itself had pulled the beast down, the rat curled up into a ball and slammed into the ground. Other than the mud flying in all directions, the ground shook like crazy. The earthquake struck the Pit.
Never in my life had I experienced such a thing. All my senses were confused. If I stood on two legs, I would fall. And then, before I could get my shit together, the ground beneath my feet lifted, and the next thing I knew, I was flying through the air, feeling like I’d been run over by a moss bear.
***
The tremors from the Crystal Rat’s impact reached all the way to the seats where Stella sat among her mentors. They weren’t strong, the tremors, but it was hard for her to imagine what it must have been like for Korra down there. Her friend might have been able to stand on shaky ground at first glance, but she knew her too well to miss that she was in trouble.
Then, all of a sudden, the ground in front of Korra rose up and crashed into her. The impact sent her straight into the rune-encrusted walls of the fighting floor.
“Damn, that must have broken a few ribs,” one of her mentors said, watching the fight with as much interest as everyone else.
Well, Stella couldn’t disagree, yet . . . “That’s not something that would stop her.”
And she wasn’t wrong.
Korra moved before the boulder the rat had pulled out of the ground could hit her. Something had changed in her friend’s attitude, though. Everyone could feel it. Be it her growl, the way she carried herself, her focus, everything made it clear that she didn’t like where the rat pushed her. It was time to strike back.
Korra pounced.
“She didn’t use this when you fought me,” Ronnu, sitting one row above Stella, spoke up with interest. “Don’t tell me you were so cocky and held back.”
“N-no, ma’am. It’s poison. A weak poison. She - well, we didn’t think it would do us any good against you.”
“Without tasting it myself, I can’t say that’s a bad assumption. However, I wouldn’t underestimate any advantage you can get. You never know when you will run into an enemy prone to that kind of poison?”
“Or any poison,” another of her mentors chimed in.
“ Yeah. Some idiots like me just rely on their constitution and regeneration to deal with everything. So what do you know? It might dull my senses, slow me down.”
Stella, not taking her eyes off Korra, now dancing around the rat, trying to keep it in the highest concentration of poison, to the wonder of the members of the Seventh, chuckled. “That’s just her case.”
“So she poisoned not only the rat but herself as well, huh? Brilliant. I like your friend’s style, Eichenralke.”
Not quite sure what to say, whether to be proud of Korra or ashamed of her, Stella simply watched the fight in silence. A rather long cat-and-mouse battle she found frustrating to watch was taking place down there. The rat did everything in its power to keep Korra from getting close to it. At one point, the beast even turned the ground into a quicksand swamp. If it hadn’t been for her friend’s quick reaction, flapping her wings with all her might to make her float for a moment, she would have been stuck there at the rat’s mercy, or worse. The swamp would have swallowed her whole.
Eventually, after releasing the poison two more times, obviously to no avail, Korra got close to the rat. But at that point, the beast curled up into a ball, a crystal ball that she had no idea how to deal with.
Another chuckle escaped Stella’s lips, followed by a pang of guilt. She would have hated it if Korra had laughed at her like that, yet she couldn’t help it. After all, her friend down there looked too much like a cat playing with a ball of yarn. A ball that didn’t like being played with. As Korra’s frustration grew, so did Crystal Rat’s. While still curled up in a ball, the beast did its best to get rid of the annoying shifter. The ground around the rat swayed like tall grass in the wind, while wherever her friend stepped, a stone spike or pillar would pop out of the mud.
It wasn’t long before Korra was sent flying into the wall for the second time.
“I’d say she’s not doing too badly,” High Commander Ronnu judged to Stella’s wonder. “Losing your footing can throw off even a three-star knight.”
“That’s because she has four feet on the ground,” one of her mentors remarked, prompting the female shifter, Vienlin, as Stella knew of from Korra, to snarl in disapproval. “You think feeling those tremors through four feet, and much more strongly, is better?”
“Isn’t it . . .?”
“That’s enough!” Ronnu stopped them and looked at Stella. “Though I’m curious to see how your friend handles the beast, Eichenralke. The Pit Master did her dirty when he matched her with the Crystal Rat.”
True. That one was way too good a counter to Korra. Even Stella could see that.