While Aegis made his toy soldiers march along the floor, his little brother slept peacefully in a crib beside him, wrapped in their mother’s red swaddling blanket.
Meanwhile, their father was engaged in a conversation with a colleague. He glanced over for a brief moment at his sons, before redirecting his attention to the person in front of him. “Are you certain?” his father said, holding an old tattered book in his arms.
“I’m certain sir,” the other man responded. “We’ve found it at last.”
Aegis, although distracted by his toys, occasionally looked up, intrigued by the hushed conversations. Dropping them, he walked towards his father, saying, “Dad, what’s going on?”
His father paused, glancing at his son beside him. Leaning down he revealed to his son a drawing of twisting roots, seemingly reaching into the underworld to yank souls from their resting place. “This, my son, has the power to shape destiny. It’s the key to taking down the empire. A key in which one day, you will possess.”
***
In the aftermath of a brutal death match, Ethan and Rai, confined side by side, discussed with one another.
“Rena’s not someone who keeps a promise,” Ethan said.
“I expect as much,” Rai said, examining his surroundings.
“Then why let him have the girl?”
“I noticed something earlier,” Rai responded. “You’re going to have to trust me on this one.”
Ethan looked at the boy, eyes full of curiosity. “You fight well, Rai. Surprising to find someone worth standing beside in this wretched place.”
Rai nodded in acknowledgment, his gaze fixed on the light filtering through the cell bars. “We both had our reasons for fighting, but now they remain the same.” Ethan nodded in agreement. “You should have seen the apprentice exam a couple of years ago, this would have been a walk in the park compared to that,” Rai replied. “If only I could get this stupid thing off,” he said, tugging away at his neck collar.
Ethan wasn’t sure what he was referring to. “Exam?”
“Yeah, the empire holds one every so many years to gather the world’s next generation of skilled Abminus. You never heard of it?”
“Abminus? Last I checked the Jade Wars were still happening. Has someone claimed all the tokens?”
“The Jade Wars ended nearly twenty years ago,” Rai said. “Just how long have you been here for?”
Ethan pondered the thought, “Longer than I can remember,” he replied.
The sound of footsteps steadily approached as a door slid open and Rena walked in; he held his cat and two guards followed closely behind. His eyes swept over Ethan and Rai. “Well, well, well. Look who decided to play nice in the sandbox,” Rena sneered, his eyes lingering on Ethan. “Never thought I’d see the day you’d be teaming up in my precious death match. Not since then at least…” Ethan shot him a defiant look. Rena chuckled, “Oh, I still control plenty. Like that little spectacle I arranged for you,” Rena said, referring to the girl in the glass casing above the arena.
“Screw you!” Ethan said.
“As for you, my dear Abminus,” Rena continued, dropping the cat, which quickly scurried out. “Your next opponent is something special.”
Rai’s eyes narrowed. “Who is it?”
“The Phantom of the Underrena,” he gestured towards the one-armed prisoner. “He knows firsthand what the Phantom is capable of.”
Ethan’s eyes flashed with a mix of anger and pain, memories of the fight returning to him.
“How’s about removing this collar for me while you’re at it? Don’t you want your viewers to see me at full strength?”
“Hah! Do you take me for a fool?” Rena said.
“…well yeah I was kind of hoping,” Rai said with a sneer remark under his breath.
Pulling out a small switch, Rena said, “Sure, I could release it,” he mimicked pressing the button, stopping short, “but then you’d use those fancy flux powers of yours and bust yourself out, wouldn’t you?” Rena turned on his heels, ready to leave but not without a final jab. “Good luck, boy. You’re going to need it!” he blurted on his way out.
As the sliding doors closed behind Rena, Rai turned to Ethan with furrowed brows. “The Phantom? What’s he talking about?”
Ethan sighed, “The Phantom is no ordinary opponent... Rena paired me against him years ago.”
Younger than he once was, Ethan studied the opponent in front of him, a teen with a red bandana covering his eyes. “What is your name?” Ethan asked.
“...”
Ethan shook his head in disappointment. “Very well.” Looking up, he recognized his opponent leaving. “Where are you going?” Confusion turned to shock as Ethan witnessed his arm slip from his shoulder, landing at his feet.
Ethan held the spot his arm once was.
Gulp. Reaching for his collar, Rai said, “Now I really wish I had this off...”
“Whatever you do, you mustn’t take your eyes off of him, that’s when it happened to me,” Ethan stressed.
Unexpectedly, the doors slid open once again, catching both their attention.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
A few moments passed with no one entering, suddenly, a little figure wobbled in.
“Plu!” Rai said. Upon seeing Rai, Plu casually turned around to leave. “Get back here!”
Ethan, mystified by Plu’s existence asked, “What is it?”
“Plu’s part of the team,” Rai said, giving Ethan a thumbs up. Plu confidently placed its arms at its sides triumphantly. “Now listen up Plu, I need you to find a switch, it's about this big,” Rai used his fingers to shape the sizing he found closest. “Has a green button, got it?”
Plu nodded in agreement, turning to leave.
***
The tunnels beneath the underground facility seemed to stretch on endlessly as Lily and Eiji, still wearing stolen uniforms, waited silently as guards ran by.
“This is the most disgusting thing, I have ever done,” Lily said.
They were hiding in a camouflage creeper, a plant that grows in caves and certain rainforests. Their leaves camouflage to the environment they are burrowed in. In the caves, they matched the surrounding walls, rendering them nearly invisible. Inside, however, they were moist with mucus.
Feeling a drip of slime down her leg, Lily, jumped out, saying, “That’s it, I’m done.”
Eiji nodded, adjusting his stolen helmet, and replied, “Got it. Stealth mode engaged.”
Retreating to another room, they took a moment to rest, strategizing their next move.
Lily noticed a small vial filled with a glowing liquid. "Luminescent?"
It read: Luminescent - A source of light only visible to those who can utilize the flux within it to cause it to glow.
Eiji, intrigued, replied, “Nice find,” snatching it up.
“I’m exhausted Lily,” Lily said, peering outside the door.
“The boss's room is supposed to be nearby, according to this map,” Eiji said, glaring at one pinned on the wall.
“Better get going then,” Lily sighed, before mustering up the courage to head back out.
As they resumed their exploration, the corridors became increasingly busier with guards.
“We’re to remain here until Rena gets back,” a guard spoke to a large group of others.
“How’re we going to get past all that,” Lily said, peering from around a corner.
Eiji, reaching into his back pocket, pulled out a small handheld device. “That’s why I have this,” he said proudly.
“What’s that?”
“An undercover agent never leaves on a mission without bringing some cool gadgets along,” Eiji informed, revealing a small square-shaped device. “I picked this up before we left.”
“Where'd you get that?”
“Mm, I know a guy,” Eiji said, activating the device, then, sliding it across the floor.
It emitted a low-frequency hum that made the guards sway in confusion, before falling to the floor, unable to move.
Lily chuckled, “Looks like your gadget is working wonders, Eiji.”
Eiji face flushed red, bashfully accepting her praise.
Quickly, they crept into the room boss's room they were guarding. Inside there was a large screen suspended in the corner, revealing glimpses of the facility's inner workings. In the center of the room, on the desk, a monitor shows a boy.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Lily and Eiji whirled around, ready for a fight, but nothing was behind them.
“You’re a Nefarian?” the voice spoke from behind them, causing them to turn around once again to see nothing.
Lily, smelling her surroundings, “We’ve come to rescue our friend. He was taken here against his will.” Sensing something she turned around. Standing before her was a young man with a red bandana covering his eyes.
“I could use your help,” the man said. Though blinded by the bandana, he shifted his focus to the monitor behind Lily and Eiji. “The boy in the monitor, he’s my younger brother. I need your help to get him out.”
“Why should we trust you? You could be leading us into a trap,” Eiji asked.
“For one, I could have killed you the moment you walked through that door.”
“Well, yeah that’s a good point,” Eiji said modestly.
“Also, I will be facing your friend in the arena today. Rena expects to see a quick finish.”
“Then don’t, help us,” Lily said.
“I can’t,” the mysterious man stated. “If I don’t do as Rena says, he’ll kill my brother.”
“Okay, we’ll help you free your brother, and in return, you help us get our friend out of here.”
Reaching into his pocket, Eiji and Lily tensed up, but the man instead tossed a small blade at the clock behind them, piercing through the number three. “You have until the end of the three-minute mark. After, I won’t be able to hold back any longer, otherwise Rena will know something is up.”
When Lily and Eiji turned around, he was gone.
“Alright, that was creepy. But cool creepy, if that makes sense,” Eiji said.
Lily shuffling around the room said, “There’s got to be a layout around here somewhere.”
“Yeah, it would have been helpful if he could have given us an idea of where they kept his brother.”
“They probably keep that stuff from him. I imagine that screen is his only way of seeing his brother.”
“What makes you say that?” Eiji said.
“I could hear it in his voice. He was sad,” Lily stated.
Meanwhile, Plu trotted past the device causing the guards to writhe on the floor in agony. Seeing their pain, it backtracked, staring at the guards, then at the device again. With a plop of its arm, it deactivated the device.
“I think I found it,” Lily said. She pulled out a switch from a secret compartment under the mahogany desk. There were two switches in it.
“So, which is it?” Eiji wondered aloud.
“Doesn’t matter, come on,” she said snagging both.
Outside the doors, they both paused.
“Plu!” Plu shouted happily, seeing the bunch, its arms outstretched to the sky - behind it, a small army shaking off the remainder of their headache.
Running for their lives, Lily, Eiji, and Plu ran down the hallway with many guards in hot pursuit.
Later that day, amidst one of many viewing cells, Ethan watched as Rai entered the arena. Opposite him, one large door.
An announcement echoed from the corners of the deadly coliseum, “For the first time in Underrena history, not just one, but two Abminus, will be squaring off in a battle to the death.”
A dense veil of smoke cloaked the floor, crossing with a sinister purple haze. Simultaneously, a haunting melody sounded, casting an unsettling aura over the scene.
Crows, released from pockets in the ground flew about the room while the doors in front of Rai slowly opened, revealing a man with a red bandana wrapped across his face.
The man stepped forward until he was a couple of yards away from Rai.
“Rai, nice to meet you.”
“Aegis,” he replied.
“Let me guess, you’ve got no choice but to fight me?”
“It would seem so,” Aegis responded.
“Seems to be the going trend down here,” Rai responded getting into the fighting position.
The countdown began.
Rai looked away for a moment at Rena, but upon looking back Aegis, he was gone.
“What the-!” Rai lunged out of the way, receiving a slash across his back. Blood trickled on the floor. “Rule number one you knucklehead; don’t take your eyes off of him.”
Ethan staring down squinted his eyes. I could’ve seen that coming. Did he get slower? No… Is he holding back? If so, then why?
Rai, sweat dripping from the sides of his face, charged at Aegis. He aimed at his face, but Aegis dodged. Rai swung his fist again, following with a kick, but with each hit that followed he continued to miss. Digging his foot into the ground, a technique he recently learned, he flung it up at Aegis, who blocked it with his arms. “So, the phantom can be touched!” Rai said jumping forward with his fist pulled back, ready to slug his opponent, but even still, the moment it was about to collide Rai’s fist collided with nothing.
Aegis, using his knee, drilled it into Rai’s stomach. He followed it with a swinging kick that sent Rai sprawling backward.
Clutching his stomach, Rai spit up blood. “What the hell, I could have sworn I had him that time.” He recalled the punch being merely centimeters away, but somehow it was as if he had accelerated his speed and shifted out of the way. As if he phased out of it…
“Now this is what I’m talking about,” Rena said staring at his rating rise higher than they had ever been. “Keep making me that money baby!” his distorted laugh reverberated throughout the room.
Slowly standing, Rai repositioned himself in a fighting stance, and spit up blood. “Okay, you got me there... Ready for round two?”
Aegis pointed at the clock above his head. Two minutes and thirty seconds remained. “When the timer is up, you die.”