image [https://i.imgur.com/FEuM6ik.png]

The midnight air was icy as Carmen walked through the dark, snow covered woods to their typical training spot. The wind howled and blew, sending chills through her cloak and down her spine. Carmen hugged her arms as she approached the clearing.

‘Ugh, why does Varric have me out here in the freezing cold this late? I hate this!’

Carmen walked a little further until she saw Varric standing in the middle of the clearing. She stopped in front of him and looked around, wondering what their next move would be.

“Bout time you showed up. Ready to go?” He asked with his typical stern voice.

“Go where?” Carmen replied with slight confusion, her body shivering all over.

Varric simply smirked as he reached into his coat pocket. He pulled out a small, metallic black card that glinted in the moonlight. On the back side of the card was a gold and intricately designed D.H. symbol, a symbol she had never seen before.

He forced his Core Energy into it, causing the card to glow a dull black. Within a few moments, a grim looking portal appeared in front of them. It was all black and adorned with golden skulls around the rim.

“Follow me.” Varric said coldly, starting to step through with no explanation.

“What!? Ah, wait!”

Carmen couldn’t help but feel incredibly uneasy about this strange portal, especially considering the skulls staring back at her. Unfortunately, Carmen’s pleas fell on deaf ears as Varric was already through to the other side. After letting out a heavy sigh, she walked into it with great caution.

On the opposite side, the two found themselves in a heavily forested area with incredibly warm air and dense fog. They clearly weren’t near the school anymore as there wasn’t a single flake of snow anywhere.

“Where are we?” Carmen asked as she scanned this foreign environment.

“Don’t worry about it. We need to keep moving.”

He started walking straight ahead, willingly leaving her behind. Carmen reluctantly followed him and after walking for what felt like an eternity, something began to come into view.

A shabby looking shack appeared in the distance. The building had one closed window and a steel plated door that was rusted over. Varric walked up to the door and knocked four times with a specific cadence. Seconds later, a small opening on the door slid over, prompting Varric to show the black card from before.

The opening quickly slid shut and a deep rumble began to come from the shack. The door unlocked and slowly opened up, allowing them to enter. Carmen and Varric stepped into the dark room before the door quickly closed by itself, making a loud thud.

Once the door closed, the floor shook and a row of lights illuminated a path towards the back of the surprisingly large room. Varric walked forward with Carmen following him closely, still wondering where they were going. As they rounded the corner, a dimly lit and rickety looking elevator greeted them.

The elevator had seen better days and clearly hadn’t been maintained at all. However, despite its looks, Varric stepped onto it with zero fear. Carmen hesitated slightly, triggering Varric to grip her arm and pull her onto it. The elevator started to slowly descend, making a slight squeak with each meter down.

“Are you ever going to explain any of this to me? Where are we and why are we here?” Carmen asked as she pulled her hood down, her silver hair swaying in the stagnant air.

Varric remained silent until he reached into his bag, pulling out a matted black wig and handing it to her.

“Here, put this on. Also, don’t show off your second affinity. I don’t need you standing out too much down here.” He said, completely ignoring her questions.

Carmen sighed and began wrapping her hair together, snatching the wig from him before putting it on.

Eventually, the elevator stopped its descent and the creaky doors slowly swung open. Once they stepped off, Carmen’s eyes went wide at what she saw.

They were greeted by a massive, bustling underground city. The set up was similar to that of a marketplace of sorts, but significantly larger. Even though they were many meters below the surface, this place covered a wide area, having multiple wooden buildings strewn about in every direction.

However, despite the grandeur of everything, Carmen couldn’t help but feel like something was extremely off about this place. Varric began to walk ahead and she quickly followed after him, not wanting to get lost in this strange location.

Carmen looked around, taking in as much information she could. She noticed that the people walking about looked dangerous and were clearly up to no good. Their sketchy demeanor and mischievous behaviors made them seem to be mercenaries or criminals of some sort.

As they walked deeper into the city, the air became more hazy and thick with tobacco smoke. Many other foul odors permeated the air as well, causing Carmen to cough and breathe from her mouth. She continued to observe her surroundings, noticing cages filled with people in shackles while handsomely dressed men stood by, examining those imprisoned inside.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Carmen looked to her left and saw rare, mystical creatures chained against a wall as a man auctioned them off to would be suitors. Varric casually turned a corner and as Carmen followed him closely, a commotion broke out nearby.

A large, muscular man flipped a table with great rage, yelling at the top of his lungs. However, his outburst was short lived as another man pulled out a knife and stabbed him multiple times. Even though someone was being killed right in front of a crowd, not a single soul batted an eye.

“What the hell…” Carmen muttered under her breath, in absolute disbelief at this terrifying place.

They continued further through the marketplace, passing multiple shops and sketchy buildings, the last of which was a brothel of some sort. Outside were many thinly dressed women loitering around. Through the terribly covered window, Carmen could clearly see unsavory individuals having animalistic intercourse, not even remotely trying to hide their lewd actions.

With every sight Carmen took note of, her body screamed for her to leave. This was not somewhere she belonged at all and she hoped that they wouldn’t be here for long.

Varric and Carmen finally arrived at the largest building within this establishment, tucked away at the rear. Even though the large, dome-like structure seemed old and shoddily built, the sheer size of it left Carmen in awe. They wrapped around the building towards the left hand side and found a metal booth that was attached to it.

Once they got closer, Carmen could see someone sitting with their feet propped up. Varric approached the booth and flashed his card to the man seated behind it. The man looked at the card and shook his head.

“They’re busy. Come back another time.” He said with an annoyed cadence.

“No…” Varric replied as he shot him a deadly glare, exerting his Core Energy to insane levels.

The man flinched at his Calamity Class levels of power, wanting no part of whatever Varric would do should he continue to deny him entry.

“Tsk, fine.”

He motioned his head towards the door behind him, prompting the guard to step aside and grant them passage inside.

After entering the building, Varric led them through multiple dark hallways until they found a set of stairs that led upwards. As they climbed the steps, Carmen began to hear someone screaming and pleading for their life, their voice growing louder with each step taken. The stairs eventually opened up to a large office with multiple burly guards standing by. At the center of the room was a lanky man, down on his knees talking with a middle aged female.

The woman had short, dark purple hair gathered together in a fairly messy bun that showed off the many piercings decorating her ears. She wore circular, silver rimmed glasses and around her neck was a black choker with a silver buckle. As Carmen scanned her thin and toned body further, she could see multiple tattoos that raced up her arm and across her chest, peeking through the woman’s black tank top.

“Please, please!! I promise to get it done right this time!!” The man exclaimed, his voice shaking intensely.

“I’m sorry sugah’ but your promises aren’t worth shit down here. You knew the rules and yet you still chose to break them.” The woman said as she crossed her arms, her tone growing more annoyed with each passing second.

“B-But, I’ll do better this time!! Just, please don’t kill me!! Give me a second chance, please!”

The woman simply sighed as she got down to his level, making sure he could see her face clearly. She slowly removed her glasses and stared into his teary eyes for a brief moment.

“Now why would I give you a second chance when everyone else gets the job done on their first chance? What makes you so special? What have you done to deserve such a privilege? Please, enlighten me…” She said with a curious, yet terrifyingly cold tone.

"W-Well, I-I, uhh-"

"Go on, tell me."

The man’s lip trembled with terror as he tried to come up with a response to her question. However, as she continued to stare into his eyes, the man had no reply to give. He simply lowered his head and whimpered in fear.

“Tch, you couldn’t even come up with a lie to save yourself. Pathetic…”

She glanced at her guards and motioned her head towards the door, prompting them to immediately retrieve the man. When they began dragging his body backwards, the man started pleading for his life again.

Once they reached the door, the man grabbed Carmen’s robe sleeve and yelled for her to help him. She saw the absolute fear and horror in his eyes as the guards yanked him away and out the door.

Before Carmen could even process what had happened, the woman from earlier noticed them. She looked at Varric with an incredibly annoyed and disapproving expression as she put her glasses back on. It was abundantly clear that she had zero interest in meeting with him.

“Well look who it is… You’ve got some nerve showing up here, Varric.” She said before lighting a cigarette.

“I’m not here for a welcome party. I need a favor…” He replied, his serious tone cutting through the smoke.

She immediately snickered at his reply as she walked over towards her desk.

“You’ve been gone for a year and now all of a sudden you want a favor? Un uh sugah, that’s not how this works. You know the rules…”

Despite the incredible amount of Core Energy seeping out of Varric, she continued to glare at him, not budging an inch to the Calamity class Vesta standing before her.

“I don’t have time for your rules, Murdoc. Let’s just skip the formalities this time.” Varric said as he reached into his bag, pulling out another large sack filled with a strange currency.

The coins were bright gold with an intricate D.H. insignia etched on them. Murdoc raised her eyebrow when she opened the bag, smirking once she saw what was inside.

“So… What is it that you’re being so impatient about? What do you need my services for?” Murdoc asked, growing more curious as she ran her fingers through the coins.

“I don’t need your services. I just want her to fight tonight. Got any slots left?”

Varric looked over at Carmen and placed his hand on her shoulder. Murdoc’s eyebrows furrowed at his request, not fully processing what he just asked.

“Huh? You seriously want to enter this kid into the tourney? Are you nuts?” She replied with a light chuckle.

Varric didn’t respond, he simply glared at her with an unwavering expression.

“Oh, you’re serious…”

Once Murdoc realized he wasn’t playing around, she turned her attention towards Carmen. Murdoc gazed intently at her messy black hair and red eyes, sizing Carmen up to the absolute max. She eventually shrugged and slid over a clipboard towards Carmen.

“What’s your name kid?” She impatiently asked with her raspy voice.

Carmen stepped forward and before she said her real name, Varric nudged her shoulder while glaring at her.

“Oh, uhhh.. Petra. Yeah, the name’s Petra!” She quickly said, making sure to keep her real identity a secret.

“Write it down there and place your thumb on this spot here.”

Murdoc pointed to various spots on the paper, showing her crooked and pasty fingers. Carmen cautiously followed her instructions and upon placing her thumb down, she felt a sharp prick. She removed her finger and left behind a bloody print. Murdoc picked the paper up, briefly examined it, and rolled it up before reaching over towards a hatch next to her desk. She dropped the paper inside and turned her attention back to Varric.

“Alright, she’s entered. Fights start in twenty minutes. If you’re gonna bet, head inside and do it quick. The window’s almost closed.” Murdoc announced, flicking her cigarette to the ground and stomping it out. Varric nodded and began to leave.

“Kid, come with me. I don’t have all day.” Murdoc added, growing more impatient and annoyed with each passing second. Carmen looked confused as two large and burly men came from another door, approaching her on both sides.

“Huh? Hey, Varric, what the hell!” She exclaimed as they began pulling her along forcefully, gripping her arms tightly. Varric turned around and looked her directly in the eyes.

“If you want to survive the night and win, be prepared to kill…”

As Varric spoke this simple, yet grave statement, his expression became deadly serious. Carmen had no reply to give while they pulled her through the door, shutting it closed.