Jay had a new escort taking him to his room. This one was a lot less intimidating, and a lot less talkative. He led Jay back through the meditation hall.

Five harmonisers, if that was the right name for them, sat silently in the meditation room. Thankfully, it felt much colder than before. Each of the five had a serene expression, the pain and stress of the room's previous inhabitants nowhere to be seen.

Jay’s guide took them back across the main hall and into a similar hallway to the one he’d just left. They walked twenty paces before taking a left, then a right, went up some stairs, then two more lefts and a final right.

Jay memorised their route, he already knew he wasn’t going to stay here long. The Flaming Tomb Alliance might be beneficial for his training, his Harmony, and potentially his survival a week from now. But was that enough?

A whole crowd of people had swarmed after his fight; surely one came from a less creepy alliance? And what of Akira? Jay’s only connection to his past life. He wanted to see what the young samurai had to say before making any meaningful decisions.

The guide dropped him off at his room with a nod before scurrying away. Jay thought about walking out of the building there and then; but he decided to check the room out first.

All thoughts of escape vanished as soon as Jay saw a bed.

Everything else could wait. He needed some sleep.

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An uncertain number of hours later, Jay slowly drifted awake. Atop his bedsheets, and still in his boxing shorts, all he remembered was lying down and the world fading to black. Staring at the ceiling, he raised his fingers up above him and pinched the dirty skin of his forearm.

Not a dream then.

Jay heaved himself out of bed and discovered that, thankfully, this room had a bathroom.

Being reincarnated into a world with no bathrooms would have fucking sucked.

He walked right into a rustic shower. It was ice cold, but he didn’t really care. Over the next hour, Jay gradually kept increasing the temperature until it became nearly unbearable. Eventually he forced himself to step out and face his new reality.

He wiped off the fog in the bathroom mirror and took a hard look, deep into himself.

“Rank 2 or rank 973. The goal’s still the same, I guess. Go for gold.”

Saying this aloud gave Jay a newfound resolve, he stepped out of the bathroom with his head held a little higher than when he walked in. It’s not like he had any choice in the matter. The coliseum’s ominous message made it sound like he was going to fight, regardless of if he wanted to or not. But everything was easier with a goal.

Jay was a fighter; he’d chose that path on earth when there were millions of other options available. If he was forced to be a fighter here, he might as well be a good one.

If he couldn’t do it in the boxing ring, he’d make his family proud in the coliseum.

Jay spotted a black backpack at the foot of his bed. He hadn’t noticed it yesterday, but he hadn’t noticed anything except the bed yesterday. Opening it up, he pulled out a set of black robes, identical to the ones the meditators wore yesterday.

Better than my dirty wet boxing shorts.

Jay put the robes on and wrung out his soaking shorts before folding them into the backpack and slinging it over his shoulder. He wasn’t ready to ditch them yet. Jay felt a tinge of guilt as he remembered leaving his gloves in the strange waiting room. They would have made a nice memento of a life spent competing in a slightly less dangerous arena.

“Don’t suppose you have a GPS function, mysterious gold rectangles?” Jay said. He pulled up and closed his ranking table a couple times for good measure. “Celestial Swords tavern please.”

No luck.

Was looking at his rankings really all he could do with this weird magic? It seemed too advanced to be wasted on something as simple as looking at a table. Jay probably should’ve asked Q about it yesterday, but she seemed remarkably unconversational for a supposed recruiter.

He put find out about the weird gold screens reasonably high on his list, annoyed that it hadn’t got much shorter since yesterday.

Arenara Fortunis, Eterna, the Second Chance Coliseum. He’d gotten names, but he still didn’t know much about this place, other than that he was probably going to fight in a week.

Well, a week minus however long he’d just slept for.

Armed with only a backpack filled with damp shorts, the bathroom unfortunately had no mini toiletries to steal, Jay stepped out of his room. He looked either side of the corridor before retracing his steps. Left, right, then down the hallway before another right.

Jay turned the corner.

Footsteps.

He immediately sank back into the hallway.

Jay didn’t know why he held back; it wasn’t like walking through the corridors was illegal. The alliance couldn’t force him to stay. Could they? He stayed behind the safety of a corner regardless. The footsteps drew closer, and Jay heard the first faint wisps of conversation.

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“You think the alliance is trying to ascend?”

Nervousness crept through the hushed voice. Jay strained to make out the words.

“It would make sense with the new recruitment drive, but I still think we’re a few years out.” A more confident, yet still hushed, voice replied. “We just don’t have the numbers in B and C grade. Every single one of the Big Eight would eat us alive.”

“Hmm, I suppose you’re right. I’m still worried though. If we get caught up in one of those fights, it’s over for us.”

“Speak for yourself. I’m ditching this place as soon as I hit D grade. Did you hear about Amaya and Zeke with that new guy yesterday? The sooner I can get across the island from those two, the better.”

“Wha-”

The conversation faded into silence. Jay tried to piece together what they were talking about, how did everything he learned here create more questions than answers?

Jay went down the stairs. Left, right, and then stood by the doorway looking into the entrance hall.

The less time spent in plain sight, the better. Jay didn’t know how the alliance would react to him leaving, and he didn’t want to find out.

He was bolting out of the front gates as soon as he saw them open.

Just as Jay entered the hall, a disorganised huddle of about fifty people began walking out of the giant iron doors. Jay knew he couldn’t open them himself, and likely wouldn’t get a better opportunity than this. He merged into the crowd and hoped nobody would spot him.

Jay joined in step behind a seven-foot-tall lizard person and stood next to a red-skinned man with hair that looked like a cloud of smoke drifting off his head. They all wore the same black robes however, so outside of a few confused glances when he first joined the crowd, nobody paid him too much attention.

Stepping out, the sky looked almost exactly as he'd left it entering the building. Had he really slept a whole 24 hours? With how exhausted he felt last night, it wouldn’t surprise him.

The precession silently marched towards the gates, which suited Jay as he didn’t have to say anything to blend in. He got a few odd looks as he walked, but no-one questioned him.

When the first members of the group reached the gate, everyone stopped. Jay wanted to look at the people around him. Wanted to see what they were doing so he could copy them. But everyone stared directly at the gate, so he joined them.

A sudden heat assaulted Jay’s collar.

Was it just nervousness? Or had someone figured him out?

He kept looking forward. Forcing himself to not overthink things. He felt a set of flaming eyes train on his back, burning a hole through his flimsy attempt to blend in.

Jay refused to break character and look away from the gate.

The burning gaze stuck on Jay. It pressed down on him. He could almost feel the scalding air being squeezed from his lungs.

What the fuck is going on? Why is everyone in this place obsessed with suffering?

Jay clenched his teeth. Biting down and hoping the wave of heat would pass by soon.

It didn’t.

In his peripheral vision, Jay saw a man gasp for air. Buckling under the pressure and falling to his knees. At least it’s not just me. Jay thought as he dug deep. He couldn’t give up now, being the second to break would draw more eyes on him, and he had his hands full with the one set already.

Another person gave in, then a third. Each choking and coughing as they desperately clutched for fresh air.

Jay resolved to hold on until half the crowd gave in to the burning eyes.

Perfectly average, that should blend in.

The resolve slipped further and further away as the burning heat intensified. After ten more people fell to their knees, Jay was forced to join them. He tried not to make a scene. But it was hard to stay low key while gasping for your first breaths of, relatively, cool air.

Jay tried not to feel too bad for himself. As he recovered, he snuck glances at the crowd around him. Everyone still standing was in visible pain. Wincing under the pressure. The people on the floor next to Jay held a far worse pain in their eyes, the pain of defeat.

Jay kept his head down, following the lead of those around him. Eventually, all but one were on their knees. The last man standing grimaced, pain and pride intertwined on his face. He trudged forward. Slowly heaving one foot at a time as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. The man placed his hand on the gate and a red glow emanated from it. The kneeling harmonisers bowed their heads. Jay joined them.

He hoped this circus would be over soon. Whispers of paranoia crept into Jay's mind, warning him about the unwanted stares sent his way.

As soon as he went through the entrance, he was running from the crowd and not looking back.

The people in front of Jay got up, he followed suit. Not too quickly, not too slowly.

Perfectly average.

They restarted their march, inching towards the gate. Jay dared a glimpse at the people passing through the gigantic gate one by one. He heard someone on the other side counting them through. At least that’s what he thought, he couldn’t understand the “numbers” the man was saying.

What is this, a school trip?

I hope someone gets in huge fucking trouble when they come back one short.

The burning pressure had put Jay in the exact opposite of a good mood. He allowed himself a little smirk as he imagined some poor man in black robes getting scolded by Q.

Figuratively, at least. Although going off what he’d seen from this place, it might be literally as well.

The thought of someone being tortured because of him unsettled Jay, but he was too close to the exit to care now. He envisioned the alliance chalking it up to a counting error and didn’t think any further than that.

Now that the procession was moving steadily, no longer forced to their knees by burning heat, Jay let himself take a better look at the courtyard and the rest of the crowd.

The courtyard was startlingly barren. Not a single weed snaked through the stone tiles surrounding the castle and the only sounds were the footsteps of the people exiting it. Any sign of life had fled the square long ago, presumably chased out by the oppressive heat. Jay discreetly switched his attention onto the crowd, running his eyes over each member. None stood out to Jay, all uniform in their uniqueness, until he recognised the forest green eyes of the woman directly behind him.

The meditator from yesterday.

Her face betrayed the glimmer of recognition. As she noticed Jay, her head slightly tilted in confusion.

Does she know I’m not supposed to be here?

If she did, her actions didn’t show it. She nodded at Jay before fixing her eyes on the iron gate again.

Jay followed her lead; he was almost out now. So close to freedom.

When Jay passed the threshold of the gate, the person counting grunted. Jay grunted back, mimicking what the man before him said.

He couldn’t care less what it meant.

Finally, he was out.

A firm hand clamped onto his right shoulder.

Oh for fucks sake.