It was time.

At last.

Kira woke up without the sun, tense, heart pumping rapidly. She bolted upright onto her feet and clung to the bars, looking down the hallway left and right. Her tail flicked.

“Anala?” she whispered.

The tigress was up as well. “Hush. I’m waiting for the guards to pass by so I can steal the keys.”

Kira nodded and sat back down, gazing out of the window. The sky was gradually turning from purple to blue with hints of gold. The arena stands were filling with spectators, who were oblivious to what was about to happen. There was a stillness in the air, as if all the other prisoners were already awake and ready.

The clank, clank of a guard coming down the hallway made Kira hold her breath. Would Anala manage to get the keys? What if the bits of metal weren’t even on the side facing the tigress?

But they were, and the guard was a relatively small weasel.

“Guard!” Anala wailed, thrashing around in her cell. “Guard, my paw!”

The guard glanced over at her cell and approached the bars, looking skeptical. “What is it, tiger?” he asked gruffly.

“MY ARRRMM!” Anala howled.

The guard edged closer, trying to get a better look, and Anala immediately slammed his head against the bars with a thud. He slumped to the ground, unconscious, and Anala snatched the keys from the belt around his midriff. She reached through the bars and inserted the key in the lock, clicking it quietly and silently opening her cell door.

Theoretically, they could free all the prisoners this way, but there were too many sections for them to be able to do it properly. Plus, they would have to battle all the guards, and they wouldn’t have the element of surprise anymore.

Anala then walked over to Kira’s cell on silent padded feet. She looked left and right, checking for guards, but there appeared to be none.

Once Kira was free, they unlocked Rogue’s cage and tiptoed down the hallway. The other prisoners watched them with wide eyes, and Kira gave each of them reassuring glances.

We’ll come back for you.

They found Maximon’s cell, and soon all of them were facing the wooden SECTION 3 door. Kira remembered facing this door so long ago, when she had first come to the arena. How much had changed since then?

Her paw went to the side of her face, where her scar slashed across her eye. She was battle worn. Some wounds would stay visible forever, and some never had been seeable. But one thing was for sure: she would leave this place changed.

Kira eased the door open, putting weight on it so that the hinges didn’t creak. Two unsuspecting guards stood with their backs to them, oblivious of the five creatures escaping behind them. Kira and Anala walked up right behind them, then covered their mouths in a rush and had Maximon bash them with his tail until they were sleeping soundly, little trickles of blood running down their heads.

“Um, question,” Rogue whispered as they stepped into the hallway cautiously. “Why aren’t we killing them?”

Kira looked at him, shocked. “Why would we?”

“They kept us in here,” Rogue argued quietly. “They followed orders blindly, never caring about us or how that would affect us. They watched countless creatures die with no guilt.”

Kira shook her head. “That doesn’t give us the right to kill them off. The entire reason we’re escaping is so that no more creatures have to die. What if these guards were taken just like us, only they got more luxuries? What if, behind the scenes, they were treated even worse than us? We can’t risk their lives on doubts. So, for now, they stay unconscious.”

Rogue didn’t look happy, but he stopped arguing.

“Where’s the door, Liraz?” Anala asked as they walked past more watchful prisoners.

“Conveniently, it’s right beyond Section 5,” Liraz chirped, hovering over them all. “So we can grab Laila and go. But we’ll have to be quick—the fights are almost starting.”

Kira and her friends picked up the pace, knowing that one more fight would be two or three more creatures to rescue. They did the same at the Section 4 door as they had to the last one, taking the guards out without a sound.

At last, they reached the door to Section 5.

“This will be a little more work,” Liraz whispered, “as there are two guards at each door. We’ll have to take these ones out, then attack the other ones face-to-face quickly. By that time, the guards at the outer door will be alerted, so we’ll have to take them out as well and then crawl into the tunnel entrance, which is right in front of the door.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Alright,” Kira said. “Here’s the plan. First, we take out the guards behind this door. Then, Maximon and Laila, you guys take out the creatures down the hall, since you’re the fastest. Anala and I will go for the guards at the door to the second layer.”

Everyone nodded, and then Kira opened the door. Rogue and Anala wrestled them to the ground and knocked them out, which turned out to be more of a struggle than they originally thought—the guards were very burly. But they had the element of surprise, and more fighting experience, so the hostile creatures were soon overpowered.

“Go, go, go!” Kira hissed. Maximon and Laila shot down the corridor, and Anala and Kira tackled the guards at the door to the second layer, a raccoon and a porcupine.

Kira ducked under the racoon’s swipes and lunged for his chest, pushing off the wall for leverage. She knocked him over and then slammed her back leg on his temple, smashing it into the floor.

A twinge of guilt momentarily shot through Kira’s veins. It looked like the raccoon might not survive. But sacrifices had to be made. Anala’s opponent look in the same state, and Kira found herself hoping that they would live, despite the fact that they had just been trying to block her from escaping.

“The entrance is right there.” Liraz landed on the ground and pointed his wing to a metal circle in the floor.

Anala and Rogue dug their claws into the sides of the opening and hefted, slowly lifting up the heavy door and setting it on the side with a few grunts. What they uncovered was a dark hole, with no sign of a bottom. Kira could hear the drip drip drip of water somewhere inside.

Kira shared a glance with her comrades. “Ready to escape?” she asked.

Rogue looked down at the hole, an unreadable expression on his face. “I’ve got to admit, I never thought I would get out of this place.”

“Me neither,” Anala admitted.

Laila snorted. “Now isn’t the time for big sappy speeches, slowpokes!” She jumped into the hole gracefully, despite her wings being strapped to her body.

Maximon followed, letting his scaly coils drop into the depths below. Anala pounced after him, and Rogue followed. Liraz fluttered down.

Kira wasted one last look behind her, at all the grumpy, vengeful prisoners gazing at her. But there was something new in their expressions…grudging respect, maybe?

“We’ll be back for all of you,” Kira promised.

And then she leapt into the hole.

She expected a long drop, but it wasn’t that far. Her front paws touched the ground after about two seconds, touching some sort of slimy substance. Kira did not want to know what it was.

The tunnel was pitch black, but Kira saw the faint outline of walls surrounding them. Every sound broadcasted throughout the entire area, from Liraz’s squeaky breathing to Kira’s padded footsteps. Kira gazed above her, at the hole in the ceiling, and found that the dim torchlight blinded her even after just a few seconds in the darkness.

“Where to now, Liraz?” Kira asked, and her voice echoed back to her loud and clear. However, as soon as she spoke, light sparked along her fur, letting her see the tunnel with more clarity.

“How did you do that?” Liraz asked.

Kira looked down and realized that she was glowing. Small tendrils of light magic snaked their way along her forepaws and around her body.

“No time to figure out,” Kira said. “We need to hurry. Lead the way, Liraz.”

Liraz obeyed, flying ahead of them and pointing out various branches along the corridor.

“That one goes straight to the arena grounds,” he commentated. “I bet that’s where they take the dead bodies when the fights are finished. And that one leads to the guard barracks, where they hang out during break, I guess. I almost got caught when I went down that way! And that one goes to all the Sections that have doors, and circles around the entire arena. And here we are!”

He stopped them in front of a dead end, but he pointed upwards, and Kira realized that there was another metal circle above them. This one had little claw marks around it, as if Liraz had struggled a lot to get it in and out of position.

“How are we going to get up there?” Laila asked skeptically.

“We climb the walls,” Kira said. “They’re pretty narrow, which means we should be able to brace ourselves against them and climb upwards.”

To demonstrate, Kira jumped up as far as she could go, then stretched her legs out forwards and backwards against the wall. Then she slowly “walked” up, inch by inch, until her back was to the cap in the ceiling. She then used her weight to lift the metal plate on her back and move it until she was able to crawl out, panting, onto the surface floor.

As her friends started making their own way up, Kira scanned their surroundings. This area was bare metal and stone, making her feel very exposed. They were standing in an “entrance hall”, she could call it, only the ceiling was rather low. In front of her was a large door, and her stomach jolted when she realized that freedom was right beyond it.

Behind her was the hall, which branched left and right after about fifteen feet. Kira could hear the noise of guards hustling and bustling around on their normal duties, not knowing what was about to happen. She hoped that none of them walked their way and saw her escaping, or their plan would be ruined.

After a few minutes, everyone was standing next to her, looking just as nervous as she was.

“Where’s the vent, Liraz?” Kira asked.

Liraz pointed to the wall right above the floor, where a panel of metal with holes in it was placed. It was quite big, big enough for even a horse to fit through. Extra space had been carved around it, making it so that even bigger animals could fit through.

“Oh yeah,” Kira said, smiling. “This will work.”

The journey back was easier, since they weren’t met with any apprehension from the guards. Anala opened each of the prisoner’s cells, and they all seemed overwhelmed with joy. Kira found herself grinning with them as each creature stretched their legs and gaped when Kira showed them to the vent, which they had pried open.

Finally, all the creatures—hundreds of them—were out of their prisons and standing at the wall of the arena. Some of them had tears of happiness running down their cheeks. They all thanked Kira and her friends, even those from Section 5.

After a few minutes, Kira turned around and faced the arena wall.

“We’ve escaped,” she announced to everyone, standing on a rock to get their attention. “But this monstrosity still stands. I won’t blame you if you want to go right now, and find your families or whoever else you were taken from.” Her eyes glinted. “But who wants to topple this place to the ground?”