Humanity, one of the forerunner species of the modern Alliance, is an exercise in contradictions. Despite having one of the highest empathy indexes of any sentient species in the galaxy, they also have some of the highest metrics for rage. Furthermore, their intense adaptability has prompted scientists to suggest that their homeworld may have had temperature ranges even greater than 40oC.

A large frontal lobe allows for high creativity and pattern-recognition while a biologically evolved combat drug flows through their circulatory system. All these factors have influenced humanity into becoming one of the foremost leaders of today's galactic society, despite not standing out particularly in individual strength.

- Alatan, 6883 MGE, On the Origins of Species, Chapter 3: Humanity, Galactic Publishing House, Archive File #P786D7G3S002

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Chapter 10: How Does One Hunt Goliath?

Soon enough, the days had passed, and the morning of our match was upon us. There wasn’t much of an opportunity for actual training. I wasn’t nervous, though my trembling fingers seemed to disagree.

Strange how no matter how strong the mind, sometimes the body’s instincts cannot be completely overwritten. This reminded me of the Suggestion I had used on Axe. A subtle one – just aiming to rekindle his lost hope so that he could potentially be somewhat of an ally for my goals. I’d say it were working, but I had little to compare it to. After all, I’d only known the guy less than a day before I used it on him.

On the other hand, the Seed I had planted into the Dreary, the Shrouded, was something I was monitoring closely. Its growth was slow but steady and I sensed that soon it would sprout.

I shuddered subconsciously, ‘Sometimes my own ability scares me. No wonder powerful psychics are under such strict regulations. Well, everywhere in the Alliance except here in the Uncharted Zones at least’.

Speaking of the devil, Dreary appeared from round the corner, silent as ever. He unlocked our cells, the bars retreating upwards to their hiding places, and left with a wordless command to follow. I saw Axe opposite and he nodded at me in greeting, a serious expression on his face. I suppose this mattered far more to him than me.

He still hasn’t quite explained why they were so desperate for a fourth member they dared recruit a newbie.

I suspected that they’d found themselves on the bad books of one of the larger factions. Maybe joining them has painted a target on my back too, though I felt that the benefits outweighed the risks. It was unlikely I’d ever be able to join a powerful faction from such a low starting point, so I may as well gain notoriety as their enemy.

Negative publicity is still publicity after all. Although in this case the negative publicity involves a heavily increased risk of death.

I winced. Maybe not the best idea in hindsight. Our route took us a different way than the market or the arena, though all the hallways looked the same anyways. I updated my mental map nonetheless - it never hurt to be prepared. Soon enough we arrived at our destination and Dreary opened the door to let us in. It seemed to be a conference room of sorts. A yellow bulb lit the room, illuminated a circular table with four seats around it.

Two of them were filled, both Karius and Quito having arrived ahead of us again. Though they looked much different from our previous meeting at the Red Tiger. They looked more like...gladiators.

Behind Kariel, a wicked looking spear leaned against the wall. Its shaft transitioned seamlessly into a lethal point as though the whole weapon was cast from a single mould. It was made of a burnished bronze that reflected the light from the bulb, casting a dull golden shadow. Kariel himself was decked in light armour, though most striking were the stripes of red paint across his snout.

Quito looked as calm as ever, though his serenity seemed to have a sharp edge to it. A brown leather package was strapped to his back with piece of cloth.

‘High-calibre sniper rifle’, I estimated. ‘Metal ordinance. I don’t see any battery packs for a plasma blaster.’

He wore light armour similar to Kariel, though his was made of small interlocking pieces like scales on a fish. ‘They may actually be scales’, I realised upon closer inspection. ‘Though not from any species I know of. I suppose the Duke’s got all sorts of exotic weapons and armour available for purchase’.

I would have felt a flicker of greed at that, but what I already aimed to steal was far beyond any rare weaponry the Duke might have. Except perhaps that spear of his, but I had a sneaking feeling that no matter how hard I tried that would be impossible to steal.

Axe had arrived with me in his usual, torn outfit. No weapons or armour at all – one would think him going for a stroll in the market, not about to take part in a bloodsport match.

Axe and I took our seats, the other two watching us silently. Axe was the first to speak up, cutting straight to the point and wasting no time on small-talk, “I thought it best we go over each of our abilities now, rather than me tell Phi beforehand. Then Phi here can tell us his strengths and we can sort out at least a concept of a gameplan”.

"All business as usual, Axe", Kariel snorted and rested his snout on his clawed hands. He turned his gaze on me and continued, "I’m class-9, got some body strengthening abilities. Mostly use it to launch that spear over there”. He gestured at the weapon behind him with a claw. “I can hold my own in close quarter too though. These scales are tough as any armour.

“Don’t test that though”, he paused before bursting out into laughter. Axe fixed him a look while Quito just ignored him and spoke up himself:

“I am a telekinetic, though its fairly weak. I don’t have a very high mass limit, though I can move small objects with fairly good precision. Hence my good friend here”. He tapped the package on his back with a show of rare emotion on his face. “Curving bullets always catch people off guard.” His innocent looking smile seemed all the more sinister for the words coming out of it.

“And people say I’m the dangerous one”, Kariel scoffed, shaking his head. He leaned over towards me before whispering conspiratorially, “It’s always the quiet ones you gotta watch out for. People see big scary lizard-man and think I’m dangerous and next second they’re dead from a bullet in the back of the head.”

I nodded seriously and Kariel's face lit with satisfaction as if someone had finally seen things his way.

Axe simply raised an eyebrow – Kariel didn’t fully understand what a ‘whisper’ was it seems – before shaking his head and muttering something unintelligible under his breath.

“That aside”, Axe spoke up finally. “I suppose its my turn now.”

I nodded expectantly and Axe continued:

“I’m a psyker”

My eyebrows raised at that. Psyker abilities were almost as random as Codices were.

“What’s the ability”, I interjected curiously.

“I’m getting to that”, Phi responded gruffly. “It’s not as flashy as you might think. Just a simple body enhancement: I’m faster, stronger more agile than the average Gefar you’d meet.”

My disappointment must have been showing on my face because Axe shot me a disapproving look.

“Most of the time that’s all you need here. The flashy abilities may look cool the first few times but their often easily countered. Not much you can do about mine though”.

“I suppose you’re right”, I acquiesced begrudgingly. “No weapons though?”, I asked, noticing his unarmed self.

Kariel seemed to be jolted out of his daydreams at that and laughed raucously.

“Weapons? He asked if you needed weapons? Oh, that’s too funny”

Quito spoke up as Kariel devolved into further fits of laughter and Axe fumed silently.

“You’ll find Axe’s fists are worth more than most weapons wielded by the gladiators in this Colosseum”.

I looked at the lanky, pale-skinned Gefar in a new light. It seemed I still had some prejudices I was unaware of – such as that even skinny people could have abilities of empowered strength.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“I usually take the position of front-guard since I work best in closer range. Kariel is a bit more well-rounded so he tends to fight according to his own judgement, while Quito is best at long range”, said Axe.

“I do have a set of throwing knives”, Quito interjected briefly. “But the endurance on my ability isn’t well suited to using multiple knives and they're are much slower and easier to dodge.”

Quito added with a modest smile, “No-one dodges a bullet to the back of the head”.

Axe nodded and Kariel grunted in agreement. ‘If he caught me off guard, I doubt I’d be able to do much about a bullet to the back of the head either’, I admitted to myself.

“You all seem pretty well-rounded to me”, I said. “I doubt there’s much for me to add.”

I tailed off, mentally debating how much I was to reveal – I needed something that wouldn’t be too conspicuous but could be scaled to a higher level. Having come to a decision, I spoke up.

“I’ve got an energy sensing ability, but the range isn’t that great so it’s not really useful except in a few circumstances. I am decent with the sword too, though it's not a specialty of mine”.

Energy sensing was fairly common – most supersentients had some form of it anyways, so it wouldn’t stand out. And I certainly was skilled with the sword, if cheating with [Efflux] counted.

Axe did say foul play is encouraged. Though I doubt he ever thought about Seeker-rank Ascendants acting as bottom-tier gladiators. After all, what’s the likelihood of an almost-extinct class of supersentient re-appearing as a gladiator in a forgotten corner of the galaxy to beat up people for sport.

Even I found myself questioning the absurdity of such a story. I guessed my teacher had been right: it is rare we find ourselves exactly were we expected us to be five or ten years ago.

Though I suspected he said that so often because teaching us made him regret his life decisions.

Either way, it seemed my lie was easily received.

“A scouting ability would be pretty helpful”, Axe admitted.

“My ability doesn’t have that great a range either. And it only really works on objects I’ve market beforehand – like my bullets and knives – so its not great for scouting”, Quito added.

Kariel spoke up in agreement, “My eyes are good, but energy sensing would be a lot better”. He rubbed his hands gleefully. “This new fourth might not be as much of a downgrade as I thought. We might even survive this time!”

Quito and Axe didn’t even bother to deign him with a reply, while I chuckled weakly. We didn’t spend much longer in the conference room – barely enough time to sort out a basic formation, though Axe had said it would likely change depending on the stage they settled on.

Soon enough, an alarm blared out and the others stood up from their seats. The door opened from the outside and a new Shrouded appeared to escort us. He brought us to what looked like a lift, though far more spacious. We all stepped inside, the everpresent drones hovering silently in the corners next to the blinking red of the cameras.

My Truesight was active, as it usually was when I was taken somewhere new, but it was hard to gauge much of anything since everything was so far away. Abruptly, the lift’s acceleration skyrocketed. It wasn’t enough to cause major discomfort, but it was noticeable. The others seemed relaxed though, as if it were a usual experience.

The acceleration shifted through several directions, moving right, then left, but always ascending. Soon, it began to slow down and seemed to descend slightly before coming to a stop.

The doors opened, revealing a small opening in a green forest. Axe stepped out first, me and the others following behind. The lift closed behind us with the Shrouded inside, before propelling off into the sky above and disappearing into a camouflaged layer.

I took the time to study my surroundings. The opening in the forest was about fifty feet wide and thirty long, and the green grass was short and soft beneath my feet. The trees, however, were tall, their trunks wide and gnarled. Skeletal branches reached up towards the blue sky above like outstretched fingers. Leaves were sparse and the few there were thin and needle-like.

“Forest? I hate forests”, Kariel complained. I supposed the humidity wasn’t so good for him. On the other hand, Quito seemed even more comfortable than usual. His boots made barely a whisper of a sound as he walked about, studying the shadows in the forest with predatorial intensity.

“Forests are good”, Axe seemed to sigh in relief. “Could always be firepits like last time”.

“That’s an option?”, I spoke up in surprise.

“Sure is”, Axe replied grimly. “If you can think of it, the Colosseum has it. Well, at least if it falls within the territory of ‘blood and glorious death’ ”.

As though on cue, the booming voice of the announcer sounded out from invisible speakers, along with huge flashing words in the sky above.

“Welcome one and all to this month’s COLOSSUS HUNT! We of the Colosseum Igni procure only the finest goliaths of war for our dear gladiators to battle. Speaking of –“

The words ‘Colossus Hunt’ disappeared and were replaced with a ranking list. There were ten team names on it, though I couldn't recognise ours among them.

Kariel must have seen it, however, as he grumbled in annoyance, “Seriously? I thought we vetoed that name”.

Axe didn’t get a chance to respond as the announcer continued his spiel, drowning out his attempt at a retort.

“You may recognise some tried and tested warrior-teams, though we have a few unblooded among us too. But enough on them – it’s about time we revealed this month’s Colossus”, the announcer said with sadistic relish.

“From the peaks of the Steel Mountains of Dageran, an apex predator of the skies. It has become synonymous with fear and death such that the great War Brigades of Elphis took this creature to be their mascot.”

The leaderboard disappeared, as the sky itself darkened until it seemed like a starless night. In that inky blackness, a single flame flickered to life. It sputtered a bit before roaring into existence as though injected with pure hydrogen.

The flame expanded, illuminating the forest in an ominous red glow. Its tendrils twisted and turned unnaturally, taking the shape of some winged monstrosity. Soon enough, the sparks faded, revealing the Colossus in all its majesty.

Four wings, two heads, a wickedly spiked tail. I sensed a spike of fear and apprehension from my teammates, but my eyes were glued to the image.

The announcer roared as the lightshow reached its climax.

“Behold – the Firewyrm of Dageron. Tonight we shall see if it is worthy of its title as apex predator”. He paused dramatically. “Or if it shall become prey”.

““FOR BLOOD AND GLORIOUS DEATH””

With that final booming chant, the echoes of the crowd faded away along with the image in the sky, returning us to that tranquil forest we first landed in. The sky brightened lightly, steadying at a twilight that made the shadows just deep enough to keep one wary.

I turned to look at the others who were still looking upwards at the final, fading embers with grim expressions on their faces.

Maybe this wasn't the best idea after all

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[SYSTEM BOOT INITIATED]

> Initiating Primary Neural Kernel…

> Bio-sensory Failsafe: Armed

> Signal Buffering: [Engaged]

> Connecting Transdimensional Clock…

> Establishing date…

> Date established 17.09.032…

> Establishing co-ordinates…

> Co-ordinates established uncorrupted…

> Executing bootstrap.exe please standby…

> Loading…

> Complete!

> Checking credentials…

[LEGACY PROTOCOLS ACTIVE: WELCOME USER 1!]

> Preparing Xenographic Interface…

> Decoding Archive - Access Level: CLASSIFIED

> All Systems Synced. Initialisation COMPLETE.

[AWAITING INPUT]

> Begin personal log…

[START LOG]

ENTRY: 002-C

Despite my previously vehement protests against activation of secondary directive PROMETHEUS, I find myself drawn into my research with increasing fervour. Out of all the directives, this may not be the most dangerous nor the most pivotal, but it is by far the most fascinating.

The name I find ironic: the mythical figure who gave fire to man. And this directive, which aims to suppress that same sentience: to rescind that fire of life and return the subject to darkness. In fact, I had suggested some other names - apt in my opinion - but it seems my talent for science does not extend to nomenclature. A pity.

Useless talk aside, the first iteration of PROMETHEUS was enlightening despite its failures. Several aspects have already been highlighted for modification. Further, there has been talk of an old piece of Ttelok technology that may have been decrypted. They may have some lost knowledge on the subject, or maybe a different perspective, that could aid our struggle.

In all, I have allowed myself to feel some slight optimism for the future. Though I doubt all shall go as smoothly as it has so far, there is still hope yet.

And, as ever:

May we overcome Calamity.

[END LOG]

> Ending personal log…

> Personal log saved…

[SYSTEM SHUTDOWN SEQUENCE INITIATED]

> Disconnecting Primary Neural Kernel…

> Disconnecting Transdimensional Clock…

> Secure Channel Closure: In Progress…

> Signal Buffering: [Disengaged]

[EXITING LEGACY PROTOCOLS: GOODBYE USER 1]

> Memory Encryption Sequence ACTIVATED

> All files archived. Quantum stabilisers powering down.

SYSTEM STATUS: DORMANT

[COMMAND: STANDBY UNTIL NEXT INITIALISATION]