"So where do we go then?" Elidon asks as the timey ticks on.
"that makes sense, yeah. of course you don't know where," Shini sighs, "I figured something like this would happen."
Usually, when someone says something like that, it implies that they have thought ahead, and planned accordingly for the foreseen situation.
"So then what's the plan?" Ghizh turns to Shini, determined to help with the plan.
"what the hell are you talking about? it's not My job, dipshit."
"Okay, but why the language?" Elidon holds a finger up, "The anger is warranted, but I think the profanity is unnecessary."
"and why's that, nerd?"
"That was just… hurtful," Elidon scratches the back of his head, "We'll work on it."
"sure thing… ass."
"Are you just saying it to get under my skin now?"
Yes, she was. "no," Shini responds, "scrotum."
"What's that?" Ghizh asks innocently.
"That's the arena!" Elidon exclaims with multi-layered relief, "We're on in 5."
"5 what?" Ghizh asks.
"5/60 of a timette."
"Which one is a timette again?" Ghizh asks further.
Shini starts walking towards the back gate of the arena.
The arena is a perfectly pedicured finger on a hand of sore thumbs. That is to say, it's pristine compared to the surrounding village. White marble, or maybe limestone, or calcite, makes up the pillars and walls that surround the large, open bowl in the center.
"It doesn't matter right now! You need to get in there, basically," Elidon starts to usher Ghizh the same way as Shini.
The check in process for gladiator fights is relatively straightforward, and Shini has distilled it down to a science. "Please fill out this form," a hooded figure behind bars asks. The form is just a bunch of liability jargon. Essentially, the arena wasn't responsible for any damages caused by combatants to each other, and gladiators weren't responsible for damages to anything within the arena besides the king. In conclusion, it has always been a waste of time for Shini, as it operated under the assumption that people were worried about what would happen to themselves. She doodled a random series of lines for a signature, and was already into her pre-fight holding cell before Elidon and Ghizh walked into the lobby. "Please fill out this form," the hooded figure mutters again.
Ghizh stands completely still, looking around the room. He is not confused, but it wouldn't be too far fetched to assume that. He is generally a confused individual.
"Ghizh?" Elidon taps him on the shoulder.
"Hm?" Ghizh turns, surprised that Elidon is addressing him, "Aren't you going to fill it out?"
"No. I wasn't going to. Didn't you do this last time?"
"My da- well, ex-dad, filled it out."
"Oh. Oh, I see," Elidon scratches his chin, "well how about you try it this time?"
Ghizh hesitates. He shrugs, "I don't know…"
"Come on! I think you can do it," Elidon nudges him, "you've got this."
"You think so?" Elidon nods. Ghizh smiles, "Well… alright! I'll give it a shot."
"That's the spirit!" Elidon claps him on the back, "Just make sure you're on Shini's team, okay?"
"You got it, d- I mean, boss!"
Ghizh did not end up on Shini's team.
The paperwork was extremely confusing to him, and there were several words which he did not understand. He thought he knew what they meant, but, as he is discovering now, in a holding cell with two men, he did not know what they meant.
"You're the fill in then?" A rough looking, large, shirtless man asks Ghizh. He was roughly a foot taller than Ghizh, and a wide scar stretched from the corner of his bottom lip to his chin. His eyes were tired, and he was very, VERY sweaty.
"I'm supposed to be on the other team. I think," Ghizh answers.
"Well that's no good," the other man adds. He's roughly Ghizh's height, and not nearly as noteworthy as the other man. He had a funny accent, however. "Looks like you'll have to fight with us, pal." Ghizh has to use all of his mental capacity to not laugh at the man's accent, and so he can not answer him. "That's great to hear, glad to have you on board!" Ghizh clenches his jaw. His face flushes red, and a wide vein pops out on his forehead as he sticks his hand out to shake.
Shini stands alone in her holding cell. She was confused, but she'd never tell YOU that. Was this just another one of Elidon a strange manipulations? Was it some sort of wizard test? What's the correct terminology? Would it be a trial? Shini remembers that she forgot that she was hungry, and then chose to forget what she was thinking about. Then she forgot what she was remembering, until she forgot what she was forgetting, until she just stood there motionless, looking at the ground. She wasn't hungry enough for this. She couldn't properly not focus because she didn't have anything to not focus on, other than focusing. Whatever's going to happen in this fight, Shini thought to herself, isn't going to be good. She gripped her sword tightly out of fear. At least she had that to comfort her.
"Are you alright, kid?" The sweaty man asks Ghizh.
He lets out a large exhale, "pheeeew. Yeah, yeah I'm okay."
"What a relief," the accent man gasps. Ghizh's throat closes instinctually, "We thought we lost you!" His face begins to redden again. "Uh oh, Chrisbopherd, he's doing it again!" Upon realizing the other man's name was Chrisbopherd, Ghizh's face scrunches up. He was trying as hard as he could to not laugh.
Elidon situates himself in one of the many empty seats in the stands. The arena wasn't garbage pot levels of empty, but it was getting there. Only about 1/3 of the seats in the arena were filled, and only 1/3 of those filled seats contained people who cared. Not knowing the incredible mix up that had occurred, he excitedly rubs his hands together, and awaits the hypothetical action to come.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer steps to his microphone, "please put your hands together for an especially special match tonight." Elidon cheers, but found that he was alone in that endeavor. "We have a three vs. one bloodbath tonight."
Now, as the crowd cheered, Elidon did not. This was certainly not the match he was anticipating. Had Shini and Ghizh been placed on a team with someone else? That could be good. But, in a way, it could be bad. Unfortunate and difficult thoughts raced through Elidon's head throughout the announcer's speech. As the gates opened, Elidon finally stopped creating hypothetical scenarios in his head. His final hope was that Shini and Ghizh were merely fighting later on; that their fight was delayed for some reason. He peers down into the arena and sighs. Ghizh stumbled out of one gate, crouching low behind two other random men. This was certainly not good, Elidon realized.
"So what do you know about her?" Chrisbopherd asked Ghizh, earlier in the gated area.
Ghizh took a second to gather his thoughts. And a second more, "Okay," he said after two seconds, "I've gathered my thoughts." The two men nodded, "She didn't really move in our last fight. Like not a lot of sudden movements. And she threw the sword at me, so be careful of that."
"So what should we do if that happens?" Fa'th, the man with the funny accent asks.
Ghizh had become more accustomed to the accent, and so this time he was able to answer, "Try to dodge it, I suppose. If one of us gets hit, we need to block her path to the sword."
Chrisbopherd listens intently, "Do you think we could try to use the sword against her?"
"Probably. I'm not sure how heavy it is exactly, but I would bet that you two might be stronger than her."
Fa'th raises an eyebrow cheekily, "But not you?"
"She beat me, remember? I can only use what I have to beat her: my prior knowledge."
"Ah, so you can only beat someone after they beat you first, Eh?" Fa'th jokes. Chrisbopherd elbows him.
"Don't worry, son. That's a real mature outlook, I think it suits you well."
"Thank you, sir," Ghizh smiles.
"Sir? Come on, I didn't compliment you to be called sir. Call me Chris," he smiles, and sticks his hand out.
Ghizh smiles as well, and shakes his newfound friend's hand.
The gate opens, startling Shini slightly. She can't help but notice that Ghizh is not with her at the moment. This startled Shini slightly more. The last time she fought in a duo battle, she fought alone against two people, the Shekov twins. It did not go well, as proven by the fact that Shini remembers their names. That was two years ago, and Shini had been scarred so badly from multiple person fighting that she had not returned since. Her previous status of pretty hungry and otherwise empty was now accompanied by a new feeling of anxiety. Her mind began racing, and so did her heart. Her breathing became heavier and heavier as she ran through each and every possibility that ended up in a negative result. She found that she was not too much fond of any of them. So much so that she failed to notice the group of three opponents slowly creeping towards her.
Elidon watched this scene play out in horror. His plan to teach Shini and Ghizh the value of teamwork had failed miserably, for whatever reason. He had no idea what could have gone wrong, but he was sure that his two pupils would need to be taught later. He decided to let the fight finish, as a way of reprimanding them. Or, it would likely just be one of them who would be learning a lesson from this.
Shini snapped to attention. Now was not the time to be panicking about this, even though there was nothing she could do to win. Or maybe, because her loss was such a foregone conclusion, she should just wing it, and see where she ended up after that. Sensing a rational and healthy thought, Shini falls down. With her left hand, she clings to the handle of her sword as it rests on the ground nearby.
"Alright!"
"That's easy money, fellas!"
The whole crowd hadn't quite noticed what was happening inside Shini's holding area. Some people had a view on her, and began to boo. Not knowing why others were booing, some of the others in the crowd attempted to move towards the booing. The rest joined in without hesitation.
Ghizh stops, glancing over his two teammates' shoulders in an attempt to understand what had just happened. From his minimal context, it looked as if Shini had just fallen down. Chrisbopherd and Fa'th increase their pace towards Shini, "Wait! Hold on a second!"
"What?" Chris turns around. Fa'th keeps moving, drawing his mace from his side. "Listen, nows not the time to get soft, kid," Fa'th approaches Shini further, "this'll be your first lesson with us," Fa'th gets within 6 feet, 3 and a half inches of Shini, "don't-"
Shini's left eye snaps open, and she whips her sword across her body. It glides through the air as if nothing was there. But, as he and the crowd are now finding out, Fa'th's ankles were in the way of Shini's blade.
"give your opponent-" Fa'th let's out a blood curdling scream, like his feet were just cut off. Chris isn't able to finish his speech. He draws his mace, and whips around to the scream as fast as possible. All he can see is Fa'th, from the ankle up, flying over top of Shini as she begins to rise up from the ground. Cautiously, Chris advances towards Shini. He inches forward, letting her come to a complete stand as Fa'th cries out in pain behind her. She stands totally still, leaning slightly to her left, and Chris stops. "What now, kid?"
"I… I'm not sure."
"What'd you do last time?"
"Well I… I shouted what I thought was a cool phrase and I… I charged towards her."
"Then she threw the sword?"
"Then she threw the sword."
"Gotcha," Chris rubs the bottom of his boots.
"Chris, be careful. She's really smart."
"Oh I hear ya, kid," he cracks his neck, and kicks some dirt back.
Shini tightens her grip on her sword. She's about to start spinning to her left when something hits her in the head incredibly hard. She falls backwards, her grip loosens, and her sword flies up into the ceiling of the holding area. Dust kicks up around her as she collides with the ground, bricks and other rock-like debris shoot out from the ceiling, and a mace falls not far from where she is. Her vision blurs as Ghizh and a tall, sweaty man approach her. In a futile attempt to protect her futile legacy, she reaches out for her sword. Again, that same something hits her in the head very hard, and she blacks out.
"DUMB PIECE OF-!" Ghizh hears Fa'th exclaim through other cries, crying, and sickening, wet thumps, "RUINED ME! MY DAMN FEET!" Normally, Ghizh would laugh at the accent, but the context accompanying the accent made him really upset. Firstly, the pain Fa'th must have been going through, and, secondly, the pain he was inflicting on the defenseless Shini. Again, those horrifying, bloody thumps of the mace all over what was basically a corpse. The crunching of bones snapping under the pressure sent Ghizh over the edge, "Stop! STOP! Stop it… stop…" he crumpled beneath that same pressure. He hadn't realized it, but those thumps and that crunching was from the mace colliding with him. Of course, he hadn't taken the full beating, only 4 or 5 solid blows in Fa'th's blind rage. It was enough to snap his arm at an inhuman angle and really screw up his back, however. At this sign of pure compassion and kindness, the crowd began to boo. Some had recognized Shini from her garbage pot matches. They remembered her former dominance, and were delighted to see her in a heap. Others just liked the violence, and were upset to see it channeled towards someone fresh. Others just joined in because they still couldn't see, and didn't want to be the only ones not booing. Whatever the case, the crowd jeered and shouted as Ghizh passed out on top of Shini, and as Chris tried to calm Fa'th down.
"Easy, there friend. Eaaasy."
"Why the fuck should I be easy right now?!" Fa'th choked out, "My feet are-!"
"You know the rules. It's what you signed up for."
"Then it's what she signed up for too!" He points viciously towards Shini, again choking through tears. He swings his mace wildly towards Shini, smacking her once or twice, causing Chris to fall back, "She asked for this!" He keeps hammering away.
"Now-" Shini's sword slams into the ground, handle first, with a deafening crash. Both Chris and Fa'th stare at the sword as the crowd snaps to silence following the commanding sound. The sword slowly begins to fall towards Fa'th, until it begins to quickly fall towards Fa'th, "Wait, nononon-" Chris takes a step towards the calamity, but not before the sword chops through his ex-teammate. The blade then falls flat on top of Fa'th's left side, splattering it across the ground. The handle just barely touches Shini's outstretched left hand. Chris falls to his knees in shock, arm still outstretched towards Fa'th's intact right half. 'I should have saved him', he thinks to himself. But there was nothing he could have done.
The crowd erupts now. Whistles, whoops, and the like. Following this, several arena workers rush to the scene. "What. a. bummer!" The announcer calls out cutting through the cheers. He makes a fart noise as well, "Talk about a bad sport! Ole footloose over there wasn't happy enough with the win," the crowd responds with more cheers and claps.
"What's-" Chris mutters, "What- what- why- who are you?" He backs away from the staff as they approach.
"And Sweaty McGee over here looks like he's been trampled by… well, by SOME kind of wild animal," the clapping starts to slow down. The excitement is wearing off, and the announcer's slight flop of a joke is slowly ruining the moment.
"We're just here to help you out and clean everything up."
"To hel- what took you so long?!" Chris shouts, "Were you just waiting for us to be done? For us to kill each other?"
"Precisely. It isn't our job to be killed by you."
"It's not my job to control bloodthirsty maniacs.. or watch them be crushed by giant swords!"
The staff members look at each other, then they all turn to Chris, "Yes. Yes, it is."
"But-" Chris tries to respond further, but realizes he's been defeated, "yeah," he slumps backwards.
"Are you conscious, sir?" He doesn't respond.
"Wowza, folks!" The announcer continues, "A total wipeout! If any of you had that on your betting tickets, head down to the ticket office for a sizeable cash payout," he claps into the microphone. Nobody leaves to cash out, but they all clap and cheer along with the announcer.
Elidon walks out in silence, hands in his pockets, overall satisfied with the fight. Both of them likely learned that teamwork was important, but also that it wouldn't necessarily win them all of their fights. And the extra bonus of Ghizh's heroics! It set him up perfectly to become beloved, and unknowingly push the people around him to re-analyze themselves, and channel his legacy into their lives if he were to die tragically. That's more of a later issue, though. Right now, he's mostly just focused on recovering his two gladiators. He's fairly certain that they're alive, but he'll have to check to be sure.
Shini awakes, although not really. Somewhere in a deep, apocryphal darkness, a lone skeletal woman sits atop thin air. Her pure white bones glowing against her pitch black surroundings. Shini remarks that, in such darkness, it should be difficult to see anything at all. So, she concluded, this entity was somehow magical, or she was in a dream.
"Well, you're half-right, my dear," the skeletal woman speaks. Shini finds that she is now seated near the woman, although she did not recall moving towards her. She's sitting on something very comfortable, yet invisible. "It's called a sofa, dear." Shini realises that she is sitting on a sofa. "Wonderful. Anyway," Shini shifts her attention from the sofa to the woman, "I am Murtisia."
"Okay." There's a long silence. "What does that mean?"
"I'm the goddess of death, by trade. Would you like a hot chocolate?"
Shini had never heard of that, but could infer, "Sure."
"Do you know what hot chocolate is?" Shini nods, "It's a beverage." Now how would that work?? Was it just melted chocolate? "Here."
A small, ceiling-less, porcelain cylinder appears in front of Shini. There's a little loop on the side. "It's a mug, Shini."
"I know. I knew that. I've known that."
"No you didn't."
Shini had been made. This was bad news, someone had cracked her multilayered façade.
"I can read your mind, dear."
"Blast," Shini swings her fist, sending the mug flying off into the void, "Oops, oops, oh no!"
Another one appears in front of her, "It's fine, just be careful," Shini nods. She picks up the mug, but it's hot. She scalds her hand on the porcelain. She holds steadfast, suffering the pain, rather than inconveniencing Murtisia twice. "Mercy," Murtisia mutters as she rubs her forehead, "Alright, then, let's get into it. Like I said earlier, I'm the goddess of death." Shini nods, "Unfortunately, we're quite short staffed, so I'm also the goddess of many other things."
"Oh. Like what?"
Murtisia sighs, "War, the seasons, greed, and everything else. The thing is, I'm not usually handling all of it. There are supposed to be others around. Who do their jobs. Right now it's just me and Murray."
"What's he the god of?"
"No, he's just a guy, he's not a god."
Shini looks around, not seeing a guy, "Where is he?"
"I can see him," Murtisia waves to nothing, then smiles, "That's all that matters." Shini tries to look in the direction Murtisia waved in, "You'll never see him, darling."
Shini sighs, "Fine. What's up with the other gods?"
"You see, that's why I called you here. I need your help getting them back to where they belong."
"What?" Shini had misheard her.
"I need your help getting them back where they belong?"
"Oh." Shini had not misheard her, "What?"
"Do you want me to say it a third time?" Shini shakes her head, "Good." There's a long silence between them. Shini takes a sip of her hot chocolate, burning her mouth again, and hiding her reaction. "You've done it before."
"No." Shini looks at Murtisia, "yes." She whimpers.
Murtisia thinks for a moment, then laughs a little, "You're very awkward," Shini sips her hot chocolate, "I'm surprised that you're so capable."
"Me too." After all, she was just learning now that she was capable. And even then, she didn't really believe it, "Capable in what sense?"
"Hunting down the gods, silly."
Shini was having a hard time understanding it all. How was she capable in any form? Why was it called hot chocolate? Sure, it was hot, and it was chocolatey, but it wasn't as if it was actually chocolate: it was just brown.
"Shini, darling, please focus."
"I am," she replies quickly, taking another sip and burning her mouth, "When you said that I've done it before, I thought we were talking about me burning my mouth."
"Oh, I didn't know you did that."
"Blast."
"Would you like me to cool that down for you?" Murtisia points to the mug.
"No," Shini takes another sip, "It's perfect," she winces as she takes another sip, "I like that it's so hot." Murtisia stares at her a moment, then bursts out laughing. "What?" Shini asks, absentmindedly dropping her empty mug into the void.
"Nothing. I just think it's funny that you doubt yourself so much. How much you're in your own head." Shini didn't think it was very funny, "I am an expert. That means I know who would be best for this, and I chose you."
"So I have to do this?"
"Nope. It's a free abyss, after all. I'm only asking that you help me out."
Shini only had one other question to ask, "Do I get paid?"
There's a long pause, "Kinda."
Shini knew that this meant no, she would not get paid. She woke up, now, in the physical, colorful world. She's surrounded by arena employees, who all snap their attention to her stirring.
One of them sighs a huge, exaggerated sigh, and speaks. "Oh, finally, you're awake," he groans, "you know, you could really ease up on us. You're quite a lot to handle. In a bad way, of course."
"Sorry," Shini stands up, not realizing that she was still gripping her sword , "The sword is pretty heavy."
"I didn't just mean that," the employee shakes his head out of disgust, "I'm talking about your snack, too."
Shini was confused. She had been unconscious for… well, since the end of the fight. She hadn't eaten anything since back in Elidon's lair. Did the employee know about that somehow? Or maybe it was the hot chocolate, and everyone saw her interaction with Murtisia. That would be the worst! The absolute worst thing possible! Shini goes unconscious again.
"Hey," Murtisia jumps as Shini suddenly reappears, "could everyone see what just happened?"
"No. How did you- did you want to reconsider your choice?"
"No, not yet. Thanks for the hot chocolate though. I think it filled me up, even out there."
"What do you mean?"
"I hadn't eaten in a while, but when I got back out, I wasn't hungry," Murtisia bites a lip-shaped mouth bone, "and the arena employee was talking about some sort of snack," Murtisia starts taking a long sip, "so I thought maybe they could see me here."
Murtisia continues her same sip for a couple seconds, and puts her mug down, "Shini, dear, you're full because you ate a guy down there." Shini stops for a second, "I watched it happen, I just thought it was normal or something." Shini shakes her head slowly, "Well. Well, I mean, it could have been worse." Shini contemplates the morality of her situation, "Would you mind if I elaborated more on the," Shini creates a straw man who she beats soundly in an argument about her cannibalism, "payment?" Shini snaps to attention, "It wouldn't be monetary payment-" Shini loses interest immediately, then wakes back up.
"Why'd you just pass out again?" The same employee asks.
"I ate that guy?"
"Why are you asking me? How is that a question you have?"
Shini can hear cheering from the crowd now, "What are they cheering about?"
"You. Those freaks loved it, every second of it."
"Oh. Sorry."
"It's fine. I guess it's my fault. Coulda just been a librarian or something."
"No, I could never do that."
"I wasn't talking about you, man," he shakes his head, "If you can walk, get out of here. At least a you helped me with cleanup."
Shini climbs slowly to her feet, silently wondering why the man said only the last sentence in a Mario accent, "Yeah, sorry," she says, and walks out to look for Elidon.