A system notification floated in the center of the arena. Curiously, it seemed to be the only thing alive rising among the dead, despite it being just a fragment of an advanced technology that he couldn't understand.
He kind of felt that the status window was doing him a favor by not announcing the start of the slaughter.
[GENERAL INFORMATION:
A [[F I G H T E R]] HAS CHALLENGED THE PIT OF BEASTS.
THIS EVENT WILL BEGIN SOON.]
Suddenly, Perse remembered the way his father used to dismember pigs. Maybe it was because it reminded him of death. Or, maybe, it was a foreboding of what he would become.
He remembered his early childhood on Earth. The days he spent with his parents before they decided to abandon him at the orphanage.
'That day, my father smelled like blood, as always.'
His father used to be a butcher. He never understood how a vegetarian ended up in that line of work. Or why his mom, despite having clear objections, never really opposed it.
Or why they abandoned him.
-Sigh.
'So this is where I die.'
He laughed. How could it be that he didn't die in a place like Earth? Where neighbors ate each other and still went back home to play Neo and pretend nothing happened. A place where you could mask yourself under fairytales and pixels heavy enough to hide the blood.
He cried when his cat died and the only thing he found was its remains in a pot. He trusted people often even after being betrayed time and time again. And he tried to get an education even after being rejected all his life due to his lacking background.
In a world of humans without humanity, Perse survived keeping his empathy.
Most of it. It was true that he had taken revenge. He took more than enough payback from the traitors, the homeless cat-eater, and the school's principal. Then again, that much was to be expected. He wasn't a saint.
'But… didn't I try? I even prayed. Why is it that I lived this long to die so helplessly?'
Be it his parents, his friends, or God, everyone toyed with him. Even now, he served an invisible master against his will in an unknown place. It was always like that, he didn't have a choice. His decisions were taken away from him.
'What did I do to deserve this?' He thought. 'Was it when I thought I could become a hero? Am I being punished for having such immature fantasies after all the sins I have committed? Why now?'
He thought he had already learned his lesson back in the alley. But, he realized now that the scale must tilt.
Disheartened, with death about to leave its cumbers and catch him, Perse gave up. He crouched down, not caring about his surroundings or the disgusting smell.
His hands and knees sinking in the memories of others' sinners made him feel even more miserable and abandoned. He no longer paid attention to the sound of shrieks of laughter or the gruesome appearance of his spectators.
'Haha. I'm going to die in hell. The irony.'
Knowing that doubt wouldn't keep him alive, he embraced his helplessness.
'I don't know why I had to wake up in a strange place and run. I don't know for how long the nightmares of the past would haunt me. And I…'
And he didn't know why a skeleton was talking to him.
"Heyyyyy!" He heard a voice coming from somewhere beside him in the dark.
'Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it.' He said to himself, breathing slowly. 'I don't have the energy nor the time to deal with this. I still have to see the rest of my life flash before my eyes.'
'Ah, yes, when I was twelve and fought a bear...'
"I caaaaaan help youuuuuu!" Said the voice again.
Perse turned his head little by little, distrusting, "how?"
Down among the shadows, he saw the upper body bone structure of a human skeleton. This one, however, opened its ribs as if to make space for something else. There, a bone stretched far larger than any he had seen before, beyond the darkness further down the pit, surrounded by smaller feather-like bones.
Looking up from down, the skull spoke. Perse thought it was almost human, were it not for its sharp teeth and elongated features. When it spoke, its voice sounded more like a hissing.
"I knooow hoooow to geeeet ouuuut!" It said. Perse felt a strange feeling of familiarness, something that made his skin crawl.
Still, that last bit caught Perse's attention. He tried to get a better look, but he could only see a pile of old bones and chains the size of a refrigerator. He didn't want to think about whatever those things were supposed to hold.
"First row," said the skeleton, not a bit of leisure in his words like before, "the one with the green face."
'Face?' Perse looked towards the first row. He knew who he was talking about, he had seen him before. "What about him?"
Something shone behind the skull's eye sockets, illuminating its fangs with an ominous dim light.
"You're not from around here, are you?"
"What. About. Him?" Perse asked again.
"He likesss challengess. Make a bet with him. Tell him that if you manage to get out of the pit "alive", he hass to take you back to where you belong."
"And just how do you think I'll manage to do that?"
He wasn't even sure he could fight two people at the same time back on Earth, how was he supposed to confront a monster?
The skull let go a hissing, as if laughing, "isn't that what you are anyways?"
Perse looked at the bones, not understanding what it meant. He was starting to get a little sick of its presence.
"Alive, I mean." Said the skeleton.
'Oh.'
He didn't have to win over the beasts in the pit. Or even get hurt. He just needed to climb and get out of the pit. As long as he did that…
"Can he really get me back to Earth?" He asked, to which the skull laughed again.
"Of course, he can."
"And what is he going to win if I die? I can't offer him shit."
"Yesssss, youuu caaaan!" The skeleton moved his head, signaling towards Perse's jeans.
"HUH?! No way-" He protested, taking a step back hurriedly. He had done many things to get money, but even that wasn't a choice.
As if to reassure himself, he spoke, "if I die, then so be it."
"Lisssten," The skull interrupted, ignoring his ridiculous misunderstanding, "thaaat thing you havee on yourr pockett! Show it to him."
"What?"
Perse remembered at that moment the reason why he almost died yesterday. One of the reasons: He stole an ancient magic item from the house of Windhailer. His old classmate's family.
"That" thing that he was about to sell in the night market, was it not for what happened after.
"How do you- No, wait, that isn't important. Why? Why would he want the stone?"
"It's a rare treasure!"
"How so?"
"It possesses a power beyond our understanding." It said, "abilities to change fate itself."
'Fate my foot.'
Back when Perse was still allowed to attend college, Chris kept bragging about his family having the last piece of a unique material that used to exist on Earth.
To his knowledge, Soulful, as it was called, had gotten extremely scarce even before the Last Day. It was said that humans used to trade with different races using their unique properties as bait.
'No wonder humans lost magic too. Play-addicted bastards.' He thought, 'Well, It's not like I know how to use it either.'
'Besides, I'm not even sure if this stone is actually real or just a counterfeit.'
He decided to take the bait too. As it was his last resort to get out of there.
"What do you win from this?"
"A favor." It said, "you will do something for me in return."
"What exactly?"
"Nothing too vicious for your current standards." It said, "Now, now, what will you do?"
'Should I trust the talking sketchy skeleton? Mmm, probably not. Do I have a better idea? Also, no.'
"How do I get his attention?" Perse asked.
The skeleton laughed, "I'm sure you'll know how."
He didn't want to admit it because the last piece of courage he had was used already, and he wasn't feeling so brave at that moment.
Perse looked at the skeleton one last time.
"What's your name?" He asked, knowing that the thing couldn't give a vague answer to that.
It was silent for a while, then the skull spoke a long name of intonations and letters that he did not know and could not grasp.
"Yor?" Perse asked, saying only what he could understand.
"Kukuku. Yessss, sssomething like that." It said, "May we never see again, fighter."
'I sure hope so. You can't collect a favor if you can't find the person who owes it to you.'
Perse knew he shouldn't trust the words of that thing so lightly, but, looking at the window up in the purple sky, he thought that maybe it was the best decision.
[GENERAL INFORMATION:
A [[F I G H T E R]] HAS CHALLENGED THE PIT OF BEASTS.
THIS EVENT WILL BEGIN SOON.]
'But, I can't die. Not now. Be it here or in another dimension. I can't die so easily. I need to try.'
Before he lost his chance, Perse shouted to catch their attention in the only way he knew.
'And that is, of course, getting on his nerves.'
"Yo!!" he shouted. "Stinky rotten raisin-looking ass!"
At that moment, the spectators went silent. Surprised, they looked at the small dot in their holographic windows. Did he lose his mind already? Was that little thing asking for a fight?
Looking at the man in the green mask, who had focused his gaze on him, Perse shouted again "want to make a bet?"
And as soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he screwed up. Again.
He could hear the hissing of a snake snickering behind him as the man in the green mask got off of his seat and stared at him across the arena.
…
Lost in his misery and desperation, he wouldn't have been able to notice the incessant stare of the twins, far from hateful or hungry.
"Set?" Said the younger one to his brother.
"Yes, Oz?"
"I think we should help him."
"And," answered Set, "I think he could help us back".
"He is an idiot."
"Indeed."
"And a human," murmured Oz.
The way the twins used to speak was already low enough, the voices not leaving their lips but getting delivered straight to the other. Yet, the word "human" carried a different tone.
It wasn't the way one would usually pronounce an enemy's name, as saying it was prohibited for everyone, and you shouldn't risk yourself to say it, or else.
Still, the eyes of Oz and Set, and their figures being held back by something they still didn't know how to describe, gave the impression of fight dogs about to be let loose.
"And that's why," said Oz, "we need to kill him first."