-Ahchoo!
On the third floor of the colosseum, surrounded by thousands of different flowers, a tall, burly man sneezed. He wore an antique set of armor and plucked the petals of the flowers.
Beside him, a young girl, small enough to reach his knee, took the stems and ate them.
The little girl wore a white cloak. However, her face carried an expression that did not fit a child.
Normal kids would be annoyingly running around, but her eyes seemed to say that she was the one looking out for the man beside her.
"Is it good?"
"Better than insects." She answered.
"Achoo! Ugh!" The man sneezed again. "I think someone is talking about my greatness."
"Or maybe they are talking about how ugly you are."
"Ah, yes, they may be crying at the thought of engaging in a battle against me!"
"Or maybe they are talking about how ugly you are."
"Right now! All people sing about my greatness!"
"Or maybe-"
"Don't you know when to shut up?"
"..."
The girl went quiet. At this, the man turned his gaze away from the flowers to stare at her.
The man thought he had seen tears in the corner of her eyes. Nervousness was obvious on his face.
"Olympia! I'm sorry! Don't cry, yes?"
"Ah, should I just kill you, old man?"
"..."
In another corner of the room, a blue-haired man watched the unfolding scene in the arena. The moment he saw Perse holding the stone, his eyes widened in amazement.
He remained silent, yet the crosier he held emitted a faint light. The stone encrusted in it was similar to the one Perse held in his palm, just larger.
"Isn't that the human the crow brought here?" The burly man asked, giving the little girl another flower. "It is forbidden to bring humans' vestiges here."
This time, the man with blue hair joined the conversation.
"What is it that you're planning now, Olympia?"
Both men turned to look at Olympia. Maybe it had to do with the current state of the prisoners in the city? Did the crow ask for a favor? Was she trying to establish a good relationship with humans? Or…?
Instead of replying, the girl put another stem in her mouth.
She looked down at the arena with an unreadable expression that did not go with her young face. Her eyes reflected the system announcement in the middle of the colosseum.
"Just that," Olympia answered, "it seemed fun."
*
After Perse's voice reverberated among the crowd, the silence spoke louder against his scattering thoughts.
'This is wrong. Why are they so quiet? 'I did what the skull and the twins told me. What went wrong?'
"..."
"..."
"...ahem!"
"..."
"And… that is?" The man in the green mask spoke. Perse couldn't see what was down the mask but he could feel the Third raising an eyebrow at him.
"What even is that?" Said Set.
"Are you crazy?" Called the other twin.
'Not you guys too?!'
Perse felt like crying, but he still held the stone high as he thought about what to do next. He couldn't afford to lose his facade now.
"kukuku, a precious item, huh?"
"Isn't that just a fingernail? You're acting all ghoul now."
Soon enough, laughter came back once again.
'Is this for real? Did I get tricked again? The plan was logical. Should I explain what Soulful is to them?'
Perse thought that the place he was currently in went beyond any logic. He resorted to using everything at his disposition to survive.
'Was that a mistake?'
'Should I just have committed suicide?'
'Can I back out now?'
Just then, the man in the monkey mask spoke. He now stood next to the Third, holding the railing tightly with one hand and a jewel-less crosier in the other.
"Yuria!" he called at the blonde elf, who flinched in response. "Appraise it."
The woman squeaked and got up immediately. She then proceeded to stand on top of the marble railing. She gazed at Perse, her long hair dancing behind her as she jumped to the arena.
-Boom!
Dust covered the floor after she landed.
'Hey, hey, did she just land a 6-meter jump? How?! It is humanly impossible! Just what is she?'
Yuria approached Perse and smiled. He blushed unintentionally at the obvious charms of the woman in front of him. Perse had never seen someone so beautiful back on Earth.
"Don't fall for it." Set said.
'What? Don't fall for what? I'm focused.'
In a heartbeat, she took the stone from his hand before he could think of refusing.
"Appraisal!"
A beam lighted from the stone. In front of Yuria, in a window only she could see the information of the stone was displayed.
"This!"
Yuria immediately let go of the stone, like it had burned her hand.
The unexpected reaction made Perse frown, and even the twins looked lost.
"What is it?" Asked the Third.
"Ma-master!" Yuria's face beamed as she abruptly raised her voice at her master, but she didn't care at that moment, "it is a magic stone!"
'What is she talking about? That thing is just metal... right?'
It didn't take long for the crowd to react. The voices raised in a heartbeat.
"What?!"
"A vestige?!"
"How?!"
"Shit! Get out! Run!"
"He needs to be punished!"
"There's no way!"
"He is defying Olympia so bravely!"
"You!!" The Third shouted, "how dare you!!"
Perse couldn't understand what was happening, so he opted for a quick prayer.
It was just then…
-Ching!
[GENERAL INFORMATION:
A VESTIGE HAS BEEN DETECTED.]
-Ching!
[GENERAL INFORMATION:
LOOKING FOR THE OWNER OF THE VESTIGE.]
-Ching!
[GENERAL INFORMATION:
LOOKING FOR THE OWNER OF THE VESTIGE.]
[GENERAL INFORMATION:
FAILED TO LOCATE THE OWNER OF THE VESTIGE.]
[GENERAL INFORMATION:
OWNERLESS VESTIGE ACCEPTED.]
-Ching!
[GENERAL INFORMATION:
A [[F I G H T E R]] HAS CHALLENGED THE PIT OF BEASTS.
THIS EVENT IS ON HOLD.]
The sudden change impacted everyone. With every sound of the notifications, they seemed to comprehend even less.
The silhouettes in the first row stared at the sky in disbelief, and even the Third seemed to have gone unexpectedly quiet.
In the arena, the twins shared a silent conversation. And Yuria looked reluctant to pick up the stone again.
Perse thought it was a good moment to continue what he was doing.
"So… Ahem!"
'Magic stone or whatever, I just want to leave!!'
He had no choice but to continue with his original plan.
"What do you think now?"
"You want to bet a vestige?" The Third asked with a tone of disbelief in his voice.
"Yes. And if I win, you are going to take me to whatever place I ask."
"..."
"..."
"Vey well," his voice seemed to indicate that he thought of Perse as a fool. "And what exactly are you trying to bet on?"
"Simply," Perse said. "I want to prove that I'm strong enough to get out of the pit of beasts alive."
That made the man pause. His shoulders flinched.
"Alive?"
"Not a single scratch."
"Alive, you say?"
"Yes, that's what I said."
"Alive?"
"Yes."
'Is he deaf now?'
"You... seriously are a fool." He heard the voice of the younger twin one more time.
'What?'
"Very well," the Third said, walking back to his seat, "show me what you have, fighter."
"Please let my servant help you keep it safe." Said the monkey, to what the golden-haired woman responded by picking up the stone with a handkerchief Set had given her.
'Good. That's half done. Now, all that's left is...'
At that moment, the Third interrupted his thoughts.
"Oh! How silly of me!"
Without making a sound, the man had approached Perse. In a second, he was standing in front of his servant.
"I forgot to mention something important." His skeletal hand rushed forward and took the stone from Yuria's hands.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Shouted Perse.
"In case you don't know, this is the City of the Dead." He murmured, getting closer to Perse as he spoke, "In this arena, we compete on equal terms."
"That includes, of course, that all of us need to be dead."
As close as he was, Perse could finally make sense to observe him fully.
The empty eye sockets, the mix of burned skin and putrid fungus, and the remains of yellow teeth in his cheeks. Even the darkened blue-green color of a rotten dead body.
All of it.
The green mask.
It was his face.
"Wha-What the fuck?! Aaaagh!"
The sudden discovery made Perse stumble back and fall. The Third continued to walk towards him with the stone in his hand.
"Of course, we have to do something about that. Don't you think so too, Per-say?"
"Get- get away from me!"
"Don't worry. It will only hurt as much as it hurt for us when your species did it."
Set and Oz came from behind and held him in place.
"Get- No! Let me go! You guys!! Why are you-?!"
He felt a pair of bones hold his face. And, as the man pressed the stone against his forehead, Perse could feel the heat burn his own face into the same disgusting mess he thought to be a mask.
And finally, as I dissolved into his flesh along with the stone, we became one.