The Nexus Games [Chps 21-22] [litRPG]

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—Chapter 21—

—Alex Kellan the Defector—

Once everyone was close, Xiang waved her hand.

Her illusions worked in an instant, wrapping around each person completely. Xiang gave everyone a new outfit and altered their natural appearance, but didn’t actively conceal their identity.

Mavis’s jeans and shirt had been replaced with a military uniform. Not any military that Kellan was familiar with, but he recognized the uniform conformity of insignias on the shoulder and collarbone. Mavis still wore pants, but now she had a long-sleeved jacket complete with a vest and undershirt. Fancy, and colored mostly black with white accents.

And her faint scars were gone.

Her purple hair was more reddish and “naturally colored.” And while Kellan already found her attractive, Mavis lost any and all imperfections.

Sen’s robes became a beautiful red and gold. They flared with color, shimmering like the soft reflection of water. While they didn’t shorten, they seemed more liquid and ethereal, flowing around his kid-like body.

Husker now wore a coat made of luxurious furs. Thin chains hang from some of the pockets, each attached to an illusionary pocket watch. Had Xiang created them to hide the sound of his actual chains? Kellan thought it clever.

When Kellan examined himself, he was both surprised and intrigued. His military outfit was covered in shadows. It reminded him of his cursed armor. The darkness moved around with his movements, like a shadowy echo. He wore the same outfit as Mavis—mostly black, with slight white accents—but his insignia and “rank” was different.

Mavis had one red-jasper bar on her collarbone and shoulder. Kellan had two silver bars.

“What is this?” Kellan asked, pointing at bars.

Xiang combed her inky hair with delicate fingers. “It indicates your highest rank of magic. You’re D rank eclipse. Silver is the color of eclipse magic. Your friend—” she said the word with a strain in her voice, “is E rank magma. Red is the color of her magic.”

Xiang motioned to her long white robes. On her shoulder, she wore five slate-gray bars.

“And you’re A rank?” Kellan surmised.

“Correct.”’

“And gray… is the color of mind magic?”

Xiang replied with a slight smile. “Exactly.” Then she smiled at the rest of the group. “Don’t fuss with your clothing or worry about my illusions failing. You’re protected when you’re with me. I’ve even taken the library of hiding your basic information from those with analysis abilities.”

When Kellan turned his attention to Sen and Husker, he took note of their ranking as well. Sen had four sandstone-tan bars. B rank. Tan for body magic. And when he glanced at Husker, the wolf had three bars of emerald-green. C rank. And green had to be for wyld.

“But we have multiple magics,” Kellan stated. “Why aren’t those colors included?”

Xiang dismissively waved away the comment. “You needn’t worry. Etiquette only requires a mage to announce their primary magic. We don’t have to announce any of our other talents.”

She turned, her whole body a work of art as she glided across the platform and around the glittering fountain. The last half the stairs awaited them. Xiang didn’t call or demand they follow, she just made her way up to the massive palace.

The bass continued to pulse through the ground, sending rhythmic waves through the soles of Kellan’s boots.

It was odd. He felt the blood in one boot, but when he glanced down, he couldn’t see it. Obviously, his new clothes were just illusions—and not really there—but his mind kept trying to play a trick on him.

It was unsettling.

Kellan walked with the others around the fountain. While Mavis and Husker admired the fixture, Kellan turned his attention to the few other guests. They also wore bars of various stones and colors on the collars of their outfits.

Three gold bars.

Four black bars.

Two green bars.

Kellan dwelled on the information. While his analysis gave him information, most of the time it was concealed. The bars were just clothing. Anyone could wear anything, couldn’t they? Would people lie about their magic and rank? Kellan wondered.

Then Kellan noticed something else. Each person on the steps of the AVU Palace had something tattooed on the back of their left hand. A number. He couldn’t get close enough to see the number exactly, but he could tell most had different numbers.

Why?

He decided to keep quiet for the time being, and followed the others up the steps.

Thirty stairs from the top, and Mavis slowed. Although she looked perfectly healthy, she did slow her pace and rub at her bad leg. When Kellan walked up, he offered his arm.

“Thank you,” Mavis said with a half-smile.

“Anything for a fellow soldier,” he replied.

Mavis took hold of his elbow, but they only made it a few steps before Xiang stopped and turned around.

“Don’t stand near each other,” she stated. “This will already be painful enough.” Then she pointed to Husker. “Help our other teammate if she’s having trouble. Once we start the games, we can find a reconstruction facility and Sen can help her rearrange her stats.”

Husker bowed his head slightly. “As you wish.” He walked down the steps and took Mavis from Kellan’s arm. “Don’t fret. Soon this won’t be a problem.”

Although Kellan wanted to protest, he stopped himself from doing so. Xiang rubbed at her face and turned away, her sullen expression more of a mystery than an irritant.

When they resumed their trek, the music from inside the palace became louder and louder. Sen lingered back until he was close to Kellan. Together, they walked side by side up the last few steps.

In a quiet voice—that was almost drowned out by the music—he said, “Don’t speak to anyone inside. And don’t do anything to embarrass my sister. We won’t be joining the festivities, so all you have to do is be good, and quiet, until our registration is complete. Is that understood?”

Kellan crossed his arms, his shadowy illusions adding to his menacing appearance. “Ya know, we’d probably get along a lot better if you stopped talking to me like an unruly punk.”

“We don’t need to get along well. You just need to heed my commands.”

“Or you’ll enforce your commands with your worms?”

Sen tapped the side of his head. “Despite the fact your IQ is sitting squarely at room temperature, you do manage to pick up on things quickly.”

The instant Kellan stepped on the top step, another message flashed across his vision and in his mind. It was so prominent and imposing, he was forced to pay attention.

The AVU Palace Oasis

You   have entered an Oasis. While inside this non-conflict area, all mages are   forbidden from initiating direct violence. Offensive magical abilities are   limited. Any who violate this rule will answer to the Arbiter himself.

An Oasis?

Kellan snorted and laughed to himself. The palace prevented people from attacking? All the denizens of this dimension should stay here.

There were two sets of double doors into the palace, each thick wood with designs of dragons carved into the center. Pestbyters hovered around each of the doors, their spherical machine bodies hard to miss.

Neon colored lights flashed from within, the rock-techno continuing to increase with volume. The entire place felt like a rave, but Kellan couldn’t help but stare at the architecture. The palace was a mix of Gothic and Rococo design.

The palace was grand, theatrical, and with sweeping archways. The windows were large enough to drive a truck through, but also held together with iron bars and crafted with stained glass. Gargoyle-like statues of dragons were on most corners of the roof, and tall walls added to its imposing presence.

It was like five different time periods had smashed together into one building.

Xiang walked inside, ignoring the Pestbyters as she went.

Kellan didn’t feel as bold.

When the machine turned their camera-eyes on him, however, they didn’t attack or rush forward. They simply scanned the crowds like they were waiting for something. Kellan wasn’t that something.

With unsteady steps, Kellan made his way inside with Husker, Sen, and Mavis.

The moment they crossed the threshold, Kellan had to take a moment to absorb everything all over again.

There were hundreds of mages inside.

Kellan’s eyes flashed with so much information, he had to forcibly ignore it.

The Gothic interior was somehow mixed with machine-like parts. Clockwork walls, future doors, and neon lights made him feel like he had stepped onto the set of the Matrix. Tables and luxurious chairs were placed throughout the gigantic entrance foyer, as though this was a place to socialize before going deeper into the palace.

And there were two sets of stairways to higher levels, and at least half a dozen doors that led into the building. Kellan wasn’t sure where to even begin.

A loud voice pierced through the music, its pleasant tone a harsh juxtaposition to the terrible information.

“Registration for the Nexus Games will soon close. All outsiders who fail to register within the next five minutes will be branded a menace. The Justices and Pestbyters will remove you from the city—dead or alive.”

Despite the color lighting, it was easy to keep track of Xiang. Her white robes, and striking beauty, could be seen from across the city.

She walked to one of the massive doors—another one guarded by a hovering Pestbyter—and strode through. Husker and Sen hurried to keep up. Kellan and Mavis gave each other odd glances as they passed by other mages.

Most were human, but the rest ranged in all shapes and sizes.

Kellan even spotted a few machines. Androids? He wasn’t sure. He decided now wasn’t the time. They only had five minutes remaining.

But they were gathering attention… More and more mages were turning their way and pointing. Even the robots. Even the odd colored werewolves. Hell, even the Pestbyters swiveled their cameras over, watching as Kellan and Mavis walked through the door.

The beat of the fast-paced music heightened Kellan anxiety.

Something was wrong.

He didn’t know what, but there was clearly something everyone else knew—and he didn’t.

The room he entered was quieter than the foyer, and the music was different. It was some sort of slow tempo jazz, chill and unhurried. The room itself was a large—practically a ballroom in size—with betting windows across the back wall. Numbers were on screens overhead, including the number of mages and teams currently in the Nexus Games.

Dozens of mages stood around, most smoking black cigarettes.

Hane. Kellan had seen it before.

“Oh, look! If it isn’t Sun Xiang.”

The hyper voice matched the person it came from. A woman with an athletic build stepped out from a grouping of mages, her smile bordering on manic.

She had a Mohawk, her black hair spiked in all directions, and she wore a sleek suit of armor that reminded Kellan of a pilot’s outfit. It was a complete jumpsuit that hugged her body, with plates of hexagonal metal over most vital areas. The suit effortlessly moved with the woman, never hindering her, despite how much it should weigh. The whole suit was black, except for one arm, which was colored a hot pink.

Her shadow… it moved on its own. It even had a face—like a mask at a theater, with eyes that curved upward to display a smile. It waved to Kellan when he stared at it.

The woman’s ears and face were pierced with enough metal for a hardware store.

But Kellan didn’t care. All he wanted to see were the bars of rank on her collarbone.

Six black bars.

Black…

Kellan didn’t need anyone to explain. He already knew.

Entropy magic. The same kind that had almost killed him. And when his eyes gave him the basic analysis, he knew he had guessed correctly.

Name:Ysa Voight the Wraith

Race:Human

Magics:Entropy, Eclipse

Rank:Concealed

Armor Rating: Concealed

Health:Concealed

Stats:Concealed

Abilities:Concealed

“Greetings, Ysa,” Xiang said as the woman walked over. “If you don’t mind, I haven’t much time left.”

Ysa smiled wider, her gaze so intense, it was as if her irises were always moving. Twitching. Kellan wanted to say she was touched by madness, but he really didn’t know what was wrong with her.

Her shadows swirled around her feet, waving and smiling the entire time, regardless of what Ysa was physically doing.

“It’s a shame you don’t have your mother here to help you out,” Ysa said with a slight laugh. The few mages behind her exchanged laughs and whispered comments. “Although… since her other team died in the last Nexus Games, maybe she isn’t the best coach, huh?”

Xiang only offered a slight smile in response.

“Have you seen?” Ysa held up her left hand. She, too, had a number emblazoned on the backside. Hers read: 42. “All registered. Team 42.”

“Fantastic for you,” Xiang said, curt. “If you’ll excuse me. I’ll do the same.”

With a manic giggle, Ysa pointed to the screens above the booth. “I’m on the same team as your ex. Haven’t you seen? I think that’s rather hilarious, don’t you? Maybe if you had just listened… You could’ve joined us. We could’ve won this whole thing together.”

Xiang said nothing, her silence cold and icy.

“We’re here to enjoy the night before the games begin,” Ysa said, her voice more high-pitched than before. “Maybe you should have a few smokes on us before we have to fight? I swear we’ll treat you to some amazing—”

The woman glanced over at Kellan and caught her breath midsentence.

Kellan glanced over his shoulder, worried some sort of yami monster had wandered into the palace somehow. But there was nothing.

When he turned back around, Ysa was still staring, now the side of lip twitching. Even her shadow stared, its “eyes” just shadow-puppet circles, like it was shocked.

“You didn’t,” Ysa whispered, her delight growing with each second. “You. Didn’t.” When she burst out into laughter, it drew the attention of everyone in the betting room. The other mages, who had been minding their own business, were now focused on the commotion.

“Isn’t that Sun Xiang?” someone muttered.

“Daughter of the former winner, and one of the Descended of Zenith,” another chimed in. “The illusionist. You’ve seen her. I hope she’s not entering.”

“Wait, who’s that with her?”

“Damn. She must be entering. That’s her team, I assume. Oh, wait…”

Ysa’s cackle grated on Kellan’s nerves. When he turned to Xiang, he noticed she had become as still as a statue, her posture stiff. She waited, like this was inevitable.

Once Ysa had her laughter under control, she rubbed at her watering eyes. Even her shadow did the same, though it never made any noise.

“You found some alternate dimension version of your ex to compete with you in the games?” Ysa said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Sun Xiang, that’s so pathetic. I had no idea you were that obsessed. Oh, this makes everything thirty times more hilarious.”

Her laughter resumed.

The shadow pantomimed laughing as well.

Kellan stiffened, his focus on the conversations around them.

“Wait, Sun Xiang sifted through other dimensions to find someone like her old fiancé?”

“That’s sad. I have to tell Jonsie right away. He’ll love this.”

Laughter haunted the corners of the room, like every group of mages were watching with rapt amusement. Even Kellan felt embarrassed and awkward, and he wasn’t entirely sure what was going on.

Ysa instantly snapped out of her chuckling and smiled, like a light switch had been flipped and now she was ready to talk about something else. She pointed to the screen above the booth. “You think the real Alex is going to stand for this? The moment we find you out in the games, we’re going to smear the entire arena with your little faker’s blood.”

Kellan turned his attention to the screens.

Then he read the roster for “Team 42.”

Leader:Brenner Hawke, Traitor to Humanity

Member:Alex Kellan the Defector

Member: HR-8

Member:Ysa Voight the Wraith

Member:Viniss Tarkin the Vanguard Queen

With understanding dawning in her eyes, Mavis turned to Kellan.

“There’s another one of you here?” she whispered.

Kellan tensed, unsure of what to say. When he glanced at the other teams—99 others—he noted that his name never showed up again. No one else’s did. There wasn’t a second Sun Xiang or Sun Sen or Husker or even Mavis.

His name was the only one up there.

Ysa laughed again, this time and icy and cruel. “Oh, this is so perfect. Your Alex didn’t come from a dimension with magic, did he? He has no clue what’s going on. Xiang, be serious—did you actually think you were making a statement with this stunt?” Ysa poked her cheek and giggled. “Or did you think you were going to make him jealous?”

Her shadow dashed around the floor, no longer laughing. It seemed… angry.

But Xiang never answered.

Sen fidgeted with his long robes. Kellan hadn’t noticed until then, but his face was red and his hands unsteady.

“Registration for the Nexus Games will soon close. All outsiders who fail to register within the next minute will be branded a menace. The Justices and Pestbyters will remove you from the city—dead or alive.”

Xiang finally swept past, her expression unchanging. “Forgive me, Ysa. Perhaps we can speak later. Right now, I need to register.”

“Go ahead!” Ysa laughed again as she turned and headed for the door out of the betting room. “I can’t wait to tell the others. This is so perfect. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.” Her cackling echoed throughout the room as she left.

Without much time to ask questions, Kellan hustled to Xiang’s side. “Are you going to explain?”

“Once registration is finished,” she replied, cold and calm.

They approached a window flanked on either side by Pestbyters. Kellan felt himself involuntarily tense as they neared. The android behind the counter had no eyes or face. It was a series of machines, vaguely shaped like a person. When it spoke, it did so with an old-school radio-like voice, complete with static crackle.

“Hello there, boys and girls.” The android jerked from side to side. “You may register a team here. Please wait while I give you the disclaimers.”

Everyone waited, and then the android spewed a few sentences so fast, it would’ve given the Micromachines commercial a run for its money.

“Once you register for the Nexus Games, you will be unable to quit. All members of your team must be present to register. Once registered, your team will be assigned a number. You may register a team between five members and ten members, but one of them must be designated the team leader. If the team leader dies at any point, the whole team loses, but members may die, and the team can continue to participate in the games. Additionally, the number of members determines the number of keys required to win. In theory, any number of teams may win the Nexus Games, but to preserve fairness and transparency, I’m obligated to inform you that no team, in the history of the games, has ever made it through with all their starting members, nor have multiple teams shared in the prize at the end. If your team loses the Nexus Games, the punishment is death at the hands of the Arbiter. Lastly, you agree to have your name and likeness broadcast throughout the Nexus, and are painfully aware that the Arbiter sees and hears everything. Any attempt to cheat or avoid the rules or harm the Pestbyters and Justices will be met with punishment as determined by the Arbiter.”

The android concluded his speech with a little spin.

Xiang placed her left arm on the counter of the booth and slowly slid it toward the machine. “My name is Sun Xiang, and I’m registering as the leader of our team.”

The android placed his hand over Xiang’s, and a crackle of energy zapped her arm. In an instant, a number was branded on her skin.

Team 101.

Xiang stepped out of the way and motioned for Kellan to take her place.

Although the copious number of warnings were still ringing in his head, Kellan hesitantly stepped forward. He placed his hand on the counter and slid it closer to the android. The machine-man spun around again, and his old radio voice darkened.

“I apologize, you cannot register for the Nexus Games. You’ve already broken the rules and harmed a Pestbyter.”

The two Pestbyter’s guarding the window turned to face him. They lashed out with wire-like tentacles and grabbed both of Kellan’s arms before he had much time to react.

“Hey,” he barked. “Wait!”

“We’re here to speak to the Arbiter about that!” Sen called out from Kellan’s side.

The android nodded once. “That’s good. Because I’m going to have you escorted to the Arbiter right away. He’ll determine if you can enter the Nexus Games or not.”

The Pestbyters jerked Kellan away from the window. He struggled, but he couldn’t seem to do anything… violent. A passive thought came over him, like violence was something he couldn’t even fathom.

“To the Arbiter,” one of the Pestbyter’s said, sweet in all regards.

—Chapter 22—

—The Arbiter—

The Pestbyters dragged Kellan through the halls of the AVU Palace.

To Kellan’s mild fascination, the gigantic building seemed to be divided into distinct sections. The music and décor changed with the area. The entrance was a techno rave, but one grand ballroom was an indoor swimming pool meant to look like a lake, complete with waterfalls and soothing music.

Kellan only got brief glances, though. Another section of the palace was mostly darkness and smoke, with the distinct smell of lust wafting into the hallway. When Kellan tried to free himself from the grips of the Pestbyters, they held him in place, their wire tentacles tightening around his arms, threatening to completely cut off his blood circulation.

“So, what’s the Arbiter like?” Kellan sarcastically said, forcing a smile. “He a Christmas guy? Or Is he more into Hanukkah?”

The Pestbysters didn’t answer. They swiveled their cameras eyes to stare at him, and then returned their gaze to face forward.

The trek was longer than Kellan had been expecting. The final minute he had before registration ended was surely up. Would they allow him to register now that it was over? Kellan wasn’t sure, and his anxiety grew with each passing minute.

Rumbling shook the palace with enough force that paintings and television screens mounted to the walls shook. Kellan managed to crane his head to the side enough to look at some of the screens.

It was that same newscaster… Only this time he was standing in the middle of a football-sized field. He walked around the edge of a massive circular pit. The pit itself had to be the size of an Olympic swimming pool. And Kellan knew he was feeling nervous since he was mentally measuring everything in terms of sports fields.

“Exciting news, all you sad sacks within the Nexus!” the news anchor, Bitso, said to the crowd. “This round of games is about to begin! We have so many exciting players this year. It’s the largest ever! The Arbiter is pleased.”

More rumbling. The newscaster shook, and Kellan felt it through his boots. Was the football stadium close?

The pit… It was dark and ominous, with a slight amount of steam rising up from the void-like depths.

The news anchor wore his blindfold, even as he danced around the edge. With a microphone in one hand, he gestured to the stadium “Are you all ready?”

Cheers erupted from the distant stands. Who was watching? What were they doing?

“Are we heading to the pit?” Kellan asked the Pestbyters.

They didn’t answer.

“The Arbiter isn’t a sentient pit, is he?” Kellan quipped. “Because I know the Nexus is weird, but that would definitely take the cake.”

Again, the Pestbyters didn’t answer.

Then the Pestbyters turned down a hall, and Kellan lost sight of the screens. The rumbling of the floor added to his increasing heartrate, and he took a moment to inhale and exhale. All his calming tactics were required to steady his thoughts.

When they slammed through a pair of metal doors, Kellan had to blink back a wave of intense light. The thunderous noise of a sports stadium bombarded Kellan all at once, catching him off guard. The Pestbyters dragged him onto the same football field that Kellan had just seen on the screens.

The lights came from the domed ceiling—the same one he had seen while standing in front of the palace.

The stands around the field seemed filled with individuals, but they were so far away, and not bathed in light, that Kellan couldn’t make out any details. When he glanced up, he spotted a hole in the domed roof—the same shape and size as the pit.

When Kellan turned his eyes downward, he spotted the blindfolded news anchor strolling around the edge of the now infamous pit. He kept the microphone close to his mouth as he made exciting declarations to the crowd, but Kellan couldn’t seem to hear him.

His heart was pounding in his ears, the echo drowning everything else out.

The grass of the field was perfectly trimmed, but there were no lines for football or any other sports. Occasionally, Kellan spotted a few stains of red, which only added to his nightmarish thoughts.

“People don’t get thrown into the pit, do they?” he asked.

And once again, the Pestbyters said nothing as they hovered along.

Two other people were on the field. Kellan hadn’t noticed them until the Pestbyters stopped and held him in place.

The other two people were also held by Pestbyters—restrained in place, and unable to flee, just like Kellan. They stood twenty feet away, one on Kellan’s left, and one on Kellan’s right.

The man on Kellan’s right was shaky and dappled in sweat. He looked like he had escaped a Ren Faire, or perhaps Comic Con.

The girl on Kellan’s left was freakish. She was mostly human, but her hands, arms, feet, and shins were covered in reptile scales. The scales themselves were metallic and copper, which matched her tanned skin. Her black hair, short enough to defy gravity—was spiked in multiple directions, either through gel or terrible sleeping, Kellan wasn’t sure which.

And the girl had a thin lizard-like tail. It was flattened, like the body of a centipede, and the same copper color as the rest of the scales on her body.

She wore jeans and a black jacket, but otherwise, she had nothing else.

Her lithe body and panicked expression made Kellan think she was eighteen or twenty—younger than him, but not by much.

Technically, Kellan received analytical information on each of the people next to him, even Bitso, but he could barely focus on it.

Numbers. Names. His mind was swirling. All he deduced from that was that they, too, were magical.

“Before we begin the games, the Arbiter wants to remind everyone that certain rules must always be obeyed,” Bitso said, gesturing to Kellan and the other two. “As always, the Arbiter must judge those who harm his property. It’s a terrible crime to harm his Pestbyters and Justices! Lots of beautiful arcana went into creating them, after all.”

Cheers and boos mixed in equal parts as the crowd gave their opinion on the matter. Kellan strained his eyes to see them, but they were just too far away, and shrouded in too much darkness. Again, he regretted not taking the ability to see in the dark.

The rumbling across the football field became intense. Kellan would’ve fallen over if it hadn’t been for the Pestbyters holding his arms.

Bitso stumbled around, laughing the entire time, his voice carried across the stadium through the speaker system. “Whoa, there! It seems the Arbiter is ready to pass judgment. Please, everyone stand for the Lord of the Nexus!”

Kellan held his breath as the steam from the pit rose out in columns.

The audience in the stands grew quiet. It felt like the whole world was holding its breath as the ground quaked and shifted.

Then it emerged.

A clawed hand.

And not any claw—but a machine hand the size of a tennis court. It slammed onto the field, the blades of the claws digging deep into the field.

Then a second claw emerged. It, too, slammed into the ground and dug deep.

The strain of metal, and the whirl of gears, rocked the entire football stadium. From the pit emerged a dragon. A completely machine-made dragon. Servos. Pistons. Gears, wires. Lights. The beast had no flesh—just the mechanics of an android made into the shape of a lizard with horns, wings, and fangs.

No eyes, though.

Its massive head, covered in sharp corners, and antlers like spikes, had no eyeballs with which to see. Its mouth, large enough to fit a hockey rink inside of it, glowed bright radioactive green, like its insides were shining constantly.

The dragon didn’t fully pull itself out of the pit. It remained half in the ground, and half out, resting its weight on its massive elbows as it leaned its head over the football field.

The crowd cheered, their delight filled with an edge of fear.

“Here he is,” Bitso screamed, his voice barely above the crowd’s fearful jubilation. “The Arbiter!”

Kellan swallowed hard. When the notifications came up this time, he forced himself to pay attention.

Name: Lord of the Nexus, The Arbiter, Keeper of the Gates to Zenith

Race: Primordial Dragon

Magics: Soul, Metal, Entropy, Travel, Meta, Fate

Rank: Concealed

Armor Rating: Concealed

Health: Concealed

Stats: Concealed

Abilities: Concealed

When the Arbiter exhaled, his breath was laced with heat and the stench of oil.

Kellan tensed, his body so stiff, he didn’t know if he’d be able to move, even if the Pestbyters released him.

The Arbiter was gargantuan. His body almost took up half the field, and when he moved his head, a gust of air pressure whipped by, almost stealing Kellan’s breath. That’s the beast who’s going to decide my fate?

Bitso waved his head, and a pair of spotlights focused on him. A dozen shadows cascaded around his feet as he walked further out into the field.

Floating television screens hovered out around him, each so large, they could be their theater screen. They flickered to life with footage from around Nexus-Fayetteville.

“Well, the Arbiter is ready! Let’s see what these mages have done to garner his ire!” Bitso pointed to one of the gigantic screens, despite the fact he was blindfolded tight.

Could he actually see?

Kellan wasn’t certain.

The screen flared to life.

It was a video of the Ren Faire guy. He was running through an alleyway when a Pestbyter got in his way. The man with the bizarre clothing unleashed a powerful crackle of lightning from the palm of his hand. It struck the Pestbyter, and the machine-sphere tumbled through the air.

“Oh, no!” Bitso shouted. “That poor Pestbyter. It was just doing its job when this homicidal manic accosted it!”

The crowd booed and threw things, but they never reached the heart of the field.

The Ren Faire man yelled and yanked on his restraints. “I didn’t know! I swear! I didn’t know!”

“Ignorance is no excuse!” Bitso pointed to a second screen.

It showed the man shocking the Pestbyter a second time. And then a third time.

Finally, the Pestbyter hit the ground and its arcana was exposed. The man walked over, absorbed the red crystals into his hand, and then hurried from the alleyway, like he was running from something.

Kellan’s heart beat hard against his chest.

Okay. Well, I hope the Arbiter is a forgiving dragon… Because that’s exactly what I did.

Bitso wheeled around on his heel and pointed to the massive machine dragon. “Arbiter, what is your final decision? Will the man continue to suffer, and live here in the Nexus? Or will you grant him the sweet, sweet release of death?”

Again, the crowd voiced their opinion with thrown items and shouts.

The Arbiter lifted one of his massive claws.

The Pestbyters released the Ren Fair man. With panicked steps, the man turned away and ran in the opposite direction, his arms flailing as he tried to steady himself.

He didn’t get far, though.

The Arbiter brought his claw down in one massive strike. He slammed the field hard enough to damage the surrounding area, creating a crate so deep, someone could make a pond out of it. Kellan would’ve toppled over from the aftermath—the air, the shaking of the ground—but the Pestbyters continued to hold him in place.

The Ren Faire man was dead.

When the claw was removed, his arcana—and his blood splatter—were clearly in the crater of the attack.

The two Pestbyters gathered up the man’s arcana and then hovered over to the edge of the pit. They dropped the arcana down into the dark void, where the dragon had emerged from.

Then Bitso turned his attention to Kellan.

“Yikes,” he said with a manic—almost lunatic-style—laugh. “That was quick! What a trial. That’s how I want my death to go, that’s for sure!”

Kellan wanted to shout wait, or can we talk about this, but his throat was tight from anxiety that he couldn’t seem to find the words.

Bitso touched the blindfold over his face and blood sprouted across the white cloth. “Well, well! On to the next lucky chump who incurred the Arbiter’s wrath! Let’s all turn our attention to the screens to see what this dope did, shall we?”

When the screens turned to face Kellan, all he could hear was the constant beating of his anxiety-ridden heart.