Chapter 12 – Stood Up

“And we’re sure that we want to go and fight this time?” Petra said as the three made their way along the underground hallways to the arena prep room that stood before the sands. “Because if I’m thinking it, then others might be too, and that means there’s a chance we could be thrown out there alone against three terrible, overpowered monsters. You know that, right?”

“What if the other teams aren’t planning on throwing us out there alone?” Titus countered. “What if it’s just us three who don't turn up and the others are left to fight the monsters without us?”

“Kinda sounds like a them problem,” Petra said thoughtfully, though Titus could tell she didn’t mean it. She continued: “All I’m saying is that if we had a little longer before the fights, we could talk through our tactics with the other teams and make sure we’re all on the same page.”

“I think that’s the point,” Titus said. “It gives us enough notice to stop what we’re doing and make our way there. The God of Balance doesn’t want us to talk to the others because that would make it easier, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, because he’s desperate for us all to struggle. No, wait,” Petra corrected herself. “He’s desperate for everyone to have to struggle except you, Mr all-powerful fireball spell.”

“How many times do we have to go over this?” Titus groaned. “I didn’t ask for any of this and…”

“And you get it anyway,” Petra finished for him. “Just once, I’d like to see you lose a fight, and then…” She abruptly cut herself off as she remembered exactly where they were heading.

“You might just get your wish,” Titus said as the group reached the prep area.

“No, I didn’t mean that…” Petra tried to backtrack.

“You ready, big guy?” Titus asked Jordan as the three reached the Anywhere Box and retrieved their new wares.

Jordan took the longest to get hold of his new gear. He still used the same axe and damaged, almost useless-looking shield, but his new plate armour made him look bigger and more imposing than ever.

Petra retrieved her throwing knives and tucked them into her belt. Titus watched as his friends put their new gear to good use, but he also noticed that Petra didn’t put on the hood that the God of Balance had gifted her. He wasn’t exactly sure if he’d make the same choice as her, but after their encounters with the God, he could see why she was still sceptical.

Titus was the last to collect his new weapon, and when his hands gripped the wooden shaft of the thing he couldn’t help but smile. This was going to be the first time that his weapon was actually something that would help him out in a fight. No, it wasn’t a sword, and no, it wasn’t a wand or a staff, but it was at least something that sat in the middle of these things.

The wooden shaft of the Elderwood Spear of Unity was a knotted thicket that seemed to have been wound together into the perfect circumference to let it fit comfortably in Titus’ hands, and the speartip looked like it had been forged by a master blacksmith and set into the shaft with a string of rivets. It was heavy too, probably too heavy for Titus to throw, but not too heavy for him to use as an effective weapon.

The moment it was in his hands, he could feel the thrum of power emanating from it. It wouldn’t give him any additional Mana just by holding it whilst he was at his full capacity, but it was obvious that the spear was drawing in Mana from the surrounding atmosphere and churning it out as it had nowhere else to go.

Then a thought occurred to Titus.

Digging deep within himself with his Mana Resonance ability, Titus called forth all his Mana and placed it into a ball that dutifully orbited his body with a shimmering blue light. At seventy Mana, it was more than he’d ever actually used in battle. But then he felt it.

The Mana that the spear had been spilling back out into the atmosphere because it had nowhere to go began to enter Titus. It felt like a constant flow of water slowly filling his stomach and chest back up, but when he checked his stats, he saw that just as the description of the weapon had promised, he was gaining an additional two Mana every ten seconds.

Titus, holding his spear, had just found a way to double his Mana capacity. And he could do it naturally, with no spells or potions.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Petra said, nudging Titus so hard that he almost fell over. “If that new spear of yours just unlocked some secret skill or upgraded your class or something, I may have to kill you.”

“No…” Titus replied slowly. “It’s nothing like that. Just… it’s nice to have something that’s supposed to be mine, you know?” He quickly decided not to brag about what had just happened, not because he actually thought that Petra might try to kill him, but more because it was information that wouldn’t help them right now. Besides, they’d probably find out soon enough when they all got out there into the fight.

The group then moved along to the last room before the iron gates, where the last time they’d met their accompanying teammates — the other two squads of three.

Only this time, when Titus, Jordan, and Petra reached the benches in the room, they found them empty.

“First ones here, then,” Jordan announced as he took a seat. The motion of the large Paladin sitting down was quite comical, as his plate armour was forced to move out of the way of his joints. It was clearly well-made and had accounted for normal battle movements, but sitting down just wasn’t a normal battle movement. The armour also clanged and creaked as Jordan moved, and Titus thought about how Jordan and Petra were becoming more and more opposites, with the Rogue doing what she could to move silently, hidden away from their enemies, and Jordan, who was now like a bright, shining target — which made a hell of a lot of noise.

A few minutes passed with the group checking their new weapons and equipment repeatedly, checking the weight of the new spear, the balance of the knives, and the flexibility of Jordan’s armour. Each of the group seemed happy with what they now had and they could all see how all this new gear was going to come in handy for them.

But suddenly, and with a loud clang, the iron gate began to lift to allow the group out onto the arena sands.

And not one other Contestant had come to join them.

“See!” Petra hissed as the three stared at the gates with wide eyes. “I told you this was going to happen! We have to go out there alone and we’re going to get eaten!”

“Maybe they’re just running late?” Titus asked hopefully, though even he wasn’t convinced by his own words.

“They aren’t running late!” Petra replied. “The Silver Saint here and I have already been through this once! We know how this goes down! We go out there and we wait for the rest to turn up, and then they don’t, and we have to fight the monsters alone! Only this time it’s three monsters! Three on three, Titus, and they’re going to be much stronger than any of us!” Then she added quickly, “Well maybe not you; the jury’s still out on that one…”

“Will you stop that?” Titus asked. “I’m not some all-powerful God. We’ve met one of those already, and I have no desire to walk in his footsteps! But you heard what Miss Kane told us before; if we don’t do this, then everyone could be punished.”

“Yeah, and what about the other teams?” Petra asked. “Aren’t they going to get us all punished anyway? Why is this our problem?”

Then, as though answered by the God of Balance himself, a notification filled Titus’ vision, and he could tell he wasn’t the only one seeing it.

Battle begins in 30 seconds

If no human Contestant takes to the field before the start of battle, balance will take effect.

Effect: All contestants -90% to all stats.

Effect: All contestants -90% to all XP awarded in upcoming battles.

Effect: In all future battles, creatures of Chaos will be level +5.

Titus’ mouth hung open as he stared at the extreme nature of the notification. Petra too opened and closed her mouth as though she was trying to figure out what to say.

“And that’s balance, is it?” Both Titus and Petra turned to Jordan, who’d uttered the low growl.

Ever since he’d been made a Paladin, Jordan had been rather quiet, and he had rarely said anything that could be seen as counter to the God of Balance or his will. But this notification just seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“So no one turns up for one fight, and he thinks the balancing action to that is to tie all our hands behind our backs?”

Titus looked up at the ceiling as though that’s where the God was watching him from as he spoke.

“It doesn’t seem right or balanced,” he said. “And that means there’s something else going on. He really wants us out there, so I say we do it. Besides, do we really have any choice?”

“Ugh, we can talk about this later!” Petra grumbled. “If we’re going, then we need to get out there NOW!”

Petra was right, of course. The thirty-second timer had almost reached ten seconds, and that meant if they didn’t make their move momentarily, it wouldn’t matter what their intentions were.

Titus looked out at the golden sands where he knew he and his friends were about to fight for their lives, but he also knew that this was a challenge they couldn’t turn down — not with so much at stake.

The three friends, therefore, ran out into the field of battle, coming to a halt in the dead centre.

“Ah,” Mr Valeri’s voice carried across the entire arena as the Contestants came to a halt and the crowd turned silent. “Our next Contestants, here for our safety and enjoyment! And you know, as they say: better late than never!”

The crowds cheered their cursory cheers, and Titus, Jordan, and Petra gave their proclamation to the people, and that was it. The fight was on, and all they needed now was to see what kind of monsters they were going to have to deal with. Alone.

Titus watched the iron gate on the far side of the arena as it began to raise. The dark portal beyond flashed into existence though it was mostly in darkness itself.

In fact, they all watched it.

And then something odd happened.

The portal that had appeared flashed twice and then disappeared altogether. Then, less than a second later, a new portal appeared, and through it stepped three creatures that Titus recognised.

“Hobgoblins,” Jordan growled. “Seems a bit close to home, doesn’t it?”

Those words coming from Jordan gave Titus a start because it was usually Petra who commented on the ‘coincidences’ they seemed to be experiencing.

“Well, at least we know how they fight and how to fight them,” Petra said, falling seamlessly into Jordan’s role of fight co-ordinator. “Just don’t let them gang up on you, OK?”

Titus frowned at his two friends who seemed to have switched roles at some point when he wasn’t looking. But what they were saying was true.

What was strange, though, was the fact that there had seemed to have been one portal open and then another made to replace it. Almost like someone had changed their mind and sent these three enemies through instead.

It was strange, but there was no time to ponder it because as soon as the three hobs reached the sunlight, they began to run.