XII
“Why didn’t you do that before?” I questioned Tarsus. “You could have gotten us out sooner.”
He didn’t give an answer, but continued his search around the dungeon.
Now we faced a greater problem. Although we were free from the one-man cell, we were still bound in Tyrannust’s small dungeon, and the stairwell was barricaded by the sleeping dungeon guard.
The mobbing chant began to grow louder and more rhythmic, with a determined “ooh-ooh-ahh” cheer, accenting the last beat with a stomp.
“Any luck?” I asked. Tarsus had scaled the dungeon walls again, peering at cracks, trying to find weaker spots in the wall. He walked back, with failure written in his expression. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’”, I answered myself, pivoting around to the growing sound.
The chamber guard woke up suddenly after nodding off and opened the door to our dungeon to check on us.
“You both got a happy company outside,” the guard explained tiredly. “Enjoy your time here while it lasts!”
He was about to slam the door shut when he caught a glimpse of the busted lock. His tired face quickly revised to a mixture of anger and fear.
“If Tyrannust sees that, he’d kill me! Why do you have to make this job so hard for me? Guess your time’s up!”
“Time’s up? What is that supposed to mean?” I asked quickly.
I looked at Tarsus with confusion dawning. In return, he furrowed his brows, although tension was evident in his face. The cell keeper advanced towards us, preparing rope to bind our wrists behind our backs.
“Listen,” I whispered harshly to Tarsus, pointing my finger towards him. “No matter what’s gonna happen to us next, I need you to cooperate. In the same way, and as much as I hate to say it, I’ll have to work with you too. Tyrannust is obviously planning something, and there’s a high probability of it involving both our lives.”
“You do you and I’ll do me,” he countered stubbornly, slapping my hand away. “I don’t take orders from anyone, especially someone like you.”
“Listen!”
My voice was raised to a hoarse shout as I violently gripped onto his collar. He quickly pushed my arms away and hissed at me, only to be immediately restrained by the dungeon keeper, tying his arms behind his back. “If you want to make it out, we have to work together!”
We got no further. The guard snickered once more and brought both of us to the south wall of the prison after binding us in rope, where the sound grew all the more louder. Tarsus gave me a glare, but I knew that my message had hit home. Somewhere inside him he realized the same truth; he was not going to make it out alive if only he was held captive here.
When we approached the wall, the guard placed his gloved hand on an unusual looking brick, and it started to glow a dazzling white. The bright light spread through the crevices of where the mortar once held the stones in place, and soon, the rocks tumbled down onto the ground.
“Weren’t we underground?” Tarsus asked the sentry, reflecting my thoughts as the bright blue sky blinded our unadjusted vision.
“You were, but you weren’t,” the guard replied, smiling at his own wit.
“What?”
“Lord Tyrannust is the master of any element! He possesses all the powers, including the power of illusiomancy, if you didn’t already know. For all I know, he could invert you inside out with a snap!”
And his words were immediately fulfilled. I turned away reflexively as did Tarsus as the guard’s blood splattered across us. His guts spilled across the ground and his bones skewered every which way from his body.
A figure passed behind us and growled, none other than Tyrannust VI himself. He rose a finger and motioned for something as he drifted above the unfortunate dungeon keeper.
Hesitantly, two guards approached us at his command, wielding our weapons. I looked at them, raising my arms in a defensive position. As they came towards us, I prepared to lunge when Tarsus kicked my leg. Instead of a striking blow, the guards meekly handed our weapons back.
Stupefied, I looked at the dual daggers placed in my hands. Tyrannust smiled, but it was a wicked one. Tarsus received his two golden-ornate shuang-gou as well.
I didn't know what to do. I looked around, and for the first time, I fully took in the scenery surrounding us as my eyes slowly re-adjusted to the bright light. Behind Tarsus and I had been our prison cell, situated atop a barren dusty floor. Encompassing us were a series of bleachers, with men cheering and screaming in them. The audience wasn’t large and consisted mainly of men in black armour, likely the warriors from Tyrannust’s legion.
So it was for us, Octavius seemed to say with his eyebrows raised.
“Welcome to the arena!” Zor boomed, startling a few birds that rested on the towering pillars which built the circumference of the stadium. He was at the side of Tyrannust, suddenly appearing in a mist of black smoke. “The high lord had had it specifically built for those who seemed...to be a thorn in his side,” he continued, selecting his words. “And you, both of you, seemed to be a perfect match for his description. Let us witness the very first deathmatch in all of Grozorg’s history!”
The crowd roared, screams and hollers filling the arena.
“Ladies and gentlemen, let the clash commence!”
Tyrannust bolted up into the sky at once, and, spreading out his vast black wings, glided to a high throne that was sat on the far end of the oval arena. As for Zor, he simply vanished as mystically as he had appeared.
I looked around me once more, getting familiar with the scene to be prepared for anything to come.
“Look,” Tarsus spoke, “if Tyrannust expects us to fight each other, you’d be dead before you came close to me. If he’s got other plans in mind and makes it appear like I’m working with you, I’m not.”
“Suit yourself,” I replied simply, giving up on Tarsus. It was every-man-for-himself. So be it if he died.
The arena was huge, running at least two hundred yards in length. There were barred gates that lined along the steep walls rising two meters high, spread around evenly to have a total count of eight gates. The wall of the arena rose higher than four meters, with a barbed top to prevent anyone from exiting the pit. The arena itself was a rather simple design; there were no vantage points, no hiding spots, nowhere to escape.
“Northbound!” I shouted. Everyone had vacated the open pit, joining the spectators in the tall bleachers around us. Tyrannust sat on his simple throne built at the bend of the oval arena, significantly elevated above the spectators in the bleachers.
A few leaping beasts were quickly advancing towards us, pounding hard against the dirt floor, eating up the dust in their rapid sprint.
I corrected myself. A few turned into a hundred dozen.
Tarsus hooked his curved weapons together, linking them and swinging the pair of shuang-gou above his head. As he gained more and more momentum, I searched for a potential part of the stadium where we could somehow escape. Two barred gates had opened opposite of where we stood, producing an endless number of thundering beasts.
It wasn’t a death match between Tarsus and me. It was a death match against Tarsus and me.
“They’re hounds!” I shouted, straining to deliver the message to Tarsus over the deafening stampede that continuously approached us.
The first hound leaped at Tarsus ten meters away. Shocked by its sudden movement, Tarsus stepped to the side, flailing his weapon in front of him. It landed hard into the hound midair, and the beast quickly vaporized into a thin black mist.
“They’re illusions!” Tarsus cried.
“Yeah, but they bite hard!” I howled, plunging both my krises into another hound that leapt onto me. It had landed its front canine teeth into the back of my hand, causing blood to streak down my arm. The hound soon vanished into the air as my knife made contact with its skull.
I spun around, hearing a loud creak. Two other gates had opened, producing more of Tyrannust’s shadow hounds. I sprinted towards the first onslaught of dogs that poured out of the gates, spinning around rapidly to slice whatever was around me. It was a basic technique of dealing an area attack that proved advantageous if mastered, and it could be used both offensively and defensively against large hordes; perfect for our current situation.
The hounds quickly vanished around me, black mist darkening the blue sky. My arms were quickly tiring, partly from extending it out to perform the whirlwind attack, but mostly due to penetrating the tough derma of the dogs. They were illusions, but shared the same attributes of normal hounds prior to their death; bone structure and flesh. These beasts were strange, the first of their kind as far as I’ve encountered, slightly smaller but much faster and more powerful than a lykos. Evidently, these were specialized beasts crafted by Tyrannust. Two more gates opened, flanking Tarsus and me.
“We need to close the gates!” I shouted, hoping Tarsus would hear me halfway across the stadium. I was holding back the flood of hounds from the two gates in front of me, but I had never noticed Tarsus or the audience in the heat of my manoeuvre. I quickly turned around, slashing two more hounds, glancing over at Tarsus. The corrupted crowd was wild, waving hands and shouting incomprehensible phrases.
Gasping, I ran towards Tarsus. He was outnumbered, one man to four gates of never-ending beasts, and I was astounded by his skill and bladesmanship. He was obviously exhausted; sweat and blood pouring down his body, drenching the sandy floor. Groups of dogs leaped towards him, but he managed to swing his weapon efficiently and extremely fast, disposing dozens by dozens.
I examined the two gates, looking for a contraption that could end this infinite loop of dogs. How were the gates opening? Jabbing towards a hound, I quickly sank both blades into another and pulled them out. To my luck, a gate opened adjacent to the one beside me, leaving one gate still closed. Closely observing the metal door that slowly rolled upwards, I noticed two small gears that operated the heavy door. The gears were no bigger than a centimetre in diameter, yet it could power a substantially heavy iron gate. Even a skilled master ranger could miss a mark as small as that. As waves of hounds powered against me, I focused my might on making it to the first gate.
All of a sudden, the crowd went silent as I heard a muffled cry. Glancing instinctively at Tarsus, I nearly stumbled in my fluent movement. The dogs had rerouted their paths, all six gates of the seven opened producing beasts that targeted Tarsus and not me. No wonder I was still at ease in disposing the hounds.
Tarsus was overpowered and certainly outnumbered as the cluster of black hounds grew thicker and thicker, leaping and pouncing on him, mauling and clawing him. He was blinded from my vision; encircled by a growing and seemingly impenetrable shield of dogs that kept building up on him.
There was no time. I could either close a gate or save Tarsus, and I had to make up my mind fast. There was still a gap within the circling horde of hounds that rapidly grew smaller and smaller, and if I started now, I could probably dash through and somehow pull Tarsus out. The last gate behind me creaked its groaning cry, and in no time another stream of maiming dogs would flank us. Tarsus yelled out a blood-shrilling cry as the ghostly hounds overwhelmed him.
The gate or that damned Tarsus?
XIII
Without thinking any longer, I dashed towards Tarsus. This was it. This was not another training of honing accuracy; I only had one opportunity, one shot. My heart raced as I gripped my krises tighter. There was only one thought in my mind and that one thought was all it took.
I was not throwing away my shot.
Visualizing the gate behind me as the bars groaned higher and higher, I closed my eyes quickly, concentrated, and threw my right krises underhandedly backwards. I was more skilled in underhand throws, and perhaps, I would somehow hit the gear. Something in me suddenly made me doubt, and without second thought, I threw my other krises underhand behind me, doubling my chances. Leaping onto the dogs unarmed, I shouldered my way through the grouping hounds.
Within seconds, a loud booming sound thundered behind me, shaking the earth as the gate fell on one side, crushing the dogs beneath and preventing the rest from coming out. I glanced back quickly, shocked. Somehow, just somehow, I had hit one of the two cogs.
There was no time to celebrate. I made my way deeper into the piling hounds, scouting the ground for Tarsus.
In the corner of my eye a glimmer shone. The sunlight glinted off one of Tarsus’ golden plated gauntlet, which shielded bloody fingers that didn’t move. Unconscious, Tarsus lay still on the barren battleground.
I ripped the heavy weapon from his unmoving fingers and sliced through the growling dogs that had piled on top of him, pulling him out with my right arm, slashing madly with my left.
He can’t be dead. He couldn’t have been dead. That’s not...that’s just not who he was.
His heavy armour-clad body scraped along the dusty floor, and I was exhausted from the fight. The groups of hounds had retargeted once again, this time all seven gates producing beasts commanded to destroy me.
Tarsus was bloody from head to toe, face bruised and limbs scarred. His unruly hair was drenched in sweat, and saliva trickled out of his cut lips. In his other hand he held on firmly to his weapon, wrists blistered and knuckles bruised. His chest had slowly decreased its heavy rising and falling action; he was moribund.
“Tarsus! Wake up, dammit!” I shouted hopelessly as another half a dozen flanks of dogs dashed towards me. “I’m still not done with you and your guild! Wake up!”
I yelled in frustration, letting adrenaline and rage fuel my attacks, overriding my exhaustion.
Suddenly, my mind raced back to the Chamber of Mancers. As long as he was still alive, I could still save him!
I looked back at Tarsus, unmoving on the arena floor with a rapidly draining face.
I can do it. I’ve been taught this my entire life. Focus!
I breathed in. Focused. Felt the power through my blood, and focused.
My vision turned emerald, adrenaline still fuelling my arms in a random, robotic motion, slashing at the beasts subconsciously.
There was still life in Tarsus; he was fighting till the last breath. All I needed was his will to live, and that would be enough to save him. The world around me faded out, seeming to slow down, as if time itself was slowing down. My hands heated up as my mind focused on his soul, while the outpour of beasts became greater and greater.
Inhale. Exhale. Good.
Tarsus began to move, inhaling and exhaling, regaining strength. At this rate, he would be able to stand up soon, perhaps break into a sprint to the bend of the arena where there were no hounds to continue regaining strength.
It was strange, but something felt...different. It was an instinctive feeling, but something had changed within me, and within him. It was a connection, a strong connection...binding two adversaries into allies. For better or for worse.
My vision returned to normal and the world around me shifted back into alignment. The hounds leaped against me, overwhelming me, tearing at my flesh. I tumbled down, and my vision blurred as my adrenaline seeped away, overtaken by exhaustion. Fighting against my weariness, I rolled to one side and tiredly regained footing, distracting all seven waves of the hounds.
“Run, Tarsus!” I commanded, shaking my head and snapping back to reality.
I hurled the shuang-gou in my hands towards him as I made a break for the collapsed gate door, picking up my blades and fending myself from the never-ending outpour. The still weakened figure stood up wryly, picked up his blade and flailed both of his weapons at the continuous stream of dogs exhaustively. Dashing headlong and blindly, he stumbled towards the seventh gate that had tumbled to one side, where I was.
Tyrannust roared in fury at the sight of Tarsus, alive and well.
“Ulterium!” Tarsus spoke, bent over with hands on his knees.
“Kinda busy!”
“They’ve stopped!”
“What?”
I looked up through the thinning mist of black. Instantaneously, a hound grazed my shoulder. Flinging it off, I looked around me. Tarsus was right, the hollow gates no longer held any more hounds. Finishing the last wave on my right with Tarsus on my left, we ran to the gate beneath Tyrannust to clean off the last two hounds, resting our arms on our legs in relief, catching our breaths.
“Oh, no...” I spoke, dragging my voice as I caught the high lord in his actions.
Tyrannust was standing in front of his seat with his right arm raised, palm facing the sky. There was a small mysterious crimson object in his hand that beated hypnotically, beating evenly. Dadum. Dadum. Dadum. A concentrated frown was smeared across his face as a black vapour slowly rose from the strange heart. The dark substance coiled around his arm, snaked around his thick, black neck, and diffused into his head. The frown was quickly corrected by a renewed smile.
A great shadow overcame us and my attention was reverted downwards to tall gate.
“Look out!”
Thundering footsteps approached the gate as a dark shadow plagued towards us. The footsteps grew louder and louder as Tarsus ran back to where I stood. I looked around the arena - all six gates had closed as suddenly as they had opened.
“What do we do?” Tarsus spoke through gritted teeth. “What do you say we do?”
I stared at him, wide-eyed. Tarsus actually said that?
No time to contemplate. A huge fist wrapped around the bottom of the crooked gate, a hint of gold and black evident. Without effort, the gate was forcefully pushed upwards as a massive figure emerged from the shadows, destroying the surrounding walls of the arena that posed merely as clay to the enormous, powerful figure. It was unrecognizable at first.
“That can’t be him,” Tarsus spoke doubtfully.
“How did... Wha...”
We were both dumbstruck and speechless, instinctively taking a step back.
The vermilion-plated titan towered grandly above us, as if we were lowly ants. The glorious giant stood between the sun’s rays, creating a mesmerizing, menacing eclipse that outlined the defined muscular body.
I subtly nodded towards the tilted gate behind us. In unison, we looked at each other and shouted as one.
“Run!”
The titan pulled out a golden double-bladed battle axe as it lunged towards us.
“I thought all Primos were protectors of the wilderness!” Tarsus yelled hysterically as the axe smashed into the ground, a few inches from his fleeing foot.
“If Tyrannust can control the Potestatem, he can control them all! Tyrannust is using these titans to do his bidding!”
We dragged our feet across the grand arena, sprinting as fast as we could in opposite directions, burdened by the overwhelming exhaustion.
It was then my luck ran out.
Three gates opened at once, one from the opposite bend of the oval, and the other two on the east and west sides of the arena. From each three came the remaining titans, all tainted by Tyrannust. They broke through the arena wall easily as the first, towering tall above the two of us. The crowd grew wild, cheers and chants rumbling the arena wall. Tyrannust juggled four pulsing hearts above his head, all interconnected by a strand of black vapour that disseminated into his skull.
“We need a plan!” I proclaimed.
It wasn't long before the four Primos circled Tarsus and I in the center of the arena. Potestatem Primo was the largest, a red and golden gleaming giant radiated by the small soft sun. To the left stood Alligent Primo, the purple titan significantly smaller in size and less intimidating. To the right was Noctiscursor Primo, an enthralling cerulean knight that cowed away from the bright day. Lastly, behind me stood the smallest, yet still powerful Medicus Primo, a titan dressed in a lively green. All four giants weld a double-bladed battle axe, each embellished with a different design and coated with their respective colours. And nonetheless did any of the titans lack the tainted shade of black.
As the four Primos enclosed on us, we searched around rapidly, looking for an escape.
“And here’s your plan!” A sudden voice answered in the distance.
Oh, it was a sweet, sweet voice. Kadava Lee.
Tyrannust lost his concentration, turning his gaze towards the intruder. It was hard to see past the four lingering titans, but I could make out Kadava’s minuscule figure in the top rows of the arena, directly west of where Tyrannust was seated. The crowd died down immediately, turning to face the new voice amongst them. There was another figure beside him, and Tarsus recognized the member before I could.
“Sylvan! My man!”
It was the Arretan ranger from a couple weeks ago, the one that had tried to steal our lykos back on Cryann’s island.
“If your guildsman’s genius plan was to get one of mines to shoot Tyrannust,” Tarsus looked at me, “that angle is a great vantage point. And trust me, Sylvan Sharpshooter never misses.”
It wasn't long before Sylvan nocked an arrow, aimed it towards Tyrannust, and released, verifying Tarsus’ guess.
The arrow soared through the hot air, seemingly illuminated behind the bright armours clad by the Primos that reflected the sunlight. The swift streamline was abruptly ceased as Tyrannust snapped his arm upwards, catching the tip with two fingers right in front of his face.
“Well, he didn't miss...”
“His goal wasn't to hit Tyrannust,” I slowly spoke, understanding Kadava’s intentions. “It was to distract him!”
As Tyrannust lost all focus on the four orbiting hearts above him, the black vapour soon vanished, dropping the hearts onto the ground. The Primos, following, stumbled to their knees, falling face first onto the dusty floor.
Tyrannust gave out an infuriated roar.
“Quick, grab on!” Kadava shouted towards us.
Kadava and Sylvan both ran down to the first row of the audience, rising a couple meters above ground. The nearest guards leapt to their feet, but Sylvan fended them off with a small throwing knife as Kadava dangled two long cords over the wall. Tarsus and I dashed towards the frayed rope and jumped on, pulling ourselves upwards, using the last of our energy to scale up the rope.
“Quick! Follow us!” Kadava barked as the crowd went wild, some confused, some excited, some angry that the show had stopped. More soldiers from the audience began to surround Sylvan, who was now joined by Kadava in fighting them off. We weaved through the rising audience and up the highest row of bleachers. I glanced backwards, looking at the lifeless titans lying in the center of the arena.
“Wait!” I spoke. “We can't just leave them there, under Tyrannust’s control! He’s gonna make the worst of them!”
“Well we can’t do anything now!”
Tyrannust was drifting over to us from his throne, fast. He was enraged, and the two whips were already in his hands.
“On my count, jump!” Kadava commanded.
We reached the top of the last row. Tyrannust drifted closer and closer as he lifted his arms upwards, preparing to slay us once we came into range in one smooth slash.
“Almost...”
We were standing on the edge of the arena wall. Below us, jagged rocks protruded from the barren dusty ground. Tyrannust was closing in, a couple of rows beneath us.
“Not yet...”
“What's taking so long? Why are we waiting here? Hurry!”
I looked down again, thoughts flooding into my head. How were we going to escape? If we moved back, we would be caught by Tyrannust, if we advanced forward, we would fall to our deaths onto the rocks. I started panicking, looking back and forth.
Tyrannust picked up the pace, the dark figure just three rows away and closing in. A wicked smile formed on his face as his arms snapped forward, both whips raining down in an arc.
“Jump!”
Kadava jumped, shoving Tarsus and I into the air as well, missing the devastating whip by a strand of a hair. As we tumbled downwards in a free-fall, an enormous portal opened and snapped shut as soon as we fell through.
We fell down onto the hard ground, one piling on top of another, creating four loud “thumps!”
I looked around, feeling the smooth cold ground. We weren’t impaled by the jagged rocks; we were nowhere near Tyrannust’s arena.
I was back home.
“Guild, sweet guild,” I sighed in relief, sprawled on the floor. “Guild members! Get these two guests some tea and make them feel at home!”
Tarsus and Sylvan slowly stood up, looking around. As my men and women got to work, I pulled Kadava aside.
“Kadava. I don’t know what to say. I knew I could count on you, and I’m...I’m ashamed of doubting you. Wouldn't know what would have become me if it weren't for you today. Thank you.”
“Wouldn’t know what the guild would have become if you were gone, honestly. But all I'm gonna say is this credit isn’t just mine. Tell you what, you and Tarsus should take a good long rest, and I'll talk about it over dinner.”
I nodded in assent, quickly showed Tarsus and Sylvan to a separate resting chamber within the hideout, and I retreated to my own room for a long slumber.