Tannis backed up into the corner. There was nowhere else to run, so Tannis had decided to hide. She’d thought that being a Temthan athlete, a powerful sprinter, would have guaranteed reaching the exit and escaping, but she was wrong. It was never that easy. And as her group had been stalked down and slowly torn apart, trying to work out how to open the barricades, Tannis’s optimism was all but gone.
One by one the team of six had fallen. And really, Tannis wasn’t sure how. They were faster than the monster. This place was huge. And dark. And a gigantic swamp forest thing. There were buildings scattered around, but they were just the illusion of safety. Except they needed to go to all those buildings to find the keys to activate the electronically locked gate. But the monster had silently kept up with them, persistently tracking and hunting them. And every time it got close, it would take out the slowest of the team, lift them up off the ground then smash them to bits.
Of course, the rest of the team would use their fallen comrade as a chance to escape, there was little else they could do. They had daggers, sure, but daggers did nothing against the monster. They couldn’t even smell the monster properly because it was covered in mud, blending its scent in with the swampy surroundings.
That was two hours ago. Tannis was completely alone now. Everyone else had fallen. And they’d only found two of the four keys. There was no way Tannis could find the last two keys on her own, especially since the monster knew she was hiding inside this building. Maybe, just maybe, if she stayed silent and remained hidden, maybe the monster would get bored and give up. Hence why Tannis was kneeling down in a corner, her back against a wall, sheltering in a closet. The door refused to close, she was cornered somewhat, but she was protected from three sides at least. And, if the monster did approach, she was small enough to slip between the monster’s legs.
On the plus side, the monster was huge. Tannis would hear it approaching. Big, heavy stomps. But Tannis had heard a lot of other strange sounds. Clicks and chirps. Barks and howls. Smaller beasts in the swamp that distracted from the monster.
Something moved. Tannis looked up. She spotted the thing that had moved. But… it was a cat? A tiny little black cat. A kitten with pretty green eyes. The kitten spotted Tannis then inched closer, mewing as it did so.
“Sini’s scales, you are so cute…” Tannis voicelessly whispered. She didn’t move though. Maybe the monster could hear her. The monster wouldn’t go after a kitten though. Cats confused the monster.
The kitten started meowing even louder. It charged over towards Tannis, but stopped just out of reach. It paused, eyed Tannis a bit, then let out a particularly squeaky meow.
All of a sudden, the wall behind Tannis collapsed. Colossal arms smashed through the flimsy rotten wood and wrapped themselves around Tannis, lifting her into the air.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!” Tannis screamed, flailing wildly.
Her flails though did nothing, and her screams were met with almost a disgruntled growl. The wrathful giant had found Tannis and was now holding her up off the ground with just a single hand wrapped around her throat. That hand squeezed tightly, while Tannis did everything in her power to claw at the giant’s arms, to free herself.
The lack of oxygen though won out, and Tannis soon found herself falling unconscious.
With an annoyed grunt, the Rethan Wrath dropped the last competitor’s limp body on the ground. The second the competitor fell still, she was teleported out of the arena and into the medical bays.
“Well, that was fun!” the kitten suddenly exclaimed. For a moment, it turned into a ball of fluff, before changing shape and reforming into the familiar face of Levik. “That was an interesting way of doing things!”
“I guess…” Abius grunted, as they glanced around for the drone cameras. When they didn’t find one, Abius stomped out of the wrecked building and made their way to the arena exit, wiping mud off themselves as they did so.
“You alright, buddy?” Levik asked as he bounced after Abius. “Did you not enjoy that secretly double Thirteenth Night match like I did?”
“No. All everyone did was hide. No one wanted to fight. I understand a little hiding, but all six of them just ran and hid for the entire match, and that was boring for me. I did not even get to make a blood pack explode. They just hid and flailed and did nothing of interest.”
“Fair enough…”
It took a lot of plodding, but Abius and Levik did make it to the arena exit. And waiting for them were their two best friends, as well as a familiar face.
“Heya, Abius!” Timik beamed. “Kass and I brought your girlfriend!”
“Uh… why?” Abius hesitantly stuttered.
“Because we wanted to show her your match, live!” Timik was still beaming. That was annoying to Abius.
“That was an awful live match though…” Abius grunted. “Too many hiders and it dragged on for too long. Plus, we already have a gladiators’ observatory area for these matches. I feel like you have an ulterior motive.”
Timik nodded. “I do! Because, ever since the Blessed Serpent returned, I’ve been wanting to do her bidding, by matchmaking people. I’m still working on Kass, and Levik’s fucking hard since he’s somehow underage, but you? You’re a prime specimen, there’s a pretty Rethan here and you haven’t slept with her yet. Despite having like five dates or something!”
Arkiir tutted. “Please stop calling me a she. I am a they, same way Abius is. Also, is THAT why you dragged me here?”
“Yeah. You two need to fuck.”
Abius and Arkiir both glared at Timik but didn’t say anything. Timik turned to Kass, not knowing what he’d done wrong.
“Mate, Rethans aren’t as sexually active or as sexually motivated as the rest of us…” Kass sighed. “They date slower than we do.”
“Why though? We all evolved to love sex.”
“Rethans didn’t evolve. They were bred by and out of the early Threavok. Which is also why neither Abius nor Arkiir have punched you yet, because they were bred to be guardians, not predators. Either way, Arkiir, since you’re here, why not take Abius to the showers, then maybe head off to get cookies and cool down a little. I’ll punch Timik in the dick for you later on.”
Arkiir took a deep breath, then silently accepted Kass’s suggestion. Abius allowed themselves to be led off to the showers by Arkiir. As soon as they were gone, Timik turned to Kass.
“Was I wrong?”
“Yeah. Don’t force them. They’re working it out on their own, and you don’t get Threanic dating traditions.”
Timik tutted. “But Skyans fuck on their dates on the regular.”
“No, Ξ-Class and L-Class do. Most other Classes take things more slowly.”
“I guess… But are you really going to punch me in the dick?”
“If you don’t apologise to Abius later on, yeah. Anyway, Levik, you’re not busy or anything, you want to go to a different shower, get cleaned up and then get dinner?”
Levik shrugged. “Sure. We gotta give Abius their space anyway…”