The harsh heat from the bright sun directly above me, the roars of the crowd, the feelings of my tired body did not register in my mind. All I could think of was Vamon.
His screams in my face to save him while the crowd cheered in enjoyment.
The walls moving in on his skull.
Vamon's eyes popping out of his skull as it burst drenching me in fresh blood.
It was sticky now.
The initial wetness of Vamon's blood on my face had dried quickly in the directly sunlight and had caked itself to my face. I rubbed both my hands on my blood splattered cheek. There was no real reason to do so but I did it. The environment around me from the sounds of the voices of my fellow contestants, the audience and the announcer did not register in my mind. All that crossed my mind was how sticky the blood had become on my clothes and face. It felt almost like a second skin.
My morbid fascination with it was cut short by the announcer's voice.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is now time for the third act!"
A large silver ball the size of a beach ball appeared in a flash of light at the announcers' words right above us and hovering just out of reach over the edge of the wall. A large slot opened in the front facing us. Immediately the bonding bracelets detached from my arm and flew up into the open slot. The same was true for everyone else from what I could see around me. Dozens of bracelets flew into the air and into the slot. Once the last of them entered there was another flash of light, and the silver ball was gone. I rubbed my free wrist restoring the feeling to it.
"In this act the contestants must navigate the mind twisting puzzles and deadly traps of the Black Tower. The contestants will split into groups of five giving all of you watching in the stands and from far away six different teams to cheer on to the finish line! Contestants make your teams or face the penalty!"
It was like I was in junior high again where everyone scrambled to pick a partner for a group project or sport. It was not clear what the penalty was, but no one wanted to face, me especially. Everyone started running around grabbing people and forming their own groups. I picked up my sword lying beside me on the group and quickly turned to Lokin only to find he had already formed a group. I rushed over to join them before someone else took a spot leaving me in the cold. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw I was the fifth member, bring the team to a close.
As everyone else scattered to form their own groups I gave my team of myself, Lokin and the three other people a look over.
One was an orange skinned male with a beak-like mouth, pointy ears and a fin-like mohawk on his head. He honestly looked terrible. He was clenching his right arm with his left hand which had several slash marks running all over it. There was no weapon in his hands or on him. He must have lost it or never had one in the first place.
The second person was a Tamaranean judging by her orange skin. She had two short swords in each hand with a guarded expression on her face. She had in one hand a flail with blood dripping from it.
I turned my attention to the last member of our team doing my absolute best to hide my shutter at his presence. I could tolerate bugs when they were tiny little things I could smash with my foot or a book. One of my biggest nightmares was the thought of being in the shower surrounded by fist sized fly's, cockroaches, and worms.
Now I was standing next to a giant bug that was up to my shoulders. It had four arms and a blue exoskeleton. It carried a massive war hammer as its weapon that looked brand new.
"What are your names?" I spoke up causing all three to look at me with guarded expressions.
"We need to depend on each other to survive this" I gestured toward the tower "It would help if we knew each other."
The Tamaranean snorted "Do you want us to bond together and be mates? We will most likely have to kill each other at some stage later."
She was right but I was right as well.
"True but we need to make sure have each other's back in there. We could all die if we don't rely on each other."
"I can survive on my own."
I fought to prevent my frustration from coming out. If I yelled at her she would likely get defensive and yell back at best and at worst attack me. For a team to function properly and achieve its goals it needs to be united or at least trust the other people on the team to do their jobs. I bit back a nasty remark to avoid causing problems.
Lokin had no such issue.
"If you're so good then why did you end up here?" he asked cheekily.
A dark expression came over the Tamaranean's face. She moved to attack Lokin, weapons raised but I stepped in between them hands stretched outward to keep them apart.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, it looks like one of the teams is about to fight it out before they have even entered the tower!"
"Enough" I sharply spoke looking at both "We are in the fight for our lives. It doesn't matter what we think of each other, only that we work together to survive to fight another day." I looked at the Tamaranean "We don't have to be friends, but we do need to work together. We wouldn't be put into groups if it wasn't needed for us to survive until the end. My name is Michael, and this is Lokin. What's your name?"
The taller woman looked at me silently for what felt like an eternity before she responded.
"I am Herra."
I nodded with a small smile. A smile conveyed a sense of friendliness and openness and made someone more likely to listen to the person.
"I'm Michael and this is Lokin."
Lokin sneered at Herra.
I looked to my other teammates.
"Builder is Builder" the giant bug stated.
The beak shaped mouth guy looked at each one of us and said in a low voice "My name is Razan-Tu."
I nodded when he finished, finally able to put a name to the faces.
I stepped out of from between Lokin and Herra and stepped back enough to get everyone in my eyesight.
"We stand together or fail separately." I stated looking each one of them in the eye.
They all acknowledged my words.
"Contestants take your stations!"
I turned around bewildered to see the platforms from earlier there hovering near the edge.
When did they get there?
Everyone started getting onto the platforms sticking to their teams. My team followed suit without a word.
As soon as everyone got aboard the platforms started descending to the ground. As it went down no one said a word, they were probably like me getting in the zone to fight for their lives. Almost as soon as they started going down all the other platforms moved away from ours, I could see they were going to start from different areas than my team. I leaned near the end to get a good look at the terrain around the tower. As far as I could tell it was made of concrete.
The Black Tower was the real eye catcher. As far as I could tell It was uniformly hexagon shaped reaching almost as high as the wall itself. When the platform reached the ground and my team disembarked, I could see we had been dropped a short distance away from a doorway leading inside the tower.
Nobody said anything as we waited for the game to start, I mentally prepared myself to walk inside and walk out no matter the cost.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the third act begins now! Contestants start moving now!"
Immediately as soon as the announcer declared the start, we all ran as fast as we could to the door. Builder had formed himself into a ball and was already ahead of everyone else followed by Lokin and Herra who were neck and neck for second place. Razan-Tu was despite his appearance right behind them and in last place was me. It was a stark declaration I was fit only by earth standards.
I was the last to arrive at the door where everyone was waiting for me.
"You said earlier we would stand together or fall separately. If we die because of you I will kill before anything in here does." Herra told me with unmistakably contempt before she turned and was the first through the door.
I could only stare at her retreating form in disbelief as everybody else followed the tall woman before seriously considering stabbing her in the throat. I suppressed the impulse as it would likely lead to the team's failure and my death.
I followed through with them leaving the door open just in case. The area around me and as far as I could see was a long narrow hallway illuminated with two long rods of light overhead. The team fell into a line and moved forward down the hallway. Herra was first followed by Lokin, Builder, Razan-Tu then me in the back.
It was a peaceful wake but nerve raking, I was on alert for any signs of trouble. Any trouble would likely happen in the front with Herra and Lokin, so I was relatively safe.
It was not long before the hallway came to an end. There was a doorway with no door and a cold breeze that chilled me to my bones. When I reached up with everyone else, I got a good look at the room.
The room was enormous.
We were standing on a platform several feet above a large and deep looking swimming pool. In front of us was five metal podiums.
In the center of the swimming pool was a giant stone pentagon shaped platform that reached down to the bottom of the pool and level with the water. I could tell there was a hole in the center of it. I could not see into it from where I was standing but I know I would likely find out.
There were five hand sized buoys in the water, one directly out from each of the pentagon's different sides. I could vaguely make out a rope attached to each one leading down into the water. On the other side of the water was another platform with a door presumably leading out of the area.
"So, we just swim across?" I threw out there. I knew it wasn't going to be that simple and apparently neither did anyone else judging by their various reactions. I was also hoping I would not have as I could feel the cold air and knew the water was no doubt even colder.
"Builder thinks the buoys are an important part of reaching the other door."
"I am in agreement with you builder." Razan-Tu stated nodding to Builder who smiled back at him.
Suddenly there was a bright light and a holographic head appeared in front of us. It was almost glasslike in appearance. Any other day I would have marveled at the technology but today was not that day.
"Good day contestants" The head spoke in a feminine voice "Your task for this section is to make it to the other side of the room. To accomplish this, you must first each solve one of the puzzles or riddles at the podiums. Once you have solved it a diagram of the pentagon in the water will appear with one of the buoys labeled as your target. You must head to the corresponding buoy, swim down to take the puzzle piece at the bottom and place it in the correct order inside the center of the pentagon. Once you have completed this the existing door will open and you will have successfully completed the first stage of your run through the Black Tower.
There are rules to this stage. You must complete with no clothes on."
"What, why?" I asked bewildered at the bizarre demand.
"The reason for this is so potential buyers may witness your body in action and determine how you would be most valuable for their purposes. Several potential buyers in previous games have paid to add this feature to their experience." The head continued speaking without interrupt.
My surprise turned to rage. I looked around the room as if I had x-ray vision and could see the outside audience. No sick freak was going to enslave me, and I would beat anyone who tried to death.
"You must also complete the stage in ten minutes, failure to do so will result in termination of the team for poor performance. If you attempt to get another piece of the puzzle that is not yours the water will be electrified until death."
What the hell was wrong with these people? Who would design something like this?
"As a warning the water begins at a cold temperature and is rapidly made colder as the time progresses forward. It will eventually get to the point where you will freeze to death if you are not fast enough. The timer will begin at the activation of the first podium."
So, ten minutes passes and we die, if we do not do it fast enough, we die.
I honestly wanted to put my head between my legs and scream, I was stuck in a made-up universe, saw people die and was forced to fight for my life for the entertainment of a bunch of psychopaths. Even if I got out of this, I would be made into a slave for God knows what purposes.
I could not contain it.
I screamed and screamed completely uncaring at anything else.
A powerful smack against the back of my head brought me back to reality. The person walked around to face me and revealed themselves to be Herra.
She gave me an icy look.
"Get up, undress and get to your podium now" She ordered and without waiting for a response she quickly stripped off her green pants and shirt giving me a front row seat.
She was honestly the absolute vision of beauty, the kind that inspired artists for thousands of years. The orange skin only added to her beauty. If she walked into any room all the men would immediately have swarmed over her. I just stared at her like an idiot.
When she was finished, she then walked over to one of the podiums followed in quick succession by the others who were already undressed and standing at their podiums working on their stuff.
I quickly followed suit, suppressing my discomfort at being naked around a bunch of other people and focused on the task in front of me.
I went to the only remaining podium which was the left most one. I did not see anything that indicated a button. Before I could do anything else a holographic screen appeared with my riddle. I was confident as I was good at riddles.
It cannot be touched and can't be felt. It cannot be seen, or heard, or smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and any empty holes it fills. It comes early and follows after, ends life, and kills laughter. What is it?
I had no idea what the answer was to the riddle.
Razan-Tu is a Xudarian. Tomar-Re is a member of this species and a member of the green Lantern Corp in the modern day.
Builder is a bug of New Genesis