Chapter 1 ~ A tragedy of two ants
Tiso thrust his arm forward and slashed through another enemy, the fool fell to the ground with a grunt of pain, and with that the arena were once again clear of any bug except of him
He took that chance to catch his breath, after finally making his way to the colosseum, he had to admit that it was… a bit harder than he imagined it would be, Tiso could feel his heart pounding in his chest, his breath loud and heavy. Every once in a while some fool would get lucky and manage to hit him…
But none of that really mattered! Not a bit! The only thing that did matter was his victory in the end, he was the only one left standing! The cheers of the public when he struck another lethal blow, the thrill of victory, it was all worth it
And his injuries? BAH, they barely managed to scratch his shell, and after all, what is a warrior without a few battle scars?
As the cheering of the public began to die down, Tiso decided that he wanted it to go on a bit longer, and so he straightened his back and lifted his shield above his head, standing in a heroic pose with blood dripping off his shield
The crowd erupted in cheers once more and Tiso could practically feel his chest swell with pride. Yes, this was the moment he worked so hard for, finally he achieved glory he desired for so long. In that moment he was no longer just Tiso, he was Tiso the glorious, he was Tiso the mighty, he was Tiso the unbeatable, he was…
Suddenly in a shadow?
Tiso began to turn around, but before he could see what was blocking out his light, said something slammed at him from above with bone-shattering force
The ant felt as if Lord Fool himself decided to come back from the dead and launch himself at him across the colosseum
Tiso could feel his armor crack under the immense weight, the blow made him dizzy, but he could still hear muffled laughter of the crowd, laughing at him, his moment of triumph brutally shattered
~No… Not like this…~ It was all he managed to mutter before darkness swallowed his mind
When the Mawlek pulled itself from the crushed ant, it immediately rushed towards other fools that had entered the arena in the meantime, the battle carried on for a long time, but after all but one of the contestants had fallen, it was finally over
Now it was time for the cleaners to enter the arena and prepare it for the next battle, and that of course meant throwing all those corpses to the pit below
One of the cleaners walked up to the ant in blue armor, ah yes he remembered this one, the warrior without sword, as he was nicknamed by the audience in the short time he was in the fight
He definitely made an impression, with his style of fight, and that shield of his was certainly very unique
The cleaner actually tried to take it off the fallen fool, but his fingers were clenched around the handle at the back, prying them open would take a long time and the next battle was about to begin
Oh well
The cleaner started dragging the corpse to the cliff edge, such a shame really, this one was showing more promise than your average fool, and was cut down in his moment of glory
too bad for him!
~Should've watched your back buddy~ The cleaner said as he flung the body over the edge and watched it fall into the pit below. It looked like it was about to plummet right into the abyss below, except a lost boofly floated into its path
The corpse impacted the creature, which produced a distressed *BZZZT* upon impact, bounced off it an landed on a rock shelf to the side
The cleaner looked at it for a while longer, before he lost interest and returned to work
Tiso could slowly feel the world slowly return to him, and it was not a pleasant feeling, everything in his body hurt, his head was throbbing with pain, it was incomparable to anything he felt ever before, none of the wounds he received over the years ever ached this bad
Yet as he slowly regained consciousness, Tiso realized all this pain meant that he was most definitely alive, a fact both reliving, and not. Because if he was dead, he wouldn't have to deal with the reality of the situation
And the said reality was… that he lost, at nearly the end of his journey he lost, when he felt as if he was on top of the word, he was almost killed and unceremoniously tossed out like a bag of trash
Why? Was this always his destiny? To fail at the very end?
…
Tiso opened his eyes a little, the world around him looked blurry, but it was clear he was lying on a shelf somewhere in the kingdom's edge, that's where all fallen fools ended up after all
The fool in question tried to lift himself up, but gave up almost immediately, he barely had the strength to keep his eyes open, if he tried to stand up now he'd probably blackout again
So he just laid there, feeling sorry for himself, and als, though he'd never admit it before anyone, scared. He was in no state to defend himself from the beasts that wandered around every corridor and cave in this gods forsaken kingdom. Now even one of these pitiful city husks could kill him easily enough. How long before one of the aspids or hoppers found him and decided to make a feast out of his body?
Is this how he would die? Why couldn't he even be granted honourable death in battle? Instead of being eaten alive by weak creatures he could kill in an instant had he been in his prime?
…
Or maybe they were right? Was he doomed to fail from the start? Just one ant against the world, with his dumb shield and inflated ego?
…
Why did it have to end like this?
As his thoughts were getting darker and more desperate, Tiso suddenly could see a large shape enter his field of vision. Was it some beast, finally here for a free meal?
No it was standing upright, had a massive nail on its back and its eyes didn't have that sick orange glow about them. It was definitely a bug, uninfected one at that, but what would be one doing around here of all places? The literal edge of the land?
Heh...Tiso could remember back in the day, when he was still a larva, when his caretakers used to tell him and his siblings stories before bed, all kinds of stories. One of them was a legend about an ancient god of death, a massive bug that came to collect souls of dying creatures, equating all, workers, soldiers and queens alike
So he was here to take his soul and take it to some unknown afterlife? If so… then Tiso had just one question for him
With a mighty effort Tiso used all the strength he had left, grabbed the figure by the leg and pulled himself up a little, his body screamed at him to stop but at this point he didn't care anymore, he could feel his mind slowly slipping out of his grasp, but he pressed on
On the verge of collapse, Tiso opened his mouth and managed to say one singular word
~why….?~
And the world around him disappeared again
High up in the colosseum, away from the main quarters and the stench of the surviving fools, the God Tamer herself was lying alone on her luxurious bed
Clearly it was made for someone of much bigger posture, as she hardly occupied half of its surface, but that someone has been dead for years and his carcass could still be seen in the stands
When the Lord Fool died finally went and kicked the bucket, his private quarters fell into the hands of the current champion, someone different at the time, and every time champion title changed hands, so did the keys to this room
honestly it was great, a place with a solid lock and thick walls, close to stables where her best friend Diabol resided, big comfy bed… An ideal place to rest after a long day of championing at the colosseum…
Or at least it would be, if you were actually tired
God Tamer was not
She didn't actually run the colosseum, for the simple fact that it didn't require much running these days, occasionally she needed to go find a menderbug somewhere to fix the mechanisms but that was it. They didn't pay taxes because there was nobody to pay taxes to, theoretically a blessing, if not for the fact that there was no place left to spend all that saved geo as well.
Her problem? There was no one at the colosseum who could be a challenge for her, and she was lonely and bored as hell
She remembered things used to be different back in the day, when she was not yet champion, every day was exciting, a battle to the death, the thrill of victory and chest swelling with pride at the cheers of the audience, the feeling of comradery with her fellow fools
And then she defeated the current champion
Heard he went mad afterwards
At first things didn't really change, she now only battled fools that were good enough to get to her, and the life mostly went on as before
But as time went on, she kept getting better and better, until there was no one in the arena who could be a challenge for her and her beast,
It reached a point when she would steamroll any opponent in mere minutes, not even breaking a sweat, the fight couldn't even get her excited anymore
Who could imagine being the champion of an arena full of bloodthirsty warriors would be this boring?
The comradery she once had with other fools slowly vanished, replaced by cold respect at best and jealous hate at worst, these fools she considered being closest to eventually...passed
So nowadays she spent her time practicing alone, killing an occasional fool or beast, and sitting in her room. Of course she had her Diabol, but as precious as he was, he could hardly hold a conversation, though his company was probably the only thing keeping her sane
Quitting was not an option, where would she even go? The kingdom was dead and she didn't feel like abandoning her comfy champion bed for cold caves and streets drenched in rain, she was much luckier than most
Still, she would occasionally wander around kingdom's edge, sometimes with Diabol, sometimes alone, just to get away from the colosseum of fools, and away from the boring routine her life had become, quietly hoping to find something that would break it forever
But unfortunately, every time she did, the Kingdom's edge was just as silent, empty and dead as the rest of Hollownest