192. The Earth Must Bleed part 7

"Feel the Spectrum. Breathe in the White. Glide on the Black. Extend on the Red. The world is a full circle rotating on an endless line. Feel the flex and absorb it into your limbs. There is nothing to see. Sight is but an illusion that seldom makes itself useful. Focus on the feel of the spectrum. The pull and the push. The sharp boundaries in between. Meditate. Center yourself. And let the Winds of Color guide you……"

The Master's voice swam through all of us as he paced through our thick, organized groups. He walked around us…but we couldn't see him.

We were all blindfolded.

Bandannas covering our eyes.

We were blind, and yet……we 'saw' color.

With each progressive day of meditation, we felt the Spectrum.

The White Construction.

The Red Destruction.

The Black Balance.

There were many of us. Standing in long, solid lines in the center of the Manor's courtyard. With dojos and oriental buildings erected all around us. A line of thick, cedar forests bordering. The mountains climbing up and up and up beyond.

I twirled my wooden boken in jabs and swings and poses coordinated with the unseen, bodies all around me.

I felt them with spatial sense. Graham, Dawn, Matt, Ginelle, Ben, Michelle, Michael……

Ana……

Even—

SWOOOSH!

I followed everyone else as I jabbed my training sword high and balanced on one pair of toes.

I gritted my teeth.

My whole body straining and struggling.

I dreaded that part……

It was so impossibly hard to maintain that position.

Every muscle in my body wanted to burst.

And I could never understand……

How could I possibly meditate like this!

SLASH!

We all knelt into an excruciating pose of another sort, low and crushing our ankles and knees.

I took a shuddering breath.

I chased away all inhibitions and fears.

This was a hardcore school. I had a Master to appease. I had a Spectrum to learn, understand, and eventually manipulate.

I tried to do what he told us to. I tried to meditate. I centered myself. I focused on the Spectrum as a whole, and I searched for the one strain……the one color that I knew had to have defined me.

Construction…

Construction……

Construction………

I sough white within the blinded darkness of my eyes.

And I panted and sweat.

Struggling……

For all I could see…

Was black.

SWIIIISH!

I followed everyone in a twirling, reverse jab.

Standing up.

Panting.

Construction……………………

FWOOOSH!

We all twirled.

Jabbing our swords out.

And mine as well, aiming at……

I let out a breath.

I felt her fair, angelic head. The tiny slopes of blonde wisps melting down her head and stopping short of the lower lobes of her ears. Petite lobes for a petite face atop a tall, slender body. Vested. An undershirt and long jump pants. A bandanna of her own over her eyes. The colors of yellow and green that I knew were there and yet couldn't see.

And for a moment there, I understood what the Master was trying to tell us.

"…trust the Spectrum! Not your eyes! Only in the Spectrum do true colors lie!"

I didn't have to see Ana to know she was heavenly.

I lost some of my meditation, and I smiled.

SWOOOOOSH!

Everyone around me twirled……but me.

THWACK!

I gasped and fell face-forward into the courtyard. SPLAT!

Mutterings. Gasps. Chuckles.

The sighing voice of the Master. Then: "Students, at ease. We've trained enough for this hour. Take a few minutes to compose yourselves……" And his little feet shuffled away.

I winced on the ground and sat up. Dizzily.

"Heheheh……wow, Jordan. That makes me feel better about accidentally bruising Graham's knee in front of the Master last week!"

"Pfft……shut up, Matt," I groaned and ripped off my red bandanna. I blinked at the bright world as dozens of young bodies wandered off in small, chatting clusters with their training swords over their back. A ring of familiar friends hovered around me. I looked up at them, squinting my brown eyes. I snarled: "Who did it?"

"You know what the Master would say," Ben shrugged. "You only hit yourself by losing concentration!"

"………," I glared at him. "It was you, wasn't it?"

Chuckles.

Ben blushed. "Sorry, man. I was just following the meditation."

"I know……I know……," I sighed. I ran a hand through my short black hair. "Dang it………how could I be so stupid?"

" 'Distracted' is more like it……," said a warm voice. And a hand dipped down to me.

I looked up.

Ana stood over me. Her yellow bandanna draped around her identically yellow vest. Golden, like her hair. "Well? Either kiss it or let me help you up to your feet!"

I distinctly heard the giggle of Michelle and a few other nearby girls.

Blushing—but trying not to show it—I took Ana's grip and stood up beside her. "Ahem……," I brushed myself off. "In the end, it doesn't really matter HOW it happened. What matters is it DID happen. I fell. And I can't fall during meditation and expect to get good earnings in the Master's eyes."

"I wouldn't worry if I were you," Michael patted my shoulder. "It's not like this is a common habit."

I scratched the back of my neck. I glanced sideways at Ana.

She smiled innocently.

I glanced again at the others and simpered: "Well……not yet, at least."

"Heheh……come on. The Master gave us some off time, and I intend to use it!"

"How's that, Ben?" Dawn droned.

"How else? Climbing a tree!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

On the edge of the Cedar forest, many of the students sat in the soft grass of the earth or leaned against the lower sprouts of the giant trees or simply utilized the shade in any way possible as they chatted, laughed, and even practiced some of their Spectrum focus. A half dozen or so of the youngest trainees chased each other playfully underneath the canopy. Ana and I had found our favorite spot. A low lying piece of flora with thick branches jutting out just perfect for someone like Ana and I to rest on.

And so we did.

"Okay……you've got to explain it to me……," Ana helplessly giggled. "Why camouflage?"

"Hmmm?"

"Your getup! Why the camouflage?"

"Oh……," I simpered. "Well……back when the Master pretty much had an open-ended policy for what we choose to wear for training, I couldn't decide on a single color."

"Really now…………," she folded her arms and leaned her angelic head against the main trunk of the tree. Her green legs dangled in the air below. "……I thought you were so into black lately."

"Yeah……well………," I fingered the army-flavored jacket and smiled. "……I sorta grew attached."

"I can see that."

"Maybe I'll settle for a black undershirt……," I gestured with a flesh left hand. "Ya know……one of those wife-beater-thingies." A beat. I winced. "Er……"

"Hehehehehe," she giggled.

"Not that I like the name, but just the look—"

"Tank top will do."

"But that sounds feminine! I—ah forget it," I folded my arms and pouted.

"Hehehehe!"

"You fluster me."

"It's too fun not to."

"What's with the Yellow and Green?" I smirked. "It's very Earthy."

"Yellow is Earthy?"

"Well……Solar and Earthy."

"Hehehehe."

"Still going after Construction, aren't you?" I coyly winked.

"Are you talking to a mirror or something?"

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

She pointed at herself: "I know what I'm cut out for." A haughty smirk fell over Ana's features. "You on the other hand……"

"Oh gawds……," I rolled my eyes. "Enough with that! Stop trying to tell me I'm something I'm not training for!"

"I can feel it during meditation, Jordan," she spoke in a slightly more solemn toll that only half-surprised me. "It emanates from you. Dark and obsidian."

"Bah. I can't be Balance! I just……," I frowned and looked over the heads of the nearby fraternizers. "I just can't……"

Ana leaned her head to the side. Soft, caring sapphires. "You don't know what you want to be, do you, Jordan?"

I bit my lip.

I couldn't look at her.

"Jordan……"

I sighed.

"Jordan……it's okay to admit that."

I looked at her sadly. "Not for me it isn't."

"…………," she stared.

I took a deep breath. A ran a hand over my brown eyes and shut them. "Sometimes, Ana. I wake up in the middle of the night and……I-I don't even know why I came here. I mean……I-I know it's going against everything the Master has taught us, but I've been thinking of the past. Today when I slipped while meditating, that was just a sample of a gradual……fall in my training. I can't help but look back and feel like an idiot. I mean……why did I leave my family? They were supportive of this decision and all, but it wasn't like I was bottoming out or anything. I was on the honor roll at school. I was helping my sister out with her homework. I was riding bikes with Diana and a few other kids in the neighborhood. Everything you'd expect from some freakin' sitcom, I had! Why did I feel compelled to leave all of that goodness behind? Why did I hug my family goodbye and hitch the bus here to begin with! And it's not 'just because the Master selected me'. It's a lot more complex than that. It has to be……"

A bit of silence.

I sighed, breaking it. I felt a soreness in my throat.

It gradually melted away with Ana's warm voice:

"Sometimes, Jordan……," she smiled painfully, "……the best things we ever do involves leaving the best things behind."

I took a deep breath, staring through the trunk of the tree beneath us. Silent.

"Sometimes we leave that which we love to do what is best. And the thing that compels us……it's stronger than gravity. And I think that's just a reminder that the Spectrum is real. And……there is a Balance, Jordan. There's a……a B-Balance of Morals that is far more important than any single one of us and it impresses upon us to do either the right thing or the wrong thing or maybe something strong in between."

"I wish I knew what all of that was," I muttered.

"So do I at times……," she then took a deep, warm breath. "But I try not to worry much about it."

I looked at her.

"Call it the power of Construction, but I believe that I am far too strong to let such confusion overtake me. And you, Jordan……"

"Yeah?"

"I think you are so good at adapting, that you can survive whatever confusion you come up against." She then exhaled with a slightly sad twinge in her eyes. "But not without pain and friction."

"…………"

She gazed off through the forest, her face a bit long.

And I felt strangely touched. As if a part of me that I never before knew was bleeding had been coddled.

I don't know where it came from but I asked: "Ana, are you ever going to tell me someday why you left your home to come here?"

She suddenly bit her lip and hugged herself.

I gently pressed: "Wh-What was it, Ana? You've only hinted of it before……but……what did your father do? After your mother died, what could possibly have happened to make you r—"

"I owe nothing to my father," Ana murmured. "Everything comes from my mother," she said. She clenched a fist. "This undeniable power. This feeling of Life and of……of……a blueprint, Jordan. Like the very structure of the Earth shifting through my arteries. I can't explain it. I can only feel it. And I felt it all the more when my mother was alive. And when she was gone, I felt the power lessen. I felt Construction waning. Even before the times when my Father………"

Her speech bled into nothingness. She gulped and gazed off.

And I felt bad.

I looked away.

But soon in my peripheral vision I sensed her shift and pull something out of her vest pocket. "But my mother lives on. In some fashion or another. I can feel her power inside of me. It's an inspiration. And when I look upon the Spectrum with blind eyes during training, I feel for her. Like yellow-gold fingers melting in and out of the White streams. I feel at one with myself and what has made me when I meditate."

I looked at her again.

She fingered the harmonica in her grasp. She smiled at me gently. "I may have the memories of her. Even this heirloom……hehehe……," she turned the musical instrument over some. "But more importantly, I have her spirit in me. Something……something strong and impervious to Destruction. Something that she had in her very blood and I got somehow. So I came here—not so much to escape my father—but to be with my mother again. And……And to be with new people. People like my friends, Jordan."

"………," I smiled some.

"Care for a tune?"

I scratched my head. "Uh……sure. Think we have time?"

"No."

A beat.

I smiled: "Yeah, go on and play away."

"Hehehehe," she giggled and leaned back. "Got a request or something?"

"You serious?"

"Dead serious!"

My brown eyes wandered as did the tongue in my mouth. I paused, smirked, and pointed: "I got it. Know any Simon and Garfunkel?"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"RED PANZER versus KILLER CROCK!"

Hissss-Cl-Clank!

Red Panzer aimed his arm cannon at Killer Croc and paced along the rim of the golden cage.

"Hhhhhhhheh heh heh heh…," Killer Croc licked the knife-like teeth along his mutated jaws and snickered. "I think I'll be fixin' to rip the fish meat right out of that sardine can you call a head!"

"Ich werde Sie töten, Ungeheuer!" Red Panzer narrowed the site of his cannon.

"Start screamin'…," Killer Croc's glossy eyes narrowed. "It's the only language otha than English I can translate."

He tightened his scaly muscles, flared his teeth and neck muscles, and pounced: "YAAAAGH!"

Red Panzer hobbled back and fired—PHOMP!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Pulsade and Jinx watched from their post on the rafters above.

"What are you trying to say, 'J'?" the British assassin spoke into the communicator she had. A beat. She listened. Then she responded: "Triangular sent him?"

"Triangular's old fashioned," Jinx stuck her pink tongue out. "This guy is like sending Patrick Ewing back into the Garden."

Pulsade glanced over with thin eyes of blue. "Say what?"

"Never mind…," Jinx moaned and ran a hand over her cheshire face. "Mammoth was a basketball fan back at H.I.V.E. Stupid fuzzhead wouldn't stop talking about the Knicks, I swear to Hecate…"

"Whatever," Pulsade turned back to her communicator. "'J', do whatever you can to trace back to Killer Croc's escape from Arkham. I want to know how he's related to Triangular and who in the bloody Hell this Gotham face behind the madness is already!"

"Give 'J' a rest!" Jinx giggled. "Come on, Leslie! This is Killer Croc! The biggest loser in all Gotham! Heh….whatever in the pink-laced heck Triangular thinks they can get away with by using him is beyond me—" At a loud, clashing sound, Jinx looked down. Her cat eyes widened and she blinked. "Holy shit."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

CRRRRAAACK!

Killer Croc had managed to meatbag his way into Red Panzer's side and was busily ripping his arm-cannon apart with biting teeth.

SNKKKKKT!

Shards flew and sparks danced and whatever was barren and fleshy underneath the exposed cocoon of titanium quivered and bled in pain.

"Mein fleisch!"

"NnnnngAAAH!" Killer Croc yanked ceiling-ward with his clenched jaw.

CRACK!

Red shards flew.

Red Panzer stumbled back, clutching a sparking stub of broken metal and quivering skin.

"Heeeeeeehheheheheh," Killer Croc sneered. He spat out a few strip of titanium and wiped the blood off his mandibles with a scaly forearm. "Sprechen sie blood loss ya friggin' washing machine!"

Red Panzer hissed and reached into his side with a free arm for a luger. "Arschloch!" BANG!

Croc ducked.

The bullet bounced off the cage's bars.

Crouching, Crock slowly turned his hardened neck. CRK-CRK-CRK-CRK-CRK! The joints popped. His glossy eyes thin. A hissing smile….and…

SWOOOOSH!

He pounced on Red Panzer. GRIP! Grabbed him by the shoulders. SWOOOOSH! And swung him into the bars.

CLANG!

"Mmmmf!" the helmeted combatant shuddered in pain.

"RrrrrrrrRRRRGHAAAAAAAAAAH!" Croc waved his arms, widened his gaping, serrated jaws, and stormed towards him.

STOMP-STOMP-STOMP-STOMP!

SWOOOSH-SMACK!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

From the alcove…..

Wildebeest snorted.

Hull sharpened his sword.

Arrowette bit her lip.

"…….," I stared.

The crowd cheered and the lights and synthetic thunder rolled.

An unmistakable, electronic voice filtered into my ear piece.

'Well this grudge match has certainly turned into a crock, if you don't mind my bleeding pun,' crackled the Messenger. 'Consider Red Panzer as good as dead. But—as horrific as it might sound to a few retarded mothers out there—this battle we're seeing here has little consequence. It's rather obvious that Jacob Anderson has had this reptilian ace up his sleeve for quite a while now. Most likely a consequence of his Gotham connection in Triangular. He chooses to reveal the creep now—undoubtedly to psyche out the audience and those fighting. I think he's trying to turn the leftover gladiators away, Noir. Not all of them. Only those he think don't have the guts to stay here and face the ultimate gore yet. In short, this isn't a contest. It's a selection.'

My face twisted. I gazed up through my black goggles in some vain attempt to make eye contact with the lofty, unseen Messenger.

'Maybe some of what Pulsade and her pink princess said was correct. There are strange things going on here. Stranger than what Triangular could ever show us here at Pompeii on the surface. More than Jacob Anderson's bloody fights and even bloodier fetishes. Something big and nasty and crazy.'

I gulped.

A shiver ran up my metal limb….

'Stay strong, Noir. This is still the way and only way to find Terra. But I get the feeling that we're going to find a lot more soon enough……'

I took a deep breath.

'Man oh man……,' the Messenger's voice lamented. 'Does that guy's teeth rip through everything!'

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"RESSSSSH!" Croc's drooling jaw bit into the armor plating of Red Panzer's left forearm.

The crimson combatant struggled, hissed, and yanked away—

CRACK!

Strips of red metal peeled into Croc's mandibles.

Red Panzer limped backwards across the cage.

Croc smiled with the metal in his mouth. He chewed it, swirled it around in his mouth, and spat out a resulting cube of crunched metal—"PTOOIE!"

Cl-Clank! It landed wetly at Panzer's feet.

"……," Panzer's steaming helmet glanced down at it, then back up at Croc.

"RrrrrrRRRAAAUGH!" He flexed his scaling arms and flared his neck again. Glossy eyes wide. "That was just an appetizer, ya mangy crab! And I sure as hell sick of shrimp!"

Red Panzer hissed. He whipped out his luger in a shaking left hand and fired—B-BANG!

"Nnngh!" Croc spun and exposed his backside.

PING!

The two bullets ricocheted off his hard skin.

"……!" Panzer shuddered.

"……," Croc looked over his welted shoulder. He grinned, licked his teeth, and leapt—SWOOOOSH!

And the crowd cheered as serrated fingers swiped at Red Panzer's chest plate.

SLASSSSH!

SLASH! SLASH!

CRAAACK!

"AAAAAAAAAH!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Heheheheheh…," Jacob Anderson stroked the top of his right hand with subtle left fingers. His eyes thinned and a brightness about his face seemed to compliment the skunk spots in his hair. "Ohhhh…I brought him out too late. I brought him out too late! Hahahahah…."

Rexxin nervously sweat. "Do you suppose that….the gladiators will suspect something?"

"They are all after the Vault," Anderson hissed, his eyes hungrily drinking in the carnage of the golden cage. "They've come into the bowels of Las Vegas, and they've gone too far for too long to possibly give up now. I know the mind of a criminal, my good man. They will do ANYTHING to get what they desire." He turned and gazed at Rexxin. "Including what we'll have in store for the final four."

"And how do we know there will be any solidarity among the 'final four'?" the chief of security stared.

"It's not solidarity that I'm concerned about," Andersoon cooed. He raised a finger. "But survival." He gazed back towards the arena. "Triangular has been needing an edge lately. What with the confounded 'Parasite' and all that our boss has been muttering about. After tonight, I'm going to give Triangular that edge. And we have the boss' ace in the whole…" he pointed at the reptilian-man. "….to help us out."

Rexxin ran a hand through his red, highlighted hair. "Yeah….but I see plenty of other aces in the whole," he murmured. Glancing at the alcove. "Wildcards, even."

"I've lived a good part of my life in Las Vegas, Rexxin," Anderson raised a glass of quaff to his lips. "With pipsqueak foreigners like these kids, I think I'm the one fit for a winning hand."

"………"

"Tell the lighting crew to focus more lights on the blood…," Anderson hissed with a smile.

-T-T-T-T-T-

CRAACK!

CRKKKKK!

"NnnnghhAAAAAUGH!" Red Panzer fell on his knees. Clutching his side. Blood leaking out of a dozen claw marks all around his jacketed and steel-plated torso.

Gasps and cheers filtered in from the crowd.

A hot, converging halo of spotlights illuminated Killer Croc as he leisurely stepped around the bleeding combatant. Sneering. Hissing through sharp teeth. The tendons in his mutated jaw tightened and uncoiled. "RESSSSH!" He knelt down and gripped Red Panzer's cylindrical helmet in one hand. He glared into his mask.

Red Panzer trembled. Red steam billowing.

"Somethere in that trash can hat of yours, you've got yourself some eyes!" Killer Croc sneered.

A beat.

THUNK! Two reptilian fingers burst through the front of the helmet in separate places, spilling red.

"AAAAAAAH!" the man's face inside the helmet screamed.

"Not anymore!" Killer Croc rumbled. "RESSSSH-HAHAHAHA!" THWUMP! He shoved Red Panzer to the floor, pounced on him, and hungrily sank his teeth into the man's neck-

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

I winced.

Arrowette covered her lips.

Wildebeest folded his arms and gazed aside.

"……," Hull kept sharpening his blade.

Loud, loud, loud cheers….

I took a deep breath and clenched my metal fist.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Rrrrrrrrr-RRREEESSHHHH!"

SNKKKKTTTT!

Killer Croc's bloody snout reared up towards the ceiling of the cage.

He swallowed a few strips of man meat, gulped, and licked his crimson lips with a smile. "Hressshh-heheheheheh." He cracked his neck, stood up, and smeared some of the blood across his bare, scaly chest in a long 'handprint'. "I reckon that's a fatality…."

The announcer's microphone whined but for a moment before—

"WINNER! KILLER CROC!"

Cheers and thundering applause.

He merely hissed at the enormous audience, spun, and kicked Red Panzer's wet body with a growl. "Nnngh! Bring me more blood, ya yahoos!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Pulsade's eyes narrowed at the sight. "Mrmmm….," she pursed her lips. "I'm beginning to believe that Wildebeest will need more support than we once imagined."

A beat.

Her blue eyes looked over to the side. "Love?"

She blinked.

Jinx was sickly leaning over the edge of the catwalk's railing. Convulsing.

"Nnngh…," Pulsade rolled her blue eyes, marched over, and grabbed Jinx's shoulders. "Not over the bloody audience!" She forced the pink sorceress on her knees and aimed her mouth to the catwalk platform itself. "Now think of some fish and chips or something and get it over with!"

"Bleeaaahck, you meaniiiiieee-BLEACHK!"

"Feh."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

I watched from the alcove as a bloodlusting Killer Croc marched his way out of the cage. He raised stained arms and jeered on the loud crowd. He momentarily glared over at us with eyes of green glossiness. Almost akin to mucous. There seemed to be a cold throbbing to the rows of bunts and spikes on his balding head and shoulders. The scales flexed with his muscles as he took a hot breath and chuckled his way over to an alcove of his own.

"………," I stared.

I sensed a shaking to my side.

I looked over.

Wildebeest had his arms folded. Hull was perfectly still. But Arrowette…

Arrowette was trembling.

I took a breath.

If you didn't want to face death, why did you come to this tournament to begin with, girl?

A beat.

I stared straight ahead and sighed.

Maybe this is the nicest thing 'Wyldecarde' has ever done. Kick a few asses and let them live……

'You still got your senses together, Noir-pal?'

I stared up ceiling-ward.

You don't know what I'm thinking.

'Hang on to your skin, buddy. Cuz sooner than you know it, somebody's gonna try and peel it off.'

I exhaled and looked off towards the shadows.

Yeah, thanks……

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Ben yawned. He looked over from his top bunk bed in the cabin. Blinking. "Jordan? Where're you headed off to?"

I slid open a paper door to the night-laden courtyard outside. I turned and smiled gently back at the boys in the quarters. I had two wooden pales balanced on a yoke over one shoulder. "Late night water run. The Master needs a barrel full for some meditation he's doing tomorrow. So he sent me on an errand. An errand to the well."

"What sort of meditation is the Master doing that requires water?" Ben blinked.

Graham was lying back on a lower bunk, reading a book to candle light. "Black Balance."

"What's Black got to do with water?"

"Well," I shrugged, the wooden pales wobbling. "It's like the Black part of the spectrum itself. You learn to flow with water. And—once Balance is mastered—you can literally stand in the middle of a lake and not get wet."

"Yup…," Graham muttered and flipped a page.

A beat. Ben smirked: "Gee, you know an awful lot about Black, Jordan."

I blinked. I frowned at him, turned, and walked out the cabin. "Go to Hell."

"I intend to go to sleep."

"Same difference."

"Heheheh……"

SWTHHHH-THIP!

I shut the paper door hard.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

I sighed.

A beat.

Under starlight, I shifted the yoke of the two water pales over the back of my neck and walked across the white gravel of the courtyard.

I hummed a gentle tune to myself, rivaling the crickets.

The air was cold. It stung my feet and made what little hair there was on my young skin stand on end.

I smiled to myself.

Sometimes, I thought that God had made me to be a silent person. Or at least a reclusive one. I hung out with all my fellow students. And before joining the School of the Spectrum, I had Diana and other best friends to be with, talk with, and laugh with.

But moments like that……

Under the tranquil silence of the night………

I felt a strange type of serenity.

The best feeling in the world.

No, the second best feeling in the world.

And then I realized that silent people don't hum.

Or at least, they shouldn't.

I chased the guilt away a good two minutes later by the time I reached the well.

I rested the pales on the edge of the circular opening of stone. I pulled out the lock of the wooden crankshaft. I pulled at the handle of the primitive instrument and swiftly rotated it. With a gentle squeaking sound, I lowered the bucket that was tied to an uncoiling piece of rope.

A minute later, it reached the bottom.

I let it gather water.

I pushed another level.

I cranked the other way.

Biting my lips. Straining.

Gawd, I'm such a wimp.

Good thing none of the other guys are seeing this.

I sweat.

The bucket full of water was nearly halfway up the well.

I took a deep breath and kept cranking.

I should be stronger than this!

All White adepts should be strong.

Water shouldn't be such an obstacle for them……

Still, it took me next to forever. A good three minutes before the bucket was up.

I slumped the thing onto the lid of the well with a splash and sighed.

My arm was sore……but not as sore at my ego.

I stared down at the shadowy Earth.

Why do I get this scary feeling that I'll be going back home sooner than I thought?

A shift.

But not a shift in the wind.

"?" I raised my face.

I stared around.

My brown eyes blinked.

My spatial sense……

My fingers curled against the wooden barrel.

Water lapping up and down the sides.

I slowly turned and looked around.

Now where on earth?

Another shift.

"!" I jerked and looked.

"Catch!"

Thwiiish!

BAP!

A wooden boken flew and bounced off my head.

"Owie!" I rubbed my skull. The corners of my eyes wet as I grit my teeth.

Ana stepped out of the nearby line of trees. She held a boken of her own. She was still dressed in the yellow vest, green shirt, and greet jumppants from the last time we trained.

She smiled, a touch of night wind angelically animating her wisps of hair.

"Getting distracted, eh waterboy?"

"Ana!" I bit my lip. I looked around. I hissed nervously: "What are you doing out here?"

"Tossing wooden training swords at you. Hehehehe……what does it look like?"

"It's waaaaay past curfew!" I hissed.

She pointed with her boken. "You should be speaking."

I pointed at myself with a pout: "I'm on an errand for the Master."

"To deliver him something for morning meditation, right?"

"Uh……yeah………so?"

"So he won't need the water at his cabin until dawn, will he?"

"……………"

"Come on!" Ana whispered with a smile. She motioned with her head towards the forest. "I want to show you something……"

I nervously gulped. I glanced back at the cabins. The lights that were out. The students that were sleeping. The Master and his assistant trainers that were all-knowing.

"Do you trust me?" she asked.

I blinked.

I slowly turned and looked at her.

A serious look on my face.

I deeply inhaled. I knelt, picked up the wooden sword, and gripped the hilt tightly.

"Of course, Ana…," I smiled. I walked towards her. "You know I do."

"Then follow me," she whispered with a giggle and bounded into the forest.

I padded after her.

Leaving the water behind.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

There was clearing in the cedar trees.

Ten minutes into the forest.

Starlight filtered down and gave the blades of grass a blue-green glow.

Ana and I padded across the soft earth.

Barefoot.

It was cold.

And I shivered.

And yet, I shivered……not because of the cold.

"What are we doing out here, Ana?" I murmured.

She stopped and spun around.

"Mmmmm……a training session."

I raised an eyebrow.

"This late at night?"

"Why not?" she smiled. She raised her fair hands to the bespeckled heavens. "It's dark! God's got a celestial blindfold strung across the earth." She winked at me. "It's only you……and me……"

I sweatdropped.

"………and the Spectrum."

"R-Right………," I simpered.

She twirled her boken and stood in a fighting pose across from me. "So then……get ready……"

"Uhhh……," I gulped and twirled my training sword into a ready position. "So……we're sparring?"

"More or less."

"More or less! Ana, is there even a rule to this?"

"Just……attack me and we'll take it from there."

"But-"

"Trust me, Jordan," she said firmly. Strongly. A touch of windblown concern and caution on the edges of her features.

I was nervous.

But I was also curious.

I decided to do what I was gradually discovering I did best.

I followed her lead.

"Okay……," I gripped my weapon. I melted down into a coiled pose.

"………," she stood tall and firm.

Ana.

I took a breath.

My brown eyes narrowed.

A beat.

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

I lumbered towards her.

Sword raised.

The grass bending and breaking to my feet.

"Nnnnngh!" I growled and swung at her-

The rest of her body stood absolutely still while her sword arm strongly slashed up and-

THWACK!

The blonde girl's boken struck across my training sword, slammed across my chest, and sent me flying across the clearing.

THWOOOSH-THWUMP!

"Ooof!" I winced all over. My butt stinging. "Ow……"

She cleared her throat. "Don't tell me that was all you got."

I stood up, wincing. "How'd you do that?"

"It didn't take much, Jordan."

"Yeah, I can tell! You just stood there and—" my speech faltered. I blinked.

Ana was standing perfectly still. Resolute. Strong.

And her face……

She wasn't smiling.

She looked so adult.

So serious.

So strong.

"Try it again……," she murmured.

I blinked. "Again?" Another blink. "Try?"

She nodded.

I felt a little hurt.

Regardless, I re-gripped my sword, took a deep breath, and charged.

SWOOOOOOSH!

Grass and starlight.

Sighing, blurring cedar trees.

Ana stood perfectly still.

I jabbed forward with my wooden sword.

She easily deflected downward.

CLACK!

I stumbled.

She twirled her sword and struck at my rear-

CRACK! I deflected in reverse, spun, and jabbed at her head.

She swung upwards with her boken.

THWACK!

Again, the blow was strong.

It sent me reeling back.

I struggled to keep on my feet.

Ana took a deep, sad breath.

SWOOOOSH-THUNK!

She merely stuck her sword into the earth.

And to me, it felt that the whole ground shook.

Maybe it did. Maybe it didn't.

Regardless, a vibrating force of pure strength shuddered through me and I fell down again.

THWUMP!

"Nnngh……," I murmured.

Ana exhaled. Her blue eyes shut.

"Jordan……you're trying to hard……"

"A-And you?" I shuffled up to my feet, raising my sword again. A bit red-faced. "It doesn't even look like you're trying! Ana, I had no idea that you were so…so……"

"What, Jordan?"

"Together!"

"I am only being naturally," she said in a low voice.

I leaned forward, concern on my face: "What are you trying to say—"

"You should try and be natural too, Jordan!" she snapped. A slight frown on her face. And it was righteous anger.

But anger nonetheless.

I jerked back, biting my lip.

She breathed in through her nostrils, jaw tight. She twirled her boken and held it across her chest. Her frown turned into a long face as she said: "Attack me again."

I blinked. "Ana?"

"AGAIN!"

I shook. I took a deep breath. I twirled my sword and rushed at her again.

She held her ground and—with a swing of power—took me on.

CLASH!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

CL-CL-CLACK!

SWOOOSH!

Plant!

PLANT!

She breathed.

I breathed.

The crowd.

The lights.

The announcer: "WYLDECARDE versus ARROWETTE!"

"YAAAAAGH!" the red-hooded archer stood up from her landing and fired three arrows at me at once.

THWIIIIIIIFT!

I held my breath, leapt back, and twirled Myrkblade vertically with a flip.

CL-CL-CLANG!

I deflected the arrows back at her.

She jerked back and twirled her huge red bow.

CLACK!

She blocked the return of her projectiles.

I landed. I skid backwards. I impacted the wall.

Thwump!

I panted.

Arrowette paced slowly sideways and shot arrow after arrow.

PTWIFFT!

PTWIFFT!

PTWIFFT!

I ducked one arrow. CLACK! Side-stepped another. CLACK! And ripped a third in half with Myrkblade. CRKK!

She increased her pace and her volleying.

PTWIFFT-PTWIFFT-PTWIFFT!

I held my breath, summoned murk through my body, and blurred up and onto the metal wall. My speeding feet planted into each and every cross-bar perfectly as I literally ran along the circular wall of the silver cage. All the while, arrows impacted the metal structure just behind my smoking feet.

CL-CL-CLACK!

CRACK!

CLANG!

Arrowette sweat, her pink lips bent in a teeth-clenching snarl. She unleashed arrow after arrow at me in desperation as I circled the cage's wall toward her.

PTWIFFT-PTWIFFT-PTWIFFT!

I approached her, running horizontally. As I got closer, so did the launch of the projectiles. I slashed Myrkblade out from the wall. CL-CLANG! I deflected to arrows. Just as I reached her, I kicked against the metal cage, somersaulted through the air, landed in a slide, pulsed murk, and vaulted at her.

THWOOOSH!

"Nnngh!" she twirled her bow up like a staff. SWOOSH!

CL-CLACK! I flipped over her with a spark-flying contact of our weapons. I gripped to the cage bars of the wall above and behind her. I kept my grip and jabbed down at her.

She held the bow up with two hands and held Myrkblade's lunge at bay. After a few seconds of struggle, she pushed up with a shout. "RAAUGH!"

I recoiled up into the wall.

She spun—white skirt twirling—and swung the entire length of her scarlet bow at me.

FWOOOSH! I teleported, shot down in mist form, solidified behind her, and reverse kicked the small of her back.

THWUMP!

She stumbled forward into the metal bars. Chest first. CLANG! "Mmmph!" she winced.

I twirled Myrkblade and charged her under a flash of arena lights.

Arrowette leaned forward against the metal bars, pulled loose an arrow, aimed towards the ceiling, and shot at the upper framework of the cage.

PTWIFFT!

SWIIIISH! The arrow flew upwards. CLANG! It deflected off the wall. CL-CLANG! Bounced off the ceiling. THWOOOSH! And sailed down at me.

"!" I skidded to a stop, my black hair tossing forward over my cranium like a horse's tail.

RIIIP! The arrow sailed so close it ripped the lower band loose from my ponytail.

CRACK!

The arrow landed between my black boots.

I sweatdropped.

I looked up.

"RRRRRRAAUGH!" Arrowette charged with a fist in my goggled face.

WHACK!

I stumbled back.

"RRRGH!" THWACK! Her bow slammed across my cheek.

I spit blood.

"RAAAAUGH!" she brought her leg up and kicked my stunned body in the chest.

WHUMP!

I stumbled back.

She inhaled sharply, whipped out an arrow, and launched it at the 'X' shaped scar placed appropriately in the center of my neck.

I gasped and ducked-

THWIFFFT!

SLIIINK!

I winced as the arrow grazed my upper right shoulder. But it was only a shallow cut. What really worried me was how the quill of the arrow caught itself on the metal mesh covering my flesh and pulled it across the length of the cage and into the metal bars on the other side.

CLACK!

I struggled, pinned to far wall by the arrow. I struggled to get loose.

"…..," Arrowette frowned. "I'll make it painless for you….," she uttered as she loaded an ice-arrow into her bow.

I shuddered.

'I don't think she's afraid of you, Noir.'

I gritted my teeth.

No kidding.

'Be Wyldecarde already!' the Messenger's voice crackled.

My black eyes narrowed under my goggles.

Arrowette loaded the ice arrow.

I snaked a metal hand to my buckle pouches.

Arrowette aimed at my body.

I pulled out a fan of razor-sharp playing cards.

'Dammit, do what Wyldecarde will do!'

ALLRIGHT, ALREADY!

I exhaled a mute shout and tossed all three cards in a flurry.

TH-TH-THWISSSSSH!

A glint of serrated metal reflected in the female archer's widening eyes as the three projectiles converged on her cranium.

RIIIIIIIP!

"Nnnngh!" she yelped as the red hood was ripped off her blonde head. Exposing her forehead. She clenched her eyes shut, wincing in shock.

THWICK! I pulled the bloody arrow out of the metal mesh of my outfit's shoulder. I took a breath, held the arrow between my teeth, twirled Myrkblade, and blurred at the combatant.

SWOOOOSH!

She opened her eyes. She saw me coming at her.

THWIFFFT! Went the ice arrow.

FWOOOSH! I teleported through it, smoke trailing.

FLASH! The explosion of ice on the other side of me turned my body into a silhouette. The flash of blue ice was blinding momentarily to Arrowette.

Just the moment I needed-

WHUMP! I materialized with a knee slamming into her chest.

"Mmmmf!" she bent over, wheezing.

"!" I pulled the arrow out of my teeth and shoved it into her blonde hair.

CRKK!

The arrow got gnotted up in her golden threads.

I gripped it, used it as a handle, and pulled her over my spinning body.

THWUMP!

"YAAAAUGH!" she screamed as I pulled her viciously by her hair and body slammed her over my neck.

WHAM!

She jolted against the metal slabs of the floor. Wincing all over from the impact.

I took a breath, twirled Myrkblade, and slashed the broadside of it down to slam into her skull….knocking her out.

Make it quick-

THWIISH-CLACK!

She raised her bow, blocking from below.

I gritted my teeth and struggled against her.

The determined face of a blonde, teenage girl reflected off my down-tilted goggles.

I fought against her with my blade. Struggling. Sweating. Trying desperately to force her bow away so I could knock her out.

And still she fought back, struggling with an equal—if not greater fervor.

Allah almighty, no wonder she made it this far-

"Nnngh….bastard!" she twirled her bow and knocked Myrkblade back.

My grip on my sword loosened.

"HAAA!" she jerked her bow down and to the side. THWAP! It struck my left leg.

My left ankle slid out.

THWAP! She then struck my right foot.

With a scraping sound, my right ankle jerked right.

I suddenly found myself performing a half-split above her.

Oh no……

WHAM!

She snarled and sent the bow flying up my crotch.

My whole body jolted with the sensation of a paradoxically burning ice pick being shoved up my groin and all along my spine.

My black eyes clenched under my goggles and I keeled over, hissing through my teeth.

I was in extreme pain, but I was still standing. And I was still standing because…..

Well……

Just 'because'……

"My apologies to your mother…..," Arrowette muttered.

I reopened my wet black eyes.

Beneath my bent figure, Arrowette had been pulling at the top end of her long bow like the higher half of a flexible bamboo pole. "…cuz I'm about to mess up the pretty face she gave you!"

And she let go of the bow's tip.

THWK-K-K-K-K!

The bow flexed up and slammed into my face.

WHACK!

I ragdolled across the cage, my black goggles cracked with tiny cobwebs. My whole face stinging.

WHUMP!

I crumpled on the floor, groaning mutely in pain.

'Ohhhhhhhhh Zeus on fire! Ha! Man, that had to hurt. Glad you're a superhero, Noir.'

"……..," I lay icily on the metal slab floor of the cage.

'………Noir?'

"……," I barely stirred. Wincing all over.

'Uh……not good, man. You are getting up, right? R-Right?'

Arrowette stumbled to her feet. She limped on her arrow like with a cane. She hobbled towards me.

I lay on the floor.

Numb all over.

Muscles melting……

'Noir! Get up! The key, Noir! The key to Terra!'

The crowd hissed and booed.

Then a growing number of the audience members began to cheer.

Arrowette leered over me. She took a breath. She yanked the very, bloody arrow out of her hair, lined it with the bow, and aimed at the back of my neck.

"…….." I lay still.

'Noir! Noir! Come on, Noir!'

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Jinx took a shuddering breath. "Well….I guess this will do it. I-I mean…," she looked Pulsade's way and simpered. "No more Wyldecarde, right? He's out of our hair and Wildebeest will ride to the occasion."

"……….," the blonde assassin was silent.

The pink sorceress sighed and spoke for the both of them. "Why does this not feel like a good thing?"

"Point made, Jean…," Pulsade took a deep breath and leaned against a rifle of hers. "…something tells me that with all the other bloody buggers showing up at this holocaust, Wildebeest—and the rest of us for that matter—would have benefited best from having the stupid bloke remain….."

Jinx bit her pink lips.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Rexxin's eyes narrowed from the balcony.

"Hmmmm….," Jacob Anderson leaned forward. Smiling. His dainty hands held together. "Unexpected…..Unexpected but interesting……"

"……," Rexxin was silent.

"Heheheheh…..a girl's blood is so much more appropriate," Anderson waved an arm. "I'll look forward to see how much Arrowette dies in the next round….."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Wildebeest merely snorted at first, but gradually his white eyes turned firm in anxious gazing. There was a nervous twitch about his hairy snout as he stared at the silver cage.

Somewhere across the side of the fighting arena, a reptilian voice snickered.

Everything else echoed with the deafening screams and bloodlusting wails of the crowd.

Hull, on the side and in the dark, watched with crossed arms.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

'Noir……Noir!'

Arrowette pulled back on the bowstring.

The arrow was taut.

Its end glistening.

Her lips pursed and her blue, fully-exposed eyes narrowed.

I laid on the floor.

Everything black turning blacker.

My obsidian optics fading.

So tired.

This night.

This blasted City.

This bloody purgatory.

'Noir! Get up, Noir!'

I'm so tired of it, Ana.

So tired.

The Titans……

Robin's contract.

I gotta find Terra.

But……

So tired……

'Noir!'

My eyes closed.

The metal slabs iced up into me.

The kiss of unconsciousness.

And the shadow lands beyond.

'Jordan!'

So……weak……

"Be natural, Jordan! Be NATURAL!"

FLASH!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

FLASH!

Our bokens contacted sharply.

Wood clapping against wood.

The sweat and the starlight.

Her burning, blue eyes.

"Be natural, Jordan! Be NATURAL!"

"I'm……trying!" I growled, pushing against her.

"No……you're NOT!" and Ana effortlessly shoved against me with her training sword.

WHUMP!

"Nnngh!" I literally flew back.

THWAP!

I fell on my spine in the middle of the field. Panting with sweat. My muscles sore and aching from nearly an hour of rushing at her in the thickness of night and only being shoved back again and again and again.

Ana sighed, running a shaking hand through her blonde hair.

"It isn't working, Jordan. Don't you see?"

"Do I see? I FEEL!" I shivered. I stood up, panting. "You're insanely good! I-I can't get even near you!"

"Yes you can, Jordan!"

"No…I CAN'T!" I barked. "Wh-What are you trying to prove, Ana! You keep telling me to charge you and yet every time you beat me back like I'm a tennis ball! What's the point?"

"The point is that you're not being natural."

"Yes I am! I'm doing my best to strike you—"

"You're trying to be strong, Jordan!"

"Ana, I—"

"You weren't built to be strong!" she shouted, her golden voice filling the cedar bodies of the woods around us. "You were built to be fast, Jordan! Not monumental! You were built to be fast and speedy, and here you are trying to level me down with a single, pummeling blow!"

"………," my brown eyes narrowed and my face melted into a frown. "Ana……"

She panted. Her eyes were glossy. "Jordan, don't you see? You weren't built for—"

"Don't frickin' tell me that all of this about my learning Balance instead……"

"You weren't built for Construction!" she shrieked. Her voice had become desperate and wavering. Like a scared little girl. Desperate and emotional. It scared me just as much as it made me angry and feel abused. "White is not your destined portion of the Spectrum! Your is something far less strong, but all the time far more precious! Resilient! Suffering! Quick and selfless!"

I stood up, snarling. "For the last time, Ana……stop trying to TALK ME OUT OF MY TRAINING!"

"There is nothing to talk you out of, Jordan!" She pointed at me with her boken. "You're lost! You're constantly shaping yourself to things around you! You're confused! You're living in the present! And you care so much about people it's—"

"Stop trying to push me away from the WHITE!"

"You don't know Construction!" she spoke with clenched teeth and suddenly flexed her upper limbs. "THIS is CONSTRUCTION!"

FLASH!

I gasped. Gritting my teeth, I shaded my eyes from a bright…golden aura.

I rounded my brown optics and stared in disbelief and shock.

There was a glow about Ana. Her blue eyes were ablaze with a platinum, vanilla-gold. Like hot, hot metal on the edges. The brightness seemed to travel down her limbs and trail off her fingers like mist.

Or smoke.

White, ivory smoke.

It sent a blaze of brightness around the previously dim clearing.

And I shuddered……my first witness of the Spectrum in physical form.

"Ana……," I exhaled. My lips parted. "You……You are an adept……you are already an adept!"

"No, Jordan……," she muttered. Her eyes glowing hot-white-and-gold. "……I'm not."

My brown eyes narrowed. I murmured: "What?"

"This is but a taste of what I know is my destiny……," Ana spoke low as with a tinge of sadness.

Sadness?

She went on: "I have always known the bright end of the Spectrum. In some sense or another. It was……b-born with me……"

"B-Born, Ana?" I leaned my head to the side. Curious. Concerned.

She dropped her boken. She hugged herself. The white glow started to fade from her blue eyes. "My mother……and her mothers before her……," she bit her lip. A shudder. She said: "We are the daughters of the earth. Somehow—someway granted through time to practice this……this Construction. We never have had a name of it. We never have never had a reason to suspect anything of it until the Master discovered me. He invited me from my terrible home with my terrible father to come here. To learn after so many generations of lost and suffering women at the hearts of cold men and cold society to make good of that which flows in my arteries. You see, Jordan……I know……the Master knows……almost everyone with a good sense knows that I am, was, and shall always be the wielder of the White Spectrum."

"………," I stared in utter shock.

She looked at me. Her blue eyes glossy. Her lips quivering. "Except you, Jordan. You won't believe it. I think it's wonderful of you to love Life so much and Construction so much but……but………"

A beat.

Coldness.

The depths and unforgiving, upside-down abyss of night.

The starlight.

The starlight……

She collapsed on her knees in the soft earth and trembled all over herself. A choking sound came from her throat and she sobbed. "……but there can only be one White Learner, Jordan. And I know that's going to be me. And I learn it and you're turned away………" She brought a trembling hand over her fair face and sniffed into it. Tears streaming silver. "……I couldn't go on in this blasted lonely school without you, Jordan. Please……y-you mean so much to me now. You're the best friend I've ever had in so……so long. I'm so selfish. I-I want you to learn that which I see in you. That which I feel with every twinge and shake and prick of the white life within me from so much as seeing you and hearing your voice. God, why can't you see the precious things that you are built for? I'm so scared, Jordan. I don't want to go into this alone. My mother's dead. There's nobody else sharing the White breath of the Earth. I don't want to bear all of it alone……"

I took a deep breath. I stared down at the ground as she sobbed. I ran a hand through my short black hair, shuddered, and slowly strolled over to her.

I knelt down and—warmly—wrapped my arms around her.

She hugged me back without hesitance. Crying into my shoulder. Holding tightly and not wanting to let go.

And……as confused and utterly awed as I was at the same, paradoxical time……

I didn't want to let go of her either.

"Please……P-Please, Jordan……find your nature."
"………"

"Find your Spectrum……I want you to prosper. I want you to be with me……always……"

"I'll try, Ana……"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

I'll try……

"……."

My black eyes shot open.

Spatial sense……FLASH!

Cold metal slabs.

Steel bars.

A cage.

Two bodies.

Mine, lying face first on the metal slabs.

Arrowette, standing behind me.

Aiming something with her bow.

An arrow.

A sharp arrow.

A sharp arrow pointed at the back of my neck and-

THWIFFFT!

I gritted my teeth as smoke exploded out from under my broken goggles in slow motion.

FWOOOOOSH!

I teleported up in a blur.

CLACK!

The arrow struck the ground with sparks and smoke-pierced trails.

Arrowette did a double-take and looked up.

I solidified, spinning towards the ceiling.

SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH! Myrkblade twirled along with my body. The wooden weapon encased itself in murk and glinted with serration. CHIIIIING!

Snarling, I fell down towards her.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Pulsade and Jinx gasped.

Anderson leaned forward.

Wildebeest and Hull blinked.

And the Messenger smiled.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SLASSSSH!

"Nnngh!" Arrowette ducked.

RIIIP!

I cleaned two locks of blonde hair from her.

I landed, twirled, and swung Myrkblade at her cranium.

CRACK! She blocked with the tip of her red bow.

I twisted Myrkblade by the hilt.

TWKKK!

I shoved her bow to the side.

WHAP!

I slapped her cheek with the broadside of my sword.

She reeled-

WHAM!

I raised a kicking foot into her chest.

She stumbled back.

"!" I blurred at her.

THWACK! SMACK! WHAM!

The crowd cheered.

Three strikes of Myrkblade tore at her blouse and bruised her skin.

She stumbled against the metal bars.

I charged, Myrkblade raised.

She swung up high with her bow.

SWIIIISH!

I lunged back, the tip of her weapon nearly cleaning my nose off.

She twirled the bow back into her main grip and readied three arrows.

THWIFFT! THWIFFT! THWIFFT!

I backflipped, vaulted off the floor with one hand, and flipped back again. I landed in a reverse slide towards the opposite end of the silver cage.

"All right! Time to kiss Hades head-on, you dick!" Arrowette pulled out a fire arrow.

I kept in a crouch. Panting. Vibrating all over with smoke and murk.

SWOOOSH! She whipped the explosive arrow into place, sighted along her bow, and fired-

CHIIIING! I raised a playing card, snarled, and flung it at her.

THWIFFT!

SWIIIIIISH!-CLANK! The playing card struck her flame arrow dead on before it had a chance to get even a yard and a half away from her.

PHOOOOOOOOOMB!

"Aaaugh!" she winced and stumbled back from the fireball exploding right in front of her.

A padding of soft-as-water feet.

She looked up, panting.

FWOOOOOSH! A plume of smoke billowed out from the fireball and exploded into her with an upswing of Myrkblade.

THWACK!

She spun.

I spun too, spinning my sword twice.

WHACK! WHACK!

She doubled over in pain.

I spun around once more, twirled Myrkblade, brought it down low, brought it up high, and-

WHAM!

-uppercutted the female archer fiercely across the chin.

Her body flew halfway up the height of the cage's interior.

And….

She was unconscious before she even hit the ground.

WHUMP!

Before the audience could cheer….Arrowette's quiver of arrows spilled out across the metal slabs.

And…..right at my feet…

A bundle of explosive fire arrows collapsed on top of each other. And inside the center of them was a high-pitched, whining sound.

I panted, sweating all over.

The sound of a single detonator amongst all of them……

Primed to explode.

A gasp from the crowd.

'Noir! It's going to blow! Get out of there!'

I spun around. "!" I looked at Arrowette's body. "!" I looked at the cages and the solid, plastic sheets beyond. "!"

'Get out of there!'

I panted. My grip of Myrkblade trembled. The sweat and the lights and the noise…

….

The whining noise stopped.

Shit.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-

BOOOOOOOM!

The silver cage turned into a huge, flaming oven with both bodies inside being engulfed by the multitude of condensed, combined explosions.

Jinx and Pulsade both gasped as the crowd below them turned silent.

"Ah jeez….," Jinx pulled at her nonexistent tufts of hair. "Ah jeeeeeez….."

Pulsade took a deep breath. "Red Aviary……could he have his way so easily?"

Somewhere in another shadowed part of the arena, an asian teenager stood silent.

Deflated….

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

After walking Ana to her cabin, I slowly made my way across the courtyard late at night on the Manor's estate.

I approached the well once again.

My wooden pales and the yoke were still there.

"………"

I walked up to them and realized that they were still empty.

Silence.


I gazed at the full bucket attached to the rope.

"………"

My fists clenched.

I knocked the bucket over.

Swiiiiish!

SPLOOSH!

It splashed loudly in the waters below.

I took a deep breath.

I concentrated.

I lowered my brown eyes.

My flexed and unflexed my fingers before gently raising them……and gripping the wooden handle of the crank.

"………………"

I took a deep breath.

Deep, dark.

Black, obliterated.

Endless, and without a beginning.

Now.

Now……

Dynamics.

Water.

Flowing.

Rotating.

Burning and spreading molecules.

Mist and flame.

Smoke.

Smoke……

Smoke………

Black.

Creak-Creak-Creak-Creak-Creak!

I was pumping the crank before I knew it.

Faster.

Faster……

Creak!Creak!Creak!Creak!Creak!Creak!

Pain.

Wood.

Faster………

Faster…………

CreakCreakCreakCreakCreakCreakCreak!

My teeth grit.

My body tensed.

And before I knew it……in a span of less than twenty seconds-

CL-CLUMP!

"Nngh!" I jerked back from the impact of the water-heavy bucket tipping over the outer edge of the well from being raised.

There was a terrible, terrible stinging sensation.

I waved my hands.

I held the palms up to me in the starlight.

I shuddered.

My flesh was covered in splinters. Thin cuts. Wooden abrasions. Red blood seeped slowly to the surface like syrup. And I could almost swear……I saw a black outline to the places where my skin opened up.

The stinging pain……

The sacrifice……

"It hurts……"

I gulped.

"It hurts so much, Ana……"

I looked up towards the stars above the cedars.

Like a little child, my eyes welled up with tears from the pain.

But I didn't resist them.

"But god……it's so right. It's so damn right……"

After a few minutes of numb, silent reflection, I turned and headed back towards the sleeping cabin. I would sneak in and fall asleep in my bunk bed besides the rest of the guys. Unnoticed.

And about the Master's water……

I'd make sure I awoke an hour before dawn.

That way I'd have a chance to bandage my splintery palms……before handling the water. And giving it to him.