Chapter 6 – A High Cost

People had died. More people than Titus had ever seen before, in or out of the Arena. And he didn’t truly know how to feel about it.

Since Miss Kane had left the Arena and been replaced as Grandmaster by Henderson’s father, Mr Valeri, the place had changed dramatically. With every change came an explanation - or a roundabout one - about the rationale behind it, but there was no rationale that could make death any easier to swallow, was there?

Titus sat in a small stone room just outside the Arena. The room where Contestants would prep for their upcoming battles. But this time, he sat with Jordan and Petra, each silent, reliving what had just happened.

Titus stared straight ahead at the wall opposite him, doing his best to push away the visuals of the other Contestants falling, of Vincent and Regan's lives being extinguished, and of Grayson, who’d nearly met the same fate. It was all too much to understand and way to fresh to forget.

Jordan sat with his head in his hands, which were large enough to cover his face entirely, while Petra was biting her lip and picking her nails. All three were still wearing what they had worn into battle, covered in dirt, blood, and sweat. But none of them were ready to accept that it was over yet.

There was no upcoming battle, so the group remained in silence for a long while, slowly deflating.

Eventually, as the adrenaline washed away, Petra was the first to speak.

“I think I might hate spiders as much as you now, big guy,” she said quietly, forcing a smile into the corners of her lips. It was insincere, but she was trying.

Jordan raised his head slowly and frowned.

“That’s the first thing you say after… that?”

“What else do you want me to say?” Petra asked. “It was a fight, just like the rest of them and I’m going to talk about it, just like the rest of them.”

“Just like the rest of them?” Jordan replied. “You think that what happened out there was normal? You think we can just ignore the others?”

“Do we have a choice?” Petra replied. “We got called to fight in the arena, and we’ll be called again. You don’t have to show up if you really have that much of an issue with it, and believe me, I’d be fine with that... but think about what would’ve happened to the others if we hadn’t been there at all.”

“So, we just keep turning up until we die?” Jordan replied.

“She’s right,” Titus said before Petra could escalate the conversation. “We can’t let our friends fight alone out there.”

“And what if none of us turn up?” Jordan asked. “What if when we get the call, nobody takes to the sands, what then?”

Titus frowned and looked at Petra questioningly.

“That… is actually not a bad question,” she said slowly. “And once again I find myself wondering how this idiot can come up with such good ideas.”

“I suppose the question would be how to get everyone to agree to it,” Titus said.

“And what will happen if the God of Balance decides to punish everyone for it?” Jordan replied. “I mean, you heard Miss Kane before. If the Arena and the Contestants don’t do what they’re supposed to do, it could mean the end of the world.”

“It could mean the end of the world anyway,” Petra said. “Because what’s the difference between a punishment where we all stop gaining levels or even get our Classes taken away, and the Arena itself slowly killing us until there aren’t any of us left to fight?”

“I don’t think the God of Balance had this in mind when he was working out how to save all of humanity from the monsters,” Jordan said, his voice growing in both strength and sincerity.

“No? Then why don’t we go and ask him?” Petra replied, raising her voice as well.

“Can we just… take five minutes?” Titus sighed, tired of the beginnings of another argument. “Besides, did you have a look at your notifications after that fight?”

Titus had just checked his notifications because he didn’t want to get involved in another argument between his friends, but what he’d seen had surprised him.

You have gained 54 experience points

XP to next level: 94

Quest Complete:

Defeat fifty monsters of Chaos in battle

Rewards:

100 Gold

100XP

Congratulations, you have reached Level 7.

XP to next level: 235.

You have 5 stat points to distribute.

You have 4 Ability points to use.

Skills available to learn: None.

That last battle hadn’t been enough to tip Titus over into his next level, but what it had done was finally push the number of monsters he’d killed - or had a large part in killing, whichever had counted - above fifty, completing the quest and granting some rewards. Level seven was pretty impressive, but one hundred gold was an astonishing amount of money, more than he’d ever thought he’d have burning a hole in his pocket. Well at least for a long while that was.

Titus put a couple of points into Wisdom as usual, along with one in Agility and one in each of the two Defences, taking his Mana Pool up to seventy and his Stamina up to thirty-eight with his wooden ring giving its bonus.

“Woah,” Titus heard Jordan say, indicating the Defender had finally read his own stats.

“Level up, did you?” Titus asked.

“I’ll say! The fight wasn’t enough to push me over, but I finished the quest and got a hundred XP!”

“How much did you get from the fight?” Titus asked, knowing Jordan was the only one of the group still wearing his real Blue armband, thus paying tribute to the God of Balance.

“Twenty,” Jordan replied.

“It was fifty-four for me,” Titus said, and Petra nodded.

“Me too. Bet you wish you weren’t wearing that now?” she added, gesturing to the armband. Jordan simply shrugged.

“So… did you get any new abilities?”

“Hell yeah, I did!” Jordan said with glee. “Root in Place! I wanted this one for a while, and I was worried that my new Class would send me along a new path or something, but there it was!”

“That’s great!” Titus said, patting Jordan on the back. “I guess even if you’re a Paladin, you still get to be a Defender at heart. What about you, Petra?”

“I got something called ‘Critical Hit’, so if I attack a monster that doesn’t know I’m there, I deal double damage.”

“That’ll work well with your Active Camouflage,” Jordan replied immediately. “It’s like a guaranteed critical.”

The group managed to talk happily for the next few minutes, having momentarily forgotten about what had just happened to them, but inevitably, the mood began to fall again.

“Do you really think this is what the God of Balance wanted?” Titus asked. “I mean, he gave us all some pretty big things. Why give me this special Class if I’m just going to die? And you, a Paladin, and that hood… hang on, you haven’t told me anything about your Class or your hood!”

“And you haven’t told us what skill you unlocked when you just levelled up,” Petra shot back. “No, wait, don’t tell me: it’s a spell that stops time completely except for you. Or a meteor shower? Instant death to anything you touch?”

“I haven’t told you because I got nothing, again,” Titus explained. “So spill. Jordan?”

“Well, it’s nothing too great yet,” the Defender said, shuffling his feet sheepishly. “I just have to pray to the God of Balance once a day, and in return, I get a ten percent boost to all my stats.”

Titus and Petra both stared at Jordan for a long moment before Petra burst into laughter.

“You have to pray?! That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard!”

“Hey! I didn’t choose this,” Jordan said. “But for ten percent, I’m going to do it, and you’re going to have to deal with that.”

Petra managed to control her laughter just in time for Titus to turn his attention to her.

“And you? What does the hood do?”

“Oh, that thing?” Petra replied. Titus had noticed she hadn’t taken it out into battle. “It makes the first action I make in any battle cost nothing. No Stamina, or Mana, or whatever. I didn’t really think I needed it.”

“Didn’t need it?” Jordan’s head whipped around to face Petra. “Don’t you know how valuable that could be? Think about when you’re a higher level! What if you get an expensive skill and you get a free go? Why wouldn’t you use it?”

“Because,” Petra said, her tone turning cold. “Some of us, unlike you, don’t fancy being indebted to this God of yours. Some of us would prefer to remain impartial until we have all the facts, right?”

Jordan’s face turned red, and Titus could tell his friend couldn’t comprehend why someone would turn down such an advantage, but he had to admit he understood Petra’s position. He still didn’t know if he trusted Julius either.

“All I’m saying,” Petra continued with a sigh, “is that the God lied to us. Whichever way you look at it, he’s been playing us all for years. I know it can be argued that he’s had a good reason, and there’s an endgame and all that, but I’m just not sure if I can accept a gift from someone responsible for so many deaths. And now? Now that Contestants are dying faster than ever? It just makes me even less sure.”

Jordan stared at Petra for a few seconds. It was obvious he wanted to defend the God of Balance, but at the same time he could hear what his friend was saying.

“Then maybe we should go and ask him,” Jordan said in a small voice. “Head back out into the City, find that house again and ask if this is all really what he wanted. Because until I see some proof otherwise, I’m going to believe there’s a bigger reason for all of this. A reason why it’s unavoidable for so many Contestants to die. I have to.”

With each word Jordan spoke, his voice grew smaller and smaller, until by the end, it was barely a whisper.

“Well, we could go and find the house and ask him,” Titus said with a devious smile, trying to turn the conversation away from sorrow. “Or we could go and see what kind of weapons and equipment we can get with more than one hundred gold! I mean, have you ever had so much money?”

Petra perked up at that. “That sounds like a good idea actually. I fancy having a look at some new knives. Maybe a new cloak and some actual armour.”

“I quite like my axe,” Jordan said. “But I wouldn’t mind a bigger shield. And armour that covers all of me, actually.”

“And I think it’s about time I upgraded my old sword,” Titus said. “Besides, what kind of self-respecting Spellcaster carries a sword?”

The group, having decided on their new plan of action, replaced their weapons and armour into the Anywhere Box and had an Arena Hand who possessed cleansing magic clean their clothes. It was just so convenient that there always seemed to be someone around to keep them in tip-top shape.

Then they made their way to the Merchant Hall, where they found swathes of Contestants talking, buying, and selling amid a low thrum of noise that seemed somehow welcoming.

But then at the very first stall, Titus noticed someone he recognised, and his heart began to pound. The God of Balance was standing right there, smiling at the three friends as they walked in.