Streaks of red lightning flared across the arena, the sweet, tangy smell of ozone flooding the open space. The hairs on Jamie’s forearms straightened as a bolt of electricity blasted into her opponent’s chest, giving her room to breathe.

H… be careful. She dodged around her other opponent, grimacing as pain flared in her chest while she bounded through the air with WIND. Her magic reserves were running low.

Another bolt of lightning flew by, larger than the others, a brilliant streak of crimson energy. It flickered and died, revealing her friend as she tumbled through the air, and Jamie’s breath caught in her throat.

Half of Heather’s chest had vanished, a gaping hole in its place, and one of her legs was torn off at the knee. LIGHTNING flared beneath her skin, and the imperfections healed with a sickening squelch. Her arm reached out, grasping for Jamie, but another application of LIGHTNING forced the bones to shatter. The arm went limp.

Someone barreled into Jamie’s chest, and it was only a quick activation of EARTH that kept her from being eliminated. She shouldn’t have gotten distracted, no matter how much Heather’s state worried her.

Jumping back, she made to use WIND to bounce out of the way of one of her opponents, but a glowing yellow coil of energy wrapped around her leg and yanked her back. She yelped, putting her hands behind her as the woman tried to throw her into the ground.

Her calisthenics training probably saved her life. The moment her palms grazed the ground, she straightened her arms, feeling her muscles straining. Her body tilted upright, her back having been only a few millimeters above the ground.

Her heart was pounding madly in her chest as she pushed off the ground. Flipping back to her feet, she twisted her body to wrap the coil of energy around her torso, drawing her opponent closer. The woman was forced to deactivate the SKILL as Jamie brought her leg around, aiming to strike the woman in the neck.

With her mobility returned, Jamie turned and ran, giving herself some time to rethink her approach. She wasn’t as fast as Heather, but that was just because Heather’s speed was ridiculous. Jamie easily outran her opponents, her eyes darting around the arena.

There were three players left other than Heather and herself. A young man and a woman were busy chasing her as she flitted about, staying light on her feet. Meanwhile, Heather was facing the obvious leader of the group, the red light from her avatar’s LIGHTNING almost too bright to look at.

“H, can you hear me?” She dodged left as another energy coil from the woman threatened to throw her to the ground. Man, that was already getting annoying.

“…JAyyyY?” Static filled her ears, Heather’s voice layered with a multitude of others, but Jamie grinned. Her friend was still conscious.

“I got a plan. It’s risky, and we’ll be hurting later, but… I think it’s worth it.”

“HmmMM… WhAT iS It?”

“I’m gonna go all out.” She heard Heather take in a sharp breath as Jamie jumped over the male attacker’s head, his expression twisting into a scowl as she kicked him in the face. He was annoyingly persistent, though, his momentum not faltering in the slightest.

“Are yOU SURe? ACk!” The crackle of electricity filled her ears, and the world was dyed red for a moment.

“WOAH! NOW THIS IS WHAT I WAS WAITING FOR! SO MUCH PASSION, SO MUCH ENERGY! THERE’S NO WAY TO PREDICT HOW THIS WILL END!”

“…Yeah, I’m sure.” She watched Heather’s crumpled avatar pull itself from the cratered wall, muscle and skin reforming as her black eyes stared vacantly at her opponent. There was no expression on her face, only a cool apathy.

Even the demon in Jamie’s skull cringed away from the sight. Heather sometimes wore a similar expression, but there was never such a deep emptiness in her eyes as her body was torn to shreds. Part of it was the MIND BREAK, Heather not using her dwindling supply of energy to force a facial expression, but…

She shuddered. She couldn’t imagine how unsettled Heather’s opponent was right now.

“…ALrIGht. I Can GiVe yOU One MInuTTte, tOPs, BeFOre I’m DoNE.”

“That works. Do what you can, got it? We’re not gonna die today.” There was a soft, staticky hum over the connection before Jamie reengaged with her previous opponents.

One minute. Only one minute, got it? Then it’s back in the cage.

Out loud, she felt that it would be best to warn her opponents in case either of them wanted to disengage. She didn’t think they would, but her demon was already clawing its way to the surface, so she figured that she’d at least try.

“One chance. Please, just surrender. I don’t wanna do this.” The man scoffed, and the woman gave a snort of amusement as they both glared at her. She just sighed.

“Well… it was worth a try. Good luck then. Go wild.” The two of them shared a glance, and she watched their eyes widen as she felt her own shift violet. She chuckled as she released the reigns on DARK DRUID.

Good luck, indeed.

She sunk beneath the waters of her mind as her counterpart cackled, flowing around their two opponents with an ease Jamie still didn’t have. Her teeth sunk into something, and the male shrieked like a little girl, his hand going to his throat.

“What the fudge is wrong with you?” Red light spilled out from between his fingers as DARK DRUID laughed, dodging a swipe from the man.

“You should really let me out more often, Jay-lor. This is fun!”

That’s why I don’t let ya out, ya sadist. Now get back to work, time’s-a-ticking.

“Ugh. What a pain,” DARK DRUID grumbled, strafing around the woman as she tried to flank DARK DRUID from behind. “Guess I’ll take out the trash. Not like humans can put up much of a fight, anyways.”

Jamie felt herself breathe, magic flowing through her lungs, and air rushed past her avatar as she was suddenly in front of the male attacker. Usually, you’d be trying to kill everything in sight. Is that improvement I sense? Hm?

DARK DRUID scoffed, dodging around the male attacker before kicking him in the back of his knee. He staggered, and Jamie’s body flipped him onto his back, blue light from the teleport surrounding him as he vanished from the field.

“Pfff, me? Who do you think I am?” Snarling, she snapped her teeth at the woman, making her flinch. “I just wanna see ‘em bleed!”

Fair enough. She paused, watching as her body twisted through movements that she couldn’t hope to pull off. She was close, but she wasn’t that good yet.

I guess… since we’re both coherent for once… I gotta ask. Why do you do this?

DARK DRUID slowed, barely avoiding one of the woman’s twisting energy strands. With a growl, she stomped her foot against the ground, and a pillar of EARTH launched the woman into the sky.

“Dunno, don’t care. I just hate humans. They’re gross ugly pigs that act like they’re better than they are, ya know?” The woman twisted to land on her feet, but a well-placed gust of WIND knocked her off balance, and her shoulder blades struck the ground as she fell. She vanished an instant later.

“Two down, one to go. Let’s get this over with.” Sighing, DARK DRUID moved towards the bright red light as it danced across the arena, clashing with a harsh white.

I’m human too, and so are my friends. Technically, so are you.

“Shut up.” A growl started low in her throat, building in pitch and volume until an unholy screech left her lips. Both lights seemed to pause for a moment.

Jamie felt her mouth pull into a twisted grin, and her body danced across the air as white spikes blasted towards her avatar. Spinning slightly, she narrowly avoided one spike and jumped off nothing to dodge another.

“JaYYy.” Her head turned, her violet eyes locking with Heather’s black. “I GoT haLf a MInuTe left.”

“Perfect. Oooo~ I’m so excited!” DARK DRUID abruptly turned off WIND, plummeting to the ground. Their opponent barely managed to dodge out of the way in time as the ground cratered beneath her feet.

“SERIOUSLY! An insanity debuff, and now this? Just lose already!”

“Nah,” Heather replied, her eyes dark voids, blank and empty. Her expressionless face twitched as her neck twisted to follow their opponent’s movements. Jamie watched a small droplet of sweat trickle down the side of his neck.

A laugh left Jamie’s lips as she widened her stance, grunting slightly when a large white spike drilled directly into her chest. A tiny splotch of red stained her green shirt, and she giggled.

“Awe… and you tried so hard, too! Here! Catch!”

He dove to the side as the white spike whizzed past his head, using some sort of SKILL to land back on his feet. The world was dyed red again, electricity crackling through the air, and Heather reappeared directly in his face, her black eyes boring a hole through his soul.

Her hand reached out for his wrist before freezing as the white light surrounding him almost blinded her, suddenly increasing in intensity. DARK DRUID approached from the other side, and Jamie’s gut sank when her hand froze before she could graze his skin.

Maybe twenty seconds… and he’s got a GUARD. How in the world–

The crackle of energy reached a fever pitch, the air shuddering and swirling around them. Confusion, worry, and a sliver of fear brushed against Jamie through her connection to DARK DRUID.

And then the world cracked.

It happened in the time it took to blink. One moment, Heather was flying backwards from a blow to the stomach as their opponent turned towards DARK DRUID, his face alight with glee. Then Heather had vanished.

A bolt of crimson lightning lanced down from the sky and struck the man, dozens of other bolts following in its wake. He staggered, and then his avatar disappeared as a sonic boom came from right next to them.

Heather stood in his place, her mangled and bloody arm held in front of her, as though having just completed a basic punch. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, her dark eyes glaring at the newly formed crater in the wall. The ground beneath her was smoking, black footprints charred in the dirt.

“I got him… just knock him down. Shouldn’t be too bad.” The multitude of voices behind her own began to fade, Heather’s eyes flickering as they shifted back to their normal red. She swayed on her feet, and DARK DRUID caught her around the shoulders.

“Whoa whoa… sit down for a sec, won’tcha? I got it from here.” A groan came from the crater, and DARK DRUID turned towards the man with a snarl. A flash of protective instincts filtered through the connection to Jamie.

Oh? Well, that’s a surprise. You used to hate H.

“Again, shut up.” The words spilled from her mouth in a harsh grumble as their opponent stumbled towards them. Red lines of light spilled from his skin, and the way his eyes were rolling in his head told her that he was suffering from the confusion debuff.

Perfect.

DARK DRUID rushed him with a cackle, her smile spitting her face in two. The man’s stumbling, halting steps began to stabilize as the debuff wore off, but it wasn’t fast enough.

With a shove of WIND, he tumbled over like a blade of grass. Blue light surrounded his avatar as he was teleported to the barracks, and DARK DRUID’s thirsty grin grew wider as she heard the crowd roaring all around her.

“WHAT A MATCH! A TRUE TEST OF BOTH TEAMS, BUT ONLY ONE EMERGED VICTORIOUS! GIVE IT UP FOR... THE CLEARERS!”

DARK DRUID stumbled, sinking to a knee as the noise surrounding her was filtered away. The adrenaline (or whatever the virtual equivalent was) in her system faded, leaving her to notice the gaping void in her chest where her magic should be.

We pushed ourselves a bit too hard. I was already low on magic before you took over, and while you boosted my reserves, they aren’t infinite.

“Yeah, I figured.” Her body shook as she forced herself to stand. Some torn ligaments, a fractured ankle. A pain in her chest, right where she thought her lungs were.

It seemed she wasn’t as careful as she’d hoped.

Well… that’s right around a minute. Time to switch. Jamie could feel the shock and pain across their connection, the fear radiating from DARK DRUID as she realized it was time to return to her cage. It made Jamie pause, if only for a moment.

I put some thought into this… and I realized we’re just hurting each other with our current arrangement. It’s super unhealthy for both of us. If you can control yourself… I may be open to letting you out more often.

DARK DRUID hummed, the negative emotions filtering through their link fading to more contemplative ones. She nodded slowly, seeming to agree to the terms, and Jamie breathed a mental sigh of relief. It was a step forward.

If that was a good thing… it was too early to tell. She’d know in a few months—if they lasted that long.

Swimming to the surface of her mindscape, she grabbed DARK DRUID’s wrist. DARK DRUID grumbled something, but she dove under the waters with no other complaints, following their terms from earlier.

“CAN YOU CLEAR THE ARENA BEFORE OUR NEXT CONTESTANTS ARRIVE? UNLESS, OF COURSE, YOU WOULD LIKE TO FIGHT AGAIN? IF SO, FEEL FREE TO STAY!”

Jamie groaned, holding her forehead as the sights and sounds threatened to overwhelm her. Her skull ached, a throbbing pain behind her eyes, and she barely managed to grab Heather’s forearm as the crowd began to settle.

“Come on, let’s go.” She coughed, her throat sore. Heather was shaking under her touch, her red eyes wide and unfocussed, and Jamie knew they needed to leave.

Her memories of the next hour or so were a jumbled mess of sights and sounds, her body struggling to recover from how hard she’d pushed herself. Somehow, they managed to stumble their way into the little alcove they currently lived in, mostly due to Paul helping them get there.

Jamie’s vision kept swimming and her head throbbed as her body slowly healed, feeling Heather trembling against her back. Something soft but firm rested under her head, helping to prop her up slightly as she flickered in and out of consciousness.

The clanging of metal striking metal brought her out of her haze, and she blinked a few times to clear the film over her eyes. Rolling onto her back, she groaned when her ankle throbbed, the bone having just finished resetting.

Paul set his hammer down with a sigh, his skin covered in a light sheen of sweat. A mishappen metal shape sat on the ground before him, the early stages of whatever his current project was.

“How’re ya doing?” he asked, keeping his voice soft. His eyes glanced past Jamie for a moment, softening, and then returning to her.

Raising an eyebrow, she twisted her neck, catching a glimpse of Heather’s sleeping form wrapped in a bundle of blankets, her head resting on a blanket balled-up in the shape of a pillow. She chuckled.

“I think I’ll be good. Just wore myself out, that’s all.” Paul hummed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Sure, sure. I’ll let that slide.” She winced as his eyes bored into her, keeping her gaze focused on the ground. One speck of dirt, two specks of dirt, three specks…

He let out a puff of air, and the tension in the air faded away. “Not like I can complain much. I barely did anything in that fight.”

“No,” she snarled, feeling the demon in her head screaming with her, “you don’t get to do that. You managed to take one of ‘em out, and we all fell for that trap. That’s not on you.”

He laughed, grim and haunting. “That’s rich coming from you! HA!”

“And just what is that supposed… to…” Her words stuttered to a halt as she processed what she’d just said, and her sudden hate burned away. Her chest felt hollow, a deep pit in her gut that threatened to swallow her whole.

“Ah. You realized it, didn’t you?” His voice was soft, helping fill the void in her chest, and she latched onto the warmth coming from him. He rubbed circles against her back as she fell apart, everything crashing down on her at once.

She was such a hypocrite. A worthless fool stumbling her way along the broken and cracked road beneath her feet. A vagrant clinging to her last scraps of life and hope as she forced her shattered soul onward, ever onward.

But even the worthless could have a place in this world, and she needed to stop blaming herself for things out of her control.

Paul’s shirt was wet when she finally pulled her head away from his chest, a shaky sigh leaving her lips. What a mess.

“Much better,” Paul whispered. “You gotta stop doing that, alright? You and Heather both.”

She nodded, letting her head fall back down against his chest. The steady rhythm of his breathing was soothing, alleviating the cold chill that creeped through her limbs.

“I forgot about MIND BREAK,” she admitted, mumbling against him, and his chest rumbled as he let out a low chuckle. They were lucky there were restrictions in place on what the SKILL could do, mostly for legal reasons, but none of that had stopped Heather from trying to murder them.

Ugh. There’s another nightmare for the list.

“Me too… me too.” He paused. “At least Heather managed to control it somehow.”

“Yeah… yeah. We should’ve died.” His arms tightened their hold around her, gently rocking her back and forth. It reminded her of times when she was younger, coming to her dad at night so he could scare away the monsters living under her dresser.

…Huh. I didn’t realize I was starting to view him like that…

“Hey Paul?” she whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks… really. You… you have no idea…” The words caught in her throat as he ran a hand down her back, and she shuddered. A choked sob spilled out of her.

“Don’t worry, kid. Don’t you worry. COLOSSEUM’s almost done, and once we’re out of here… we’re all gonna survive. Just a quiet life, all three of us, no longer having ta deal with any o’ this malarky.”

She sighed, her body relaxing as his hands worked out a knot in her upper back. Oh, that felt good.

“Yeah. I’d… like that.”