When he opened his eyes, an assortment of green colors assaulted him. All around them, gigantic trees, bushes, and high foliage surrounded them. Overhead, the sun glared down at them, but the enormous trees blocked most of the sunlight. The noises of exotic birds and insects filled the hot and humid air. Some of whom tried to bite him, but he had already hardened his skin as a precaution. What he didn’t expect was to feel something warm and soft impacting him and barreling him to the ground.

Res prepared to release a burst of aether at the attacker when Xenia’s face peeked out from his shirt. Showing him a wide view of her cleavage, she looked at him innocently and inched towards his face. It wasn’t her attraction that blew him away, but he could also feel that she wanted him so badly right now. Her feelings of lust were as strong as to suggest that he should take her then and there on the forest floor. A smile cracked her face when she felt her attraction involuntarily mirrored. She stopped only a centimeter before his face: “Why do you have black eyes?”

If he hadn’t been on the defensive only a minute ago, he couldn’t have resisted the busty girl taking in his scent. A part of him cried out in dismay as he pushed her away and sat up again. Serafina was sitting on the forest floor while tears ran down her now scarred and maned face. When he looked at her, she turned away and buried her face in her armpit. With a start, he realized how this must have looked to Serafina. He had to admit that she was right when she said that the blood bond is a connection beyond comparison. Akeem was sitting only meters away from them and was staring at the ongoings with a grim expression. Res remembered that Akeem had attacked elite guards to uphold the family honor, and he determined to speak with him later. A slight nudge from Jason made him school his expression.

With assured steps, he left the confused Xenia lying on the floor and walked over to Serafina. He took a seat next to her and touched her arm. Res had only a split second to harden his skin before Serafina’s arm impacted with his face. The force left him tumbling end over end until he came to a dead stop against an enormous tree. Serafina cried out in dismay and ran over to him, but Res only waved her away and held her gaze. “I deserved that. That blood bond amplification you talked about is … convincing.”

Serafina dropped her gaze, but Res grabbed the scarred part of her chin and held it up so he could look into her eyes. “This may seem impossible, but I am sure that we will make it. You know what? Let’s found our own team and let them do their own thing.”

She looked at him with tears in her eyes and threw her arms around him. “Thank you.”

He stroked her wonderful brown hair and held her. Through the bond with Xenia, he could feel her anger flaring up and Xenia called out in a dangerously deep tone. “Seraaffffinnaaaa. Comee hereeee. Why do you shield yourself from the bond? I wouldn’t want anything bad happening to you. You are my blood bound honor guard after all.”

Serafina tensed up in his grasp and Res could feel sharp claws nicking his back. Reluctantly, Serafina let go of him and turned to face Xenia with fire in her eyes. Her fingernails were now completely retracted and a dangerous blue gleam reflected off of them. Akeem grew in size and positioned himself in front of Xenia. “Serafina, think this through. We wouldn’t want you to die. If I remember correctly, your blood oath will turn you into a pile of ash as soon as you attack your master. Rather, tell me what happened to you.”

Res didn’t listen to the words as Serafina’s new physique mesmerized him. Her thin frame had filled out with muscle and flesh and at all the right places.

“Bro, holy shit. That girl has the best butt I have ever seen in my life and I have been with over two thousand women. And that back is like …”

Res was drawn out of his appreciation by Jason’s comment and Res remarked. “Sometimes your comments spice it up. Sometimes I have to imagine you as an eight-hundred-year-old man assessing my … whatever Serafina and I are currently.”

Jason retorted, but Res had already returned his attention to what Serafina was saying. For some time, she had cursed and shouted at Xenia and her tone was now at a deadly low level. “I have died because of you and the fact that I am standing here and finally telling you my mind is all thanks to Res. We part ways.”

Xenia looked shell-shocked at the idea and stammered out. “You can’t … I do not allow it.”

Serafina had talked herself into a rage. “I am telling you all this because from now on, we are no longer a team. Res and I will win this tournament and we will marry.”

Xenia cried out in outrage and Serafina blushed, but held her ground and clung to him. Akeem looked at him askance, but Res only chuckled nervously. Serafina had made a terrible mistake. Before, Serafina had talked about killing and surviving the tournament. Xenia knew as much about that as you would expect from a princess. Now, she had now allowed Xenia to fight on the battlefield of seduction on which Xenia thought she was superior. Xenia dropped onto her knees with her arms between her legs. She began to move her arms back and forth and a wave of lust like he had never felt before hit Res.

It was possessiveness mixed with lude thoughts of such a scale like he had never felt before. Weird cries escaped Xenia’s lips and Res felt the pleasure increase. Akeem was on the verge of punching his sister who was besmirching the family honor right in front of her brother. Res’s knees were buckling and his entire body was filled with the feeling of worldly pleasure. Serafina looked on in horror and supported him. Finally, Xenia stopped what she was doing and straightened up with a victorious smile on her face.

“Who do you choose now, Res? Me, or that maned monster. Look at me.”She motioned to her beautiful hair that was perfect despite all the troubles. She pulled her shirt down to reveal her cleavage and her smooth skin. “Now look at her. I don’t know if I can even call her a human. What children will that monster bear? She is the ugliest creature I have ever seen!”

Xenia tried to spit at Serafina, but she didn’t hit. The insults hit Serafina hard, and she swiveled her head between him and Xenia. Res stopped her swiveling head and pressed his lips against hers with all the passion he felt for her. Xenia roared in frustration in the background, but Res and Serafina didn’t relent in exploring each other. They were one. Serafina tore open her eyes and broke off the kiss. She unsheathed her sword and looked behind them with concern. Res tried to spot what had caught her attention, but only saw the green of the forest.

“What is it?”

“Don’t you feel it?”

“We are surrounded!”, Akeem shouted out.

Opening himself to aether had been useless for finding enemies as the entire world was filled with powerful aether signatures. It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. When he opened himself this time, he could feel a wave of emptiness rolling towards them. It was like there was no aether at certain points in space. After tense moments of waiting, the birds went silent, and the insects stopped buzzing. Then, Res could see them for the first time. They were ape-like humans with patches of fur on their chests. Their obsidian-black skin seemed to suck in light.

The only part that reflected light was their blood-red eyes. All of them traversed the ground and trees with practiced ease, making it clear it was their terrain. Their unsettling red eyes were pointed at them the entire time. They would periodically bare their long and pointy teeth to let loose an unsettling shriek. The shriek sounded like a pig being dissected or a woman burning to death.

“Bro, I have only seen this aether absorption on planet U3I8 and that planet was nuked ages ago.”

Shivers ran down his spine as the ape-men tightened their circle around them. Through the dense foliage, Res could see that the hundreds of monsters left a hole in their encirclement. Akeem’s body was jam-packed with muscles and strands of them lashed out menacingly around him. Yet, the ape-men seemed only invigorated by that.

“Bro, they might be able to absorb aether. We don’t attack, we run.”

Xenia smiled cockily and asked. “Sooooo, we are a team now? I suppose that part about you marrying Serafina can be revoked too.”

Luckily, Akeem shut Xenia up by lashing out with a muscle strand. One of those magic mirrors appeared in the air with the face of the announcer on it. “Hello to all our viewers and especially to all you participants. You will find yourself surrounded by beasts that will rip out your innards and eat them for lunch. The rules of the last game are simple.” A circular map appeared in the mirror. ”Your current location is at the edges of that circle. You will need to reach the center of the ring and those devices will help you with that.“

Four round metal pieces dropped to the ground under the mirror. ”That isn’t all! The stalkers all around you would like to taste your flesh. They will be scattered all across the jungle with a line of them tightening around you. Reaching the center means that you won’t bet attacked. If you haven’t already figured it out, the longer you take to reach the center, the greater the density of those wonderful creatures around you. That brings us to the last point: You will need to carry one of those metal compasses all the time. Else you will be attacked. Because we want to bring in an element of skill, not brute force, you have an aether allowance. If you use aether, a bar at the side of the compass will show you how much you can use until the stalkers will attack you. I am not saying that they won’t attack you before the progress bar fades out. You can increase your aether allowance by participating in a game. You can expect that everything out of the ordinary, in this wonderful jungle, is a game. You only have to approach the abnormality to join in on the fun. So, if you want to refill your aether allowance, you will need to go to something weird. Ok, that was all. Ahh, and if you think you are smart and can fly past everything, think twice.”

The mirror vanished, and they were left staring dumbstruck at thin air. Only a shriek of one of the ape creatures pulled them back to reality. Res walked over to the four objects and picked them up. Akeem was standing up in front of him, pumped up with muscle. “You don’t get to play like this. Stealing all of them and running away? I thought you weren’t that kind of guy.”

Res raised his brows and threw two of the metal objects at him and gave the last one to Serafina. Ignoring Xenia, he pulled Serafina along on a brisk walk in the direction the arrow on the compass was pointing. Serafina squeezed his hand in thanks and inspected the round metal slab. The functions were as described: a green bar showed how much aether one could use. An arrow showed the most direct route to the middle.

Res whispered over to Serafina. “You heard the message from the Gamemaster back at the doctor, right? He said that we will need to join a game. The challenge is meant to cut down on competitors. The closer we come to the circle, the more people we will meet. The more we will fight, the more we will have to play games, the more we will need to stop and the more likely we will get killed by those monsters. We need to stay on our toes all the time.”

Serafina gave him a questioning look. “What do you suggest?”

“We can’t go the direct route of walking at a brisk pace to the center. If we do that, we run into the danger of fighting too much. If we run as fast as we can, we will be exhausted at the fight in the center and we will be flanked from behind. The best strategy in the long term is to stay as close to the ape border as we can. I don’t know how long this will last, but I am already exhausted. We will have to sleep or rest at some point.”

Behind them, Xenia cried out. “Hey, wait for us!”

Serafina whirled around and shouted. “I don’t want you anywhere near us! Here, you can go ahead.”

Xenia laughed her tinkling laugh, but Res could feel her bubbling rage. “Why are you so angry, Sera? It isn’t like you to fight a hopeless battle against a lady that will steal your man, anyway? Are you too scared that he will find me preferable? Especially regarding your chest. Don’t fault him for that. It is in his blood.” Serafina clenched her fists but didn’t answer.

Res turned around to face Xenia and the patronized Akeem. “Akeem, you are an honorable man and you know that this behavior is wrong. It isn’t your sister’s fault as she has misread several signs. I don’t harbor any feelings toward her and we can work this all out. If it came to it, I even would give up the crown and Xenia can testify to my earnestness.”

Akeem flicked his gaze over to Xenia, who couldn’t hide her shock at those words and nodded. “Under those circumstances, I agree to an alliance.”

“That is great, else I would need to eliminate the enemy at my back.”

Akeem nodded respectfully while Xenia pouted. “I will not do … ”

Akeem grabbed her, threw her over his shoulder, and said: “This is no game. Xenia hasn’t realized that yet.”

With a protesting Xenia on his shoulder, he jogged past them. Serafina had a new spring in her step and watched him carefully out of the corner of her eye. “What you said about me and you. I didn’t misunderstand that, right?”

Res gave her a nervous grin. “Marriage is a big step and … ”

She still watched him, but her eyes were now dull. He sighed inwardly and thought about his dilemma. The only reason he was doing this dammed tournament in the first place was to get rid of all responsibility. With marriage came children and he already got a headache only thinking about that. After he discussed the matter with Jason, he tried what Jason called ‘the diplomatic approach’: “I think you would be a perfect wife.”

She clutched his hand tighter and smiled furiously. That was the first compliment. Now came the hard part: “It could work out, but a marriage lasts a lifetime. It is something sacred and should be decided with care. What if I have a fetish about bathing in beer while wearing panties? You wouldn’t want someone like that.”

How Res had missed the breathy, sweet sound of Serafina laughing. “You wouldn’t have such a fetish … Do you? Even then I would marry you.”

The seriousness of her tone surprised him, but Jason explained that that was customary with women. They walked alongside and he put on an expression of thoughtfulness. Now came the last stroke in the coffin. Jason had said that a man can’t say ‘No’ in such a situation, so he needed to use men’s greatest tool - Distraction. To Serafina, he said: “This whole situation is weird. I know you maybe … 5-8 days and we are talking about marrying. I know nothing of you apart from that. Tell me your story.”

Serafina stopped dead in her tracks but quickly caught up with him again. “I haven’t told anyone about my childhood, but that it is a good start.”