Running to the entrance of the Fodder hall gave Zahn the perfect opportunity to see both the Ringmaster and One streak by at impossible speeds, only recognizable by the color patterns left behind in the blur.

The pair had crossed the entirety of the arena sands in the time it took the Player to go less than half the same distance, leaving him staggering to a stop outside the double doors. He glanced over at Ethan to find the Warlock already trying to get his attention and take off.

Pushing mana towards the top of his dome, Zahn jogged after the blond and tried to look inconspicuous as he ran the opposite direction away from a crisis. He looked around the arena as they crossed it, trying to keep an eye out for the Five and who would be left in the skull-door hall. The metal pair of doors stood open, left ajar in the hasty exit prompted by Two’s distraction.

“Now’s as good a time as any,” Ethan muttered to the Custom in a low voice as they slipped inside the doors. “We need to take advantage.”

Zahn dropped a firm grip on the other Player’s forearm, feeling the hot mana prickling under his hair. Reaching out with Psychic was rather simple, almost akin to reaching out and grabbing the other man’s arm only with a flutter of intent. He could feel the pulsing electric control center for the body under his grip, as surely as he could see the Core powering his mana channels with enhanced eyes. Touching the location of where he felt the other mind took a moment, briefly showing the lowbie a vision of two other minds some distance from the pair at the door before he could latch onto the consciousness directly adjacent to himself.

How about we try this, he sent along the new connection. It felt like he’d lashed his own brain with spiderwebs, or perhaps gotten it stuck in gum that pulled one specific direction. He had to resist the urge to tilt his head accordingly, with how powerful he felt the directional force.

How are you doing that? Came the hesitant reply. It felt like a shuddering along the connection, with each strand of their weave singing different notes until the message arrived and could be heard.

I found your mind, and made a connection. Zahn released his grip, keeping tabs on his partner’s location through the bizarre pull he’d created. We should be able to talk quietly like this, just focus on talking to me and think. Try not to leak stray thoughts, he amended after a moment. I can’t tell what is and isn’t directed at me.

Their incursion led the pair up the short staircase, silence preceding their stealthy footsteps. Why couldn’t you just use Party Chat like a normal person? The other Player’s whine sounded in Zahn’s ear, making him want to stop and smack him for being so unprofessional.

Clear the channel, he sent back. Operational information only. I saw two other minds, I can’t tell which or either is the target.

‘The target’, Ethan griped back. Listen to you, acting so tough. He’s my minion, I can tell where he is. He’s ah. The Warlock gestured towards the left, waving his arm uncertainly. That way.

Rolling his eyes, Zahn caught a glimpse of something out of the corner and nearly jumped. He pushed more mana into his face, feeling the enriched cells drink up the power greedily before his Ability grew to full strength. The longer hallway lit up with his magic, displaying the enchantments in plain view. A half-dozen doors stood on each side with abundant space between them, the pairs of doors off-set from one another. If he had to measure the distance, it looked like this wing of the Collisae was half as long as the Fodder cages, unless the hidden rooms revealed greater depths.

Through the first door on the right, he could clearly see a sitting person maybe a dozen feet on the other side outlined in beautiful green plated armor. The figure was complete with green bands around the arms and legs, gloves and boots capping the ends of heavily enchanted gear that practically begged to be taken. The set looked a bit short for Zahn, but it might fit Ethan if the other Player ever tried to leave this place.

He was about to turn and mention the find to the blond when it shifted, an arm rising to scratch at the hidden figure’s face. Zahn’s eyes grew wide as he realized the form was occupied and only hadn’t looked like a person because whoever it was had no apparent use for their mana. Without a body populated by at least some of the glowing magic, his enhanced vision was useless for detecting them.

Ethan tapped his shoulder at the pause, silently gesturing towards the first door they’d stopped at. Something back there? You said two minds.

Yup, found him, Zahn tried to send a composed mental voice across. He’s wearing green plated armor, bands on his limbs. Looks tough, doesn’t use mana.

Fuck me, the blond nudged him from behind again. Get moving! That’s fuckin’ Three, he’s the only one with no magic anything. Four has elements in his hammer, Five does something to up his speed. We do not want that dude finding us here.

Scuttling along, Zahn tried to calm his pounding heart and stay in the tricky Stealth crouch. It was much easier to drop into the correct posture with increased stats, and remembering the brief jaunt through Tutorial City made him cringe at the memory. They neared the last set of doors, more than halfway down the hall when the other Player needlessly grabbed at him once again.

Stop, he’s here. Behind the door. Ethan pressed both palms and his ear to the wood, recklessly exposing himself to any trap laid behind.

Zahn grabbed at the Warlock far too late and tugged him away, listening intently for any alarm or trap that would go off. The world remained quiet, without even the strange thing behind his ear going off. Glaring at the blond, Zahn tried for a louder mental voice. Are you trying to get yourself killed? Don’t you know the first thing about hostile bases and doors?

The intimidation seemed successful, leaving Ethan holding both sides of his head and squinting at the ground. A moment later he snapped upright, staring right past the irate Custom as he twisted his head at strange angles and nearly crossed his eyes from furrowing his brow so hard.

Zahn chanced a glance behind the strange display as he felt the tingle go off behind his ear yet failed to locate any kind of puppeteer forcing his behavior. What are you even doing?

Shh, Ethan waved him aside and continued twisting his head around to strange angles. I picked him up for a moment, but you were talking over him. I’m trying to listen.

Zahn bent to inspect the handle, finding it locked and no sign of a key. His magic sight did show something circular lay within the room beyond, as well as a number of small things that looked to be stacked on the left wall. The circle showed its edge, but the insides remained as dark and mysterious as the depths of the lock itself. I don’t suppose you have any means to pick a lock? He sent to his partner only to find the other Player continued his dance for reception.

Turning back to the door with a small sigh, Zahn tried to puzzle out a solution when the door’s frame jumped out at him. The strong stone framework was pleasing to look at, and placing a palm flat against the faded paint felt warm and welcoming underneath. If it wasn’t for his forced tenure within these walls, this particular hallway would make Zahn want to stay and compete, perhaps take time off epic quests to grow as a fighter.

If you’re going to take the door off, make sure you have somewhere to put it. Ethan had a different idea, as the blond tuned back into the world and gave his two cents. It doesn’t look like it has much room to fall, but you can’t be too careful. In fact, can’t you just shape around the lock instead of taking the whole door off?

Zahn grouchily brushed at the Warlock, trying to keep his own reaction muffled in the quiet hallway. Shut it! I hadn’t even said a word about using Shape on anything, and here you go on and on about what I should be doing with it! Shut up! Giving the admonished Player a final glare, the Custom turned back to the door and pushed mana into the frame where it sat nearest the handle. Once he saw it filled the surrounding area above and below he whispered out his spell and slid the door open. “Shape.” The spell took hold and at his tugging, parted the rock holding it in place as if it were made of clay.

Stepping lightly as they crouched along, it took Zahn’s eyes a moment to adjust from the lit hall to the dark room as Ethan shuffled past and fell to his knees at the edge of the circle. “Ah, what did they do to you?” The blond’s whisper was filled with suffering as he knelt and peered into the magical trap.

Pulling the door closed behind them and letting his eyes adjust, Zahn flicked his wrist to tell the still-active spell to go back to its original shape before walking over to the circle. From what he could see, it looked like a dim shape vaguely coping Iengoris had been dropped into the middle of the magical void. The shape didn’t contain any mana, nor did anything inside the circle seem to touch the mana realm at all. “Are you sure that’s even him?”

After having ignored its master’s call, the little demon’s eyes snapped open to give the Custom an angry red glare. “Of course it’s me, fucktard,” the little voice growled out as it gasped a wheezing breath. Standing to its knees took visible effort, making the master and minion a bizarre pair as they knelt staring at one another.

“What did they do?” Ethan’s tear-filled whisper rasped out again as he struggled to stay composed and Zahn tried to get a better look around the room.

“Drained my mana. They have a lot of traps, this room was ready for me. I got into the office first though, so half-win? He just doesn’t keep the Roster there, was the rub.”

“How did they catch you?” The blond’s efforts to keep whispering were about all he could manage, seeing his battered minion through eyes only a parent could.

The little imp smirked, showing its few remaining teeth. It lifted its right arm to rub at its face, only to find the paw missing entirely. Trying with its left, the demon found the one remaining claw enough to tend to its latest itch. “Dropped a fake. Looked like the right kind of book, but as soon as I touched the thing it blasted me backwards and into this here trap. It’s been draining my mana for days, and I’ve been compelled to speak whenever the Ringmaster asks me a question.” Iengoris smirked again, “So I’ve been answering in demonic. Technically obeying the compulsion, see? But then they brought in this yellow-robed fella.” It trailed off, its gaze wandering from its master to the closed door.

Zahn listened to their exchange, his recently increased Perception allowing him to easily keep up as he explored the room. Several cages lined the wall on the right, each lined with something silvery that seemed to drink in the dim light the circle gave off. A large table took up the far wall, covered in various bent and twisted metal tools save a single area covered in black stains with deep gouges in the wood.

Leaving the torture table behind, the Custom finally settled on what had looked like stacked magic earlier and found dozens of drawers stacked within a bookshelf. The imp continued its story behind him, making concentrating on the titles of what books did reside difficult. The dark room was hard to see through, but with the circle trap in the middle of the room the light shining through its lines and runes were enough to make out words. More than one cover was written in a blocky language with elegant swirls without any common translation.

“He shot me with lightning. Stabbed me over on the table. I kept regenerating, thanks to our little sessions.” It coughed and tried to smile at its own pain, “Lucky me. Because of all that effort we put into my body, I healed pretty quick as long as I still had mana. Each time he took me out to stab me, I started to heal up again. Trying to burn me helped, grew back an ear like that.”

Opening the drawers containing magical objects, Zahn found magical teeth infused with white veins through the ivory. The lines ended at a joined point towards the tips, breaking down into more and more smaller and smaller paths until they came back together in bundles that followed the roots. Tuning the magic fang over in his hand, he saw the silver mana inside the tooth glitter in his sight like fish scales in a river.

“He started freezing me. Froze my limbs then broke them, froze my fingers and cracked ‘em with hammers. Plucked them off with his knife, knuckle by knuckle. He said he’d be back, that-”

“Will you stop fucking looting!” Ethan whirled on Zahn from his knees, hissing his shout as he tried to keep the volume low. “Can’t you hear the horrors he went through? The poor thing, how could we have.”

Zahn eyed the Warlock over his shoulder, sending the message through their link. He’s just a demon summon dude. In fact, it would be pretty easy for us to just dismiss him and re-summon at this point. He’ll be fine, it’s all about how you shape him. Speaking out loud, he gestured at the remaining drawers unlooted. “I’m seeing some magic in here. I say we stuff our bags while we’re here.”

Ethan’s mouth worked silently as his minion coughed out a rough laugh. “Most things in there are experimental torture tools. Grind this up and mix with the essence of that, pack it into the wound and see what happens. If the things aren’t toxic on their own, then they mix well into things that are.”

“So,” Zahn tried to keep his voice low as he remembered his lessons in chemistry back from college, “You’re saying we have magical solvents and toxins? My bag is nearly empty, don’t mind if I do.”

“We don’t have time,” the Warlock finally returned to his senses and gestured at his minion. “Finish quickly, we need to get him out and get back past Three. He can’t catch us here.”

“Obviously,” Zahn muttered as he closed another drawer. Counting the largest among the fangs, he’d also snagged four thick sticks that reminded him of cinnamon and pulsed red. From the third drawer he’d plucked four rocks with swirling purple mana inside and from the fourth he’d pocketed a length of what felt like Monster hair that continued to shine with dull golden light. Turning back to the circle, he found the Magi rune for “contain” written upside-down and inverted on the outer circle. “Huh. Move, move.”

Ethan fell back on his heels and rose unsteadily, wobbling over to listen at the door again as Zahn stepped around the spell circle. The runes were relatively simple as written, but he couldn’t tell in what order they were meant to be read or why half were inverted. The outer circle was unbroken and nearly five feet across, with an inner circle with the two separated by a seven pointed star. The star’s broad arms each contained a rune at the point as it neared the outer ring, but had two runes as the lines neared the inner ring. The fifteen symbols were almost universally themed around control and containment, but he read references to both demons and angels that seemed inactive. No matter how much mana he pushed towards his face and no matter how much it felt like he was going to burn himself from the flowing heat he couldn’t see an iota of light within the outer blue ring.

“Looks like you’re going to shit yourself there Hoss. And be staring into the moon while it happens, you trying to push telescopes out those peepers?” The demon’s taunts were distracting, but not enough to ruin the escape attempt.

Zahn summoned his Grimoire, flipping past his spells to find a blank page and began to trace the shape. At first nothing happened, making him feel stupid and almost reach for his map before an idea bubbled to the surface. He pushed mana through his finger like a pen bearing lava and stabbed at the page, successfully leaving a mark. Finding the right amount of force and flow of power took a few tries, but the broad strokes of the spell circle were dense enough to take several strokes anyways.

Copying the shapes and runes as they were exactly into his book took time, and by the time he finished Ethan sat with his back to the door bearing a panicked expression.

“Well?”

Zahn shook his head, seeing the page refusing to populate with more information as it had with his spells. He felt he’d copied the shapes faithfully, even as the pattern spilled over the crease and took up the bulk of two pages the remaining blank space refused to gain more text in any language and help explain the spell. “No, no there’s more to it. That didn’t work.”

The panicked Player hissed from his seat, gesturing at his minion. “Well do something that does work! We need to go! This is taking too damn long!”

Giving the listless imp another glance, Zahn shrugged and pushed mana through his legs into the stone floor. “Well, okay.” Watching the power pool and waiting until he had enough for both spells, he nodded and slashed with a flat hand. “Sever.” The spell cut straight through the ground and broke the circle cleanly. The resigned demon perked up and looked around with bright red eyes. Shooing the minion towards its master, Zahn waited for it to clear the circle before gesturing one more. “Seal.”

The ground groaned as the stone blocks grated against one another before re-forming into an undisturbed floor once more. Both Ethan and his summon gave the same wide-eyed glare at Zahn during the noise, feeling the vibration through the floor as much as hearing it. He caught their glares and shrugged again, trying to brush it off. “First time trying that. Now I know better.”

The imp dropped its head into the remaining paw, shaking it as they all heard a hard stomping down the hallway. The glowing green mannequin clearly formed in Zahn’s view, its steps hard and firm as it paced the distance to the far end and opened a door, stepping through. When they heard the same door close solidly, the intruders sprang into action.

Ethan tugged at the locked door and half-whined before Zahn stepped up and pushed him aside. Slapping the doorframe and pushing mana into it, he slid the locking bolt out from the rock and opened the door easily once more. The trio shuffled past and he closed the door, repairing his influence, before they scuttled towards the exit at top speed.

It wasn’t until they reached the stairs that Zahn voiced his first objection. “So, what’s our game-plan here? Demon out on the pit?”

Iengoris hissed at him from its master’s shoulder, as Ethan struggled to formulate an answer. “Maybe, ah, could you make another dirt blob? Hide him?”

They found the metal doors, closed tightly and blocking out the sunlight. “That guy is fully three-dimensional, sorry. Great. Now what?”

Tugging at the locked doors left Ethan scowling again, pacing across the short hall. “We can’t just stop now. They’ve had him for days, who knows what they want to do next. Nevermind if they catch us in here.”

“I dunno, we could probably bluff just ourselves,” Zahn thought out loud as he tried to come up with a plan. He was confident he could Shape the stone around the door hinges, but that would rule out any kind of stealth approach.

“No, see, I’ve heard a lot of things,” the little demon tried to bargain for its life. “I came in through the window, right? I listened outside the office for hours, I know for certain what they plan. Their master is striking you from the fights for a year, and you’ll be sent to captivity during each match so you can’t interfere. You are hardly more than a prisoner, now.”

Zahn felt his heart pound as he tried to keep a straight face, picturing the shackles in the Fodder hallway all too clearly. “Then why haven’t I been treated like that yet? They’re just letting us train, letting Two train me.”

The imp’s face spread in another smile, displaying its partially-grown teeth nubs. “See? I know all kinds of things. Gladiator Two’s little game with you ends at the match, and now that you’re banned you’ll be pulled before it even starts. I couldn’t find the Roster to change it again, it wasn’t in his office or any of the rooms I got into.”

Ethan reached up and patted his minion on his shoulder, his pacing crossing the area easily. “Hush now, you’re repeating yourself. Just recover.”

The sound of heavy footsteps approached once more, this time slowly and deliberately. From what Zahn could hear, it sounded like whoever it was had a keyring and was checking each door one at a time.

“Okay we are seriously running out of time. What can he do? Where can he go?” Zahn reached over and gripped the little beast, pushing mana down his arm. “Can you turn into smoke or something? That’s related to Fire right?”

The greedy demon sucked in the power, driving a channel of cold right up the Player’s arm into his chest. “Not… exactly…” It dragged out its words, eyes rolling on the power intake. “You see, the first time? I crawled around. On the outside. I don’t, exactly. Teleport.”

Dropping the imp with a huff, Zahn shook his hand as he tried to work feeling back into it. “So you’ve got nothing. And you?” Turning his glare on the master, he found Ethan flipping through his Grimoire’s pages frantically. “Didn’t think so.”

The Warlock tapped at the pages, stopping at one and gesturing. “Wait, wait, maybe.” He looked around again, his eyes flickering towards the approaching steps more than once. “No.”

Zahn spun and grabbed the demon again, tossing it from its master’s shoulder towards the steps. “We take the easy solution then.”

“No! No, c'mon please.” Ethan jumped between them, forgetting to keep his voice a whisper as he raised both hands. “Please, please don’t come on, I just got him back.”

“Buddy,” Zahn tried to keep his own voice low as he heard another door close, steps coming ever closer. “They’ll see him. More than that, even if we hide him today? They know he exists. They’ll find him.”

The other Player met his eyes, tears hanging in his own, his voice unable to rise above a whisper. “I just got him back.”

“Iengoris,” Zahn intoned as he held a palm out towards the little thing. The imp shuddered, jumping in place and grabbing at its belly.

“No, no no that’s not fair. You can’t!” Its gravely voice rose in panic, unable to stop the banishment on its own.

“Iengoris,” the Custom repeated. He could see the swirling blue within the little puppet dance and jump, seeming to tug like the beckoning of a fisherman through the thing’s body. “Iengoris.” Speaking the name a third time seemed to trigger a response, as the red eyes opened wide before the little body folded in on itself and vanished with a quiet pop.

Ethan fell to his knees again, staring at the ground listlessly. From behind him, a heavily armored man stomped down each step and found them as he hefted his too-large two-sided axe.

“And just wot are you doin’ in here?”