Chapter 3 -Stone Age

Participant, welcome to the second floor of the Pyramid of Blood. You may stay here for up to thirty day/night cycles before entering the ascension trial. You may attempt the trial at any time by speaking aloud, “I seek ascension”. Ascension will heal any injuries obtained on this floor.

Please select an ascension reward.

Stone dagger Stone hatchet Stone pickaxe

Sam looked around his new environment, crouching, ready for trouble. He was in a woodland area, grass and red pine needles underfoot. Looking upwards, he was surrounded by tall, red trees which reached at least eighty metres upwards, towering above anything he’d seen in person before. Beyond that, above the canopy, a form of artificial light lit up the sky, or roof he imagine it was.

The ground was no longer a single, even plane. Rather, it now held an incline, going downwards in front of him, with rocks strutting out, dotting the landscape. Compared to the first level, this all seemed far more natural.

Sam still had the ascension reward message hovering in front of his vision. He was sorely tempted to select the dagger. If he’d had it previously he would have decimated anyone he’d crossed paths with using sharp, controlled strikes to vital areas. However, the first message said he could be here for up to a month, that implied some sort of survival aspect to this second floor. Additionally, for the first time since arriving in whatever this place was, he realised he was alone, there wasn’t a single person in any direction. Could it be because he was one of the first to ascend? Or perhaps this floor was bigger than the last? No, that didn’t make sense. If this was truly a pyramid and he was ascending within it, each floor had to be smaller than the last. Perhaps he couldn’t see anyone because his field of vision was simply smaller? So many trees meant he could only see a few dozen metres in any direction.

He sighed. So many questions, he thought to himself. He selected the hatchet. It was a compromise which would act as both a survival tool and a weapon. As he did so, a crude stone hatchet materialised before him, floating in front of his chest. The process took only a second before the tool fell to the floor.

He lifted it and brought it to his face, it had a red wooden haft, just enough for a hand and half to rest on it. It didn’t take a genius to realise it was likely crafted out of the same wood that surrounded him on all sides. The head was made of stone, about an inch thick at the butt and sharp at the blade, enough so that he could use it to shave if he wanted. The head wasn’t entirely smooth rock, but it would do. He swung it across his body and nodded. It would do indeed.

Sam would much prefer to be back in his car right now, the radio’s music choices didn’t seem all that bad anymore. Funny that, he’d always found it took a really shit day to make you realise that overall, life wasn’t bad at all.

As his adrenaline wore off, his emotions started to seep back through him. Jake. He’d killed the boy. Sam sank to his knees and for the first time since he’d taken his new military post, he wept. He cried over the lives he’d taken, over Jake, who in his final moments of life had asked him for help and he’d killed him because it was the path of least resistance. Why did he have to be like this? Why did he become such a heartless bastard? He knew why, it was a coping mechanism, his way of dealing with his actions, simply severing the emotional ties rather than facing them, yet that answer wasn’t sufficient.

If any army psychologist knew of his condition, he’d be relieved of duty immediately, so he’d bottled it all up and now… now it was his demon to bear as he moved forwards.

He took a few minutes to collect himself, breathing deeply to calm himself. Think, back to priorities.

If he’d be here for a while, it was time to secure the basics. Water, shelter and food. Then he’d seek out any clues there might be regarding the ‘ascension trial’. Water was normally easy to find, especially in a forest and he was beginning to feel dehydrated. All that combat had really taken it out of him. He calmed himself, survival 101. Close your eyes and just listen, he thought, you could normally hear running water from a few kilometres away. As Sam followed the advice a survival instructor had once drilled into him, he knit his brows in frustration. He couldn’t hear much at all. No running water and no chirping of birds. How... disturbing it felt. There was only the faintest of a breeze rustling through the leaves and… There! Voices.

They were coming from directly in front of him. Just down the slope a little, perhaps a hundred metres away at most? He crouched and moved silently, watching the ground for twigs or anything that might give his position away as he held the hatchet in his right hand.

He looked over a small, rocky outcrop. Perhaps five metres below and a dozen paces away, a small Asian man was crouched, holding a stone dagger in his hand, pointing it towards…

Sam did a double take and only some well-honed recon skill prevented him from exclaiming out. Just what they hell was that thing? In front of the human, was something distinctly not human. Was it a lion? No, it stood on two feet with hands, or claws? It held itself upright with a straight back and a tail swinging between its legs. Its toned, muscular torso, hips and legs were all humanoid, clearly designed for bipedal movement rather than traversing on all fours. Sam presumed this lion…man… thing was male, it had a mane after all which came down to its neck and sitting atop its shoulders was the head of a lion. Its gaze was proud as it looked at the man standing before him, clearly not threatened in the least by the dagger aimed at him.

Most of all however, it was the beings’ overall majesty that Sam was dumfounded by. It held itself with such confidence, a true sight to behold. In its claws it held a stave, it looked to be a branch from one of the huge red trees overhead that he’d carved for himself. As if the moment couldn’t get any weirder, the lionman spoke in a deep, surly voice,

“put you weapon down, human. There is no purpose towards violence here. Save it for your trial.”

The Asian man’s eyes went wide and replied,” How do I know you aren’t a threat?”

Sam had watched as the man had replied, attempting to lipread in case he wouldn’t have heard clearly from his distance. Huh, that was most certainly odd, he realised. This Asian guy clearly hadn’t spoken in English based on his lip movement, yet Sam had heard him speak clearly doing so. And this lionman, he had spoken English too? Was there some language translator at play? Must be.

The lionman snorted and waved a paw in the direction he came from, “Oh, and why would I kill you, human? What would I have to gain? I presume you’ve just ascended, yes? Consider this area relatively safe. Until you take your trial, you probably won’t have to fight. Now, if you’re willing to put away the weapon I’ll lead you to the nearest settlement.”

Sam’s ears perked up at that. A settlement? Here in this place that he’d witnessed nothing but death for as long as he’d been here? The Asian man looked torn at first, then with a resigned sigh he tucked his dagger into his belt and walked forward with a hand outstretched.

“Sorry for starting off poorly. Let’s start over, my name is Wei.”

The lionman just looked at the outstretched arm incredulously, clearly not understanding the gesture, but responded in kind, putting out a hand as well, parallel to Wei’s. For a moment there was a silent awkwardness as the two of them stood there, hands outstretched, the lionman not understanding what he was doing. Wei, for his part, looked suitably embarrassed, thinking himself silly for not considering his actions.

“Ah, apologies, this is a greeting. We shake hands like this at home”. As he turned and clasped his hand into the large paw. The lionman clearly found it rather funny.

“Ha! What an odd thing to do, what if you had something unpleasant on your hands? Well met, Wei of the humans. I am known to my people as Krinor of Maahet”.

“Maahet? Is that your race? Or species?” Wei asked, curiosity evident in his tone.

Krinor looked surprised at the question, “you’ve never met a Maahet before? It is my understanding my species has evolved independently on multiple planets, just like you humans. You’ve never met one of us?”

Both Wei and Sam had their mouths agape at that piece of information. Wei instantly replying, “Wait, there are other planets with humans on them!?”

“Well not entirely the same, but genetically close enough for you to be considered the same species. For example, there are the tall humans with the pointy ears on Mindoor, The humans with purple skin and eyes on Avlonder, those with no hair and webbed fingers on Alduin.” Sam smirked at that last one as he heard it. Webbed fingers? We just call them the Welsh, he silently chuckled to himself.

Krinor saw the expression on Wei’s face before continuing, “you truly did not know this? Does your planet not trade with other human planets? It is to my understanding that humans prefer trading with their own…”

Wei opened his mouth to ask another question before just closing it again, lost for words. After a moment he said to Krinor, “My planet, Earth, does not trade with other planets. Until today we were not even aware life existed outside Earth.”

Now it was Krinor’s turn to look surprised. “Truly? That is odd, human. What backwater of the galaxy is this Earth located in? Oh, forget it, you won’t know galactic coordinates will you.”

Sam had heard enough of this conversation to suss out that it was unlikely violence would ensue, he stood up and brushed himself off and called down to them,

“Hey fellas, I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation…”

He was cut off as Wei turned towards him, drawing his dagger in a smooth action.

“Easy there Wei, I’m not looking for trouble. If what Krinor here says is the truth, it’d be meaningless if one of us were to die.” Sam spoke slowly and what he hoped was soothingly.

Wei looked a little put out that Sam knew his name but decided not to comment. Sam took the opportunity to continue.

“as I was saying, as fascinating as all this interplanetary chat is, I heard you mention a settlement and I’m dying of thirst. Oh, I’m Sam by the way, pleasure to meet ya”

Krinor perked an eyebrow at that, or what Sam assumed was the equivalent gesture, as the Maahet realised Sam had been listening in for far longer than was previously implied.

He nodded slowly, “Yes, come then.”

He moved off as Sam and Wei stepped in beside him as he moved. Wei tucked the dagger back into his belt line, seemingly getting over Sam’s presence rather quickly. Wei turned to Sam and said, “That first floor was pretty brutal”. It was a statement, but he recognised the question behind it, probing for information.

Sam just nodded in reply. If Wei had questions, he could come out and ask them, not pussyfoot around the issue. Instead, he turned his focus to Krinor,

“Hey Krinor, you mentioned the ascendance trial, do you know what it is?”. Out the corner of his eye he saw Wei was listening intently, as if afraid he’d miss something important.

Krinor, for his part, didn’t even blink at the question. “Yes, I have spent 28 light cycles here, preparing for my trial. I have witnessed hundreds as you can spectate from any settlement as you wish. We are almost there, you will see for yourself.”

It was clear their escort was getting tired of all the questioning and so Wei and Sam reluctantly bit their tongues against further queries. They walked in silence for 10 minutes before they noticed a clearing up ahead, the trees parting before them into a wide valley floor.

Thousands of people, or beings, Sam supposed, were in the valley, some standing out in the open, others huddled around fireplaces and wooden huts. Sam and Wei just stood there in a mutual stunned silence for a moment. Krinor just glanced back in their direction before huffing,

“I suppose that’s what happens when you have never met a new species before and you suddenly have this thrown at you”.

Sam just tried to take it all in, his eyes darted around, looking at all the… variety. Some had scales; tails, horns, fur, pincers, claws or chitin. The only commonality he noticed was that everyone he could see was bipedal.

Krinor pointed to the centre of the settlement with his stave, a place with no huts. Instead it had a large ring, probably with a diameter of twenty metres or so. Reflecting in the light, there appeared to be an almost translucent dome over the ring.

“There, that is the trial. Eight enter and fight to the death, one ascends.”