Krinor urged the pair of humans to keep up with him.

“Come, we’ll watch the next trial and I’ll answer some of the questions I know you’ll have, this way”

The trio seemed to attract a few stares as they moved through what could only be described as a shanty town. Huts, poorly constructed from the woodland’s red wood (not the Californian one’s mind you), tied together with vines and other plant material. There was little rhyme or reason to the huts placement, each just built wherever there was room to spare. The exception to this was a straight path which let up to the domed ring, which they now used. Krinor nodded in greeting to a few other Maheets. He broke the silence between the three,

“Every three day cycles a new planet is beset upon by the pyramid of blood, taking a portion of its sapient occupants and dumping them into the first floor. Today, you have joined us and everyone around us. The stares from others are just curiosity at the next wave of ‘participants’.” He spat out that final word, as if sickened to be saying it. He continued, “Not everyone will have met humans before so expect some curiosity aimed your way. That said, it won’t be long till other humans begin making their way out the woods. There is always a little tension at first from those who’ve just ascended, not realising this place doesn’t require violence.”

Sam and Wei just nodded at that. If Sam hadn’t met these two, he’d be shuffling around in the woods with his hatchet trying to find water, game and build shelter. He’d never have thought there might be settlements here.

“Why are you being so kind and telling us all of this?” Sam chimed in. He wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but Krinor had certainly gone above and beyond for them. He owed them nothing and from what he’d said, he only had a few days left before he was forced into his trial. If the roles were reversed, Sam couldn’t imagine spending his potential last few days doing a Q and A session with people he barely knew.

The Maheet shrugged as the trio reached a watering well, positioned a dozen metres away from the wall of the dome. There were several dotted around the periphery of the dome.

“When I ascended, there was someone there for me, to answer my questions, this is my way of returning the favour.” Krinor bowed his head as he thought, before continuing, “besides, there is only so much you can do around here to prepare”. He gestured towards the well, “there is drinking water here. All settlements are built around locations with a domed trial ring and wells. The settlement wells are also the only place with water on this floor that we know of, so we are forced to congregate”.

Out the corner of his eye, Sam saw a figure appear inside the dome. Yes, appear is the right word. Just like when he’d arrived on the pyramid’s first floor and seen the people materialise out of nothing. Krinor turned to look as well.

“It appears a trial will begin soon.” He stated. Others began crowding around the dome, vying for a good spectator position as other figures materialised inside the dome. Wei walked up and touched the barely visible dome. As his hand pressed against it, the area beneath and around his hand had a blue thrum to it that became visible on contact.

“Shield dome, prevents anyone outside the ring interfering, but also stops anyone form escaping once the trial begins” Krinor spoke softly to the two humans, answering the unasked question.

As others materialised inside the dome, Sam turned and asked, “you mentioned other settlements, what are they like, how many are there?”

Krinor had a small chuckle at that question, “most settlements have a few thousand people and are pretty much the same as this one. As for how many settlements? Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe? No one knows. You could walk in any direction from this settlement and find another easily within half a light cycle, some much closer than that.”

The trio stepped away from the watering well as others took their place. Opting to find a good spot amongst the masses. They settled a few rows back from the dome. Luckily, those in front of them were a small furry species, almost like miniature, bipedal grizzly bears with opposable thumbs. The tallest of them was perhaps 5ft 9” (175cm) and if Sam wasn’t wondering how to kill one of them in unarmed combat, he’d consider them cute.

Just as he had finished eyeing each of the little bear people, Wei spoke up, addressing Krinor, “that’s eight-people materialised, what now?” Sam looked into the arena and saw assembled four of the Maheets, two of the bear people, a tall, snake like scaled humanoid and surprisingly, one human.

Krinor replied, “they’ll begin any second now. A tough group. You’ll tend to find that whichever races are close to the end of their stay allowance will be more prominently represented in the circles. Ha! And a human, I guess some decided waiting around isn’t their idea of fun once they’ve ascended!”

Wei asked the question that Sam had been about to ask, “So who are those other species?”

Krinor glanced over the competitors, “the smaller, furred race is known as the Ungnyon. Not too many of them in the galaxy… shame they got dragged into the pyramid really. The scaled people are the Cecropis, they tend not to mingle with others. They have strange customs, even by galactic standards. Outside of this pyramid, it’d be rare to see one off their home planets”

The contest started and immediately Sam and Wei watched as the four Maheet ignored one another and ripped into the four others. The bear like Ungnyons were clearly tough and held a lot of power in their muscles, but they couldn’t face off against the agile Maheet who had far superior reach.

The scaled Cecropis fared slightly better, keeping the Maheet it faced at bay with its long, slender arms wielding the stone dagger before it, but it was clear to all spectators how one sided the fight was going.

Lastly, was the human man, Caucasian and wielding the dagger with a trained stance. Even from a dozen metres away, Sam could tell he was overwhelmed. Regardless of any combat training, the Maheet were bigger, faster, stronger and frankly, terrifying. The man overextended with a thrust of his knife and the Maheet’s hatchet tore downwards, cutting straight through his wrist. The rest was a simple clean-up.

Sam was battling with the raging emotions inside of him as he witnessed the bloodshed, still trying to come to terms with the change in his immediate reality. just how was everyone around him so… undisturbed? Had these trials truly become such commonplace here? He and Wei shared a glance, if one thing was abundantly clear to the pair, it’s that neither of them would be challenging for ascension whilst the Maheet were still around. Conversely, Sam realised, it seemed like a good tactic to wait until a weaker species was about to expire their stay before challenging ascension, that would make for an easier fight, right? What if he waited even longer? What if Sam waited until it was humans that were at the end of their cycles, surely it would be easier to fight humans than any of these tougher species?

Sam watched as the four remaining Maheet eyed one another warily. Only the one facing the Cecropis had received an injury and even that was a rather light slash to the forearm. Nothing too prohibiting, all things considered.

Sam looked at the other species spectating. Would he really have to wait thirty days, or was there a different, weaker specie he could dominate over?

One of the Maheet lunged at another before stepping back. The female Maheet who’d faced the human, identifiable due to her lack of mane, had feinted an attack to test the others and it had worked. The others clashed in a flurry of swipes and stabs sending one scurrying backwards with a dagger stuck in his shoulder, the offender now left weaponless as the four were back to their stand-off.

Sam couldn’t help but feel waiting out the thirty days was asking for trouble. Krinor had said a new specie arrived every three days and it was seemingly random as to what they’d be. It would be rotten luck if some seriously tough bastards entered the pyramid and decided to wait for the squishy humans to take their trial, knowing they’d be easier to fight. As always, too many variables, Sam sighed.

The crowd around the ring had differing reactions to the blood sport spectacle. Some species jeered and made encouraging noises, others watched in silence such as Sam, Wei and Krinor. Across, on the other side of the ring, Sam spotted a human woman watching him and Wei. Sam gave her a toothy grin in turn.

The Maheet with the blade in his shoulder, given his blood loss, realised time wasn’t on his side and charged the other injured competitor, the one with blood dripping down his forearm. The two met, roaring as they charged and slammed into one another, meeting once more in a flurry of stone weaponry and kicks.

The other two pounced on the fighting pair, the female Maheet hacking with her hatchet whilst the male who’d lost his dagger used his sharp claws to slash into their closest opponent’s backs.

Sam watched the fight descend from a tactical free for all into a vicious, savage scrap. The two injured parties giving up any notion of self-defence as they tore, ripped, bit and slashed at one another with wild abandon. Their chests entirely shredded by one another. Their blood was smeared around them and on one another’s claws. At this point, they looked less like sapient, civilised people and more like what Sam would expect to see on National Geographic.

The other pair, still unharmed, had leapt back as the others fought it out, having no intention of getting injured when those two were willing to do the job for them. They waited and watched as one tore out the others throat before lying in a pool of his own blood, softly whining in agony.

Three alive, only two with a chance of winning. One a female with a hatchet, the other a male with naught but his natural claws and canine teeth. Neither injured, watching and waiting for the other to make a move.

The male Maheet let loose a mighty roar towards the female, loud enough to make Sam put his hands over his ears protectively. It was clearly intended to make his opponent intimidated, it certainly made several spectators nervous.

However, it didn’t seem to faze his opponent in the least. The female smirked and spoke up so that all in attendance could hear, “You know what they say about men that roar the loudest!”

Dozens of spectating Maheet’s broke into fits of laughter in the audience which made the male growl in anger.

The female continued, “Oh, getting angry? It must be true! Your second tail below that loincloth must be small after all!”

All the Maheets around Sam and Wei were laughing now, even Krinor who had been acting rather formally up to this point was struggling to supress a chuckle.

The male roared in fury before charging straight for his opponent, crossing the twenty-metre gap in a time that would give any football coach an erection. He went for a tackle straight into her midsection, slamming her backwards into the side of the dome. The spectators behind the wall flinched before nervously chuckling at their folly.

The female Maheet had hoped to rile up her opponent into making an attack in anger, praying he’d make a mistake for her to capitalise on and oh shit, she’d gotten more than she’d bargained for. She’d prepared for a clawed strike or kick, never had she expected he’d use his brute force to slam her into the dome.

Recovering quickly, she brought down her hatchet into the males exposed back. Over and over, raising it up and slashing downwards into his back. It seemed as if his only saving grace was his thick layers of muscles which prevented the hatched from reaching bone.

Sam noted however, the male hadn’t given up. After slamming her into the dome, he’d set about slashing furiously with both his claws into her body, ripping flesh, stomach, intestines and other unidentifiable body matter from her insides.

Sam muttered to Wei, “fucking hell that’s gory. Who’ll die first? The man getting his back cleaved apart or the woman getting her insides turned out?”

Wei looked as if he were just about to answer when the male slowed and ceased his attacking, dropping to the floor, succumbing to his injuries and losing consciousness. The female stood there for just a moment before collapsing over the male’s body.

The arena went silent. What was happening? Ten seconds must have passed before a bright light shone down and enveloped the victors body.

“haha! Idiots! The pair of them!” Krinor pointed.

“No fucking way” Sam felt like laughing, as sickened as he was by the sight before him, he still appreciated the absurdity of the moment.

Surrounded in bright light, before disappearing, was the downed Maheet from earlier, dismissed as being as good as dead.

“Lucky bastard” Wei agreed.