I rose to my feet and ran toward the center of the stadium. I could feel the new bulge in my thighs. I was faster, heavier, more formidable. Level 20 strength was a major improvement. I felt like a blur as I kicked up sand toward the creature. It wrapped up Mia in a bear hug of wings and I leaped. I clocked him right in the side of the head with a thwack that echoed off the stadium walls. Mia dropped to the ground and scrambled back over toward her protectors. I landed and turned back to see the Shade shake his head from side-to-side flinging snot from his nostrils. With a screech, his face opened up, and spit flew at me.

I swung again and hit it in the throat. He stopped his screeching immediately and grabbed his throat with both hands. I noticed he had a third forearm bone on each arm. They were external bones with a gap between them and his forearm. They reentered the skin at the elbow and wrist. He stood upright and I was face to stomach with him. So, I swung for his gut.

His tail snatched me up then and I hung upside down looking at his secondary shin bones. They were also external but extended above the knees ending in points. His flesh was like blackened liquid metal but scared and peeled like a burn victim. He raised me higher until I hung upside down in front of his face. I could tell by staring into his black eyes I had managed to make him livid. He smacked me off the ground like a hammer.

I tried to breathe but I was like a fish out of water. My mouth and eyes were wide, my chest heaving but no air coming in. I swung my fists helplessly. He lifted me and smacked me off the hard ground again. Then he dropped me on the ground and placed one foot on my legs. It felt like a truck had backed over them. I sat bolt upright, and he pushed me back down by my head and lowered his face until he was nose to nose with me. Then a single talon sank through my chest into the ground and sliced downward to my hip. As I began to pass out again, I swear starfish face smiled at me.

Fourth descent 1450 exp.

Level 9 reached

When I reanimated in the sand again Mia was squatting over me. “Thank you.” She cried. She kissed my cheek. “I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” This had been my best reawakening yet coming back from the pit. Her green eyes were as warm as the sunrise and her nearness was its warmth. So, I’m not a poet shoot me. I’m just saying out of all the torment I felt over the last day this was the salve to my wounds.

“You saved me.” She had a single tear roll down her face. I wanted to brush it off. I wanted to kiss her again. “I just want to go home.” She tucked her head to her knees. I looked around to the others crowded against the walls and wondered how long they had been in this place. How many of them had families? I remembered Mia’s father. He had been so distrusting. Was he thinking I had done something to his daughter?

“I’m going to get you home Mia.” I sat up and brushed the sand off my back. How long was I gone?”

“What?”

“How long was I in the pit this time?”

She brushed the tears from her face. “I don’t know fifteen minutes. You made that thing really mad. It ripped you to pieces when it was done and threw your body parts at us.” Then it killed Jed but didn’t even feed on him. Just pulled his guts out for us to watch.”

“Yeah well, I think they will only get more irritated before I get us out of here. Listen when I tell you, you need to get the others to help me. Do you think you can do that? Help me kill these things?”

“We can’t kill them. Are you crazy?”

“Getting there yes. Just talk to them o.k.” I risked a kiss on her soft cheek, she did not resist. I walked over to the wall again and spent my three points on another point of strength. I felt the exhaustion wash over me again and took a glance at my data pad before my eyes rolled closed.

Orc

Pug

Pig Face

Level 9

Strength: 21

Dexterity: 10

Charisma: 5

Intelligence: 18

Manna: 5

Constitution: 14

Perception: 14

Exp: 9125

Soul Points: 0

Skills: Furious Feline: cost 2 mana,

Dex: +3, Claws, time: 1 hour

Carapace Skin: +4 Constitution,

Cost: 2 Mana, time: 1 hour

Phantom Cloak: Cover a target area of three-square meters for 7 minutes (Stage 2)

Cost: 2 Mana

Coin:

Nightmares filled my sleeping mind. The sounds of screams in the pit. The stench of the Shade. Warm blood pouring over me. I chased after Mia trying to save her only to see her torn to pieces before I reached her. I dreamt I was standing beside my cruiser holding my gun out watching the man with the three nasty teeth again. He had a gun held to a little girl's head. Her hazel eyes cut through my soul as she pleaded with me to save her. His car was flipped over on the side of the highway and gas was pouring out onto the pavement. I just had to stall him for a few more minutes and wait for the backup to arrive. His hand was shaking, and his finger was on the trigger. I couldn’t wait. I had to take the shot.

I awoke at the shriek it had already been two hours. This time it was one of the big ones. It was looking right at me.