An Unlikely Friend. part 1

Chapter 22: The Games

All but Nero jump in unison. “Yeah!”

“Let’s go,” Sosimo and Thea say at the same time.

“Jinx!” Thea says quickly. “I got you!” She says as she points at Sosimo and runs in place.

“How do I play?”

“You can’t talk.” Thea runs over and punches Sosimo in the leg. Her hand crumples and she holds it up. “Ahh,” and falls to the ground.

“Are you okay Thea?”

Korbin shakes his head while looking down at her. “She’s dead. I’ve seen this before. Once when an enemy punched Captain Konquer in the stomach, he flexed, and it sent a shockwave through the guy’s body and killed him. Killed him just like that.” He snaps his fingers

“Is that so?” Sosimo reaches down and picks her up by the armpits. He tries to set her on her feet but her legs remain limp. Eventually her head rolls to the side and her tongue comes out.

“I’m telling you, she’s deader than a slug in an oven. There is no hope.”

“I can see that but we can’t leave her here.” He throws her over his shoulder. “Maybe we can feed her to Testrel.”

Thea starts squirming. “No Mr. Sosimo, I’m alive. I was just joking.”

Sosimo sets her down. “That’s good because I don’t think you would’ve been very tasty.”

“You wouldn’t really feed me to it would you?”

He pats her head. “No Thea, I was just joking. Let’s go.”

Sosimo pushes into the flow of people and the children fight to stay in his collapsing wake. They reach the large steps of the museum, which Nero limps up, and then through the double doors that make even the Borukins look small. There is a short entryway lined with statues of vicious creatures. Sharp claws, horrible teeth, spikes poke from every part of the statues’ bodies, and snarls that look as though the creatures will spring to life at any moment, force the children to shrink away.

Sosimo signals to them with his arms as they walk through the entrance. “These are the main creatures the Borukin warrior goes up against in the current form of the Trial of Orinda”

“Are these real monsters?” Korbin asks.

“No Korbin. Unfortunately they are just creatures that have been turned into something violent. In their natural environment they’d probably leave you alone… Except that one,” Sosimo says as he points to a large bat creature the size of the children. Its wings are spread and its mouth is open in a snarl, showing sharp seriated teeth. “They’re called Shirako bats and are found at the edges of the Tenebrous Miasma. They’re pack hunters and they’ll attack virtually anything. They circle about you and snip at you until you bleed enough to pass out…”

Sosimo hurries them through one of many revolving doors to the main chamber that expands high and far in every direction. The magnificence of the stonework and the high dome are quickly diminished by the gruesome decor. The paintings hanging below the curve of the dome are of individual Borukins covered in gore as they battle monsters. Their expressions are wild and overcome by their lust for battle as they wade through the death they had wrought. Along the perimeter of the floor, is a dotting of statues where life sized Borukins are locked in eternal combat.

Iona blinks her eyes as her vision begins to turn red. She nearly runs into Sosimo when he stops abruptly. The corners of his mouth turn down and a toothpick in his mouth snaps. The children look at him for several moments until he finally speaks.