I will never take food for granted ever again. Burgers disappeared into my mouth and after about nine cheeseburgers, I finally started to feel satisfied and refreshed. My body seemed to fill my suit properly and colour returned to my once decayed skin. Bennie's Bean had the best burgers in Cross County and I don't think I would rather have a first meal anywhere else. Megan hadn't taken her eyes off of me since I emerged from the ground, nor has she said a word beside my name. I barely remember getting to the restaurant, besides sitting down and ordering more food than I think either of us had the money for. I was in a suit that was covered in dirt and grime and I could still feel the soil trapped at the tip of my shoe. It was one of the few things I could feel at the moment, I'm pretty sure I have Rigor mortis and my body isn't handling the sudden need to move very well but the food was helping. I called the waitress back again and ordered another burger, she looked at me with horrified eyes but took the order down and walked away. Meg just stared at me, lost for words.
"Do you want a bite?" I asked her.
That knocked her to her senses. She slammed a knife off the side of a table and grabbed it in midair. She inches away from my face on the table with the knife's tip jamming at the base of my throat, I didn't even see her move. "Who the hell are you?"
No one seemed to even notice the redhead pointing the knife at my throat, which means she was using her powers to make the people around us see whatever she wanted them to. I wanted to be afraid, but I didn't have the energy. "It's me. I mean you saw me crawl out of my grave."
"I've seen a lot of things, this wouldn't be the weirdest thing I've seen."
"A lot, it's been like half a day or something since I died but clearly that didn't stop you from putting me in the ground." That statement seemed to infuriate her more.
"Who are you?" Her voice filled with rage.
"Megan, it's me."
"Prove it." She pressed the knife deeper into my neck, breaking the skin. Dark black coagulated blood dribbled onto the blade followed by a brighter red.
My brain was slowly thinking through anything that I could. "Uh, let me think."
"Three," She started the tip pressed harder.
"Our first kiss." I blurted. She took a pause, the force alleviated off my neck.
"Talk before I lose interest."
"It was what, a month or something into us dating. We were having a picnic in the park and it was going to hell, a bird took a sandwich, we were in the middle of an argument and it started raining. We decided to head back, it was so silent even with the sound of the rain and it was unnerving. Halfway to your house I stopped and kissed you. For a second you just made a face, then you started laughing. I asked why and you said-"
"You're just an idiot, that's all." She whispered, dropping the knife and wrapping her arms around me. My heart sunk in her arms, I felt safe for the first time since I was in Heaven.
"Is that good enough proof for you?" I asked her, holding her tightly.
She pushed off of me and looked me in the eyes, they dazzled with happiness before she threw a punch straight at my jaw. I fell to the floor hard on my side, bringing down a burger with me. "How the hell are you here?"
"That is a long story," I said as I held my cheek in pain. As I said that a hum went off from Meg's pocket, she grabbed her phone and froze.
"It's Stephy. She's going to freak out when I tell her." She said as she picked up the phone.
"Wait, don't mention me. Don't tell her." I said, she looked at me with confusion, suddenly she was having trouble making sentences. I got up from my seat and grabbed another burger.
"Stephanie! Hey, you. What a surprise. What's up?" She started, she wasn't doing well to "Actually, I need to tell you something. I saw Oliver today," My heart stopped, it just wasn't the right time to tell her. Especially with what I needed to do. I begged her, clasping my hands into each other. "and someone spray painted 'murderer' on the back of his tombstone." I sighed hard as "Yup, super dead. Besides that, I'm glad you're going on a mission. Hell, even leaving the island. Tell me about it afterwards okay. I have to get back to doing my thing. Talk soon." She hung up the phone and sat back against her seat.
"Thank you."
"You need to start explaining a lot right now."
So, I did. Everything from my death to crawling out of my grave. She looked at me in disbelief the whole time, I mean I would too if I was just told Heaven and Hell existed and that my ex went to both. "Do you understand now? Why I don't want to let her know I'm alive just yet."
"Deals with the Devil, Heaven and Hell, Eliza Rhodes. This is insane." She combed through her curls. "You're telling me that if you die, you'll go straight to Hell regardless of what you do, even if you kill Eliza Rhodes who is apparently alive."
"It's a lot to take in I know, but I need to get this done in one year and nine months or Lucifer is going to drag me to hell regardless of how close I am."
"So, what's your plan then?" She asked.
"Find and kill Eliza Rhodes."
She placed her face into her hands. "Of course, you don't have a real plan. At least tell me you have a lead."
I thought for a second and remembered what my dad showed me. "I have one actually. You."
"You'll need to clarify."
"While I was in Heaven, I asked my dad about how he died. He has no idea who killed him or much of anything from, but he drew the only thing he could remember from that day and it was that tattoo you have."
"How are your dad and Eliza connected."
"I have no idea, but Lucifer said that my dad gave me my first lead and this was all I could think of."
She reached behind her shoulder touching the place the symbol lay. "Okay, I guess we can work with that." From beside her, she pulled her laptop and placed it on the mess that was on the table. She had put up new decals on the back, a sticker of The Foxhole logo, a postcard-type sticker saying Welcome to Vancouver and a few others. I walked over to her side of the table and sat beside her. "I've tried to search up the tattoo for a few months but all I've found is Janus the Roman God of beginnings and transitions, so I gave up on it."
"Months? How long have I been gone for you?"
She hesitated; her typing stopped for a bit before she continued again. "Nine months and a few days."
One of the glasses in the café fell to the floor and shattered, my mind slowly wrapped around the idea. The more I dwelled on it the heavier a weight grew upon my chest. It was already weird that I had been dead for a few hours but nine months, it hit hard. "How has Stephy taken it?" I asked.
"I'm going to be honest with you Oli because you deserve to know. It's been horrible." She said. "You were the last person she had left and she still holds your death on her shoulders."
"There wasn't anything she could have done."
"That's not what she thinks. She's a healer, stopping people from dying is her thing and not being able to save her brother... it broke her. I didn't know, nobody knew how strong her powers were until you died, Veltrace island had to start a suicide watch because of how unstable her powers had become. There were days when just being around her was so depressive that all you could think about is your own death. Ten people took their own life before she had calmed down, that doesn't mean we stopped feeling that crushing feeling of sadness around her."
I didn't know how to reply, how could I reply. Thinking about my sister so broken and in pain like that hurt, a stabbing pain that only bore deeper into my chest. I placed my hands into my blazer pockets and leaned forward. In the right pocket, I felt something small, I pulled it out and my heart sank more. In my hands was the necklace I gave Pepper, the one she threw back at me before she killed me.
"Juan wanted to bury that with you. He said the Pepper he knew died with you."
"Have you seen her since?"
"A few times, she's doing well for herself. Just got promoted at Transgress." A part of me was happy that she hadn't died while I was gone, maybe they were old feelings or maybe it was the anticipation for revenge.
"She doesn't matter, let's find Eliza so that I can see my sister."
"Just before we do, I have to apologies."
"Apologies? For what?"
"If I hadn't said anything at the church about what happened at Colorado, maybe you wouldn't have left to try and redeem yourself."
"My death wasn't your fault. After what Rev made me do in Colorado and then at the graveyard, I was going to with Adam regardless of what was said at the church. I needed to feel some control over myself."
"Rev?" She asked.
"How do I explain this without sounding psychotic. I had a second personality inside me, he called himself Revilo. At the graveyard, I let him take control of my body to save us but I didn't know he would do... that. I know that it sounds like I'm trying to act like it wasn't me but this is the truth."
"Isn't that just your name backwards?" She pointed out. My brain stopped for a second as it clicked, I felt dumb for not seeing that earlier.
"Great, you think I'm crazy now."
"I surprisingly believe you."
The comment confused me. "Are you crazy?"
"I mean think about the last hour for me. I watched crawl out of your grave, you told me that Heaven and Hell existed, which means I have to reevaluate my religious stance. You also told me an evil fascist immortal Amp is roaming around Earth. You having a second personality is the least weird thing that I've dealt with today."
"Fair point."
"Can he hear us?" She asked in a whisper.
"When we died, I went to Heaven and he went down to Hell. I don't think he came back up with me when I was revived."
"How do you feel about that?" She asked me, slight caution in her tone.
"Not sure yet, but we should get work."
"Okay, I've crossed checked the symbol across the internet and I still haven't found any links... but what if." She said as she started to derail and slam her fingers against the keyboard. After a few seconds, she leaned back against her seat and whispered. "You've got to be kidding me."
"I assume you didn't find anything good."
"I'm working a case for Akari, which is why I'm back here in Cross County. People have been going missing around the country and the most recent one was here. You'll never guess what the missing persons have in common."
"Tattoo?"
"The exact same one." She said as she turned her computer screen to show me the photos of the different people, all brandishing the tattoo of the two faces.
"Why these people though? Who are they?"
"To the rest of the world, complete nobodies. The only similarities these people share is the tattoo."
"Are any of them Amps?"
She clicked away on her computer a bit more until she found something. "Some of them are known Amps, there's nothing on the others."
"I'm just trying to figure out how this connects to Eliza." I scratched my head. "Did you have any leads before I came around?"
"Before this, we had suspected these were by Vortex."
"I remember that Vincent guy mention them and so did Lucifer. Why them?"
"A lot has happened since you died. They went from a gang of Amp supremacists causing mild trouble to a full terrorist organization killing humans. Basically, Nazis with superpowers."
"Because that's what the world needed," I said slinking back into my seat. "I have a wild idea."
"Shoot."
"Eliza led a fascist group of Amps back in the day."
"Are you thinking Vortex and The Society are related?"
"I mean what if. Honestly, I'm pulling at threads, if they suck, my excuse is that I'm recently deceased."
"No, it's actually a decent lead. They could be a group trying to mimic what she did though."
"Regardless of whether they are a copycat or she just rebranded, I doubt she is far behind. Who's the face of Vortex?"
"We don't have a face or a real name so for all we know, it could be. Vortex uses aliases to identify their members." Her eyes widened as she realized what I was getting at. "No! You just came back from the dead and you already want to die again."
"Tell me, do you have any better idea?"
"I could think of a few." She said with scorn.
"Like?" I asked and stared in silence. She stared back, hoping that I would throw away the idea instead. "It isn't a good idea and maybe being dead has impaired my judgment but if we could get to whoever is in charge and they really are connected to The Society, they could give us a clue to where she is."
"So, you're just going to ask them where Eliza is? Do you think they would willingly tell you where she is?"
"That is a problem we will just have to deal with as soon as-" in the distance the sound of crumpling paper grew, a sound I didn't enjoy being familiar with. I looked out the window and in the air, a dot grew towards the restaurant. "We need to go."
"What?"
"Don't ask questions, just move," I said as I took a final bite of a burger before getting up. Everyone in the restaurant looked towards us, finally noticing the mess we made.
Meg threw down some money on the table after packing away her laptop. "Put the rest on my tab."
We ran out the door and away from the restaurant, but the sound of batting wings got louder until a figure dropped in front of us, the same way he had in Hell. His figure stood slowly in a suit that was covered in dirt the same as mine, at first I thought it was wearing a white hat but as it slowly lifted its head I realized it was the top of his skull. He turned his skull towards me and I watched as an onyx black eye formed into one of the empty sockets. Sinew, muscle and flesh grew around the skull, the same growth grew on his hands as muscles grew from nothing to from his fingers. The reforming man stood with his tattered black bat wings unfolded out like a creature from the night ready to reap my soul. "Where do you think you are going, Stark." His voice stretched like a broken plate against a chalkboard.
"Corialath, good to see you alive," I said before he grabbed me by the neck with his newly formed hand. He had immense strength, with the one hand it felt like a hydrolytic press was viced around my twig-like neck. He effortlessly lifted me up with his barely formed hand, glaring at me with one eye and an empty socket.
"Did you forget about me already?" he pressed down harder.
"Holy shit," Megan said from my side stumbling back.
"Don't do anything dumb girl, nothing needs to happen to you, but the Hell rat comes with me."
"Can't let you take him zombie freak," She said, I could make out the sound shuffling beside me.
"Put me down." I croaked "Lucifer is going to be pissed to see me back in Hell after just leaving, especially if they found out it was your fault."
He pulled my face closer to his and stared me down as his second orange eye formed in his head, the heterochromatic eyes stared me down before throwing me to the ground. Meg came to my side as I looked up at the demon now fully formed, now he looked like a boy about my age with short blonde hair with his body filling up the whole suit. "Is this really Earth?" He said looking around, at the small town around us. "This is what you were begging to come back to, that's depressing."
"Oliver, who is he?"
"This is the demon I told you about earlier, Corialath. How did you even find me?" I got to my feet and observed the demon who just continued to look around the landscape.
"You smell of the pit," He stared at Meg with a raised eyebrow. "Is this the friendzone girl?" He asked analyzing Meg, almost sizing her up. "No, an ex. Let me guess you broke up with her so that you could be with your friend but that didn't work."
"Corialath, not the time. Look, we have a lead on Eliza."
"Okay, where is she?"
"We don't know. Yet."
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Dear Lucifer."
"It's a lead, not a definite thing," Meg said to the demon.
"Fine. Stark, let's go." The demon unfurled his dark wings and took a step towards me.
I stepped away from him, "I have no idea where to go. When I said we had a lead, I meant the both of us."
"All offence girl, but this matter is way beyond your nut-sized brain capacity. The fact he even understands the gravity of what we are doing is bewildering. So, I suggest you go do whatever living humans do."
"I will send you back to Hell, you overgrown bat," Meg said martializing her black escrima sticks from her side.
"Try red, I'll rip your spine out before you get the chance." He said sizing her up again.
"Woah, both of you need to chill." I got in between the two of them. "She's smarter than both of us combined, she's the best chance to find Eliza."
"I have a way to find out where the face of Vortex is," Meg said to me. "I just need to make a call to the Canary."
"The Canary. Please tell me that it is because while I've been gone, he's become a good person and has stopped crime."
"I wish. He has all the connections and it's only gotten worse."
"Okay, you make the call. I need to talk to Corialath." I said as she fished her phone from her pocket and walked away.
"Runt, bringing her is a waste of time."
"Cory, look-"
"Don't call me that."
"If you want to go off on your own and find Eliza, go ahead but she's who figured out a connection between her and a group called Vortex. She's coming with us."
"This is a sentimentality issue, not a 'she's important to the mission' issue." He said. "Also, while I have your attention, I need to reiterate things for you. First, you have one year, nine months, three weeks and six days from the moment your soul entered your body to kill Rhodes. If you haven't killed her, even if you are about to make the killing blow and off by a second, you'll be sent straight to Hell. No questions, no bargaining, nothing."
"Okay, fun."
"Two," He said as he extended his hand. Around the palm, a flame erupted and in the ashes, three bottles of a white almost liquid fire-like substance glowed inside. "This is Hellfire, hotter than the surface of the sun and what we will use to contact Lucifer, hopefully, we won't need to use them but they gave us three in case. I will hold onto them for obvious reasons. Finally, I am not your lackey. I am not your friend. This isn't a fun road trip. Killing Eliza comes first, I don't care how many of your friends appear or die along the way, we are trying to fix the world. Do you understand?"
"Of course, I understand, but if you think I'm going to just forget about them. Then you're in for a horrible time."
"Oliver. Good news and bad news." Meg came back to us, her phone in hand, the mute button illuminated.
"Let me guess, the good news is your contact knows where they are bad news is he wants something in return," Corialath said with a crooked smile.
"Yes," She stared at the demon with disdain.
"What does he want?" I asked.
"The only thing he ever wants, is information. Even though he owes me a favour, he says this is way more than the favour holds I have nothing he would want besides you being alive."
"We can try and bargain for more than just location and maybe get him to take us there, do you think that will work?"
"Well, let's find out." She pressed the mute and speaker button. "Okay, I have information for you but it's going to cost more than just location. We're going to need The Albatross and location."
On the other side of the phone, a hollow laugh echoed out. "This information has to be very interesting. I'll reserve judgement on whether it is worth my best man."
"It's about Oliver Stark," Meg said. Silence rang through the phone.
"My interest is peaked, don't lose it." His voice was serious.
"I'm alive," I said, short and sweet.
More silence went through the phone, then the phone hung up. Corialath laughed behind us, "Bet you weren't expecting that."
A jingle rang from the restaurant behind us and exited two familiar men in suits, one a bald chocolate skinned man in a black suit that he filled in and silky red tie that was glossy in the grim grey sky. On the side of his blazer was a golden lapel of a bird. The other man had peachy skin that was clearer than the last time I saw him, his beard straightened out and angled out evenly. His hair, although still mostly unkempt, it brought together his look. More silver streaks were prevalent in his beard and mane. He wore a grey suit with checkers going across the suit and a similar lapel to the one the other man. The Canary and Dion Geltwick walked out of Bennie's Bean and spotted the three of us standing together.
"Dion! It's so great to see you!" I said with glee.
Dion let off a smile, he started to move slightly faster than The Canary before a hand was placed before him, stopping the man in his tracks. "Ms Clayburn. Please place this around your wrist." The Canary said as he threw her a bracelet. "Have to validify the information."
Meg caught the bracelet and strapped it to her wrist. A gem on the bracelet illuminated blue, "See. Not an illusion."
"What about him?" The Canary pointed at Corialath. "Amp?"
"None of your business," Corialath said simply. "but I mean I can wear your dampener if it makes you feel better."
The Canary threw him a bracelet and he snapped it on, the bracelet didn't light up like Meg's. Then looked at me and threw me one. I fumble catching the bracelet and it fell to the floor, I scooped it up in my hands and placed it on my wrist. It illuminated in a blue glow and I felt all my energy drift away. Meg caught me before I could hit the ground and the demon looked at me disappointed. "As you can see, I am not dead," I said weakly as I forced myself to my feet.
"Well, I'll be damned. Oliver Stark, The Fire Blight himself, as I live and breathe."
"Is this enough for the agreement," Meg asked.
"Yes, of course, but Ms Clayburn have you finally found the mythical necromancer. If so, I would love to know who they are." He pointed.
"We all know that no one in the world has the power to bring someone back from the dead."
"Yet here we have a boy killed by his love, back to life right in front of me. How?"
"That we can't tell you Cokato or whatever dumb name you call yourself. Thanks for your assistance but we aren't going to tell you anything else." Corialath growled.
"Who are you, I hate being out of the loop." The Canary growled back, beside him, Dion stood silently watching things unfold.
"His name is Cory. That's all you need to know, if you don't mind, we are in a bit of a time crunch." I said, Corialath looked at me with pure anger in his eyes.
The Canary began to grow agitated, but he composed himself. "Fine, I'll find out eventually. Albatross, send me to location two please and then take them to Las Vegas, I believe the fight-dome is on."
"Yes sir," Dion said finally, his voice was stronger than when I last saw him. They walked around to the front of the restaurant.
Corialath grabbed me by the shirt and lifted me with one hand. "Did I not just tell you to not call me that name."
"Can you just listen for a sec? I did it for the same reason you didn't say you were how I'm alive. We aren't supposed to talk about the afterlife, are we?"
"Of course not. You told the girl before I got here, and she seems more useful than she acts so there isn't much point in killing her now."
"I wouldn't have let you."
"Ha! I would have liked to see you try."
"Regardless, Corialath isn't a very human name, so just go by Cory."
"Corialath is bad? You're joking. The names I've seen on some of you humans-" Corialath started before Dion began to return.
"Dion, it's great to see you again," Meg said cutting the demon off, going to hug the well-dressed man.
"Likewise, Megan." He said as he embraced the girl.
"Looks like someone moved up in the world while I was away," I said to the man extending my hand out to him.
"Oliver, you are definitely a sight for sore eyes," He took it and gripped it tightly. "and this is all because of you. You taking me to The Canary has been the best thing to happen to me. My life has been so much better since then. I now go by The Albatross."
"Fancy and I wish we could catch up some more, but we don't have all the time in the world. What did The Canary mean by 'Fight-dome'."
"The Fight-dome is an illegal underground Amp fighting event that takes place for a few days each month, locations change and in our line of work it is not that hard to get invited," Dion said as he signalled us to walk with him to the front of the store. "This year it's under the Luxor hotel and Vortex is always there to find new recruits." He grabs the door and opens up to screaming and shouting.
"Is this what the rest of Earth is like?" Cory asked as he ran through the door and looked around the area in marvel. "It's almost like Hell. Maybe I won't hate being here so much."
The rest of us walked through the door and I could see the similarities with Hell. We had walked into the stands of a colosseum filled with pure chaos, people screamed at the centre of the arena where two Amps duking it out, one of them had the ability to duplicate themselves and was using it to get the upper hand on her opponent that could control ice, he had encased his fists blocks of ice but wasn't fairing well. They took up a small section of the actual space they had to fight, the rest was a rough terrain and surrounded by nothing at all as the lights illuminated the fighters below in a harsh orange light. In the imperial box on the far opposite side was a group of people that were intently watching the match between the two fighters.
"Up there, is that Vortex?" I asked.
"Yup and it looks like my work is done." He said as he closed the door and reopened it to a different scene.
"Wait, you aren't going to introduce me to them or something?"
"The agreement was to take you to where the face of Vortex is, not to introduce you."
"Can you at least tell me which one of them is in charge, you owe me for helping you escape."
He pondered for a second. "That seems fair. Her name is Athena, but she goes by the alias 'Cinder'. That is as much help as I can give you."
"Thank you, Dion. It's good to see that you are doing well."
"I'm glad you're alive. Try and keep yourself that way." He said finally as he walked through the door and shut it behind him.
The arena erupted in cheers as the fight raged on, Cory had completely invested himself in the fight, an agape smile lifted on his face. "So, what's the plan." Meg tapped my shoulder.
"I guess we just walk over to the imperial box and introduce ourselves," I replied with a shrug.
"That's not going to work out well," Cory said before cheering.
"Why not?"
"Do you think Caesar lets commoners into his seating area? Get your head out your ass." Cory scoffed.
"I mean, I'm Oliver Stark. That's something that has to be something of worth, I was all over the news before I died."
"The news hasn't stopped parading you as a terrorist even though you died," Meg added on.
"Fine, go try. I bet they'll stop you before you from getting close." He said as Meg and I walked past. I rolled my eyes at his comment and followed the steps down. We followed the steps around the arena toward the entrance that led up to the imperial box, standing in front of the entrance were two muscular men in suits. Slowly my nerves began to build, I had almost forgotten how to interact with people I had never met. My courage of feeling like I rose from the dead seemed to fizzle away.
"Um... hello. Can we please go up to meet Cinder?" I asked kindly. The two brutes laughed it off and continued to pay no attention to us.
"Sir. Please-" Meg tried to interject but the brute seemed to have become bored.
"Listen kids. No one enters without direct permission from Cinder herself." One of the brutes said.
"Okay, but do you know who I am?" I asked them, the brutes looked at each other than me.
"Are we supposed to?" The second brute said.
I gave them a devious side glare. "I'm Oliver Stark."
Both of them looked me up and down, the boy cloaked in mud covered suit. Then they laughed at me. "You've got to joking. You think you are the Fire Blight. I don't know whether to be disrespected or impuissant with laughter." Brute one said, honestly, I was shocked with his depth of vocabulary. He didn't look like someone who would sprout those words.
"Why disrespected?"
"That's how I know you aren't the Fire Blight. He paved the way for Vortex's rise, he showed us that we are stronger than Transgress or anyone who would dare stop us." Brute two said.
I leaned towards Meg. "I started a revolution for the wrong people?"
"Even dead you cause problems." She whispered back.
"Look kid, you want to go up so bad. Fighters who prove themselves promising enough to get to meet the boss. You'd have to face the champion chosen by the arena host."
I looked at the arena and the tides seemed to have changed in the battle. The ice guy had gone full-on badass and encased half of the arena in ice. The ice had crawled up the walls and in a dome formation away from where they stood, well, where the ice man stood and the blocks of ice that were his opponents. He walked to each of them and punched a hole through each of them, shards of red and blue scattered on the icy floor. "The undefeated Frostbite takes the win once again, with a fourth consecutive win. Can anyone defeat him?" A loud-voiced announced to the arena as they screamed.
"Oli, we'll just find another way." Meg turned to me
Obviously, my brain was telling me I was in no shape to fight but the other part of my brain was reminding me of Hell. "Who do I talk to about joining the fight?"
"You got to be fu-" Meg began.
"Alright kid. Come with me." Brute one gestured towards an entrance underneath the imperial box.
"Meg, tell Cory what I'm doing. I'm going to fight and get this over with." I said as I followed the man away.
"You're an idiot, you just came back from the dead only to die again." She shouted to me.
"That's where you're wrong," I glanced back at her. "because I don't plan on dying yet."
The intention is not to die, but I'm not convinced that I will survive. My movements were still extremely stiff and I could feel how slow my reflex were, and let me not get started on how much faith I have in my powers in my current state nor was I sure on even using them. My heart and hands still felt stained from everything that happened in Indiana. The only logical thing I could think of was that I had the advantage with fire but the thought of using it against someone left me heavy hearted. I followed the brute into the space under the imperial box to what I thought was the waiting area, but it was where they were keeping the dead bodies of the champion's victims. It was just a pile of partially frozen body parts; some were grey and others were more thawed out. On the wall beside them was a small array of weapons to choose from.
"What name do you want the announcer to call?" The brute asked.
"Oliver Stark,"
"You're still sticking to that then. Well, as a theme with the fight dome you need an alias."
"I guess, I'll just go with what everyone's been calling me anyways. The Fire Blight."
"Okay. Now a brief rundown of the rules. You fight to the death or till someone pleads mercy to which the opponent has a right to deny and kill them anyways."
I waited briefly, hoping for any other rules that could stop me from being murdered. "That's it?"
"What else do you really need for a fight. Any weapon is allowed, I guess that's something else but if you are the real Oliver Stark then you should have no trouble at all."
"You'd think," I mumbled. "How long till I have to fight?"
Then over the speakers, the commentator's voice blared around me. "Now, get ready everyone for the next battle."
"That answer your question." The brute said, slowly my brain shrivelled up with fear. I had not thought this through.
A violent cheer erupted as I walked up towards the arena, blinding light blared down on me, illuminating the path to a metallic entrance. It clunked downwards, gears grinding almost overshadowed the cheering that obviously not me. "Already in the ring, we have the reigning champion, master of ice, the killer blizzard, Frostbite!" The entrance disappeared and revealed my opponent, a man with a buzzed head wearing only a vest and jeans. He glared at me while rolling his shoulder and even with the amount of space between us, I could feel his eyes telling me one thing. 'You're going to die.'
"And in the opposite end of the arena is his challenger. An imposter, a person who thinks he has the right to use the name Oliver Stark." The crowd booed as they heard that. My face was plastered all over the news, how hard could it really be for them to believe I am who I am. "So, I present The Fire Blight." The commentator sounded so snide as he spoke and when I finally stepped out into the frying pan, I did not feel like a predator, I felt like prey. Discouragement from the crowd didn't help, I looked around the stands and spotted companions. Meg looked worried, her hands were clasped in front of her lips. Cory, on the other hand, looked at me with dazzling eye, I can only imagine it's because I'm about to get my ass handed to me. "Fighters, to the centre of the arena."
Frostbite marched forward towards me until we were face to face with each other. His cold gaze from his deep brown eyes left me feeling indifferent, it was like staring at the glacier that took down the titanic. Now that I was closer to him, I could see how defined his muscles were and the chill in his breath as he exhaled. "You don't look like him." Frostbite said.
"You've got to be kidding me." I sighed as I undid my tie. "Honestly, I don't care. I'll go easy on you."
"That's a laugh, just don't beg for mercy when this is over." He cracked his knuckles in my face, allowing me to hear each individual pop.
"Okay, let's do this then," I said as I tied a bit of my tie around my hand.
"Ignite the dome and let the fight begin." Slowly an orange hexagonal field erupted from the wall forming a dome over the arena until it was completely enveloped. Apparently, that was the signal to start the battle, my stomach erupted like a volcano, like a punch to the gut. Literally. Frostbite did exactly that, while I looked away, he shot his arm right into my stomach. It was a complete sensory overload and I collapsed on the floor. My ears were ringing but underneath I could hear the gaggle of laughter. It took all my brain power to stop myself from throwing up.
"This is a joke, I won't even need to use my powers to kill you." I felt the words trickle into my ears, the words chilled my ear's inner canal.
"Just give me a second to catch myself." I groaned as pushed myself off the ground, my arms and legs were like butter, but I managed to my feet.
"You're real scum for trying to ruin Oliver Stark's name."
"I hate that I'm famous," I said as I recollected more senses. "Everyone can just use my name however they please even if it isn't what I stand for."
"I'll give you five more seconds before I hit you again. I'll even give you a hint as well, jab to the face."
"Why thank you. How useful." I replied and sure enough, he threw a jab straight for my face. I dodged that and I dodged the obvious following hit. All my hours of self-defence and fighting classes coming back to me, even with how ridged my body felt. I could see his moves coming in and moved accordingly. Each move became more and more predictable, my body almost became liquid and Frostbite was not happy about it. "Come on frosty, what happened to killing me?" I poked at the fighter.
"Shut up!" He screamed before throwing another punch, this time I used my tie to parry him. As the punch came in, with my tie in both hands I wrapped it over his hand and used his momentum to make him hit himself in the face. With his hand still up by his face, he tried to use his free arm to hit me with a hook but I duck underneath, giving me just the edge I needed to wrap the slacked end of the tie around his neck trapping him in a choke lock. We were back to back now, him trapped at the mercy of my tie and flung my body forward, Frostbite's body tumbled over me before he hit the floor with a thud. The crowd roared as I held him down, tightening the grip on the tie.
"The Imposter has thrown Frostbite to the ground like a bag of cement. Is the champion really going to lose to a fake?" The announcer called out, riling up the crowd in suspense.
"Ask for mercy and this can end now," I said to him, not loosening my grip. In my hands, the tie began to feel stiff under my fingertip. Around Frostbite's neck, the black tie crystallized rapidly. White frost grew towards my hands but never reaching them. I was pulling on the tie so hard that when it solidified, it shattered to pieces. I stumbled backwards trying to keep my balance, Frostbite picked himself off the floor and a scowl scribbled all over his face. Water vapour began pouring out of his pores like a fog machine, I felt a slight drop in temperature in my surroundings, with how much heat my body could usually generates, I could barely tell. Around his fists ice formed two gloves thicker than a wall and he just stared at me with murderous intent. He ran towards me and threw wild punches, I dodged as much as I could, trying a keep my distance from the flurry of punches coming in. It was obvious now that he was holding back before and now, he was getting serious. Any punch that hit my braced arms left them destroyed, his form was like a refined boxer and he was ready to counter any punch I threw, but I couldn't even get a hit in.
"It looks like Frostbite has stopped playing with his food and is ready to take out the trash." The words rang in the air as I continued to get pummeled by the man in front of me. I rolled away from him before hitting me once more, forcing a space between us as I tried to think. I was trying to avoid using my powers, but it didn't look like I had much choice if I wanted to stay alive. With my hands to my sides, I concentrated and flames erupted to life in my hands, the sleeves of my blazer smouldering as the tongues of fire curled up my arms. Frostbite was stunned, his arms tensed up as he watched the flames. The crowd was just as mystified, silence filled the air then murmuring. Only one person seemed to be cheering and it was Cory, continuously screaming the words 'Kill him' over and over which brought the energy back to the stands as more cheering erupted. I didn't have time to stay distracted, while Frostbite was still stunned, I threw fireballs at him. My aim was to keep him at distance and tire him out, that was the only way I say I could get through his defences. He rolled away from the flaming balls, he used his ice gloves to block any that got too close and melted through the ice leaving craters in them. He tried to close the space, but I sent a spray of fire out of my hands towards the floor leaving a wall of fire in front of him. Panicked, he tried to extinguish it with his own beam of ice while I tried to add to my own flames. With the break in the flames, he aimed his ice beam at me, I shot my arms upwards as a reflex and we became locked in a stalemate. Two opposing forces rushing towards each other, at the epicentre cloud of mist roared in outrage. It was a battle of persistence now, who could keep up and I was losing. The cloud of mist grew out of control as the ice beam overpowered my fire, I could feel my flames dwindle under it. An idea came to my brain popped into my brain; it had a high chance of failing but I had no other options.
I leaned backwards while still jetting fire from my hands and I began to propel myself backwards into the mist, losing sight of my opponent. My back caught the ground and dug itself in, momentum threw my body in spirals on the ground until I hit the wall at the opposite end of the arena. Pain riddled my back, while I forced myself to my feet, all I could feel was the sting of the friction burn. The mist was strong and dense, as I scanned through, there was no sight of my enemy. He was faster and was more adept at using his powers, I can't out brute him on a head-to-head level but if I tried to outsmart him, just maybe this would work out. As I tried to formulate a plan of attack, I noticed the mist become thicker or rather more defined. The mist was shaping itself into beautiful snowflakes that swirled around me in a blizzard of wonder, I thought that until they started to tear through my skin like tiny daggers. All of a sudden, I was in an icicle blender, the snowflakes had sharpened edges that took apart my clothes and skin as if it were soft clay. Frostbite came into view through the snow barrage with ice daggers jammed between each of his ten fingers, he raised one hand and brought it down, releasing them. I rolled out of the way of the first throw only to get stuck in my side with the other daggers. They impaled my side before melting away leaving the pierced holes in me, I forced my body to ignore the pain and run away from him but he was one step ahead of me. A wall of ice burst out of the ground in my face and I slammed right into it. Frostbite knew he had the upper hand he was just playing with me now, I turned to face him and saw what cloaked him, overshadowed him. The tsunami of snow waited behind him, craving to crush me under its weight.
Nothing I could think of was working, he knew how to use his powers so effectively. Countering me at every turn, I should have had the upper hand, but it was all falling apart. He stood there in front of me, waiting for me to beg for my life with a smirk on his face. Worse things have shaken me down, I'd meet the devil, I wasn't going to beg. I made an insulting gesture to the man before me, a smirk changed to a scowl and he unleashed the avalanche upon me. Instinct reacted before I could, my hands shot up and sprayed fire in front of me. The flames roared, giving me enough cover to protect me from the full-blown ice storm surrounding me. Every direction I looked was just hopeless white, I just had to push harder, push further and through that snow was a clearing. Frostbite stood in front of me, purely pissed off, I had turned all the ice that had thrown at me into steam. I was just as shocked as he is that I was still standing, but he was just infuriated, he bolted towards me.
He formed ice shards in his hands and threw reckless slashes but still with purpose. They were hard to predict and I was exhausted, I dodged where I could, but I was ultimately too slow. He stabbed me in the shoulder with his first dagger, leaving it in me and with the second he slashed across the side of my face. Fresh blood dripped out of the gash, I didn't even have time to process the pain as he shot an ice blast at me. Even with my arms raised up to block it, I was thrown across the arena again. I rolled across the floor again, stopping just short of the wall. Frostbite trudged towards me, each step fractured the thin layer of ice that had formed below us as he approached. I tried to get to my feet to fight but my hands were frozen together. I tried to heat up my arms enough to melt the ice but was too slow.
"This game ends now." Frostbite snarled. He closed his fist, I could feel the temperature drop and I began to shiver. With the last reserve of energy, I got to my feet and charged him. He opened his hands and in a bright flash, everything disappeared.