The Games for Gaiathal (Part 3 of 'A Tale of People and Apples Trilogy')

Chapter 6: The First Game

Before the traumatized Eeva could utter a response, the five Hosts along with Solan fell twice the speed of gravity through the snap and opening of a circular trap door for each, their weapons stripped from them as they descended below.

It felt like Luka was in the great blue glass tube for less than five seconds as his heart lumped to his throat from the sudden fall and he skidded along the slick translucent surface which whipped and whirred and looped.

Him, along with the other five, slumped to a shimmering black floor which was cold beneath his scuffed knees and hands as he finally fell through the lift. He pushed himself to his feet, able to move his body freely again. Above them, the portals that carried them in slapped shut from the great hall of the fortress. They were on their own.

With another snap and fiery echo, transparent walls of orange and red fire erected between each contestant as the six now formed a circle, awaiting their further instructions from the fortress. Above them seemingly in the sky was the horizontal glowing glass tube for spectators, Eeva along with her guards slowly marching into its mouth.

The Hosts stared angrily and fiercely at Solan who smirked back, while Luka and Calysa looked at each other. The former's eyes drenched in desperation to speak with her, the latter's eyes laced with anger and betrayal and sadness. Seeing Calysa's state and the pain he brought her via Eeva's pregnancy even overshadowed the guilt he had that he led his friends into Solan's scheming seemingly yet again.

Luka slammed his fists on the warm yet harmless red fire that blocked him like a hot impenetrable shield of glass, pleading to Calysa, trying to reach her.

"Calysa listen to me, I care for you, and you alone," He said, his voice carrying perfectly into Calysa's tube somehow. It was almost as if the Programmers allowed their dyadic conversation.

"Oh, really? Who's the father then, Luka?" She said back to him and pointed up to Eeva's stomach, as she turned her back to him and sat, sliding down the red wall and folding her arms.

"Cali that was before you... before I even knew how you felt about me. It was right... it was right after her father died. This doesn't change anything. This doesn't change us."

"Oh! That makes this so much better," Calysa said as she wiped her wet eyes and rolled them. "So you just prey on us and our grief, is that it?"

Luka's skin went hot and his heart ached. He tried to pry through the red wall to reach her, to hug her, to console her, but the force field would not budge.

But then, Luka had an epiphany. Perhaps this was best. Perhaps he needed Cali to hate him, if he were ever able to trade his life for Solan's. It would soften the blow if and when he met his end. She would be safe, and she would be safe from the heartache of his sacrifice.

But nevertheless in that awful moment, he felt sick to his stomach. Sick that the one he truly loved now thought he did not. That the one she loved was not who she thought. He felt like a coward, a liar. Loyal to a fault. Sick that all the debts he felt he owed now had consequences upon other people. The debt he felt he owed Eeva finally rebounding and hurting Calysa.

"This changes everything, Luka," Calysa said quietly as she sat with her knees to her chest and her arms around them, the only warm feeling in her life at the moment from the red glow of the wall she slumped upon.

"We can't be together," She whispered to herself, but the words echoed in Luka's ears and were daggers to his heart.

He wanted to beg. He wanted to tell her that she didn't mean that. That they would figure it out together, as the duo Luka so loved to be a part of. The duo that could take on the world as long as they had each other. She was his person, but he was no longer hers.