The Pit

Chapter 4: Confront

The drunk man woozily pushed himself up against the cage as much as he possibly could. His hand reached between the bars, aiming for the closest antler tine with a determined grin. The contained creature did not move, or even shift its gaze from across the corridor at Neeka, as fingers gripped around the bony extrusions.

But then suddenly, it did move.

There was a loud clang, and in the blink of an eye, the long dark talons of the creature were crushing the man's forearm arm in its grip. As the creature's body had firmly curled over the man's arm, keeping him partially trapped in the cage with it, its antlers had struck against the bars. Kala had turned around by the sound and let out a shriek to the scene unfolding.

The foolish man's skin started to fester and bubble under the creature's touch, causing him to wail in agony. Black fog started to drift up his arm, heading up his shoulder and crawling toward his face. Blood flowed from where claws as sharp as knives pressed into his flesh.

The creature emitted a low enthusiastic rattle as the deadly mist emerged from it, Kala screamed out in her native tongue, and the two remaining men on the scene panicked. One pulled fruitlessly at his friend trying to rip the man free of the creature's hold, while the other repeatedly kicked as hard as he could at the antlers that were sticking out between the bars.

The creature only let go when Neeka heard a loud snap and the tip of an antler skittled along the stone floor towards the women. Screams ceased as the men fell into a heap. But only for a moment as the drunkards recoiled realising the man they had pulled from the cage was dead. His body sizzled black, exaggeratedly so where claws had sliced against his forearm and from the melted features that once made up his face.

Neeka stared at the piece of antler that rested near her feet, but was quickly pulled away from the curious piece of smoke-leaching bone.

"We do not touch... No. No.... We do not." Kala continued to mutter to herself as she escaped the situation with her grip securely on Neeka.

The old woman briefly stopped, her features seemed frightened and crazed as she spoke to the younger woman she was towing. Neeka was unsure if her words were literal or a riddle from one of her stories.

"When the creature sheds its antlers and they fall to the forest floor, we must never touch them. For all those that do summon forth the Black Mist. A curse of death."

Neeka hadn't seen the creature move, but as she glanced back she saw it now had repositioned its head to face her. Once again, hollow eyes stared straight at Neeka. A cold chill enveloped her body and a terrible beastly laughter rang in her ears.

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The earlier horrific death of the drunk worker did not stop that night's event from proceeding as usual. It was a busy night and the stands full of betting customers chattered excitedly as staff quickly dragged away the deceased body of the previous battle's loser in preparation for the next match.

Neeka's head was still pounding. But she worked through it, continuing her way down the tiered aisles to serve alcoholic beverages to the guests. She honestly did not understand the appeal. To her, it smelled worse than the cleaning solutions she used to clean up bodily fluids downstairs. Yet people were happy to bet the bare minimum for a seat just to get access to purchase it.

From in the arena, another ring door clunked open and the crowd roared into cheers and chants. Curious by the excitement of the patrons, Neeka peeked a glance through her red natural curls to see which fighter was up next.

Heavily frothing from the mouth and erratically moving from the drugs forced into him to exaggerate his aggression, Neeka was saddened to immediately recognise Zed in the ring.

The coat of his transformed theron state was easy to distinguish- it was the same usual beige-blonde colour of his hair. He was lean for his species but still a betting favourite being currently the longest resident for the ring.

Theron were not the most common species to be used as fighters at The Pit, but it did indeed happen. In fact, one of the only few rules The Pit had to follow was that only superiors of their own kind could deem them to such a fate. Neeka did not know what Zed had done to end up being pitted in the ring, but out of all the theron she'd encountered he had been the most pleasant thus far. Granted, she felt unthreatened with him secured behind bars, but she missed the brief small-talks they occasionally had as she worked by his cage. Unfortunately, he was unable to speak properly these days. His throat had been so badly repeatedly damaged that, even with a theron's fast healing ability, his vocal cords had been unable to heal correctly.

On Neeka's return back to fill up her service tray again she bumped into someone who eyed her down aggressively. There was clearly anger in Lyall's voice as he spoke.

"I was just informed of the whereabouts of the remaining missing man from last night's hunting mission. Jeffery's husk of a carcass was found stuck up in the damn trees!"

Lyall's eyes narrowed as Neeka shrunk at his words. 

"That leaves you as the only person alive and the one responsible for putting that thing in my facility."

Neeka's head rose, surprised by his accusation. Lyall recoiled back when she did.

"What's wrong with your face?"

As Lyall said it, Neeka felt something drip down from her nose. She touched the black substance and then watched the wisps of cold smokey haze fester from her fingertips.

Neeka hadn't noticed Kala watching them warily from behind Lyall, but it was clear now. Her face drained of colour and she became instantly hysterical, flinging an open bottle of booze directly at Neeka and shouting as she did.

"No! No! Not Neeka!" She shrieked. "Get out of her head! Get out! Get out!!"

Throughout her frantic wailing, Lyall roughly tried to restrain the old woman back. Her voice only intensified during the struggle, but the noise was drowned out by the wound-up crowd whose excitement peaked as another cage door in the arena slid open.

Lyall froze, fear apparent as he noticed who the next contender was.

"I didn't authorise that beast to be entered. Who-"
Lyall frantically scanned the rows behind Neeka, who was wiping the strong-smelling beverage from her face. All the staff who met his eye responded with nervous glances or shakes of their heads as the creature below stepped into the arena.