Champions (Volume 1)

Champions Ch08 - Illusions

Champions

Chapter 08 - Illusions

"Your eyes are not your first line of defense."

"I am the shipmaster." His deep voice resonated throughout the room. It was a very deep voice, but smooth. "You performed well, did you not?" He asked. I couldn't speak and Alex froze. "Sorry, let me explain.

"The first Generation of Warriors from a new race must go through such a simulation. We must test their true prowess, intelligence, and endurance in such situations. All of this was simply a simulation.

"I must admit, your ability to improvise in such situations in order to gain an upper hand was impressive. It never occurred to me that you could put on the training armor and have your warlock power up the aura crystal. Your care for your teammates was also astounding. Most scenarios I have seen with your race and others is that the injured will be left unless egress is possible or a medical professional was on hand. Sam, with a beaten and destroyed body went to care for Grace. The amount of trust, too. He trusted that your skill, Alek, could keep any Tirid away from the back." He explained. His voice showed that he was genuinely impressed. Why?

"Alex." Alex corrected.

"What are the Tirid?" I questioned. The name sounded weird.

"The language has no word in your tongue, Ti is For, Ri is Time, and Id means Honor. It means 'For Honorable Times.' They believe they are trying to revive a Golden Age in our history, but it is impossible. Those ages were long ago, their artifacts lost, their stories a myth." The shipmaster explained. "Do you have any more questions?"

"You say you have mastered hard light, right? Is this a rifle of yours?" I asked, handing him the light rifle. He took it, looking over it cautiously. He handed it back to me shortly after, like the rifle was tainted with evil omens.

"That rifle is Tirid, not our Empire design. Where'd you get that? What is it doing aboard my ship?" He scolded. He appeared disgusted simply by its presence, so I slung around my shoulder, out of sight.

"Not long out of our room, we found an alien, much like the doctors, carrying this weapon. He shot at us and we retrieved this rifle from his body." I answered.

"Stay here. I will fis you and your teammate. Alek, I need you to watch the door. Not a soul in or out." The SM ordered. Alex nodded, set Grace down in front of him, and ran off to oversee the door. I kneeled down, not able to stand anymore.

"I shall fis you first. Your injuries are severe and cannot go long untreated." He stated as he slithered past Grace and pulled out a small tool like the arena doctor had. He began to reassemble the bones in my leg and shoulder. No painkiller this time.

It didn't hurt very much, to be honest. It was unsettling to feel the bones moving around in the two places. Even more so to hear them, but I was being fixed. With another of his five other arms, he pulled out a funny looking tool. I can't describe it.

He stuck the tool in my shoulder and squeezed. Being shot was nothing compared to this. The amount of pain searing through my shoulder was so bad, my body seized and I think my heart skipped a few beats.

When he pulled it out he stuck it straight into my leg. I began to black out slowly, as if I were flying a jet. This was the same pain.

He pulled the tool back out and stuck it in a pocket. Then he grabbed some sort of needle, but it didn't appear to be made for puncturing. It had a wide hollow needle and a sort of pink goo in it. He stuck that in the shoulder wound, but didn't let it touch me.