Cyber Mortality

Chapter 32:

I blink away sleep and peek out through the mountain of blankets I cocooned myself in. The sunlight peeks through the blinds and floods across the floor in parallel lines. I pry myself out of the blankets and step over to the window, pulling the blinds open to gaze outside. I blink into the bright sunlight and smile at the warmth I feel on my face. I close my eyes and relish in the feeling for a moment before turning back to look at my suite.

My eyes land on something that wasn't there the night before. A purple leather tunic, like something the gladiators of ancient Rome wore, lies across one of the chairs. I pick it up and run my thumb over the material. Just below the left shoulder, I spy "Ultra" printed in bright white letters. On the floor is a pair of leather sandals to match. I slip out of the robe and step into the tunic. It fits snuggly around my waist and flares out slightly to mid-thigh. I pull on a pair of black short shorts to go with it and then lace on the sandals. They go halfway up my calf with a shin guard to protect my legs. Two arm guards also lie beside where the tunic was. I slip them on and lace them tight.

A knock sounds at my door and Rocky walks in.

"I see you found your Tournament uniform," he says and I see he is wearing one just like it, but the male version. Still a tunic, but Rocky's covers more of his shoulders and is slightly longer.

"The only thing we are allowed to take in are our weapons," he informs me. "All magical items are forbidden unless if that is your main weapon, such as a magic staff. Each group member is placed into a category for the first duels so that there is not an unfair advantage. Your category will be one-handed weapons, so no magic in the first round."

"No one will be using magic in the first round?" I question and start tying my hair into a braid.

"Only those in the mage class will, which includes Jez. It's probably better for you to not show all of your talents in the first fight anyways." Rocky shrugs.

"What class are you?"

"Projectile user," he says and gestures to the larger arm guard on his left hand. "DeNyle will be in the two-handed weapon class. We don't have anyone in the unarmed combat class."

"Anything else I need to know?" I finish off my braid and cross my arms over my chest. He gazes at me for a moment.

"Don't die," he replies coolly. "You can only come back once. Only teams with a full four members can compete in the third round."

"I'll try to not die then," I mutter and push past him into the main room. "You shouldn't die either."

Jezebel struts out of her room with her purple tunic on somehow making it look more skanky than it should. Her rich light chocolate legs will draw everyone's eyes and the top of the tunic makes her breasts look even fuller. I roll my eyes in annoyance, knowing this tunic only accentuates my lanky less full figure.

"I could almost pass as a boy," I mutter under my breath.

"Nah you're too pretty for that," DeNyle winks, having heard my comment. "Focus on the tournament, not Jez's physique."

"Magic-Users are up first," Rocky says from across the room with a cup of coffee in his hand. "We should get going so Jez doesn't miss her fight."

"We each fight once," DeNyle explains. "And we need three of our four members to win to pass on to the next round. This year the second round is team battles. If you think you can't win and don't want to die, you can give up, but it's a five-point penalty. Everyone else on your team will need to win their duel for the team to continue on."

"Where do you find all this information?" I snort. "You sound like a brochure."

"The brochure," he holds up a small packet. "Rocky had it."

"How nice of him to share it with us," I roll my eyes and take the packet from him. "The second round is team battles with two members from each team as a team. Interesting. What about the third?"

"We don't know," DeNyle shakes his head. "It's always a secret. But you need every member of your team and to have placed in the top half score-wise to compete in it."

I hand the packet back to him and he tucks it into his inventory.

We exit the hotel and enter the throngs of people on the street. Competitors wearing tunics like ours in every color of the rainbow shove through the crowd toward the large stadium ahead of us.

"Isn't it beautiful?" DeNyle sighs. "Last year I was just the fourth member of Rocky's team and his little brother. I feel like this year we're all pretty equal now. Rocky and- well we don't need to talk about him, but they were the front runners of our team, and Fletcher and I just supported them."

"Ah, so Fletcher was on your team? Interesting," I smirk and wonder if she and Rocky were dating then or not.

"Yeah, she's amazing at archery and healing magic," DeNyle replies. "We wouldn't have made it through the games without her, but Rocky always stole the spotlight and Birch too."

"So the mysterious man's name is Birch," I grin. "And I heard he is competing on the champions team this year. How did that come about?"

"He and Rocky had a falling out after the games," DeNyle explains and squeezes through a gap in the crowd. I follow after him and then we are right behind Rocky and Jez. "I don't know much about what happened though. Rocky doesn't talk about it."

"Do you think it will be a problem in these games? With Birch competing against us?"

"I hope not, but with Rocky, you never know. He's pretty stony, but Birch knew how to push his buttons." DeNyle quiets as Rocky turns around to glare at him. DeNyle shoots me a glance as if to say "See, I told you". The crowd parts, competitors going in one door and spectators in another, and then we enter the bowels of the Colosseum.