After Billy’s tile had returned to its original place, all of us expected Vhar to announce which Climber would be fighting next. Instead, he spoke to someone we couldn’t see and his voice was concealed from us. As this hidden conversation dragged on, I got the sense that something was wrong.

  “What are you doing?” Hugo asked me.

  “Trying to read his lips.”

  “And how’s that going?”

  I sighed. “Poorly.”

  Vhar was too far away and I couldn’t even be certain that he was speaking English. His facial expressions and body language suggested he was angry at whoever he was talking to.

  Suddenly, the tile carrying the Indian woman started moving. At first, I thought we were resuming things and she was the next fighter, but the tile wasn’t moving to the cage. It was heading our way. As she got closer, I got a better look at her.

  An attractive woman in her late twenties, she wore a long blue scarf that stretched out behind her down to her ankles. Her armor was a mix of leather-like segments and chainmail. There were no visible weapons on her, except for what might be inside the brown satchel that sat on her hip. She kept her face friendly, but it was a well-practiced look and utterly superficial.

  The annoying man in superhero onesie she’d spoken with earlier was also moving alongside her. He was easier to read with his chiseled jaw and smug demeanor. He clearly considered himself better than most here. But then I remembered the woman’s comment about Ashley and corrected myself. They both thought they were better than the rest of us, which means they’re coming over to here to try to gain information.

  I kept myself relaxed and left my hands open by my sides. The chances that they would start a fight were extremely low, but not impossible. Better to not give them a reason to feel provoked.

  “Hi!” she waved, beaming a big smile at us. The man alongside her tried to do the same, but it only came off as a smirk. My gut told me that this woman must’ve been in sales or PR before the System integration. That didn’t automatically make her a bad person. There was just something about that well-practiced form of superficial charm that rubbed me the wrong way.

  “I’m Indira,” she continued. “I just figured we’d come over to talk since there’s not much else to do here. That’s Nate,” she pointed.

  “I’m Lucas,” I replied. “How are you moving the tiles?”

  Her smile turned coy. “Oh you know, just one of my gifts. Who do you think’s going next into the cage?”

  I shrugged. “There’s no way of knowing. I don’t even know how Vhar has ranked us.”

  “Vhar?” she frowned. “Wait, you know the alien running this floor?”

  It caught me off-guard that not everyone knew who he was. I guess he’d never bothered to introduce himself after taking over the Tower.

  Her eyes focused in on mine like she was mining me for secrets. I decided it was best to keep things vague.

  “We’ve met before,” I replied cooly. “I wouldn’t say we know each other.”

  Indira threw Nate a reproachful look. “And you thought that Lucas here was going next into the cage. Shame on you.”

  Nate didn’t care and doubled down. “The sword look seems a bit basic.”

  Neither of them were carrying weapons. They must’ve assumed those with weapons were the weakest.

  “You can do a lot with basic,” Damian interjected. “Just ask Billy.”

  That took some air out of the room. Indira's and Nate’s smiles vanished. Nobody wanted to talk about the sadistic child who’d tortured those knights. We were also grateful that Billy was one of the furthest away from us, so it would’ve made regular conversation impossible.

  “Now now. There’s no reason for things to get heated,” said Indira. “I just thought it might be worth making a connection incase we have to work together on a lower floor.”

  She was right. A future floor might require teamwork, but she was going about it the wrong way by icing out weaker members like Ashley with her earlier comments. After seeing Ashley fight, Indira had decided to change strategies. She thought me weak because I used weapons, so she came to me first to build some kind of coalition. Get all the weaker members on board to make it easier to sway the stronger ones. I was happy to play along. It was always nice to be underestimated in the Tower.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  I also couldn’t help but notice that she was making a point of ignoring Ashley too, despite her being so close to us. Maybe she figured she’d poisoned the well with her, or was giving her space? Either way, Ashley was none the wiser. She was wearing wired earbuds and bouncing her head to loud rock music, completely oblivious to the rest of us.

  She didn’t take weapons or supplies, but she bought a music player with her?

  I refocused on Indira. There were still a lot of other Climbers here worth discussing with her and I wanted Hugo’s input too, since he often noticed things that I didn’t.

  “Hey Hugo, who do you think is…” I trailed off.

  Hugo was gone from his tile.

  I looked around frantically to see if he’d flown off somewhere, but there was no sign of him.

  “What is it?” Indira asked.

  “I think somethings—”

  I blinked and was suddenly transported to a different room. The floor, ceiling, and walls were one continuous piece of shaped wood that curved like a tube. Vines ran along the ceiling with bio-luminescent leaves that gave the place a warm orange glow. In front of me was a row of plastic chairs that looked out of place. An inorganic addition that didn’t fit with the rest of the aesthetic.

  Strangely, none of this seemed to concern me, as I felt an overwhelming desire to stare at the glowing leaves. There were swirling black shapes in them, and the more I watched them, the more relaxed I felt.

  “If you’ll just have a seat, someone will be with you shortly,” said a female voice behind me.

  Startled, I turned to see a gray cloud with a woman’s face imprinted on it. She was floating behind a long desk that one might see in a hospital, staring down at a computer screen.

  This is a waiting room, I realized. Somebody kidnapped me and put me in a waiting room.

  I looked around to try to learn more, but there were no signs or information posted anywhere. There was nothing else in the space except a hallway that led off in two other directions.

  “What am I doing here?” I asked her.

  She didn’t look up from her screen. “I don’t know. Please have a seat and someone will be with you shortly.”

  “Could you tell me where I am, at least?”

  “You’re on the planet Alria,”

  That doesn’t help me at all. Although, at least it’s confirmation that I’m out of the Tower. Who would have the power to do this? Roan was the first who came to mind. I tried to access chat to send him a message and received an error. The same thing happened when I tried contacting Hugo. So it wasn’t Roan, and whoever dragged me here didn’t want me communicating with others.

  The cloud lady didn’t seem like she was going to be helpful, but the hallway looked promising. Would she really try to stop me if I decided to explore this place? On the other hand, she said someone would be coming shortly. I’ll give it a little time and keep exploring as plan B if nobody shows up.

  Reluctantly, I took a seat and waited. A few minutes passed.

  “Do you have any magazines?” I asked.

  “Any what?”

  “Never mind.”

  More time passed. Enough that I was about to get up and leave when another alien walked around the corner to join us. My mouth fell open in shock. It was a six-foot-tall black praying mantis type creature with a halo of blue fire floating just above its head.

  I leapt to my feet while summoning five Hemorrhage Gates. The creature did not so much as glance my way. Instead, it went over to the cloud lady’s desk and began conversing in a series of clicks and squawks. The cloud lady responded in kind with a smile before switching to a language that wasn’t English, but was one the System translated for me. “Have a seat, Xerxes.”

  Xerxes chose to stand next to the chairs instead, at the point furthest from me.

  I dismissed my Gates and sat back down, feeling embarrassed but also nervous. Everything in my body was telling me to run or fight from this creature. Again, I debated whether to just leave.

  Then I heard mewling cries, and I forced myself to look. Xerxes held a wriggling baby goat covered in afterbirth slime in their grasping forelegs. He must have put it in his inventory as soon as it had been born. I guessed where this was going and looked away before I could witness it. The ensuing crunch made me flinch, and the chewing revolted me.

  I wish there was a way for me to close my ears.

  Cloud lady finally noticed my discomfort and looked concerned. “Is everything alright?”

  “Just not used to be off-world,” I muttered.

  She frowned and then yelled out, “hey, is the filter on?!”

  Silence.

  “Hey, Donny, is the filter on?!” she shouted louder.

  “What? No. Why?” a man yelled back from the hallway.

  “The rules state we have to have the filter on when lower Grades are present.”

  There was another pause, followed by a dramatic sigh. “Alright, give me a sec.”

  Somewhere a flip was switched and the ‘filter’ came on. The swirling orange leaves on vines became lightbulbs hanging from wires. The cloud lady became a kindly woman in her late fifties wearing white, and Xerxes became a disheveled man in a trench coat eating a large sandwich.

  I flew out of my chair. “What the fuck?!”

  If this was supposed to keep me calm, it had done the opposite. “Change it back!” I snapped. “I’d rather see the truth than this.”

  “I can’t,” she said. “The rules are clear.”

  Xerxes took another bite of his ‘sandwich’ and some ‘mayonnaise’ squirted out onto the floor. I felt my stomach heave.

  Nope. I’m done.

  I marched down the hallway. I didn’t know where I was going. I just knew I had to get away.

  The hallways all looked the same though. Perhaps I’d made a mistake? I wondered as I rounded the next corner. There I came face to face with a tree man with glowing red eyes and moss for hair. He grabbed my shoulder, and I noticed there were two bracelets of golden light spinning slowly around his wrist.

  *System Citizen Identified* [Yorgos the Tamer, Class: Ambassador of the Green, Level: Unknown, Grade: S+]

  “You’re coming with me,” he said. “The tribunal has questions for you.”