Falling Apart

Sam had jumped onto the coliseum floor as well, chasing after Theo, but stopped at a respectful distance when he reached Zenith. Now she stood back and watched as Zenith shifted Theo in his arms, settling Theo's head against his chest.

No one deserved his rest more. She still couldn't believe he'd pulled it off. Contracting with Darian, casting the elemental spell.

And...maybe her eyes had been playing tricks on her, but she felt pretty sure that in the moment before Darian struck the ring, a pair of wings had unfurled from Theo's shoulders. Ghostly and translucent, as if they were made of light. Though it'd been nearly impossible to make out anything through the elemental spell's blinding glow, so who knew.

Well, one thing was clear. They'd beaten Oliver.

Sam turned toward Ryllis, grinning. Ryllis nodded sharply, but before she could come closer, Oliver let out a deafening shriek.

"Get them! This isn't over! Lyura!"

Ryllis whipped toward Lyura, spear raised. But the demon just stood there, blinking and turning her hands back and forth.

"Lyura!" Oliver's scream sent bits of stone skittering down the coliseum walls. Pretty impressive, Sam had to admit.

But Lyura looked the furthest thing from impressed. She pursed her lips and placed her hands on her hips, tilting her head at Oliver.

"You know…," she said. "Looks like I'm not contracted to you anymore. So might as well get out while the going's good. Toodles!"

She raised her arm. Ryllis lunged, but before she could get there purple smoke engulfed Lyura. With a pop, the smoke vanished – taking Lyura with it.

"Ah – ah – " Oliver stared at the spot where she had disappeared, eyes bugging. "You lot! Stop them right now! That's an order!"

He swept his arms out at the few remaining guards. They exchanged glances, shifted back and forth. Then one of them put down his sword and shrugged. The others quickly followed.

"You – you useless – " Oliver tugged at his hair. "Gratiano!"

Shuddering from the effort, the giant bulldog rose to his feet. Ryllis tensed and Sam scrambled to reach for her Levia. She probably didn't have enough for more than one basic strengthening spell, but Gratiano was on his last legs too. And it seemed like he was the only familiar Oliver had left.

Then Sam's Levia rippled. A warning? She didn't have time to process it before a deep rumble built beneath her feet and the floor heaved violently.

Yelling, Sam tumbled and landed smack on her face. In a flash Ryllis was beside her, grabbing her arm.

"Come on!" She hauled Sam upright, wrapped an arm around her waist, and jumped. Just in time. Sam stared in horror as a massive crack spread across the coliseum floor, splitting it in half.

Ryllis landed in the stands, but they weren't safe here. The entire coliseum was shuddering as if it'd been hit by an earthquake. The crack spread wider and smaller ones split off from it, webbing across the entire floor. Chunks of stone and dust rained from the walls and ceiling.

"Shit." Ryllis glanced wildly around. "We have to get out of here."

But how? The whole prison must be falling apart.

A tremendous groan of stone grinding upon stone echoed across the coliseum. Then the top box broke off from the wall and plummeted, carrying Oliver with it. He kicked and thrashed, his screams reaching a fever pitch.

'No way.' Sam's heart lodged in her throat. Sure, Oliver might be a little shithead, but even he didn't deserve to die as a splat on the ground.

She grabbed Ryllis' arm, but before she could say anything, orange light erupted from the cracks in the floor like magma beneath the ground. Its harsh power scraped her skin like a hot wind, making her stumble.

Just to her right, a fount of Levia exploded out of the floor. Screaming, Sam grabbed Ryllis tighter.

Her stomach jerked when Ryllis leaped up, heading toward an open archway. But she didn't get before more Levia burst in front of her, blocking the way. Ryllis turned wildly to the side, and Sam tried to look for escape routes too, but she couldn't see anything beneath the raging, storming waves of orange light.

Stone dissolved, crumbling into nothing. The light burned hotter and brighter, swallowing Sam's entire vision. Desperate, she clung to Ryllis as tight as she could. In this chaos, only her familiar was real and solid.

The light flared brighter than ever, turning the world behind her shut eyelids searing red. Then a crackle filled her head, like static from a TV, becoming louder and louder until it drowned out her own thoughts.

Just when she thought the droning buzz would drive her crazy, a distant rumble echoed in her ears. Levia wrenched in her chest and she and Ryllis both went tumbling forward, their knees hitting solid ground.

After catching her breath, Sam opened her eyes. For a moment the world swirled around her, a dizzying blur, but after a few hard blinks her vision cleared. And she only got even more confused.

Floral wallpaper. Tastefully upholstered couches. A huge marble fireplace. Tall bay windows letting in golden afternoon light.

Wherever they were, one thing was clear: this sure as hell wasn't the coliseum anymore.

"What the?" Ryllis rasped. She nudged Sam and Sam released her, allowing Ryllis to rise to her feet with her spear pointed.

With her battered armor and weapon, she definitely didn't belong in this fancy rich person's room. Not that anybody here did. Not even Oliver, since he was lying on his back in a very undignified posture, arms and legs spread wide and mouth open in a huge O.

A quick glance revealed everyone from the coliseum had ended up here, even the now very lost-looking guards. Big as this place might be, it didn't hold a candle to the massive coliseum, so everyone was stuck in uncomfortably close quarters. Less than a body length separated Sam from Oliver.

Which made her wonder if she should do something – restrain him, maybe. But he didn't seem like any kind of danger, lying there gaping like a fish.

He wasn't the only one. Everyone else looked just as flummoxed, as if they'd all awoken from a very long, very strange dream. For a while, the only sound in the room was their combined heavy breathing.

Then an unfortunately familiar scream pierced the silence – not Oliver, but Ryan on his knees, tugging on his hair like he wanted to yank it all out.

"Okay, what the fuck just happened here? Yeowch!"

That last scream came from him tugging a little too hard, apparently. He keeled right on over, and would've hit the carpet if Avia hadn't caught him in the nick of time.

But Ryan's dramatics had snapped everyone else back to their senses. They began to move, shifting and shuffling and sitting up. Meg even rose to her feet, dusting off her hands with business-like briskness.

"Hm," she said, glancing around. "It seems like the arena fell apart. I'm guessing we got spat out in one of the entrance points, the Enson manor."