Endless Wilderness

'Die!' A man lunged at Leo with fingernails burning hot like steel in a furnace.

'No.' Leo stepped aside and let the man pass, feeling a little bored with the encounter. This wasn't the first time today he had dealt with an overconfident fighter. The man leapt from one tree to the next, making use of their jungle surroundings. He swung from vines and raced across stones until he arrived at a shallow running creek. Leo followed for the sake of entertaining the man. 'You realised that encounters in this survival game are best avoided, right?'

'Don't toy with me, damnit!' The man dug his burning nails into a stepping stone, melting it until he gained a firm grip. This power would have been far scarier on someone else.

'I'm not toying with–oh come on.' Leo braced for impact as the man threw himself across the river. Leo decided that now was a better time than any to try something new, so he drew his sword, lightning arcing from its sheath. He tried to come up with a name as quickly as he could. The lightning from the draw flayed outwards like a splash of water, so he shouted, 'Wave Strike!' The light burnt streaks through the space between them, and electrocuted Leo's assailant.

The man unceremoniously fell into the creek with a loud slap, but started to rise immediately. He just wouldn't stay down. Leo felt his next move was more of a mercy than anything, as he pointed his sword to the water. Lightning danced between the two halves of the blade until they shot out in pulses, hitting the water with building power that grew stronger the more Leo focused on it. It was like he was stabbing his weapon into the water without the metal even touching it.

'Bolt in the Stone,' Leo said, quite proud of the name. The attacker was electrocuted before he could even cry out in surprise, and fell back into the water, face down. Leo sheathed his weapon, sighing with a heaving breath that felt forced. In the few hours he'd spent in this jungle, he'd learned there was a big difference between taking the life of someone like Prim, and taking the life of whoever was lying in the creek right now. He still wasn't sure he could hurt someone as good as Prim again, but at least he knew he could handle those fodder-types.

Now, before he was interrupted by the hellfire nails guy, he was on the move to get somewhere. He'd heard about some dry wilderness nearby, which apparently a lot of people avoided in this floor of the colosseum. And to Leo, that meant he could find some peace and quiet there, so he could actually survive in this survival game. In his experience so far, a lot of people seemed to take it as a hunting game, all seeking out the new fodder and weakest, so they could kill and gain repute as a fighter. Leo didn't see the sense in that. Who would enter a survival game just to treat it like an arena fight?

Raphael had explained that these survival games were some of the biggest crowd attractors in the colosseum, being that they could go for days or weeks on end. There was a story of one particular game running for more than a year, after both combatants had chosen to live separate lives until they bled the land dry of its resources. That was an important thing to remember, this arena had limited goods to get a hold of. Despite there being living organisms like trees and animals, nothing here reproduced. So unfortunately, Leo couldn't start a farm like he'd sort of wanted to.

Leo finally came to the end of the jungle, the last messy roots and moss covered stone leading to dry red rock. Leo stood at the edge of a fantastical desert, stone structures arcing high into the sky, many of them curving like gigantic sharp crescent moons. Some stone floated off the ground with no clear reason why. It was like someone had moved the earth beneath them and they refused to fall.

As Leo delved further into this wasteland, he spied occasional lizards and snakes, heard the barks of some wild beast and could occasionally smell the rot of open carcasses. This place would test his very limited survival skills, but it would be worth it if he could avoid fights and wasted energy with weaker fighters. Hopefully, his only opponents out here would be people with powers like his own. Raphael explained that the better the opponent, the more likely he would get a sponsor. As those thoughts ran through his mind, he instinctually reached for his Key. The tiny orb met his hands and let him see his sponsor requests… still at zero. What more could these beings want from him?

Finally, Leo spied a cave etched into the side of a crescent rock that arched hundreds of feet into the sky. It seemed slightly unnatural, but that only piqued his curiosity further. If it was clear, he would make a place for himself to stay, if there was a beast inside, he would still make a place to stay. He crept inside, sword drawn and lightning trickling from the sides of its steel. His eyes adjusted to the dark quickly, and let him see further into the space. He then became aware of a light ahead. His feet locked in place, forcing him back a step. Leo refused their directions, powered by pure curiosity. He wound a small bend and came to an open space glowing with teal light. In the center floated something unexpected… a human.

Leo quickly noticed the terrifying part of this image–the bodies on the floor, bloodied and cut to ribbons.

'Spectacular,' said the floating person. 'Make it clear in one word what you're seeking, dear, or your time in this game is over.'