Ravens of Eternity

120 Pit of Vipers, Pt Team Ra’ventrii descended down below the dome via special tubular highways that connected the city’s Upper Dome to its Lower Dome. The truth was, every single dome on the planet was actually only half visible.

Half of it floated above the surface, while the other half was constantly submerged. This was necessary for its own stability, locomotion, and even energy. Multiple giant hydroturbines dotted all over the Lower Dome kept the city geographically positioned and powered at the same time.

In fact, most of the city’s power was stored and distributed through the Lower Dome. But it wasn’t the only thing that was down there. In fact, nearly a third of the city’s Drogar lived and worked down there.

When they first arrived, Eva, Miko, and all the other humans were briefed on the basic layout of the city. That the Upper Dome was designed for prosperity, while the Lower Dome was designed for leisure.

And so almost all Drogar recreational and leisure activities happened there. Sports arenas, gaming centers, tourist traps, gambling dens, intoxicant lounges, and incredibly robust red light districts.

Eva watched with wonderment as they passed a multitude of venues of every kind. Some were flashy, some were grimy, some were classy. In the end, all were about distraction and escapism and catered to every taste.

Where they were headed to simply happened to be one of those many venues. In fact, it was one of the many dueling arenas in the city. Though it was certainly the most popular one.

“This is a hedonist’s paradise,” said Eva.

“It’s why some live and work here,” replied Szereth. “Entire clans thrive in the Lower Dome, that’s for sure. Their entire existence is defined by it.”

.....

Their gondola navigated down the multiple layers of the Lower Dome until they reached the one where the arena was located. Eva noted that the ceiling was just like at Helios, where a great big screen displayed what the actual sky looked like above.

They navigated over to the main entertainment district of the Lower Dome, and touched down at one of the more reputable-looking gondola silos.

Once the gondola dome opened up, the scents of a well-worn city assaulted their noses. In comparison, the Upper Dome smelled of fresh sea water, owing to the dome constantly venting in fresh air.

But the Lower Dome smelled just like what a busy, compact city would – street food, sweet smoke, earthy sweat, and acrid piss. As a whole, the scents were familiar and unwelcome at the same time.

Although the air was typically vented out and fresh air cycled in, the sheer concentration kept the things rather pungent most of the time. They got used to it, eventually.

A few moments after they stepped off the gondola, a large swing-arm picked it up and slid it into an open spot in the silo. Another gondola came in to land almost right after.

The arena was an incredibly large circular coliseum whose outer wall was incredibly tall and ridiculously wide. When they looked up its stats through their DI’s, it revealed that it was over a 1000 meters wide, and 300 meters high.

Eva tried to picture the Colosseum in Rome next to it, and she imagined it to be like a baby in comparison.

There were multiple wide archways interspersed all around the wall, each of which acted as entrance and exit. Above each archway was the name of the venue itself – ‘The Viper Pit’.

The script was laid out in bold, stylistic Drogarii. It looked as though it had been slashed into the wall with talons or weapons.

Throngs of people crowded the walkway up to the entrances, which themselves were a flurry of activity. Each and every single archway entrance was heavily policed by ticket takers and arena guards.

They made sure no-one got in without paying arena access dues.

“I’ll see you upstairs,” said Szereth.

Alevos nodded, then led Miko and Doleth through the archway and upwards towards the main fighting arena and the surrounding stands. Great cheering could be heard from up there.

Szereth on the other hand led Eva and Severas through that same archway, but down and below, towards where the duelists gathered. When they passed a certain threshold, the faint scent of blood filled their noses.

The stairs went down for a number of meters, and as they did so, the sounds of Drogar talking grew louder and louder. Eventually, they came to a large room where a number of Drogar stood around in little groups and chatted among each other. It was as though they were waiting for something.

Perhaps it was their nerve.

Eva was glad to see that she wasn’t the only one who had their EyeCast out. No doubt plenty of duelists recorded their own fights, for post-fight analysis and whatnot. And according to some of the digital ads scattered around on the walls, these fights were OmniCasted as well.

At the other end of the room was a series of registration tables where Pit officials waved over the more confident fighters.

Eva walked straight towards them with Severas and Szereth in tow. And thanks to the Justicar’s presence, everyone else had the sense to get out of their way.

“Me getting into fights here doesn’t mess with your duties does it?” Eva asked Severas.

“Duels are practically sacred,” she replied. “And are legally protected. So the answer is no. No-one can interfere in a duel.”

“Could I, in theory, duel whoever I want? Like could I challenge the Drogar Emperor?”

Severas chuckled.

“You mean, Empress,” she said. “And yes, you can challenge whoever you want. Whether they accept is another matter altogether. In reality, she would politely decline and send a counter-challenge through one of her champions.”

As they talked, Szereth took the lead and began registration procedures with the officials. He filled out the necessary forms and paid all of the necessary dues.

An officious-looking Drogar in a bright white robe stepped up to Eva’s group with a datapad in her hands. She looked down at it to double-check something before she looked at Eva. There was a slight quizzical tone in her voice when she spoke.

“A human duelist?” she asked. “Is that even legal?”

Szereth simply pointed at Severas with a thumb.

“Ask her,” he said.

The officious Drogar’s eyes went wide when she realized that a Justicar was in her presence.

“A-apologies! I hope I didn’t offend by presuming the law! I was just surprised, that’s all.”

“It’s fine,” said Severas. “But don’t make a habit of it.”

“Ah, in any case, I’m the Seed Judge assigned to your duelist, Ra’ventrii.”

The Seed Judge turned towards Eva, and appraised her briefly.

“Drogar or not,” she continued, “in order to fight upstairs, you first need to qualify down here. You simply need to make one challenge, accept one challenge, and win both in order to qualify. As your Seed Judge, I’ll be validating your victories or losses, and will help determine your Seed within Tier Seven.

However, as you’re a simple ape, I suggest you tamp down hopes for any victories against Drogar. In fact, I suggest you head upstairs and watch from the stands instead. No offense. It’s just safer for you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” replied Eva.

The Seed Judge then led the trio into a hallway behind the registration desk, and further towards a wide-open amphitheater. The amphitheater was filled with hundreds of Drogar – duelists, their teams, and their Seed Judges.

The sounds of fighting increased as they neared, along with the smell of fresh blood. It was thick in the air. Much blood had been spilled out onto the sandy floor, especially within the spacious sparring circles that dotted the whole area.

Szereth turned to Eva and gave her sternly-worded advice.

“You should look for the meanest Drogar,” he said, “at least one you think you can handle, and make it look like it was tough for you to beat him. This should attract someone to challenge you foolishly, which should lead to an easy qualification. No need to get yourself hurt here, before the real fighting begins.”

“You mean, before the gambling begins?” she asked. “Let’s not worry about my safety. Instead, what can I do to really up the stakes?”

Szereth grinned in response.

“Remember what we said about seeds and tiers?” he said. “Well, if you rank high going into the Seventh Tier, you’ll look really strong. That’ll cause a lot of bets, especially from those that wanna see you go down. Lots of duelists also get pretty boisterous to gather attention. It works sometimes.”

“Okay. Seed high, be dramatic, get attention. Anything else I should keep in mind?”

“Yeah, activate your helmet.”

“The power armor won’t turn on until I do, right?”

“All power armors in the Pit are required to work like that.”

Eva nodded in understanding before she scanned the room for potential opponents. When she found one, she began to walk towards him.

“I’m going to challenge that one,” she said.

The others and her Seed Judge followed as she headed towards a brutish Drogar with spiked power armor and a long beltknife. He was slightly hunched over and had a wild look in his eyes.

In comparison to the rest of the duelists around them, he looked the most primal and savage. So it was an easy choice for Eva.

“It’s still not too late,” said the Seed Judge. “You can still change your mind and go spectate instead.”

Eva just wordlessly looked at her in response.

“Fine,” said the Judge. “It’s your life, duelist.”

Once the two groups met up, both Judges discussed Eva’s challenge as the actual duelists sized each other up. The Drogar was absolutely astounded that such a tiny and frail human would even walk up to him, much less challenge him.

He quickly accepted and they both walked onto a sparring circle.

The Drogar looked like a beast before Eva. His oxidized and dirty metal armor, combined with his severe hunch made him look as though he was as wide as he was tall. It was almost like she was facing a small hill made of spiked scrap metal.

In comparison, Eva’s slender frame was enveloped in tight black Drogar robes, which swept around her body gracefully.

“You oughta be happy, ape,” said her opponent. “You get to die at the hands of a real warrior. There’s no greater honor than that. Now put on your helmet and draw your blade!”

“Nah,” said Eva. “Just come at me already.”

She put her hands on her hips and stood out of stance. It was as though she was goading him to attack. It worked, as his anger towards her callousness overtook him, and he screamed at her in response.

“If it’s suicide you want, it’s suicide you’ll get!”

He reared back and pounced at her with great strength and frightening speed thanks to his power armor. He also thrust his beltknife forward, and aimed its tip right for her forehead.

Eva grinned, smoothly entered an aggressive stance, and put her hand on her knife’s grip. When her opponent’s blade was mere centimeters away, she activated her Ascendant Form for just one moment.

And within that moment, she felt every molecule in her body vibrating with energy. The fibers in her muscles tensed as she prepared to launch her counter-attack. In the blink of an eye, she poured five times as much energy through her blood and pumped them straight into her muscles. Fingers, hands, arms, core, legs, feet, toes.

With a focused breath, she took a single step of her dance. This launched her out of his path and sprung her forward with explosive power. At the exact same moment, she drew out her blade, sliced through his neck, and won her duel in a single, smooth motion.

All anyone had seen was a blur of movement from Eva, and it took them more than a few moments to process what had actually happened.

Her opponent’s lifeless body fell to the ground as his head bounced and rolled off to the side. His eyes were eternally frozen with surprise and dread at the same time.

Without missing a beat, she walked all over her opponent’s corpse and stood atop it in utter triumph. She flung the blood off her blade with the flick of her wrist then roared angrily at the amphitheater around her.

“I’m Ra’ventrii, a human bladedancer! Challenge me and die honorably!”

.....

Then she winked at a horrified Szereth as though to say, that’s dramatic enough, yeah?