The Lost Sentinel

8 Tan's first fight.

On Mount Gi:   

Tan P.O.V

The waiting is killing me. Two hours has never felt so long in my entire life. I walk from one end of my room to the other. And then I sit on the flimsy bed, and try to think of how I am going to fight, or survive this fight.

No…Hanika did say the fight is to the death. I get up and start to pace.

I don’t want to die. Then what do I do?

I drop to the floor and do push ups. I only manage to do five of them before I crumble to the ground. Oh, I am dead for sure.

How did Rhine think that I am going to be able to cultivate my power?

I know nothing about martial arts or how to ignite my inner power.

I am a thief… I am a thief… I am a thief…

I lie on the ground and face up in the half steel half rock ceiling. Roots meander through the rock creating patterns. I focus on them, picking out cartoonish faces and strange creatures. After a while I close my eyes, stuffing my hand into my pockets – the one that has my coin.

Mak…

What would Mak do? I ask myself rubbing the coin slowly. It grows warm giving me a sense of calm.

‘You won’t die,’ I hear his voice in my head. And he’s laughing at me.

‘If it were you, you would be screaming,’ I return.

‘Yeah, but I know that every safe has a cracking point…a weakness that I use to open it. You just have to know their weakness and use your strength on them.’

‘What is my strength?’ I ask. My whole hand grows warmer in my pocket. I pull it out and stare at it. The black lines glow with a green colour. It reminds me of the stone that had melted on my hand in that basement.

I form a fist around the coin, and the glow becomes greater, the muscles there throb growing in size.

The door whooshes open behind my head. I tilt my face to see the robot return.

The screen computer blinks switching on: Fighter: GH42067 its time for you fight. Follow me.

I sigh getting to my feet.

I stuff my coin in my pocket and get to my feet. I follow the robot down the hallway. It wheels deeper into the mountain.

The hallway is lined by doors, which I assume lead to other fighter’s rooms.

The deeper we go the colder its gets.

I shiver slightly, rubbing my hand over my arms. The only warm thing on me is the coin in my pocket.

Mak, my best friend.

I clench and unclench my fist remembering how it had felt holding the coin in my grip. My body had reacted to warmth pulsating from the coin, and the green glow in my birthmark.

Does that mean that the coin has power?

Well that remains to be seen, because I plan to use the coin in the fight. I’m going to hold it in my fist like I did in my room, and hope to strike a lethal blow to whoever I face.

The robot turned a corner, and I walk fast to keep up with it. The corner it turned into looks like a dressing room.

There are lockers lining the wall. The robot comes to a stop that has my number on - Fighter: GH42067.

I go to it, and open it.

Inside there is nothing but clothes. I reach for them, and I can see that they are pyjama like loose pants and a shirt in a brown colour.

The colour looks dull and so not my style.

But I know I have to wear them. I quickly get dressed, closing my fist around the coin since my new clothes don’t have any pockets.

 Once I am done, the robot starts moving again. I follow it out of the locker room, and head down another hallway.

Here the steel created walls come to a stop. I step onto the rock of the mountain, and down a tunnel that leads deeper into the mountain.

I can hear applause as if there is a great crowd waiting. The lights grow brighter as we get closer. The robot comes to a stop at the edge of a large arena.

I stop too. And look up to the roof of the arena. Screens hang up there showing off highlights, scores and statistics of fighters in different languages I don’t understand.

I didn’t think that the fights were open to the public.

I wonder if Rhine and Hanika will be watching too. I stare the screens not liking it. I don’t want them to see me fail.

The screens suddenly go black, and then switch on after a minute. The same information that had appeared on the screen panel as I stepped onto Mount Gi appears:

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

                                      Fighter: GH42067

Name: Tan

Age: Nineteen

Occupation: Thief

Race: Human (Master Gin’s reincarnate)

Special abilities: N/A

Possible powers to be cultivated: power to wield all Five elements (Wood, Water, Fire, earth and metal) and form bonds with Magical Beasts.

Status: Entry level

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

I stare at the one the section on my panel that says Possible powers to be cultivated – focusing on metal as one of the elements. Master Gin could wield that element, which means I can too. The coin is metal. It warms in my hand.

I wonder what else I can do with it.   

On another screen I see my opponent’s information. I read through it.

                                      Fighter: XC42309

Name: Jin

Age: Twenty-two

Occupation: Soldier

Race: Alien (Thebes)

Special abilities: Super speed, and light beam.

Possible powers to be cultivated: power to transform into any animal form, and wield the fire element.

Status: Entry level

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Please enter the arena and face your opponent. I walk to the centre of the arena. My opponent walks there too. The creature that walks to the centre takes me by surprise, because I’ve seen it before. It’s blue one-piece rubber suit that looks more like skin horrifies me, that I touch my chest where the other two pierced me with a light beam. My heart hammers in my chest.

Why did my first fight have to be with one like them? I ask myself feeling anxious.

“Your fight will start in ten seconds,” a booming voice says around us. And starts counting. “1….2…3…4…”