“Begins,” he finished, stepping out and noting the information display floating outside the transport ship for a few seconds before snapping off.
“What did it say?” Ziana asked as she followed him out, taking in their surroundings with both awe and caution.
It was a grassy mesa, not too wide, but quite elevated. It seemed they’d been given the advantage they needed without those randomly assigning starting locations being any the wiser. It was an advantage they’d gladly take.
Dorrin was already squinting, scanning the distance for signs of the others. “It said there are only three keys.”
“Good, that should be quick work.”
“Not necessarily. There are typically five or more. Fewer keys likely means a much more difficult environment. One that will take a lot more time. But first things first,” he said as their transport silently lifted off and disappeared out the opening farabove, the small flying craft exit point sealing shut once the last ship was out.
He hurried to the edge of the mesa, watching his step as he moved. “No traps, at least not right here. Follow close and step where I step.”
Ziana did as he said and in no time they were at a steep drop leading to sharp rocks below.
“Wow,” she gasped, truly impressed by the scale of what they’d built, and all of it underground. “That’s amazing.”
He paused a moment to take it all in, allowing himself to enjoy the scenery, if only for a minute. “Yes, I suppose it is, once you get past the game aspect, anyway.”
He turned his head, scanning the massive cavern for signs of other competitors. Ziana followed suit. There was an orange glow where lava was clearly bubbling out of a stone face into a cascading lavafall. She’d never seen anything like it, the molten rock splashing down into the cold water below in an eruption of hissing steam.
The water was mostly frozen down there. A large hole had melted open surrounding the area where the lava impacted, but the rest of the area was a frozen lake. More of a really big pond, if you had to be technical about it. On its shores, icy plants clung to life, but only just, the whole place looking cold and miserable.
Off past it was a sandy area that appeared hot and dry, making her wonder how they kept the vastly different climates from bleeding into one another. Alien tech was the answer, of course, but now was not the time to try to figure out how it all worked.
“There,” Dorrin said, pointing to a pair making their way up a moss-slicked slope far off to the right. “Lonks and Quilla.”
“I see them. And it looks like others are following already.”
“With only three keys, it’s logical. There are less areas to find the keys, though that also means we’re less likely to have violent altercations, even though they are allowed in the caverns.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because, with this much time, everyone should be able to retrieve their copies of the keys by the time the exit opens tomorrow. They may be exhausted, but the risk of injury fighting is far greater than simply pushing on. But time will tell.”
“Hey, over there,” Ziana said, pointing out another team circling the base of the lava fall, searching for a way up.
It was a pair of commoners, they realized, but they were being followed by elites. Elites who knew where they needed to go but couldn’t simply hurry around them without drawing unwanted attention to themselves. They stayed there a little while longer, making as many notes about the environment, teams, and terrain as they could until there was only one option left.
“I guess we should get started,” Ziana said.
“We should,” Dorrin agreed. “Stay close, stay quiet, and keep your eyes alert. We have not seen the animals residing in this place yet, and that worries me. Usually, there would have been at least some sign, and the absence tells me one important thing.”
“What’s that?”
He scanned the mesa one last time then headed for the least steep point from which to descend. “That they have opted for animals that practice stealth,” he replied quietly. “They have put us in here with predators.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The elites, no matter how well prepared they were with insider knowledge about the location of the keys, were moving with slow caution. Everyone was, and for good reason. The first very audible screams of pain as whatever was lurking out there attacked one of the teams made it quite clear that traps and natural obstacles were not the only dangers they would be facing.
As a result, this was going to be a longer trek than many of the competitors had initially thought. The elites were still moving toward their targets, going through the motions so the spectators betting on them wouldn’t realize the game was rigged, and it was following them that led Dorrin and Ziana to their first of the three keys.
The terrain was icy and cold. One of the lowest areas in the caverns, and sporting not only a small frozen lake, but also a small frozen waterfall they’d been unable to see from their original vantage point. All around was ice, and some of it was thin and unable to support a person’s weight, let alone two. The crackling was all the warning one would get before being unceremoniously dumped into the frigid water.
Fortunately, it seemed the predators did not like the cold, so while it was miserable for the teams searching for the key, at least they didn’t have that one additional deadly thing to worry about. Of course, the traps were more than enough to keep them quite busy.
The area was pretty sparse when it came to plant life. Being this cold, not much could handle the extreme temperatures. Trees were few and stunted, and the vine-like bushes that grew around their bases sported short but very tough thorns, almost like barbed wire, making any thoughts of wading through them to climb the trees quite moot.
