No one had been brave enough to push me. Yet. I stepped onto the crumbling path and released a breath, along with more smoke.
I wasn’t truly afraid of falling, and though I focused on my steps, I also took in the realm in my peripheries. On my left, rainbow smoke shrouded the lower realm as far as the eye could see. All the way to where the desert disappeared over the horizon. The Pinnacle and arena were set atop the one and only mountain peak in the otherwise flat realm.
Another structure was set atop this peak too.
The royal fortress loomed to my right.
I didn’t give fear much space inside me after being afraid for so long, but fear found me once more as I was confronted by the sight of the very fortress I’d run from.
Fear was the worst kind of hunter, and I could never quite outrun it. But maybe, justmaybe,if I pulled this off and got through all four rounds to win Tiers… maybe then I could be free.
A long scream disturbed the scuff of leather and calloused heel against stone and dirt. A blue scale was hurtling toward the ground. Did she fall off the walkway, or was she pushed? I couldguess, though the real question was whether or not the demon could portal. I’d say no, judging by her scale color.
A distant thud met my ears.
Dead.Unless she was very, very lucky. There were more than a couple of ways to kill a demon. Cracking enough scales so that a demon’s smoke could no longer be contained was one difficult way to achieve it.
My demon side shrugged a shoulder at the whole affair. If the woman was weak enough to let her guard down, then she’d deserved to be pushed. Myotherside was in absolute shock that anyone could push a person from such a height because that was fucking murder. And couldn’t they have put a damned safety net under us?
Alas, I’d lived in this realm for five years. Long enough to know that nothing would be gained by interfering. My morals baffled demons. They couldn’t compute them. It was like using the words “reason” or “compromise” with them. The words didn’t exist here. Strangely, the word “kindness” did, in terms of killing something weak and sick. The word “sorry” existed, too, but I wouldn’t get started on that messed-up meaning.
I placed one foot in front of the other on the path toward the thunderous rumbling of the roaring crowd. Their excitement was infecting the contestants. Their pace quickened, and I obeyed the demon call in me to chase the fight.
To seek the pain of others.
I listened to fresh screams as more demons were pushed off the walkway. Blues and greens crowded the far end, shoving off oranges and yellows. I smiled at them, enjoying how they skittered into the cave passage beyond to hiss their displeasure from the shadows.
I strode into the passage, holding in my relief for now.Nearly there.I wanted this done. I wanted to know if I stooda chance to win. I wanted to get through a week without him noticing my presence.
I tugged my hood higher.
He’d definitely be here, but fortunately for me, the asshole hated watching the game and usually slept through the entire thing. He preferred to fight himself—with skillas he’d pointed out one hundred times. I used to smirk with him over the clumsy contestants who’d never trained to fight a day in their lives.
They were nothing likeus.
Facing him was inevitable. But I’d prefer to face him as I demanded my prize.
The thick stone of the passage muted some of the crowd’s roaring, but dirt and stone underfoot leaped with their stamping and yelling. Demons lined either side of the passage, and I strode between them. They avoided my gaze, shying from Oyx Wehy. Most assumed I was strong because of who my father was.But there were reasons to believe I could be weak too.
If they believed me weak, then all the better for me.
I’d made it this far, and now calm found its way back to me as I walked deeper into the passage. I’d prepared for this part for the last two months, training harder than I usually had reason to.
Unlike the inside of the Pinnacle, I’d witnessed the start of Tiers. This passage opened at one end of the arena. I’d need to reach the other side.
The noise of the crowd was deafening as I finally made it to the front.
I tugged up my hood again before peeking through the rusty gate. Not an empty seat in sight. There never was.
I glanced at my immediate company. To my surprise, five demons of red scales were playing the game. I’d rarely seen reds play Tiers. They were mostly weaker reds—as evident by the dullhue of their scales—but reds nevertheless. They would be my largest competition other than a group attack from the purples.
The guard on the other side smirked at me—or maybe my outfit? I’d done pretty well by covering my scales with a hooded, long-sleeved tunic. A scarf looped around my neck, and fingerless gloves covered the backs of my hands. Full-length leather pants concealed the rest of my scales.
My garb was a far cry from the surrounding G-strings.
Okay, not G-strings, butloincloths. Grimy and stained with ball-and-vagina sweatloincloths, I wasn’t kidding. Some of the women wore cropped tunics with their loincloths, but most of them wore what I called nipple string. That meant 90 percent nipple exposure, and only 10 percent coverage.
Which, whatever… get your tits out if you wanted to, but also… why not go the full 100 percent? Five years, and I’d never figured out the point of nipple string, and unlike fashion trends in the human realm, trendsreallydidn’t change in this realm.
