Terrel and House Votair were at the center of things. That much she could be sure of.
While Kira was thinking, she caught sight of Terrel making his way down the same stairs Kira had a short time before. Instead of descending all the way to the arena floor, he stopped at the landing where the wall that separated the floor from the stands lay.
Rather than the defeat and anger she expected to see, Terrel seemed almost gloating. Victorious as he lifted his hand and set something on the wall.
At first Kira didn’t understand. Not until a low hum went through the arena as a force field rose from the wall all the way to the ceiling, cutting off those below from those standing above.
Baran and a few other oshota frowned and stepped forward, banging at the wall.
All the while Terrel smiled, his gaze moving over Kira’s shoulder to something behind her. She spun, scanning the arena floor.
The initiates hadn’t realized anything was wrong yet. Some cheered. Others were dissatisfied at Joule’s win.
Kira dismissed them, focusing on the single point of utter calm. Out of place in a sea of movement as the initiates milled around, chatting.
Renata’s features were perfectly blank. Eerily so. At least until a smile formed. Unnatural as the muscles in the rest of her face refused to move.
Her eyes were empty. A void where Renata’s personality should have been.
And it was hungry.
The thought triggered something in Kira, calling half remembered knowledge to the forefront.
Of a creature her fellow soldiers had once treated as myth. Stories of a bogeyman whose existence was proven only by the utter lack of survivors every time it was thought to have stepped onto the battlefield.
A class of Tsavitee Kira had thought was a hoax right up until the moment it almost killed her.
Face changer.
Renata’s smile continued to spread. Wider and wider until it looked like her face would rip in two.
And then it did.
Blood poured down her body as something climbed out of her skin. Those nearby froze in horror.
They should have run.
Kira launched forward, pounding across the sands as the creature stood upright.
Tall and spindly, it looked like it had been skinned as it flicked away a ribbon of flesh and threw its head back on a scream.
In a sense, it had.
Face changers were unnatural, requiring a seed to be inserted into a living victim. Eventually, that seed took root, growing the face changer within a host.
The most terrifying thing about them was the way they evolved through each life they claimed.
It was also why they were so tricky to fight. No two face changers evolved along the same path. Each one reacted to the stimuli in their environment to become something totally unique.
This one was at stage one of its evolutionary path.
To avoid a blood bath, Kira needed to ensure it didn’t evolve any further.
Closer to Joule and the rest, Raider cursed, coming to the same conclusion a second after Kira.
“Get away from it!” he screamed at Joule, Devon, and the rest who were only a few feet from it.
Joule and Devon backed away quickly.
