Finally, we're into chapter three! Thankfully, this chapter will be shorter than the previous two; it will only take two parts, instead of three.
In the previous chapter, Ren, Kutho, Rau, and Lepo were waiting at the Munera Center so that Ren could break her contract with Kutho, but then her cousin Delk showed up and badmouthed her and Kutho a bit, which led Kutho to challenge Delk to a fight, a challenge that Ren was forced to back up.
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Chapter Three: First Breach
According to Delk, the Munera Center held an arena, and that was where he and Ren would settle their score. As the group walked towards it, Ren focused on Delk’s back, trying to count the black and white stripes on his tunic. Maybe that would keep her mind off what was to come. No such luck. She lost count after the fifth or sixth, when worries crept out of the crevices in which she’d stuffed them: Why did I agree to this? Doesn’t matter how good Kutho is, we’re going to lose anyway! Oh, I hope it doesn’t hurt too much… What will Delk do when he wins? Maybe they’ll leave us alone after this…oh, be realistic, you know they won’t!
By the time they reached the arena, Ren’s stomach was a pit of writhing snakes.
The arena was small as far as Munera arenas went, about the size of a tennis court. The ceiling lights flickered fitfully over the arena’s fading painted boundaries. But Ren couldn’t stop shaking while she stumbled towards the rectangular area in which masters stood while their macor fought.
Kutho however, was all confident poise. He strode onto the arena a few spans in front of her and flashed a smirk at Strear, who stood silently on the opposite side. Then he ripped open his tunic and tossed the cloth scraps dismissively aside, letting them float to the floor like snowflakes.
No! That was one of Rau’s good shirts! Ren thought. Her hands trembled.
Delk took his position in the master square on the arena’s opposite end. He stood tall, one hand on his hip and the other carelessly tousling his hair. This was what Ren would have to face. A talented, experienced Munera player. Dread tightened in a hard ball in her chest. What kind of idiot had she been, to think that losing to Delk would be more dignifying than refusing his challenge?
“K-Kutho,” she stammered. “Come on…we don’t have to do this…”
“Shut up, human,” Kutho snapped, not looking at her. His back muscles rippled. “I’m going to teach that sorry excuse for an Icim what a proper makhorre is like.”
Delk’s posse had filed into the room and had taken seats in the bleachers ringing the arena. They taunted, catcalled, and cheered. It was nothing compared to the roar at a typical Munera game, but in Ren’s current state, their raucous cries rang like thunderclaps. She was aware of Rau and Lepo in the bleachers behind her, their eyes boring into her back. They would be expecting her to win. Or at least, to put up a good fight. Ren hoped they would forgive her when she failed.
“Are we ready?” A voice, distorted by static, boomed in the room. Ren scanned the crowd for its source: a young man in a lime green tunic standing on the bottom bleacher in front of Delk’s posse. He had on a headset and was adjusting the mouthpiece so it would amplify his voice.
An announcer? They’ve even gotten an announcer! Sweat rolled down Ren’s neck.
“Ready!” roared the crowd in unison—Sadra even stood up and waved his arms like he was directing a dance. His macor and another boy grabbed his belt and yanked him down.
“Great!” cried the announcer. “So, today, we’ve got ourselves a very special lineup and y’all should consider yourselves lucky to be here today! On one side, we’ve got Garment District champ, the Dynamic Delk, and his macor the Stone Master Strear! And on the other we’ve got none other than Renren herself, Miss ‘I-will-never-have-anything-to-do-with-Munera-so-long-as-I-live,’ and her new, and so far unregistered macor, Kutho!”
Ren’s face burned when announcer threw her own words back at her, in a crude falsetto. She was stricken by the sudden, violent desire to win, to prove to everyone that she was serious—
But she wasn’t; Kutho had forced her into this. She breathed deeply. The announcer was just trying to unnerve her.
“Who will win this clash of titans?” bellowed the announcer. A shout of laughter greeted his words. Ren clenched her teeth and Kutho tensed. Everyone knew the answer to that question.
“Don’t listen to them!” Rau’s shout rang deceptively loud. “You can do it, Ren! Don’t you dare let anyone tell you otherwise!”
“Go, Ren and Kutho!” squeaked Lepo.
Ren wanted to sink through the floor and die.
The boys laughed again; some were rolling around and slapping their knees. The announcer shouted, “Well, there’s somebody who sure don’t know how to count the odds! But enough of that! You’ve got a long day ahead, Delk, so let’s not waste any morra your precious time!”
Could he kiss Delk’s ass any more? Ren couldn’t believe that Delk’s buddies were that devoted to him, considering that Delk tended to forget about their existence until the next tournament, during which he’d clean the floor with them.
“Munera…” The announcer sucked in a deep breath, and his next word boomed so loudly it shook the rafters. “Goooooooo!”
Strear thudded towards Kutho with his sledgehammer-sized fists raised; Kutho hurled himself to the side before charging Strear, his hand outstretched. His fingernails had lengthened like claws, and his canines had sharpened as well. He looked more bestial, as did Strear, who’d grown horns.
Kutho’s arm moved in a graceful arc. Four crimson lines appeared on Strear’s hide and the big macor thundered to a halt, staring in stupid disbelief at the wounds. Delk gasped and clutched his side, his expression shocked—and murderous.
The crowd, which had been cheering Strear and calling Kutho various permutations of “loser,” fell silent. Ren only heard the rasp of her own breathing and the pounding of her heart. Had Kutho managed to get the upper hand this early?
“Don’t just stand there, you idiot!” screamed Delk. “Get him!”
Strear nodded and swung his fists at Kutho. Kutho tried to roll out of the way but too late—Strear’s fist impacted Kutho’s shoulder and with a startled cry the macor tumbled to the floor.
Pain surged through Ren’s shoulder as if she’d been hit herself. She screamed and clutched the aching, throbbing flesh, but there was no outward sign of injury. Just pain deep in her muscles, the sort of pain that didn’t go away no matter how much ointment you massaged into it.
She fell to her knees. Was it like this? Truly Munera was barbaric. How could anyone stand it?
“Ren! Ren! It’s okay, be okay!” her brothers were shouting, but she barely heard them over the cheers of Delk’s posse.
“Tch, that all you got?” Kutho snarled. He didn’t’ seem to register any pain. He kicked and caught Strear in the stomach, but Strear didn’t budge. Delk remained upright, too. The big macor swung his fist again; Kutho rolled and barely avoided a punch that shattered the floor where his head had been seconds earlier.
Kutho leapt to his feet and hopped back a few steps, holding out his claws menacingly. He was beckoning Strear, Ren realized. Why he would do that was beyond her. If he had any sense, he’d want to avoid those enormous fists.
Strear didn’t take the bait. He watched Kutho for a few seconds before spreading his legs apart, bending down, and raising his fist high in the air. Was he going to intentionally punch the floor? Ren couldn’t see why.
“Oh, looks like Strear’s charging up for a breaker!” crooned the announcer. “I would so not wanna be Kutho!”
Breaker? What’s that? Ren found herself in the strange position of wishing that she knew more about Munera.
She got her answer when, with a mighty roar, Strear brought his fist down—and the floor cracked around it. But it didn’t stop there. The crack spread, fissuring the arena floor like an earthquake, and rapidly raced towards Kutho’s feet.
Kutho jumped, but when he landed, he hit an area of floor that had just been torn. With his feet on opposite sides of the divide, he stumbled—and that was enough for Strear. The big macor bent his knees and launched himself into the air. He flew like an uncoiled spring, prepared to descend upon Kutho. Kutho gasped and held out his hands with his thumbs crossing, as if that would shield him from the impact.
Ren screamed. She did not want to experience being crushed by a massive macor. But Kutho wasn’t moving—why didn’t he move?
His palms lit with a golden glow, so bright that it momentarily blinded Ren. Delk shrieked something unintelligible and Strear’s piggy eyes widened.
A bolt of golden light shot from Kutho’s hands and hit Strear in the heart. Ren felt the heat from the energy. Magic? Of course. That was why macor worked so well with Munera, because magic came to them easier and they had a wider variety of flashy spells at their disposal than humans did.
“Oh, shit! Looks like Kutho’s got a breaker of his own! But what’s this? Seems Strear’s thick hide is savin’ the day for him, he ain’t feeling anything at all!” cried the announcer.
Indeed, Strear kept falling towards Kutho. His face was twisted but he wasn’t blasted away, nor did he change course. And Delk still stood strong, though he breathed a little harder.
“Run!” Ren shrieked at Kutho, who’d stopped the beam assault when he realized that Strear couldn’t feel it. “Run! Get out of the way, please—”
Kutho moved, leaping several spans back. But it wasn’t enough. With a triumphant roar, Strear landed right on top of him.
Not a single part of Ren’s body didn’t hurt. A fire spread through her limbs, overtook her veins. Tears burst in her eyes and a cry was ripped from her throat. She hurt too much to care what Delk and his posse thought. She clutched her stomach, rolled around on the floor, but nothing made the pain go away.
I hate this, I hate this! Mama, Papa, I wish you were here, oh Mama oh Papa—
“Ren! Ren! Get up, get up!” Rau was screaming above Lepo’s wails. Ren wanted to answer them, to tell them she was okay, but she couldn’t control her lips anymore, couldn’t stop that keening scream from breaking free.
Delk laughed, the announcer shouted a string of nonsense. She heard some sick-sounding grunts that might’ve been Kutho, she didn’t know, didn’t care. Nothing mattered anymore.
Oh, let it end…let it end…I was never cut out for this…I know it now, I know it…I should have never agreed…I should’ve done as you said, Mama, Papa, never had anything to do with Munera in the first place…
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That is indeed a scene break.
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