Emergence: Chapter 14

Streaks of light dart across his vision, before a bang sounds and he is thrown backwards. Darkness. Specks of light in the distance. So cold. So far away. Darkness. Blurred vision in a busy street, faceless men and women watch him.

He jolted upright as he woke. It was warm here, and the dreams were the only reminder of what cold was to him. His head felt strange, as if he'd been drugged again. Shaking his head, his vision cleared a little and his head felt a bit better. Groaning, he put his head in his hands, before running them through his long blonde mane; it was short before, but his Masters preferred the feral look.

“You okay?”

He looked over to see a slim red-skinned humanoid in the corner of the room, leaning on the sand-brown wall, right next to the iron bars that kept them in their cell.

He sighed, before answering, “Yeah, I'm alright Carnat. Just the dreams again.”

He had never seen another like Carnat or at least, he didn't remember them; all of those in his dreams were white or black skinned humans. But Carnat was no human.

“You should ignore the dreams, Ash.” Carnat stood and walked over to the food tray and ate a pinkish protein square. “Your memory ain't coming back without a good trigger, the last guy said. And that trigger ain't on Rat'hak.”

“I don't want to ignore the dreams; they're my memories.” Ash said, his face falling as he did so. “My memories from before. Otherwise my first memory would be watching the last guy – what was his name again? – fight.”

“Diin. Curious guy. Got a portion of his memory back; we called him Diin anyways, apparently it weren't his real name. Confronted the guards, demanded to speak to the Masters. So they made him fight that...thing. And...well, you saw what happened to him.” Carnat looked haunted at the memory.

“Did you ever have the dreams?”

“No.” Carnat answered firmly. “I've always known my past, and I know how to survive in this place. You do what I say, and you end up living.”

Ash had to agree with him; so far, he had managed to avoid fighting in the pits by sticking exactly to Carnat's orders. And they were orders, not requests; Carnat would fight with him, but he had no intention of doing so. “You'll get us killed,” he'd said, “I'll teach you how to fight.” And he did; Ash was now trained with two types of blade and a crossbow; the short blade was his favourite, but Carnat said that Ash was better off using the crossbow for now.

“Do you know when we fight?” Ash snatched a protein square and shoved it into his mouth, before holding his nose as he chewed; it got rid of the taste.

“We should have had our first about a month ago; they're gonna start demanding soon.” Carnat looked him in the eyes and asked, “Do you think you're ready?”

Ash nodded. “I think so, yeah.”

“Good.” Carnat turned away and banged on the bars. “Oi! Guard!”

A humanoid face, albeit with a crushed nose and giant tusks emerging from its lower jaw, answered him with a snort. The Hak'i were not the most articulate of races, but they were one of the strongest and visually imposing. Standing at about 8 foot high, and about the same width, the tusks and eyes were the only parts of their bodies not covered in matted hair; this one's was brown, but most of it was hidden under armour fashioned from the skin and bones of various desert creatures.

“Tell the masters that we will fight now.” Carnat spoke condescendingly, before waving the beast away. The beast glared and grunted something at Carnat, but Ash only heard Carnat's sarcastic response.

“Now?” Ash's heart was suddenly beating faster.

“While you're ready, yeah.” Carnat smiled and winked. “Don't want them demanding a fight when you're asleep, do you? Now, eat more of that crap before they come.”

“Why?” Ash asked, looking at the pile of protein squares.

“May as well be full stomached if we die.”

Ash smiled in spite of himself. “I really hope that was a joke.”

“Of course it was; you don't want to eat that shit before you die.” Carnat walked over to the table and ate another square. “Unfortunately, we ain't got a choice.”

The room fell silent for a while and Ash sat on the sandy floor, picking up bunches of sand and let the grains run between his fingers. “You say you know your past. Where you from?”

Carnat opened his mouth to answer, but faltered slightly before hesitantly uttering, “Far away from this place.”

“I'm sure I am too. What place in particular?” Carnat's question-dodging had only piqued Ash's interest.

“You ever heard of the Oblivion Gateway?”

“You never told me about that, only the eleven planets in the Empire.”

“There are twelve planets in the Empire, and the twelfth is beyond the Oblivion Gateway, in another solar system.” Carnat gave a short laugh, as if remembering a good time. “That's where I was born. But I wanted out of that planet, so I came here,” he shook his head, “Here! In search of a better life, a more fulfilling one. I helped the Hak'i for decades in the ancient wars; humans, Corlens, Pyrkagia, they all attacked Rat'hak at some point. And look at me now; thrown in a fighting pit for all of Rat'hak to see; entertainment, a slave.”

There was silence for a beat, before Ash said, “That's a bit shit.”

Carnat sighed. “Yeah, it really is.”

“So,” Ash asked, curious, “What are you? Species-wise?”

“It really doesn't matter anymore; I'm the last of my kind. Nothing else quite like me.” Carnat paused and smiled a sad smile. “When I die, so will my entire species. That's why I never bothered to tell you about my kind, only the others. But, if you really want to know, you can call me an –“

Footsteps approached from outside, distracting Carnat for a moment.

“Call you what?” Ash could see the silhouettes of Hak'i approaching their cell.

Carnat moved away from the door as the Hak'i opened it and whispered to Ash:

“Adjeti.”