The crowd dispersed once the trial had concluded. Krinor looked at the pair of humans,

“See what I’m up against? My odds are slim” he sighed and pointed towards the staff he carried in his hands.

“I made this after I’d seen a few trials with the hope it would keep other fighters at a distance until the final few were left, but I’m not sure, the dome may be too small for me to wield it properly.”

Sam and Wei glanced at each other, neither sure of what to say. Fortunately for them, the woman Sam had made eye contact with earlier during the fight walked over at that moment.

She was short, roughly the same height as the Ungnyon, with shoulder length brown hair. She was wearing what had originally been a white vest top, now caked in mud from the bloodbath on the previous floor with deep green combat khakis and boots, military issue, Sam noted. That was confirmed by her military tan, aptly named because only the areas of revealed skin in combat dress were tanned, the rest of her was rather pale, giving her a slightly comical look. Sam took the chance to change the direction of the conversation, hitting her with his finest pick up line,

“What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” he grinned.

“Fuck off, pig.” She turned her attention to Wei who only shook his head at Sam. Krinor stepped back, happy to watch this meeting play out. Wei returned her attention, saying,

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Wei and this is my… acquaintance, Sam. Have you seen any other ascended humans?”

Sam feigned hurt, “Wei!? After all we have been through, we are at least best friends!” For the time being there was little to worry about that he could personally impact, he reasoned, so he might as well lighten up and enjoy himself a bit. Besides, if nothing else, joking around kept his mind off Jake.

Wei just ignored him as the woman replied, “Pleasure Wei, I’m Sergeant Chasha Alterman of the Israeli Defence Force and no, I… appeared on the edge of this place after I ascended and walked towards the commotion, which from what I’ve overheard appears to be the next ascension trial”, she glanced around, her eyes resting on the remaining human corpse inside the dome. None of the deceased had disappeared yet.

Sam wanted to roll his eyes, why was she introducing herself by her military title? She might as well have a sign around her neck saying, “please kiss my ass, I’m impressive”. Sam snickered to himself which earned him a sideways glance from the other two. It’s one thing to be proud of your service history and be respected for your service by others, but just throwing your title it into your name in a scenario in which it has no bearing seems a little attention seeking and tacky, or so Sam felt.

Wei was giving Chasha a recap on what Krinor had told them both and so he tuned out of the conversation and looked around. Chasha’s presence got Sam thinking about who he might expect to ascend from the first floor. At the top of his expectations list were those who’d been in the armed services for their countries, those who’d taken lives having seen active combat. Yeah, it would make sense that they would not only be better prepared physically to fight but also possess the mental fortitude to keep their calm when shit hit the fan.

If he was right, then he’d expect most humans to come from the countries with the largest active militaries such as China, India, the US and North Korea. That said, he glanced over to Chasha. Perhaps more people would come from countries which had mandatory service such as South Korea, Israel and so on. Only time would tell.

Other than those with military training, he’d expect to see a large group of combat athletes, although he hadn’t yet seen him in action, he assumed Wei would be in that group, judging by the way he held himself. Perhaps some gang members and other criminals who aren’t shy about taking lives would also be in the mix.

He must have looked like he was drifting off in space as Chasha turned to him as he was about to yawn,

“Can’t you at least pretend to give a shit about our situation!? Here we both are trying to make a plan to help us survive and you don’t even seem to care!” Chasha chastised him, clearly pissed off by his nonchalant attitude.

Sam snorted in response, “you don’t think I’m considering our current situation, oh mighty sergeant?” He paused for dramatic effect before continuing,

“We might as well stop and take a breather, calm down a bit. We have up to 30 days here, we aren’t necessarily in a dangerous situation until we take our trial and if you haven’t forgotten yet, there will likely be tens of millions of humans arriving on this second floor over the course of the next few hours who we will have to not only bring up to speed, but likely coordinate with. So, tell me, what is it you hope to achieve now which won’t be a moot point within half an hour?” Sam stared her straight in the eyes as he spoke.

She stared back, unflinching to his gaze. He respected that, there weren’t many people he knew willing to meet his gaze dead on. After a few silent seconds and an awkward cough from Wei at the side-lines, her eyes softened.

“Alright, let’s wait for a bit then, but when others arrive, you’ll participate in a discussion seriously?” She asked. Sam curtly nodded in reply.

Krinor had remained silent up till now. He twirled his staff, clearing his throat before speaking up, “Wei, Sam, it was nice to meet you, but I must be back to my personal training now. If you wish to find me, walk in that direction and then ask any Maheets around for me, they’ll know where to find me.” He pointed off to far side of the camp from where they’d entered it before offering them both his paw which they each shook.

“Definitely a weird gesture...” the three humans heard him mutter as he wandered off back to his hut.

The three humans stood in the clearing around the dome in silence for a minute after Krinor had left. Clearly Chasha was still peeved at Sam but was willing to put further complaints on hold for the time being. A few minutes ticked by before Wei pointed,

“Over there”

Chasha and Sam looked across and watched as a pair of humans walked out of the woods, staring dumfounded at the settlement before them. A man and a woman. He was older looking, middle-aged but looking in good shape for his years. Judging by looks he was central American. The woman looked Eastern European, she just had that look about her, the clothing, hair style and what not.

Wei waved to get their attention. Luckily their eyes came to rest on the dome in the centre which meant they spotted him soon after. The quickly began making their way towards the trio, staring at the other species around them with unconcealed awe.

So far, Sam had been shown the Maheet, Ungnyon and Cecropis by Krinor. That meant, excluding humans, there should be another six species on the second floor. Glancing around, he saw them. The one that caught his attention the most due to a nearby cluster was a rough skinned, almost leathery looking humanoid with a tail. It had two small, angular horns protruding from its head and it stood on a pair of cloven hooves. They’d look almost demonic if they weren’t all varying shades of blue.

“mmm, definitely some Halloween inspiration” he joked to himself as the pair of humans approached. Honestly, Sam wasn’t sure what he was doing. Why was he meeting these others? Was it simply human nature to congregate and do things together? He shook his head in frustration.

He supposed it came down to a lack of reasonable alternatives, what else would he do? Go and build a hut? Practice swiping with a hatchet until the Maheets were gone and then challenge the dome himself? Perhaps he simply didn’t wish to be alone. So long as there were others, his mind would be active, and it wouldn’t wander to subjects like… Jake. He sighed and kicked at a weedish plant on the ground.

Cracking jokes at Wei and Chasha, getting a rise out of them, that’s all it was, a way to keep his mind from breaking down, from thinking about what really mattered.

He supposed he was hoping someone would tell him what to do, take the burden of responsibility from him. That others like Chasha might come out with a sensible idea and all he’d have to do was follow.

The pair finally made their way over. His name was Luiz and hers was Julia. Sam shook their hands and mumbled out a greeting before going back to just absentmindedly looking around.

He didn’t feel like cracking jokes anymore. Not once he’d realised why he was doing it. He just felt lost, overwhelmed. He’d been so happy just a few hours ago, now he didn’t know what to do with himself.

The corpses in the dome had vanished and within a few moments, the first new contender appeared within the dome. Sam was surprised, but it made sense. With so many hundreds of millions of people likely on this floor, of course there would be a fast turnaround of trials.

As the competitors appeared, so too did a few more humans, walking out of the woods, weapons held tightly before being waved over by their group. Sam didn’t bother introducing himself this time, there was enough of them for him to stand around by himself on the groups periphery. Besides, all the newcomers were more interested in watching the trial.

----

The second trial concluded. Surprise, surprise, another Maheet ascended, reaffirming in Sam’s mind that when it came to physicality, none of the other present races came close. Meanwhile, the group of humans was growing. It was clear that Sam, Wei and Chasha had all ascended rather quickly and only now were humans arriving in droves.

There were a few screams and exclamations from those who materialised around the edges of the settlement, believing they’d immediately have to fight again, but nothing serious that resulted in fights.

As more people arrived, Wei and Chasha disappeared under a sea of questions as it quickly became apparent they knew more than everyone else. No one bothered Sam though. He stuck to the edge of the group which made him appear as a newcomer and he was giving off an anti-social vibe to anyone that looked his way, brooding away over his recent actions and emotions.

‘This isn’t helping, I need to speak to people, not mope around like some emo kid.’ He reprimanded himself. But all these people? They just reminded him of those he’d killed not so long ago. He pushed through the crowd of people, getting a few eyes staring daggers at him as he did so, not that he cared. He reached the centre of the gathering where Wei and Chasha stood in the middle explaining what they’d heard about other settlements.

“Hey Wei!” He spoke loudly, cutting off the explanation. Everyone’s eyes were on him,

“I’m going to go find Krinor again, I’ll hopefully be with him if you need me.”

It wasn’t Wei who responded, but Chasha who turned with incredulity, “you’re just going to walk off, like that?”

“yeah”

“What’s your fucking problem, Sam? We’ve decided we’ll make a longhouse for all of us to sleep in, something that will be to your benefit. You aren’t going to participate?”

His problem? Sam stifled a laugh. How about being forced to kill when you vowed you’d never do it again? Or killing someone who’d trusted him enough to call out for help without a shred of emotion? Worse yet, he was so good at it. He never vocalised these thoughts however, he just turned and left, walking away from the kind of sensible idea he’d been hoping for.

No one stopped him, parting before him and watching him leave in the direction Krinor had indicated. He strolled for a bit and looked at one of the other races along the way. A smallish humanoid with a chitin instead of skin. They weren’t at all insectoid as he’d expect, they had hands and feet like a human, but they were far more angular than his. Their faces were creepy, not displaying any emotion.

He imagined fighting one. Their vital areas, or what he assumed them to be, were all secured under the hard bodies, the only visible weakness was at their joints which the chitin didn’t cover. In a weird way, it would be like facing down a medieval knight in full plate.

After a few minutes, he reached the end of the encampment which seemed to almost exclusively house the Maheet, stopping a passer-by and asking for Krinor. It turns out he wasn’t boasting when he said most of them would know him as he was shown to a small, lopsided shack, like all the rest.

“Krinor, it me, Sam” he called out. It wasn’t like there was a door to knock on.

“Oh? Here so soon? I was just about to go through some stave forms”

“Yeah, I didn’t want to be around the other humans, but also didn’t want to be alone. I don’t suppose you have any food?”

“food? Why, are you hungry?” Krinor asked.

Sam was just about to say that of course he was, he hadn’t even had dinner. He’d been hungry when he left the military base. Hungry in his car. He paused. He wasn’t hungry anymore though. Suspecting krinor knew more he asked,

“Why am I not hungry?”

Krinor smirked, “No one is hungry in the pyramid. We don’t know how or why, but given the lack of food sources around, it’s pretty obvious what’s responsible.”

“The pyramid? Why do we still need water then?” Sam asked with disbelief.

Krinor shrugged in reply, “Who knows? Maybe to control our distribution? Perhaps it’s as simple as being unable to do with water as it achieves with food. Either way, this isn’t something I care to discuss in my final days”

“That’s a defeatist attitude if ever I heard one. Most fights are won before they’re fought, and attitude plays a large part”, it seemed a bit rich coming from him of all people, but it was true none the less.

“mmm and how much do you know of the pyramid, human? Even if I ascend, I’ll never leave this pyramid alive. No one has.”

“What do you mean by that? You knew of the pyramid before you entered?” Sam dug for any new information.

“Yes, my home planet and many others have records of its existence. No one knows where it came from, who built it or when. Many have speculated on it over the years but there has never been any proof of what it is or what it does. Of all the theories, none of them guessed it was… this.” He gestured with his paws around them. “All that’s truly known is that it visits planets with sapient life on them every few thousand years and takes 5% of their population. There’s no escape. No one has every returned alive.”

Sam just stared at Krinor, hoping to hear that what he’d said was some sort of joke, that he was making it up. When Sam didn’t reply, Krinor walked to a small clearing and began slowly moving his staff before him, twirling and thrusting it around his body.

No way out? There had to be. Sam had to get out, he had a life to live at home. Over the last few days he’d finally felt as if he was improving as a person, becoming the man he’d always wanted to be. He’d finally been proud of himself for succeeding in life at something over than killing.

Just like that, faster than one could snap their fingers, his dream, his hopes had been stripped from him. It had a cruel, sadistic irony to it. That he’d been thrust into this pyramid and forced to kill to progress. What if he played by its rules? Was there a chance that he could leave this one day? Could he one day return to that life he so desperately sought? He had to believe so. He’d tasted joy and he’d do everything in his power to find that peace again. Even if he’d have to become a killer once more.

Sam watched Krinor’s controlled, steady movements. Even if he said there was no escape, deep down Krinor must feel the same way as him. Why else was he out here training with his stave? If he truly believed he’d die here, why would he bother?

Perhaps it truly was nothing more than a ludicrous hope, but it was one Sam would cling to. Would he ever be able to return to his life? Sam bit his lip. He’d damn well try.