Chapter 52
WHEN THE LIGHTS COME BACK ON, RAFE
This is nothing like last year. Thank the goddesses, I think as the Championship arena transforms before us, reality bending as the Bond Breaker Challenge takes shape.
From our VIP box, I watch holographic walls rise and shift, creating a neural maze that will test the bonds of this year’s champions, Aefre’s pets, Ember and his new partner, Ash.
The champions must navigate the maze, identify their true partner, and retrieve the artifact together before time expires.
Choosing the prize alone is a victory, but a lesser one.
Eve sits between Lorian and me and is a vision designed to distract.
The Reima Two dress she’s wearing is little more than strategic strips of purple fabric held together by chains.
Her makeup is dramatic, with eyes lined in gold that catches the arena lights, and her human lips are painted a deep crimson.
The jewelry she selected marks her as ours: a collar-like necklace that holds her ID and a matching bracelet with her liaison pin.
She's playing a part. Being what we need her to be for Jin Kol and the other dignitaries.
But I see her obvious tension as she emotionally bleeds through the performance.
"Remarkable," Jin Kol observes from his seat to my left. "The neural synchronization between the pets is quite advanced. Almost... unnaturally so.”
"Aefre is the best trainer in the galaxy," I reply. "His methods produce the best results, and he wasn’t going to make the same mistake as last year.”
Jin Kol says to Eve, “Last year, Ember’s partner died in this same challenge. He was heartbroken for a few minutes. Do you think he still remembers? I mean, do all humans have a memory like yours?”
Eve gives him a fake smile. “I’m sure he doesn’t remember a thing,” she says pleasantly.
On the arena floor below us, Ash and Ember navigate the first phase of the maze.
Their movements are perfectly synchronized, each anticipating the other's movements before they're made. The crowd roars approval as they dodge a series of plasma bursts that would have incinerated lesser pets. They’re impressive to watch.
Eve's small hands clench in her lap, and I place my own over them.
"Steady," I say. She must be exhausted in every way a person can be after this past week. Not only from witnessing the Grand Championships, but from lack of sleep.
But it’s thanks to her that Gael has been caught.
We were going to tell her we knew what she’d been doing, transferring information to Terra Ka.
That’s why Lorian sent the guards to get her on that same night after the formal dinner, but at the last second we decided not to tell her.
We didn’t want to tell her that we’d used her.
Instead, we made love to her, and erased all traces of her betrayal in the system just liked we’d always planned to do.
Below us, the Bond Breaker intensifies. Holographic illusions spring up around the pets, false versions of each other designed to confuse and divide the pair.
I watch Ember strike down three fake Ashes without hesitation, recognizing the deceptions instantly.
The real Ash does the same with his duplicates.
"Fascinating," Jin Kol leans forward. "Their bond is stronger than the neural maze anticipated or are the Spire’s creators lacking this year?”
“The system will adapt and increase the difficulty parameters," Lorian says. “See. The program has already caught up. Now Ember is confused. He can’t tell which one is his real partner.”
Then something sends gasps through the arena. Fifi, Ember’s partner from last year, appears beside the real Ash. And she’s screaming in her human language that she’s real and begging Ember to save her, not Ash. Even I’m impressed by this holographic surprise.
The VIP box gets a close-up of Ember’s confused face on the screen. Most of the people around me laugh at him, but I feel only pity. This pet has suffered so much.
To distract myself, I check the bids. As usual, the credits are cascading in. No one knows what Ember will do. He has three options: choose his partner from last year, choose Ash, or take the prize and walk out with credits and only himself, alive.
Over the audio, I hear the holographic Fifi say, “The collar manipulated your mind, conjuring a fantasy partner, so you’d stay compliant.
Je suis la vraie, Gabriel. She’s nothing more than a program feeding off your regrets and hopes.
We have a history; nous avons un passé. I’m here now—your real partner.
Leave that American phantom behind before she drags you into her nightmare. ”
I will have to award the game designers. This character is perfectly brutal. Of course, no one in the VIP box can understand what she’s saying besides Eve, Lorian, and my Reima Two employees.
Eve wipes a tear from her eye. And before I can block Jin Kol’s view, he notices.
“Eve, what has you so upset? I thought you said these humans understood the risks.”
“They do, Tribune. That’s not why I’m weeping. It’s what she's saying that’s struck a personal nerve with me from an old love story from Earth, nothing more.”
I don’t know whether she’s lying or not, but it does the job. Jin Kol is content.
We all turn our attention back to the arena.
The announcer’s voice booms overhead. “You have a choice, Ember. Save your partner or claim the artifact. Choose wisely!”
The crowd roars, thirsting for drama.
Ash’s voice pierces through the audio. “Don’t do this again! I’m your partner. Please. The other Fifi, she’s not even affected by the mist! And how the fuck would she know I’m American? I could be Canadian! She’s an illusion from your mind. The real Fifi died here last year.”
Finally, Ember makes a choice and reaches for Ash, and she does her best to touch him to let him know she’s real. Relief floods through me. I didn’t want to watch that pet Ember break down again knowing he killed another one of his partners.
The announcer’s voice booms, “A risky gamble from Ember! Time is running out—can they still reach the artifact?”
In a final burst of desperate speed, Ember lunges with Ash in tow. The artifact glows within reach, and he stretches out his hand and seizes it, lifting it off the dais just as the swirling energy crackles and the ring of energy shuts behind them.
Thunderous cheers from the audience rattle the arena walls. Everyone in the VIP box stands as well.
What a fantastic performance!
That's when I notice it. A subtle flicker in the arena's power grid. Just for a second, barely visible unless you know what’s unusual.
My hand tightens on Eve's.
Suddenly, the main lights cut out.
“Full shut down,” I yell.
Lorian is already up and on his IC.
Darkness swallows the arena whole. For a second, there’s only silence, then the screaming starts. Fifty thousand spectators realizing they're trapped in darkness, scrambling over each other, crushing those who fall.
The emergency strips come on along the floor and provide just enough blue light to create shadows, turning the panic into a nightmare of writhing shapes.
"Security protocol seven," Lorian says into his IC. "Full lockdown,” he repeats. “No one enters or exits."
The VIP box erupts in its own chaos. Dignitaries stumble in the dark, some crying out as they collide with furniture. I hear glass shatter; someone's knocked over the refreshment table.
Lorian is already moving, his own security detail spreading through the VIP box. But my eyes are on Eve. In the strobing emergency lights, her face is a mask of controlled panic. Her perfectly applied makeup catches the blue light, making her look ethereal.
And I realize with the worst sinking feeling what’s happened. She’s betrayed us. She fucking knew this was coming. I grab her wrist hard so she can’t escape like Yasmin.
"Power restoration in thirty seconds," my Security Chief reports. "But, Sovereign... we're reading multiple breaches in the lower levels. Maintenance tunnels. Someone's—"
"Terra Ka," I finish. Of course.
The lights flare back to life, revealing devastation. In the general seating, bodies lie trampled, medical teams already rushing to help. Below, Ash and Ember are gone. The maze shows two empty platforms where champions should be standing.
That's when Aefre himself bursts into our VIP box, his usual composure shattered. His green eyes are wild; his trainer’s uniform is disheveled from fighting through the crowds.
"Where are my pets?" He advances on me, with actual tears streaming down his face. "Years of training and the fortune I invested. They were going to retire champions, breed the next generation of—" His voice cracks. "WHERE ARE THEY?"
"Trainer Aefre," I begin, but he's beyond reason.
"This is your fault!" He points at Eve. "Bringing humans into positions of power. Treating them as equals. Now look what's happened! She has betrayed you! Just like the humans you hired last year! You and your brother are a disgrace to the galaxy!”
He's not alone in his fury. Trainer Marath slithers over from her box, her scaled skin flushed with rage. "The Celestial Spire's security has failed us all again. My pets could have been taken."
No one wants your pets.
"The situation is under control," Lorian says coldly.
"Control?" Another trainer laughs. “Terra Ka just waltzed out with the Grand Champions while their leader, Gael, is supposed to be imprisoned and their movement contained. How is that control?"
Jin Kol stands, his expression unreadable, then his assistant whispers urgently in his ear. Something about his eagerness makes me nervous. As if he’s been waiting for this moment for awhile.
Jin Kol nods once, then turns to face us. "It seems the IGC's patience with the Celestial Spire's... progressive policies has reached its end."
"Tribune," I start, but he raises a hand.