After visibility improved, they noticed a perfect circle with a diameter of about 300 meters. The walls were covered in colorful, haphazard graffiti, and the floor seemed to be bare concrete. Large, blocky stone obstacles and a plethora of vibrantly colored inflatable barriers littered the center of the arena, providing only visual concealment rather than actual protection from projectiles. The arena floor was painted bright red in half and stark blue in the other half. A flagpole with a flag that matched the color of the zone stood at the far end of each colored zone, inside a white semicircle. It was Nora who first understood the goal.
The word "unbelievable," she whispered to herself. "Take the flag. How on earth is arena combat going to be revolutionized by this? Lek went on to spend several more minutes explaining the subtleties of the game, even though it was evidently simple.
Yan whispered to Kieran, "Man, this guy must really love the sound of his own voice,"
"What are you going to anticipate? He's in politics," Kieran said sharply.
"Well, that just makes him an idiot in addition to being a tedious speaker," Yan replied. He stopped, shuffled his feet, and took a moment to look down. Kieran felt words that were not spoken.
"Yes?" asked Kieran.
Yan stumbled a little. "You see, I am aware that you and Amelina were friends, but... If I asked her out to dinner, would you object? Or something.
"Is that all?" With a note of amusement in his voice, Kieran inquired.
"Yes... Well, no, perhaps my plans were a little more ambitious, but. Yan paused. "I'm not sure, but she seems a little different. Being close to her feels... weird. Somehow better. With a sheepish admission, he said, "I could be falling in love."
"She can have that effect," Kieran said softly.
"So, it's okay with you?"
"Yan, you don't require my consent. Since I was seventeen, I have not seen her.
"Did you two ever…?"
"Yes."
"Then why haven't I ever seen you pursue anyone since?"
The response was, "It's a long story," Kieran said. "I'll explain sometime."
"Why not right now? Yan gently pressed, "It's not like we have anything better to do." Kieran's expression softened after a moment of coolly meeting his gaze.
"I have DSMD."
Yan's eyes grew a little wider. "Dormant Smooth Muscle Degradation? Damn." There was no known treatment for DSMD, a rare and sneaky sexually transmitted illness. In males, it remained dormant, undetectable, and incurable; only females developed the active, lethal form. About a month after infection, the active disease caused a gradual, irreversible degradation of smooth muscle tissue, mainly affecting the heart, which finally resulted in sudden cardiac arrest. In females, aggressive treatment may occasionally save the patient's life if caught early.
"Explains a lot, I know," Kieran added as he spoke quietly. "I had a deep love for Amelina. She also cherished me. But after that, she became ill. and I became terrified. Like a fucking coward, he fled. Clearly, aggressive treatment helped her survive. However, I was unable to confront her or the burden I bore. Since then, I've stayed away from relationships. preferred working alone.
Yan concluded quietly. "Until you ran into the four of us," she said.
"Yeah," Kieran muttered as he briefly lowered his head, clearly having trouble controlling his emotions. He had never told anyone about this traumatic aspect of his past before.
By the end of Lek's speech, the awkward moment was over. "Ladies and gentlemen, I appreciate your time and focus! I now extend an invitation to everyone to come down and watch this revolution in combat firsthand on the arena floor. He moved away from the podium and bowed to the courteous, if subdued, cheers.
The audience gradually moved from the observation box and descended to the arena floor via interior hallways. Seeing the room up close gave a new perspective; it seemed much bigger than it had looked from above. The gallery's seemingly insignificant boulder-like obstacles were actually several meters high. The fact that the inflatable barriers were made of thick, rip-stop Kevlar that could withstand several projectile impacts also became clear. Many of the fighters started to whisper among themselves after witnessing the sturdy construction and tactical potential for the first time, changing their minds about their initial rejection. In fact, this Capture the Flag setup could be a fun challenge. Luna, though, was not impressed.
She whispered to the others, "I still don't trust this guy," as they crossed the concrete floor. "He takes a fundamentally sound concept like arena combat, buries it under a ton of superficial flash – smoke and mirrors – arbitrarily changes rules established over centuries, and then proclaims it the greatest innovation in modern history."
Nayla said, "Give him some credit, Luna," in a gentle way. "He apparently financed this entire project out of his own pocket."
"So he did with millions of illegally manufactured pulse lasers," Nira shot back. "Sorry, but I find it impossible to generate any sympathy for him."
Kieran and Yan were talking softly a few meters away. Amelina had already made plans to meet Yan at a nearby restaurant and left for her hotel.
"When are we meeting this friend of yours?" Kieran questioned Yan.
"Tomorrow morning, 0900. In a little more than fifteen minutes. main door.
"And how, exactly, do we recruit him without revealing anything sensitive about our actual mission?"
"For nostalgia's sake, we tell him it's just a reunion match. He doesn't have to understand the fundamental goals.
"And you trust him?"
"Just trust me on this one, okay?" Yan persisted.
"That's exactly what worries me," Kieran shot back, sourly. Yan's eyes rolled.
After fifteen minutes, the five companions were gathered inconspicuously close to the main entrance doors of the arena. There was no sign of Torin Okani. Yan waited for five minutes, making vain attempts to blend in and stay out of the spotlight, when he heard a soft voice right behind him.
"Hello, Yan."
At first, Yan saw no one as she spun around. Then he glanced downward. He shook hands and gave the much shorter Okani a quick, comfortable embrace. Then, with Okani by his side, Yan turned back to his friends.
"These are your friends?" Okani looked around the group and asked.
Yan smiled and said, "You always were quick on the uptake, Torin," "This is Nora, Kieran, and Luna. You also recall Nayla.
"Of course," Okani said with a kind grin to Nayla. "Have your skills improved since our last encounter, Nayla?"
"You bet your ass they have," she said with assurance.
"Then I have to challenge you to a rematch," Okani said.
Playfully, "Get ready to go down this time, my friend," Nayla shot back. Okani just grinned once more.
Kieran had been looking at Okani in some sort of bewilderment during this exchange. His height, which was even shorter than Nayla's at just five feet, was his most noticeable feature. In addition, he was obviously of Chinese ancestry, an ethnicity that has been scarce since the Third World War's near-genocidal battles. From Okani's left temple, a stylized black dragon tattoo extended down his neck and vanished under the collar of his immaculate white Mao jacket. He had on a grey t-shirt, loose-fitting grey Capri pants, and plain black Chinese cloth slippers underneath the jacket.
Yan pretended to be urgent as she said, "I'm sorry to leave you so quickly, Torin, but I have an appointment I have to keep." The charade was immediately exposed by Okani, who had known Yan long enough to know that the only "appointment" Yan prioritized with such urgency was always a woman. After Yan returned Okani's courteous bow, he jogged off in the direction of his motorcycle and the parking lot.
When Yan's engine's roar subsided, Torin returned his attention to his new friends. "I sense Yan was not entirely forthcoming when he claimed this meeting was merely to renew old friendships."
"What makes you assume that?" Nayla tried to be casual as she asked.
Simply put, "Yan is a terrible liar," Okani said.
"Well, whether that was his sole reason or not is irrelevant now," countered Nayla, deftly avoiding the suggestion. "We certainly have some catching up to do."
"What exactly is this 'rematch' you mentioned?" Nora asked inquisitively.
"Torin was a friend back when I first started professional fighting, about two years ago," Nayla said. "He provided me with the original design concept for my chameleon suit and taught me a lot of what I know about infiltration and stealth tactics. He challenged me to a sparring match right before I went it alone, and then he kicked my ass hard, supposedly to show that I wasn't prepared.
Okani said calmly, "But look where your path has led you now, my old friend."
"You know," Nayla complained politely, "if you weren't so damned humble about winning, losing to you would be far less annoying." Okani simply gave a mysterious smile. He said, "You must excuse me briefly," at that point. "I need to retrieve my vehicle." He left in the direction of the parking structure.
"Well?" Expectantly, Nayla asked the others.
"He's tiny," Kieran noted, still taking it all in.
Nayla retorted, "Thank you, Captain Obvious,"
Luna said in a low voice, "It looks like it will be an interesting match."
"This guy is actually faster than you?" Knowing that Nayla was the fastest person she had ever met, Nora asked her incredulously. Nayla just gave a shrug.
"He was. We haven't thoroughly tested that in a very long time.
"Apparently, we'll find out tonight," Luna concluded.
They had arrived at their parked motorcycles by this point. A fiery red Mercedes hovercraft with two bold white racing stripes slid up smoothly beside them as they fired up the nearly silent hydrogen cell engines. From behind the transparent canopy of the car, Torin Okani waved before mockingly revving his strong engine. Nayla smiled and blipped the throttle of her motorcycle in return. Okani silently counted down while raising three fingers.
Nayla and Okani shot forward in a coordinated rush of speed before the others realized what was happening. The first of the three to react was Luna, who roared off in pursuit, followed shortly after by Nora and Kieran. The speedometers quickly rose above 200 KPH, which is still technically within the allowed limit on some major thoroughfares in Solyn, as the large 1000cc engines pulsed almost silently as they accelerated. The speedometer's maximum reading was 450 KPH, which Kieran noted with some trepidation. He hoped they wouldn't have to push the machines very close to that limit. Nora, on the other hand, appeared to enjoy the idea.
They pursued at high speed for several seconds before Okani's characteristic red hovercraft reappeared in front of them. Tucked in close behind him, Nayla was skillfully swerving between civilian cars in search of a chance to pass. The gap narrowed quickly. The leading pair was joined by Luna, Nora, and Kieran after thirty seconds of travel at well over 250 KPH. Okani floored the accelerator as soon as he saw them in his rearview mirror. The four motorcycle riders had to twist their throttles even harder as the Mercedes sprang ahead once more.
As the kilometers between them and Kyara's docking bay rapidly shrank, positions changed frequently during the ensuing high-speed chase through Solyn's glittering urban canyons. The only constant was Kieran's struggle to keep up, never managing to take the lead.