"Helloooo there, Mr. James — I'd just wished for you to appear and here you are!" Gio said, hopping over to James before clocking me. "Why hello — and who are you?"
He extended a hand.
"O-Oh, sorry — one moment." I fumbled with the gauntlets, shifting them to free a hand. Gio held his out longer than was necessary, that same smile never wavering.
"I'm Ethan. S-Sir."
His handshake was warm. Unhurried.
If it weren't for the standoff happening directly behind him I might have been terrified of this man. Even with that gentle grandfather smile — the kind you'd wear seeing your grandkids for the first time in months — he emitted something. An aura. A weight behind the warmth.
I'd only ever felt it once before.
My father.
I was snapped out of my thoughts as Gio let out a hearty laugh. "What an amazing name! Say — is that big man your first fighter?"
My eyes cut to James nervously. He stepped forward, a single bead of sweat forming at his temple. "Y-Yeah, he is. I reckon that one in front of him is yours?"
Gio nodded with pride. "Why yes! That's my grandson Lenz — well, he's not actually my grandson, you know. Just being around as long as I have, you start to see everyone as your—"
"Your rambling grandfather."
Lenz. Age 24. Currently wishing it was Moe who brought him instead of Gio.
Gio smacked himself softly on the head and readjusted himself. "Right, right. Business." He cleared his throat. "I came by to have our fighters meet each other — get some trash talk going, get the people roaring. You know how it is."
They're roaring alright, I thought. I'd just received a report that the riots in New York had gotten bad. Real bad. Apparently they'd even sent Samuel out to help contain them. But I kept that to myself.
"You know, like those — what do you call them — MMA press conferences? Ooh, the advertising you humans do. Even got me pumped up." He snapped his fingers a few times like that would help him remember. "You go especially crazy for that one lady — what's her name—"
Snap. Snap. Snap.
"Ah yes. Valentina Zhao." He said it like he was savoring it. "I do hope to see her fight."
"Me too, me too," James murmured. He looked past Gio toward the standoff. Lenz looked ready to slit Goliath's throat. Goliath looked indifferent — like nothing was happening, like there was simply nothing going on behind his eyes worth reporting.
Breaking the ever-building tension, Gio piped up again. "Oh, that reminds me — I should show you the arena! Come, come." He turned and started walking. Lenz fell in behind him, flashing that cocky smile back at Goliath one last time.
I turned to James with a do we follow? look.
He sighed like a man who had aged twenty years in the last ten minutes. "Go. Take Goliath with you." He snapped his attention to Goliath directly. "Listen to everything he says. As far as you're concerned, he's me."
Goliath nodded once.
"R-right then. Come on." I started walking. Goliath followed — there was something so extraordinary about how utterly ordinary this man seemed.
We stepped out into the backyard of the president's office. A beat of open sky. Then a beam shot down from somewhere above and started lifting us.
I almost lost the gauntlets.
The beam kept lifting. And lifting. Eventually we were above the clouds, above the sky itself, and I saw the sun with my very own eyes — close enough that it felt personal. If I were a fighter, seeing something like that would've made me put everything on the line.
Goliath clearly didn't feel that way.
We arrived in the middle of a bustling crowd, surrounded by technology that made me deeply self-conscious about the gauntlets I was carrying. Gio and Lenz kept walking and, not wanting to get lost, I kept up.
"U-Uh — Sir, Gio—"
"Just Gio is fine, lad," he said with a chuckle.
"Do feel free to call me Sir, however." Lenz said it without looking back, flipping his hair with the casual arrogance of someone who had never once considered the possibility of being disliked.
I glanced at Goliath and silently prayed he'd cave this guy's skull in during their fight.
"Well — Gio — I was wondering. With all this technology..." I gestured vaguely at everything. "Wouldn't it be much easier to just... blow us up?"
Gio snickered. Then laughed — a full laugh, like the fate of my entire world was a punchline he'd been waiting to deliver. "Oh, you humans do crack me up."
He kept walking, leading us into what appeared to be a walkout tunnel.
"You see, we Anthorians believe that skill rules all. We spend our lives trying to prove we are the best." He paused at the mouth of the tunnel as we stepped through.
"And what greater way to prove skill—"
We stepped out of the tunnel and onto sand.
The colosseum stretched out before us — so wide we couldn't see the walls.
"Then with violence!" he said with manic glee.
Just looking around, I could feel it — the pressure, the weight of the fights that had gone on here. It made me wonder how many men and women had stepped onto it knowing their world may end. A thought that made me think back to my family — they were out saving the world while I was here... sightseeing.
What snapped me out of my self-reflection was Lenz's arrogant voice. "Grandfather, where will Lady Moe be sitting?"
"Just over there with me — why?" Gio pointed to a viewing box.
"Very well." He turned and pointed at Goliath. "I shall take your head right... there," he said, pointing to a spot right in front of the viewing box. "Should be a great sight for my lady," he said smugly.
I clenched my teeth and was about to speak up, but Gio cut me off. "Ho ho! I look forward to seeing that. Say, you've been awfully quiet — what was it, Goliath? Why don't you say something?"
Goliath remained silent.
"Not the talking type, huh?" Gio shrugged. Lenz just let out an arrogant smile.
"He's probably terrified. He's going to make a lovely gift for my lady."
This brat's really pissing me off, I thought, staring at him and imagining all the ways Goliath could kill him. "Come on, man — say something!" I said, looking toward Goliath and pointing at Lenz.
Telling him that was like asking an AI a question — it took him a second to process. Then he walked up to Lenz, looked down at him, and spoke.
"You will die."
I was tempted to smack my forehead in shame. "N-No—"
Gio cut me off again with a loud laugh, clapping his hands together.
"THAT'S THE SPIRIT! YES!!!"
Gio spent some time playfully picking on Lenz as I looked around. Twenty-eight days. That's how long humanity had before it all began — and it all started here, in this arena, on this sand.
I looked toward Goliath.
I just prayed he'd be enough