Erin ran toward the injured man without a second thought. Despite everything she had planned. Despite how hard she had worked to get to Glory Plateau and get herself caught, she couldn''t just leave an injured man lying on the ground. Every instinct in her knew that she shouldn''t get involved. She could have used the distraction as an opportunity to sneak away. However, the man just had to be injured.


    "Hold him still," Erin said, kneeling next to the crying giant of a man. "Keep him on the ground. Don''t pick him up."


    The crying man beside her did as she asked, placing his hands on the injured man''s shoulders as Erin looked him over. Erin examined the man quickly. He was dressed in a tattered dark cloak, and his armor was cut in several places with holes about five centimeters in width and with a centimeter between them. Blood should have been seeping out of the wounds, but instead, the wounds were ice cold to the touch, and flakes of frozen dark blood stuck to her fingers as she took them away from the wound.


    "We need to get the armor off," Erin said, reaching into her cloak''s pocket and pulling out a short black dagger. "Hold this."


    She held up the torch, and Alex took it. They wouldn''t have much longer in the torchlight, and every second counted. With just a few quick movements, she cut through the clasps that held the armor together and the man''s undershirt beneath. Without a moment''s hesitation, she ripped off the armor and shirt and let them fall on the ground behind her.


    "Give me your robes.” She turned to the man who had been crying.


    "My robes?" He looked back at her, confused.


    "Do you want this man to survive or not?"


    The man looked at her with a moment of doubt but then pulled away the cloth that tied his robes together. A solid muscular form was hidden beneath those robes, and the man handed them over to her while he wrapped the blue cloth that had held the robes to him around his hand.


    "Bring the torch closer."


    Alex brought down the dim orange light of the torch as Erin searched over the wounded man''s body. There were four wounds in total across the man''s chest and lower stomach. The skin around the wounds was black in a circular radius, and the man''s entire body felt cold to the touch. To her, it looked like a massive beast bit him and then suffered a case of frostbite around the rooms.


    "What did this to him?" she asked the crying man beside her as she started cutting his robes into strips of cloth with her knife.


    "An ice dragon," the man said. "We were the only two to survive the fight. This island cares nothing for the prisoners who fight in it. "


    "How long have you been here?" Alex asked.


    Erin set about her work, their conversation forming a background in her mind as she put pressure on the wounds with her hands and bound them tightly. She didn''t have the tools to care for the man properly. She hadn''t expected to have to worry about doing any treatments. She was only here to find a man and break him out. Combine that with being unable to access her curse due to the lack of aether in the maze, and she didn''t think the injured man would survive.


    "Twenty-nine combats," the man answered.


    Erin paused from her work and looked at him. The now half-naked dark man seemed so tired after saying those words. Deep dark bags marked his eyes, and she realized what he meant. Almost one month of fighting in the arena. One fight per day.


    "You are both new?" the man asked, looking between Alex and Erin as she worked.


    "Yeah, I''m Alex."


    "Erin," Erin kept her focus on binding the bandages tight.


    "I am Sayed. I wish it were better circumstances that we could meet in, brothers."


    The man was breathing, but it was too shallow. She closed her eyes and began to feel for a pulse on his neck, but the heartbeat was so faint that she kept losing track of the count. She knew he wouldn''t make it, but she also knew there was nothing she could do that she hadn''t already done.


    "How do you know him?" Erin asked, looking up at Sayed.


    "We just met in the arena today," Sayed said, looking down at the man, and she could see tears welling in his eyes. "But we are brothers in adversity nonetheless. What do you say? Did you help him?"


    Erin looked down at the man and looked back up to Sayed. "Does he have a name?"


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    "Not that I know. I only know he is a brother."


    "Well, if he can wake up, he might be able to tell us, but I don''t think he''ll wake up. The only reason he''s even breathing right now is that his blood froze on the surface of his skin. Once it melts, he''ll bleed out internally."


    "No." Tears fell down Sayed''s cheeks as he looked down at the man. "Is there nothing to be done?"


    "Not without aether," Erin said, standing up from the ground and knocking the dirt off her pants.


    She looked down as Sayed knelt beside the man and picked him up. If she had only finished her studies back at the Coven, she might have been able to help him. However, that was in another time, on another dying world.


    "You know about medicine?" Alex asked her, holding out the torch.


    "A little," Erin said, taking the torch. "My people taught me a lot before I quit studying the healing arts. If it weren''t for this maze, I could have done more for him, though it might not have been enough to save him."


    "A curse?" Alex asked.


    "Yeah."


    "This place feels like it''s on the top of a mountain," Alex said. "The walls seem to eat away at the ambient aether. I tried opening my gate earlier, but there was nothing."


    Erin raised an eyebrow. Not everyone across the nightsea was cursed, but having them both be cursed and meeting each other wasn''t an everyday occurrence. She started to ask what he could do, but Sayed spoke up before she could.


    "If you are both new to this island, I will show you to a safe place down here," Sayed said, walking past them and carrying the dying man in his arms. "Please, help me carry my weapons, and I will take you to my camp."


    Alex looked at her and shrugged before picking up the man''s sword and a silvered gauntlet from the ground. Together, they followed the odd man down the hallway. Erin had no idea what would happen, but they at least had a lead.


    Sayed led them down the hallways, though he occasionally had to stop to put his ear to the wall. He would listen for a few moments before moving on again. Erin shared a look with Alex as they walked. He clearly had a method. That, or he was leading them into a trap. She was very aware of that possibility.


    "What are you listening for?" Alex asked when Sayed stopped again.


    "There is a flow of air near the stone," Sayed said, closing his eyes to listen again. "When you place your ear close to the stone, you can feel it. Follow it up, and you will reach our camp on the higher floors."


    It was such a small detail, but she hadn''t thought to look for it. Alex had a look of surprise on his face as well. She guessed there was something to be said for knowing the maze for over a month. She only hoped she wouldn''t have to spend that long down there.


    They walked for what seemed like hours, but it was impossible to tell. There was no way to mark the days without any light beyond the torch, with the walls dampening sounds around them, and with no sense of the outside world. Erin could see why Sayed had said how many fights he had instead.


    "We''re almost there," Sayed said as they turned another corner.


    Several orange torch lights lit the area around that corner, though Erin couldn''t see it until after she crossed past the wall. Three people in total huddled around a single torch in the hall. Sayed ran ahead of them to the people, all dressed in rags, and sat the injured man in front of them. They all came forward to look at the man. Erin stayed back, and Alex stayed with her as they watched.


    "Who is he?" a young boy asked, looking up at Sayed.


    "A brave warrior," Sayed said, patting the boy on the shoulder as he stood up. "Let me tell you the tale of today''s fight so you may understand the glory this man brought onto all of us who have to live below."


    Erin''s torch went out as Sayed walked to the edge of the camp''s torchlight. He raised both arms, and his shadowed figure made him appear large and menacing. The youngest member of the camp, a boy, gasped as he began the tale.


    "Many mighty warriors were called to fight in the arena today to show the people of the plateau what strength looks like," Sayed said. "All were brave warriors drawn to this island from the nightsea. Today, we faced a great ice dragon!"


    He stomped around the small space, and the young boy whispered to the elderly man behind him. The elderly man watched knowingly, a grim smile on his face. He had to know that not many would survive such a beast.


    "We stood in the stadium as the great ice dragon descended from above. Some men cried out in anguish as the shadow of the dragon''s wings enveloped them. Others fell to their knees. However, this man stood tall against the dragon. He drew his daggers and roared defiantly to even the dragon''s cries."


    The boy gasped and looked down at the prone injured man. The child''s eyes seemed to glow as his imagination took hold. Erin had heard similar stories as a child, and she let a smirk crack her face as Sayed continued.


    "All his comrades fell around him until only he and I remained in the arena. We thought all was lost. We thought that the dragon would gobble up us both. The dragon''s scales were like steel and deflected our attacks. Its teeth were like daggers that cut through any armor. Even I thought that we should give up. We should retreat and find another way. Perhaps the lords of the arena would see fit to give us mercy."


    "No," the boy wailed.


    "Yes!" Sayed said. "It was only because of this man''s words that I could recollect myself and remember the great warrior I should be. He told me we had to stand and fight for all the fallen. If we did not, we would sully their sacrifice to defeat the dragon."


    With bated breath, his audience of three waited for him to finish the story. Throughout it all, Erin knew it wasn''t true. She had no idea why Sayed would lie to everyone around him, but it was just a story.


    "So, we stood together and charged the dragon. It came for us both with its claws and teeth, as such an evil creature is wont to do. This man did the unthinkable in that moment. As the dragon tried to bite down on me, he pushed me out of the way to take the blow for himself. I mourned him in that moment, but it gave me the opening I needed to defeat the dragon. With his sacrifice on my heart, I cut into the dragon''s chest with my blade and killed it. This man here is the reason I return to you all now. He should be treated like a king as he takes his rest."


    A cheer jumped from the boy''s mouth, and he moved closer to the prone man. The man didn''t move, and he wasn''t conscious. Erin knew he probably wouldn''t wake up. Sayed had lied to make that boy believe a dying man was a great hero, and she had no idea why.