The crowd cheered in the aftermath of the fight. Their voices boomed and echoed across the walls, and Alex closed his eyes as the rumbles of their cheers, clapping, and foot stomps echoed through his body. He felt like a used-up rag but couldn''t help but smile. They had won the fight. He took a deep breath as light consumed his body, and he opened his eyes again in darkness.


    It took a while to recover enough to hear the world around him again. Going toe to toe with an opponent like Maki was not something even he could walk away from without major damage. Even with Sayed and Erin fighting with him, Maki was an entirely different beast from anything he had fought before.


    Curses were as wild and varied as the different islands in the nightsea. Some were simple, like Sayed''s curse, which, as near as Alex could tell, let him heat objects he touched. Others could be more complex, like making copies of a person. Some even felt like cheating, say Maki taking on the form of a giant beast with the strength, endurance, and healing to make it hard to take down. Maki had a potent combination of abilities tied to his curse, making him a strong opponent.


    "Thank you, brother." Alex heard Sayed in the distance, drawing him out of his thoughts.


    He still couldn''t see anything but could hear two people shuffling around in the darkness. As he took in a breath, it came up short. They were in the maze again, so the abundance of aether from above was gone. He had forgotten about it, but being above had felt like swimming in an ocean after being stuck in a desert. He pushed himself up from the ground, but a wave of dizziness struck him, and he had to go back down.


    "That''s new," Alex whispered.


    "You''re here too?" Erin''s voice came from where Sayed''s voice had come from. "Give me a second."


    Click. Clack. Click. Clack. Fwoosh.


    Orange light flashed through the hall and then faded and dimmed immediately. Sayed lay propped up on a wall on the opposite side of the hall. To say he looked bad off would be a kind way to describe him. His face was bruised, and several cuts ran down his arms. Even his appropriated rags from before the fight had several dark stains on them.


    "Sit still," Erin said as she lay the torch on the ground and started working on Sayed.


    "It will be fine," Sayed said with a smile. "My mother always told me I was built of steel."


    "I feel that," Alex said, rolling himself across the floor and to the torch.


    He picked it up from the ground and held the end of it against the floor. He didn''t have the strength to stand up, but he could do at least that. Erin looked back at him with a shake of her head and returned to working on Sayed.


    "You''re both idiots," Erin said. "You didn''t need to fight that thing. We could have delayed. We could have played it safe."


    "True," Alex said, frowning as he considered it. "Why did I want to fight it? It doesn''t make sense."


    "That is the call of the arena." Sayed laughed and then coughed. "There is an enchantment on the entire thing, I think. It calls anyone inside to fight with all they have. It thrills the people in the stands to cheer and yell. Why else do you think so many would find these fights entertaining?"


    Alex had to pause to think about that. Blood sports were a thing throughout the history of humanity in his old world. It didn''t take much to push people to be cruel to one another. He didn''t know if he could blame it on the person who had the island core influencing people''s minds, though that was a possibility. Sometimes, people just sucked.


    "Maybe," Alex said.


    "It might explain something I felt," Erin whispered, but she quickly moved on, putting the few strips of cloth she had used back in her bag and picking it up. "I think you''ll be fine, Sayed. At least you won''t die tonight. You managed to avoid any major hits."


    "Thanks to good training, my brother. Taking a hit correctly is just as important as striking a foe true."


    "You keep calling everyone brother." Erin shook her head as she turned to Alex. "Shouldn''t I be ''sister'' instead?"


    "No," Sayed shook his head. "Anyone in trying times with you is a brother to be supported and protected. It is even more true once you have seen combat together. Brotherhood does not care about your body."


    "Right," Erin said as she knelt next to Alex. "Now, what about you?"


    "I''ll be fine," Alex said, but he couldn''t move away. "Just give me a while, and I''ll be back on my feet."


    "Really? Because you don''t look ''fine,''" Erin said, her hand coming down on his shoulder.


    Alex bit back a curse. Just the pressure of her hand hurt. He had used the Path of Might too much, and it would take time for his body to recover. He clenched his teeth and tried to raise his hand to wave her away, but his body wasn''t having it.


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    "Just let her look, brother," Sayed said, closing his eyes as he rested against the wall. "She is a healer."


    "Not like I can stop her," Alex grunted as she pulled his duster away from his chest and pulled up his shirt.


    "Shades," Erin said as she looked down at him. "What in the sha-om is this?"


    Alex frowned. There it was. On his chest was a metal device, starting in the center and then reaching out over where his heart would be. He specified ''would be'' because the device entirely replaced his heart. He knew that because he was awake when the crazy Doctor Ozymandias had installed it.


    "That''s...hard to explain," Alex said.


    "Hard to explain? It doesn''t make any sense!" Erin shook her head, reaching out and touching the device. "Is it on? What is it doing?"


    "Trying to keep me going," Alex said.


    She tapped it a few times, but, of course, nothing happened. The look of concern that lined her face would have made Alex worried if he hadn''t lived with the device in him since the lab. On its own, it was almost funny to see someone worrying about it now. It was just a part of him.


    "I just...don''t understand," Erin said. "Why do you have this?"


    Alex sighed. They were going to be stuck together until they got out of the maze or the arena, so he might as well make sure they were both in the loop. It wasn''t like it was a major secret, and he assumed that other people with curses had something similar that caused their own curses.


    "When I got to the nightsea I got picked up by some people. They installed this in me, giving me my curse, among other things."


    He looked up at Erin, and her face was wide open with a look of shock. Sayed had also opened his eyes again and looked over to him. The way they looked at him, he would think he had dropped a bombshell secret detail that no one knew about.


    "That''s not how it works," Erin said slowly.


    "Then how did you two get your curses?"


    "Blessings," Sayed corrected.


    "I first felt mine the moment I came to Erth," Erin said.


    "It came from your old world? You called it Earth?"


    "No," Erin shook her head. "Erth is this place. All the islands and the nightsea are on Erth. My old world was called Erys."


    She stopped, and he could see that she was kicking herself internally for revealing that information. Not that it was something that needed to be hidden. It was no secret that many people on the nightsea came from a different world.


    "It was the same for me," Sayed said. "When I came from Hajh, I felt God''s blessing in this new world. I do not have any such device in my body."


    "You have an artificial gate," Erin said. "Someone tried to create a curse."


    "Succeeded. Dr. Ozymandias succeeded."


    "The head of Section Six," Erin whispered.


    "You sure know a lot." Alex tried to raise a finger to point.


    "That''s none of your business," she snapped.


    Alex smiled. That was more of what he expected from her, but she unintentionally revealed a few things. He didn''t think she was with the Military Police, mainly because she had outlaw status, so only a few possibilities were left.


    "We can talk about that later. More importantly, spell the name of this world for me."


    "E. R. T. H."


    "Ah," Alex said. "That''s why. I''m from E. A. R. T. H."


    "Well, ignoring that," Erin said, looking back down at him. "You''re bruised up but don''t have anything major."


    "Most of it sealed up while we were still up there," Alex smiled. "If I give my body time to relax, I''ll be fine. Just pushed it too far in too short of a time."


    Erin looked down at him like she was looking at a monster. However, he didn''t feel any malice in the look. She only seemed confused about how he worked. Alex was just happy that he had a name for the world. In the years he had been on Erth, he had heard people name islands, cities, and the nightsea itself. He had never had reason to ask, but at least the world as a whole had a name. Also, he now knew he was a weirdo, so that was neat.


    "You''ll both live, but what about the next round? I can''t use my power to help Sayed heal, and we''ll be stuck down here without aether to help passively. What are we going to do?"


    "The food will come soon," Sayed said. "With just four of us, it will be enough to help. Even that will give us strength."


    "The four of us," Erin whispered.


    "Yes. You, I, Alex, and Jack."


    Alex looked around, but he didn''t see Jack anywhere near them. At the same time, Sayed gasped as he realized as well. Neither of them was in any position to move, but Sayed tried and failed to stand up. He fell to his side on the maze''s floor but kept looking around.


    "Where is he? Everyone else is gone, but Jack survived! The announcer said Jack survived! Come out, Jack!"


    Alex had to admit Sayed was more composed than he should have been. Abed and Gramps were gone, but he hadn''t called out when they first came down. He had to have known the second that the arena was shortened to four that the others hadn''t survived. Yet, he hadn''t shown any hint of sadness. Sayed had to be made of some stern stuff, or he was in shock.


    "Jack?" Erin moved for the both of them, picking up the torch and moving to one side of the hall to the corner before coming back and doing the same on the other side.


    "He should be here," Sayed said to Alex as she looked. "When people are taken down from the arena, they appear together. They may go their own way afterward but are not separated."


    "That''s assuming the person running it has to follow those rules," Alex said. "Whoever is doing this doesn''t have many limitations. He could have thrown us pretty much where he wanted to."


    Tears began to run down Sayed''s face, and Alex mentally kicked himself. Again, his tendency to analyze and state what he saw returned to hurt someone. He grimaced as he tried to think of a way to step back from what he said.


    "But if that''s his habit, I don''t think he would deviate unless something changed."


    "Precisely, WPN Nine," a voice that Alex never wanted to hear again echoed through the maze. "You were always able to put things together quickly. That''s why you were able to escape the lab."


    "Lucien," Alex whispered, and his body struggled to move.


    "Correct again," the voice said, echoing off the walls. "Gulantry has allowed me this opportunity to speak with you at my request, and who am I to deny you the chance to speak with a superior once again? It is good to see you, ''Tin Man'' Ortega. I have much to pay you back for soon."


    "Where did you send the kid?" Alex grunted as he succeeded in moving an arm.


    "He will be the prize of the next match. Consider him motivation to fight so that you do not try to run away. I already know that you''re making those plans. That is who you are, Ortega."


    Okay. He wasn''t wrong, but that didn''t mean Alex would give that to him. He pushed himself up using his arm and looked all around at the darkness. He couldn''t pinpoint the source of the voice at all.


    "What''s your game, Lucien?" Alex asked. "Why are you doing this?"


    "Why, the same reason I do all things." Lucien laughed. "To get a good fight. Now rest and recover. Your food will come soon, and I want you in tip-top shape before tomorrow. Show me that August was not a fluke. Show me that you are worthy prey to fight, and you will get your urchin back."


    With that, the voice faded away, leaving them all in darkness.