It was disgusting. A slimy mass of rotting flesh, exposed muscle, and protruding bones covered in rough patches of burnt purple feathers charred nearly black. Under the dark depths of a silhouette, the malformed monstrosity could have, perchance, been misconstrued to that of a horse. Upon the ''horse''s'' back grew a thick cancerous lump, its bulging polyp oozing yellowing puss and splinting half-formed keratin. The malignant growth, too heavy to support its own weight, slumped over the ''horse''s'' back and lurched back and forth with the creature''s gait.


    The creature''s horse-like head dangled precariously by only a few unsevered tendons, which threatened to snap at any moment and drop the lifeless morsel. Jutting from the stump of the open neck wound was the small upper body of a thin little worm with beady eyes and soft white fur coated red from its host''s blood.


    The creature was a horrendous amalgam created by the Mokoi Khan during the Second Human-Mokoi War. Though it had been a long time since the amalgam had been used for any such kind of violence, it had since been given a much more important task to which it gladly dedicated its entire being. But, for some reason, it could not find it.


    One day, its master had suddenly left without a single word, leaving the amalgam behind with a strange white lady and her entourage of six obnoxiously loud friends. The amalgam didn''t care much for the strange white lady; she killed Baba after all. However, she was very nice to Master, so perhaps it was okay? She was like an aunty to Master in place of Master''s dead Baba, and generally, anyone who loved Master was loved by the amalgam. Although It did wonder if there was something wrong with the logic there, an imperfection upon a baba replaced aunty? It couldn''t quite put its hoof down on exactly how the statement felt wrong.


    Either way, it was not very concerned with the strange white lady. All it cared for now was finding Master and deciding if Master would like this flower as a gift. It was such a pretty flower, its short green stem growing from a tiny clay pot. It had a little pink bud that had yet to bloom. It was kind of like the amalgam in that way; they both had tiny heads.


    The cancerous lump on the grotesque creature''s malformed back stirred awake. Thick, pulsing veins pumped a rush of blood and magic into the throbbing mass, causing the whole thing to convulse and bloat. The violent, angry movements started to gather glances from a few passing mokoi. It did not heed the onlookers and focused all its energy on telekinetically lifting the little potted plant.


    The creature''s concentration broke upon the shrill sting of a high-pitched shriek. "Hey! What are you doing!". An old wrinkly grey imp of a mokoi waddled over to the amalgam. "That''s my plant! Put it back this instant.".


    The small worm protruding from the corpse''s neck turned its head back and forth between the angry lady and the pretty flower.


    "Put it down. Now." The worm did another double-take between the lady and the plant, and the lady''s scowl deepened, "Don''t make me count to three." She spoke with an intimidatingly stern voice that made the amalgam fearful of the possibilities beyond three. It used its telekinesis to gently place the plant back down. "There you go. I''ve told you this before, but you shouldn''t take other mokoi''s things, it''s not very nice, and you should always try to be nice. Do you understand?" The small worm protruding from the vile beast slowly nodded its head apologetically.


    "Good." The kind old lady then revealed a small saucer containing a chunky brown liquid within. "Now here, I brought you a delicious egesta soup." As soon as the worm caught sight of the wonderous delicacy, the equine creature it inhabited excitedly trotted in place before kneeling down so that its tiny worm head could lap up the mouthwatering meal. "I''m sure you''ll find our little princess soon. You just keep looking, okay? She must have just gone into hiding to escape those awful revolutionaries." The lady grumbled in a hushed but annoyed voice.


    Apparently, it was not hushed enough as it brought the attention of a passing curmudgeon. "Shut up, hag; what if the Young Eyes hear you? We''d all be sent to the oubliette, and then that thing would never be able to bring Princess Vow back. Is that what you want? To be ruled by that traitor Colonel Arete and her wretched White Witch for the rest of time? She''s not even a mokoi; I can''t believe Arete would side with that monster."


    The amalgam thought that for someone who came to scold the kind lady for speaking loudly and inappropriately, he was speaking very loudly and very inappropriately. The amalgam didn''t particularly mind it, itself; as long as it could have its soup and continue its search for its master, it was plenty happy.


    Having finally finished its soup, the creature rose and then staggered its lifeless body close to the kind lady in the midst of her argument so that it towered enormously over her. The terrifying creature, many times the size of the old lady, had to crouch down so the tiny parasitic host could kiss her cheek thanks. The lady and the man stopped fighting for some reason unknown to the amalgam and simply smiled at the worm.


    The nice lady bore a warm smile, and certainly a kind soul, and she asked the amalgam in an odd mixture of placation and hope. "Are you heading back to your search?". The worm energetically nodded its little protruding body up and down to form a yes motion. "Alright then. We wish you the best of luck. Go bring our princess back."


    The happy amalgam, with a full stomach and full heart, scampered down the subdued streets of the Abyss. It wasn''t too confident that Master would be here, but how silly would it feel if it went all the way to Trammel, causing a big ol'' hullabaloo with the humans just for Master to have been right here in the capital of the Mokoi Badlands this whole time.


    That was why it had steeled itself to search every nook and cranny of every nook and cranny of the Abyss before moving on to places beyond their childhood home. It was like that hide-and-seek game they used to play when Master was younger, but the amalgam thought this was a little unfair. Master always made it a rule that outside of the castle gardens was cheating, and the amalgam had already made triple sure that Master wasn''t hiding in the castle gardens.


    Navigating the homogenized grid-like layout of the Abyss was very easy. It made a comprehensive combing of the island city a simple formality. The search was made even easier by the crowds rapidly parting for the amalgam to pass, and it wasn''t even stopped at any of the many checkpoints, which really helped speed things up. Unfortunately, quick and efficient work only made for quick and efficient disappointment as Master failed to be in hiding spot after hiding spot.


    There had been a brief moment when it thought it had gotten lucky by finding a group of young children no more than fifteen at the oldest and eight at the youngest. The children all sported the same uniform of a yellow headband with a crude pink eye drawn upon its center. They wore oversized rubber boots and dark, baggy pants, looking like they had ransacked their parent''s closet. It looked like a fun group of friends that Master may have wanted to play with.


    A small gathering of onlookers had gathered around to see the children who themselves circled around a line of adults down on their knees with burlap sacks over their heads and ropes wound so tightly around their wrists they both strained and stained with red. The children all pulled their yellow headbands over their eyes.


    The oldest of the blindfolded children approached one of the suppressed adults and asked. "Did you serve the Mokoi Khan during the Second Human-Mokoi War?" The child spoke with the words of a question but the inflection of a matter-of-fact statement.


    The old mokoi stuttered back, his voice hoarse and tired. "N-no, of course n-not. I am l-loyal."


    The child was unimpressed with the meek answer, "You say you are loyal, but you openly admit to betraying the mokoi nation and its leader during the war at its time of greatest need."


    "N-no, I never betrayed the Khan. I''ve always be-been loyal to the mokoi. I-I just-"


    The child had heard enough and quickly interrupted the traitorous adult, "So you do admit to serving the Khan, the great violator and enemy of our great Queen Arete?"


    "N-no, No I-!"


    The child interrupted the man again, a slight hint of smugness slipping into their voice, "No again? Look and see everyone, this poor innocent mokoi so lost under the control of the old Khan that he no longer knows how to think for himself anymore!" The child made a grand sweeping gesture to the growing audience; blindfolded, they could not see the amalgam hidden behind a mixture of excited zealots and mortified skeptics. "He is now no more than a mere vagrant puppet of the vestige Khan."


    A second blindfolded child approached the orator, and the two fumbled about as, both blinded, tried to hand something from one to the other. The older child finally grasped the object and lifted it high for all to see, and the crowd cheered excitedly and shouted, "Cut his strings!" Even those who had earlier looked on with fear chanted so as to not stand out.


    The child held aloft a giant pair of scissors wrapped shut in so much barbed wire it was more akin to a bat. The blind child mirthfully took in the crowd''s cheers and then, to the crowd''s goading, firmly gripped the handle of the scissors, positioning themselves in front of the suppressed adult and then swung the barbed truncheon downwards, squelching it against soft dirt.


    The loud thud made the old man jolt in shock, and the audience cheered on the show.


    "You missed!" / "Aim to the left!" / "More left!"


    The child lifted the barbed scissors again and reoriented themself to where they heard the shrill eep of fear. The blinded child pulled their arms back and then, with a great force, swung the scissors back down.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    The audience gasped. All went quiet. No impact was felt.


    The child was familiar with the feeling of a successful swing, and this was not it. Curious, the child slowly lifted their yellow blindfold and saw before them the rotting cadaver of a mutilated equine creature with a small ivory parasite sequestered within its exposed nape.


    The festering creature did not even need the mokoi to remove the headband to know it was not Master. Master would never have played such a violent and unfair game. With a telekinetic tug, the creature ripped the oversized scissors out of the child''s hand, crushed it into a fist-sized ball, dropped it, and stomped the scissor-ball flat under its hoof. It wanted to give this tiny meany a proper scolding, but Master was enough of a handful already. If the creature had to reprimand every misbehaving child in the Abyss, then it would never have time to go on its search.


    With a single pulse of its cancerous hump, the burlap sacks flew off all of the downed prisoners. Frustratingly, none of them were Master, so the disgusting creature left the now silenced group with a huff.


    The creature had nearly finished its patrol of the Abyss when it began to entertain a concerning thought; maybe Master was with the angry general. The angry general didn''t like the white lady very much, and it remembered Master getting into a word fight with her mommy and the white lady not long before she left. The disgusting abomination didn''t know why Master would want to go see the angry general, though. The angry general was far too angry and was no fun to hang out with. He definitely wouldn''t play hide-and-seek, that''s for sure. He also wasn''t very safe to be around since he was a leading general in an intercontinental war… and a civil war.


    OH NO! Maybe that was why Master left without telling the amalgam. Master knew that the amalgam would get all in a huff and stop Master because being next to war people doing war stuff was far too dangerous for Master. So, instead of being reasonable and letting the amalgam take care of Master, Master chose to sneak away.


    The abominable monstrosity, pleased with its great intellect and deductive abilities, galloped away toward where it thought the general might probably maybe be. It knew that the general might probably maybe be there because it had seen the general there when it was there nineteen years ago. Wow! A genius and with a great memory, the repugnant freak was learning so much about itself today.


    The creature crossed the continental bridge out of the Abyss and into the Mokoi Badlands at a record pace. When the checkpoint guards saw the nasty beast charging forth with unrelenting purpose, they opened the gates, allowing it through.


    The amalgam had already flown a quarter ways through the dry wasteland when it heard the chime of a bell. Dinner? Unable to dissuade its Pavlovian programming, the amalgam stopped dead in its tracks. Right before its eyes, it saw a pink rhombus appear out of thin air.


    This wasn''t food and, therefore, entirely uninteresting. It returned to its monstrous gallop and dashed through the badlands at an unimaginable speed. Another bell chimed, and with the simple sound, another pink rhombus miraculously appeared ahead. The clever amalgam would not allow itself to be tricked twice. It promptly ignored the unimportant distraction and quickly ran past the strange pink object to continue on its far more consequential task of locating Master.


    Finally, with the chime of a bell signifying its arrival, it reached its destination. Wait, the bell wasn''t signifying its arrival; it was just the pink rhombus again. Before the amalgam could fully comprehend the sight, the pink rhombus started doing this weird stuff with its body, shifting and transforming and all that. The amalgam ignored whatever that was and looked around for Master.


    It took a brief stroll of the ''town'' and was woefully disappointed by its upkeep. The castle caretakers would have never let their walls char black, their doors smash open, or their foundations crumble apart. And where was everyone? The last time the amalgam was here, the place was filled with what the angry general called dissenters; now, the only living things around were it and the pink being. Weird. The amalgam wondered where they all went.


    Being reminded of the pink thing, the amalgam noticed that it had stabilized into the shape of a featureless human with only one limb. The limb was outstretched toward the amalgam and held onto a glowing parchment, weirder still; the pink thing then started to follow it around.


    Maybe it too was curious about where the dissenters went. The amalgam thought that the pink lackey was kind of cute. Having a silent follower reminded it of itself and Master when they were younger. But this time, the amalgam was the ''Master,'' and the pink thing was the ''pet.'' Just when the amalgam was starting to enjoy its pink companion, it suddenly turned grey and stiff; the parchment it held lost its glow as it also turned into a dull grey.


    This confused the amalgam very much, but one mystery to solve was already challenging enough, so it ignored the used-to-be pink thing and commenced to sift through the rubble and ash in search of its master. Master had always been very dedicated to hide-and-seek, so the amalgam could not leave a single stone or corpse unturned.


    The amalgam was disappointed by its friend''s abrupt change of attitude; they were just starting to get along. It thought that perhaps the not-so-pink thing wanted something from the amalgam; maybe it was protesting because the amalgam wasn''t giving it what it wanted. It understood that; the amalgam used to pout a lot when it didn''t get its playtime. If the non-pink thing helped it search this town, the amalgam would hear it out. Chances were slim, though; ever since the pink thing became the grey thing, it stopped moving altogether.


    Then, the amalgam could hear the not-very-pink thing doing something strange in the background, but it had already entertained too many distractions for one day, so it remained steadfast in its duty. The amalgam kept searching uninterrupted until it was interrupted by the sight of a building it recognized from the last time it had been there. If it remembered correctly, this demolished heap of refuse was what the local dissenters called a hospital, or at least they did when there were dissenters around to call things. Surely, it must have been misremembering because it recalled Master teaching it that hospitals were for healing, and the bones littered around the shattered gate entrance did not look to be particularly healed.


    A loud snap echoed out, distracting the amalgam from its reminiscence and causing it to glance back at the now pink again being! There was a stone mould of the being lying discarded on the ground beneath it. This transformation back to pink again came with a change of heart as the pink thing seemed to understand that the amalgam would only listen to it if the pink being helped it search the town.


    The pink thing swiftly zipped over to a nearby house; it placed the glowing parchment on the ground, which bizarrely turned its hand grey. The being was unfazed by this unfortunate predicament and instead focused intently on a collapsed door which rested awkwardly atop a mound of detritus in front of it. The amalgam joined in analyzing the curiously positioned architecture, almost as if purposefully placed. They must have both come to the same conclusion as the grey-handed pink being flipped the door over to see if Master was underneath.


    The door flew wildly in the air from the excessive force and crashed straight through a dilapidated wall across the street. The amalgam was honoured to have its friend show such verve, but it hoped the clamour wouldn''t frighten Master. If the loud sound had scared Master, she did a wonderful job of hiding it, as not a single sound came from the revealed hiding spot.


    The amalgam was a little too far away to see into the little crevice. So it patiently waited with bated breath, watching the pink being for any answer to the burning question of whether they had just won hide-and-seek.


    The pink thing abruptly jolted from ruin to ruin like a hyperactive squirrel scampering about some foliage. It waved its hand in strange, dramatic motions every time it stopped and made these loud cracking and popping sounds, presumably to signal whether it had found Master. Every crack must have meant that it had not found Master, while each pop must have meant… that it had also not found Master, both sounds being followed with a continuance in the search.


    The amalgam had not expected its pink ally to be so frantically rushed in its hide-and-seek. Hide-and-seek was a game of suspense and patience; it needed to learn the art of building tension as you slowly approach the hider. It clearly held a single-minded determination toward the hunting aspect without any consideration for the fun.


    The pink thing finally ended its hurried search by climbing the rickety remains of a large, dilapidated building. The pink thing roosted up high above, granting it the perfect vantage point for spotting hidden corners.


    Or it would have been perfect if the pink creature could even see. It had no eyes! Perhaps the amalgam should double-check all the places that its pink companion had been since even if Master was there, the pink thing couldn''t have possibly spotted it without eyes.


    As if in poetic rebuttal to the amalgam''s unflattering thoughts, its pink friend''s blank face opened, revealing a single gargantuan eye, a radiant orb shining like a blazing star blanketing the world in overbearing brilliance. It was an unfathomable light of blinding brilliance. The eye scanned across the horizon, and as it did so, it disintegrated all inorganic matter that befell its ocular assault.


    The entire town had been razed within an instant, leaving only a few mounds of bone sporadically splayed about the now-empty expanse.


    Evidently, the pink thing was a sore loser, and impatient player, if this was its reaction after not even a minute searching. It couldn''t imagine what its response would have been if it had searched for ten years without results like it had.


    The amalgam''s pink friend was indeed the most intense hide-and-seek player it had ever met. It was almost as if it wanted to finish as quickly as possible so it could do something else.


    The pink thing did not spend long suspended up in the air. It slowly floated down to the ground with utter disregard for gravity or physics, both things which the amalgam thought one certainly should be regarding.


    The pink thing landed next to the glowing parchment that it had dropped earlier in its frenzied search. The amalgam angled its head away, squinting against the painfully bright glow of its companion''s eye.


    The pink being placed its seven-fingered hand directly on the parchment and picked it up. Well, now the pink thing was just being totally over the top silly; even the amalgam knew that Master could not have possibly been hiding under that tiny parchment; she was good, but not even she could be that good.


    The pink thing moved over toward the amalgam with what the amalgam could only imagine as the conclusive confidence carried by someone who had thoroughly searched all possible areas in a game of hide-and-seek. The pink thing held its arm outstretched in front of the amalgam''s severed neck, and the amalgam was suddenly visited by a great divine thought. "Not here."


    Yes, the amalgam and its newfound pink friend had certainly looked as well as they could for Master in this desolate once-town. Its pink friend appeared to agree as it shut its giant glowing eye and returned the day to its regular cloudy bleakness. The little grub nestled in the severed horse''s nape appreciated that since the light had been quite blinding.


    "Now, take the invitation." What a strange, great, divine thought that the amalgam suddenly had. It had no idea why it would think the thoughts that it thought. It didn''t remember being invited to anything. "The glowing parchment. Here.".


    The creature was very confused. It had seen many thin thingies like the one being waved in front of its face before; they usually didn''t glow, though. Regardless, it couldn''t read, so these thin, flattened tree blankets weren''t of much concern to it.


    "Just take it!"


    The amalgam suddenly had the brilliant idea of telekinetically grabbing the parchment because it thought it would make its new friend happy.


    "Now, just get to the Arena of Thrones in one month''s time. You''ll find your master if you do."


    Somehow, grabbing that parchment made the amalgam certain that if it went to the Arena of Thrones, it would get to meet Master. Wow, what a wonderful thing these paper things are. It wondered what it said on that paper.


    "It says that you have been invited to ''The Tournament''. You are The Weapon."