The two gladiators walked onto the dark platform in the core of the arena, eyeing each other with piercing stares. Only one of them would leave the field of battle this day. Each of their smooth, blank faces showed no emotion that the spectators could see as they cheered through crackling telemitters, but what their glowing blue eyes would reveal. The young alien warriors were to finish their final stage of their Venator training, which would make them full-fledged master warriors among their people. This caste was the most respected among the Tari, requiring much bloodshed from the pupils and the deaths of all but one. Only one trainee every generation would become a new Venator. That fact has never changed throughout the millennia of their enclave’s existence.
It was also this fact that had the two students of the order here, circling around the edge of the large, floating steel platform that made up the battle arena. They were alone, minus the view screens and cameras that allowed the millions of watching Tari to see and be seen by the gladiators. This created the atmosphere of old, and allowed the audience to be away from the blood and danger in the safety of their own homes. Alone with their thoughts, alone to think about the thoughts of the enemy. How to attack. How to block. How to counter blows from the opponent’s kaiser-blades, hidden blades of plasma emitted from the top of the Venator training bracers.
Suddenly one of the warriors, Dalis, lunged forward, igniting his plasma blades to strike his opponent. The second, Aldor, spun around this initial blow, catching Dalis’s outstretched arm with his own to pull him closer. Then he ignited both of his own weapons, swinging them at his prone opponent. Dalis, who had been carefully studying up on tactics before the match, rammed into the trainee’s thighs and knocked both of them onto the hard metal floor of the coliseum.
The suddenly impact on the cool metal immediately switched off the hot death-dealers of both of the future soldiers. Each of the aliens flared their bright eyes, before rolling away into standing positions where they both activated their dual kaiser-blade gauntlets. Once again they found themselves strafing around the edges of the ring, carefully watching each other for an opening. Their cyan swords hummed eerily in the light of the battle arena, occasionally hissing when sweat or dust clipped the plasma fire and immediately vaporized. Patiently they waited as thousands of blinking eyes watched from the sidelines.
This time Aldor struck first, slashing at his opponent with his wrist mounted weaponry. Dalis spun on the tips of his naked foot, dodging one blade while blocking the other sword with his own. Then he jumped as Aldor attacked again, leaping over the blade to kick his opponent in the back when his attack forced him to spin around. Stumbling forward, Aldor tripped into a roll allowing him to dodge the downward thrusts from his adversary.
Aldor spun back around to block Dalis’s charge, sliding the short blades off his own to send Dalis’s moving past him. Then Aldor swung his own blade, nicking Dalis’s back and opening the flesh slightly to allow some blood to seep out and down his back. Enraged, Dalis swiftly started slashing in close combat with Aldor, who blocked the attacks and made stabs of his own.
The two of them continued to swing, attack, and block each other’s attacks as the fight stretched on. Suddenly, one of the Tari arena overlords’ amplified telepathic voice emanated through the dungeon walls, with a device that magnified his own telepathic powers. It sounded deep and aged, but also enthusiastic. This was more worrisome than a heavily armed and trained opponent skirting the other side of the arena’s circular ring. His happiness only meant one thing for any of those trainees caught inside the arena at the time.
“The hierarchs of this glorious complex,” the overlord’s voice emanated from the slick, metallic walls. “have decreed that due to the shortage of excellent warriors on the field, this day we will have the chance of seeing two rising trainees achieve the title of glorious Venators!”
Both of the Tari recruits froze in place and looked at each other with quisitive glances. Neither knew what to expect from the overlord’s comment. How could they both become Venators? Both of them could not become Venators. It simply wasn’t possible. It just wasn’t done. Their fight was a fight to the death; only one could rise to the occasion and become a true warrior of the Tari. Something was wrong. Very wrong. The overlord was up to something, something that had both Aldor and Dalis very worried.
“We will have another contender in the ring, a worthy opponent for our two young gladiators. Brought to us by some of the best Venators from the nearby Lunaire system, a creature of great strength and toxicity. The Azraelian razor spider!”
Suddenly, a bright blue orb appeared in the center of the ring between the two gladiators, shimmering and chiming. The teleportation orb floated a few more feet off the ground, growing larger in order to incase the incoming enemy. Aldor and Dalis started edging closer together again, nodding at each other approvingly. They now knew that they needed to work together in order to take down their new foe.
Their races’ bitter rivals in the nearby star system, the Azraelians, were able to create different drones to suit their needs. Their razor spider brood was especially dangerous to Tari warriors, due to their nasty ability to cut through the thickest armor and able to resist the most advanced weapons. They were the deadliest of the great adversaries from beyond Tari borders. And its form was beginning to fill the glowing orb in the center of the training arena.
When the teleportation was complete, the alien dropped from the vanishing orb and landed with a slick thud on its lower carapace. It softly roared its anger while standing on its blade-like arms, raising its shelled body off the arena floor. Then it lowered its head as if curious of the alien warriors standing before it. Its red eyes judged them, before narrowing them into slits and snarling at his nemeses. He smelled their alien blood. They had to die. It was his sole purpose in the hive.
Both of the Tari warriors reignited their plasma blades in response to the creature’s snarl. The quick flash of light made the Azraelian slash out with its foremost blades on its legs, both of which were quickly parried by the Tari. Normally the blades would slice right through bone, but the hardened material in the leg’s scythe resisted the attack with a small nick in its outer shell. Angry, the creature shrieked and stood on its back claws and lashed out wildly at Aldor and Dalis. Surprised by its ferocity, the gladiators stumbled backwards from the swift strikes before regaining their balance at the edge of the arena, crimson droplets sliding down their arms and shoulders and onto the black floor.
Then the beast lunged forward again with its blade like arms, causing the alien soldiers to split apart from their standpoint together. Both of them stabbed and slashed at the monster’s stiff carapace, during the attack. Shrieking again, the creature lunged toward Dalis with great ferocity. Its blade-like arms glanced off the Tari’s Kaiser-blade wrongly, sinking deep into his chest. Dalis cried out in agony as the claw tore into his flesh, as the beast brought its face closer to its trapped adversary and opened its massive jaws.
Dalis suddenly snapped to attention and sunk his other sword into the open maw of his menacing foe, up into the creature’s brain. One last hiss echoing from the creature’s throat before the insectoid beast slowly collapsed on the dying Tari warrior. Both of their lifesblood seeped out onto the black floor of the coliseum. The glowing lights in their eyes faded into darkness.
Slowly Aldor kneeled over his fallen comrade, his former competitor, and pulled the giant razor spider from the corpse, tossing it off of the fighting platform and spinning into the pit below. Then he put his palm on Dalis’s forehead in reverence and respect. Though he was the one still alive, he felt his fallen friend was more deserving of the title of the Venator class than himself.
UNC: United Nerd Clans
A nerdy guild where we play weird and normal rps, as well as host a variety of other nerdy topics and games.
