Gods of Arena
God-tier 2

"I'm not going to hit you when you're down"

"Not when you're the one that put me down", he said and pointed at his head. "Go for the head"

Jordy's head turned to complete stone, with his finger still pointing at his head. Jin glanced at Kang, shortly, creating a ball of fire on his palm. He looked to a side and shot the fire at Jordy's head.

Jin stood there. His eyes seemed to be closing up, as he could barely see anything at all. Jordy fell on his chest, with his head blown up. The thud of Jordy's drop on the ground seemed to spark an ache in Jordy's head. He could barely hear the

claps and screams or anything at all. All he heard was his conscience screaming at and the incoherent voices of every fighter that died on the arena, blowing into his ears with the cold wind.

The door opened and the soldiers marched out. He staggered towards the door, and the claps and roar of praise followed him. He wasn't enjoying it. He needed a deep sleep and some time by himself.

****

Kang stared at the ceilings, anxiously waiting for Jin to get back. He was rehearsing the words of praise he would say. Jin was pretty amazing on the arena. Kang wondered how he would feel with the new god-tier title and what it would actually mean to be called 'god-tier'. He already had the 'Blank' title, though. It didn't really mean anything. He would still rely on the drug if he were to fight on the arena again, unless he wakes up with some unexpected ability to move things with his mind.

He heard movements outside the room. The lights had gone out already so if anyone was walking in, it was probably the Larger Figures. They were probably coming with Jin. He put his blanket aside and got up slowly from the bed. He reached for the torch, beside the bed, and returned it. He didn't need it. He walked to the door and pulled it open, noiselessly. He held the door slightly open and peeked through. As he had guessed, it was the Larger Figures. They had their torches with them, instead of putting the lights back on, like they once did when he first got there.

There was another person with them. He looked like Rico, dressed as a fighter. The Larger Figures escorted him into Romeo's room and they were in for close to a minute. The Larger Figures walked out of the room and closed the door behind them. Then they walked through the passage and the whole place was as dark as ever.

Kang walked back to his bed and covered himself with the blanket. Jin should be back in the morning and they would talk.... And they should start working on Kang's missing Shin Zhu.

"Kang!... Kang?", Jin's voice broke into his perfect sleep. He raised his head, quickly.

"Hey! What's up?", Kang said, quickly, as he saw Jin standing in front of the mirror. "When did you get back?"

"You didn't wait for me", Jin said and sat on his bed. "How was the fight?"

"Well, it didn't look like you were fine with killing him", Kang said. "You didn't want to do it, right?"

"If you were in the ring with me and I was down on the ground, would you want to kill me?"

Kang nodded. "I need you to help me get my Shin Zhu"

"What do you think I came back for?", Jin said. "By dawn, we get to the gym and we are not leaving till the day ends"

"We can just go now. I'm more than ready for it"

"Yea, well, I'm not ready for it. It's not dawn yet. That's why the lights are still pretty dim. Let's get some sleep", Jin said and got on the bed. "Where is my cover cloth?"

"Oh", Kang said. "I put it on the nightstand. Just move the lamp. It's behind"

"Ok. Thank you. You should get some sleep too"

...........

Kang's eyes opened and he was staring at the wall. He rolled on his back and glanced at the light. It was a lot brighter now. It was done already. He yawned and rolled to his side, putting his blanket away. He looked at Jin's bed. It was empty. He raised his back and stood up. Jin wasn't in the room. The bed was neatly arranged and the cover cloth was perfectly folded and kept on the nightstand, the way Kang had kept it. He got up on his feet, stretching and yawning loudly. He walked to the door and pulled it open.

"Good morning, Romeo", he greeted and rushed out, quickly, before Romeo could walk into his room. "Sorry for disturbing you. Have you seen Jin this morning? You cleaned up, right?"

"Yes, I cleaned up. I haven't seen him since yesterday's fight", Romeo replied. "He didn't come back to the room, did he?"

"He came back, last night, but it was late. The lights were out already when he got back"

"Sorry. I haven't seen him", Romeo said and glanced at a boy approaching them. He was a new fighter and Romeo's new roommate.

"Hey. Good morning", the boy said, smiling at Kang.

"Whoa! You look too much like Rico. I am Kang. It's nice to meet you", Kang greeted, holding out his hand.

The boy shook it. "Uh... I'm Frank. It's nice to meet you too"

"What's your Shin Zhu?"

"My ability? Ok", Frank said, innocently, and pointed a finger. Fire showed up on his finger and he swirled it. "I can make it into a ball and roll it on my palm"

"Just like Jin", Romeo and Kang chorused. Romeo smiled for a second and the expression faded quickly.

"Uh... have you seen a guy with your kind of Shin Zhu? He's pretty muscular and reserved", Kang asked.

"No one walks around showing his Shin Zhu to everyone, Kang", Romeo said and looked at Frank. "Last night, when you were brought in, was there another fighter with you?" "No. It was just me", Frank replied.

Kang nodded. "Ok. He came pretty late. I'm pretty sure they didn't come in at the same time"

"The Larger Figures definitely didn't come around twice, last night, and they will never let a fighter come alone in the midnight", Romeo said. "He's probably getting some other treatment out there. You know- the god-tier is a new thing. No one knows anything about how it works yet"

"Ok", Kang said and stepped back. He had seen Jin, the previous night, so he was pretty sure Jin should still be around. "I'll just give my head some rest and wait for him to get back".

Romeo nodded and they walked into the room. Kang turned, heading straight to the gym. Jin had probably headed to the gym, when he woke up. He opened the door and peeked in. He saw someone on the treadmill. He smiled and exhaled, walking in silently. He was going to sneak up on Jin. There was no one else in the gym so it would work. He approached him, slowly.

"Hello?", the person said, as he turned back and looked at Kang.

"Oh!... Sorry I thought it was Jin", Kang said, walking backwards. It wasn't Jin. It was just another quiet top-tier. "You can continue with the workout"

"Yea... and I don't think Jin is back. You should ask his roommate"

"Uh", Kang chuckled. "I'm his roommate. I'll just wait for him to get back. Thank you"

The guy nodded and continued on the treadmill.

Kang ran back to the room. He looked around quickly, looking for hints to where Jin must have gone to. Jin never made his own bed. Jin never folded his cover cloth by himself. Even if Kang helped in folding the cover cloth, Jin always preferred that the cover cloth be kept beside the pillow. Come to think of it; it was exactly the way Kang had arranged it the previous night. It looked more like Jin had left the arrangement the same way he met it when he got back from the fight. The bed was just as neatly prepared as Kang had made it. That was why Jin was able to fall asleep easily, when he got back.... Or maybe he wasn't even back yet. Maybe it was just part of the dream.