Gods of Arena
Hound

Kang walked out, holding his head, and gently closed the door behind him. He desperately needed a bed to lay on... or probably some drugs to fix his head. He glanced down the narrow path and turned, facing the passage into the hall. His eyes caught an image for a second. The same man he had seen when he accidentally killed Gandhi in the hall. He ignored the image and kept walking.

As if blown from a far distance by the wind, a thick eerie voice dashed into his ears worsening his headache. "Kang is dead!!",

"Argh!", he groaned silently, closing his ears, as the voice echoed. He turned sharply and faced the image. It was still there, facing him directly.

"It's just me now!", the man said again.

Kang took a short glance at the ground, as it seemed the environment had chained. It looked more like they were standing on train tracks and the man was very far from him, though he could hear him very clearly. "Who are you?", Kang asked, loudly, taking a step closer. The movement was worthless. He would never get close even if he ran. He just knew that. "Are you real?"

"I am the Bad Moon Rising!"

The train tracks shook, almost falling Kang on the ground. His eyes drifted from the man, as he staggered backwards. He tilted, pushing against the wall, and looked up again. The man was no longer there. "Hello?", he howled.

The man had looked like an older version of himself, with long white strands of hair covering his face. "Hello?", Kang called again, turning around. He was now in the middle of nowhere. The passage to the hall was gone and there was no door back to the lab. He was still on the train tracks. That place didn't look like a part of the Arena at all. 'Is this what the outside looks like?', he thought.... 'No... no, it's an illusion'.

He turned his back, facing where he assumed the passage to the hall should be, then he started running down the path. A wave of heat hit him suddenly, sweeping his feet off the ground, and he fell forward.

He shot up from the bed, sweating profusely and breathing heavily.

"Easy, man. Are you okay?"

His eyes darted at the second bed, immediately. "Who's there?"

It was dark already so he couldn't see who it was. "Oh. Really?", the voice replied. "Sleep. When you wake up, we will make the introduction formal so you don't forget again. Alright?".

Kang just stared in the dark. 'Who can that be?', he thought and glanced around. 'Where am I?'.

He couldn't see anything so there was no point looking around. He touched his bed and pillow, then moved his hand to his nightstand. He laid back and reached under his bed for his empty polythene bag of pills. Everything was there. That was his room.

"Wake up"

He raised his back, quickly. "Get back"

"Take it easy. Damn", the stranger said and sat down on Crane's bed. "Sorry. I shouldn't have woken you up. I needed someone to show me around... and you've really slept for so long-"

"Who are you?", Kang asked, staring at the weirdly bright face in front of him.

"I am Hound, your new roommate", he said and moved closer, holding out his hand.

Kang shook his hands. "Okay, that's alright... I didn't think they would make new fighters, despite the situation at hand"

"Oh. I think I heard of an infiltration. Is that the case?"

"Yes. I am in charge of the investigation", Kang said and sprung up from his bed. "When did you get in?"

"I was already in, when you came in yesterday. You seemed drunk... or probably just dazed, at the time. You said your name. I told you mine, then you fell on the bed. I was going to ask about your previous roommate and how the fighters relate here but you already slept off so...."

"Srrrrk!... Skrrrrra!", Kang faked a snoring sound. They laughed, loudly. "I got a load of work. I can't waste it just yet so you'll forgive me. You will have to find your way around by yourself"

"Can I help you out in this investigation?", Hound asked, springing up immediately. "I'm really good at getting the truth out of people"

"So how are you going to do that? Can you start with me?", Kang replied and folded his arms, keeping his face as inscrutable as possible.

Hound rolled up his sleeves, excitedly. "Alright. Let's start with questions. I can tell if you are lying"

"Go on. Ask a question"

"Do you think I will be better than your previous roommate?"

"I sure do not think so❞

"Alright. That looks- that looks honest", Hound nodded with a smile. "Are you sure you want to take down this infiltrator, irrespective of the conditions?"

Kang stared into Hound's eyes, maintaining his facial expression. "Yes. I will catch the infiltrator and give him up no matter who it is"

Hound kept mute for a while. "For a second, you imagined every possible situation that could make you keep a secret... and you acknowledged they would surely make you falter. You put the dearest ones in positions to be the enemy and you realized you would never give them up... but you kept your face as blank as possible so I don't realize... you are good at that"

Kang nodded and smiled. "I guess you are good at what you do", he replied. "But you can't go with me now"

"Are you in love?", he asked, as Kang turned towards the door.

"Uh?"

"Are you in love now? Is there a girl you are attracted to?"

"I got my eyes on no girl"

"That's a lie"

"How would you even know that?", Kang replied, indifferently, as he pulled the door open. "You can't even see my face to know the truth. You guessing?"

"There is a girl and you don't want to accept the feeling because you think you shouldn't trust her but your mind keeps betraying you", Hound said. "Her name is Ana. I can keep going but that would only waste our time. Let me come with you"

"Wow!", Kang muttered. "Alright. That's a lot but you can't come with me today. I need to see someone special for something I can't tell you"

"Alright. I'll just sit back for the rest of the day"

****

"I didn't know you guys could create new fighters, despite the present situation", Kang asked, immediately he met Fred. "Good morning"

"Good. I was going to hit you for that", Fred said, smiling, as he shook Kang's hand.

Kang laughed. "Alright. Pardon me", he replied. "I woke up to meet a new roommate. I have no problem with that. I just didn't think you would be making new fighters at this time"

"We are not making new fighters. Whoever you saw must already be a fighter here"

"He just resumed in my room, yesterday", Kang replied. "I've never seen his face and I'm pretty sure he's new... in fact, he looks like a robot so he'll definitely stand out among everyone and get noticed"

"If you are sure about this, I suspect something wrong", Fred muttered. "I will check him out. Are you busy?"

"I actually need to get somewhere. It has to do with the investigation. I will check up on you later"

"Okay. That's alright"

Romeo tugged at the ropes that held his hands together, shaking the chair aggressively.

"Fuck! Just stop the noise, will you?!", Ana howled at him, shooting a glare of frustration at him.

"When am I getting out of here?", he asked. "I know nothing about this and I'm being kept here. This shit is not comfortable"

"Kang will be here very soon. Once you are cleared, you will be out of here. That is a promise"

"We have been waiting. Why don't you just get your ass up and get to him?!", Romeo howled at her. She shot another angry glare at him without saying a word. Romeo frowned back. "Yea, I mentioned your ass. I don't care anymore. You can get your ass up. Guess what?! Mine is glued to a fucking chair!.... You know what?! Fuck your ass!"

"You said what?"

"Fuck your-" POW!!! [

Romeo shut his eyes and glued his back to the chair for a few seconds. He opened his eyes slowly. Ana's gun was still smoking. The muzzle faced him, as if warning of another shot. Ana opened her palm and the gun was sucked back into her bracelet. She laughed at him. "I didn't think you could ever be like this, you know? Expressive and crazy", she said. "Frustration really changes people, doesn't it?"

"You didn't answer my question, yesterday", Romeo said, glancing at her. "You are the creeping voice, aren't you? The one he calls Ada"

"Ada? My name is not Ada"

"What is your name?"

"I have no reason to tell you my name", Ana replied and turned on her chair. "Ada is probably one of the Larger Figures from the Other Side who comes around here once in a while... just tell us what you know and we can move forward to the next stage"

"Alright", he said and nodded. 'They will probably find this Ada', Romeo thought. 'I will have to give him up if this shit turns on me'.

****

Kang pushed the door open and rushed in swiftly, closing the door behind him. He was almost a hundred percent sure there would be no one in there. King was on the Other Side and so was his wife. The special gold strap on his hand gave him access to the room. He looked around carefully. "Chaos?", he called gently, careful not to shout and attract the other Larger Figures. "Worthless".

He walked around, staring at the ground for any door or passage that could lead to a lair underneath. He should have asked for directions from Crane. "Chaos?", he called again. "Fuck! This is hopeless"

"Kang is dead!!", the thick eerie voice blew into his ear again. Kang turned around swiftly, like he had heard the soft breath beat again his neck. His heart pounded rapidly.

"Chaos?"

"It is just me now!", the voice said again. Kang turned around again and took a step forward, listening attentively to the wind, like he could hear directions from the air. The echoes was still in the air, getting indistinctly less audible every second. He was able to follow the echoes. He pushed a curtain aside, as he walked into another room. His eyes fell on a wooden door in the ground. He pulled it open, quickly.

The inside was dark and eerie but he could still hear the echoes and it was coming from there. 'I'm not going to die. Crane came back alive, right?', he thought. There was a ladder, already set for him to climb down with. He could barely see anything apart from the top of the ladder he was climbing down with. "Fuck! I should have brought a torch", he muttered.

He stepped down from the ladder and took a step forward, carefully, with his hands reaching out, like that of a blind man, to prevent obstacles.

The lights came on suddenly, startling Kang. He staggered back, almost falling down. For a second, he thought a torch was pointed at him from the top. That would mean he was busted. He looked around at the ground and saw bones and skeletons, cockroaches and spiders. He raised his head slowly and saw a dirty rough man hanging with torn clothes. His two hands were tighter with a long rope which hung on the top of the room and his feet wasn't touching the ground. His hair was rough. His hand, feet and face were covered with dust.

'What is this place?', he thought, glaring at the obviously dead man who should probably have to to the bones. 'And where is this Chaos?'

"Chaos?!", Kang called, staring around.

The man's head moved up, immediately. Kang staggered and fell backwards. He stared up at the hanging man, with terror all over his face. "Who calls Chaos?!"

"Jin?"