Bayu's breath was ragged, his heart thumping intensely. Death was surely coming for him, and he wouldn't escape it this time.
"Bayu?"
"Bayu?!" "What?"
"Rhaeger, is that you?"
Bayu snapped out of his reverie, staring at the huge figure of their leader, Rhaeger.
"I will go first," he spoke, taking a quick glance at the arena that stood just right before them.
"Do not worry, Bayu, you will not die." "How are you so sure of that, Rhaeger?"
"It's a real monster I'm going to face. What are the possibilities of survival if I've never even scratched a weak one before?"
Rhaeger chuckled, "You can do it this time." Rhaeger was called into the arena, a huge stadium filled with sand in the middle and iron cages on the lower edges, trapping both humans and monsters.
It was finally time for their team's execution. They'd failed the test again, this was the only way they could count themselves as worthy - a face-off against an archaic beast, the most dangerous of its kind, and come out victorious.
Bayu shuddered at just the thought of it. He stood in the caged walls of the prison, they'd been there for a couple of days.
Luckily, they were given food they needed strength to destroy the archaic beast after all. He glanced at the others in the team the frail stare in their faces couldn't be hidden. They were all going to die.
Bayu hated himself for this, he'd always dragged them back. He was the sole cause they'd failed the previous test against the monsters.
Yet still, Bayu had a ray of hope, mostly because Rhaeger kept motivating him without quitting. Rhaeger was the strongest amongst them, and he'd been in situations like this before, though fatally injured, he always managed to win.
Rhaeger's name had been called, he walked forward, towards the entrance that led directly to the sands. He turned abruptly, facing Bayu,
"You are their leader now," he spoke, smirking, then went towards the sands.
Bayu could hear the others murmuring. If it were in other cases, they would have laughed and mocked him seriously, but there wasn't time for that at all.
Death stared at each of them in the eye. The cage of the archaic monster was opened, and without hesitation, it rushed out, blood stained all over its body, its eyes bulged with killing intent.
It had a black armor-like skin, a reptile-like stature but with two eyes laid on top of its head like a snail, still, it was extremely fast. Bayu peeped into the battle, the archaic monster attacked, Rhaeger leapt, dodging its sneak attack, but the archaic monster followed, like a whale about to swallow a ship. It grabbed hold of Rhaeger's left foot, crunching it with its sharp teeth.
Rhaeger didn't yell the slightest, he'd felt worse pain. He positioned his axe in the air, the monster acted just like he'd expected.
He sent the axe down at rocket speed, aiming for the archaic beast's eyes. Slice... One of the eyes fell off, the remaining soft tube was sucked back into its head along with its other eye.
The archaic beast let go of Rhaeger's foot, slumping on the ground, Rhaeger also fell, losing hold of his axe.
He was sure he had defeated the archaic beast, something anyone damned to death rarely achieved.
Slam!! A loud sound echoed throughout the sandy arena as the archaic beast slammed its tail on Rhaeger's chest, blood sprouted from his mouth, drizzling from his nose. "No!" Bayu, who stood a bit far, yelled. It wasn't meant to end like this.
Slowly dropping his head in utter sorrow, rage, fear, and disappointment, Rhaeger never deserved to die. It was the flaws of the weak in their team that caused it. "Next!" "Bayu!"
Bayu's heart exploded, beating so fast he could feel it in his ears and veins. He stepped out into the sands, which were surprisingly hotter than usual.
A few men stepped into the arena, placing Rhaeger's body on a wooden stretcher.
Bayu glanced around the stadium, unexpectedly, almost no one was gathered there. They all knew the weakest team was definitely destined to die.
His eyes spotted that of his uncle, Maxon, whose eyes were filled with hope for survival. He sat at the top of the arena, holding his daughter, Bayuna, in his hands.
Bayu shook his head, the black-skinned archaic reptile had been carried away. He positioned his spear well on the ground, staring straight at the cave where the next archaic beast was to come out from, and just like he'd expected, the archaic beast slowly emerged.
It had a snake-like tail, long scattered horns, large limbs, and a monkey face adorned with razor-sharp fangs. Bayu was terrified, he positioned his green spear and lunged for an attack, his stamina wriggly, his hands couldn't hold the spear firmly.
The archaic beast also lunged forward with intense speed.
Clash! The archaic beast dug three of its scattered horns into Bayu's waist, he screamed hard, staring up, surprised to see the daughter of the chief of the island seating in the royal section of the arena.
He couldn't make out her expression, but he had a feeling she found it interesting?! As he levitated back towards the ground, his eyes strayed to where his uncle, Maxon, sat. He could see Bayuna crying, "I wish I was stronger," Bayu muttered as he started losing his consciousness.
He finally fell to the ground, his head still focused on Bayuna, his green spear held wearily in his hands.
His gaze flickered to his uncle, he expected a sad demeanor to be attached to his face, but he was wrong, his uncle was still determined!
He made out some signs which seemed vague, but slowly got clear to Bayu he was telling him to remember his mother. "Right," Bayu echoed as he slowly stood on his feet, shocking the few who had gathered in the stadium, along with those in the cages.
The blood dripping from Bayu's waist stopped as he recalled the stories his uncle told about his mother.
"That's true," he muttered, tapping his head with his hands and peering at the spear Maxon had called her own. "Mother won't have died in a battle like this."
His gaze shifted to the sky, remembering...