It was merely self-defence that caused Tamas and Jasssper to kill the dwarf. Kiboz had intended on taking their life with the relative ease of performing a mundane task at work, like taking inventory or making sure to do closing duties. Kiboz did not expect such low-level monsters to kill him. As he slumped over, dead, and fell into the lava, he thought about his prejudices. And how he is happy that even at his high level, challenge ratings were not absolute. His body fell into the donut hole of lava like an incinerator. What was left was picked up by the magma serpent and chewed up. And thus, an imbalance in the game was created.

  The goal of the game, as mentioned, was to cross first or with the most or first with the most people. Ironwood’s team could no longer win with the first option. It did not matter that the acrobat and Ironwood would cross first… if the three foreigners survived, they would win. This painful imbalance meant that for Ironwood and the acrobat to win, they would have to do away with one of the three contestants on the monster’s team.

  Tamas had just lost the strings on his guitar, Jasssper needed time for his venom reserves to reload, and Lala was far behind on her own. To repeat, Lala was behind on her own.

  Kip waited anxiously in his sky box. He watched as Jasssper and Tamas made their way to the next obstacle, with the acrobat following closely behind. He could not help it. His instinct was to chew his claws out of anxiety.

  “Don’t do it, my boy.” Said Stormbristle, “If you need something to chew on, do it something you can afford to lose.”

  “Yeah,” Akun said, “Chew on my fingernails. I let them get plenty long.” Akun lifted his hand, showing Kip his uncut nails. Kip suddenly did not feel hungry for nails.

  “I’ll be okay. It’s just… prize be damned, this is terrifying. I could lose all three of them.”

  “Yes,” Stormbristle said, “Yes. This is. They’re all willing to do it for you. You’re their dark lord after all.”

  ‘Yes. It’s just… the will of the people. I understand that this may be the sort of choice you have to make when considering big actions… but what if these people die anyway? What was it for? Nothing, I reckon.”

  “Are you thinking…” Storm asked.

  “Maybe I pull the plug. I think it’s not worth the trouble. That it will be as you said, that we will find another way for Julio to get in.”

  The king could not help but overhear, “Now hold on just one second, guys. You can’t be telling me you want to pull your little friends out of the race, right?”

  “Unfortunately, that might be the case,” Kip said, “I may have made an error in judgment. I apologize. But I request we stop the games.”

  “Listen to that,” The king placed his fingers on his ears, “You hear that chanting, correct? You can hear it all around you. The buzzing. The booing. The cheering and jeering. This is what the people want. If they have this… they don’t need anything else. Not scrumptious food. Not clean water. This is all that matters.”

  “I- I'm sorry. I must consider the safety of my crew.”

  “No. No, no, no. I can’t let that happen. You need to compete in the next game as well. The Dark Lord Vs Ironwood. It would satiate my people for weeks.”

  “How do you even know Ironwood will make it through this?”

  The king gave Kip a sharp eye roll, “They’ll make it through this. Is it death you’re afraid of?”

  “Not mine,” Kip said.

  Kip shook his head.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  The king scratched his thick neck, “You drive a hard bargain. A hard, hard, bargain. You and your little friends over there keep playing, I’ll give you something. Something that will make everyone in your little country happy.”

  “I’m not sure. There are many things I could want from you, but I can’t imagine you’ll give them to me.”

  “I got something better than trade. I got something better than all that., I got a mystery.”

  “A… mystery?” Kip asked.

  “A mystery you all need solving. A piece of the puzzle that’s been missing. You compete in the games, live or die, I’ll tell you the last known location of the previous dark lord.”

  Kip looked at his companions. Akun stood up as best as his weary body would allow. Stormbristle had a spark run through his body.

  “You’ve seen him?” Storm asked.

  “Not personally, of course. I’ll let my subordinate fill you in. Danver, tell them.” He snapped his finger at Danver to come over.

  “We have received numerous reports of The Dark Lord’s most infamous human form walking North, through Paist, and have been able to track his location from small towns and villages since. These reports state a frail old man with a large brimmed straw hat and a walking cane with a hound at the head. Our strategists have pooled a list of potential locations he’s heading to, organized by likelihood and distance.”

  Kip was gobsmacked. Information on the dark lord. The real one. The one that left them for some strange reason and now had not been back in over a month. And saw no sunset date of his return. They could find him.

  Kip looked down at the obstacle course again.

  “Remember what you said about the good of the many,” Said Stormbristle.

  “I know Storm. And I’m afraid that reinstating the dark lord is about as good as it gets.”

  The king lumbered over Kip, placing his weighty arm around him, “And we’d be more than willing to share these strategies with an ally… and the champion of our beloved games.”

  Tamas’s jump spell had worn off. He and Jasssper were on to the next challenge. Ironwood and the acrobat were between them and Lala.

  Lala saw that Tamas and Jasssper kept moving. They made pleading eyes at Lala from afar. It was sensible that Tamas and Jasssper would want to keep moving, but while Ironwood had saved Lala’s life (just barely), there was a sticky matter of her being left all alone while the two were ahead. It made it a strategic convenience for the enemy team that they couldn’t ignore. They needed to kill Lala and reclaim their lead. The acrobat and Ironwood were both hyperaware of this fact as they chased Tamas and Jasssper down.

  “Come on! We’ve got to kill one of them!”

  The acrobat had been chasing after Tamas and Jasssper when the two clipped through another part of the stage. Going over the lava hippos instead of around the bend as normal.

  Jasssper and Tamas had made it all the way to the flaming ferris wheel, but had regrettably left Lala behind.

  Lala successfully made it through the donuts and climbed back up on the next platform.” Now that they were far ahead,” Lala thought, “All I have to do is make it there alive. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

  The sting of a whip tearing through her back caused her to fall on one knee.

  “Come ON!” Said the acrobat to Ironwood, “Let’s finish her!”

  Ironwood from Lala to Tamas and Lala. Ironwood finally spoke to her teammate, “You don’t need me. Finish her off. I’m going to catch up to the others.”

  Ironwood skipped along the lava hippos’ backs, the hippos snapped at Ironwood, but one stroke of her sword and she quieted their rage. She made it to the flaming ferris wheel, where she jumped onto one of the carts. She slid down the metal struts and climbed on the spoke attached to Tamas and Jasssper’s cart. Ironwood climbed toward them.

  “So much for being a team player,” The acrobat muttered before turning her attention to Lala, “So, what? No weapons? Kind of dumb, right?”

  The acrobat cracked the whip on Lala again. Lala stuck her arms up, but the leather striking skin felt like the bite of a million fire ants. She cried out and fell to both knees.

  “Stop. Please.” Lala said.

  “Filthy changeling. Not so tough when you’re in your real form.” The acrobat cracked her again, “Come on! Just die already.”

  Just die already.

  “Don’t…” Lala said one more time.

  “Just die already.” The acrobat pulled her whip back, ready to crack Lala again. Ready to create another lasting scar on Lala’s body. Lala shifted quickly into dwarf, dropping her stature and avoiding the whip to the face. He looked up at the acrobat with terrified eyes, and an angry, gruff voice screamed, “YOU ALREADY KILLED ME!!”

  The acrobat was stunned. Her whip was stayed for a brief moment, and Lala kicked the acrobat in the leg. The acrobat’s balance was knocked, but she was able to twist in the air and save herself. Lala had gotten up and turned into the orc form again, punching the acrobat in the nose. The acrobat grabbed her nose. Lala could see the end of the platform, where the trail of lava hippos began. The acrobat tossed her whip back but Lala moved quicker. She shoulder-tackled the acrobat off the platform and the lava hippos made quick work of her.

  A success in the battle, but this gave Ironwood only one option to win, and that was to kill both Jasssper and Tamas stuck on the Ferris wheel.

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