“Alright, hey everybody! Welcome to your Golem League, Season 11, Southeastern Conference Region Invitational!” The woman lifted a fist into the air with excitement and led the room in start a cheer. The fellow participants started to yell, whistle, and clap with excitement.

  Pepper felt Andrea lean over and rest her head on his shoulder. Wilson, Marcus and Zeklor all sat in the same row of the theater seating that faced the small stage where the woman was speaking from. There was a holoscreen hovering above and behind her that was playing an animated logo of the Golem League with the main background being snip bits of different matches that had taken place over the years.

  The shorter woman had long shiny black hair that was draped off to her right side. Her red polo shirt had the SEC logo embroidered on the opposite side from where her hair was draped. She kept referencing a set of note cards she held in her hands but also looked up, scanned over the room and captivated the audience with a large beaming smile and her dark brown eyes.

  “I have to say, I always love this part. You guys bring this awesome energy to the invitational and I as long as our team here at the SEC, we love getting to hear your guys stories. So thanks for accepting the SEC’s invitation and coming down here to compete. We love having you.”

  The woman shifted her weight and then placed her hand on her chest. “Okay, so my name is Bobbi Coleman and I am your program director for this invitational. I have been working for the SEC Region for roughly seven years now, and, if you can’t tell. I love what I do.” She lifted her finger up and paused dramatically for a brief second, before pointing out to the gathering of gladiators. “And… I love what you all do.

  “You all make the SEC an exciting region to compete in and we have had some of the best gladiators come from the SEC and move up the tiers of the league. So, you’ve made a great choice to come here and compete. Now, before we get into the specifics of how the invitation works. I want to bring up our guest speaker, the new Chief Operating Officer of the Immortals League, Mr. Rob Gagnon.”

  The room cheered and Pepper watched as Rob stood up from the front row and made his way up the side steps and to the center of the stage. He shook Bobbi’s hand and they quietly shared a few words before he turned to the crowd and playfully waved at them to simmer down.

  “Okay, seriously. You guys are way, way, way too kind.” Rob then reached up and ran his fingers through his long hair. His smile was genuine and full of vibrancy, the same way Pepper had seen it just a little bit earlier.

  Rob then lifted his hand in front of him and motioned all around as he spoke. “So, Bobbi reached out to me. And… as you all can probably guess, she was aware of some of the news of my newest selection before a few other people. She asked me to speak, and I of course had to taken a day or two and reflect on… well, what the hell I wanted to talk about.”

  He then made a playful face of fear and anxiety and the room rumbled with a murmured chuckle. “I of course, thought back to when I first sat in a theater. A little similar to this. But, back then, there was a lot less of us competing at the regional level. That, and… I will admit, for those of you who may remember, I competed in the Pacific Northwest region.”

  There was a mixture of boo’s and laughter. Pepper added in a chuckle when he saw Bobbi standing off to the side but giving a thumbs down motion behind Rob’s back. Rob turned and took notice but shrugged his shoulders and lifted his hands up defensively. “Hey now, it is what it is.”

  The room quieted down and Rob once again ran his fingers through his hair and tucked some of it behind his one ear. “So… as I reflected back to my time, sitting, in seats just like yours. I realized what I wanted to share with you.” There was a dramatic pause and Pepper felt he could hear a pin drop. “Do not, waste, the opportunity that you have, here today.”

  Rob then pointed off to the one side of the room. “Do not, waste, the opportunity waiting for you out in that exhibitor hall.” He then shifted and pointed in another direction. “Do not, waste, the opportunity you have out in that arena.” A quick rotation around and once again pointed in the direction towards the holding bays. “Do not, waste. The opportunity you have out in those bays. One of my best friends in life Nolan Keenihan.”

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  Rob paused and brought his finger up and rested it on his chin for a second and then pointed towards the group. “He was my bay neighbor at that PNW invitational tournament. And we are still best friends to this day.” There was a few seconds that he waited before he continued. “Everywhere around you is an opportunity. To become a better gladiator, competing in this league. To learn something new about yourself and apply that knowledge to become better. An opportunity to maybe even make a career change. Who knows… but what I do know, is that all too often I have seen young, aspiring gladiators waste the opportunity presented to them.”

  Pepper watched as Rob then scanned across the room. He kept gazing across the crowd but stopped on him and they both locked eyes with one another. Rob then nodded as if to lock in his advice. “Do not waste this opportunity.” Rob then smiled and looked back over the crowd, “But also, good luck and have fun! Thanks everyone.”

  The room roared to life with applause and one by one the gladiators stood to their feet. Rob turned around and met Bobbi half-way, the two shook hands and shared another quiet word together. Rob then turned and waved to the group while trotting down the stairs and exiting through a side door.

  Bobbi returned to center stage and smiled. “Rob is great isn’t he? He’s like the older brother you always love to have around. And… just like he said… if you didn’t put two and two together, you literally have the COO of the Immortals League, here this week, watching all of you compete. Kinda a big deal, am I right?”

  Bobbi then flipped her note cards to the next one and then waved her hand. “Okay, time to move on. So, how are we going to run this thing? Well.. great question.” Bobbi paused and dry coughed. She made her way over to a small barstool placed off to the side of the stage and quickly retrieved a tiny bottle of water and took a sip.

  She cleared her throat again but then apologized to the crowd before continuing. “Many of you are used to the bracket system in your local club levels. That is not the case here in the Regionals.” She paused and scanned the room.

  It appeared as if she was making sure that everyone heard her correctly. Pepper read the gesture as the fact that there were clearly incidents in the past where competitors did not pick up on this detail. Though it was a major point, emphasized point. There’s always one in the group. He thought.

  “There are 144 registered competitors. All of whom want to be selected to compete in the SEC. You are not going to fight all of your competitors. You have all randomly been broken up into six colorized groups. Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Black and Purple. Each colorized cohort consists of 24 competitors. You are randomly slotted against gladiators within your color cohort.”

  Bobbi then lifted her hand out and motioned it across the room for emphasis. “Let me also make something very clear. Yes, it is possible you may face off against an opponent more than once. That happens in the higher tiers of the league, and it happens here at the regionals. If you don’t like it, well, I’m sorry to tell you, but life is unfair sometimes.

  “Additionally, you are not out of competing if you lose a match. You are only out of competing if your golem is beyond repair or is completely destroyed. So, if you lose a match and take significant damage, but are able to repair it before your next match, then you can keep competing for the opportunity to join the SEC.

  “Also, just because you’re the highest scoring competitor within your colored cohort, doesn’t mean you are automatically going to be selected for the SEC. The point system is just an elvauating metric to rack and stack, but is by no means your ticket to success. The SEC committee at the end of the invitational will make the final decisions as to who is allowed into the SEC.

  “Furthermore, this is a personal point of priority that I always emphasize. Do not forget that you need to have a life outside this arena, and outside that holding bay of yours. Personal hygiene, proper sleep and nutrition, taking with your parents and family…” Bobbi dragged out the word while pointing and singling out a few competitors in the crowd. “I know many of you don’t like the thought of calling mom and dad, but you are highly encouraged, to call home and keep them posted on everything going on. I am a mom and yes, we need to hear from you. It’s kinda hard wired into us.”

  Bobby paused while the room mumbled with muffled laughter. “Okay, okay. You all ready to see your brackets and who you are gonna be going up against?”

  The room roared with a unified Yes! Bobbi laughed and then tapped her holodex which transitioned the holoscreen to show the colored cohort brackets. Pepper’s eyes quickly shifted from side to side and he quickly took notice that Wilson was slotted in the Red cohort, Zeklor was in Orange and Marcus in Purple. Andrea then squeezed his leg and she pointed towards the Green cohort.

  He shifted his attention to the green column and quickly scanned down the list of names. Perry, Jeremy, Alexa, Kirsten, Joe, Terrance, Dillon, Mika, Erynn, Chloe, Darrel, Sebastian, Pepper. His heart leapt up when he saw his name. Instinctually he kept scanning down the entire list of names, but as he got towards the bottom his jaw clenched tight, and his hands balled into fists. Tamin.