Innocent Civilians

"I didn't expect you to be the one to rescue me... I shouldn't have gone there. It was such a stupid decision." He said, wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

"It's fine. You didn't know how unreasonable Orion was, I just wish I could've gotten to you to assure you of it." I told him. He shrugged, which was weird to look at a person doing it with one arm.

"Are the others okay?" Carl asked me, to which I shook my head.

"I'll leave it as blunt as possible. They're fighting in that coliseum… but I think they'll be okay. Sky's in there to intercept and evacuate everybody before we blow it to the ground." I told him. Carl nodded.

"I owe him an apology. I'm just glad I'll be able to do it… has anybody else died?" Carl asked, looking around the trees beside us for any of Orion's soldiers. I shook my head.

"Only on the enemy's team. We're doing alright… but that could change soon if I don't get back. Can I trust you to walk up to that mountain?" I asked Carl. I pointed to where Sky told me Tavian would be.

"If there's no wildlife, I'll be fine." He said. I nodded and walked off towards the coliseum, where Sky should be.

"I forgive you, Lia. Thank you for saving me." Carl told me.

"It's the least I owe you," I responded. I turned my head back toward Orion's base, remembering what Sky told me about the dead White Stone.

Where could Talion be? Surely, he wasn't the one to die, was he? I continued to think about where he could've gone. There weren't too many places, and he should've been trapped here… Orion couldn't kill him, so where is he?

I quickly ran back, leaving Carl in the forest, and returned to the Coliseum as fast as possible. It took me about five minutes to get there.

I entered the coliseum through one of the bleacher's entrances, and could see several people fighting down in the center…

Including Talion.

Actually, there was a lot going on. All of the side fights haven't even begun yet, but in the midst of the coliseum stood Talion, looking up towards the sky. When I followed his vision, I could see him staring at another White Stone gleaming in the sunlight. He had tendrils sprouting from his back, but nobody else seemed to see him.

The fighting commenced around Talion and he slowly walked out of the Coliseum. I wanted to follow his path, but Dani fighting in the pit was making me want to join. I had no idea she was fast enough to parry attacks and land slashes in before the other could react. However, with this injury on my left shoulder, I'd be a burden instead of a help.

Not everybody was inflicting fatal wounds on each other, and more people than not formed groups to stay safe. I was mildly impressed that the savages so closely tied to Orion's base would work together like this. Everything was coming to a head in here as the groups all formed, leaving out only a few, lonesome people in the middle, looking to whatever group they should join.

While the fighting happened, Sky walked in through the entrance and carefully observed the surroundings, hiding behind a stone statue to stay out of sight. If those Stones saw Sky… what would happen?

I had a bad feeling arise as I watched Sky continue to head toward the middle of the coliseum by hiding behind several objects. That weird Tendril Stone only stood on top, staring down at Talion and the others. This atmosphere was beginning to turn for the worse, and not because of the fighting going on down in the middle.

-Meanwhile on the Mountain-

--Ren's Perspective--

"Carl? What are you doing here?" My sister asked. Carl came up with a bandaged eye and left hand, looking at everybody and smiling.

"Lia rescued me… I hear you're waiting for some chance to fire off explosives." Carl told us.

Tavian nodded, patting the back of the cannon. "And then some, but yes. It's all coming to a head right here. I'm glad to see you here with us now. You'll be safe with us, so here, we just wait for Sky to give out the signal. Once I see a thumbs-up from him, that's a wrap." Tavian explained. He mimicked pushing the button.

"What did you see in there? Are you okay?" I asked Carl.

He scoffed. "My own stupidity cost me my eye and my left hand, I'm not entirely okay. These people are also no joke. Rolling my eyes caused Orion to cut it out of my head… I don't know how they planned to make me a slave with one hand either." Carl told us. I turned back to the coliseum every once in a while, looking down at the tiny people in there fighting.

"So, Tavian, what's your plan for this war?" I asked Tavian, but he just continued to look at the coliseum.

"You don't plan a war; you take it day by day with a general idea. At any given moment, our lives could end, and forming a plan is basically worthless. We fight until we get to his boat in the back, over there," Tavian told us. He pointed out in the distance, to where we could all see the lookout post peeking over the glacier.

"Once we make it there, we sail off to Scorched." I paused.

"That place over there?" Carl asked Tavian again. He pointed to that place Sky once stared out to a long time ago. I still remember it and think about it from time to time.

"I guess, yeah. Why?" Tavian replied to Carl's question with another question. Carl shook his head, looking back to the cannon.

"Because Sky said he felt murderous gazes from that place. Is that really a safe place to go?" He explained to him. Tavian seemed puzzled.

"Murderous gazes? What does that mean?" Tavian looked over to the Isle while leading us off for an explanation.

I chipped in, "He said he felt something intense coming from that direction. Gazes that mimicked the same emotion Lia and Dante brought to our base originally. Is that really where we have to go?" I asked Tavian this time around.

Sky was an anomaly, to be nice about his style. Every other second, I feel that he's bringing something new to the table. I don't think anybody else really cares enough to notice what he does to the group dynamic, but even if he's irregular most of the time, he still leads us without fail.

Back when I declared I would protect Rin and Ellios with my life on the beach, he told me he would help me as much as possible. With that being said, he hasn't hesitated once when he needed to jump into action.

I trust him deeply as a friend, and as my leader. That faith needs to be put into somebody, and I think the greatest person to hold it is him. Even now, recklessly walking into another territory knowing he's being hunted is… stupid, but it resembles himself in a good way. His friends are in danger and he's walking into Hell with no idea what's going on. If Sky says going to Scorched would be a bad idea because of those gazes, then I'm simply not going.

It's not just me either, I notice what effect he has on the group we once had on the beach. People listen to him, but we all underestimated him before he beat Ullr up. The group dynamic perfectly shifted under his leadership after that moment, and I've always desired to be as courageous as him. I almost wanted to follow him into that coliseum.

"So, Tavian. That coliseum is to see who would work best as a slave in Orion's compound?" Carl asked Tavian again. He nodded, turning from the cannon to the rest of us and sitting by a spire of rocks that blocked us from anybody's view by Orion's base.

"Yes, but something sort of bothers me. I don't understand why it's being held again. Originally, Orion threw them out into the wild and made them go to a certain point while being hunted in the forest, but now it's a bloodbath in a coliseum." Tavian explained.

I looked at him funny, "You said 'again', what do you mean by that? Has it been held in a coliseum before?" I asked him.

"Well, no. It's just the event itself that's weird. Picking out slaves isn't something he's done in over four years. It's weird that he'd do now of all times, right? Being that the end of the world is arriving shortly." He suggested. Tavian paused for a second and squinted his eyes.

"Ren… you said Sky felt murderous gazes over in the direction of Scorched, right?" Tavian asked, to which I confirmed his statement.

"So, Orion is set up to go there obviously, by the location of his boat and intentions to sail so… could that be where the other White Stones are housed? Does Orion plan to conquer that isle as well?" Tavian suggested again. I wasn't a credible enough source to either confirm or deny his idea, but it was definitely something to think about.

Scorched's location plays a huge role in this war, I can tell already. This is the new area for Orion to rule over. That's his chance to start over, and maybe he just needs more slaves to build it for him. That's why as a last chance for recruitment, this coliseum is being held.

Tavian went to the cannon, ready to light it already. He picked up the radio on his hip.

"Sky, get everybody out of there as soon as possible. I'm going to blow it in three minutes." He said. Tavian waited for the buzzing noise to go away and for Sky's voice to pick up. After ten seconds, the buzzing stopped, like somebody was talking into it.

"I think you should probably hold off for now, being that there are innocent civilians in here and such." A voice that didn't belong to Sky picked up on the other end. A voice that ever so slightly reminded me of Zeal's on the bay that one day…

"That was Zeal," Drake said. It was just as I was thinking. Why was Zeal here now?