Page 24 of Darkness Defined

“Shadow Demon.”

He gave a low whistle. “Neese is going to flip his shit. I heard y’all were getting your own class.” He tightened his fist in triumph. “This year is going to be epic.”

After a quick glance around that I echoed, and found what I suspected he had as well—a whole lotta nothing—he stepped toward the door. I followed a couple of paces behind, despite the fact that every logical bone in my body said I should run as far and as fast as I could in the other direction.

“By Tuesday, they’ll have set up the gate key. That’s when you’ll need the password to get in.”

I scoffed.

“Watch it, bub.” Otto shoved a finger at my chest. “This place is no joke. I hope you’re not suggesting it was a mistake I bring you here?” Even in the pitch dark, Otto looked intimidating.

When I failed to respond, he rapped on the door. Part of it phased out, and I heard someone ask for a password.

“Charybdis’ inferno.” Otto looked back at me. I gave a sharp nod to let him know I got it and we stepped in.

Noise hit me like a wall. There were people and things everywhere. Their shouts bounced off of dusty concrete floors and distant barren walls to create a bubble of sound that swallowed you whole. The collection here made what I’d seen thus far seem like a fluffy children’s story. Where everyone before had been as normal as something with an extra set of arms can be considered normal. This group looked straight up like thugs and brutes. With dawning horror, it finally occurred to me why someone like Otto would invite nice, squishy me here—I was the bait brat.

“What do you have there, Otto?” The hissed question belonged to a guy with an iridescent bluish-green skin that seemed to ripple as he moved. I squinted in the uneven lighting and realized he had scales—like actual scales—covering his entire body. The only thing preventing him from looking like a human-sized snake was the fact that he was walking on two legs instead of slithering.

Otto grabbed me by the shoulders and squeezed. “This is our latest recruit. He’s a Shadow Demon, Neese.”

I shrugged off Otto’s massive ham hands.

“No fucking way.” Neese’s slitted eyes turned on me. “You any good, kid? Ever been in a fight?” A forked tongue flicked out with each query. Maybe he was some kind of snake-thing. I frowned, and he laughed. “I’ll take that as a yesss. You got a name?”

“Matt.”

“Alright, Matt the Shadow Demon, let’s see what you’ve got,” he said, the S’s dragging each time his tongue caught on the consonant. I repressed a shudder at the overall creepiness of it.

Without warning, he snagged my arm and flung me forward.

I stumbled through several people before stopping in what was clearly a ring. The circled crowd eyed me standing in the middle of the open space like an idiot. Logic finally caught up with me. I rushed to the edge of the informal ring as fast as I could.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Neese hissed behind me. “Don’t worry, the betting ssstarts next week. Tonight is just initiation.” Snickers filled the room while wicked eyes seemed to pick me apart.

Fuck me.

“The kid’s a little nervous,” Otto called from the sideline. “Let’s start him off easy. Is Granite here?”

What the hell kind of name was Granite?

I didn’t have to wait long to find out. Less than five seconds later, the owner of the preposterous name stepped into the ring. He looked like he was made of solid rock. For a split second, I feared it was the guy from the gym. My gaze traveled up and up until I finally found what I hoped was his face. Not the guy from the gym. This one was definitely bigger. Looked meaner, too. Adrenaline shot icy cold down my spine as the reality of my situation sunk in.

I’m going to die here.

In a misguided attempt at self-preservation, I tried to backpedal, only to be hindered by Neese pushing me forward. I shook my head adamantly while my feet found no purchase on the grit-coated floor. There were no pads here, just unforgiving concrete. I didn’t even care that the people gathered were jeering at my obvious unwillingness to face such an opponent. Despite my blatant refusal, Neese pushed me closer to the walking mountain.

At last, I found my voice. “You want me to fight that? What is he?”

“Oh, Granite? He’s some kind of earth elemental or something like that.” Neese shrugged like the answer was irrelevant. “Should be no problem for someone like you.”

I did a double take. He hadn’t advertised what I was. He’d said what he thought Granite was, but not what I claimed to be. He also said the betting started next Tuesday. Then it hit me. He didn’t want people to know what I was. The only time you did that was when you were trying to get a jump on people, let them draw their own conclusions, make mistakes.

I reevaluated the gathered crowd as well as Neese’s and Otto’s reaction when they found out I was a Shadow Demon. Why were we so terrifying? Compared to the horned and thorned brutes here, I was a small fry. What did they know that I didn’t?

“You just going to stand there, kid, or you going to come at me?” Granite looked behind me to Neese. “Really, man? I didn’t come here so I could beat up little kids more likely to wet themselves than to throw a punch.”

“Let’s just see what he’s got.” Neese made to give me one last shove forward, only to fall on the ground for his trouble.