Page 69 of Blightfall

“You were already a gladiator when you learned about the star?” I asked. “So when you joined the games, you didn’t suspect anything?”

Dayan shook their head. “Not at first. I wanted to fight in the games like everyone else, you know? For the money, the prestige, even to defend our people. But when I learned about the star, about the people watching us, I stopped believing the stories about how important we are, how vital to the survival of humanity. I think maybe we’re being played, and I want to know why.”

“The other gladiators who told you about this,” Nedd said, “could we meet them?”

“Not anymore,” they said. “They’re gone. Zimmel was hearing voices in his head. Usually anyone manifesting cytonic abilities bypasses the games and goes straight to Elysium, since they’re so important to the war effort.”

Oh stars. These people knew about cytonics, but Ivy had convinced them to send them all away.

“But Zimmel heard voices talking about watching us, instructions about which facilities to hit next. And his information was accurate; he warned us that the mine was going to shut down again, and then it did. But today during first shift, when I went to see him, to talk about the End Times, his home had been ransacked, and he and the others were gone.”

Scud. I wondered if that, too, was related to our arrival, or if there was something else at play here we were missing.

“All the gladiators who were suspicious of the games disappeared?” Nedd asked. “Except you?”

“No,” Dayan said. “There are still others. Timon wanted to communicate with his family, to tell us all where he’d gone. Maybe he’ll figure it out and we’ll hear from him. If not, Kalia had the idea to capture one of the robed priests, see what they would tell us. But they only come out at the end of a match, to take the winners through the gate. Attacking them in front of an audience would be suicide.”

“I don’t know where the gate leads,” I said, “but I’m pretty sure they’re not taking you to fight for honor and glory—not on behalf of humanity at least.”

I still couldn’t imagine these people fighting on the Superiority’s behalf. We’d never encountered human militias in our battles with them.

Another thought occurred to me. “It’s possible they aren’t amassing an army, but siphoning off your best warriors, keeping you weak.”

Dayan stared at me, rage stretching across their face. I couldn’t blame them. If that theory was correct, it meant that instead of going off to fight for a noble cause, Dayan’s friends had been imprisoned or killed.

“How long have your people been sending gladiators to Elysium?” I asked.

“Over a century,” they said. “Since around the time you say the war ended. But if there is no war, why are these the End Times? Why stop the games?”

“It might have something to do with us. Their leader tried to kill us, but she knows some of us are still alive and hiding.”

There were a lot of unanswered questions—enough that I wasn’t sure what the next step was. Except…“Our team is here to gather information,” I said. “And right now you’re our best source of it. Would you be willing to come talk to our flightleader?”

Stars. We probably should have done that a lot earlier in this conversation.

“Your leader is here? In the city?” Dayan twisted the light-whip in their fist, as if considering whether it was safe to come with us, to leave this position where they clearly had the upper hand.

“Yes,” I said. “We’re supposed to meet up with him and the rest of our team.”

Dayan thought for another moment. “All right,” they said.

Nedd nodded at me like I’d done good work.

I only hoped Arturo would agree.

Twenty-One

Arturo

Suki floated ahead as we moved through the arena, staying low in the shadow of the benches, scouting for guards. Alanik seemed as twitchy as I felt, walking close to me, our shoulders almost touching. We reached the archway with the light-line rope and climbed down, then diffused it when we reached the bottom.

We met Gilaf where he was patrolling around the bend. Hoid had replaced Alanik’s illusion so she looked human again, and Gilaf still wore his. If he’d also lost it for a time while Hoid provided us cover, he’d handled it.

“I didn’t hear any alarms,” he said quietly. “Were you not discovered?”

“They know we were there,” Alanik said, “but they didn’t see us.”

“What did you find behind the gate?” Gilaf asked.