–– BLUE TEAM POV ––

Damien was standing below one of the trees, thinking about the incoming match. He still didn’t feel confident in winning, but he trusted his team and his own abilities. He had participated, after all, in a lot of wars so far. Damien sighed and looked down to the ground, reminiscing the times where he was only a child, playing with Ethan and Regina in the garden. Ethan appeared next to him, cutting off his thoughts.

– Lost in thoughts, eh?

– Oh, Ethan… —he sighed again—.

– What’s wrong? Nervous for your match?

– Of course I am… I’m in a team full of strangers, without you and Regina. But I trust in them. They’re strong. They’re here for a reason.

– Yea… —he leaned in the tree and slid down, sitting on the ground—. I learned to get along with my team too. Besides, I have Necole with me. But Luna, Zorn and Sophie are really good too. Specially Zorn. He’s really really strong. Sophie too is an excellent warrior, but Luna…

Damien copied Ethan and sat next to him on the ground.

– What’s wrong with Luna?

– Well… according to her, she comes from another… “dimension”? I still don’t 100% believe that. But of what I’m sure of, is that she’s not good at fighting, she’s slowly learning but… that inexperience in our team can cost us our lives.

Ethan closed his eyes for a moment. It was true that having Luna in the team was a disadvantage, since everyone in the coliseum was chosen for a reason: they were strong and could fight for their region. Even so, he didn’t dislike her. Even if she was weak, he felt like he should protect her, in the middle of all this chaos, where they are forced to fight against their own people and be with people they should be killing.

– Earth to Ethan? Are you there?

– I’m sorry… now it was me who got lost in his thoughts.

– Were you thinking about Luna?

– … Something like that. She’s weak and clueless… but Zorn’s strength and intelligence are enough to cover for two people. —he gave a light laugh—.

Damien looking at him with a curious stare.

– I wonder how is Regina doing.

– How do you think? She must be ordering everybody around.

– Probably…

Both started to laugh loudly. They weren’t wrong. But there was something they didn’t know, and it was that actually, there were 3 people that hated her completely, and ignored everything that she had to say.

It was time for the match. Damien got up and Ethan followed him. Both gave each other a hug. Ethan whispered “don’t die” and Damien could only nod. He made his way to the coliseum where everyone was starting to arrive for that day’s match.

–– WHITE TEAM POV ––

After the robotic announcement, everybody was ready to enter their pods. Zane reunited his team in a small circle, he gave some words of encouragement, and after that everyone went to their pods. Gin quickly approached Mikaela.

– Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.

Mikaela smiled lightly and nodded. Gin gave her a smile too and entered her pod. Seconds after, they were inside the virtual world. Zane was the first one to wake up. They had previously decided that the 3 guys would use the melee weapons and the 2 girls the guns. When everyone woke up, they took their weapons and quickly made their way to the battlefield. Zane decided to go alone to one of the bases, since he was the strongest in the team. But when he arrived, there were already two people from the Blue Team collecting the point. Zane needed to stop them at any cost, so he ran with all he had to the center on the base. He killed someone but, someone killed him too.

Instantly, he reappeared on his warehouse. Without wasting more time, he got up and made his way to the same base.

Gin was walking with Mikaela hand in hand. She could feel she was shaking.

– Do you want to stop for a moment?

– N-no… d-don’t worry about m-

In that moment, Gin’s corpse fell into her hands. Mikaela screamed. Wes heard her and immediately made his way over. He knew whose voice that was.

–– BLUE TEAM POV ––

Elise was behind some metal walls, waiting for Zane to show up again near the base. Zacharie was with her.

– This time we’ll stop him, Elise. —he whispered—.

She just nodded. Since the space was small, they needed to be close to each other. That made Elise’s heart beat quicker than normal. But anyway, she was more nervous than if she were in a normal war. She gulped down and shook her head. She needed to stay focused, since her life was at risk.

– Here he comes, Elise, ready?

Both started to run to the base where Zane was again. This time, they could defeat him without giving him an extra point. They captured the base again. Zacharie and Elise high fived.

On the other side of the map were Merissa and Duke. They were above Base 2, getting 5 more points.

– Cool, Merissa. We’re doing it perfectly! Gimme those five! You’re a really good soldier, like Elise. Did you use to train together?

– Something like that…

– MERISSA!

In that instant, Duke noticed someone from the White Team aiming at them. He hugged Merissa to make the shot hit him and not her.

– Du-…

–– WHITE TEAM POV ––

Zane saw how the Blue Team was ahead of them by quite a few points. They needed to do something. They were currently 16-21. A whole base-point disadvantage, but the kills were worth a lot too. He ran to the Base 3. He made sure that no one were near and tried to get the point. Not even 5 seconds went by when someone from the Blue Team made their way there.

Zane hid behind some of the walls. He noticed how Kiran was near and silently called him. Kiran saw the signal and went running to him, trying not to get caught.

– Kiran… you said you were good at fighting… I need you to get the last 4 points needed to win…

– Just that?

– We just need to kill two more people and we’ll win. We’ll go home.

Kiran just nodded. He was the best person Zane could ask to get the remaining points. Kiran was known in his region as a quick and skilled soldier. Sneakily making his way between the enemies and ambushing them from behind. He was as silent as a feather, no one sees him coming. Kiran got up and closed his eyes. When he opened them back up, the aura around him was completely different. On his eyes it could be seen the determination to win.

Zane decided to make his was back to Base 1, he knew there were two people. With them they could finish the game.

–– BLUE TEAM POV ––

Elise and Zacharie were making sure no one were near the area. But in just a few seconds, Zacharie saw how Elise fell to the ground. He clenched his fists and took his weapons. Seeing Elise like that was the closest thing to seeing her die in real life. Kiran got close to the base looking for Zacharie, who was hiding. Zacharie noticed that with that kill, they were in a tie.

He took a deep breath and got up. He ran up to Kiran, catching him from behind and making him drop his weapon. They struggled for a bit, since Kiran was preventing Zacharie from using his weapon. Both teams were a kill away from winning. Kiran and Zacharie were fighting for their lives.

In that moment, Elise came back.

– Today’s not your lucky day.

Elise shot. Kiran fell to the ground. And with that, everyone woke up in their pods. Once out, Elise fell to her knees. She covered her face with her hands. That relieved feeling made her feel overwhelmed. Tears were running down her face without stopping. Zacharie got closer and tried to embrace her. Merissa approached her too.

– Guys we did it! I knew I could trust in all of you!

– We survived another round…

When she calmed down, Elise stood up and without any more words, started to walk out of the place. She wasn’t looking where she was going, she felt disoriented. Without noticing, she bumped into someone.

– O-oh… I’m sorry…

– Elise?

That voice seemed familiar. She quickly looked up. It was Luna.

– How fortunate! You won!

Seeing her, Elise couldn’t hold back and started to cry again, running to her arms. Luna was a little surprised, but hugged her back, lightly caressing her hair. Elise felt a weirdly comforting warmth coming from Luna. When they parted, they made their way to one of the trees and sat down.

– Luna, how was your life back where you came from? In your dimension, I mean…

– Mmm, well it was normal… I used to go to school… I was with my parents… I didn’t have a lot of friends so I didn’t go out a lot.

– How lucky… since I was little, I was forced to participate in these mess of wars… after something important was taken from me…

– Something important? —she asked, curious—.

– Yes… I don’t know if you already know but, I have a big sister. I don’t know where she is… they took her when we were younger… to keep her safe…

– And why didn’t they take you too?

– Because she was really important to our region… they couldn’t let anything happen to her… that’s why I’m fighting. For her. I’ll save her. But, changing topic, are you an only child?

– No, I have a little sister, she’s a handful but I love her. Though I don’t remember much of the time when she wasn’t around, I only know that I really liked reading books…

– I liked to read a lot of books too…

In that moment, Elise opened her eyes in surprise, looking at Luna. Luna tilted her head to the side, a little confused.

TO BE CONTINUED.