Capture

to undefeated

Capture

*"Aspenpaw."*

*I freeze in my tracks.*

*"Aspenpaw. Come back." I can feel his hot breath on the back of my neck. It makes me want to throw up and die.*

*I breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out. "Nightwhisker?" I reply, careful to keep my voice calm and level. "Is there something you need?"*

*"You," he whispers. "All we've ever needed is you, Aspenpaw. You're the only one who can save me now." I don't even have to turn to look at him to know that the edges of his mouth are curled up in a sneer. "Come back to me, my precious Aspenpaw. My little sapling."*

*I hate him.*

*"Yes, Nightwhisker," I respond obediently. "I will always return to you, Nightwhisker."*

*And I know in my heart that it's true. He's never gonna let me go.*

He gasps.

"I think we're done here." Keeping a claw pointed at the tom's neck, I glance over my shoulder at all the cats who have been watching us fight. "Right?"

Every single one of them starts to cheer, and despite our terrible predicament, I have to grin. *Undefeated, once again.*

"Very good, very good." Any and all joyful expressions are banished from the cavern as the shadowy-furred cat, Kaeben, steps forward. "An impressive record you've got there, Aaryi. Care to say a few words? Go on, tell your fans how you do it."

All of my instincts are screaming at me to run, but that would be suicide. "I just fight as my instincts lead me," I reply breezily, keeping my tone light and my expression neutral.

"I see." He looks almost disappointed at my simple but accurate reply. "All the same, that's another victory for you." He raises his voice. "Another mark on the wall, if you please, Dreidel!"

"Right!" The second voice echoes from somewhere across the cavern, back behind the throng of cats, where I can't see her. But I can hear her, and I can definitely tell the moment when she swipes her claw into the wall of the cavern to mark another victory on my record. There's this horrible screech when claw meets stone, but every cat who's near enough to see what's going on starts to cheer all the same.

"Now, then." Kaeben brings everyone's attention back to him by uttering just a couple of word with his booming, commanding voice. "There is one more thing that must happen before this battle can be complete. Aaryi, you know what to do." He dips his head to me and takes a few steps backwards, as though respectfully clearing the battleground.

I swallow the saliva that's built up in my mouth, gazing nervously at the poor, defenseless tom lying prostrate before me. *This isn't fair...* "I'm so sorry," I whisper to him, and as I meet his bright orange gaze for the last time, he smiles, as though he understands. Closing my own two eyes, I take a deep breath and raise one forepaw.

In one strike, it's all over, and there's blood covering my paws once more.

It's the part of the fight that I hate the most: having to kill the loser. One fight, every day; one loser, every day; another cat dead because of me, *every single day*. It's repulsive; it's horrible. I figure the least I can do for them is to kill them as quickly and - hopefully - as painlessly as I possibly can.

The tom who brought this devastation upon us raises his voice one last time. "Dismissed," he orders. Without exception, every cat starts to head back to the offshoot caves where they sleep. They murmur about the fight, yell out congratulations as they pass me, but everything just seems... muted, like we just can't bring ourselves to accept that someone is also going to die tomorrow.

"Nice job," someone whispers in my ear, and I jump. *How did someone get so close to me - ?*

I quickly turn my head to look. It's a white-furred she-cat, which wouldn't be remarkable if I didn't recognize her immediately after getting a good look at her face.

*Kayn...*

She tosses a feisty grin at me over her shoulder before vanishing into the darkness of the tunnel that apparently leads to her sleeping-cave.

My legs feel weak. *Kayn... that was Kayn.*

Kayn is one of two other top fighters inside this cavern of death. While I fight every evening, Kayn fights every morning, just as ruthlessly and fearlessly as I do. She doesn't even hesitate to make the kill.

I've heard that it'd be really easy to fall before her. If you weren't overwhelmed by her fighting skills alone, then surely you'd fall because of that *scar*, that infernal *scar* that marks her as a cat who's survived a lot of hardships, even outside of this place.

And her *eyes*...

Another cat pulls up on my left side, a normal brown she-cat this time. Her green eyes are wide with concern. "Aaryi, are you alright?" she asks me nervously.

I shake my head to clear my thoughts. "Yeah, I'm fine." I sigh, trying not to let my weaknesses show. "Thanks for worrying about me, Krilla, but honestly, I'm okay."

"Well, at least let me walk you back to your nest." I nod wearily, too exhausted to give an intelligible verbal response.

So we head towards one of the cavern walls. She lets me lean lightly against her shoulder, and I appreciate it; despite my brave words, I'm really not alright. I'm *so sick* of killing innocent cats, cats who might've been my friends in some other history. I hate it, but even more than that, I hate the ones who forced me to do all this.

They call themselves the Underlives.

We make our way through the long, dark, and twisting tunnel, passing countless other cats along the way. All of them cheer as I walk by them, and a few even call out to me, inviting me to share a den with them for the night, or to eat with them tomorrow. I ignore them all.

When we finally reach my cave, rather than collapsing immediately into my cold, stony nest, I stumble over to the far wall and make my own mark there. Unlike the record out in the main cavern, I'm not marking kills, but days - days since I first became conscious in this terrible place.

I mentally scan the markings. I come up with 108. A hundred and eight days that I've been trapped here - maybe even more, if I had been sleeping for days before coming around. Some of those days - the earliest few - were only spent in training, not killing. But I've seen the wall of the main cavern often enough. I know what number's marked there.

Including the one from today, I have killed a grand total of eighty-five cats.

The number makes my legs tremble, and I almost collapse. Krilla shouts my name and rushes to my side to support me, but I'm barely conscious of her presence, even as she helps me into the shallow dip that serves as my nest.

*I'm a murderer...*

That's my last thought before I sink into a troubled sleep.

"Aaryi, wake up."

I murmur something unintelligible and roll over, still half-asleep.

"Wake up!" A paw prods me in the side, and I yelp, blinking myself awake. Between bleariness and just the general darkness of where we live, I can barely see, but I *can* make out the shape of a cat standing next to me.

"Whahaah?" I ask intelligently.

"Shh," Krilla warns. "Everyone else is still asleep."

"Then why are we awake?" I roll onto my paws, standing up with a grimace. *Yesterday's fight really took a toll on me, huh...*

"Because I have something I want to show you. Come with me." She beckons with her long tabby tail, and I feel like I have no choice but to follow. I don't think I'd be able to fall asleep again anyways. Not after *that* vivid nightmare.

So I follow her out of my cave - thanks to my impeccable fighting record, I'm one of the few cats who sleep in caves all alone - and back down the long tunnel that leads into the main cavern. The whole time, I can't stop yawning, and I almost trip over my own paws more than once.

When we emerge into the cavern, I peer into the gloom only to find that there's another cat waiting for us. "It's about time you got here," she grunts at us gruffly.

"Sorry. Blame sleepy-paws over here," Krilla replies lightly. I mutter to myself and turn to walk away from them.

"Aaryi," Krilla calls after me. "This cat's name is Rhade. I know you probably don't recognize her, and you probably haven't heard her name, either. But I want you to listen to what she has to say."

I glance back over my shoulder, vaguely curious.

"Please," Krilla adds, waving her head to tell me to come back. "Just hear her out."

"Fine. But next time you try to wake me up for something like this, I'll claw your ears off." I walk back over to the pair of cats and sit down across from them.

Rhade's whiskers twitch, just a little bit. "You don't mean that," she comments.

"What don't I mean?"

"That you'll claw someone's ears off." Even in the gloomy light, her amber gaze is *intense*, and as though she wants to amplify its intensity, she even leans towards me from where she's sitting. "I've seen the way you fight. You're relentless enough to win, but you're also very careful to inflict as little damage as possible. In other words, you're smart, but you're also too cautious for your own good."

"Wh-what do you mean?" A chill runs down my spine. *What could this cat possibly know? What's she getting after with this...?*

"Aaryi." Rhade pauses, which just makes this moment even tenser. "Have you ever watched Kayn fight? And I mean *really* watched. Have you ever studied her moves, or observed her fighting style?"

"No... not really," I admit. "I've watched a fair number of her fights, but only from a distance. I've never gotten close enough to really see everything that's going on."

"If it comes down to a fight between the two of you, you're going to lose."

"What?" A stab of panic shoots through me. "I can't lose! There's no way I can - !" I shoot a glance at Krilla, but she just watches me with something akin to pity in her eyes. I let out a low growl. *This is... this is ridiculous. There's no way... I'm...*

"Aaryi, listen." Krilla speaks slowly, sympathetically. "I know you think that you're the best fighter in this cavern, but I honestly don't think you can win against Kayn. Her record is just as good as yours, and even you must know that she's not afraid to kill."

I think back to my brief encounter with Kayn yesterday. Even in that brief heartbeat of time, I could see something dark and unafraid within her. Deep down, I know that she would kill me without a second thought. I just... I don't want to admit it, don't want to think about it.

Pleading for reassurance, I protest, "But they always keep the top contenders separate!"

"Yeah." Rhade snorts. "So you can all kill each other in the end. Haven't you realized, Aaryi? There's no way out of here. There's no way for you to win. This is all just one eternal battle, one stupid, endless nightmare that's been forced upon us."

"What she means," Krilla adds, "is that despite everything the Underlives have told us, we think it's pretty likely that none of us are going to get out of here alive.

Their expressions are grim... so grim. It makes me want to cry.

"No," I whisper, standing up and backing away from them. "No. You're wrong. I can win this! I can do it! I *will* escape this place!"

"You know it's futile," Krilla murmurs, softly. "I'll probably die the first time I get thrown into a real fight. At least then it'll be over. But for you... for you, it's almost worse. You have this great promise of hope, and of freedom, dangling over your head. I bet you can almost see your life aboveground being given back to you."

She's right. I can.

"But, Aaryi, all of this is pointless," she continues insistently. "All of the fights you've been in, all of the cats you've killed - it's all been for naught, Aaryi. I'm sorry."

"Never say that!" I explode, lunging towards Krilla like I'm going to kill her. "How dare you? How *dare* you! How dare you tell me that all this time, I've been killing for no reason?" I barrel into her, my claws unsheathed, and hold her to the ground.

"Not so fast!" In another split second, Rhade has sent me flying. I hit the cavern wall and fall to the ground, my head ringing with pain. "Don't you attack my friend here," Rhade hisses, stalking slowly towards me. "I *dare* you to try that again."

"You little *worm*," I seethe, spitting out blood and a fang that was knocked loose from the blow. "I hope they put you up against Kayn so you can die a perfectly bloody death. Or even better, maybe they'll put you up against *me*, so I can kill you personally!"

"Stop!" Krilla darts between us, cutting off Rhade's furious path. "Both of you, stop it! What chance do you have if you kill each other here and now?"

"Didn't you just tell me that no one here stands a chance?" I taunt, forcing myself to stand. "Make up your mind!"

"I *said* you don't stand a chance if you keep *fighting* all the time!" Krilla yells back. "That doesn't mean we can't find another way!"

"Yeah?" I ask, glaring over Krilla's shoulder at Rhade. "Yeah, you think so? Well, that's too bad, because fighting's all I'm good for now. I hope both of you die, and soon. Good night." And with that, I start heading back towards my den.

"Alright, everybody up!"

I roll over with a groan, not wanting to open my eyes. *Stupid late night little excursion, stupid little cats - who do they think they are, waking me up like that -*

Then I come back to my senses, and I scramble to my paws.

*I have to watch that battle.*

I dash out of my cave, sweeping past a group of cats standing in the tunnel and talking. They call after me, but I don't listen; I just keep going until I've made it down into the main cavern.

To my dismay, a large crowd has already gathered. Summoning up all my strength, I begin to push my way through the thronging group of cats, trying not to be too rude.

Eventually I get frustrated with my fruitless efforts and just call out, "Can I get through, please?"

And immediately the crowd parts for me. I can't tell if it's because they admire me or because they're scared of me. Regardless, I walk down the newly formed path up to the front of the group, where I settle into place and try to scrunch myself down a little so I don't block the views of everyone behind me.

Soon enough, Kayn emerges from the crowd on the other side of the fight area, and everyone cheers by default. However, I hear a cat standing somewhere near me whisper, "I hope I never have to fight her. I don't want to die!"

It's the most brutal reminder of reality I've had since I got here.

Kayn just stretches in the clearing, seemingly oblivious to all of the commotion that's going on around her. She flexes her claws - in, out, in, out, scraping them on the rock floor until they leave marks. She doesn't seem to be bothered by the noise, either.

For half a heartbeat, I entertain the idea that she might be deaf, but I dismiss it immediately. *But then she wouldn't be able to speak, right...? Because if you can't hear cats talking, you can't possibly know what they're saying.* I shake my head. *Don't dwell on it. Just pay attention.*

Kaeben and his ghostly white companion, Dreidel, step forward from where they've been waiting. "The day's first fight will now begin!" he bellows, and immediately cats all over the cavern snap to attention. "The first contender, naturally, is our undefeated champion, Kayn!"

More cheers ensue, but everyone around me looks too nervous for it all to be genuine.

"Who will be the challenger?"

No one talks. No one moves. No one *breathes*.

Dreidel slowly scans the area, meeting the gazes of every cat within sight. When she finally gets around to facing me, her gaze touches upon mine for the briefest of seconds, and ice stabs me in the heart. But she keeps moving, even if it's only because they can't pit their champions against each other just yet.

*Stupid.* I banish all thoughts of last night's conversation from my mind and *focus*.

Eventually, Dreidel stops. She meets the eyes of a timid-looking brown she-cat, who trembles fiercely when she notices where the creepy cat is looking.

"You," the self-proclaimed Underlife declares. "*You* will fight our champion today."

The little brown cat squeaks and cowers back into the ground, shaking her head, but some vicious bully from behind her shoves her forward and into the open area. She looks like she wants to vanish into the ground when Kayn approaches her.

"Hey. Stand up." Kayn tosses the terrified she-cat a cocky grin. The poor cat complies, scrambling to her paws as though she'd like nothing more than to run. Watching them, I realize that this cat - this so-called *challenger* - doesn't even come up to Kayn's shoulder, and Kayn isn't even an especially tall cat.

*How is this fair...?*

"What's your name, little sapling?"

Her casual use of the phrase shocks me. *That... that phrase... where have I heard it before...?* But it's no use; I can't remember.

"L-Leina," the brown cat replies, her voice quavering in fear. "P-please... please don't kill me!" Her tone turns pleading, but Kayn only seems to loom higher above her.

There's a reason I never ask any of the cats who face me to tell me their names. It just seems so much harder to kill someone when there's a name attached. But Kayn doesn't appear to have any such qualms.

"Well, Leina." Kayn seems to get some kind of horrible enjoyment from uttering this cat's name for the first time. "Shall we?" She unsheathes her claws, letting them drag around the stone floor with a horrible shriek. Leina winces, as do most of the other cats standing nearby.

"Fight," Kaeben commands. Some of the other cats take up the call, chanting "Fight, fight, fight!" in low voices. Kayn only seems to feed off of the energy that horrible chanting produces, and the cat called Leina only sinks lower to the ground.

"Hey... hey, tell me, Leina." Kayn's tail lashes as she licks her upper lip. "Do you wanna live?"

"Yes, yes," the little brown she-cat replies immediately, yelping and cowering away from her monstrous opponent. "Please don't kill me! Please, I beg of you! Let me live!"

Kayn's only response is to stretch out one forepaw and strike Leina across the face.

"Don't beg," she hisses, showing off a vicious sneer. "I hate beggars. Know why?" she asks, crouching down next to Leina.

"Wh-why?" the victim whispers feebly.

"Because they're annoying, that's why." This time Kayn kicks Leina, sending the latter flying towards the watching cats, who immediately scatter. Leina lands outside of the fighting area. Disregarding the rules, Kayn trots over to her side again and plants one dangerous forepaw on Leina's neck.

"This is boring," Kayn complains, calling out to both the Underlives and the spectators. "Isn't there someone here who can actually *fight*? Come on out and *fight* me if you're *brave* enough!" Her demand causes the entire cavernous area to fall silent.

I grit my teeth and wonder if I should step forward.

Before I can, someone else shoulders his way out of the crowd to face Kayn one-on-one. "Get back into the ring," he orders her. "I'll fight you."

"Oh, really?" Kayn rolls her eyes, but she still makes her way back into the fighting area.

"Yeah." The light brown-furred tom straightens arrogantly, standing up as tall as he can. "Name's Oburi. Remember it well, kitty, because I'll be the one to destroy you."

"Is that so?" Kayn chuckles, flexing her claws a few times. "Well. We'll see about that. Let's do this."

"Yes, let's." Oburi crouches low, taking on the stance of a seasoned fighter. I have to wonder why he hasn't tried to rise to power before now; he looks really strong. He does have quite the reputation, though - rumor has it he's secretly training late at night, when no one else is around, so that he can be one of the undefeated champions someday.

One moment, Kayn and Oburi are standing in the fighting circle: Kayn relaxed and confident, Oburi tensed and ready.

The next moment, they're lunging at each other in the same instant, creating a malignant breeze as they rush forward. It would feel nice, if it weren't the result of two cats trying to kill each other.

Oburi manages to get the first hit, landing heavily on Kayn's shoulders and slicing her along her spine; but Kayn recovers quickly, bucking wildly until Oburi flies off of her. He lands with a thud across the circle, and Kayn darts forward, faster than I can see, to use her claws to press him to the ground.

Blood spurts from the wounds Kayn's claws make, but Oburi fights on undeterred. He shoves his claws upwards, landing them straight in the soft fur between Kayn's front legs. She howls with rage and smashes a paw down into Oburi's face, causing him to screech.

Watching them, I can see why Kayn makes such a formidable opponent. She's not limited to the boring techniques that every cat here has been taught; she seems to make things up as she goes along, reacting to the scenarios and adapting her strategy accordingly. Every move she makes is ruthless, calculated; she never loses her focus.

*I really wouldn't stand a chance against her...*

I shake away my thoughts and continue to watch the battle. At this point, they're circling each other, each waiting for the other to give some sort of opening. At some unseen signal, they both run forward, crashing into each other and starting another violent scuffle.

After a while, after both cats have worked themselves almost to exhaustion in fighting each other, Dreidel steps between them, looking strictly at each of them in turn.

"Stop this immediately," she decrees sternly. She then turns to Kayn, who could almost be her twin, what with their pure white fur and near-identical lean, lithe builds. "Kayn, have you forgotten? There is still a cat whom you are obligated to kill."

"What - *that* weakling?" Kayn snorts in Leina's direction; the pitiful cat had tried to worm her way back into the crowd, but it was so thick that no one would let her in. "She's not even worth the energy it takes to feed her. She's hardly worth *my* time! Why's she even *here*?"

"All the same," Dreidel replies, her voice eerily calm, "you have an obligation to kill her."

"Fine, whatever."

Kayn stalks over towards the brown cat, who trembles violently. She presses against the cats in the front of the crowd, begging, "Let me through! Let me go!", but no one is listening to her. Kayn slams her head into the ground with one paw and bites into her neck, leaving a jagged, bleeding scar. Leina gurgles something unintelligible, her eyes wide with fear.

After far, far too long, her body finally relaxes. Her eyes roll back, and everything goes limp. Her blood keeps spreading into a pool on the ground, causing the cats nearby to scuttle backwards, repulsed.

"Great, I'm glad *that's* over with. Can we eat now? I'm starved." Kayn's tongue flicks at her teeth, lapping up the blood left on them, as she casts a questioning glance at the two Underlives who were overseeing the fight.

"Sure," Dreidel responds after a long moment. Turning to her dark-furred companion, she asks him to recruit cats to clean up the blood. He dips his head and calls out a few names; the corresponding cats step forward and - to my perpetual disgust - start to lick up the blood from the ground. Every so often one of them coughs or chokes on the salty liquid, but none of them would dare complain.

Kayn and Dreidel lead the grand procession towards the far side of the cavern, where today's meal is waiting for us.

As usual, there's plenty for everyone.

No one's entirely sure where the prey comes from; there's no obvious way out of this place, and the only signs of life down here are us, the cats. I guess a fair assumption would be that the place the Underlives go when they're not training us or watching us fight would have an exit somewhere. Unfortunately, it's impossible for us to get out that way; the tunnel leading up to it is so tight that only one cat could go at a time. We'd get caught for sure.

But regardless of where it comes from, somehow they manage to provide enough prey for all of us. It must have gotten easier recently, though; we're still a huge group, but between the efforts of me, Kayn, and the third undefeated champion, our numbers have been dwindling rapidly. At this rate, I'd wager we won't last another moon.

...I hate it when I start thinking this way.

We make it to the other side and cluster around the large piles of prey. Dreidel raises her voice so that she can be heard above the crowd.

"Champions first!"

I snort and push my way up to the front, muttering "Excuse me" to anyone I have to shove aside. By the time I'm at the front, Kayn is already digging into a huge rabbit, two mice tucked under her paws for safekeeping, and the third champion is also making her way towards us.

I meet her eyes, which dazzle in a wise, glittering shade of amber. "You can pick first," she offers generously. I dip my head agreeably, watching her out of the corner of my eye as I step forward to pick my prey. I pull a water vole and a good-sized squirrel out of the pile and step back to let her in.

"Thanks," she meows, walking past me to choose her prey. She considers every piece thoughtfully, as though only the very best morsels will do.

This is Aiga, the cavern community's third champion.

It seems to take forever for the three of us to finish our food and move out of the way so the others can eat. After chewing and swallowing countless times in the center of a near-silent group of cats, I'm ready to get out of here. It makes me uncomfortable, being watched while I'm eating.

I turn away and push my way back through the group as it throws itself onto the piles of prey like a rapacious mob. Naturally, the only one to stop me is the one cat I really didn't want to see today.

"Do you believe us now?" Rhade hisses as I pass her. "Admit it, you can't win this, Aaryi!" I want to snarl when she says my name so casually. *How dare you...!* "Join up with us so we can escape!"

"Yeah?" I hiss back, pausing only briefly to give her a piece of my mind. "And how many cats have you recruited into your little *resistance*, hmmm...?"

"Almost everyone here," she snaps back, before the rush for prey sends her somewhere far, far away from me. I relax with a sigh and keep walking.

When I finally break through the last line of cats, I head straight for the training area, fully intending to get in some decent practice while I can be on my own. However, I quickly find that Kayn has somehow managed to make it back as well.

She pulls up next to me and asks, "Wanna train together?"

I wince. *I can't exactly say no.* "Sure," I say, feigning some sort of enthusiasm.

We walk in silence for a bit as we cross the cavern together.

"Saaay, Aaryi." Kayn's expression turns to an incredibly creepy smirk. "Tell me, tell me. What's the deal with this whole arrangement?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" I ask nervously, trying to avoid eye contact with her.

She makes this impossible by shoving her face up next to mine. "I mean... what do ya think of having to fight and kill a cat every single day, hmm?"

I have to stare at her for a heartbeat, despite my better judgment. She's shorter than me, but she's confident, and even this close up I can tell that she's strong. Her fur is short and white, and it looks like she takes the care to keep it clean; her fangs are stained with blood, but they're still incredibly sharp.

Her eyes, confounding shade of purple that they are, don't give off a hint of weakness; and the scar traveling across her face from ear to jaw shows that she wasn't raised in some soft society that was afraid of fighting. Undeterred by my staring, she stares right back, as though daring me to reply.

"I hate it," I reply, finally, definitely. "I absolutely *despise* killing other cats."

"Then why do you do it?" She sounds earnest enough as we stop next to the training area.

"I..."

*I... I don't know what to say.*

That's a *great* question. Why *do* I agree to kill other cats? *Why* do I kill them? Why don't I just...

"...rebel?" I whisper, more to myself than anything else.

"Hmm, what was that?" Kayn leans forward again, but this time, I don't flinch.

"Kayn," I meow urgently. "What about you? What do you think about all of this...?"

"Oh, me?" She sits down and starts nonchalantly licking one of her paws. I wait. She's about to start on her second when she pauses and looks at me over her paw. "I'm just going with the flow, at least for now. I don't expect this to last forever, y'know." And she starts grooming again.

I narrow my eyes at her suspiciously, but I decide not to press the matter. Clearing my throat, I speak up again. "You said you wanted to train. So... let's get going, already."

"Oh, that's right." Kayn stands up, and stretches, taking her time as though she's got the whole world. "Come at me." She doesn't even bother dropping into a fighting stance; she just stands there casually, looking lazy and bored.

I swallow nervously, taking my own preferred stance, and brace myself to fight.

In a fragment of time thinner than a whisker, I'm rushing at Kayn, and she jumps out of the way.

"Don't go easy on me, now," she purrs, watching me like she's going to closely analyze and monitor my every move.

"I won't," I spit, lunging for her again. This time, I manage to catch a tuft of her short, thin white fur between my claws, but she's still much, *much* too fast for me. She dodges me deftly, snickering, leaving me scrambling to regain my footing.

"Hey, heeey, I thought we were gonna *fight*," Kayn complains, pouting at me. "Whatever happened to that, hmmm...? And they call you one of the *champions* of this place. *What* a *letdown*."

I snarl at her condescending tone, whipping around to face her full-on. "I'll kill you," I swear, steeling myself for her next attack, as well as further insults.

"Go right ahead." Kayn unsheathes her claws, trotting over to me with a blithe expression. "Actually, I dare you, Aaryi. Kill me, here and now. Do it."

I blink, my resolution wavering.

Sensing my hesitation, she almost rolls to the ground in an odd gesture, nosing her way under my forepaw and half-standing again so that my paw is balanced between her eyes. "Go on," she urges. "Just unsheathe your claws. One good downward swipe, and I'll just let myself stand here and bleed to death. Do it."

"I can't," I beg, trying to move my paw away. But Kayn catches it gently between her teeth, and she just stares at me over her nose with a questioning glance.

"Can't do it?" she mumbles around my paw.

"No," I whisper. "I can't."

She shrugs, letting go of my paw and trotting backwards a couple of steps, almost bowing to me in a deep stretch. "Fine by me. I'd like to live a little longer, even if I end up dead before all of this is over. But, see-" She comes back up from the stretch and looks me straight in the eye. "-that's the difference between us, you know? If I had been in your position, and some other cat had been in mine, I wouldn't have hesitated to kill that cat if he'd asked for it."

"But that's terrible," I argue, shaking my head and trying to break this eye contact. "How could you have such little regard for life?"

"Life?" She freezes with an odd expression. "What good does a life like this do? There's no meaning to any of this, Aaryi. If some cats have to die in the meantime, so be it."

"You're a monster!" I shout, drawing the attention of some of the cats who have started to meander away from the prey piles. "You're an absolute *monster*! Don't you *want* to get out of here? Don't you *care* what happens to us...?" I'm almost in tears, choking back a sob between every other word. "I... you're... I hate you!"

If Kayn is surprised by my sudden outburst, she doesn't show it. "Yeah," she murmurs, finally looking away from me. "I get that a lot." She turns away without another word and walks off towards one of the holes in the walls, where I'm sure she lives alone.

I sink my fangs into my lip, pressing harder and harder until I draw blood. I lick some of it up, letting the rest run freely. *This... this is how I will repent for what I've done.*

I let the tears run down my cheeks, mingling with my blood, until someone else comes into the training area and asks me to leave.

I mope for a while.

I just sit in my cave with my head on my paws, waiting until the next fight begins. I've heard that Aiga is a really good fighter, quick and light on her paws. I've never watched her fight before - didn't think it was worth the time - but now I'm getting nervous about what's *really* going on here, and so I think I'm going to watch from now on.

I only get up to head out when I hear the rush of other cats around me, all of which are also going out to watch the fight.

I hear their excited voices as they run down this tunnel of caves. "I'm so nervous," one cat confesses as she pitter-patters along the rock floor. "I really hope I don't get picked yet! I'm not ready!"

"You're doing fine," her companion encourages her, heading down in the same direction. "But I agree; I don't want you to risk getting hurt quite yet. I want you to stay with me a while longer." The first cat giggles, and then they both drop their voices and I can't hear them anymore.

Sighing, I'm finally able to bring myself to stand and stretch. *What a monotonous, meaningless existence this is...* I hadn't really thought about it before, but that's absolutely true. There's *no point* to this, to *any* of this. It's just a waste of time, a cruel trick that someone's played on us all to bring us into this horrible game. That's what my life is. *That's all.*

But I still drag my lazy, useless self out to the main cavern and sit down near the fighting area to watch. I don't bother pushing to the very front this time. I don't have the energy for it. I just get somewhere I can see at least part of what's going on.

"Today's second fight will now begin!" Kaeben announces, staring sternly around the circle of cats. "The first contender is Aiga, the undefeated champion."

The silvery blue-furred she-cat steps forward proudly, and I hear a lot of cats cheering for her, or shouting out positive encouragement. I've heard that she's popular even outside of fights; apparently she has a good personality and is kind to cats who can't fight well.

...As long as she's not fighting them, of course.

"Who will be the challenger?" Kaeben demands.

As usual, everyone goes utterly silent and still - but this time, it doesn't stay that way for long.

"I'll do it," someone grunts, pushing his way out of the crowd. Interested by this unusually bold challenge, I find myself pushing closer to the front as well.

The challenger is a fairly muscular brown tom. He looks fit and strong, but the way he walks is... somehow odd. He walks almost tensed up, as though he's nervous or something; but at the same time, he looks completely relaxed, as though he doesn't care what anyone thinks about him.

What's more, his amber eyes are almost expressionless. All of this together gives him an extremely weird aura.

"Hello there," Aiga says with a friendly smile. "What's your name?"

Unlike when Kayn asks for a name, I don't feel any threat or malice from Aiga at all.

"Skell." The careful way he keeps his voice level and calm, all the while scanning Aiga with a critical gaze, is incredibly disconcerting.

"Nice to meet ya. I'm Aiga." She almost bounces on her paws as she introduces herself. "Now... shall we get started?" And she drops into a practiced, well-balanced crouch, suddenly looking serious and incredibly focused.

"If you insist." The cat called Skell also crouches, mirroring his opponent. They wait like that for a long, tense moment.

"Fight," Kaeben commands, and the fight begins.

Unlike Kayn's fight before, unlike any fight I've ever been in, these two don't immediately charge at each other headfirst. Rather, they circle each other slowly, each watching carefully for the slightest hint of a falter or opening in the other's stance.

I'm about to lose interest when Skell darts forward. He lands a quick blow on Aiga's foreleg before darting away again. She staggers, and a thin line of red bubbles up from within her shiny pelt.

"That hurt, y'know," Aiga calls, wincing as she tries to put weight on the leg. "You'll pay for that."

Skell doesn't reply. He just crouches again, his tail flicking from side to side, as though gauging his next move.

"Now, now, don't get all quiet on me." For some reason, Aiga sounds nervous - something I'm guessing is pretty uncharacteristic for her. "You're creeping me out. Say something." A number of the cats around me start to murmur, sounding unsettled.

*...This is all very odd.*

I guess Skell is too focused on the fight to reply, or maybe he's just *trying* to disquiet Aiga, because he still doesn't say a word.

Then he lunges again, and suddenly he's on top of Aiga, gripping her shoulders with his claws. She lets out a scream, obviously startled, and tries to throw him off; but every time she struggles, his claws just dig in deeper, and blood runs in rivulets down her legs.

This is so hard to watch. I don't think Aiga stands a chance against this cat.

Aiga shrieks in pain and anger and finally manages to throw Skell off of her back. He lands heavily but rolls smoothly, and he's back on his paws in an instant. Everything that happens next goes by me in slow motion.

Aiga prepares to counterattack, crouching low with her claws unsheathed.

Skell crouches as well and starts to rush forward, his forepaws extended threateningly.

I open my mouth to scream, to warn Aiga, but I can't make a sound.

The crowd around me seems to surge forward, to stop what's going on.

Skell reaches Aiga, his amber eyes gleaming with undisguised malice.

He raises a paw. His claws are still dripping with blood from his previous attacks.

I finally manage to let out a choked shriek. I'm surprised to find that tears are running down my cheeks. *I don't want this to happen! I don't want anyone to die anymore...!*

A red gash opens in Aiga's chest. She stumbles backwards, gasping for breath, as Skell advances menacingly. He speaks for the first time since the fight officially began.

"You," he hisses, "are dead."

And Aiga slumps over, dead.

She's gone.

*No...*

I sob, twin salty rivers running down my cheeks. "No," I choke out, horrified. "But she was... Aiga was a *champion*..."

Reality's kicking in for me. It's kicking me hard, like a cornered challenger.

*I... could die. So easily. Just like that.*

Reality's a harsh thing.

I turn tail and run.

I'm scared.

I'm so scared.

I just keep running, past a bunch of cats who all cast questioning glances at me.

I don't slow down.

I don't stop.

I just run.

Eventually I find myself up one of the abandoned, disused tunnels: abandoned because everyone who once lived here is dead now, and disused because there aren't enough of us left to fill it now. It's kind of a creepy place, and most cats don't like to go up here because it's so eerily silent, but that's just what I need right now: silence.

I slow to a halt all the way up at the end of the tunnel, where it widens into a bulb-shaped mini-cave. There's one of these up every tunnel, but almost no one ever uses them as common areas anymore. We can all fit comfortably into the cavern now, which is a very uncomfortable thought for me. I shake it off.

This place is just as gray and boring as anywhere else in the place, but for some reason I find it peaceful here. Water, coming from some unseen source, drips off of the stalactites hanging off the top of the cave and coats the stalagmites below in a sort of glittery sheen. Something that might once have been a river wells up from the ground and tapers to a stop here, its lethargic waters lapping just a little at its tiny banks.

This observation gives me an idea.

I hurry over to where the little river-thing appears to leave the cave and crouch down to get a better look. There's a shallow bank for the riverlet, and so there is in fact a little hollow area here, but... no way could a cat ever fit in there to escape. I straighten back up with an exasperated sigh.

Glancing upwards, I notice a myriad of little flickering insects, flashing their lights lazily and flying about in slow, deliberate patterns. I wonder how they got in here, how long they've been here. I wonder what they're thinking, *if* they're thinking, and whether or not they think of this place as a prison.

Then I want to claw myself for thinking so deeply about *bugs*. They probably don't even have feelings, the stupid nuisances.

I can hear pawsteps coming up behind me, and I whirl around at the ready, claws unsheathed, bristling with fear.

Kayn snorts at the look on my face and steps forward once I relax. "Never seen *you* look so scared. But, hey, you left that fight awfully fast. Frightened of the truth, are we?"

"And what's it to you?" I snap, trying not to cry at the reminder.

"What, are you *worried* that someone actually cares about your well-being?" Kayn lets out a sharp laugh before her expression molds back into a carefully practiced mask of apathy. "I don't really care, by the way. I just don't want anyone breaking down in tears and killing herself before I get the chance to fight her."

I can't *not* cry at this point. Tears flow down my cheeks, creating salty imperfections in the pure, clear water dripping out of this cave. "I- I...!" I sob, trying to search for the right words. But I can't find them, and so my traitorous mouth lets loose a stream of words against my will.

"I- don't want to die. I just- I want to live! I don't want to kill anymore!" I pour out all of my frustrations and hidden fears onto this cat. "I want to remember- where I was before. I want... I want..." I choke on a sob, which makes me cough until I can't talk anymore.

"Hey... calm down." Kayn comes over and stands by my side, pressing up against me in a reassuring gesture that makes no sense coming from a cat like her. "You're not going to die. You hear me?" She nails me in place with her piercing, confident violet stare. "You'll make it out of this alive." She murmurs something under her breath, but I can't quite hear what it is.

"But how would you know?" I whisper.

She pulls away, looking as relieved to break off the touch as I feel. "Call it a hunch," she offers vaguely. "But I think that once this place starts to change, it'll start to change *fast*. And, what's more..." She grins before turning away from me. "I think you'll be the one to instigate that change." And she's gone, walking back down the tunnel before I can say a word.

I prepare myself.

It's time for me to fight today, and cats are already gathering around me, eager to see how I'll fight this time, dreading to find out who I'll have to kill.

But I don't *want* to kill anymore.

If my opponent turns out to be someone strong, like that cat Skell from earlier, I'm willing to let myself lose. So I brace myself for the worst, not talking to anyone even when other cats talk to me.

Finally, Dreidel emerges from that mysterious, forbidden tunnel that, as far as we know, is only ever occupied by her and Kaeben. To my surprise, for once she is alone.

"This will be the last normal fight any of you will see for a while," she announces as she forces her way into the crowd, not even waiting for everyone to gather or fall silent. "The time has almost come for the champions to fight each other."

to fall