Stepping through the tunnel entrance, I found myself standing across from Kaine as we entered the center of the arena pit. An audience of werescales watched us from the bleachers above where the brood members were all cheering for Kaine. Vixy sat quietly by herself on the far end while those surrounding her were jumping up and down excitedly to witness their captain eviscerate me. Rumorey and Alice sat in a specialized booth that extended past the bleachers, giving them a better view of the fight.


    My heart was beating ninety to nothing, making me dizzy. I feared it might explode before the battle even began. Kaine on the other hand, was the perfect depiction of cool and confident. He leered at me with a stone-cold gaze that appeared to watch my every move. I was certain he could see my nervous twitching. The anxiety I exuded was palpable.


    “The rules for the fight are simple!” Shouted from his throne. The audience immediately went silent as they waited in anticipation. “The two combatants must fight each other until the other either gives up or dies! If the newcomer wins, he is granted acceptance into the brood! However, if Kaine wins, Seth will have to face his ancestors in the afterlife!”


    The crowd roared with excitement, chanting Kaine’s name.


    “You may begin!” Rumorey sounded a horn, signaling that the battle had begun.


    Instantly, Kaine charged me, his hulking body throwing itself toward mine. I was caught off guard by his speed, believing someone as big as him wouldn’t be nimble. My underestimation nearly cost me that match as I narrowly dodged the forked horns protruding from his naturally armored skull.


    Rolling along the cement flooring, I attempted to find my footing to stand up, but Kaine had already redirected his charge and caught me with a nasty uppercut from his massive claws, sending me flying across the arena into a nearby wall. Debris and dust surrounded the air around me as I pulled myself out of the rubble. First blood had been drawn as I tasted copper on my tongue. A dribble of the dark red liquid escaped the corners of my mouth as more of it pooled below me on the ground from the gashes along my throat.


    The crowd frenzied upon the sight of blood. In their minds, they had already decided the victor.


    I stood up from where I had collapsed, leaning against the wall for support. Kaine was already preparing for another charge, his horns aimed right at my chest. He was going for the kill, but I reacted in the nick of time using what I had learned from my days as a wrestler in high school.


    Bracing for impact by placing my tail in front of my exposed torso, I let the bulky werescale slam his head into me. Despite the pain, I was able to wrap my arms underneath his arms, stopping him from grabbing me, while also controlling his upper body. In shock, Kaine tried to headbutt me in retaliation, but as he removed his horns from my tail, I was able to wrap the tip around his neck.


    The two of us wrestled for control, he tried to knock me off, but I had flattened the top of my feet against the pavement so that he couldn’t pick me up, nor could he push me down. Tightening the grip of my tail around his throat, I watched as he desperately struggled in my grasp. Yet, as I was too focused on his head, I neglected to keep an eye on his tail. Without warning, he swung his spiked tail at the side of my skull, bashing it against the wall.


    My grip loosened from the impact, giving him the opportunity to slip from my clutches. He balled his right fist, attempting to crush my skull, but I ducked just in time and he pummeled the brick wall next to me. This time, I grabbed his giant leg and nailed his stomach with a shoulder tackle while sweeping his other leg out from under him. He tumbled to the ground, sputtering for air.


    Using the opportunity to my advantage, I tried to snap his ankles by bending his foot while holding his right leg in my hands, but he recovered faster than I had anticipated. With a sudden kick in the stomach, he sent me flying back into the wall with the force of a semi-truck. My head slammed hard against the brick, leaving me dazed and confused as he stood up.


    He stumbled forward, still recovering from my attempt to break his foot, but I couldn’t stand up in time to face him as he lifted both his fists together to smash them into my skull. Thinking quickly, I forced the palm of my foot into his kneecap to offset his footing while leaning to the right. Although he missed my head, the force of his slam struck my shoulder and collarbone, shattering them into pieces. We both cried out in agony.


    However, Kaine was a veteran and was used to fighting past the pain. Grabbing me by my chest and pelvis, he lifted me into the air while roaring. He spun my weight around in a circle, displaying his dominance as the crowd screamed in excitement. Satisfied with their cheers, he slammed the side of my ribs into his knee. The impact sent a sudden shock of intense pain throughout my entire body, breaking bones in the process. I coughed up in blood as shards of my ribcage tore through my vital organs.


    He attempted to pull off another body slam, but the damage I had inflicted on his leg from earlier finally took its toll on him. His footing grew shaky, along with his hold on me. In a desperate attempt to save my life, I struck the back of his head with my tail, using what little energy I had left. The blow was enough to knock him off balance and we both fell to the ground below.


    Yet, Kaine had certainly hurt me more than I had hurt him. Gathering his strength, he pulled himself off the ground, kneeling next to me. Clasping his hands around my throat, he attempted to strangle me to death. I tried to fight back, but the multiple blows I had suffered to my head along with my shattered rib cage had nearly incapacitated me. Certain that death was coming, but unwilling to give up, I spat a lob of blood at his face causing him to loosen his grip as he flinched. Opening my mouth as wide as I could, I slipped my bottom jaw under his right hand and chomped down on his fingers.


    He screamed in pain but tried to shake me off, but I refused to let go. No matter how hard he slammed the back of my head against the ground, my iron grip persisted.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    “That’s enough!” Rumorey shouted at the top of his lungs. The crowd went dead silent. I released my bite from Kaine’s hands and he fell back, rubbing the wounds I had inflicted while turning his gaze toward the leader of the brood.


    “I think I’ve seen enough,” Rumorey smiled.


    “Why did you call off the fight?” Kaine stood up, his leg wobbling from the weight of his bulk. “I was about to kill him!”


    Rumorey looked toward Alice who whispered something to the elder, but I couldn’t hear what she had said.


    “The newcomer has shown a great deal of defiance and capability for someone who has only just become aware of our brood not too long ago. His fighting prowess was enough to impress me and even caused you to resort to unfavorable tactics. You should know better than to strangle a fellow werescale, even if he is not of our brood. No one deserves such a slow and dishonorable death.” Rumorey glared at Kaine as the captain bowed his head in shame.


    “However!” Rumorey held his fist in the air as the audience grew into an uproar. Yet, the elder’s booming voice was able to silence them. “The newcomer technically did not fulfill the trial’s requirements to pass. After consulting with our shaman, I have decided that Seth will undertake another trial. If he succeeds then he will be accepted into the Hive, otherwise, he will be personally executed by me.”


    “A second trial?” Someone in the trial asked in confusion. Murmurs grew amongst the brood as there had never been another trial to become a full member past the arena.


    “What do you suggest, Rumorey?” Kaine questioned, his wounds had already begun to heal allowing him to stand straighter. Even the pain I had undergone was slowly beginning to subside as the internal bleeding stopped. Scabs were already forming along the gashes in my neck and chin created by Kaine’s claws.


    Rumorey tapped his claws on the edge of his seat, considering what should be done with me before speaking. “The newcomer was unfortunately caught and infected by one of our own. He never asked to become one of us and so I will entrust him with the werescale who brought him to us.” The old hybrid turned his snout toward Vixy who had been sitting with her arms crossed the entire time.


    “Vixy will be his mentor for the second trial.” Everyone turned their heads toward her.


    For a second, what the elder had said didn’t register with her, until she noticed everyone looking at her. “Me?” she asked surprised, pointing her index finger at herself.


    Rumorey nodded his head, his decision final. “Together, the both of you will investigate the hunters above us. Their attacks have gotten bolder as we continue to grow our numbers. It is only a matter of time before they bring their full force to our hallowed halls. We must be ready for them, and so I’m entrusting you two to find where they gather, and to remind them why humankind once feared us.”


    Vixy didn’t say anything for a while, but finally responded in affirmation, “If you deem it, then it shall be.” She spoke begrudgingly.


    “Yes, it is...” Rumorey turned his gaze back toward Alice who sat next to him. The corners of her mouth were upturned in a grin. “Now!” The elder yelled “All fully-fledged members of the brood, return to the mess hall! We will have a celebration for the wonderful showing by both combatants!”


    Despite the weariness of the crowd before, the exclamation from Rumorey of celebrating whipped them into a cheering roar. The brood members filed out of the colosseum and back into the halls of the sewers. Kaine left with them through the entrance he had emerged from when the battle began. He didn’t speak a single word to me as I continued to lie on the ground.


    I laid there for some time before Vixy’s visage loomed over me. “I’ve been instructed, by Alice, to bring you back to the infirmary.” She spoke with a touch of annoyance in her voice.


    Unsure of what to say, I let her tuck my arm over her shoulder so that she could pick me up. Slowly, the two of us walked back toward the entrance of the tunnels ahead.


    “I’m sorry you have to do this,” I said, wincing as the pain from earlier returned. Every step and action I took seemed to flair up my wounds.


    “If you apologize again, I’m going to drop you,” Vixy said without emotion.


    Perhaps it was the agony I was suffering in, or maybe it was something else, but her coldness struck a chord within me. Growing angry, I snapped at her, “First you saved me after I tried to kill myself, and then you saved me from those rednecks in the sewers, and now you’re helping me walk after nearly being killed again. Time after time, you keep helping me, even if neither of us wants it! Why?”


    Vixy pushed me to the ground. I cried out in shock and pain from the hard fall onto the pavement below.


    “Crawl then! If you despise being a burden, crawl back to Alice yourself! You selfish prick!” She stared down at me.


    I tried to move my arms to pull myself forward, but I was still exhausted from the fight and ended up flopping around like a fish out of water.


    “If you keep acting like dead weight, I’m going to treat you like it.” Vixy folded her arms, her tone of voice impartial. “Here in the Hive, it’s expected that we help each other out without question. It’s what makes us family down here! Get that through your dense skull already! Do I personally want to be responsible for you? No, not at all, but I do it because I care just enough. This attitude you have toward yourself is indicative of a lifelong struggle deep inside you and it''s going to rub off on me. I will not allow that, but I can’t help you with whatever is going on inside your head. This constant woe is me bullshit is only making me despise you more. Constantly apologizing for everything isn’t going to make anything better!” By now Vixy’s tone had risen from empathetic to an all-out hate-filled scream.


    I couldn’t look at her as I felt ashamed of myself, “I’m...” I was about to apologize again but stopped myself. Instead, I reached out with my hand for her to take, “You’re right.” I finally said, “Will you help me walk back to the infirmary?”


    Vixy snorted, but she eventually grabbed my arm and lifted me back to my feet again. We didn’t speak another word the entire trip. She sat me down on the stone slab I had awoken from when I was still undergoing the final stages of the hybrid transformation.


    “I’ll be back tomorrow morning,” Vixy said bluntly before leaving.


    I sat quietly for a moment until Alice approached me from the table where she had been mixing her healing salve. She rubbed the paste along the parts of my body that Kaine had scratched and bruised.


    “How do you make this stuff?” I asked her after she was finished.


    Seemingly surprised I would even inquire about it, she eventually explained in between fits of coughing and wheezing, “It’s made from the larvae of several insects which we find in the cracks of walls. Along with some nightshade that our scouts gather from the surface. Grinding the ingredients together creates a paste that would normally be poisonous to humans, but our kind has evolved in a way that speeds up our natural regeneration.”


    I nodded as I listened intently. After she was finished, I asked her another question, “Do you have another apprentice already? Considering how sick you are from age, shouldn’t you be teaching someone else what you know?”


    Alice shrugged, “Kaine and Rumorey believe the brood needs more fighters due to growing tensions between the humans and other werebeasts. Plus, no one is forced to become a shaman, so no one takes interest. I might be the last of the wise women in the brood.”


    “Why did you become a wise woman?” I inquired earnestly.


    “Don’t worry about me right now, dear.” She smiled, “You should rest for tomorrow’s trial. Ancestors willing, you’ll come back to me in one piece.”


    After we exchanged goodbyes, I let the back of my head relax against the stone slab. I was more tired than I had realized, instantly falling asleep.