Summer Games ( III )

Rhea, Year 817 of Avia, Day 227; 19:30

“Welcome back everyone!” Drakos hollered, placing his microphone right in front of his mouth. “It’s time to start our second game!”

“With only one thousand competitors left, who will make it to the next round? We will soon find out.”

Icarum stared at the crowd through the holes of his mask and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. He felt the contours of its cheeks and mouth, including a sharp beak that was characteristic of a vulture. He didn’t have the time to examine his mask the day before, so he was just starting to notice its odd metal texture.

“The rules for our next game will be simple. Along with their jumpsuit, every competitor has been given white gloves.”

Icarum had assumed that the test would have something to do with climbing or hand-to-hand combat, but he was about to be proven wrong.

“If your jumpsuit and gloves are red, it means that you carry a ticking bomb. Within the time limit here-” Drakos pointed at a holographic number in the sky that read ‘5:00’ “-you will have to tag someone’s white jumpsuit with your gloves.”

“If you manage to do so, you will pass the bomb to them. Their suit will turn red, and they’ll have to tag you or someone else before the time limit is up.”

“If you carry a bomb when the timer hits zero,” Drakos wore a sinister smile on his face. “Kaboom! Game over. You’ll be eliminated.”

“At the start of every round, around fifty of you will be randomly selected to be our bombers. You’ll be able to tell who’s a bomber by looking at the color of their jumpsuit.”

“Oh, and if you attempt to leave the stadium, you’ll be disqualified.” Drakos glanced down at his watch. “I’ll give you ten seconds to disperse before we begin.

Icarum took to the air, flying away from the crowd as fast as he could. If only fifty people would become bombers, he’d have a ninety-five percent chance of being safe.

Five

He found a corner of the stadium that fewer people flew to, probably because it was darker than the others. Icarum smiled. Because of his shadow affinity, he thrived in the dark. If he needed to use his power, he’d have the advantage here.

Four

Icarum turned around to carefully watch what the other competitors were doing. There were those who stayed in a large group, planning to immediately pass their bomb to someone else if they ended being a bomber. Others flew off on their own, taking their chances like Icarum. While flew backwards to the corner where he decided to stay at, Icarum bumped into something solid. He turned around, wondering if he’d reached the edge of the stadium already.

A masked girl with furrowed eyebrows looked at him, obviously annoyed. Icarum was surprised to find that another competitor had beat him to his spot.

“I got here first. You better leave,” the girl commanded.

Three

“We can just stay here to-”

“Leave.”

Two

“No.”

“What did you say?”

One

“No.”

“The bombers have been chosen!” Drakos’ voice echoed throughout the stadium.

Icarum anxiously glanced down at his jumpsuit. He breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that his suit was still white. But his elation was short-lived.

He looked back at the girl in front of him, who now wore a sinister smile on her face. Her jumpsuit glowed bright red, and Icarum’s eyes widened in fear.

I’m damn unlucky today, aren’t I, he thought.

Before Icarum could react, the girl lunged forward and punched Icarum in the stomach, turning his suit red.

“Maybe I should thank you for being so clo-”

Icarum responded in kind, tapping the girl’s shoulder before flying away, flapping his wings frantically to gain speed.

“GET BACK HERE!” the girl angrily yelled.

“You have five minutes until the bombs explode! Good luck everyone!” Drakos announced.

Despite there being other competitors with white jumpsuits nearby, the girl seemed intent on taking revenge on Icarum. She followed him in circles around the stadium, and no matter what Icarum did to lose her, she’d catch up.

She was slightly faster than Icarum and slowly but surely, gained on him. It was only a matter of time before she’d tag him, so Icarum resorted to using words.

“Why don’t you chase someone else? There’s a crowd of non-bombers sitting over there untouched.”

“Shut up.”

“You don’t need to hold a grudge against me for something so petty.”

The girl straight up ignored him, focusing instead on flying even faster.

Icarum bit his lip. He had no choice. He flew towards the crowd of competitors he was trying to avoid, hoping that they would provide some sort of distraction. Although the girl was pretty fast, she didn’t seem to have great control over her wings. If she flew into a crowd, she was bound to tag someone, even if only accidental. And the moment she did, she’d be too busy flying away from a bomber to chase him.

But Icarum’s plan was not well thought out. Immediately after seeing him fly with a bomber hot on his tail, the crowd dispersed, flying in random directions to avoid getting tagged. Meanwhile, the girl showed no sign of giving up.

Two minutes.

Icarum moved to Plan B. He flew as fast as he could into the dark corner of the stadium. The girl, with her hand outstretched, didn’t seem to be wary of her surroundings. He glanced behind him and slowed down slightly, making sure that the girl was only a meter away.

At the last moment, Icarum made a sharp turn to the left. Unable to adjust her trajectory fast enough, the girl plunged face-first into the stadium wall. She pulled herself out and shook the dust off her wings. Icarum’s scheme angered her more than it slowed her down.

Crap. Icarum continued to run away, but there were no more tricks up his sleeve.

One minute left.

He had two options: fight it out or summon a shadow to help him run away. Not wanting to reveal his power, he chose the former. Icarum abruptly turned around and stood his ground.

“So you’ve finally stopped being a coward, huh?” the girl taunted.

Icarum paid no attention to her words. He placed his hands in front of him defensively. As long as she didn’t touch his jumpsuit with her gloves, he should be fine.

The girl burst forward with a kick, which Icarum quickly evaded to the side. The six months of training he’d done with Ilina prepared him well for a nimble opponent. He wasn’t the strongest fighter, but he was pretty decent at dodging and counterattacking.

The girl jabbed Icarum’s stomach, but he blocked it with his palm. While Icarum was concentrated on the girl’s left hand, she landed a right hook on Icarum’s face. Since the mask wasn’t a part of his jumpsuit, an attack there was the last thing that he expected.

The right part of his mask crumbled into pieces, revealing half of Icarum’s face. He raised his arms instinctively up to his face to block any other punches.

Ten seconds left.

Icarum returned to his senses. Surprisingly enough, the girl didn’t make any further moves. She stared blankly at his exposed face, her arms limp at her sides.

But Icarum didn’t have any time to think. He turned around and flew as fast as he could, but after making it around thirty meters away, a well-built second-year stood in his path.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Who the hell are you?” Icarum nervously glanced back at the girl, who was still standing in place.

“Roger. Don’t you remember when we spoke in the waiting room yesterday? Let’s have our fight here.”

“You don’t even have a bomb. Can we like, do this later?”

Three seconds left.

Icarum breathed a sigh of relief. There was no way that the girl could tag him in time, even if she flew at her top speed. He had made it through the first hurdle of the day.

“Icarum!”

Surprised, he turned around. While still thirty meters away, the girl looked him straight in the eye.

“How do you kn-”

Icarum blinked, and the girl disappeared. He glanced around in confusion. The girl was still thirty meters away, but she was now behind him, standing next to Roger. Like Icarum, Roger’s eyes darted all over the place, wondering what had just happened. The girl tapped him on the shoulder and backed away.

“ANDDDD, BOOM!” Drakos shouted. “If you’re carrying a bomb, you’ve been eliminated!”

Roger’s jumpsuit turned black and a jolt of electricity ran through his body. He fell down onto the grass, unconscious.

At that moment, Icarum understood. The girl’s power must have had something to do with switching positions with people. Making eye contact was probably the condition for activating it. Which then begged the question -- why’d she switch positions with him and not Roger? She could’ve easily taken him out like she wanted to earlier.

Before Icarum could open his mouth to speak, the second round had already started. He looked down and noticed that his jumpsuit glowed bright red. Icarum groaned.

Really?