“Oh good, you’re still here,” she said.
Karnage sprang to his feet. “How the hell did you get in here?”
“Keep your voice down,” Tristan hissed. “If I’m caught in here, it’s the end for us both.”
“As opposed to just me?”
“What ever are you talking about?”
“Do I look like a Messiah to you? Your plan didn’t work. Melvern saw right through it!”
“On the contrary,” Tristan said. “He played right into it.”
Karnage scowled. “What do you mean he played right into it?”
Tristan looked at him and blinked. “You mean you didn’t think I knew this would happen?”
“Of course I didn’t think that! What the hell was I supposed to think?!”
“Admittedly, that was exactly what you were supposed to think. But once things didn’t go as planned, I thought for sure you would have assumed that I was playing a deeper, more Machiavellian game here. Frankly, my good Major, I’m a little disappointed in you.”
“Disappointed in me?! Goddammit, I thought you were bein’ straight with me!”
“I was straight with you. I said that so long as you do as I tell you, you will make it out of this alive. You’re still alive, aren’t you? Have some faith, Major.”
“Faith?! You set me up!”
“I did nothing of the sort.”
“You could have warned me this was gonna happen.”
“And risk compromising your performance? I think not.”
“My performance?!”
“The camera doesn’t lie, Major. I needed to ensure you were authentic. And what better way to ensure an authentic performance than if you are simply being authentic. That Melvern is a snake. If I had told you the entire plan, he would have sensed something was up right from the start, and you would have ended up as worm food.”
“It sounds like they’re gonna make worm food outta me anyway!”
“Ah, but the difference is context, my good Major. Before, you were just worm food. Now, you are worm food with upward mobility! You have now been declared Worthy. That makes you a serious contender for Melvern’s job. All you have to do is defeat The Worm, and Melvern will have no choice but to accept you as the Lightbringer.”
“And how the hell do I defeat The Worm?”
Tristan smiled. “My dear Major, have you never wondered why Melvern has not fed me to The Worm? He’s afraid that I’ve discovered his secret. That I know how to defeat The Worm.”
“And do you?”
“Of course I do. We wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. Honestly, Major, I had you pegged for a better strategist than this. Do try to keep up, please.”
“Fine. How do I defeat The Worm?”
“Ah,” Tristan smiled. “Killing The Worm is both simple and complex. You must break off its horn.”
“That’s it? That’s all it takes?”
“Trust me. It’s enough.”
“What’s the catch?”
“The Worm is big.”
“Okay.”
“I mean big.”
“Okay.”
“Really, really big.”
“I get the picture.”
“No,” Tristan said. “You don’t.”
The screen above them changed to show Miki and Paco back in the arena. “Welcome back to Arbiter’s Day, folks. We’re coming to the end of the Finale, and have we ever saved the best for last.”
“We just got word that Andy Rudyk passed peacefully while waiting in the Green Room.”
“Apparently the mighty Spragmos was keen to ensure our Top Ten stayed a Top Ten, Paco.”
“Papa-oo-mow-mow, Miki. Papa-oo-mow-mow.”
The shot changed to show the arena. The doors opened, and Ajay emerged from the darkness.
“And now here’s audience favourite, Ajay Joseph entering the ring.”
The doors slammed shut behind him. He didn’t even flinch.
“No one has ever scored as highly as Ajay did in the preliminaries, Miki.”
He turned to the crowd and threw his fists into the air.
“Listen to those fans. The crowd really loves him.”
A shadow loomed up over him. A squiggly screech pierced the monitor’s speakers, and shook the arena right down to the Green Room. The monitor screeched out, and when it came back again, Ajay was gone: nothing but a greasy smear left to mark where he had been. The crowd let out a gasp, then a cheer.
The shot changed to Paco and Miki again. They were smiling gleefully.
“Looks like Spragmos begged to differ. What was the final time on that, Miki?”
“Three point seven seconds. That’s a record all right, but not quite the record any of us expected.”
“The Worm has had the Final Say, and that Final Say is nay.”
“Mama-oo-pow-pow, Paco. Mama-oo-pow-pow.”
“Looks like Ajay’s now one with The Worm,” Karnage said.
“No he isn’t,” Tristan said. “He’s just dead. Try not to follow his lead.”
“I’ll do my best,” Karnage said.
CHAPTER NINE
Homski and a pair of sentries led Karnage from the Green Room into a giant antechamber. A pair of massive metal doors stood before them. Karnage could feel a slight breeze coming through the crack. There was a toxic smell to the air reminiscent of creeper and pinkstink. Karnage wondered if it was the plants or The Worm. Guess I’ll find out soon enough. He cracked his knuckles.
Homski studied Karnage from the corner of his eye. “Is it true you are the Lightbringer?”
“I am,” Karnage said.
“The High Prophet thinks you are a fraud,” Homski said.
“And what do you think?”
Homski furrowed his brow a moment, then shook his head. “It matters not what I think. Spragmos will show the way. The Worm is The Word.”
“Mama-oo-pow-pow,” Karnage said.
Homski shot him a look. A voice crackled over Homski’s headset. Homski nodded and turned to Karnage. “You will enter the arena. There is a spot marked with an X. You will stand on it, and wait for the High Prophet to finish his speech. Only then will you be allowed to face the Arbiter.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then once Spragmos is done with you, you will have to face the technical director.”
Homski pulled a switch. The doors swung open. The orange light of the rising sun blinded Karnage. Once his eyes adjusted, he stepped through. The door slammed shut behind him.
A vast wasteland of pockmarked earth opened before him. The ground bore the scars of a thousand and one weapons tests: blast craters and blackened earth stretched out in all directions. Bits of old military hardware were strewn everywhere. Massive trails of freshly churned earth crisscrossed in all directions.
Mile-high concrete walls fenced him in on all sides. Lines of observation decks wound around the walls of the canyon like a giant corkscrew. Thousands of faces pressed against the glass. Tens of thousands of D-shaped lenses flashed and flickered in the morning sunshine.
A crude X had been scratched on the dirt in front of him. Karnage stood on it. The High Prophet’s voice echoed out from every wall as it was broadcast from every D-pad in the compound.
“There are those who say the end of the world is upon us. That our time upon this scorched earth is fast coming to an end. And they are right. This world is dying. Listen closely, and you can hear it gasp its last shallow breaths.
“But all is not lost! For as the Scriptures say, this is not The End Time. This is the Time For A New Beginning!”
The crowd cheered. The High Prophet waited for the cheering to die down, then continued. “Spragmos has shown us The Way. Spragmos has given us The Word. And The Word… is The Worm!”
The crowd chanted: “Mama-oo-pow-pow! Mama-oo-pow-pow!”