Waking up in the Hollow Earth was then, and still is, a confusing experience. On the surface world, you go to sleep when the sun has set and you wake up when the sun is rising. Sometimes, especially during the winter, it might be dark when you go to bed and when you wake up, but there is still the sense of the passage of time.

  When I woke up in that bowl-shaped chamber, I could not tell you how long I had slept. I didn’t know if I had a full eight-hour rest or just a quick nap. All I knew was that my body was sore from sleeping on the stone floor, and that Inda was gone.

  Sometime while I fell asleep, she left me alone in the chamber. The iron tray of discarded bones and half-eaten fruit was gone as well, though she left the pitcher of water. I remembered she had seemed angry about something before I laid down, and she might have left because of that. But I was still afraid that she had been taken away instead of simply leaving on her own.

  I went to the strange, square door that was designed for Zusz’s snake-like body, and tried to open it. As I expected, it was still bolted shut from the other side. And despite my extra strength, it didn’t budge no matter how hard I pushed.

  I knocked on the door, hoping there was a guard outside, but didn’t hear a response. I looked out the two barred windows, but everything was the same. The cylindrical towers made of rough-cut stone, still empty of people, stood out one window, while the sandy floor of the arena waited for the next display of death out the other.

  With nothing else to do, I drank the water from the pitcher. I didn’t realize how thirsty I was until I started drinking and almost emptied the container in one long gulp. I felt much better as I wiped my mouth and set the pitcher down. The sound of the bolt on the door sliding open told me someone was coming into my chamber. It was the same first slave who had guided me to the room earlier.

  “I hope you slept well,” he said.

  “Uh…yeah. I did.” I wasn’t sure how to explain the disorientation of sleeping with no idea of how long I had slept. “What happened to Inda?”

  “Inda?” He seemed confused by the name, but then realized who I was referring to. “Oh, the girl you requested. She has returned to her other duties.”

  “And what are those?”

  “Whatever the Triumvirate requires of her.”

  I didn’t like that answer, but I guessed it was probably the best answer he could give. I doubted that the reptilian Vajizk explained themselves to their human slaves.

  He continued, “Do you wish to go to the training yard? Or do you require something else?”

  “Training yard? Yeah, let’s do that.”

  I wasn’t exactly sure what I would train for, but I was ready to get out of my little prison cell with Zusz’s morbid trophies dangling from the ceiling. I was pretty certain that the Vajizk would want to see me fight again.

  In my short time in the Hollow Earth, I had fought against Neanderthal-looking Sathogs, some oversized hyenas, and a huge snake-man. I had beaten them all, but I had no idea what I might face next. The only thing I didn’t defeat was the dinosaur that chased me out of the pyramid. But that was before Preet delivered the green-tinted bracer that was the source of my abilities.

  And I wanted to see what it could do.

  I followed the first slave out of the room and down the corridor. As we walked, I realized I didn’t know his name. If he was going to be leading me around, then I figured I should know what to call him.

  “I’m Stephen, by the way,” I said.

  He gave a little bow of his head while he continued to walk. “I am called Kran.”

  “Pleased to meet you, Kran. What is your role here?”

  “I serve Zhokha, Fourteenth of His Name and the Master of Sarisa. He has tasked me with overseeing the care of his fighters.”

  “Is that what I am, one of his fighters?”

  “Oh no, you are the Champion of Sarisa.”

  I was about to ask him what that meant exactly when we approached another large, square door and he opened it. He stood to one side and indicated that I should enter. I did so and came into the training area.

  High walls created an open but private exercise yard. The yard was on the outside of the arena, and it seemed the Vajizk added it later because they built the walls with the same rough-cut stone that was used for the cylindrical towers. The arena looked as if it was cut from one large single stone that must have been as big as a mountain.

  The yard was a little larger than a basketball court, and could have easily held a couple of dozen fighters as they trained. But I currently had the whole place to myself. Wooden training dummies stood along one wall. In a corner was a rough obstacle course. Racks of various weapons and armor stood against another wall. I also saw weights that looked like modern kettlebells and barbells, but made of stone instead of metal.

  From the spiked iron bars that jutted from the top of the walls and into the exercise yard, I guessed that someone had tried to climb their way out.

  “You may train however you wish and for as long as you wish.”

  I decided to test how much leeway I had as the Champion of Sarisa.

  “Can I have a training partner?”

  “Of course, if there is someone of your caliber who you—“

  “Dacrah,” I said. “Bring Dacrah. He’s one of the men I fought with against the jolaks.”

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  “As you wish.”

  Kran bowed his head before exiting the training yard. I heard the bolt sliding closed behind him.

  I walked to the weapons rack. So far, I had only seen the stone spears they gave us for the fight and the huge weapons that were designed for someone as big as Zusz. I hoped I wasn’t going to face an opponent bigger than him.

  The weapons on the racks were dull, with no edge, and most were made of wood. These were obviously training weapons. I guessed that Zokha, the whatever of whatever, didn’t want his fighters walking around with actual weapons they could use against him.

  The design of the weapons was all over the place. Some were recognizable from the surface world. I didn’t know much about history, but I saw ancient Roman swords, Viking axes, and even a Japanese katana. But some weapons were so bizarre that I was certain I was going to have to ask someone how to wield them. But first, I wanted to see how strong I really was.

  I went to the kettlebells. They were all made of stone with iron handles molded into them. There were no numbers, so I didn’t know how much each one weighed. But then again, it was unlikely that the Vajizk used pounds or kilos, so the numbers would have been meaningless to me anyway.

  I found the largest one with a stone about the size of a basketball. I’ve used kettlebells a few times in the gym, but I’m mainly a dumbbell and barbell kind of guy. I bent down, gripped the handle, and braced my legs for a strain that never happened. Instead, it was like picking up a suitcase loaded with women’s underwear.

  Don’t ask me how I know what that feels like, just know that it was ridiculously easy.

  I lifted the stone over my head in a one-armed shoulder press. The rock was large and a little awkward to carry, but I could lift it multiple times without getting tired. By its size, I’m pretty sure I would have struggled to swing it with both hands if I were in a gym back home.

  When I heard the bolt on the door slide open, I flung the stone at one of the wooden practice dummies and heard the timber crack from the force. Dacrah limped into the exercise yard. His leg hadn’t fully healed after the bite he got from the jolak during our fight in the arena. The door closed behind him, and the bolt slid into place once again. He seemed confused as he looked around the exercise yard and then at me.

  “Why did you ask to bring me here?”

  “I just wanted to see how you’re doing. How is your leg?”

  He shrugged. “I am well enough.”

  “You’re still limping.”

  “I am well enough,” he said.

  There was a tone in his voice that said he didn’t want to talk about it. I’ve heard it from other athletes who didn’t like talking about their injuries, as if discussing them was a sign of weakness.

  “Alright, alright,” I said. “I need your help with some things, if you’re up to it.”

  He nodded. “How can I help you?”

  “I want you to hit me as hard as you can.”

  “You just want me to hit you?” he asked.

  “Yeah, just do me this one favor.”

  Dacrah swung at me. There was no hesitation and no mercy. He wasn’t pulling his punch, and it was perfect. And, as I suspected, time seemed to slow down for me again.

  Just as his fist came forward, he seemed to move in slow motion. Though his fist was still coming straight for my face, I had time to wonder why this effect didn’t start when he pulled back to swing at me.

  To be honest, without these super reflexes, he probably would have hit me right in the mouth. He was fast, and I could tell that he had been in more fights than I had been. And I’ll bet his fights were a matter of life and death, and not some scuffle over a bad pitch.

  I could see where his punch was aimed, so I just took a step to the side. But unlike with Inda, I didn’t touch him. I thought that might have something to do with how the effect worked. Once his fist had extended as far as his arm could go without hitting me, time resumed normally for us both.

  He looked at me dumbfounded. I smiled.

  “Pretty cool, huh?”

  “How did you do that?”

  “I have no idea.”

  It wasn’t exactly a lie. I knew my new reflexes had something to do with the red gem that I took off of Zusz, but I didn’t really know how it worked. And I think his question was an honest one because he never even looked at the bracer on my arm.

  I went to the weapons rack and grabbed a wooden sword and handed it to him.

  “Hit me with this. I want to try something.”

  He held the sword awkwardly. I’m sure he had used weapons before, but maybe something like a Japanese two-handed sword was something he wasn’t used to. He stood for a moment, and I could see his stance was still weak on the side where the jolak bit him.

  In a flash, he raised the sword over his head, and just as he brought it down to hit me, things slowed down for him again. This time, I didn’t move. I watched the wooden blade come down, and just when it was almost too late, I reached up and swatted it.

  Instantly, he moved at normal speed, the blade dropping past my shoulder instead of clocking me on top of my head. Dacrah almost fell over from over-extending himself. His face grimaced at the sudden pain shooting up his leg. I caught him by the shoulders.

  “OK, you’re hurt more than you’re letting on.”

  “I am well enough.”

  “Well enough to fall over,” I said. “Come over here and sit down.”

  I guided him to the edge of the exercise yard and helped him sit on the ground so I could look at his leg. The armored leather sandals they gave us to wear stopped any puncture wounds, and I figured if he had any broken bones, then he probably wouldn’t have been able to walk. I wasn’t a sports trainer, but my guess was some kind of soft tissue damage.

  He looked at me expectantly.

  “Well,” I said. “I don’t think there’s any permanent damage. But you really shouldn’t walk on this until it’s healed up.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  “We don’t know when the next fight is, and maybe you won’t even be included in that fight. Most of the guys in the cell didn’t fight that day. Until you’re picked, just stay off your feet. I wish we could find some ice for—“

  “You don’t understand, I can’t do that. It isn’t safe.”

  “What do you mean, not safe?”

  “The other men say that sometimes when a slave can no longer fight, the guards take them away. No one knows where or for what reason. But they never return. If I show weakness, then I may become one of those men.”

  I nodded as I thought about it. It was every athlete’s worst nightmare, an injury so bad that they can’t play anymore. And of course those reptilian monsters would come up with some other use for a slave with a sprained ankle, and I was certain the Vajizk had worse things in mind than simply cutting someone’s scholarship.

  “OK,” I said, patting him on the shoulder. “I understand.”

  I was about to tell him about my meeting with his sister, Inda. But I heard the bolt on the door slide open. Suddenly, we would not be alone.