The Battle of Death

Adam teetered at the cliff edge, looking down into the murky waters below. How ironic that something as silly as a fear of heights would mark his downfall. No, he wouldn’t let this be his Achille’s heel. Holding his breath and looking straight ahead just as he had practiced, he took off at a run and plunged off the edge of the cliff, instantly feeling the scream leave his mouth as his stomach plummeted with the apathetic force of gravity. Crashing on the waves below, he felt a mixture of relief along with the sting of his thighs hitting the surface but with only moments to spare, he shook off the shock and swam his way to the caves on the other side of the cliff face. 

The cliff dive marked the 12th hour of the race - he had passed the mid way point. Apart from a few hiccups along the way, everything was going according to plan, so far. But Adam was careful not to let himself rejoice too much just yet - he still had a long way to go and the obstacles would only get more grueling as he progressed. He checked his smart watch and saw that he was making good time, although he had no idea how far his opponents had gotten.

For this was no ordinary obstacle race. The Battle of Death was quite literally a test of human skill, both physical and mental. 24 grueling hours of obstacles that were not designed for the faint of heart. Not only did contestants have to be in prime physical condition but their mental and emotional limits would also be tested, in more ways than one. Adam had been preparing for the race for almost a whole year. For him, as for his opponents, winning was the only option. The alternative seemed worse than death. In the distance, he could almost make out the sound of the race being broadcast over the loudspeakers and his thought of Anna, no doubt watching him with frayed nerves. 

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She watched the scene from the tiny television screen of their studio apartment with clasped hands, watching a tiny Adam battle his way into the sea cave. Anna was not religious or even remotely spiritual but for the past 12 hours, she found herself secretly praying to some higher being that Adam would make it to the other side, unscathed. Commercials came on and she rose to make herself her 10th cup of coffee. As she stood at the counter, waiting for the kettle to boil, the commercials promoting the Battle of Death came back on air. She had seen it at least a dozen times but she could not bring herself to mute the screen, so she let Dean Harper’s irritating voice fill the room with updates she already knew about. 

“The Battle of Death has entered its 13th hour, folks! The mid way mark has been surpassed, and our contestants are alive and well! I repeat, alive and well! No deaths have been recorded so far, a record in the past three years. June, do you recall last year’s contest, when Bill Rowland fell to his untimely demise just 2 hours into the race? Phew, that got some heads turning!”

“How can I forget, Dean. After failing to make it up Hover mountain, Bill lost his footing and crumbled on the rocks below, marking the earliest death to ever be recorded in the history of The Battle of Death. And the shitstorm the press stirred up with that one made it all the more memorable.”

Dean’s co-reporter spoke of this man’s death with such gusto, it was as if she were sharing a particularly juicy tidbit of gossip with her friends over brunch. 

Anna soon tuned out the reporters empty babbling and her thoughts drifted to Adam again. He was safe, for now. There was still a good 11 hours to go and anything could happen. He was ready for it, he had assured her, he had been made for it even. Winning the Battle of Death would sate his thirst for fame while solving all their financial troubles. 

“But at what cost?” she remembered the countless arguments, her screaming at him to try and make him see reason..

“You could die losing and even if you do win, your injuries could be so serious, not even the best doctors would be able to fix them.”

“Life is all about taking chances, baby. I could die or get injured just leaving the house for work.”

He wasn’t wrong there. The air had gotten so bad in their district that they could not leave the house without masks on and when the chemicals weren’t trying to infect their lungs, there was the very real possibility that either of them could get hit by one of the Cold war missiles, which had gotten increasingly more common lately, or involved in a hover bus accident - how many of those were they up to per day, again? Either way, life in Commune 9 had become increasingly morbid and death sniffed at their ankles at every corner. 

The shrill whistling of the tea kettle brought her back to herself and turning her attention to the screen again, she saw that the focus had turned to one of Adam’s biggest opponents - Chase Brown. She made for the remote to turn the volume up as the camera zoomed in on Chase, battling the infamous Dragon of the North, while fire surrounded him on all sides. 

This meant that Adam was ahead of Chase, having already successfully lulled the beast to sleep some 40 minutes earlier. Anna felt her heart leap in spite of herself, clutching a freshly brewed mug to her chest.

               *****************************************************************

The sea cave was damp and poorly lit; the dark and humidity weighed in on Adam from all sides as he waded his way deeper into its gaping mouth. The next obstacle was a mystery to the contestants but Adam had a pretty good hunch of what would be awaiting him at the end of the passage. Koi fish tickled his feet and he realised the salt water was making him thirsty again but there was still another hour to go until the next water station. 

When he finally saw the faint glimmer of a lantern up ahead, Adam braced himself for the inevitable. Approaching the light source, he heard the ruckus in the cage before he saw it clearly. The creature whipped around abruptly as it sensed him getting closer, and all Adam could see were a pair of bright red eyes without irises staring blindly at him, like glowing rubies demanding attention. 

Don’t look them in the eye!

Adam remembered his training and the instructions his mentor had relayed to him but at that moment, his mind was taken over by a force stronger than he ever imagined. Flashbacks, painful memories from his childhood then his teenage years presented themselves, clear as day in the gloomy depths of the cave. His father dying, the numerous failures in his dwindling acting career, his failed romantic relationships and friends that had betrayed him along the way. The images hit him like a brick to the face, replaying over and over again like a faulty tape, and he found himself clutching his head in pain, moaning for it to stop. 

Fight the bad with the good. 

He knew what he had to do. It took all the energy he could muster, but he summoned the happy memories from the recesses of his consciousness: getting his degree, acting in his first play, Anna, especially Anna. Keeping his eyes shut, the searing pain in his head began to subside and he found himself clutching for the drawstring bag tied to his belt and poured its contents into his palm. Edging closer to the cage, he could hear the creature growling now, getting ready for its next meal. When he felt close enough, Adam threw the powdered substance at the cage and heard a squeal of pain. Opening his eyes, he saw with relief that the glow had gone out in the monster’s eyes and it thrashed about the cage, half-fish, half-rodent and every bit as terrifying as he had imagined it would be. He took aim with his blade and delivered a blow to its side, reducing its violent movements to mere, involuntary jolts as it lay on the floor of the cage. Then reaching in, he made for its eyes and carefully extracted them from their sockets, feeling slime ooze over his fingertips.

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It was the sound of the phone ringing that woke Anna with a start, and as she stared dismally down at her coffee-soaked t-shirt, she realised the TV screen had gone blank. 

“Hello?” her voice was distracted as she frantically looked around for the remote. 

“Anna, have you seen the latest BoD updates? He’s made it to the third obstacle before the final!” 

Her brother’s voice was shrill with emotion and when Anna finally got the TV back on, she saw him, her Adam, making his way through the arid remains of the rain forest, looking exhausted and poorly, but not hurt in any visible way and still very much alive. 

She turned up the volume and Dean Harper’s voice over came on: “And here we see one of our final 2 contestants making his way cautiously through what has become of the former Amazon Jungle. He’s looking pretty tired, worn out even but seems to be in good spirits. And that’s saying something, considering the last 2 grueling obstacles he had to face. That sea monster was no joke! What do you reckon, Hannah?”

“Agreed, Dean! For me, it was the insects crawling all over him in that enclosed vent. I’m shuddering all over just thinking about that!”

“Well, he’s still got 3 more obstacles to get through and Chase is ahead of him again. It’s always these crucial last few hours when anything could change in the Battle of Death.”

Melissa knew what was coming next. Fingering the emerald pendant around her neck, she suddenly remembered her brother was still on the line. “He’s got this. This is where he’ll bring it home. I can feel it.”

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Sweat beaded on his forehead as Adam threaded through the swamp, wondering ironically how it could still be referred to as such when all lifeforms, plant and animal, had long been wiped out centuries ago because of the change in temperature, leaving nothing but a bleached out version of its former self that was controlled by a laboratory.

Three more to go. Just three more. 

The next obstacle was by all accounts easy for Adam. All he had to do was find that tree. He whipped out his compass and watched the needle reset. Just a bit further East. The shrill cry piercing the air told him he was getting closer and sure enough, he reached his destination within less than 100 meters. Adam had always been a good climber and now as he skillfully made his way to the top of the tree, the rough bark scratched at his palms and edged him on. The bird was exactly where he expected to be, perched in its nest, ever vigilant. It was both blind and deaf, rendering its other senses stronger and it felt Adam approaching, sniffing the air through its foghorn beak, and started up a fresh series of squawks. 

“It’s OK buddy, I’m a friend not a foe.”

When Adan was within touching distance he gently blew in the bird’s direction. One puff, then two and on the fourth, the creature seemed to calm. He reached out to stroke its feathers and it gave into his touch. When its beak opened again, it was a tender melody, almost a song that emerged, and as the tune grew louder, the vortex appeared in thin air before them. 

“Thanks, I owe you one.” 

He gave the bird a last tender pet and leaped off the branch, jumping head first into the gaping hole in front of him. 

Two more! He could almost taste victory. 

Landing on his feet, Adam shielded his eyes from the gray sunlight as the vortex closed behind him. He could already feel the air prickling his skin and the chemical stench stinging his nostrils. He whipped out the hazmat suit from his rucksack and hurriedly dressed, putting the headpiece on first, knowing that all it took was a few extra minutes for the hazardous atmosphere to start wreaking havoc on his body. 

The place was an arid desert, without an oasis in sight. The quick sand made it hard to step forward but up ahead, he could just about make out the burly figure of Chase, already busy digging, so he broke out into the closest thing to a run he could manage.  

As he got closer, he saw Chase bent over, shovel abandoned to his side but something was off. He wasn’t wearing his hazmat suit. Boils had erupted all over the exposed parts of his skin and when he turned to look at Adam, he saw that his face was horribly inflamed almost to comic proportions. Upon registering who Adam was through the slits that remained of his eyes, Chase began to dig quicker, flinging piles of sand this way and that with his paw-like swollen hands. Adam could not bear to see him like that; he reminded him of his father on his deathbed after his stint in the Eco wars. Thinking quickly, he rummaged around in his backpack and produced a silvery blanket… it wasn’t as effective as a hazmat suit but it was better than nothing. 

“Here, take this!”

Chase looked first at the blanket in surprise then at Adam suspiciously.

“It’s pure I swear. You’ll be dead within minutes if you don’t.”

He took the blanket and wrapped it around himself making sure to give maximum coverage to his head and face. 

“It’s somewhere around here. Signal picked it up. Help me dig. Can’t use the shovel anymore”

Adam obeyed, reaching for the shovel and within minutes, he felt the clink of a hard metallic surface. As both men lifted the chest out of its sandy grave, the lid popped open of its own accord and a hologram of a man's elaborately bearded head appeared in front of them.

"Congratulations, comrade! You have reached the final obstacle of the Battle of Death! Now, listen carefully, to- but what's this?"

Magnified by the hologram, the large green eyes looked in bewilderment from Adam to Chase, then -

"TWO finalists? This cannot be! Well, it's never happened before, but I suppose - yes it could work."

Addressing the confused men in front of him again, the bearded man spoke with more authority this time: "Gentlemen, congratulations on getting this far, but know that there can only be ONE winner of the Battle of Death! So as you progress to the final stage, know this; this is NOT a team activity - every man for himself."

Both men looked at each other then nodded in agreement.

"So, without further ado - please make you way to the vortex. God speed and good luck!"

Adam started towards the vortex, which had opened up again behind them, but before he had even reached it, a curtain of black surrounded him. The desert, the hologram, even Chase, all were gone and he suddenly stood quite alone in a dark and empty limbo.

******************************************************

Dean's voice was calm and reassuring as it echoed off the walls of the tiny apartment.

"We seem to be having some slight transmission issues, folks, but nothing to worry about. The action will be back on before you know it. Let's cut to some of the most recent highlights in the meantime, while our technicians work on getting everything back to normal."

But, as Anna felt the emerald suddenly burn into her skin like a hot iron, she knew something had gone very, very wrong.