Canaan Club - 33. Chapter 33

Ants were something to be jealous of.

It didn’t matter how small, insignificant, or easily killable they were. They led boring, mundane lives crawling from one patch of dirt to the other. No obligations to mandatory decorum, no being fashioned into a role in order to keep up the happy illusion of a broken family, and no worries of going insane.

“Seek and destroy,” the robotic voice overhead reiterated that same mantra it did every day. “That is your task henceforth. The original inhabitants of this planet have been forced to share for far too long. A war is brewing.”

Yeah.

He’d rather be an ant.

“Wakey, wakey, bud.”

A gentle shake of his shoulders took Rafe out of the memory.

“Shit,” he swiveled, scanning the dark room with blurry eyes. “What time is it?”

Andre stood beside him with a soft smile. “Just in time to get ready for the Abellon Club’s match. I hope that afternoon nap worked miracles for you.”

Ah, right. He stormed off to have a meltdown in private. Well, luckily, he didn’t actually melt anything down. He just flew for several hours before tapping out for the rest of the afternoon.

Although, he almost…

“Do you wanna talk about it? I just listen,” the omé’s brown eyes pierced Rafe’s soul.

How could one person be so kind and understanding? He didn’t deserve this boy.

“There’s so much, man,” he muttered sadly, rubbing slowly at his eyes. “Too much I haven’t told you. I don’t think I can get into it just now. Don’t want to change your opinion of me.”

“I doubt that’ll happen. I know you went through a tough time back at the Coat. You were forced to do a lot of things you shouldn’t have been doing, but that’s not your fault. Whenever you want to talk, I’m here, dude.”

“Christ, Dre. I’m sorry. Really sorry for almost flying off the handle like that. I-”

Andre waved him off, a genuine grin forming on his face. “Nah, no apologies needed here, Raf. I owe you one. I shouldn’t have gotten up in your space like that. It’s happened before, but I didn’t back off like I was supposed to.”

The young wolf really knew how to hit him where it hurt. Mostly in a good way, though.

“Dude…”

“Let’s get ready and go get the others,” he patted Rafe on the back before ambling to his side of the room. “They’ve been worried sick about ya.”

-POI-

Ten minutes later, the two met up with the rest of their friends in the first-year common room, including Landon and Frodd. Rafe grimaced when all eyes homed in on him with different expressions. He looked down, not wanting to see the wariness or disappointment.

He should have had more control over himself-

“Dude!” Joe leaped up from his seat and sauntered toward him. “You whited out on us. You okay?”

The blond blinked. The noirette was worried, but not about whether he was going to surprise laser them or not. Despite nearly getting a chest full of lethal energy, his friend was concerned… for him.

Rafe chuckled lowly and scratched the back of his neck, internally smacking his forehead. Of course, he’d be bothered for him. It was good ol’ Joe. In fact, none of them look scared of him, being just as troubled. But it wasn’t against the superhuman. Even Daeran, whose flinch was quite noticeable, didn’t seem uneasy when they met eyes.

“It is now,” he halfheartedly nodded, glancing at the encouraging smile on Andre’s face next to him. “I hope. I’m sorry about the whole… you know…”

“Don’t sweat it. I won’t,” Landon shrugged. “She got you this time, but you know what they say about karma.”

Lindsay, Rudy, and the others gave their thumbs-up.

“Plus, you got a mark in at the last second,” mentioned Frodd. “It won’t be long until you’re makin’ circles around her.”

Rafe snickered, very hopeful for that day to come soon. “Fingers crossed, man.”

And then they were off. Back to the War Field where the first advanced game was being hosted.

When they got there, they were expecting a big crowd, but nothing in their minds included a nearly full house, flashing cameras, video recorders, and the name of brands on banners pasted around the edges of the bleachers. It was a whole premiere event.

“It’s packed!” Andre, along with the rest of them, gaped at the lights. He turned to Rafe in realization. “It’s like that one time you took me to that big stadium where they played that ball-tossing game.”

“Yeah, but I’d say this is more like wrestling than football.”

“At least we got assigned seats,” Joe pointed to where Coach Hemming and Sigil guarded a section of bleacher seats near the back end of the field. Nearby were the other level teams, probably doing their mandatory duty of observing the match as well.

“Where can you guys sit?” the noirette searched for a vacancy within the massive assembly.

Rudy waved those concerns off. “Oh, don’t worry about us. We knew this place would be filled to the brim-”

Lindsay cut in with a cough. “I, the second-year student, provided that information. Thank you.”

“-so we got a plan in motion an hour… in advanced.”

He indicated over to the space nearby the beginner's teams, and the others squinted to find… the humans!

Or, at least, an exact replica of them, each sitting perfectly still and smiling blankly at nothing in particular. Rafe could see the slightest bit of transparency in the copies, but it was really damn good, nonetheless.

Joe approved of it. “Nice thinking! Wow, they look just like you guys. I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”

Rudy smirked. “One little hint is that I, the original version, am more handsome and dapper than that-”

“Oh, lord,” Sam rolled her eyes and pushed her brother along. “No one wants to hear this. Get a move on before Garrett’s coins go to waste.”

The blond human pouted. “But I like cold food.”

Soon enough, the originals replaced the copies, shocking the surrounding onlookers when what they thought were creepy stone people suddenly vanished into thin air. Garrett blew out a breath of relief, having held the illusion for half an hour.

Andre was about to seat himself with them when Coach Hemming pointed him in the right direction.

“You’re with us, too, water boy.”

Rafe made sure the young omé sat beside him. He was further satisfied when he noticed Hecuba’s absence. He honestly didn’t know what he would do if she were right in his face.

“So, who’s up?” he asked before he spiraled.

“The Abellon Club’s up in the rotation for today,” Hemming answered. “And impeccable timing, too, because it looks like they’re facing a longtime rival of theirs.”

Coach Sigil scratched his forehead horn. “Explains the crowd tonight.”

Before the superhuman could pry anymore, a voice like a foghorn erupted across the arena, almost instantly quieting down the chatter.

“And… welcome, ladies and gentlespecies, to the first Combat game of the season! I’m the one and only Lick Dane, and this is my co-host, Big Ol’ Junior, and we’re comin’ at ya live on one of the most important times of the year here in the Ash Lands! Even more important than Headmaster Gylarcan’s age!”

“Don’t get too snarky, partner,” another disembodied voice, Big Ol’ Junior presumably, teased gravelly but playful. “That’s a mystery we’re all on tenterhooks to hear. Just like the competing teams for tonight’s game, am I right!?”

The audience, of course, went wild. The announcers were nowhere to be seen amidst the chaos, but no one seemed to be batting an eye over it.

“Arriving all the way from the planet Nazcar,” Lick Dane continued, “a vicious and foreboding challenger team steps up to the plate to continue a time-honored rivalry with Ironward. Representing Silksilver-62 Academy! The. Return. Of. The. Primer Club!”

Boos were ringing all around them, but the shouts of praise Rafe picked up on came from the other side. It was then that he, along with the others, finally noticed the opposing audience, having come here to watch their team play and win.

From the end of the War Field farthest from them, a group of ten or so participants surrounded by a bunch of their coaches, all dressed in something red and cyan, marched out of the makeshift hut they used to conspire and plan, serenaded by cheerleaders as they filed out in front of their adoring fans.

“Well, shit!” Joe gawked, staring at what were technically aliens, despite most of them most likely being human or having human features. “A school from another planet!? It’s that kind of competition?”

Coach Hemming smirked mischievously as if he planned all of this. “Shocking, I know. But it’s good for the ego. No matter how many people you beat, there is at least one team out in the corners of the galaxy who’s better.”

“But we’ve disproven that time and time again, haven’t we, coach?”

That voice was familiar.

Rafe distinctively remembered it offering him and Joe a change in allegiance for being humans. Spotting Talon and his troop of hunters nearby was not a pleasant surprise. Wasn’t he supposed to be the second-in-command? Where the hell was his leader?

Despite that, the blond superhuman drew closer to Andre cautiously.

Hemming scoffed disbelievingly. “That’s a strange compliment coming from you, Ingis. Watch what you say over here. I won’t let you mold these youngsters’ minds to your twisted desires before I do.”

Surprisingly, Talon lifted his hands in surrender and chuckled, placating the beta wolf. “Now, that is one battle I am willing to concede on, sir. Keep those claws away from me.”

“Good choice.”

Big Ol’ Junior proceeded with the introductions. “And finally, coming straight outta home base! Our hometown heroes led by the one and only King of the Mist! The brutal. The mighty! Abellon Club!”

The roars and applause were deafening. Andre had to cover his ears, but he nevertheless whooped right along with the crowd. The air around the Abellon Club was commanding and menacing as always, each of them stepping out of their hut with either simple ease, amusement, or indifference.

Cain, Deyja, Zoel, Kodan, Radulf, and the rest were certainly an intimidating unit.

Andre perked up from beside Rafe, ears twitching at the name. “King of the Mist? For real?”

“Is that a thing in the wolf world or something?”

“Come to think of it, I’ve heard that name once or twice back at home,” Joe mentioned, rubbing his chin in thought. “Wolves were always pretty big game. Not to freak you out or anything, Dre.”

“That’s alright. It’s just that the owner of the title’s supposed to be like… the strongest, most talented warrior Alpha every century or so. I didn’t know it was Cain, though. He must be extremely powerful if that’s true.”

Landon sighed, shaking his head a haunted glint entered his eyes. “That’s a legend that scares the shit outta most of my people. If my family knew I was only a couple yards away from the guy, they’d kill themselves all over again.”

Daeran silently balked at the vampire next to him.

“Sounds like a real warrior of old,” Frodd nodded, impressed. “An’ at such a young age, too.”

Joe laughed at him. “Talking like that, you make it so darn easy to forget you’re our age, bro.”

Speaking of forgetfulness, out of the corner of his eye, Rafe noticed Talon and the hunters’ attention on the Primer club. Their expressions weren’t one of disgust or hostility. They were ogling admirably at them.

Because of all the humanity present in that team.

“Looks like we know what side they’re on,” Rafe whispered in Andre’s ear. “Disloyal bastards.”

“Which means that most of those guys are human.”

“Figures.”

“Alrighty, then, folks! Enough bubbling around. Let’s get this show on the road!” Lick Dane bellowed, exciting the mob even more. “And starting off today’s clash, we got the spruce and nimble Helix Ocean kelpie of Abellon himself – Pegapo!”

And just in front of the first-years, a fair-skinned and lanky male with short golden hair and wearing nothing but a pink speedo and glasses swaggered toward the center of the field. The mermaid tail protruding just above his glutes wriggled excitedly. The kelpie shifter spun around and waved his hands up, enticing the crowd to scream even louder.

Rafe could instantly tell by that huge, face-splitting smirk on the guy’s face that he was one of those cocky showboaters. The Club seemed to have a lot of those, it seemed.

Big Ol’ Junior took over from there. “Facing off against him is the dusky witch of the Shadowed Meadows Circle – Primer’s Cerci!”

On the other side, a noirette, pale girl fashioned in a short, black dress, dark grunge leggings, and a collar sauntered forth. She was essentially goth personified.

The two stood across each other in the middle of the arena. The commentator duo went on to describe each fighter’s stats and history, but Rafe tuned them out. Pegapo was all haughty smirks as he stood inches before his witch opponent, looking down his nose at her. Cerci wasn’t unsettled, though, sneering back all the same through her black-painted lips.

The referee, an elderly redcap, stood on a floating platform overlooking the field and gruffly waved his arm in the air as if he was irritated by the whole occasion, “Go!” before flying out of bounds.

Rafe leaned forward. It was time to see what all the hype about the Abellon Club was.

Cerci put herself immediately into action, summoning a ring of purple-black orbs to surround her before sending them off toward the Pegapo. Said kelpie shifter leaped back yards away, gaining some space before they all hit him at once. With ample breathing room, he kicked one orb away before expertly weaving around the others, running by them as they exploded into purple dust and rock. He was able to catch and hold onto the last orb without issue, so, with a smug grin on his face, he twirled and shot the projectile back at the witch.

She hurriedly levitated back, avoiding her own detonation. Pegapo cannonballed right behind her, making her turn around, though, she kept her guard up.

“That was sizzling!” the kelpie snickered as he stuck out a hand and launched a sphere of magical water at Cerci. “Let’s cool you down a bit, girlie.”

The witch remained silent while she crossed her arms to protect herself. To many, it seemed like just a ball of plain water, but that would be their last thought before it burst into a shower of damn-near subzero H₂O. Pegapo rushed forward into the mist cloud, fists ready for a pounding. However, as the kelpie closed the distance, Cerci’s form blinked out of existence, appearing a foot away from where she originally stood. Pegapo zigzagged across the area, but the witch was able to evade his swinging arms and feet with her intangibility. Having gotten the shifter frustrated, she slipped past one more attack before she dished out her own, socking him clean in the left cheek and blowing him back with a generated gust of air. Pegapo landed in a heap.

“She’s a heavy hitter,” Joe commented. “Any attack can just be thrown off with magic.”

Rafe nodded. “And speed can only get him so far. It’s only the start and he’s already in a bind.”

“Not if he can get… tricky,” Coach Hemming chimed in with a slight grin.

Pegapo recovered and thrust his arms out, unleashing a torrent of water to gush out like a high-pressured geyser, to which his opponent easily flew up and out of harm’s way before diving over to him. Suddenly, a metal chain sprouted from Cerci’s hand, which she used to telekinetically move and wrap around the shifter’s neck. Once again, the kelpie was propelled into the air but for a shorter time as she swung like a whip. Pegapo caved the ground in like a wrecking ball, obscuring him in a veil of earth.

When it began to clear, pretty much everyone was expecting the kelpie to get angry. He’d been arrogant enough to believe that this would be an easy match only to have that notion blown completely out of the water. He hadn’t gotten a hit in yet.

However, Pegapo’s shoulders were shaking but not in pain. When he swung his head up, it became obvious he was laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Cerci asked, speaking up for the first time.

The kelpie shifter just shook his head and sighed in amusement. “It’s just that… what you did just now. Talk about a coincidence, am I right?”

“Wha-”

But before she could get another word out, Pegapo simply raised an arm, and then a mass of water promptly flared from the ground around the witch and enveloped her in a globe, entrapping her. Natural instincts kicked in as she screamed and kicked out, her movements slowed from being underwater. When she tried swimming out, the kelpie just gleefully placed a hand on her head and pushed her back in.

She flailed about, unable to breathe as she drowned, until, eventually, she stopped moving altogether. And with her down, the watery imprisonment ball dissipated, too, causing her to flop back onto the terrain.

The redcap referee came back a minute later and inspected the witch before grumpily looking out into the crowd and bellowing, “Winner! Pegapo! Abellon!”

The first-years were shocked into silence while the audience around them wailed in joy. Did he kill her?

Just then, Andre’s ears twitched. “She’s still alive. I can hear her heartbeat.”

Pegapo hollered and flexed back at the fans while cameras flashed in his face, and he ate it up. The fame, glory, and prestige of being a part of a famous fighting club.

This was what could be.

And to be honest, Rafe was just the tiniest bit envious of them.

“Dirty move,” Talon cursed, glaring at the celebrating kelpie shifter, who was back and hailing the win with his team.

The Abellon Club was a whole lot more animated after that victory.

“It was smart,” Coach Hemming retorted. “And you should be happy. We got the first win of the season.”

“Honestly, I kind of agree with the hunter over there,” Rafe voiced, watching as Cerci’s soaking, unconscious body was carried back by one of the bigger individuals on her team. “Did you see the look in that guy’s eyes?”

“Yeah. I bet he loves drowning puppies, too,” Rudy said, convinced of Pegapo’s evil nature.

“Next up on the chopping block,” Lick Dane spoke. “Primer Club’s resident neonate Nosferatu, Demetrius Kozani, fighting against… Ooh! The King of the Mist, Cain Aspen himself! This early in the game!? We’re all that the edge of our seats for this one, ladies and gentlespecies!”