It was well past lunchtime by the time Pepper and Andrea had left the museum. Andrea insisted she needed to stop at the merchandise store and she bought them matching black sweatshirt hoodies. There was an aggressive pink font phrase printed across the front which read. “I WILL SURVIVE!”

  Though Pepper had given her a hard time over being forced to wear the hoodie, he secretly liked how it looked. Thankfully the playful flirting and banter in the souvenir shop had brought both of their spirits up, but with that also came a reminder that they needed food.

  “Let’s be bold.” Andrea declared with a confident nod.

  “Okay? Am I not being bold enough with this pink hoodie?”

  She let out an overly exaggerated sigh of frustration. “Enough about the hoodie already. I know you quietly love it and I even sprayed it with my perfume so it smells like me. Which I also know you secretly like. But… I was thinking we should try this place.”

  She flipped her holodex screen around so he could read it more easily. “Tranquil Palace? Andrea, you can’t be serious…”

  A defensive expression quickly formed. “Of course I’m serious. Why not? Let’s live a little. I mean… when was the last time we ever had Indian food?” Pepper looked down and tried to recall if they ever had. He didn’t get a chance to respond before Andrea continued. “Exactly! We never have. So let’s give it a shot and see what it’s all about?”

  He couldn’t hide his hesitation. He certainly felt adventurous when he tried out Pete’s place, and had wanted to take Andrea there for sure. But after an awkward pause and seeing Andrea grow in patient, he threw caution to the wind. “Sure. Why not?”

  The restaurant looked like it was one of the few buildings to have survived the apocalypse. Pepper guessed it was the oldest building in the city. Like it was pulled straight out of a movie that his grandpa would have watched.

  The exterior was painted mud brown, with some shiny red trim that didn’t have any curb appeal whatsoever. They swung the door open and were immediately assaulted by spices wafting throughout the establishment. In the small waiting area were oil paintings with the appearance of an ancient landscape with multiple plants all scattered about.

  A mustard yellow veil draped over an archway which led back to the dining room. His eyes took notice of a few candles which flickered on the small podium that greeted them. There were a few metal trinkets scattered upon the wooden stand and he gently picked one up to exam it. It was only a second later that Andrea slapped his hand and told him to put the item back down.

  A moment later the current opened and a dark complexioned man appeared. Pepper had to lower his gaze to look at the man and by his guess, he had at least stood a full foot taller. The man had matte black hair with a thick mustache, but it was the man’s gaze which caught Pepper off guard. The man’s rich brown eyes staired lifelessly ahead, as if he was looking past them rather than at them.

  The man stood behind the podium and practically portrayed a robot, void of any personality. His thick accent greeted them and Pepper was sure he was from South Asia. “How many?”

  Andrea cut in and answered. “Just the two of us.”

  “Follow me.”

  The man turned and parted the yellow fabric for them. Pepper’s ears then picked up the small twang of metal strings which were paired with a flute and rippling water sound effects. The room was dimly lit as the primary light source was either candles, or very small stained glass lanterns which hung overhead.

  They arrived at a small booth along the far wall and the hostess outstretched his hand, inviting them to sit. Pepper couldn’t help but notice the playful smile on Andrea’s face. He knew that she was loving the new experience, but could also tell that she enjoyed seeing him so baffled by the décor and ambience.

  The man then lightly cleared his throat. “Thank you for coming to the Tranquil Palace. Where our sole desire is to fill your tummies with love and naan. My name is Nandin and I shall be guiding you through your journey.”

  Andrea was on the verge of laughing and doing her best to contain her giggle as she read the confusion on his face. “I’m sorry, you want to fill us with what?”

  Nandin continued to look straight ahead, blankly staring at the wall rather than them. “Love and naan, sir.”

  Pepper did his best to reply and confirm that he was hearing the man correctly. “Naan?”

  His pronunciation was off and Nandin countered and said again. “Naan.”

  Pepper then gave up in trying to correctly pronounce the word and cut to the chase. “What exactly is naan?”

  Nandin’s demeanor continued to baffle them as he remained perfectly still and simply gazed back at the wall. “Naan is a traditional Asian flatbread. We bake it here in our tandoor and is considered our specialty.”

  “So, your goal is to fill us with love and bread?”

  Nandin maintained his deadpan expression and monotone voice, but caught them off guard when he turned his head and looked at Andrea. “Here I was, thinking my day could not get any better, and then you arrived and brought me this giant ray of sunshine. You are too kind.”

  Andrea snorted and quickly covered his face with her hand. She looked back at him while her shoulders slightly bounced from the contained laughter. Pepper then tried to clarify. “I’m just confused as to why-”

  To his surprise the man turned and now looked over at him. “Bro, what do you have against bread?”

  He stuttered and struggled to regain his mental footing. “I mean, I don’t have… there’s nothing wrong with bread. I just don’t understand.”

  Nandin cut him off. “What is there to understand? It’s bread. There is plain naan, butter naan, garlic naan, cheese naan, cinnamon naan, and my personal favorite… honey naan.”

  “Yeah but, why would your motto be…”

  Nandin turned back to Andrea while lifting his hand up in confusion. “Is he always life this?”

  Andrea took a breath and finally said. “You know what, can we just get two waters and maybe a few minutes to look over the menu.”

  “Sounds good.” Nandin replied while turning and walking off.

  Andrea widened hers eyes towards Pepper and he knew it was a warning shot directed towards him. “What?” He asked.

  “You know what. You don’t have to be like that.”

  “Me!? I was just curious as to what naan was. How was I supposed to know it meant bread.”

  “Everyone knows what naan is!”

  Pepper quickly opened up his holodex and typed a message to Brent. “Hey, what’s naan?”

  It was only a second later that Brent replied. “Nothing Pdub, what’s naan with you?”

  It was now Pepper’s turn to widen his eyes as he cranked his wrist so Andrea could see the screen. Her face quickly scowled and she raised her eyebrows with a clear sign of judgement. “Well, you two sat next to each other on the bus.” She paused for half a second. “I should also point out; it was a short bus.”

  Nandin returned with two waters and stood lifelessly at the edge of the table. “Do you have any questions regarding the menu?”

  Andrea looked up with a smile. “No, I think I’m just going to go with my usual go-to of Chicken Tikki Masala”

  Andrea then turned and looked at him. He internally started to panic and he looked down at the menu. He could hardly even read some of the words, and he knew there was no way he was even going to try and pronounce them. A quick smile and wave of his hand. “You know what, that sounds good, I’ll just do the same.”

  “Sounds good.” Nandin turned to Andrea. “Spice, one through ten?”

  “Oh one please.”

  Nandin then turned to him and asked the same question. A playfully curious thought came over him and his self confidence rose up. “You know what. Ten.”

  To their surprise, Nandin started to slowly turn his head and looked directly at Pepper. The small brown beady eyes staring directly at him. “You say, ten?”

  Pepper nervously chuckled. “Yeah, ten.” Nandin turned and walked off and they could just hear a slight giggle come out of the man. He turned back to Andrea, “I mean, how bad an it be?”

  “WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS!” Pepper yelled from the bathroom.

  “I told you I would just share mine with you!” Andrea yelled back through the closed door.

  “I didn’t even know my intestines could hurt like this! It’s like a dragon got in there and….” He paused to let out another volcanic eruption. “Oh, gawd why???”

  ***

  Pepper’s stomach rumbled and he let out an exhausted sigh. He shifted his weight and lowered his head onto Andrea’s chest. She gently rubbed his back while they both cuddled on the couch. She slowly navigated to the Golem League match and she empathetically said. “There… now you can just relax and watch your game.”

  He wanted to counter her and remind her it was a match, but then his intestines churned all over again. The theme song finished playing and the two cohosts appeared on either side of the screen. Nick was sporting his traditional navy blue business sport coat and red tie. Whereas JD had a getup similar to the iconic Indiana Jones.

  “Well, I must say JD, you look as if you’ve been off on a fun-tastic adventure there.”

  JD pointed back to his cohost with a giant grin. “You could say that Nick, I’ve been diving deep into these sand dunes, and have dug up an awesome match up for us today.” JD paused and then reached into a leather satchel that was draped off to his side. He then produced a wrapped item that looked like it could be a sub sandwich. “But of course, being here at the The Arabia Dunes, I had to be sure to get me one of them epic Shwarma’s!”

  Pepper belched and moaned. “Please don’t eat that while live on tv.”

  Andrea giggled and countered. “You’re such a baby when you’re sick.”

  Nick turned to his counterpart and added. “Now the last time we saw our German gladiator Rory enter the arena, we were blown away, literally, and figuratively JD. His Sumo Wrestler was shedding explosive spiders and blowing his way to a solid victory. Do you think he’ll be able to pull it off here today as well?”

  “Well you bring up a good point Nick, if a strategy is working, don’t just abandon it. Am I right? But you can’t forget, Rory is going up against the Season 10 runner-up, Tom Rodrigo! Tom gave Brandon Benard a run for his money in the Championship round. He can scrap and just like me,” JD lifted his sandwich up and wiggled it towards the camera. “Tom is hungry for a getting back to the finals!” He then turned to Nick with a big smile. “See what I did there?”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Nick chuckled and shook his head while turning back to the camera. “I see what you did there JD. Well, one thing is for sure, I have no doubts this matchup is going to be an outstanding bout. And of course, Rory made is Pantheon debut right here in the Arabian Sands arena, so if anything, it could be somewhat of a homefield advantage for him. For those of you at home wondering, due to the heat index the matchup was pushed back to just after sunset. So now that we have the green light to begin, let’s go down to the arena.”

  The camera panned over to show Rory standing on his gladiator platform. His command interface was already on and the sumo golem was waddling its’ way forward. The golem slogged along due to the shifting sand. A large black cloak shifted back and forth while the monstrous golem swayed its way to the starting position.

  “If that thing moves any slower, I’ll be retired by the time this match is over Nick!” JD exclaimed.

  “Well, we saw just how fast those explosive spiders could crawl across the sand, it will be easy to see how the Astro Ape can respo-”

  “Not so fast Nick! Tom has called in a pinch hitter!” JD exclaimed with excitement.

  The camera then panned around to show a skeleton dragon. The base layer of Tom’s dragon was black granite, similar in appearance to Lars Machmullers, however, Tom’s dragon had an additional layer over top of its black base. The skeletal design had been very popular during Season 8 and 9, so much so that many fans were surprised that Tom abandoned it.

  “Well, my, my JD. I recant my previous statement, because look at this. Tom has brought his Skull Dragon from retirement!”

  “It’s one of those things that we often times forget, but these gladiators have multiple golems in their stables. They may stick with one for a season, or two, but at any time they’re ready to dust off the cobwebs and remind us to not get too comfortable with thinking they are one trick ponies!”

  “It brings a lot into question JD. As you said, Rory could have been watching the replays of Astro Ape, but has no idea if Tom added some of those runes to his Skull Dragon. And who knows, did he even watch replays of Tom’s skull dragon and get a feel for it?

  “I think it can all be summed up with the old phrase, when life gives you lemons, order a birthday cake!”

  “Well, Rory may have his hands full. Tom clearly pulled out the ace up his sleeve and reached back in his inventory. But from the looks of it, Tom watched Rory’s last match and is countering the explosive spiders with flight.”

  The countdown timer flashed, the horn sounded and the match began. The skull dragon slashed its two front claws across the arena floor. A giant wave of sand lofted upwards and then the skull dragon started to spin. It dragged its long tail in the sand, but snapped it around.

  For a brief moment, Pepper could see the intricate design of the skeletal bones that were shaped as jagged points, running down the spinal ridge of the dragon. The design gave the appearance of the bones being an additional layer of armor and Pepper couldn’t help but have a mental flashback to the demonic horde he watched coming forth from the rift gate.

  The dragon continued to rotate and spin around, but then extended its wings and started to swing them forward. The giant gust of wind from the wings helped the sand continue to grow into a giant wall of sand. The dragon continued its rotations, making the wall of sand large enough to conceal the dragon within it.

  Rory’s sumo golem was not wasting time while this was occurring. It had thrown off its black garment and was already deploying its first round of explosive spiders. The same tactic and Rory had found success with. The initial wave of Rory’s attack was quickly closing the distance and the spiders began to surge into the dust cloud.

  The camera view started to rotate around and position itself behind the dragon. The sumo golem in the same shot and seen far across the arena. One by one the spider panels detaching from the front belly portion and crawling their way forward. Explosions started to fill the screen as one by one the spiders reached their destination and detonated.

  As the explosions illuminated within the dust cloud though, the skull dragons head lifted upwards and out of its concealed veil. The wings flapped with life and continued to rise the golem further into the ceiling of the arena. A bright red color glowed from the skull dragons’ eyes and a ball of flame started to form within its mouth. The fire ball launched out of the dragons mouth and started to hurl itself towards its opponent.

  It was then that Pepper watched to small items detach from the back of the sumo golem. The two shapes were almost identical to the front spider panels. But, rather than falling to the ground and crawling across the sand, these panels lipped over, exposing their underside to the sky. A fast rotation of tiny blades and the two panels were turned into drones.

  The two panels zipped forward in a flash and intercepted the fireball in midflight. A giant explosion erupted in the center of the arena and JD cried out with Nick quickly following after his counterpart. “Perhaps Rory did do his homework, or perhaps we haven’t seen all the tricks this young and exciting gladiator has up his sleeves!”

  The skull dragon was now banking around, encircling his opponent from above. The sumo golem continued to slowly rotate, protecting its back as it did. Rory’s golem was still deploying spiders from the front belly, but now it was clear that he diverted his efforts to deploying the latest installment. The speed which the back paneled drones deployed were not as fast as the spiders, but were still generating a swarm in its own right.

  A new fire ball was being generated, but Pepper quickly saw it wasn’t just one this time, but four sperate attacks that all launched it rapid succession. The first two fire balls arched far to the left and were slowly turning their trajectory towards the golem. Like curved balls being thrown by a baseball pitcher. The third ball flew straight and true, and just like a fastball the third attack was traveling faster then the other two.

  The fourth and final fireball arched upwards and wound up being higher than the dragon itself. Pepper could see that the fireball had a fast back-spin rotation and after reaching an apex in its trajectory, it started its slow downward decent. The separate attacks all traveling at different speeds and different trajectories left Pepper wide eyed as he tried to imagine how he would track and address the threats being flung towards mala.

  Rory started to zip a counter attack towards the fireballs. Four drones launched to the left side, streaking at a trajectory which appeared to be addressing the two curveballs. A wave of six drones launched straight ahead towards the fastball, while two drones went soaring straight up to meet the final fireball.

  The six drones arrived at the fastball first, and a bright explosion flashed. Pepper could see however that three drones remained undamaged and continued their course towards the dragon. The drone which had went straight up then intercepted its target and the fireball erupted into small particles of flames which drifted down for a few more feet before they finally extinguished.

  The final four drones working to counter the curveballs then arrived, but the drones spatial separation calibration was off. Two drones drifted into each other and created an accidental early detonation. Pieces of the drones shot out and created shrapnel which then impacted their other two counterparts, the remaining two drones unable to decipher the difference and also prematurely detonated.

  Pepper lifted his hand up towards the screen. Pepper’s heartbeat was growing faster and didn’t help ease his stomach which still churned with Asian spice. The tension and suspense growing by the second as the volley of attacks closed the distance.

  It was clear that Rory was attempting to redirect more drones to counter the two fireballs which were still curving their way towards his golem. By the time his redirect drones were ready to defend the sumo wrestler, the fireballs were already within their area of effect. The first fireball exploded and just off the left side of the golem. The second fireball slammed directly into the left golems left shoulder.

  The sumo wrestler was knocked backwards, and small explosions shot outward on the golems left side. A giant cloud of black smoke billowed out and wafted over the golem for a few seconds while its feet staggered to keep balance. Rory didn’t hesitate though, he re-doubled his efforts and continued to launch drones off the back of his golem.

  Pepper did take notice that the sumo wrestler had stopped launching spider drones. But the one thing he did find slightly comical was seeing the explosive spiders scatter all around the arena floor. Tracking their target above them and patiently waiting for an opportunity to strike.

  Tom had started his tighten his circle above and Pepper watched as the dragons tail began to glow red. The tail then caught on fire and a billowing flame flared behind the dragon and started to leave a circular trail of black smoke. It only took another quarter pass, and the flame extended backwards and Pepper knew what was coming next.

  The attack sequence which had lifted Tom into the ranks during season 8 was now taking shape. The flaming circle that was now fully formed was the start of the elemental magnification rune attack. A red and orange gradient shade of magical energy filled the inside of the flaming circle in the sky above. Tom then angled the skull dragon up and came to a hover over its center.

  A high pulse of red energy flared out of the dragons eyes. The bright red flame started to spout out the sides of its mouth and Pepper knew fire was about to rain down from the sky. Rory, however, was not finished yet. He had been able to deploy over 50 drones and was still launching more as Tom started his next attack.

  “Watch out Nick, we’re about to see if Rory can hang with the big boys here!” JD exclaimed.

  The skull dragon sent forth a fire beam. It surged straight into the magical gradient of the flame circle and immediately went about launching down flame bolts of fire. With every second the fire beam poured its energy into the magnified ability, the more bolts were created and sent streaking down to the arena.

  The arena’s drone camera shifted its view down to the height of the sumo wrestler. It angled the camera shot upwards to showcase the scene of the abysmal hellscape which rained down from above. Pepper couldn’t help but mentally imagine how terrifying the Rift Wars must have been, for the sights he saw now, matched the few stories he had been told. The combination of the two were so intense that he could hardly imagine the courage of the veterans who faced the demonic threat day after day.

  As Tom’s raining hell fire attack started to pelt downward, Rory’s drones were sent soaring above. The two launching simultaneous attack volleys that seemed like catastrophic death blows to any golem on the opposing end of them. The attacks clashing in the air, bolts of fire still passed through the drone air defenses and slammed into the earth below. Sand and flame launched upwards with every bolt that impacted the arena floor.

  The drones, however, started to angle up and fly around the flaming circle. Tom immediately stopped his beam of flaming energy when he saw the threat approaching. His dragon then initiated a spin move and started to angle down towards the arena floor. He collapsed the wings at first to gain speed on his golem’s descent.

  Tom’s skull dragon though had perched itself directly up, and now was unable to evade the drones that had closed the distance towards their target. The flamed circle had now disappeared and the dragon continued to twirl around as it nosed dived towards the arena. The drones started to mercilessly slam into their opponent as it went. One after the other explosions erupted off the skull dragons skin.

  The spiders that had patiently been awaiting on the sand floor were quickly zipping around and were preparing to launch onto their newly arriving target. The dragons wings started to unfurl out and once they were fully extended, flames covered over them. Pepper knew the flamed wing attack was actually going to be used to clear the path of the spiders awaiting the dragons arrival, but the dragon still couldn’t stop the onslaught from the drones.

  The dragon’s descent waivered back and forth from the attacks, but finally launched the flames from its wings straight downward. Its landing zone erupted as the spiders were blasted into oblivion. Pepper could see a slight rumble shutter across the ground as the heavy golem slammed into the arena floor. The dragon immediately worked into a spin and the wings continued to launch out flames. It looked like a small fire tornado for a brief moment while it continued to clear the immediate area of any remaining threats.

  “Wham, bam, thank you ma’am, and can I get another! This match-up is cooking off!” JD yelled out from the broadcast.

  “I swear JD, if I had not known any better, I would say this was the season 11 championship right here! Two outstanding performances by our competitors. Nick replied with excitement.

  The small lull in the action allowed the two gladiators to adjust their golems. The two massive fighters squaring back off and faced one another. Tom’s dragon, however, could not hide the visible damage. The entire right metal wing of the dragon was shredded. A twisted mass that looked more like a hindrance rather than a benefit. The left metal wing looked like it had flown a World War two bombing run. A peppered appearance of large and small holes were riddled through it like Swiss cheese. Tom then brought the two wings forward, he slammed the wings down at an angle and then Pepper watched as explosive bolts erupted on the connecting joints and the wings detached from the main frame.

  “A strategy we have not seen in a few years JD. But one certainly used before where gladiators utilize the dragon wings as defensive shields.” Nick stated.

  “You’re absolutely right, and its one of the reasons that many gladiators started to use metal for dragon wings, rather than granite. Their more resilient to damage, lighter for lift, and you have creative options such as retracting them or even detaching them as we see here! Classic man, simply classic!”

  Rory had not delayed in his efforts though. His golem was detaching both spiders and drones as fast as possible. He held them back and began to stage them in formed waves. Compared to Rory’s previous battle though, his golem had slimmed down and displayed portions of the interior frame. It was clear to Pepper that Rory needed to secure a victory fast, otherwise he’d be left to whatever measures he had remaining.

  The camera then panned around and showed the skull dragon was powering up. A new attack on the verge of being launched. Rory took notice and didn’t hesitate any longer, he launched every single drone and spider he had available.

  Each destructive device whizzed and scattered as quickly as they could. But the skull dragon launched a spiraling fire beam. The blazing energy streaked across the arena floor and blasted a destructive hole through the devices. It closed the distance with haste, and as it neared the sumo wrestler, the energy beam separated into five separate parts.

  Each individual weave of the energy narrowed into and slammed into the sumo wrestler. A massive explosion erupted and Pepper could see five distinct pieces of the golems body be launched in all different directions. The giant eruption surged a mushroom cloud upwards as the few remaining drones and spiders crashed into the sand, lifeless.

  “Tom Rodrigo, you did it amigo! Ha! That’s the full throttle golem league action we love to see Nick, you know what I mean?” JD yelled out while the victory music began to play over the broadcast.