24. Kren

Hearing her voice was like hearing the voice of an angel. It wrung my heart that she sounded so distressed.

I peered up at the observation window to see her manhandled by a guard who forced her into the chair.

The blood drained from my face. They could do anything to her right now and there was nothing I could do about it.

I needed to escape this pit. I needed to reach her.

But first, I needed to rescue myself.

The pit's walls were high. I couldn't reach them alone, no matter how high I jumped.

But maybe…

"Wait," I said to the guards who grabbed the elastrax and dragged him away.

I pressed my hand to the creature's skin and absorbed what ability he had. I felt my body realigned, my DNA shifting to adapt to this new input.

I let the guards go and didn't use my newfound ability until they were gone. Then I focused my mind and peered at my hand.

My fingers stretched and extended, becoming long, reminding me of a spider's legs.

The gate on the other side of the pit clanged open as my next opponent came barreling out from the tunnel.

I turned in the other direction and spotted a railing high above me. Could I stretch my limbs enough to reach it?

The hardest part of absorbing a creature's ability wasn't the absorbing, it was learning to use it. Some abilities had a significant amount of crossover. Elements like ice and wind and fire and earth could be used similarly. But changing body part shapes and sizes? Not so much.

It didn't hurt when my arms, hands, and fingers extended toward that railing but it wasn't pleasant either. It was like I was forcing my body beyond its usual range of comfort. My joints cracked as they popped out of their sockets.

I'd stretched halfway to the railing now. I sensed my body could only get so far.

Then how about my legs?

I extended my legs the same way I had my arms and gradually, inch by inch, I began to rise.

I glanced over my shoulder at the grinding gate on the other side of the pit. With any luck, I would grip that railing and be out of there before he reached me.

And…

Just a few more inches to go…

I did it!

The tips of my fingers latched onto the railing. My grip was tenuous at best but it was something.

I wrapped those digits around the railing and began to grip it.

My muscle fibers overstretched and it became painful. I ground my teeth and focused on yanking myself up.

As soon as I got a good enough grip, I could snap back to my usual shape and size and if I held on, I was confident I would zip up to the railing.

My feet left the ground and I began to rise.

Yes!

I glanced at the other gate, where my opponent had emerged from. He was already halfway to my position.

He was going to be late. I would be out of reach by the time he got to me.

So long, sucker!

"And where do you think you're going?" a craggy voice said.

The voice didn't come from the railing above. It didn't come from my opponent sprinting toward me either.

It came from the other opponent.

One that I hadn't seen emerge from a different gate, one I hadn't heard because of the gates' grinding gears.

"No, don't!" I said.

He launched himself at me. He pressed a claw and a foot to the wall I was rising up, grabbed me by the shirt, and tore me from the railing. He hurled me at the pit floor below.

My arms were still too long and my legs hadn't recovered from stretching yet.

The impact was going to be bad.

I clenched my eyes shut as my back smashed into the pit floor. A deafening series of crunches and snaps filled my ears as my bones were pulverized into tiny pieces.

I was so close to getting out of here…

And now I was as far from getting out of this place as I had ever been.

The creature that scuppered my plans was a barbaros. Hair covered every inch of his body and his cold black eyes held nothing but disgust. He extended the claws on his front paw and grinned at me with his stained yellow teeth.

He pressed a foot to my chest to pin me down. My arms and legs ached like they'd never ached before.

"So long, Champion," the barbaros said with disdain.

He swung his paw at me.

The nails were so sharp they would slice the skin from my bones in an instant.

And there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.

But the blow didn't come.

"Back off!" another voice growled. "He's mine!"

It was the creature from the first tunnel. He slammed the barbaros aside and into the pit's wall. He beat at the creature with his stone flesh. He was a golar and was almost impossible to destroy. But he had weaknesses if you knew where to look.

While my opponents were busy destroying each other, I peered up at the observation window again.

I'm sorry, Ivy. You're going to have to hang on just a bit longer.

I turned to the assholes that'd torn me from Ivy and a growl escaped my throat.

They wanted to fight me, did they? So be it.