Jon Messenger - Burden of Sisyphus

“If you aren’t here to fight, what are you doing?” Suspicion shone in Iana’s eyes. She glanced nervously right and left, expecting an ambush.

Keryn smiled disarmingly, keeping her hands wide to allay any thought of hostility. “I’m helping you.”

“I see that, but why?”

It was clear Iana struggled with the idea of someone helping her during a solo competition. It wasn’t surprising. When there could be only one winner, it seemed unlikely that a fellow cadet would help unless he expected to gain something. The truth was, Keryn did have something to gain from her actions.

Knowing it was now or never, she explained her plan. “I’m offering a truce.” Before Iana could protest, she added, “I know that’s not what you’re expecting, but hear me out.”

Iana scanned back and forth, watching the nearby cadets, then nodded for Keryn to continue.

“Yesterday, we fought alone, and both of us were eliminated in the bottom half of the class. It took until last night for me to realize something important about why we lost. Yes, the joust is a competition only one person can win, but alone, neither of us has the skill to come out on top. I’m ready to admit it. More importantly, I’m willing to admit I need help. Specifically, your help.”

“You want us to fight together, like teammates?”

“Exactly!”

“I’m hearing you, but why me? There are plenty of cadets who are better.”

Keryn shrugged. Iana was right. “That’s true, but none I trust more than you. Also, none have nearly as much to gain from an alliance as we do.” She laughed at herself. “We suck alone, but together, we could be unstoppable. Think about it, Iana. Forget the base instinct that tells you I’m setting you up and trust me.”

Keryn saw contemplation in the Pilgrim’s eyes, as Iana quickly calculated the chances of success.

“Let’s say we do this,” Iana said, “and, by some miracle, we wind up the last two. What happens then?”

“Are you asking if I’ll let you win? Absolutely not. If we’re the last two flying, I’ll shoot you in the back the first chance I get.”

Iana laughed and lowered her weapon. “At least I know where I stand with you. Let’s say I believe you, which I’m still not sure I do. What do we do first?”

Keryn smiled maliciously. “Ever since I arrived at the Academy, people have been calling me savage. I’ve done my best to disprove them. Right now, I’m looking forward to showing them just how savage I can be.”

Iana’s smile matched Keryn’s. “Now you’re talking a language I understand. Let’s find our first prey.”

The pair fell upon their first unsuspecting victim with unmatched ferocity. No tactics were used. Instead, Keryn dropped to one side of the surprised Oterian, as Iana sank to the other. He swung wildly with his blade, battering at the two dodging women with his pistol as a club instead of using it to shoot.

The pair never stopped moving, flanking and harassing him from all side. Arriving near his feet, Keryn slashed both legs, while Iana cut his knife arm. Paralyzed in three limbs, he turned and fired his jet pack, eager to escape the savage women.

Launching skyward, both of them fell on his back, as he limped away, driving in their daggers. As his jetpack died, he dropped like a rock. Before he was ten feet down, the duo set out for their next target.

Keryn and Iana leaped through the air like felines, pouncing on one cadet after another. Their prey reached slowly to the new paradigm shift, suddenly facing two targets, not one. Many faced Iana, as she flitted past, only to be struck down by Keryn’s brutal attack from behind.

Slowly, the pair picked apart the tradition of the aerial joust, degrading the more-honorable conventions of the Academy’s mainstay. In its stead, they created a barbaric battlefield.

For the first time since she arrived, Keryn began to feel at home. The weaving, serpentine strikes were familiar. The bloodlust of battle burned in her veins, as cadet after cadet dropped to the net, then to the lake. As they fell away, Keryn reveled in the disbelieving looks that remained long after realization of defeat dawned on those souls. The idea of teamwork in the aerial joust was too foreign for them to grasp, even after witnessing it firsthand.

After eliminating another pair of cadets, something strange happened to Keryn and Iana. Someone offered them a truce. Much as Keryn did for her roommate at the start of the joust, a young male Lithid named Malyster holstered his pistol and sheathed his knife as they flew toward him. Raising his hands, he requested amnesty.

“I want in,” he said bluntly. “You’re decimating the other students, which leaves me little doubt which side I want to be on.”

“What’s stopping us from just shooting you now?” Iana growled, her pistol aimed at the Lithid.

Keryn placed a hand over Iana’s weapon and pushed it down, as the trio hovered in midair. “Because, correct me if I’m wrong, we’ll need the extra help.”

“Everyone knows about your rivalry with Sasha,” Malyster admitted. “If you want to get through her lackeys and have a chance at taking her out, you’ll need my help.”

“Welcome to the team,” Keryn said with an evil smile.

Over a dozen more students were eliminated by the group before the others realized what they were doing. Suddenly, even confident competitors flew away, when Keryn’s team approached. The space around them cleared of potential targets, as the remaining half of the class alternated their attention between current battles and the unexpected group.

Disappointed by the lack of prey, Iana pouted. “Now that they’re on to us, what do we do?”

Keryn shrugged. There were aspects of her plan she never took into account. She hadn’t foreseen other cadets joining them, nor had she planned on others realizing her strategy and avoiding her team altogether. They were at an impasse until they could figure out their next move.

To Keryn, only one person existed who they needed to hunt, a prey who wouldn’t run if attacked by her team. In the distance, hovering at an altitude just below, Keryn spotted the cadet she wanted. Her eyes narrowed with unbridled hatred, as she pointed at the distant figure.

“There’s our next target.”

Iana and Malyster saw the female Avalon and her cohorts attacking a smaller group of cadets.

“Sasha?” Iana asked. “You think you’re ready for this?”

“I've been waiting for this chance a long time,” Keryn said. “I’m not about to miss it. “

“All right. What’s the plan? How should we play this?”

Keryn turned toward their Lithid teammate. “It’s time we put Malyster to work.”

Sasha smiled, as yet another cadet dropped into the net. The four friends flying around her assured her a victory, just as they had the previous day. Their strength in numbers left her with little concern about opponents, knowing no one could withstand five attackers simultaneously.

A disturbance on the far side of the field had been catching her attention for some time. Though she found it hard to believe, there was another group working together, eliminating students at nearly the same pace she was. There was marked fear and worry among the single cadets, whenever that trio came closer.

Before attacking the most-recent pair of cadets, Sasha lost sight of the trio. The commotion they caused faded. Disappointment replaced her curiosity, as she realized she wouldn’t have a chance to meet the other group and prove her superiority in the air. Instead, she relegated herself to searching for her next prey, as her four friends hovered protectively nearby.

A laser blast cut through the late-morning air, catching the female Avalon above Sasha just below the chin. She jerked, as her suit constricted, leaving her paralyzed. She fell with pleading eyes, lost to the net and the lake.