The raucous cries for bloodshed reached Ezra’s ears. He exhaled slowly, trying to shake off his nerves. He wrestled with the thoughts of rebellion against the king. You are alone. The king left you to die here in the Skull Arena. These reptiles will tear your flesh from your bones, and your dispersed team of Outcasts will lose all hope of leaving Rarogan. You failed.

Like a reflex, Ezra tuned into the king’s voice whispering in the back of his mind.

Do not fear. You must go through the arena to reach the core. You need three things to access the Jewel of Laridal. An unblemished ring, a battle-tested sword, and a sacrificial heart. Ezra clung to his father’s words echoing inside his head. Knowing he wasn’t facing these trials alone gave Ezra the resolve to persevere. He strengthened his heart and drew his sword. He had the unblemished ring as of now, but he still needed to test his blade in battle. So far, Ezra had peacefully walked among the Wanderers, unready to use the mastery of the King in more than snippets here and there. He now bore the opportunity to unleash all that mastery the Elgens taught him onto these reptiles and display who he really was.

Ezra sighed, listening to his father’s instructions. Win the battle against the dinosaurs and escape the Skull. A display of power would have to be saved for another day. His father knew this planet intimately, and the ancient tunnel of Aehtimira lay underneath this arena, trailing underground to the Challenges and eventually the core. But the tunnel could only be accessed one way. A way no one had heard of. As for the sacrificial heart, Ezra had no clue how to obtain it and his father had not yet revealed it to him. What would that mean? Would he have to sacrifice his heart literally? Should the natural response of his heart be sacrificial? Is someone else’s heart needed?

Two burly guards ushered Ezra out of the gateway and into the arena. One guard murmured anxiously to the other, and both bolted from the arena. The crowd went wild as they spotted Ezra, the alleged Asynier, standing in the middle of the colossal ruins of a temple. A deafening cacophony of roars rent the air, and Ezra could feel the grounding shaking under his feet. Ezra closed his eyes. This battle would take its toll on him.

The monstrous head of a rex stormed into view on side. A wicked spine appeared behind crumbled temple walls. Three winged pteras screeched above. Four raptors snarled in and out of the shadows, their yellow eyes glowing in contrast to the red sand. Two crested lizards stalked the rooftops. The ten ankle biters hopped along the rocks, looking for fresh meat.

Ezra exhaled again. To drink the cup of fire required defeating all these vicious reptiles. His ring began to glow as he sensed the vibrations around him, waiting. Waiting for the dinosaurs to make the first move. The crested lizards charged first, squealing and screeching.

Ezra arced his blade in the direction of the sound, and one crested lizard fell, decapitated. The other lunged from the other side. Ezra dropped to his back, sword facing upward. The crested lizard impaled itself on the blade, and deep red blood gushed over him. Two down, nineteen more to go.

The ankle biters converged on him, picking at his flesh with their small teeth. Ezra refused to give the crowd a satisfaction of a cry of pain. He shoved the crested lizard corpse to one side, scattering the ankle biters. By now, the rex had spotted him and dashed forward. It opened its mouth and let out a deafening roar.

Ezra turned around and pointed his sword in front of him, waiting. The rex stomped closer and closer, crushing some ankle biters in the process. With a vicious chomp, Ezra’s world went dark for a split second, but he had aimed right. His blade pierced through the roof of the rex’s mouth and into his brain.

With a dying roar of defiance, the rex flopped to the ground, and Ezra rolled out, covered in rex blood. The four raptors watched from the shadows, observing Ezra’s fighting techniques. The spined lizard stomped closer, crushing the rest of the ankle biters. The pteras smelled the rex blood and swooped towards the spined lizard, pecking at his enormous head. The attempt to keep Ezra for themselves was futile, and the spined lizard chomped all three pteras in one gulp.

Well, Ezra thought, only five left.

The spined lizard rushed for Ezra, growling an otherworldly growl. On top, Ezra glimpsed an Onkron clutching the reptile’s head. A silver shimmer told him only he could see this Onkron. Ezra swirled his sword around one hand to gain momentum, and then released it. The blade zoomed through the air, dividing the Onkron before he saw it coming. The Onkron vanished like a will-o’-the-wisp, and the spined lizard shrunk down to the size of an ankle biter. One chop, and the spined lizard was no more.

The hushed crowd watched now as the raptors emerged from the shadows, circling around their fierce new enemy. Ezra wiped the blood off his face and held his sword aloft. A horizontal barrier between him and the raptors.

The raptors snarled and halted, surrounding him completely. Waiting for Ezra to make the first move. Ezra smiled. “It has only just begun.” He curled his blade towards the nearest raptor, his ring shining brightly. The blade zipped right through the raptor’s neck and continued circling. One, two, three, all four raptors lost their heads and collapsed to the ground. Ezra held up his hand, and the sword returned to it like a boomerang.

The shocked crowd murmured among themselves, wondering who this person really was. Defying the very laws of nature and weapon mastery.

A groaning sounded, and a blazing red cup appeared in mid-air. Fire sparkled and swirled inside the cup, melted glass living and breathing. Ezra strengthened his heart once more, knowing this cup was necessary but would not be pleasant. Grasping the burning metal, he placed the cup on his lips. The liquid scorched his throat so bad his tongue felt like liquid rubber. He felt dizzy, and the world spun around him. An increasingly overwhelming weight of rebellion cracked down on him, and he sank deep into the red sand. The Skull disappeared from sight, and the world went black. When he came to, the dank passage of Aehtimira swallowed him whole, leading him towards the Challenges. Ezra strengthend his heart and strode further into the darkness. He was one step closer to his bride.