Xander's question about the overpowering opponent stuck with me. I had fought several people that were physically stronger than I was and I came out on top, in part, thanks to the training I've had as an assassin, but also because of my ability. Being able to copy my opponent's strength and adding to my own or using their speed to easily maneuver around them, gave me a huge advantage in a fight. But I started to think about what I might do against something that dwarfs my strength. I had come across one thing like that in this game; the lions. They came when one of the cycles was taking too long. It only took one of the beasts to kill me. They were stronger than anything I had ever faced and much faster than me too. If I was to try and beat one, what would I do?

The thought of the lion made me cringe involuntarily and I remembered all too vividly the details of how they kill. Their teeth injected a poison into your bloodstream that made time feel like it was standing still and the pain was excruciating. The body locks up, you can't breathe and to add to all of that, you're being eaten alive. The whole process lasts only a few seconds, maybe a couple of minutes, but it feels like hours because your sense of time is so corrupted by the lion's venom.

In the end, I couldn't concentrate on how I might beat the beast. Parts of ideas came to mind, but never a complete image. I kept coming back to the pain and the terror. I took a deep breath and put it out of my mind. I'd think about it later. Right now, I wanted to figure out what our next move should be. Anne was looking for her friend, May. Now that she's found her, we either have a larger team or it's just Xander and me. It all depends on what Anne does. If we have a larger team, we can start strategically going around, taking out others and mapping out this cycle's area. If it's just the two of us, Xander and I will need to find more people to team up with.

Having Anne on the team is both a blessing and a setback. On one hand, she can heal us. We won't need to lie low to recover from our wounds, only to sleep, which puts us in a good spot. The downside is that she's a risk to include in a fight. If she gets killed, we don't just lose a teammate, we lose our means to heal quickly. We might not want her to contribute in the fights at all, but that would mean we'd basically be down one person. I didn't get the impression that she was a skilled fighter, anyway. She stayed behind when we were fighting the people at the school, which makes me wonder if she'd be much of a benefit to have in combat. I should've asked Xander what he thought while I had the chance.

Something else that concerned me is the amount of people that are in the cemetery. Graveyards are rarely empty, but this one is relatively full. If everyone is staying the night, they'll likely all leave in the morning. If that happens, we'll be too close to an opposing team and will either need to attack them or we'll be attacked once we reach a respectable distance from the safe zone. If we stay to wait them out, we'll likely be attacked by a graveyard stalker team when we do leave; same as if we left now. Staying another full day might be a smart move. I can train Anne and get a read on May. But they might not be so keen on that. So, what should we do? Since the stalker team will have more members, it's probably less dangerous to leave in the morning and engage another team when we need to. The catch is that we'd have to finish them off quickly or we risk being attacked by a stalker team after the fight's over. I'd rather avoid a stalker team if we can. I should talk with the team, but, unless we're staying longer, I think leaving tomorrow morning, with other teams nearby, would be the best move, despite the risk.

As I walked in the direction Xander went, intending to find him and Anne, I noticed someone approach me from behind. I turned around to see a young man, probably still in his teens, accompanied by a large man more than twice his age. They looked similar enough to be related, but distantly, like an uncle/nephew relationship. Knowing where we were, I didn't think it was likely that they were actually related, they just had similar faces.

"Saris!" The old man bellowed happily. "I'll never know how you do that. You always know when someone's behind you."

I shrugged and returned his smile. "A sixth sense, I guess. How's the cycle treating you, Malcom?" I had known Malcom since my fifth cycle. He and I had teamed up once, but the old man hadn't been a confident fighter and often ran away if he became too afraid.

"Dreadful. I've gotten lucky with joining three teams so far but they've all managed to get wiped out. Look, ah..." Malcom cleared his throat and gestured to the young man beside him, "This is Todd. It's his first time here and when I saw you, I thought you might be willing to take him in and watch over him."

I knew what Malcom really wanted; he wanted to be on my team. He'd use the kid as his way into my group, insisting that they should stay together. Every time we run into each other, ever since he found out what I was capable of, he made it a point to try and be on my side. The problem was that Malcom, while he was a nice guy, he was not a valuable team member. I shook my head, "Sorry. My team is full for now, I can't help." It wasn't a complete lie. Malcom knew that I wouldn't be a part of a team if there were more than four of us all together. Too many people adds too many risks. I held a spot on the team for May, so I considered us a four-person team already, even if I wasn't sure that it would remain that way.

The old man sighed and lowered his head, then glanced at the younger man. "Well, what about some training, or even just some advice."

I looked at the kid. He looked nervous and had probably seen too much already. Maybe he's been running away from fights with Malcom, knowing that his team gets slaughtered because they become outnumbered when half their team runs away. "Stand your ground," I told him firmly. He stared at me with unblinking eyes. "Fight hard and learn from your mistakes. See more than just what's in front of you. Know where you're going without needing to look at it. And use your ability when it best suits you. Don't squander it and don't hesitate to strike someone down. They won't give you the same courtesy." I turned back to Malcom, "I really do have to go."

"Yes...yes. Thanks, Saris," The old man replied quietly.

"Good luck," I called back to them as I walked away.

Glancing at the grave stalkers in the distance again, I re-focused my attention on the people in the cemetery. I only took a few more steps before I heard another familiar voice. It was soft and gentle but it made me nervous. "What a softy," she said and I looked around, searching for her. Out of thin air, she appeared, looking the same as always. I stared into her blue eyes, bewildered. "What? I can only show up when you're dying?"

"This is not right," I said.

"Well, maybe you've lost it," She smiled, pointing to her head and making a circular motion with her finger. "Or maybe you just miss me more than you realize."

"What are you doing here?"

"You know, it'd be nice for you to just be happy to see me." She took a long, loud breath, "Fine. Come with me."

"Where?"

She put a finger to her lips, "Just follow."

I followed her, walking quickly but not in a manner that made us appear to be in a rush. This was odd. I knew my mind was playing tricks on me somehow, but I couldn't say no to her. I blindly trusted her. We passed several people, some of which tried to get my attention but I ignored them. It looked like we were headed for the opposite side of the graveyard. At the far end, where we were headed, there were three, grey mausoleums lined up in a tight row. For some reason, only a few people had ventured over here, so this area was largely empty.

I slowed as she stopped at the door to the rightmost mausoleum. Turning to face me she waved, beckoning me to follow as she stepped backward, going inside without opening the metal door. Without thinking, I moved forward and entered the crypt. She was waiting for me, sitting down on a stone bench that overlooked the coffin in the center. Two small windows high on the walls cast patches of sunlight on a couple vases and urns that sat on shelves around the room, but most of the light came from the door behind me.

I sat down beside her, "Why was it so important to bring me in here?"

She grinned, teasingly, "Your mind works in funny ways sometimes."

Just then, I heard a sharp noise, like brushing metal against stone. I stood up but before I could run out the door, I saw Zack close the entrance quickly. He was holding his sword, looking at me; he looked scared. I heard more of the grinding sound and as I reached the door, I heard and felt rocks and rubble falling just outside. Smoke and dust blew in from the cracks of the door and as hard as I tried, I couldn't budge it open.

The room was dark but there were still patches of light coming in from the windows. I stood on the stone bench, took out my sword and broke the window, but it was too small for anyone to get through, I had no chance of leaving this way. I was trapped.

Facing the one that led me here, I shouted, "What is this?!"

Her reply was calm, "I don't know. But I'll stay with you until it's over."

I tried to grab her arm but my hand went straight through. She wasn't here. She never was, not really. I stood on the bench again, looking out the window and shouting for someone to hear me but no one came. That's when I noticed something odd. I smelled it first, burning. Then I felt the heat and saw the flames. The grass outside was on fire. I couldn't see anything useful from this window, so I moved to the other one to get a better look.

What I saw was horrible. A humanoid figure of flames walked through the cemetery, burning everything and everyone in its path. He was larger than normal, too large. Almost like the flames made him grow into a giant. Just outside of the graveyard, I saw people lined up, creating a barrier so no one could escape. In the cemetery, weapons were out and powers were unleashed but the flaming man only cackled and howled. No one seemed to be able to connect with an attack on him. The weapons and projectile abilities went straight through the fire and seemed to have no effect. Then, the flaming man waved a hand over the fighters and killed them where they stood, the flames turning flesh to ash in moments. It was the strongest fire power I had ever seen. Anger was boiling in my blood and I shattered the second window with my sword and shouted, pleading for someone to help me get free. I had to do something! I had to fight!

The fire giant continued his onslaught and I caught a glimpse of blue hair that stood out from the red flames. It was a woman holding several small throwing knives. It was May, and Anne was next to her, holding her by her arm, seemingly trying to pull her back. A cyclone of fire burst towards them. They lasted only a few moments longer than the other victims and I heard the girl's screams as Anne's healing power failed to protect them from the intense heat of the fire. As the attacker's hands lowered, the fire ceased and the two girls were gone, leaving only ash and still burning grass in their place.

I ran back to the door and pushed with all of my might, shouting as if it would move the rubble on the other side. Then I attacked the door, trying to break it so I could pull the door free and dig my way out of this tomb, but nothing I did seemed to work. Xander's question entered my mind and was voiced to me by the woman in the room, still sitting on the stone bench.

"How will you fight him?" She asked. "He will easily overpower you."

I angrily continued to slash at the door, "I'll take his power."

"He is already engulfed by fire. His power would do nothing for you and you would get a weaker version of his. The best you would do is die slower."

"I have to try!"

She stood up and moved between me and the door, stopping my attack. Her voice was stern and urgent, "You have to survive. You have to win. You have to come back to me." She pointed to the door. "But you do not have to protect them. Your team may die, but you will not."

"How can I beat him?" I asked, wondering if she somehow knew what I should do against the man on fire.

"You'll think of something. You always do."

Still furious, but unable to put my anger somewhere, I went back to the window overlooking the horror, balling my hands into fists. The figure of fire stood alone, looking around. Through the flames, he shouted with a dry, angry voice. "For anyone hiding, anyone who is too afraid to fight me, there is room for you on my team. I have no equal and I will win my three cycles starting now. I have demonstrated my power and no one can stand against me. Even if they could, who would be able to face an army like mine? You may join me and help me finish these next three cycles quickly so that I may come and go and you can get back to struggling to kill each other. The sooner I am gone, the sooner you will have a chance at winning, so why delay things?" He looked around, waiting for someone to appear, but no one did. "I take my leave. Seek me out if you want to join me."

Anger burned inside me and I couldn't stop my fist from shaking with rage. I turned away from the window, "This is wrong."

"I know," She said softly.

"This is not the place to fight or to make a show of strength. It's supposed to be a place of peace. A safe zone. Somewhere anyone can come and get away from the hardships of the game. A place where we can be people again!"

"I know."

I turned to her and tried to speak calmly, "Rayne."

"Yes?"

"I need you to go."

Without another word, she was gone and I was free to mourn and shout, hitting the collapsed stone that trapped me here, exercising my rage in any way I could until I exhausted my strength. The anger had to be released and I needed to clear my head and figure out what to do next. Tears stung my eyes and the grip on my sword tightened with each strike against the blocked exit. I couldn't let this go unchallenged. When I figured out how to beat him, I would make him fear me. I would make a spectacle so terrifying that he would never forget it.