The strange visitor from my previous night's dream did not come for me this night. Instead, I dreamt I was in a boxing ring with the crazy man who had nearly killed me only hours earlier. I had nothing but boxing gloves to defend myself, but he had six of his thin, long swords and nearly twice as many arms. His teeth were fanged and long and he screamed with every swing he took. Saris was just outside the ring, giving me pointers and telling me to make my move. I could hear spectators in the dark, shaded seats demanding to see blood. My heart raced, beating louder than all of the voices that were waiting for me to die.

"Move into position!" Saris shouted over the noise, but I couldn't obey his instruction. My fanged opponent froze me in place with his strange power. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe! All I was able to do was watch as he leaped at me, raising all six of his swords high. The blades came down, waking me from my sleep.

I jolted awake into a sitting position, but without thinking, laid back and closed my eyes again. Just a dream. I was groggy and reached for my pillows. When I didn't find any, I decided that I simply knocked them off of the bed, which was unusually stiff this morning. Where was the fluff?

The thing that jogged my memory was the smell of food; the bacon made my mouth water but there was something else there too... eggs? I opened my eyes to see blue mats with drool on them. I wiped the drool from my cheek and dried my newly wet hand on my pants. Everything that had happened yesterday came back to me in a wave. Normalcy made way for the crazy and now, I was in the middle of something that I probably shouldn't have gotten involved in. I sighed as I stretched, feeling all the muscles that I had worked in our training yesterday. I hadn't had the time to get answers. My guide; maybe my captor, had kept me moving since the crazy had started. It only ended when I passed out, too exhausted to talk.

I stood up, finding that my legs were more jelly than solid and strolled into the other room as gracefully as I could. I only tripped on my own feet twice. When I opened the door, I saw what I had smelled. My stomach yipped in glee to the sight of eggs and bacon but also bagels with cream cheese, fresh fruits and a jug of orange juice as well as other breakfast drinks. Saris already had a plate loaded with food and a glass half empty of milk. I took the plate that sat empty on the other end of the table and filled it until I couldn't fit anything else. I was starving. I never did get that pizza.

We sat in silence for a while, enjoying our food, but when Saris finished eating, he downed his drink and said, "Hope you like the spread. I thought I'd make it a nice first meal. I assume you have questions." I did. But I wasn't sure I wanted to pause my feast, half afraid that I'd be attacked again, or he'd force me to continue sparring with forks and spoons. He continued without waiting for me. "Before you ask, let me try and piece things together as best I can for you." He thought for a moment while I bit into a crispy, green apple. "Okay. A lot of this won't make much sense, but here we go. Your world is changed. You won't be able to go back to the way things were. At least, not for a long time. Most of us are trying to go back, but I'm getting ahead of myself."

He paused, pouring another glass of milk, then took a drink. I swallowed down another piece of bacon and loaded my plate with more before he continued.

"Sorry. This isn't something I do very often. You've no doubt had the dream, right?"

"Dream?" I managed through a mouthful of meat.

"The dream that showed you pieces of this. You might have seen that man who I killed yesterday, or maybe me."

I was uncomfortable with how casual he said that he killed someone, but I nodded my head, "Mmhm"

"Right," he continued. "So you met the being who told you a bit about this, then, right?"

"Not really." I looked up in thought. "Well, I guess I met him. But I didn't get much info out of him. My alarm woke me up."

Saris choked on his drink and mumbled something I couldn't hear, but he seemed surprised. "Alright, well I'll fill you in. You've been randomly chosen for a game. Life, death and repeat. No one knows why they get chosen for this, so don't ask. What we do know is this. All of those in this game must fight to the death. The last one standing is the winner, then the cycle repeats. You're thrust back into the same situation but typically a different location. Those who've died, come back to life to try again. The only ones who don't return are those who have won three games. We assume that they have won their freedom to go back home; at least that's the hope."

He paused, looking thoughtful. I was already lost. The idea of dying and coming back to life was a bit much for me. All I could think about was how much I didn't want to die.

Saris cleared his throat and continued, "You'll find that the people here, that are not a part of the game, will slowly fade away. People like your friends, family and others that you are used to seeing on a day by day basis. Eventually, they'll fade completely, until the next cycle starts anyway. You might hear the term shades. This is what we call those who are disappearing, those not a part of the game. For whatever reason, not everything disappears, just people, animals, bugs; that kind of stuff. You've no doubt noticed that those who are a part of the game have abilities. First, they are gifted a weapon."

Saris extended his hand, the air around it shimmered for a moment in small blue lights, then suddenly, his large sword appeared. Several feet of metal with a design that looked like rose petals embedded into the flat of the blade. I stared in awe. I had always wanted magic to be real, like in a video game, but now that it was, I wished I could go back to yesterday and ask the guys to come over, instead of going out for pizza.

Saris' weapon vanished just as it had appeared, in the same shimmering light. "In addition to the weapons, we are also gifted with a single ability. You remember what that man could do yesterday?"

In surprise, I swallowed a piece of bagel without remembering to chew it and nearly choked as it slugged down my throat. I had almost hoped that I had imagined what the man from yesterday had done. "He could ...pause time?"

"Yes. For a limited time and only to one thing but yes."

"But you did that too," I said.

"I see what you're getting at. Yes, I did do the same thing. No, I do not have the same power. My ability is to copy something from someone. I copied his ability. I could have copied his strength or speed but his ability was useful." He took another drink. "The difference is that I can only take a percentage of what I copy." He sighed at my confused expression and explained. "Well, some abilities that I copy, I get the full effect. But usually what happens is that I get some of their ability. Let me give you an example; let's say that you can lift one hundred pounds and I can lift one hundred pounds. Now let's say I copy your strength. You can still lift the one hundred pounds, like usual, but I would be able to lift one hundred and twenty-five pounds; give or take. Make sense?"

"Uh, kind of. Sure."

Saris looked irritated. "What doesn't make sense?"

I stammered a bit. "It...It's all just kind of hard to swallow, you know?"

He visibly relaxed and sighed. "I get it. Sometimes I forget how life-changing this really is."

"How long have you been a part of this?" I asked.

Saris thought for a moment. "This is my tenth cycle." I must have looked surprised. "What? Think I'm a bit young for this? A cycle isn't necessarily a year. Honestly, I don't know how long I've been doing this, I just know that I've won twice and lost seven times."

"Still, that- wait. That means you died seven times, right?"

He nodded, "I don't recommend it, but I also don't think it's easily avoidable here." I nearly forgot everything he said, except for the death part. I might die! It was likely that I would. More than once. I really didn't like the idea. Then with a sarcastic smirk, he said "Welcome to the game."

"I don't want to do this," I said. "How do I get out?"

Saris laughed. It was a soft, gentle laugh that didn't connect with the hardened fighter that I expected him to be. "Sorry." He said. "You don't really get a choice. None of us have a choice. It's fight or die; usually both.

I sunk in my seat. My plate, now empty, like the feeling I had in my chest. I wanted comfort food. Luckily, there was plenty and I loaded my plate a second time. "There's something I still don't get."

"What's that?"

"Why help me? Aren't I your enemy now? I mean, we can't both win, right?"

Saris smiled. Not the most comforting thing, but it was not an unkind grin. "A team increases your chances of making it to the end. Going it alone is a good way to get killed if you ask me; not that it hasn't been done. And while it is possible to do, you need enough skill to survive on your own. Not just combat, but strategies and the ability to adapt too. That's why teams are convenient. You get the strengths of several people combined into one group. Besides, you get an advantage if you're on a winning team."

"What do you mean?"

"You get to see how the others fight. Strengths, weaknesses; that sort of thing."

"Wouldn't the others on your team have the same advantages?"

"You'd think, but it rarely occurs to people to keep that close of an eye on their allies," he said. "Most people trust their team to get them to the final steps of the game and take that as all that they need to know. Doesn't matter if you have to fight in the end as long as one of you wins. There's some truth to this but it's smart to gain whatever advantage you can. In the end, each team member wants to win. There's no other way to get out of this and no one wants to die over and over. So my philosophy is to gain whatever advantages you can find."

"Is it hard to find other people?"

Saris raised an open hand and turned it side to side. "Sometimes. I assume you got chills a little before you met me?" I nodded. "And probably before you met the man from yesterday?"

"The chills never really went away," I said.

Saris nodded. "That is a warning that there is someone near you. I'm not certain how far away you start getting chills. It never seems quite the same per cycle. I tested it out a few times but we kept getting different results. Maybe it's dependent on the size of the arena. But you'll be able to see an opponent before you feel them so long as you have a clear view towards them."

"So, what if the last two people never meet? What if they're way far apart? Would the cycle last their natural lives?"

"No," Saris said soberly. "There are two issues with that. One, the game is sort of boxed in. It'll only allow you to go so far and then you'll just find yourself sort of warped to the opposite side of the map. Sometimes, we get a big map, like a whole city. This time, it seems to be confined to this downtown area. Either way, you'll only get so far. This is no longer the place you called home. Despite what it looks like, it's slowly warping into something else. The second issue is the snow. Snow will fall when the cycle is nearing its end and if we don't finish it in time, it starts to blizzard. Then the lions will come."

"Lions?" I asked, a bit less threatened than I should have been. But I mean, come on, lions?

"They aren't normal lions. They're huge. Most the size of houses, some larger. They're black as night with yellow eyes. You don't want to face one of those. No one survives them and it's not a normal death." Saris leaned in closer. "They eat you. That's not something you forget quickly. And the pain." He winced. "I can tell you from personal experience that you will never feel something quite like it. What's worse is that, if they show up, there's no winner. It's a completely wasted cycle." He relaxed again. "Best to finish the game, win or lose."

"Why do you call it a game?" I asked.

Saris cocked his head slightly. "What would you call it? It seems obvious to me that someone or something put us here. We didn't choose it but the stakes aren't for keeps; we keep coming back to play again. There is only one winner. You could make an argument for calling it a cycle, but to me, cycles are each time we play. But that's not the game, it's just a reset of the game."

I was getting confused again. "I guess 'game' is fine. One last question, at least for now; how do you get your weapon and power?"

"Well, the dream tells you what the weapon and power are. Using them is a bit different depending on what you can do. That's why I only use another's power if I know what it is. It's easy to use if I see it. You just, sort of, will it to happen. I could explain it better if I knew what you had." He said it expectantly and waited for me to tell him.

"Umm. I dunno what I have. My alarm woke me up before we got to that."

Saris cursed. "Okay. Well, that's going to make things difficult. I do hope that he'll visit you again soon."

"I don't," I said, shuttering at the thought of the mysterious man. "Who is he?" I asked.

Saris shrugged. "He's never given a name as far as I know. We just call him the Traveler. But he sets you up with the powers and weapons." He thought for a moment. "I guess we'll just have to train you with what we can and if he comes back to you, you should have a better idea of what you want."

"If he comes back?"

"I don't know of anyone who hasn't finished the dream with him the first time," Saris said. "You might be screwed. We'll see."

"That's comforting," I mumbled.

"No sense in worrying about it now. Do you want more food?" Saris asked after I finished my second plate. I shook my head. "Then let's get to it."

"To what?" I asked.

"Training."

That's what we did. First, we stretched, then trained until I dropped. Then we would rest for what felt like seconds and then train some more. The only times we stopped were to eat or sleep, and even that was after doing a cooldown run and more stretches. Boxing Saris was like boxing a fly. I never connected, not once. Still, Saris encouraged me and took note of everything I was doing right and making suggestions on what I could do better.

"Work on your footwork." He'd say after he shifted around me so fast that I hadn't had time to react. "You're getting tangled up when you need to make a sharp change."

All the while, I tried to deal with the impact of everything he said over breakfast. I was in some sort of death game and there didn't seem to be a way out other than to win the game not once, but three times. Training would get me so far. But I would need to somehow be alright with playing a game of murder. Forming a team and eventually turning on them or having them turn on me was just part of how to play. And to make things more difficult, I woke up from my dream before I could figure any of this out. I had no weapon or power and I had to hope that this Traveler character would remember to come back for me so that I wouldn't be at a constant disadvantage.

We stayed at it for a few days, repeating the same routine. All I did was eat, sleep and train. The chills left after a day or so. I asked Saris about it and he said it was normal and that they go away after you spend enough time with another player. Training sessions kept my mind busy. I wanted to improve; fear of death will keep you motivated. Fear of others like that man who could stop someone in time. Even fear of Saris. Saris seemed like he wanted to help me. His training was making me improve quickly. It had been less than a week and I could already see a vast improvement in my abilities. Saris claimed to be impressed too, but I still never landed a solid hit.

It didn't take long for me to decide that I would fully trust Saris. He had saved me, given me a place to stay, fed me and had been teaching me to fight ever since. During my cooldown runs, he would step outside. He said he wanted to check on everything to make sure we were still safe. I didn't ask questions about it. There was so much on my mind, I wasn't sure if I wanted to know how his walks went.

Whenever we ate, Saris would give me survival tips. Sometimes, it was about my fighting stance or other stances I might see. But he also told me more about this 'game'.

"Saris?" I asked while we scarfed down some hot dogs. "Don't you have a team?"

"You make new teams as you go." He explained. "Each cycle, you start separated from everyone. It gives you some time to explore the new location. You won't always run into the same people. Some die before they're able to meet up. Most people have regulars that they look out for, but you take what you can get. I found you early in the game. Before that, I was looking for a good place to lie low or retreat to if something happened."

"Lie low?"

"When a cycle begins you'll want to find a source of food, water and some kind of shelter. That's your first priority. Making a team is important, but they won't join you if you look dehydrated and ready to keel over from exhaustion. Instead, they'll just attack you so you're out of the way."

"So why save me? If not for you, I would have been easy prey. I'd have been out of the way and you'd be one step closer to winning." My voice dropped, almost mumbling the last few words as I realized the stupidity of pointing out how lame of an ally I was.

Saris raised an eyebrow. "This again?" He didn't sound angry, but I felt scolded for asking. "Look, I saw you tell your friends to leave and then stand your ground against an opponent that you didn't think you could beat. That takes guts and I think that's worth exploring. Hindsight shows that you didn't even have a weapon and thus not a single chance of winning, but you still stood your ground." Saris leaned forward, his bright green eyes examining my face as his forefinger scratched behind his ear. "Either you have a serious noble streak, a death wish, or you're just plain stupid. I'd like to find out which."

He sat back in his chair and shoved the last of his hot dog in his mouth as I spluttered indignantly, "I'm not stupid! And I'm not suicidal or anything! I...I don't exactly know what happened. Maybe I was scared stiff or something..." I trailed off.

"Give yourself some credit." Saris took a drink of water. "Speaking of that day, what was that look you gave me when I first saw you?"

I thought back to when Saris almost ran into Tommy just before I was attacked. "I saw you in the dream. And you were super gross." I blurted, thinking of the cuts and blood.

Saris' eyebrows raised, amused. "Really? Thanks for the compliment."

"That's not how I meant it."

"I know. I expected that you had seen me, but it's a nice thing to confirm. The dream usually shows you the first player that you see. Just to clear up what you saw, you witnessed a little bit of my last cycle."

I grimaced. "That looked like an awful way to die."

"Oh, no, no." Saris waived his hands. "The death part of the dream is just showing you all of the ways I've died in the past. Sorry, it's been a while since I dealt with the dream. Guess, I forgot how freaky it can be. The Traveler kind of rolls everything into one vision so you get an idea of the whole deal. Then he usually explains it more thoroughly. Guess he never got that far with you." He noticed that I had finished eating and changed the subject. "Back to training."

Boxing wasn't the only method of attack and defense that we trained with. The second day Saris had broken off part of his bedpost and whittled them down with his own cleaver blade so that they resembled short swords. While I wasn't good, I also wasn't too bad. The first day of training with them, I had been able to block a good amount of Saris' attacks and although I never hit Saris, I did make him block once when I swung my wooden sword downward, ducked and twirled, blade extended. He gave me a winning smile and had me repeat the attack until I dropped.

By the fourth day, I was growing a bit restless from being confined to the small apartment and was anxious for a chance to spend a bit of time outside. I tried broaching the subject when Saris came back in from one of his midday walks.

"Where did you go?" I asked casually.

"Checking for enemies."

"Oh, right." I know I sounded disappointed but I had a hard time disguising it. Being reminded about the danger we were in didn't sit well with my nerves. "Find anyone?"

"Just two. I took care of it."

I knew what that meant. It meant he killed them. This would happen every so often. Eventually, he stopped telling me that he'd found and killed someone unless I asked, like today. It was freaky and slightly terrifying to know that the person I was roommates with was a murderer. Maybe even freakier was how open and casual he was about it. Plus, he was training me so I could do the same thing.

"Relax, Xander. It's just part of the game." He said matter-of-factly.

"That doesn't really make me feel much better about it," I admitted.

Saris sighed. "I know. Look, you've been doing well with training recently, and it's good to occasionally take some time off, so how about we take the rest of the day to relax?"

"Really? Can I go out?"

I don't think you're quite ready to go out yet."

My shoulders slumped. "Alright." I guess a walk wasn't exactly worth the risk of death.

Saris looked at me, puzzled. "What's wrong?"

"It's just...there's not really much to do here, you know?"

Saris rummaged around the kitchen and looked in the freezer. "We can dig into the ice cream. And I saw a game closet in the next room. You up for it?"

I smiled. A game was something I could do. "Yeah."

"Great. Just let me take care of something first."

He walked into the bathroom and came back with a first aid kit, setting it on the table. Then he lifted his shirt, revealing a long, shallow cut across his right side. Blood slowly exited the wound and ran down towards a paper towel that he had grabbed to clean the wound.

"You're hurt!" I blurted, chastising myself for not having noticed earlier. I suppose the dark clothing had made it difficult to notice but still, here I was pouting about being bored while he was bleeding to death!

"It's not bad. I'll be fine." He took a few bandages and covered the cut after cleaning it, then returned his shirt back to its normal location. The injury wasn't noticeable at all behind the clothing and Saris got up to wash his hands as if nothing had happened.

Then, Saris grabbed a couple of large bowls and handed me one, along with the ice cream bucket; it was cookies and cream. After gathering spoons, he went to the next room and collected the games. There weren't many. The top of the stack held a chessboard with a bag of chess pieces and checkers pieces. Below that was a board for backgammon, followed by a classic Monopoly box. He set them on the table, then took a pack of playing cards from his pocket and set it on the table.

"So? What'll it be?"

These were all games that I knew well and was pretty good at. Most of the games, like most card games or either of the dice games had a fair amount of luck to them. But some also required you to make decisions. Monopoly was a game of money management and determining what was best to buy or pass was an important part of the game. Same with backgammon. The dice told you how you had to move, but you had to choose which pieces were best. Of all of the options, chess was the most strategic. I had played it a lot with my dad when I was younger. He had been a part of a chess club at his high school and had taught me the game, so I knew a lot more than most people did. Not that I was a pro, but I was pretty good.

"Let's do chess," I said confidently, wanting to impress Saris.

Without a word, he laid the board on the table between us and together, we set the pieces in order. I was white, so it was up to me how to start. I wanted to have a strong opening play, so I decided to go for the danish gambit, one of the few openings I knew that had strong plays. Saris took the bait. The goal was for me to sacrifice a couple pawns so I could have easier access to his side of the board with my other pieces. It also helped give me control over the board.

Saris' playstyle changed dramatically once the gambit had been done. I had control of the board, or so I thought. But then Saris began to make moves that didn't make sense to me. He didn't seem to be attacking, nor did it seem like he was focusing on taking control of the center of the board. Instead, it seemed like he was shifting the board's center by offsetting his pieces. I didn't know how he was doing it, but soon, none of my moves looked right anymore. They didn't seem to have any useful impact on the game, so I moved my focus to where Saris had moved his pieces, abandoning the center of the board.

I lost three moves later. The first two moves consisted of me losing the center and Saris gaining it without me realizing it. The second of those two moves, he put me in check while also putting himself in a better position. Then, on the third move, he mated me. I was dumbfounded. Usually, I see these kinds of things coming and can avoid them or counter them. If nothing else, I can see them at the last minute. But the way Saris played had me guessing almost every step of the way. I had to replay what he did just to realize what happened.

"Wow," I said. "You're really good."

"Thanks," he sat back in his chair, a satisfied grin on his face. I eyed him suspiciously and his grin disappeared. "What?"

"Why do I feel like this is either a test or another way to train?"

He smiled. "I was worried it would be too obvious."

I sighed. "Alright. What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing as far as chess goes."

"But?"

"Well, when we do leave, you'll need to make some decisions. Things don't play out like this very often." He gestured to the chess set. "Nothing's in a neat row and it's not one on one, it's a free for all."

"What about teams?" I countered.

"Even teams know that they'll have to turn on each other before the end."

"Alright. But that doesn't explain how I lost."

"You had the winning position for more than half of the game. If you stuck with it, you would have won. That's an advantage of playing white. You know every option your opponent has and can make the first move every time. Instead of reacting to moves, you're making the moves the other player has to react to. Your issue is that you don't know what to do with it. You get control of the board, then you freeze because you're afraid of losing that control."

"So, I just need to play more aggressively?"

Saris shrugged and pointed to the board. "Depends on the setup. In this game, yes. You gave me time to confuse you. In other words, you gave up the ability to act and you started to react to what I was doing. You fell for my bluff because you were looking for what I wanted to do next, not where you wanted me to be."

"That's...confusing," I admitted. I wasn't sure if I understood or not.

"Don't worry about it for now. Let's play a different game."

With my confidence busted, I wasn't sure what to do next. I was looking for a game that I could beat him at, but after the loss of chess, did I have a chance with any of these games? It made me wish we could do something that didn't rely on skill at all, like Candy Land. What was I doing? Games were supposed to be fun and I was making it all about winning, not playing. Shaking my head out of its stupor, I chose the next game, Monopoly.

In Monopoly, I avoided buying the cheapest properties, while Saris bought everything he could. He reasoned that "Every location has value and you can't choose where you land, so take what you can get." This resulted in me buying expensive properties that Saris rarely landed on and me landing on everything he bought over and over. It was the shortest game of Monopoly I had ever been in.

Backgammon was next. I had gotten doubles back to back when we started the game and I thought I finally had a win coming, but it turned into an utter loss when I got more than halfway around the board and Saris explained my error, "Your pieces need to work together so they aren't targets."

In Checkers, I kept making mistakes, irritated at Saris' winning streak and impossible strategy. But then it happened! I could take three of his pieces and gain the advantage! I jumped his chips, even a king, and sat back, smiling. My smile dropped when I saw the look on his face. He moved his piece and took out all but one of my remaining pieces. Saris explained his strategy, "You need to figure a way to force your opponent to make the first mistake. Sometimes you can do something that looks like a mistake, but will ultimately be a sacrifice for better gain."

Even playing cards was an utter failure. We played several games, cribbage, golf and poker to name a few. I fell for bluffs and was told about strategies in games that I thought were pure chance.

We kept playing games throughout the rest of the day and I didn't win any of them. At times, I became frustrated, but I kept telling myself that it was just a game and that I didn't have to win all the time; or in this case, any of the time. Saris only explained what I did wrong, or could do better, when I asked. He didn't gloat about winning and he always encouraged me to pick myself back up and try again. But by nightfall, I was ready to call it quits. Still, it didn't feel right to go out on a constant losing streak.

"If we get out of this game, we're gonna play a game I know I'll win at." I thought of playing video games and beating him at Super Smash Bros, like with my friends. I was getting more used to Saris as a person and not just a trainer or mentor. I also was starting to look up to him and wanted to impress him with what skills I had. But right now, I was frustrated with how badly he was beating me.

"How about one more game?" I asked.

"Sure. What do you want to play?"

I took the deck of cards and started shuffling. "War. Three rounds. Most cards at the end wins."

Saris laughed. "Alright."

"Can I ask you something?"

"You do realize that you've been asking questions since we've met, right?"

I shrugged. "Why teach me this? I mean, I get why you want me to be a good fighter, but tactics and planning? Doesn't that just give me more chances to use that against you?"

"Sure." He admitted. "But you'll learn them eventually and it's best if you know this stuff now. While it can be harmful to me, it could also be beneficial. You might see a better way to plan an attack or to hold a defense. I don't have all of the answers. Besides, if I can make my ally better than I am, then it makes sense that I can also get better. I'm willing to learn what I can to survive."

"Huh."

"What?"

I shook my head. "I guess it just wasn't the answer I was expecting."

"What did you expect?"

I thought for a moment, trying to find the right words. "Most people are selfish in a lazy sense. They'd rather win with the skill they already have by making others worse, instead of improving themselves. You're doing the opposite: growing other's skills to better your own. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah. And thanks. I think that's a big compliment."

The three rounds seemed to take longer than I thought they would. I was trying to keep track of our winning rounds to see who was ahead, but I had lost count somewhere. I managed to take a king from him, but he took two of my jacks during a tie round. When the game finally ended, we counted the cards and I had won my first game against Saris.