Five thousand competitors had been dumped into this arena.

They had been given maps, teams, and a lucky few even had weapons.

They had been told that they could kill each other, and whatever else may come their way.

They hadn't been told how to beat the floor.

Eliza stared down at her map in frustration, standing in the middle of the beautiful forest side of the arena. Nowhere on the map could she find some sort of obvious "go here and defeat some sort of challenge to move on to the next floor" place. From this she deduced that this wasn't the sort of tournament where one had to get from one place to the other. And despite the ability to kill other competitors, the goal was to reach the thirteenth floor, not be the last one standing.

She just wasn't sure how to get past the first floor.

Exasperated, she took off in a random direction, eyes glued to the map. With nothing but the same trees and flowers and plants for all around, it was hard to figure out where in the beautiful-yet-dangerous, or light side of the map, she was.

It didn't help her mood that she, at that moment, tripped over a rock and landed herself face-first into a tree trunk.

Pinpricks of pain shot through her face as the rough bark scraped her forehead and left cheek. In her attempt to save herself from the fall with her hands, she ended up with her palms loaded with splinters.

Eliza pushed herself away from the tree, groaning. She glared at it, the cheery green leaves dancing in the sweet-scented wind as if mocking her. "Why thank you, mr. Tree," she complained to the plant, "I so very much needed to admire you up close."

At that point, as if in response, the tree just happened to receive a particularly jostling breeze through it's canopy, and an over-ripe orange fell from the top. It fell to Eliza's boots and splattered all over, throughly coating them in orange and green muck.

She kicked out her legs in disgust, trying to shake off the sticky remains. "Thank you, so very much, Mr. Tree. I really needed that!"

The tree chose— wisely in Eliza's opinion— not to offend her further.

"I see that you and the tree are having an argument."

Eliza whirled around, startled by the oddly familiar voice. "Zola!" She exclaimed.

Indeed, the knight stood there leaning against a tree, a smile playing across her lips. "I hope that I'm not interrupting."

Eliza gave a brief chuckle. "It's— it's not important." She shook her head in awe. "But— Zola, how did you even find me?"

Zola furrowed her brow in confusion. "I used the map. You can ask it to locate others on your team." She pulled a slip of paper out from some pocket she had in her pale fur armor. "I have been tracking you since the dragon attack this morning. You kept going further and further away, so it took a while to reach you." The knight unfolded her map and held it out to Eliza.

Eliza stumbled over and accepted the map. It looked exactly like her own, with one small difference.

There were little diamonds, three to be precise, in certain locations on the map. Two of them were on the light side of the map and very close together— she assumed those were Zola and herself. "So this is how you found me... But how did you get the map to show you this?"

"You just ask it for team locations," Zola explained. 

Eliza unfolded her parchment. "Map," she told it, and waited until the illustration had finished drawing itself. "Team locations."

Then, as if mirroring Zola's map, three small black diamonds appeared on the image.

Suddenly she felt a strong pat on the back that nearly made her stagger off her feet. "I am sorry that I did not show that to you earlier, my friend," Zola said, shaking her head in dismay. "But I am glad that I found you. We must stick together, no?"

Zola gave her a smile, and Eliza reciprocated it until she recalled her plan. She turned away. "Actually... I can't."

The knight frowned. "What do you mean?"

Eliza folded up her map and put it away in her pocket again. "I... I'm going solo."

Zola kicked off from the tree and stormed over to her, standing in front of Eliza. "Do not give me such nonsense. We stick together. Otherwise, we end up like Ajax."

Eliza wanted to turn away again but she felt trapped by the knight's stern glare. "Ajax died because of me! It was my fault! If I had been more insistent and made him run instead of running away myself, he would be alive! And Nox too! Both of them are dead because of me." She felt a wetness develop in her eyes. "All I'll do is get you killed too, so it's safer for me to be alone."

Zola swiftly twirled her spear and stabbed it into the ground. With her hands free, she planted them on Eliza's shoulders. "Eliza," she said firmly, voicing the name slowly with her thick accent. "Ajax did not die because of you. The elf man died because he was trying to be a silly hero facing down a dragon. You were smart to run. You were smart to remind me and Nox to run. Do not blame yourself for Ajax."

Eliza couldn't bring herself to meet Zola's eyes, and so instead opted to stare at her boots. "And Nox."

Zola cocked her head. "What?"

"Nox. He's dead too."

The knight let her head drop in exasperation as she released Eliza and put her hands on her hips. "You thought Nox dead too?" She let out a chuckle. "No, Eliza. The vampire boy is not dead." Eliza finally brought her eyes up to Zola's. "He's... Not? But... He disappeared from the team roster."

Zola shook her head. "Yes. A person will disappear from the roster if they are hiding or asleep. It is so that thsy cannot be tracked— as other competitors can find you using this when you are visible on the map. The drawback is that your own teammates are unable to find you as well. I heard theories from a couple of friendly competitors that the map also hides you when you are in places close to beating the arena— but never mind that. You must have checked the roster when Nox was hiding or sleeping. I checked it just last hour and he was there." She gave a confused grin. "Did you not see the third diamond on the map? That was Nox. Poor vampire boy has got himself hopelessly lost in the dark side of the map." She reached out and grasped the shaft of her spear. "But you and I, we can find him. Then we can continue on as a team. Then we can beat this tournament!"

Relief flooded her at knowing that Nox lived, but... "That sounds wonderful, Zola, but I can't. I'm better off on my own." She shook her head. "You should find Nox. Considering how clumsy he is, he could really do with your help."

Zola released her spear shaft and threw her arms out in frustration. "Eliza! We could do with your help too! I don't know the first thing about vampires. You don't seem to know the first thing about navigating. We learn from each other. That is what a team is. That is why we need to stick together."

Ekiza felt terrible about what had happened to Ajax because of her, and she did want to learn from Zola... But she wasn't sure yet. "Maybe you're right... But I need some time to think. I need to sort myself out. Then once I have, I can actually be an asset to the team."

Zola sighed, her patience wearing thin. "Fine, Eliza, do what you want. I'm tired of arguing. But let me give you something first."

Eliza sighed and halted, letting Zola catch up with her and face her. The knight reached over her shoulder and withdrew her round wooden shield. "Take this. If you are going to go gallivanting off on your own, then I want you to at least have some way to defend yourself."

Eliza debated denying the shield, but... I also really sort of do need some way to protect myself. Won't do very much good against a dragon, but if I run into anyone else out here... She took the shield with both hands and studied it. The front had been painted with camouflage colors of varying shades of green and black— that would be helpful in hiding against a dragon, at least. Protruding from the center was a small, sharp bronze spike of about eight inches, which could be useful for bashing someone at close range.

A surprisingly useful shield.

She tried putting her hand through the grip on the inside. "Thank you, Zola."

Zola nodded. "I give you this in exchange for one thing."

Eliza was still studying the patterns on the front. "What?"

Zola gripped Eliza's shoulder with her free hand, forcing Eliza to meet her gaze. "You promise me you won't die."

She nodded. "I'll certainly try my best."

The knight withdrew her hand and gripped her spear with it. "You promise me another thing." Eliza didn't bother to ask what, and so Zola spoke again. "If you ever need me, you use that map, and you find me. Even if you are alone, do not break from the team. That way, when you need us, we can help you."

Eliza nodded. She hadn't known that it was even possible to break from the team, but she suspected that Zola wasn't about to volunteer how to tell her how. "I promise," she agreed.

Zola, finally seeming satisfied, started to turn away. "Good. Do not forget your promises, Eliza."

She stood there, still absorbing her decision and the words that had been spoken. "Are you going to find Nox?" She asked before the knight could leave.

Zola paused. "No. He can figure things out on his own. Having just me and him without you would make for too much stupid in the area. I'd need you to help balance it out."

Eliza chuckled despite herself. "Yeah, well, let's just hope that he's smart enough not to get himself eaten by some monster too quickly."

Zola responded with only a sorrowful nod, before continuing on her way.

Taking a deep breath, Eliza did the same.

As she walked, she pulled out her parchment and commanded it to become a map. Careful not to walk into any more trees, she studied it and the movement of the little black diamonds. The two that had been close to together now slowly drifted apart, and Eliza appeared to be headed towards the border of the map.

Darn, now where do I go? She mentally muttered, recalling that she still had no plan whatsoever. Well... I guess I could check out what the border looks like. After all, it is very close...

Decided, mostly because it gave her something to do, she started towards the end of the arena. The trees became sparser in density as she drew nearer, allowing her to get glimpses of what lay ahead. It seemed pale, and solid, like a wall of stone... But not quite.

She broke through the trees, and it became apparent that the arena was walled in by a massive, sheer stone cliff.

Three other things also became apparent.

Firstly, the wall cliff looked about a thousand feet high.

Secondly, just over the top, she could barely make out some sort of... Gate.

And third, there was a massive, long, scaly, white tail draping over the edge of the cliff. 

~~~~~

So... Eliza's trying to tackle this thing alone with nothing but a really sweet shield. What would you do in her place? Any thoughts on how one defeats an arena? I'd love to hear these things! Please comment and remember to vote if you liked!