Allen said goodbye to Mr Terry and made his way towards the Shack, he bumped into several people on the way, some were little children running about, Allen glanced up at the cave ceiling that had been modified with several lights that illuminated the city, there were also buildings integrated into the cave walls and all were occupied by Varken authorities known as DIRT.

The name was the term that citizens liked to call the authorities that supervised them not just for the sake of where they lived but in this underground world the guards were as untrustworthy and corrupt as the criminal leaders here.

Allen noticed through the glass frame of the buildings in the cave walls, a guard meeting up with an individual in a hood, the figure made sure to conceal itself as the stranger handed the guard a metallic round object. The guard grinned and nodded and suddenly he caught Allen's gaze and both the figure and the guard stared at the boy in a strange manner.

Allen's heart thumped against his chest loudly and slowly he turned his head away and just as he did a few birds flew by, no doubt escaped from a cage somewhere. Allen slowly glanced back upwards at the building and to his surprise no one was there, specifically the two individuals, a few other Varken guards passed by but the two were gone. It wasn't unusual to see suspicious activities here but he couldn't shake that strange feeling that run down his spine that whatever was going on was quite dangerous.

Allen decided not to dwell too much on what he saw as he continued to explore the city on his way to the Shack. All over people were yelling, shouting running, arguing and in a weird way it was pleasing to Allen. Allen glimpsed a white horse tied to a wooden post, he had rarely seen horses before, in fact this would've been his third time in his life encountering one. It glanced at Allen for a while, blinked rapidly then lowered its head to eat the hay that was dumped in front of it, it truly was a majestic creature.

Allen's attention was averted by a sudden loud cheer and he knew that it originated from the huge black dome that stood proudly in the middle of the city; this was the Shack. It was funny that such an establishment was placed in the middle of the city but then again, this city was mainly run by all forms of criminals even though they worked in the shadows.

Varken authorities carried out numerous investigations into the illegal activities that went on in the city but not much was done, the place was too big and though progress was made it was not that significant, occasionally gang leaders would be caught along with other criminals but the main players, those that truly ruled the criminal underworld always evaded capture.

Allen approached the huge black building, it resembled a big egg, no doubt a work of a Builder, it had no openings from the outside, no windows no other way in or out except through one doorway which was blocked by an android. Androids were another important factor of Varken, they were similar to Info Drones but carried out the more difficult activities like carrying huge loads or crates and others and were of late even used as guards to individuals of higher status. The Builders were definitely a huge asset to the city and one couldn't blame them for feeling far superior to anyone else.

The android resembled a human in a weird way but definitely wasn't, it's eyes glowed bright yellow and upon closer inspections one would've noticed the millions of thin lines that coursed its body. ''What is your purpose for this visit?'' the android said without even looking down on Allen.

''I am here to enjoy'' Allen said, it was a term used whenever one wanted to gain access to the Shack. The android moved aside automatically, Allen knew that the machine had already scanned him and informed various individuals inside the Shack that the son of a higher class citizen had ventured inside. Allen knew the stories of children kidnapped and sold to the highest bidder to be used as ransom but he had been doing this for as long as he could remember, he knew how to manoeuvre himself away from danger, something Damien had taught him.

Once he passed the doorway he was facing a huge crowd, one that was overlooking a huge arena. On the arena were two individuals fighting, clearly the battle must've been spectacular because around them was all sorts of debris and fire, Allen couldn't tell where all the debris came from but he had to focus on locating Damien. Allen sensed people staring at him and he knew he couldn't stay in one place for long. He made his way through the crowd, through yelling individuals, he knew that the Shack was in a way a huge maze, the place had been built in such a way that there were numerous passageways and turns so that individuals could find various locations to see the matches or escape if needed though in all honesty it was quite useless if there was only one way out.

''And Argon has gained the upper advantage in this match, it seems Red has finally exhausted himself, this could be Argon's chance to move into the finals and battle with the big leagues'' a voice sounded loudly as the crowd continually cheered. Allen remembered the name Argon, Damien was always ranting about how skilful Argon was, an individual from a different city, either he was a fugitive or a deserter but one thing that was certain about the individual was his fighting ability.

Argon had defeated many players before and so far was the rookie undisputed champ of the Shack, he had not lost a single battle and had quickly gained fame as he fought his way up to the top fighters in the Shack, Damien was invested in Argon, he was his number one fan. Allen finally spotted Damien amongst the crowd on a higher floor level, where the view was all the more spectacular. Allen yelled Damien's name but of course he couldn't hear his friend with such noise erupting in the place. Allen began making his way towards Damien, he had to push his way past big sweaty people to get to him.

All the while in the battle arena, the fight thundered on as both opponents swung their blades at each other, each with the intent to kill, that was the number one rule required in the Shack, all matches were all out, no hesitation, no mercy, it was a death match. Allen looked just in time to see Argon skilfully dodge a ghastly swing as he rolled out of Red's way. The cheer continued to roar as Allen continued to move his way to the upper seats that were even more occupied no doubt with dangerous individuals.

Finally, as if an answer to his prayer Allen heard Damien calling him ''Hey Skinny!'' Damien waved, Allen hated the nickname Damien had called him ever since they first met mostly because it was very accurate, he wasn't all that skinny or fragile but compared to the built Damien he was the perfect description. Allen rolled his eyes ''I told you not to call me that'' he complained as he reached Damien, he was with a couple of other boys Allen knew but wasn't all that fond of.

Damien laughed slapping him on his back ''Sure skinny whatever you say, stop messing around, see I told you Argon was going to be the one, see the way he's playing Red'' he pointed exactly as Argon suddenly performed a grip lock on Red as he wrapped his arms around his neck and squeezed tightly. Allen cringed knowing what was going to happen next and next thing he knew a loud crack was heard and the match was over, the previous champ Red was dead and the crowd cheered as loud as ever for the new and uprising champion.

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