Brandon the Magnificent was something of a local legend around the city. Just the mention of his name had a tendency to change the mood of even the most pleasant conversation. It also made getting any information about the man almost impossible. It was getting close to dark, and they still didn't know any more than they had at lunchtime.

"We're going to need someplace to stay soon." Jophiel said, looking up at the sky.

"You're right." Alaina agreed glumly. It seemed ludicrous to go inside as soon as the sun went down, but it was the only warning the doctors had given them – the only thing they'd been truly concerned about.

"Just... give me a few more minutes." Cole said.

"We don't have a few more minutes." Jophiel told him. "We don't know the layout of the city, and we don't have time to wander around in the hopes of finding a suitable hotel."

"I know..." Cole trailed off. Then, he brightened. "Ok – how about this? You two find us a place to sleep, and I'll ask around a little bit more on my own."

"That's ridiculous." Jophiel scoffed. "How would we meet up with you once we found a place?"

"Meet back here in ten minutes?" Cole asked.

"It'll be dark by then." Jophiel shook his head.

"Then five." Cole shot back. "Because no offense, but this Brandon the Magnificent clearly isn't exactly a popular guy. And I think having an obvious do-gooder such as yourself standing next to me when I ask about—"

He was cut off by the sound of alarms blaring throughout the city. Alaina covered her ears and looked around. Up on the corner of one of the buildings, she could see what looked like two small speakers, angled out to the street in order to create maximum noise.

"Well, I guess that solves that." Jophiel said triumphantly, but his heart didn't really seem to be in it.

Cole grumbled something that was drowned out by the sirens.

Alaina turned towards the first promising building she saw – another towering behemoth with double glass doors at the front. Inside, there was a large, black marble desk that a young lady was standing behind.

"Hi," Alaina said, flashing her most pleasant smile. "Do you know of a place near here where we could stay for the night?"

"Oh, you can't go out there now!" The young woman looked aghast. "The sirens have already started – it means there's been a sighting..."  Then brightening, she said, "Besides, it's almost past curfew."

"Then what do you suggest?" Alaina asked.

"Well..." the woman looked down at some sort of screen in front of her. "Normally, we'd have a spare room or two here that you could use. But today we're all filled up, what with the big event and all."

"The big event?"

"Oh, yes! I'm not really supposed to say..." she trailed off before leaning in closer to Alaina and excitedly whispering, "But the big-wigs here in the city have organized a kind of competition!"

"A competition?" Alaina asked as the woman giggled with glee. "What kind of competition?"

"Oh... it's... a bit of a fighting thing." the woman whispered.

"Really?" Cole asked, brightening. Alaina didn't realize he'd come up so close behind her.

"Yeah..." the woman nodded. "It's got all the floors on the upper rooms booked up for the next week."

"The rooms on the upper floors?" Alaina asked. "What about the rooms on other floors?"

"Oh, you can't take those! Those are for the combatants!"

"What if we just say we're combatants?" Cole asked, grinning wickedly. "You know – just join for the night. Then when the time comes, we can sort of... disappear."

"Oh... well..." the woman faltered. "I guess we could do that..."

"Excellent." Cole beamed. The woman pressed a bunch of buttons, watching the screen in front of her as she did. A few minutes later, she looked up at Cole triumphantly.

"So, three rooms, all next to each other." She handed Cole three small cards, barely glancing at Alaina and Jophiel as she did. "The fighting starts tomorrow, so make sure you stay out of sight until the building's cleared out. You should be fine to leave after lunch."

"Thank you." Cole said, taking the keys and passing them around.

***

Alaina knew the lady at the front desk had said the upper floors were all booked up, and that was disappointing – she'd never had a room in a building so tall before, and she'd been kind of looking forward to the view. But even knowing that she'd have a room on one of the lower levels hadn't prepared her for the one she'd apparently been assigned. It was three floors underground, and about half the size of her bedroom back home.

She spent almost ten minutes in the room before the claustrophobia got to her and she quickly let herself out again. Their inability to find Brandon coupled with the minuscule size of the room had her starting to wonder if she'd bitten off more than she could chew. She needed to get out of here for a minute, to take a break.

She walked up the stairs, back to the ground floor. There was a fairly large room off to the side that was filled with clusters of coffee tables and chairs. No one was in there, but it didn't look like it was being cordoned off or anything. She decided to go sit near one of the windows.

There was a table stretching along the far wall, stacked with cups, saucers, and three large carafes. She grabbed the one labeled 'tea' and poured herself a cup before walking to the chair she'd picked out for herself.

She was about halfway through her drink when a muscle-laden behemoth with bright green hair strolled confidently into the room. She saw Alaina and made her way over.

"Hey," the green-haired woman said, nodding casually.

"Uh... hi." Alaina said, sounding much more hesitant than she would have liked.

"So what brings you to town?"

"Well..." Alaina said slowly. She wasn't sure how to answer that. Finally, she decided to just go with the truth. What did she have to lose? "Honestly, I'm not really sure. I just... woke up here."

"Really?" The woman laughed loudly. "So you're one of the fighters then. No offense, you don't really look like you'll be making it past round one."

"I... a fight... oh..." Alaina wasn't really sure what to say to that. It was almost definitely true, but that still didn't make her feel better about the fact.

"Still disoriented?" the woman asked, sounding strangely sympathetic. "Don't worry – my first couple of fights, when I woke up in the new city, I was the same way."

"You're a fighter?" Alaina asked before she could stop herself. Although, she probably could have guessed that just based on the sheer size of the woman.

"Sure am." The woman thumped her chest proudly. "Name's Peri."

"Alaina." Alaina replied. "So you're going to fight tomorrow in the... thing?"

"In the ring? Sure am. Been doing it almost four years now. Got my big break from Brandon the Magnificent himself."

"You did?" Alaina had been about to admit that she wasn't a fighter – that this woman had been right about her. But the mention of the elusive Brandon stopped her. Maybe if she played along, she could get a little information out of Peri.

"I've heard of Brandon the Magnificent, but I don't know much about him." she said, hoping the woman would take the hint. She did.

"You don't? He's the hero of the city – practically of the whole world."

"Why's that?"

"Well, he built the wall that protects us from the invaders that come at night."

"Invaders?" Alaina found herself asking. Was that what the sirens had been all about? The sighting that the concierge had alluded to?

"They're not just any invaders." Peri said defensively. Apparently, Alaina hadn't looked as terrified by the prospect as she should have. "They're... of the undead variety."

Oh, yeah. Alaina had definitely bitten off more than she could chew.