Page 44 of Wild Hunt
Loki
The third day of the Games came out of nowhere. To be fair, I’d spent most of the previous days partying, so everything was a bit of a blur. Nonetheless, I wasn’t worried. The first two trials were a cinch and we barely broke a sweat. Even though Hades and Fenrir were still indulging their petulant feud, the competition wasn’t stiff and we didn’t need to be a united front.
Yet.
When the fourth years came into the mix, that would change, but I could only hope having to work together all day would soothe the tensions somewhat.
So far, we’d taken everything in a clean sweep. Discus, hand-to-hand combat, maze running. The final event of the day was a wild card, but I wasn’t worried. The only team left was Arius, Caius and Baldr. All brawn and no brains. If the final challenge was a head-to-head battle, it wouldn’t last long and if it was a puzzle, well… that would be a massacre.
Thor came to the edge of the arena, looking out over the remaining contestants with impartiality. “You’ve all done well so far,” he said, finally glancing my way. “As it stands, Loki, Fenrir and Hades would take the day regardless of their performance in this challenge, but the judges have decided to change things up this year.”
Hades and Fenrir both looked at me, as if I had any idea what was up my brother’s sleeve. He never gave me any preferential treatment. Quite the opposite, and he made sure everyone knew it. Whatever he was planning, I could be sure of one thing: it was designed to fuck me over.
“This will be a weighted challenge, meaning that whomever wins will be the victor for the day,” Thor continued once he’d built up enough tension.
“What?” Hades snapped. “That’s absurd. We’ve never done it this way before.”
“If you’re so confident in your abilities, you shouldn’t be concerned,” Thor answered smugly.
The other team was preening with excitement now that they thought they finally had a chance.
No matter. We’d shut them down before and now was no exception. There was absolutely no way we were missing the finals. Not with Chronus watching.
“This challenge will be a simulation designed to test your abilities in the real world,” said Thor. “As such, the objective is a bit different. You’ll be loaded into a disaster scenario and tasked with rescuing as many victims as possible. The team who’s saved the most people and prevented the most damage in the span of ten minutes wins.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered under my breath.
“He’s doing this just to fuck with us,” Hades accused.
“No shit,” I shot back. “Then again, you’re used to playing rescue hero, so it shouldn’t matter.”
He shot me a filthy look as we took our places in the arena and the grid came up overhead. The audience disappeared along with my brother, but not before he issued a smirking, “Good luck.”
The simulation appeared around us along with the chilled air biting at my skin. We were in the middle of a city that looked like a knockoff of Atlantis, crystal buildings fallen in decay all around us. The panicked screams and moans of agony made it clear plenty were trapped in the rubble.
The other team set off toward the north, using their powers to move the rubble. With a telekinetic on their side, they were definitely at an advantage. Our collective powers were far more suited to destruction than salvation.
“How the fuck are we supposed to do this?” Hades muttered.
“Maybe Fenrir can sniff the people out,” I suggested.
“I can’t shift,” he reminded me. “My senses are duller in this form.”
“Then we’ll have to do it the old fashioned way,” I said, charging in to the nearest mass of rubble and chaos. As I began pulling away rocks, the others finally joined in. It was slow going, and we’d only managed to rescue three people in the time it had taken the others to save six.
“Shit,” Hades growled, looking back. “We’re going to lose.”
“Focus,” I snapped. “If we don’t take this seriously and pretend it’s real, wewilllose.”
As Fenrir hefted a massive rock across the road, an idea occurred to me. “I’m going to shift.”
“Into what?” Hades demanded.
I ignored his question and pushed off the ground, taking into the air in the form of a black hawk. As I soared overhead, I could see far more clearly. There was a leaning building in the distance that hadn’t quite collapsed. There were almost certainly people inside. Probably even enough to turn the tables of this challenge.
I let out a shriek to urge the others to follow and landed on a nearby ledge. The panicked screams coming from inside told me the gamble was about to pay off, assuming we could work together long enough to pull it off.
“Holy shit,” Hades muttered. “Good find.”
