The frogman would have stood probably eight feet tall if his legs weren’t bent and his back hunched. He leaned forward because of the hunch, most of the weight on the legs. The feet were long with three spread out toes. The arms would have hung down to the knees, but were crossed in front of his chest, three fingers curled into fists. The face was wide and thin, the nose flat, the eyes large. Exactly how I would have pictured a humanoid frog.

  ANURA

  My Evaluate was as helpful as always. At least I knew what he was. I was assuming he was a he.

  The Anura wore a kind of overlapping scaled leather armor that was made in a way leaving the elbows and knees exposed, giving free range of motion. No armor on the hands or feet, no shoulder pauldrons. The armor looked thick and tough. A kind of strange brownish-green color that reminded me of a swamp.

  His coloring was bright green with spots of orange and tan down his neck and chest. At his waist was a long curved sword, not a style I’d seen before. A whip was coiled on the other side.

  “You bumped into me human,” he said, voice bubbling and ending in a slight croak. “You will apologize.”

  “Where I’m at, you bumped into me,” I said, looking up at him expectantly. “I’m waiting for my apology.”

  I really should have said ‘sorry’ and moved on, but the guy had bumped into me. As I replied the last moments, I was walking down the middle of the road, heading straight for the obelisk. I’d seen the people walking on the side, those walking the same direction but faster paced and those walking toward me. The Anura, and two of his bodies, who were currently a couple steps behind him and to the sides, not looking like they were flanking me but in position to, they’d been walking a couple steps to my left and the frog had purposefully stepped closer, probably hoping we’d bump shoulders.

  Or my shoulder would bump his chest as he was taller than me.

  Not my fault and I should have sucked it up and apologized. I had no idea who the guy was, or what Faction he belonged to. It could be an older and more powerful one. A higher tier Faction, to use the Challenge System terminology. I could be causing an international, intermultiversal?, incident without knowing it.

  But I didn’t like bullies, and this guy seemed like a bully.

  I also really didn’t want to set the precedent or appearance that Earth and Clan Howell were to be pushed around.

  “I’m still waiting,” I said.

  The Anura’s eyes widened, if that was possible. They were big to begin with.

  “Human, you are the offending party,” he said.

  “Not from where I’m standing. You purposefully walked into me.”

  “Do you have witnesses? Because I do,” he said, spreading his arms wide to indicate the two guys behind him.

  One of them had a bow and quiver across his back, long knife at his waist. The other had a very large two-handed club over his back. Her back? The head looked a little thinner and had some more shape to it than the bully. Neither of the two looked like they’d side with me.

  I sighed.

  “What are you trying to accomplish here?” I asked, seeing that we were starting to attract a crowd.

  I could see T’Slask at his stall, watching. And I noticed that he’d pulled that huge sword of his out of his inventory, the hilt sticking up over his shoulder. He was glaring at the Anura. Didn’t look like there was love between T’Slask and the frog people. There were a couple other people glaring at the Anura.

  Seemed not that many people liked them.

  The Anura’s wide mouth lifted at the corners, a long tongue darting out. The thing was smiling. And I’d thought T’Slask’s smile was scary. This thing’s smile was the stuff of nightmares.

  “Since you are showing yourself to be without honor,” the frogman started. “I have no choice but to challenge you to a duel in the arena.”

  Hadn’t I seen this in a movie once? Or a thousand times. It seemed pretty tropey.

  It was a pretty classic move. Want to gauge the strength of a newcomer? Get someone to fight them. I looked around the area, searching the various beings watching us. Some were curious, others were enjoying the show, a few looked worried, there were the glares at the frog guy, but none looked like they were appraising my reactions. If there was someone that had put the Anura up to this, either his Faction or some other one, they weren’t making it obvious.

  I turned back to the Anura. Might as well get this over with.

  “The what now?”

  He glared at me, getting angry.

  “Human…,” he started but I held up a hand stopping him.

  “You challenge me, blah, blah blah,” I said, purposefully laying it on thick. “Okay. When?”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  The Anura looked a bit shocked, glancing at the other two before turning back to me, no longer as sure of himself. I didn’t know what he was expecting, but my bravado wasn’t it.

  “You challenged me, so let’s go get it done with. I have stuff to do, you know. Very busy.”

  “You… what..,” he stammered, completely off balance.

  Whatever script he’d been working off of, I’d completely thrown it out the window.

  “Come on, how do we do this?”

  I spread my arms, looking at the Anura.

  “I’m waiting.”

  The Anura started to sputter. Was he really that stupid? I’d dealt with people before that had a plan in mind for interactions and when the plan didn’t go the way they wanted, it took them a bit to get back on the path. But this guy had easily been knocked way off the path. Maybe off the bridge and into the river, the current taking him downriver?

  I looked past him at the other two.

  “Either of you want to help out? Let’s get this scheduled. Do we go to the arena and get it scheduled? I’m new here, so how does this work? I mean, I wasn’t expected to fight a duel in my first week but here we are.”

  The Anura in front of me was getting angrier. His green skin was turning a bit red. The other two didn’t react, just glared at me. I refocused on the big guy.

  “Did you figure it out yet?” I asked. “You’re the one that challenged me, figured you’d know how all this works.”

  The Anura took what I figured as his species version of a deep breath, getting control of himself.

  “The Arena,” he said in that annoying bubbling voice, ending in a croak. “Two hours.”

  He turned, stalking away, interestingly in the direction that he’d come from. Just more proof that this was all a set-up. The other two followed along, none of the three looking back at me. I had hoped they would, just so I could wave at them. Not the one fingered kind since they probably wouldn’t understand what it meant.

  I sighed, shaking my head.

  Tammy was going to be pissed at me.

  But only had two hours, so no need to go and tell her yet.

  ***

  The Training District was really just one short street ending in a giant building that had to be the Arena. The architecture in this District was pretty singular. Unlike the other Districts, where each of the Factions had their own space and those spaces reflected their culture, this District didn’t reflect the differences. The Arena and buildings were all the same style.

  Not quite medieval castle, but pretty close. The blocks weren’t stone, some kind of metal, and there were no battlements, the roof’s still flat. Signs hung out over the entrances to each of the buildings. Different weapons and even some more of the ranged casting effects. Each building housed a specific kind of training.

  Walking down the street, I even saw one that had a fist. I stopped and peeked in the open door. It was a wide open space, bigger on the inside than the outside, filled with mats, punching bags and other assorted equipment. It was empty, for now, but looked like a place I’d come check out later.

  The Arena looked like it was three stories tall, the strange gray metal designed to look like columns along the outside. It was ugly. All the buildings here were ugly. What Faction and race had designed them? Was there a Faction or a race in charge of the Nexus? Had to be someone that ran it.

  Whoever it was, they could take some architecture lessons from the old Romans. The Colliseum? That was a thing of beauty. This was far from it.

  I walked through one of the openings and into some kind of lobby that ran the length of the building, looking like it followed the square shape. It was a wide corridor with obelisks every thirty feet or so. These were similar to the one outside the Tower portals. Probably the way to view the various Arena rankings. I was pretty confident that there would be rankings.

  This was the Celestial Challenge System, of course there would be rankings.

  I stood there, not sure where to go.

  “Lost?” a voice said from behind.

  I turned to see Sunie Teralei. He looked the same as earlier in the restaurant. Walking up, he stopped in front of me, smiling easily, gray eyes filled with laughter.

  “A duel in the first week of being in the Nexus,” Sunie said, shaking his head happily. “That has to be a new record.”

  “What can I say,” I replied, with a shrug. “I like to make an impression.”

  “That you do,” Sunie said, still smiling.

  I lost my smile as I thought of what his being there could mean.

  “So… uh… this duel.. It doesn’t affect..”

  “Great Tree, no,” he said, raising a hand and laughing. “Not at all. I’m here to be your second.”

  “Second?”

  I thought I knew what it meant. Duels hadn’t been a thing on Earth for decades before the Challenge System came and we became integrated. Duels started to show up, even Arenas, on Earth. A second was the person that backed up the duelist. Held the weapons and all that stuff. We didn’t do that on Earth.

  “I will stand by your side in the Arena, not to fight but to make sure the blasted Anura doesn’t cheat or his second doesn’t get involved.”

  “Ah, thanks for that,” I said. “Appreciate it.”

  “We are to be in the same party, Master Sumerio thought it best to send me.”

  “He’s not worried that being seen with me will adversely affect the Sunrise Formation?”

  “Not at all,” Sunie said, motioning to the left. “This way.”