Page 110 of Dragon Me Through Space

How had they found these creatures when my planet was destroyed? And why? Why did they have one of my literal nightmares here?

“You alright?” Jolan asked.

“I-I c-can’t,” I said between strangled breaths.

If I fell in, I was dead. Defeating a lusca was impossible.

“We’re all going to die,” I panted.

Vicky scoffed. “Coward.”

“We can’t fall,” I said and looked at Jolan. “If we fall into the water with them, we’ll die.”

“I think you’re overreacting,” Jolan said. “The creatures they put in here are never too difficult to defeat.”

Shaking my head and swallowing hard, I said, “These ones are. They’re apex predators from my home planet. They should be extinct. I-I don’t know how they obtained them when it’s destroyed, though, but that doesn’t matter. We have to keep from falling in at all⁠—”

A woman on the far end lost her grip and fell into the water.

“The first contestant has fallen! Can she defeat the lusca and advance to the next round?”

The crowd cheered for her as the announcer spoke.

I swallowed hard and waited for the inevitable.

The woman surfaced and gasped for air, but the next second, a large tentacle wrapped around her torso and pulled her under the water.

Gasps sounded all around us.

Breathing was impossible. I could only stare.

The next second, red filled the water and a feeding frenzy started among the other lusca.

“No!” someone screamed.

“Wh-What?” Vicky asked, her eyes wide.

“She’s dead,” Jolan whispered as he stared at the surging, red water.

“This isn’t right,” Vicky snapped. “The predators aren’t supposed to be that vicious! I’m out of here!” She started moving along the bar, crowding a small woman who was trying to hang on.

“Stop! Stop, you’re going to make me fall!” she cried out.

Vicky didn’t listen, focused solely on escaping, and she fell into the water as Vicky used her for leverage to move faster over the bar.

As soon as she fell, she released her wings, flapping as hard as she could to gain altitude, but one of the lusca’s tentacles wrapped around her leg and pulled her back down and into the water.

Chaos ensued.

Several of the contestants released their wings and flew away, others began making their way down the bar, and a couple more fell into the water.

I followed the ones moving down the bar, but there was a blockade of some type at the end, preventing people from getting off.

Someone kicked my stomach at the same time someone else punched me in the face.

My grip slipped and I saw Vicky’s satisfied smile as I began to fall towards the water.

This was it.