Flames are the ambition of man.
It is said when God brought life to earth, he gave them warmth— warmth from a distant star.
A beacon.
A symbol.
A light.
But eventually— with burning ambition — man created a fire. Innovation, the trait that separated humanity from all other life forms. Naturally that ambition to create grew and grew, until one day the fire that man created could be used to reach the distant star promised to them.
Realistically humanities escape from earth would have been slow, ecological, bureaucratic. First reach one destination like the earth's moon, then build. Next mars, build, move onto the next destination.
But over time a tale— or sentiment— had grown. That only two people initially escaped from the dying earth. A man and a woman. The sole two survivors. They were forced to either die with the planet curated for them, or ignite the rocket engines themselves and leaves earth scarred forever.
07 days until Riko Rexton's death
Tears have a unique sound, even despite everyone's slightly differing. Some weep. Some slobber as if their tears are drowning them. Some make no noise at all.
Humanities science had stretched out all across the galaxy but somehow still the announcer's mic was choppy, distorted.
But the only sound Riko noticed came from the small washroom located at the corner of the room. The sound was quiet, easy to miss hidden behind the barks of the crowd not too distant from there. The same crowd noises also came from the collection of screens across the room, creating an annoying echo that they had all grown used to.
Yet, Riko couldnt help but notice the damp inhales, each one sharp and harsh. followed by a slight sniffle, then an extra inhale straight through the mouth to really ensure the air they had claimed met the lungs.
Then a voice played in his.
"It's because you're a good boy Riko."
The voice was distant; aged within his mind, yet still played through clear. Much clearer than any speaker or microphone recording.
Damn woman.
You're really gonna haunt me for the rest of my life.
He smiled to himself.
Riko sighed, dropping his attention from the fight and walked across the room. He leaned back against the washroom door, then slowly drifted down sitting back against it.
with his head this close he was one hundred percent sure.
Lumi was crying.
"I said to leave me alone, Rune." she sniffled.
Riko dropped his head back against the wall creating a small thud.
"Can't say I've ever heard a princess cry before." Riko said with a light hmph.
Lumi softly laughed across the door.
"Oh great, a pirate comforting me."
Another small thud could be heard as Lumi also leaned her head against the door.
The screen flashed a yellow light so bright it shot beneath the toilet door. Distant-Death was using the same tactic again.
This time they were fighting on a glacier. Sharp ridges of ice, turning everything into a mirror. This battleground may have been even better suited to Distant-Death than the desert.
"Weird Sylvia they are using a fodder mech, you would have thought Full-Summer would be up to shape by now." Riko said.
"You think that fire star aspect could beat the sniper?" Lumi replied.
Now that they weren't operating in the fight the screens displayed every angle of the action. There were multiple feeds of both mechs movements, which really highlighted how efficient Huda's movements were.
Distant-Death was almost always on the move. They would set up decoys both by firing them and just laying them as they moved around.
"My uncle always used to say people glorify star aspects too heavily." Riko said. " What makes a good pilot is efficiency. People who use star aspects tend to over rely on them, or sometimes even just build the mech around that one gimmick."
Veig's fight was still playing through her head. She analysed and analysed.
"Is that why you aimed for the cockpit… for efficiency?"
Riko had been asked similar questions to that multiple times over the last few days. Each time he replied it was blunt, detached.
However this time there was subtlety to his reply.
"Yeah." He let out softly.
This new sylvian mech on display was distinctly average military grade, mass produced, cost friendly. Both choices of melee and a ranged weapon. Most mechs are marked by their pilots, but marking one those standard mechs was looked down upon. They were expendable.
"When you asked how to shift without lag." He said still with the same soft tone. "There's this feeling I have— like a belief, like I was made to do this. I was born to fight. Born to be a pilot."
He looked up towards the screen. Distant-Death slowly walking towards its dying prey on the floor.
"I guess I'm not different from a mech."
Weirdly Lumi felt as if she could hear his smile from those words.
"I can't tell if you're conflicted or if you have everything figured out." She said laughing under breath.
Distant-Death was now looming over the Sylvian mech.
*BANG*
Suddenly the lights flashed red.
But it wasn't a bullet.
An explosion.
All the feeds cut apart from one distant location near the crowd in the stands.
The Sylvian mech had self-destructed, turning itself into a bomb. The explosion was so destructively large it cut off the holograms used to generate the arena. Leaving a blank room of white engulfed in hungry fire.
"Looks like someone might have taken your title of the craziest ending to fight." Lumi said.
It took a couple of minutes for the fire to completely die out.
Riko never took his eyes off those flames. The harder he stared into them the closer they burned. He felt warmth coming from them.
Those weren't regular flames…
That was like before with Full-Summer.
Never mechs could be seen anymore— just a pile of dust on the white floor.
" Riko Rexton, make me a promise." Lumi said. "From now on, you don't fight to die. You fight to live."
Suddenly Riko fell back against the floor as the door was randomly pulled open. Lumi stood over him, staring into his eyes.
"That was already the deal I made."
"Yeah but this time it's a promise." She's reached out her pinky finger.
"Fine, I didn't realise you're so childish."
Their pinky's locked.
The draws appeared on the screen once again.