Waves of roars crash into my eardrums, snapping back to the reality of my situation. I am alone, and I will need to be convicted in order to survive.
They bring out the first set of slaves and the fighting begins. I buried my head into my thighs hiding from the horrors that may be beyond my cage. The screams of the living and the howls of the dead filled the arena. The tearing of flesh and the crushing of bone. I could hear it all. I wouldn't dare look up.
I feel a splash of warm, sticky liquid splatter all over my body, I begin to remove my head from my man-made cocoon and see that a dead man lay where the grates were. And his blood was all on me. I feel my stomach repulse as I get up to a corner to vomit. The anxiety, nausea, rage and fear all caused this. I sit back down after the guards forced me back to my zone. It had been a few rounds now and we numbered less than half, the crowd began to subside, possibly due to boredom or they just had their fill.
“Get up, It's your turn.” said one of the knights, Grabbing me by the shoulder and thrusting me into the bloody arena. Mangled corpses, severed limbs, pools of blood in a brown sand field. It made my stomach twist and turn again.
“What if my opponent does this to me?.” I thought of running, hiding. However, there was only me there. For now.
The doors of the gate ahead began opening. Who would my opponent be? Maybe a banished knight or a disgraced ronin. I am sure I am prepared for whatever they are going to throw at me.
Out came the young child that sir Hao had taken care of. He looked at me, with eyes white as a full moon and a look I have never seen before.
“No,no,no,no,NO!” I shouted. I am not going to hurt this innocent child. My eyes moved up to where the lord was sitting. He gave us a cold stare, one of someone expecting a performance.
A piercing pain shot up my shin, I reflexively swat away whatever was there and I saw the young child fall to the floor and a dagger stuck in my shin, blood oozing out of it. My heart began beating faster, growing in beats alongside rage.
The kid shoots back, with no regards for his safety. My hands swung down and I began beating him. Why would he try to hurt me? He brought this upon himself. Surely I am not wrong. Am I?
“I'm sorry, Sir” He whimpered through his broken teeth, his face battered from my relentless and ruthless volley of punches. I slow down my punches and hold back and look at what I had down.
However in that moment of stoppage, the kid stabbed me again in the side. An Electric current shocked my body, sending my nerves into a mix. I felt it tear through my muscle and cut through my skin. Surely it pierced something. The pain made me tear up. That fucking bastard was going feel it tenfold. I look back down at him and he is smirking as he tries to slither away. But he wasn't gonna leave my grasp now.
I continue wailing, now with all the force in my body. I don't care what happens to this little shit. The roars of the crowd came back to life as they witnessed the massacre. These monsters enjoyed seeing the helpless being preyed on. And I fed their filthy desire. Everyone last one was an animal. But I was worse.
The end of the match was signaling as all remained of the child was a barely living husk. I went back into myself and secluded into a corner. Every slave, worker, servant and knight in that room looked at me with disgust and disdain. But there was nothing to stop me from leaving this hellhole.
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The rest of the matches went by like a daze, muffled sounds of screams talking and shouts all devolved into nothing. I sat there shaking and contemplating what I had done. I took that kid's life. He died because of me. Those thoughts were beginning to break me from the inside out. A storm of emotions. Waves of crashing memories. Every Touch, every speck of blood. It was all too vivid. I felt it all over again. Agonising , horrid pain.
“Get up, The lord has ordered you to be the closing fight, for a filthy slave and traitor you will serve well for entertainment.” Said a knight, his metal greaves pressing against my arms. They hoisted me up, opening up my semi-closed and stitched wounds. The pain was nothing like the one in my head. They escorted over to the gates which opened up to see that the coliseum only grew bloodier. I look around and see that I was brought in first. I began vomiting at the sight of the child's body rotting in the corner, even further damaged from further rounds of fighting. The crowd began laughing at the sight of me vomiting. I don't know what I need to do but I have to survive.
The gates opened once more and I had filled myself with conviction once more. Out came a pale man with dirty golden locks and pale white skin. They removed something from him as his chains were being undone and a flash of cold, white light emanated. A knight came near him and he began snickering and laughing.
He was a giant amongst men. I didn't even know if he was human but alas this was no concern as he began walking in.
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“I am Volkyr, One blessed by Ullr The winter goddess' ' He proclaimed as he began raising his arms for the crowd. On his chest was a line of words, Ethereal and almost like they are not there. It read, “Breath of Wind ''. I had no idea what it meant or for what purpose he had it for.
“Face my might and do not cower. I SHALL BE THE VICTOR” The crowd roared back at him, as if acknowledging his victory before the match even began. This was going to be a tough opponent. The air around him swirled, his tattoo glistening like lonely stars twinkling across his chest, his aura emanated as he turned his gaze towards me.
“Allow me to set the stage” He said as he cocked his head back, his tattoo glowing ever brighter as he took a deep breath in. I pull out Sir Hao’s dagger from my inner waistband, holding it with both hands and shaking from the sudden drop in temperature around me.
A wave of cold, white snow floods the arena before I cam react. Ice particles pricking every inch of my skin and causing me to bleed from everywhere. My eyes were scratched, my ears were clogged and all around me was nothing but snow. What caused this? Was this sir hao called a “Heavenly Phrase”?. It didn't matter for now. All I can do is run till this snow settles.
“You are more resilient than i expected, But those eyes don't suit a weakling like you” He scoffed out, looking annoyed as the snow covered the ground. Whatever that wasn't covered was now frozen. Piles of corpses now turned into ashes from a tundra and lakes of frozen blood were formed. He looked eerily blue, as if the snow was freezing his innards as well. I begin charging at him, dagger in hand. Maybe this moment of weakness of his would be my victory
Crack!. I felt the right side of my face heat up and burn as I began rolling to the right side. I held onto the dagger with all my strength. I can't lose. Not Now. I try to get up by i feel my ribs stick of my left side.
“Abhorrent Weakling,” He spat in my direction and faced the sky, cupping his hands as if to pray, completely ignoring my presence. I began hastily limping towards him holding my chest with one hand and the dagger in the other.
‘THIS IS THE MIGHT OF Ullr!. Oh my sweet queen. I shall leave this land and join with you once again in our land of white, Oh sweet bless-” I sink my dagger deep into his back as he winces and wails with pain. But to my utter horror, he gets up and turns towards my leaking body.
“You abhorrent beast, i shall tear you limb to limb and sacrifice your heart to my pur-” His sentence was cut short as the dagger began pouring something into his body, like a water bottle taped onto dam, it started to overflow his body and with his last words exclaims
“YOU DAMN BAS-” His body exploded, throwing bits and pieces of him all around the stadium. The crowd hollered like nothing beforehand, this sight of gore and blood and action was something they hadn't seen, a bloodthirsty group of noble with no shred of dignity getting off at the sight of death and gore.
“Well done, you have given us an excellent show, my heart hasn't beaten like that in years. As promised you shall be awarded freedom, now go to the sidelines” the lord of the house proclaimed. I was carried over to the edge of the arena, where the servants were on standby.
“Knights Irryo and Hiti. Please approach.” Said the Page. Two knights came down the flight of stairs into the audience arena, slightly above the gladiatorial arena. I could see them clearly. They were clad in armour that has seen many battles, drenched in the blood of their enemies and dyed with their tears. It was a testament to their skills as warriors. They kneeled before the throne as the Lord began to rise up.
“My Knights, you have done this house a service that bequeaths a great reward. I shall bestow upon you one wish, As long as it is within my power I shall grant it to you. May it be gold, land, power or knowledge all within this land is within your reach.” The elegance from the lord's words could be felt across and it almost enticed me too, but I could tell from his eyes earlier. He's no better than the filthy nobles in the stands.
“Lord of the House, I, Knight Irryo, wish to marry a woman from the servants of the clan”
“Oh, From all the things in the world, a woman, alas, although we don't allow relationships between classes i shall bless this. And you Knight Hiti?” The lord was slightly chuckling to himself
“I too would wish to marry a servant from the clan” Said Hiti , a person who had a similar skin tone to mine, which baffled me. My eyesight began getting blurry as i continue bleeding out and a kind lady near me went to go and get the healer.
“Very well, then please call upon your potential spouse and bring them forth” The two knights waved over two women.
Even in my blurred state I could tell who they were.
“Please state your name for the lord” Said the page. The two women began kneeling as I felt my heart beat more of my ribs out of my chest. It can't be.
“I am Sara, Sister of The Commander and True archer Lieken. I am honoured to become the spouse of such a great Knight.” She proudly states before taking a breath in and resuming.
“This is my sister Irithill. She’s shy but is also proud and honoured to be standing before you today”
“If that is your wish, then I shall grant it so. Be married with my blessing. Go forth and make my house proud. For Kirikuri” The lords speech caused a large round of applause to fill the area. But I was still in shock. Those were my sisters. Maybe death’s kiss was so close that I began hallucinating.
My head began spinning as the blood loss began getting to me. I lay my head down, still in shock as to what I witnessed. My vision began blackening and I felt some lift my head.
“Up now, We don't need you to die just yet” said a man in a distinctly dark garb, a large hood covering his face. He looked a lot like a hunter or a agent of death.
“You are the grim reape….r, arent you?” I jokingly said, coughing in between my words.
“No, the grim reaper will visit you later. I am Zlanoc, a healer hailing from the lunar healing church and the knight of the youngest princess of the household, lad-” and with those words my eyes went black.