Iris’s vision adjusted to the dark, filtering in every point of light over her raised forearms. Right as two points of cyan light struck out against it, so did a claw, stretching from the creature’s torso with a stretching noise and a flash of light. Iris lunged forward, memory of dodging many a swinging punch replaying in her head, when she felt the limb unstretch, sweeping her forward. Iris stomped a foot forward into the pit’s stone floor, screeching to a halt. The monster, expecting iris to be there early, snapped all too close to her midsection as its head snapped into her vision. It bore a skull over its head, twin points of light acting like spectral eyes, their glare only made weirder by an excited panting from a lower jaw of dark flesh. Iris wasted no time, even as the monster drew back for a lunge. Iris’s fist shot forward to the skull, and her entire right half pulled back out of range of a rising snap with a backstep. The same fist aimed low, knees bending to accommodate a curved strike to the lower jaw. Her fist sunk into the creature’s flesh, yet she could perceive no damage, flesh soaking up the force like a sponge. Iris realized she needed to change tactics. She twisted to the side of a bite, opening her fist to mimic a claw- much like the one swinging for her leg. It struck true, compromising Iris’s stance as it raked across with a determination to spill blood. Iris grabbed for the stretched arm, catching it just below the claws and pulling. The beast fell off its feet, and Iris knew this was her chance. She drove her good knee down into its helmet of a skull, a satisfying crack to the armor indicating her success. She lashed downwards, catching the beast’s upper limbs in clawswipes of her own. And almost roared with success as she felt material come loose, clinging to her fingernails. As Iris focused her attention there, she felt a similar rush. A similar sense of empowerment, crescendoing at an octet of burning points at the end of her claw. She drove them further into the limbs of this monster, closing her burning fingers around a limb and with odd ease, ripping it off. Black liquid gushed from the monster’s ruined limb, shrieking panic letting it shake out from under Iris’s grasp and recollect itself. It hobbled aside, barely able to dodge Iris lunging forward with another burning swipe, but a wave of exhaustion swept up her arm. No fire came to her hand, merely a sharpness that dug too shallowly into the monster to be of any use. Its other claw lashed up for her side, drawing blood and blurring her vision. Iris raised her arm to defend from a second swipe, seeing the claw come back covered in more of her crimson life force on the jagged points. Iris gave one final kick, stumbling as the beast caught her foot in its mouth and twisted. She fell to the stone floor with a thud, feeling her leg released. The monster limped around her side, finding a place to land, and lunging for neck- as a predictable animal would. Iris caught the bite on her forearm, cursing loudly and lashing out with her claw-stanced hand. Her first strike whiffed, her second glanced its horn, and even as her own blood was pouring from her arm her third struck the monster in its eye, fingers gouging deep into the flesh with one final spark. That spark lit up the room, stunning both participants and seeming to melt the skull-headed slimewolf.
“Good show, good show! Defiant till the end!” praised someone from above. Iris rose to an elbow, turning aside and putting her good leg under her. One-leg rises were something she had trained beforehand, but not while losing this much blood. The cobra head of the speaker crested the rim of the pit, looking Iris up and down. “Wait a second, you’re not my test subject”
Iris looked towards the white-robed serpentine being, breath sharp as she tried to switch from fighting to talking
“I won. Get me out.” She ordered.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The cobrafolk turned aside. “Of course, of course. Phil’mat, extend the ladder”
A woodcreak of a grunt in response later, and metal rungs slid out of the stone ramp. Iris grasped one, a new spurt of blood joining the quickly-drying older shades of brownish-red. “And bring this lady a potion”
Iris lifted herself halfway up the ladder, about to lose her grip when a tail curled around her arm. “Pull.” Instructed the same serpent, lifting Iris with a considerable effort. She braced her legs against the side, almost sending the cobra to plunge when the new gladiator collapsed forward.
“What was that stretchy bastard?” Iris huffed, slowly taking a knee.
“That, my unexpected companion, was a Protenwolf. And I am its maker, Dr. Aspidae”
A noticeable hiss escaped their lips at the S sound. The same lopsided stone creature from earlier extended a spindly stickbug of arm, awkwardly placing a tall glass bottle of reddish-pink liquid on the table. Iris steeled herself, sniffed, and raised the glass to her lips. It poured past, shimmering pink potion sliding down her throat in gulping waves. With every gulp, Iris felt her wounds shrink. A pleasant chill followed, neutralizing the dull burning of her collection of pain.
“You said you make monsters?” Iris asked, to a nod of Aspidae’s long neck. “I am one of the many budding beast-smiths of Nagadel arena. A monster of the correct level of power will advance me further. Now I have to re-make the monster, pay off the guards-”
A greedy gleam twinkled across Iris’s face. “That was... actually kind of fun. How about you pay me half that fee to keep quiet, and pretend we never met?”
Aspidae breathed a sigh of relief. “I can afford to pay you off, but not the arena fees. You may have one item from my laboratory, but speak of this accident to no one.”
Iris felt herself shrink back, a spike of fear drilling into her mind before dissipating harmlessly. She had no doubt this was some sort of mana-driven ability, as she had faced tougher before. So much so that she resented how pathetic she sounded.
“Do you have anything related to fire? Or a Tome? I’m new”
Aspidae scoffed, rummaging through a door. “A Tome? Do I look like I could afford one? Seeing as you barely have any mana in you, I’ll give you a Manual. Now return to your nest, human”
The serpent-person tossed a smaller, thinner book through the air. It spun almost too gracefully, until it touched Iris's hand. She dropped it, reached for it, and grasped an inch too short, having to bend over humiliatingly just to pick it back up. A tail cracking like a whip behind her hastened her exit, clutching the manual of folded paper so tightly it creased. Knowing this was far from the right door, she sighed, and retraced her steps back to the entryway. She turned in an about-face, counted three doors, and came up short, to a door with an obvious bed emblazoned on its bound-together wooden planks. Iris found a spare bed after only a bit of searching, the cramped nature of the rooms rendering the walk short. Iris flopped onto her bed with exhaustion, descending from the adrenaline high of the last fight.
As soon as she did, a screen of cyan flicked to life on the unassuming wall.
[Greetings, Iris Brimstone. I am Squire, your gladiator companion]