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***Silvester***

When I was eight, I was sold into slavery… by my father.

It was a day like any other for me, until when I came back home. I don’t remember exactly what I did, only that everything was like usual until that moment.

After that, I don’t remember well.

I had many emotions inside me.

One of them was anger.

I was angry, at my father, at my mother, at my younger brother, at the slavers, at all the people. My father told me why they made that choice the day I was sold. There was no money, and my little brother was too young, so I had to be sold. I couldn’t really follow at that moment, so it’s the only thing I remember.

I was also scared... mostly scared.

Scared of the slaver, scared of the other slaves, and just scared of everyone.

I was in a stupor for a while. Not knowing what to do or say… or think. My mind was a mess. I probably cried too.

It didn’t last long, though, since soon the training started.

I was trained for a few months by the slavers. They wanted me to be obedient, and they used pain to enforce it, so I learned quickly to obey and never defy them.

When they saw I was sufficiently compliant, they sold me to a well-off man. I had to follow another slave around the mansion to learn the chores. They weren’t harsh, nor was the owner a cruel man, but it didn’t make any difference to me. I didn’t trust them.

I didn’t trust anyone.

I followed them and did what they told me for a time. Despite how much I hated it, there was nothing else I could do. They were, in hindsight, just normal slaves resigned to their life, doing what they were told to, and an indifferent owner, but, in my eyes, they were all nothing but enemies.

When I was approaching my tenth birthday, I saw an opportunity to escape.

I took it.

It didn’t take too much time for the slave hunters to find me, though. I was captured after a few days. I wasn’t much resistant to pain back then, and I quickly fessed up who my owner was, so they brought me to the mansion. The owner then, displeased, sent me back to the slaver.

The slaver was not happy.

After a painful period, I was sold again. In a gladiator school, this time.

There were also many kids around my age, or a bit older.

We weren’t given any explanation, we just had to train. It was hard at first. Some kids complained, but it only earned them some pain in addition to the fatigue. The lanistas weren’t too harsh if we followed orders, but they didn’t skimp on the punishments if they thought we were being lazy.

They expected us to train until we couldn’t move anymore, and if we were injured, there was always a Healer ready to send us back to training.

We didn’t have much time or energy to think back then, let alone to have a long conversation between us. We still exchanged a few words occasionally, but it took a long time to get used to everything.

One year later, we all knew each other quite well. There were a few of the kids that got on my nerves, but since we were always together, we soon learned to bear with each other. Fighting among us wasted energy we didn’t have, brought us pain when they came to stop us, and increased the training for everyone the following day. We learned quickly.

We also didn’t have anyone to stay with other than our group.

Many of the adults looked quite scary, so we didn’t move around carelessly during the meals. There was sometimes one or two who exchanged some words but, for some reason, they all kept a distance from us.

After around a year of training, they told us we had to fight. Our opponents were goblins.

“What do you think, Silvester? Do you think we can win?” Asked Val, one of my friends.

“I think so. Goblins are weak,” I answered as I ate.

I didn’t think too much of it at the time. I was a bit nervous, yes, but I thought I was ready. Stories about goblins told us that they were small and weak, so I didn’t think too much of them; we trained hard after all, and I thought we could win easily.

“Ah! Want to bet how much it will take to kill one? I bet you’ll be slower than me. Maybe you’ll also lose,” said Zoran from the table behind me. He was one of the annoying guys.

I ignored him and he snorted.

We often talked about it during the meals. It was something new, and since it was something regarding us, we couldn’t stop talking about it for a while. A few were a bit worried, but we were generally relaxed.

We had a month until the date of the games when they told us.

The lanistas then started training us more rigorously. We had somehow adapted to life here this year, but the training here had always been extremely tiring — the new training regime was hellish. I didn’t understand the sudden increase in intensity, but there was nothing we could do but follow along.

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They also started explaining how to fight against goblins.

I could see that the lanistas seemed more tense than usual, and I thought that they were just worried we made some mistakes; if they didn’t like it when we made them here, they probably hated it when other people saw.

I wasn’t sure, though, since they have always kept a certain distance from us, like the other gladiators.

Soon the hellish month passed. The day before the fight, we only had some light training, and we reviewed the methods to fight goblins.

That night we had the traditional feast.

It had been so long since I had such a good food. I happily ate everything while chatting with the other kids.

“Man, I wish we had more fights,” said Lenin as he scarfed down the food.

One every day would be good, I thought as I ate.

“Once a day would be a dream,” said Val, echoing my thoughts. “We also won’t be training tomorrow, so if we finish soon we’ll get a whole day to rest. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Mm, you’re right,” I said. “I was so taken by the food that I forgot about that.”

We never had a resting day until now. Some days we trained less, but there was always some training. If it wasn’t training then it was learning letters or some math, thought it was rare.

Learning days are good. Fighting days are better, though, I thought as I kept tasting all the different foods.

I could hear other people talking, though I didn’t pay much attention to them.

A few other gladiators who participated in the fights the next day had people visiting them, but we kids were alone. Everyone avoided us for some reason, but since it wasn’t anything new, I just enjoyed the food with the others.

It had been so long since we ate so well, and everyone paid more attention to their food than what was going on around us.

We had a great feast, but soon the time arrived.

The following day we waited in the dungeon under the arena as they called each of us.

When it was my turn, I was led to the gate by the guards. I was given leather armor, a belt knife, and a sword.

As I entered the arena, my heart raced; there were so many people watching. I could hear some people shout and talk but, strangely, it wasn’t as noisy as I expected. It felt almost eerily silent, making my skin crawl and my stomach turn.

There was a bloody scent in the air.

I timidly walked forward under the bright light of the sun, as everyone watched me.

When I got near the cage at the center of the arena, I saw the goblin.

He was hunched down in his cage. If it stood up straight, it would probably be only a little shorter than me. It had a vague resemblance to a human body with scrawny arms, dark green wrinkly skin, and a bulging belly. Its face had a big nose, and flopping ears, while the hands had six clawed fingers. Its claws weren’t too big, probably only two centimeters at most, but they looked sharp.

I stopped around ten meters away when it started growling at me, its small pointy teeth clearly on display. Its dark, beady eyes were glaring at me as I studied it.

A shiver passed through me; it was uglier than I expected and bigger than what the stories made it. A foul, rancid smell hit my nose, almost disorienting me.

I was brought back with a start when I heard a voice announcing the start of the fight.

As I lifted my sword in the stance I was taught, I noticed how hard I had been grabbing it. My palms were sweaty and I could feel my heart

The cage opened, and the goblin came out, moving cautiously. I couldn’t notice before, but its arms were a bit longer than I thought, and he walked hunched with its hands almost touching the ground.

It still growled at me.

I took a step closer and he suddenly shouted. “HYAAAAAAAAA!!”

A loud shrill scream pierced my hears, and I hastily backed away in surprise while my heart leaped up in my throat.

It was the wrong move.

Maybe sensing weakness, it suddenly dashed forward, pushing with its hands on the ground to gain speed.

It was fast; much faster than I thought it could move.

I hurriedly went back to the sword stance, but it suddenly leaped, catching me off guard. They had told me it could happen, but I had forgotten.

My swing came too late and instead of cutting the goblin, I just hit its stretched arm with my hilt. It lost balance and hit me with its body.

“Urgh!” I gasped as I hit the ground with my back, losing my sword.

I panicked as I grasped around while getting up, finding my sword just as the goblin, which rolled a few meters away, jumped at me again.

With a hasty one-handed swing of my sword, I slashed its shoulder.

“HYAAAAA!!!” It shouted again as it hit me, making us both fall on the ground again, rolling on top of each other.

I lost my sword again in the confusion as I tried to keep the goblin away from me.

The wound on its left shoulder prevented it from moving one arm, but the other worked fine, and it grabbed me on my left forearm, its claws sinking in the leather.

My other arm was under its chin, pushing away its stinking mouth as it did its best to sink its teeth into me.

It was strong, stronger than me at least, though not by much, but I managed to keep it away for a few seconds. Its shrilly scream pierced my ears when it suddenly backed away and bit my forearm faster than I could react.

“Argh!” I shouted as its teeth punched through my leather armor. Fortunately, the padding below was thick enough that it only cut my skin, but it was still painful, especially since it started to snap its head left and right.

Panicked, I twisted, trying to get over the goblin. After a painful struggle, got on top of him as I pinned its head on the ground. I tried to keep it pinned with my heavier weight and use my knee to hit it but, suddenly, it let go of the arm he was holding and slashed at my face with his claws.

I shouted as I felt the pain in my cheek.

After I batted away its blows a few times, I grabbed its arm again to prevent it from reaching my face again.

We were in a deadlock, with me trying to move to strike with my knees and him trashing around under me.

I was getting tired, and the goblin kept trashing without pause, its teeth continuously grinding on my forearm, and his clawed hand trying to reach my face.

Blood was dripping down from my face, and seeping out from under the leather of my vambrace.

The claws on his feet were also hitting randomly on my lower body, shredding my armor and sometimes cutting parts the leather didn’t cover.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!

Pain and fear mixed together with the rush of the fight, almost overwhelming me.

I was getting desperate. I needed to find a way to kill the goblin, but I couldn’t reach my sword, and even if I could, I wouldn’t be able to use it while we were entangled like this.

Then I suddenly remembered my knife. I had to grab my knife.

An arm was caught by its mouth and the other was holding back the goblin attacks. In my desperation, I did the only thing that came to mind. I let the arm of the goblin come near my face and then bit on it hard while letting go with my hand to search for the knife.

It didn’t work as intended though, since my jaws weren’t as strong as those of the goblin, and with a sudden pull its arm slipped out of my mouth as my teeth tore away some flesh and skin.

It clawed at my face again, barely missing my eye and tearing out a chunk of my cheek.

“AHHHH!” I moved back with a scream as the goblin took the opportunity to push himself off the ground to mount me again, but I already had the knife in my hand.

I began to hit blindly at the goblin while shouting as I rolled below again.

Without stopping, I continued to hit and scream madly until my arms tired, my throat felt sore, and I noticed the goblin didn’t move anymore.

Letting go of the knife, I pried open its mouth that was still clamped shut on my forearm.

Groaning a bit at the pain, I took a few deep breaths. A foul scent of sweat, blood, and the rancid stench of the beast assaulted my nose. I could feel the blood in my mouth and some chunks of flesh, both mine and the goblin’s.

I rolled to one side and retched until nothing came out, feeling pain everywhere.

Then I fell back down.

And I cried.

I cried like I never did before.

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