The first impression wasn’t anything special. If anything, they looked unimpressive, hunched figures of quite a small man. They all had heavy cloaks with lowered hoods and short swords at the waist. They were young, younger then one would imagine, but looked haggard and tired.

The leading men with a tattoo on his cheek scanned the boys in front of him with pure black eyes which were so big his whites were almost nonexistent.

“Those of you who want to live, follow.”

The voice was powerful, much more so then his shape would indicate. His eyes stopped at Raijen, considering him for much longer than others, which brought uneasy feelings to the front of his mind.

Turning the men started to walk back inside of the forest with most of the boys following without any objections. Stepping into a line Raijen was once more forced to obey someone else’s rules if he wanted to live. Staring at the back of one of the men, watching the brown fur wave in the air he forced his feet to move one in front of others.

Now that the tension somehow relaxed Raijen was certain they will not just die in the forest. Most likely they were led to some other place where they would be subjected to another series of whatever plans they had for them.

Compared to death at the border of the forest, it didn't really register on his mind, his eyes fell to the ground with back hunched. With the darkness inside of the forest, Raijen had no idea how long he was walking. His focus on the grey stones and dark green roots was interrupted as someone tripped, looking back the boy didn’t get up on his legs. The men escorting them didn’t stop or looked back, just continued.

The message to the group was easy to understand.

Those who can’t carry their weight will be left behind.

Shuddering at his own thoughts Raijen continued to march on, picking his way over the ground covered in fallen leaves.

I’m sorry, I can’t carry you even if I wanted to. I would die too, everyone is too tired to care anyway. Will they judge me?

It became clear to Raijen from the very beginning that none of the boys cared about others that much. Concepts such as humanity and helping those around you were lost on them, and the scariest thing about it was that the adults expected such a reaction and probably preferred it as well.

Scared to do or say anything that would single him out, Raijen simply followed the crowd. Determined to appear as simple and ordinary as everyone else he forced himself to ignore some part of him telling him, there was something horribly wrong with the choices he was making. But in the same breath justifying them by telling himself, there is nothing he can do about it anyway.

Where will it take me eventually? What will I become if I follow this path, and do I want to really find out what I become at the end of this road.

With all the confusing feelings surging in his head they eventually exited the forest into a short clearing in front of the stone wall. The moon was hight in the sky, his slightly green color just barely registered as he was ready to collapse from exhaustion.

By this point he felt a hand on his back, clinging to the rags he was wearing for support, to Raijens confusion he was doing exactly the same thing to the one in front of him. Creating a train of bodies desperately trying to get into the final destination. The next few events were just blurred and occasional moments of clarity amongst deadly exhaustion, muscle pain, hunger, and dehydration.

Walking into the stone wall and not being stopped, but instead entering something like cave system. When he opened his eyes again, they entered a wooden door and were ushered into something like a large barn.

The click of the too familiar lock rang in the room.

Dragging his feet to the middle of the room, he collapsed to the ground and drifted into exhausted sleep without any dreams or nightmares.

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The smell of the food was enough to raise the dead. Kneading the dirt and sleep from his eyes Raijen looked around the room. There was a fire burning in the middle of the room under a huge pot full of bubbling soup. The smell was divine, it was strange no one noticed it the night before. And there was no one else in the room who could light the fire.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Few boys were sitting around the fire, pouring the soup into bowls and stuffing their faces with as much of the food as they could.

As Raijen started coming closer nobody paid him any attention, the boys were quiet, shaking as they ate their food. He could feel the fear on his skin, when he lifted the small green bowl abused with use, it was shaking, almost pouring the liquid on the ground. His bowels felt strangled, ready to burst, by the smell in the room most of the kids did so, a while ago.

Desperately looking for a corner or other place where he could go his mind kept him from soiling himself.

Why do I care? Nobody cares, they are just kids with no idea what is happening.

Scared, same as me. Lost, same as me.

Putting handful after a handful of warm vegetables into his mouth Raijen felt the tension leaving his body.

With each passing hour, the fear becomes more dull, more insignificant.

What can they really do to me, kill me? Make me do their work for them? It can’t be much worse than being closed inside of the bloody room for years. If I’m out I can at least try to escape, to run away from them. And if I die trying, it would probably be better then this.

With a start, Raijen was forced from his reverie by the men swinging open the door in front of him. Four of them filled inside of the room, holding short swords gleaming in the dying fire. The fifth of them scanned the room with black eyes, keeping a stone face that didn’t say anything.

“Get out, it’s time for you to show us why you are here.”

Dumbfounded Raijen stared at the men going deeper into the room, towards the ones who didn’t move.

Of course.

Deciding to ignore what was about to happen, which was his only way how to cope with the situation, Raijen was the first to exit the room. Staring at the back of another cloaked man, this time they had the hoods over their heads as they led them through the corridors.

After a few hundred paces they were forced through a huge steel-enforced door into the wooden arena. First thing coming to Raijens mind was a Colosseum. Sand covered the ground in front of them, from each side of the door spammed one man's body high, wooden wall, enforced by metal sheets.

Over them lay seats for an audience. Beyond which was the real surprise, as the whole place was encompassed by stone walls which looked as if someone dug into the mountain to create this place. Over them was an open sky in circle shape created by the huge opening in the cave, letting in the sun and fresh air.

The boys gaping at the sight was short lived as they neared the center of the arena.

Fresh blood was all over the place. And fresh lines in the sand indicated something being dragged out of there. It wasn’t particularly hard to imagine for Raijen, the bodies being dragged over the sand.

In the north side of the stands was a special stand in which were the only people present. The young man stood at the front, watching them to realize he was there. His eyes scanned all of them, evaluating them, and deciding something with a slight smile on his lips.

“Welcome.”

His voice was powerful and gruff, one would expect it from someone much older and harder looking than young men in his twenties.

“I understand you have many questions and don’t understand what is happening right now.”

It was hard to gauge his expression or if he showed any emotions.

He probably said those lines many times before, probably even today with us wasn’t his first time.

Raijens fists clenched as the men gripped the rail before him he leaned closer.

“Let me make it easier for you. There is twenty of you right now in the arena. But at most ten of you would leave it.”

“There is only one rule, you have to kill at least one of the men around you,”

There are no men, just boys.

“When there is ten of you left those with life on their hands will live.”

Running his eyes around the arena he fixed them at the center.

“There is a sword in the middle of the ring. I would imagine it can make it easier for you.”