It was quiet, unnaturally so, It was market day in this town so the streets should have been jammed with loaded carts, buyers and sellers; the air busy with the sounds of barter as coin and goods changed hands at merchant stalls. Above that the smell of freshly cooked food that convinced people to delay the day's business to try sugar sweets and skewers of spicy meats. A stage stood where the town crier should be relaying the latest news in the kingdom to the passers-by, or on other days where criminals would beg forgiveness under the executioner's axe.
A cat slunk out of the shadows and hopped onto the stage taking advantage of the emptiness to laze in a prime patch of sun. A sound made the cat twitch its ears and look around but it was just a tattered beggar also trying to get some rest under an archway. Turning back the cat stretched out and gazed down the road as the sound of cheers reached it from the edge of town.
On the north side of town, a gigantic arena was built into the side of a hill it was here where the cheering sounded from. In the stands men, women and children cheered as they looked downwards into the ring, in the ring, there were 5 brawny men armed with swords and spears and a colossal black bear roaring at the surrounding crowd. This was a massive creature that would have stood over 3 meters high on its hind legs, with dark black fur and a blood-soaked maw, it roared. The cause of the blood was the corpse of the sixth man that lay behind the bear missing an arm, and a head. The remaining men calmed their panicked breathing and spread out once again surrounding the beast. At this, the crowd cheered and shouted encouragement, only some of which was for the fighters.
The bear roared again and charged at one of the fighters, cursing he tried to roll out of the way but the bear wiped out with its razor sharp claws catching the man full in the chest. The fighter flew backwards and did not remain in one piece sending blood arcing through the air until it coloured the sand floor of the arena red. The crowd cheered again but the bear didn’t stop turning it charged at two more men, they panicked one bringing up a large square shield the other raising a large axe above his head. The bear thrust it's now bright red claws straight through the shield and the man behind it, getting its leg stuck, the other man brought his axe down, biting into the bear's shoulder, amazed he had hit the bear he drew the axe above his head again, this was a mistake. The bear’s head snapped forward opening its mouth wide, full of 6 inch long teeth, it bit through the axeman’s throat tearing it away.
While the bear tried to dislodge its foot from the shield and the bearer’s stomach a net dropped on top of the bear and an arrow lodged itself in the bear's hide. The man who threw the net unsheathed a short sword and started hacking at the creature as arrows peppered its side, the bear continued to struggle. The crowd cheered again as this tense fight between the last 2 men and the bear caused their blood to boil. In a box above the crowd, a group of affluently dressed elderly men sat in fur lined chairs as pretty maids served them fine wine.
“A good fight” one said in a gruff voice.
“Quite” another agreed in a snooty and cruel way while his eyes drank in the violence
“That bear was indeed a good find lord mayor” the man that said this was plump and wore the most lavish clothes among the lot. He looked at the beast in quiet admiration while his hand tapped with no rhythm on the arm rest.
“We found it shortly after you left last year, in a cave in the hills, took 30 men to capture it” the mayor laughed obviously happy at the compliment “it is a magnificent beast, admirably your men are able to put up a fight”
The plump man scowled at this but quickly fixed his expression “if these men can not defeat the beast I shall send out my own beast for the next fight, what do you say?”
The mayor wore a confident smile and quickly answered “it would be the perfect end to the day”
As they said this the bear roared dislodging its foot, lashing out tearing through the net and the man with the short sword who flew away in a cloud of blood. The beast’s eyes found the last man, the archer who had been stinging it with arrows and bounded towards him. The man’s courage failed him, he ran towards a metal gate in one corner of the arena in a bid to escape the crowd booed hurling insults and stones at the man.
“Coward!” the plump man said with anger on his face. As the man neared the gate an arrow flew out of the darkness and hit him straight in the chest dropping him to the floor, the man struggled until the bear reached him, then he didn’t struggle anymore.
“Shall we see this beast of yours Menas” the mayor chuckled while looking at the plump man’s scarlet features.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Indeed,” Menas said his voice seething with anger as if his wished he was the bear on the sand ripping the archer's body to shreds. He beckoned a man from the edge of the room and whispered to him, the man stood up nodded and left the room. He travelled down several flights of stairs and along the round corridor beneath the stands, the cheers of the spectators shook the corridor as they watched the bear snack on the 6 fighters. He eventually reached a small room in which there were several men.
If someone else had entered the room they would have wondered what was wrong. Several men sat on benches, they were just as big as the men who had just fought, if not more so and all were armed. However, they all avoided looking into the far corner and shuffled up the benches away from that corner. Even the full armoured guards avoided looking at that corner. The problem was that in this corner was only a boy holding a long unadorned spear which could not be that frightening surely, admittedly the arms holding the spear had python like muscles beneath the skin but so did the arms of every man in the room and he was at least a head shorter than any of them. No, it was his aura that made them all shrink back as savageness poured from him like a river that had been dammed for weeks before being opened again. The man took one step towards that corner but stopped when he realised the boy's eyes with green irises and vertical slits for pupils were fixed on him, the wildness in those eyes made his mouth go dry.
“N...Nihe get ready” the man choked halfway through the instructions, after managing to get the rest of the instruction out he quickly left the room, retreating under the gaze of those eyes. Nihe stood up and walked towards a ramp opposite the door the man left through, the men he passed held there breath and seemed to be trying to sink into the walls. Only after Nihe left, going up the ramp did they release their breaths and slump in relief at his exit.
Back in the box the man returned and said “Nihe is ready” then stepped back against the wall.
“Nihe? What type of beast is a Nihe, Menas?” the mayor looked at the plump man with expensive clothes curiosity in his voice.
Menas laughed before explaining “Ha… Nihe is a very special beast, you see nearly 15 years ago I paid 300 Kings for a very special breeding opportunity. I had Mar ‘king of the arena’ impregnate a female slave. When she gave birth I spent an additional 800 Kings for a high-grade body cultivation method and trained the boy in it while at the same time forging him as a fighter and now he is truly a beast in human skin, best of all he is my beast… HaHa” Menas threw his head back and laughed again at the end of his story.
The others in the box took a sharp intake of breath as they thought this story through, first there was the name Mar, they all knew it. Mar was the finest gladiator in 100 years he had won 100 straight fights in each of the 6 royal colosseums and eventually was released by his master when he completed that record about 7 years ago, he had since vanished off the face of the earth and into legend. Then there was the fact that this Nihe was his son, indeed breeding exceptional fighters wasn’t uncommon but Mar’s owner had been extremely tight with opportunities to do so which had increased the value 10 fold, considering that a meal could be brought from a food stall for 6-7 rooks this told how expensive this chance had been.(10000 Rooks -> 1000 Knights -> 100 Bishops -> 10 Queens -> 1 King)
But then they frowned at the next part “Menas? Are you lying? how could you get a high-grade body cultivation method for only 800 kings?” All the men were confused by this, after all, the average price for mid-grade body cultivation techniques was 1000 kings as these cultivation techniques were rare. High-grade cultivation techniques were closely guarded secrets and when they were sold there prices easily went above 10,000 kings. Hearing Menas had gotten one for 800 kings made them doubtful that this was true but what he said next made them believe it and anxious to hear the details.
Menas laughed again at their curious faces then said “The technique is indeed high grade but there is one detail about it that makes impossible for anyone to willingly practice it, the technique requires a ceremony to grant the user the body needed to use it…” the men leaned forward, such ceremonies were signs of the highest among high-grade techniques and greed shone in their eyes “shortly after birth the infant who will practice the technique needs to be bathed in blood…” The surrounding men’s faces twisted this was indeed unpleasant but… “...the blood of the infant's mother” then the men shot back, as if recoiling from a snake, such a method was not just beastly it was demonic and their expressions continued to worsen as they heard more details from Menas “originally there were 6 children of different notable gladiators but only Nihe who had Mar’s physic survived the ceremony” at this the mayor actually leaned away and threw up before looking at Menas in a new light, a fearful light.
At this point sound drew their eyes back to the arena, the crowd cheered as the figure of Nihe entered. He was taller than average for a 14-year-old boy but still smaller than a full grown man, his frame was not bulky but muscles rippled like snakes under his skin when he moved. Nihe wore light leather armour around his wrists, shins and torso and carried a wooden spear that was taller than him, his face showed no emotion but the slitted eyes, signs of the ceremony, radiated a wildness out from beneath his black messy hair.
The crowd’s cheers faltered as the gate swung closed behind Nihe, they had thought that he was just the first in an even larger group than last time but for there to be the only one. Only those in the box understood that this was most definitely a worthy competitor no actually it was probably a little unfair for the bear. The cheers picked back up when Nihe began to circle and the bear, who had noticed the wildness in the boy's, eyes did the same.
Suddenly Nihe rushed at the bear, this stunned the crowd as no one had challenged the bear so directly today and they cheered this hot-blooded youth, some, however, chided his stupidity from the stands. The bear also began to charge, it did not roar, though, keeping its entire focus on the boy who gave it a dangerous sensation. When they got close the bear leapt opening its mouth to bite the boy, Nihe suddenly stopped letting momentum carry his spear forwards in a thrust. An old soldier in the crowd sighed “too soon”, indeed when the thrust was fully extended the spear was still not at the bear, however Nihe did not stop his movements and brace for impact he instead let go of the spear with his leading hand and let it move through the fingers of his right hand towards the bear. Nihe then grabbed the end of the spear with the fingers of his right hand just as it was about to pass through completely, he moved his palm to the base of the spear and pushed with the strength of high-grade body cultivation method. The spear bowed and then shot forward like a bolt of lightning into the open mouth of the bear, still in flight, is cut straight through the bear's brain and exploded out the top of its head.
The crowd was shocked by the boy’s victory, the men in the box were shocked by his strength, and the guards and retired soldiers were shocked at his manipulation of the spear. Then the crowd burst into cheers and the silence was broken, Nihe looked at the bear and spoke under his breath “I hope it was quick” then turned back to the gate walking away as blood spread from the bear and people applauded him from the stands.