I pushed up and off the ground, forcing myself to focus. I was in some stadium that completely encircled me. The arena was small, about thirty yards long and fifteen yards wide.

I could feel the panic welling up inside me. How the fuck did I get here? I had just been walking toward my front door when I tripped. Rather than land on the grass outside my home, I was face-down in hot sand. The breezy summer morning had shifted to an oppressive, dry heat. The singing of birds had been replaced with the roars of a crowd.

Two men were approaching me, and I had questions.

"Where am I? How did I get here?" I yelled at the men. The crowd erupted into laughter. My eyes finally focused on the two approaching me - both were armed and... short. Really short. They had long and unruly beards surrounding their smug, round faces. Both wore leather armor and carried a basic axe.

"What the hell is this?" I demanded. The crowd surrounding me laughed even harder. Why don't I remember how I got here?

My brain struggled to process what was happening. It had to be some joke, a lucid dream, or anything other than what it seemed. Regardless of what it was, I was growing more and more irritated.

"This is not funny!" I yelled at the two men. They had to be a full foot and a half shorter than me - and I wasn't very tall at 5'10". They looked at each other and grinned.

The closer of the two lunged at me with his axe.

"What the fuck!?" I shouted as I fell backward. He answered by lunging again. This time his axe made minor contact with my right forearm. My hand became slick with my blood. Any idea of this being a joke vanished as adrenaline poured into me. My heart hammered inside my chest as my muscles tensed. Those were real blades.

Calm down, Alex. You need to handle it this time. I told myself as the severity of my current situation set in.

The other small man caught up and circled around his companion. He was grinning stupidly and swung his axe right at my chest. I dodged backward and let the too-large axe pass harmlessly in front of me. I quickly followed up by kicking with all my might into my attacker's chest, sending him sprawling into his teammate.

I turned around and sprinted away; courage be damned. I quickly saw the large archway to exit the arena was blocked by a thick metal gate. As I approached, I noticed a discarded pile of armor and weapons lying just inside the entrance. I grabbed the first item I could - a rusty iron shield about 20 inches in diameter. With a slight groan, I slipped my right arm through the shield's leather loop and grasped the handhold. The moment I closed my hand around it, a surge of power flowed into me. It was unlike anything I had ever felt.

My attackers did not wait for me to properly arm myself as they came rushing at me. I quickly raised my new shield as the first axe strike came. The blow nearly unbalanced me, but I managed to completely block it in time to ready myself for the next one. I was definitely stronger than before. Did this shield do something to me? The first man followed up his blocked attack with a quick strike at my chest. I deflected the axe downwards this time, but it still managed to slice my upper thigh. I was inexperienced, and that mistake cost me. I grunted and stumbled backward, nearly falling over. The second little man took advantage of my reaction and rushed past his friend, axe swinging in a wide arc in front of him. I brought my shield down into the blow to ensure I didn't repeat my previous mistake. I had to grit my teeth as the force of the impact caused reverberations to ripple through the shield and into my arm. These guys might be small, but they were strong as hell.

"Hey Jerly, you care if I kill this one?" the second man casually asked his friend.

"Sure thing Charley, make it entertaining! They won't pay if it's boring!" the man responded with a grin.

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This further fueled my anger. They were talking about me like I wasn't even a living person! Charley adjusted his two-handed grip on the axe and swung. I readied my shield and my muscles for the blow, tensing up. The little bastard grinned and immediately redirected his attack under my shield. My quick reflexes saved me from being gutted by the axe, but now I was unbalanced and staggering backward as he proceeded into a follow-up strike. I fell onto my ass as Charley started his horizontal swing at my head. The crowd was going crazy. Doing the only thing I could, I raised the shield at the last second and let the too-strong blow smash into my shield. Instead of letting the axe deflect or be pulled back, I quickly reached up and grabbed the haft. Charley struggled to pull his weapon back, but my grip held. I twisted at my waist and pulled him into my shield. Using his momentum and my now lower position, I raised him over my head and slammed him backward with all my might. Before he could react, I scrambled onto him and started smashing his face with the edge of the shield with my free hand still pinning the axe. I delivered a nasty blow right into his throat as I heard Jerly growling behind me. I rolled just in time to avoid his companion's attack.

I stood and readied myself, glad I could pry the axe from Charley's hand before I did. The little man seemed to be reconsidering his options as he realized the advantage was not so heavily in his favor. I wasn't positive the first one was dead, so I had to move quickly. I stepped forward, swung the axe in a diagonal arc, and forced him to block. Jerly brought his axe up and deftly parried my blow, sending my weapon out and away from him. He quickly took advantage and stabbed forward with his axe hitting me in my collarbone with the blunt tip. Who stabs with an axe? I thought as the pain spread. He intended to cripple my shield arm and force me to fight him with only the stolen axe. This wasn't just some random guy with a weapon. He seemed to have combat experience or at least have given it some thought and training. I took a quick step backward with a bit more respect for my opponent. I shook off the pain from the blow and readied myself again. I had never trained with anything other than firearms and knives, but an axe was a pretty straightforward weapon.

If I wanted to live, I'd have to be smarter than just wildly swinging at this guy. I was panting and sweating from less than a minute of combat. Damn! I wish I had kept going to the gym! I thought as I considered how to handle my opponent. I stepped forward again and repeated my previous attack. Jerly parried again with a smug look. This time, rather than let him follow up his parry with an attack, I stepped forward and put all my strength into a shield bash aimed at his smug face. Our weapons were still entangled, and he couldn't dodge in time. The force of my attack sent him sprawling to the ground. I brought my shield edge down in an attempt to kill him as I did to Charley, but he rolled away, and my shield hit nothing but sand.

"Look, man, I don't want to fight you!" I yelled as he stood up. "How about you just put the axe down, and we talk about this!" I added. The crowd roared and hollered at me. He glanced at the crowd and then back to me.

"No choice," he replied in a shockingly soft voice and charged.

We fought for another minute, and I suffered a few more minor cuts. The axe and shield grew more and more comfortable in my hands as the battle went on, as if something was awakening deep inside my mind and body. After I blocked a flurry of three strikes, I felt much more confident in my new shield - it had already saved my life numerous times. The axe was beginning to feel more like an extension of myself rather than some unruly thing I held in my hand. With these revelations in mind, I could focus more on my opponent's moves and intentions rather than worry about my own. My enemy employed a savage uppercut with his axe to off-balance me. Rather than block or parry, I sidestepped the attack and lashed out with my axe. The blade bit deep into Jerly's neck and buried itself nearly to the haft. My opponent crumpled to the ground as I felt a wave of complex emotions flood into me.

Was it really over? I was relieved, sick, horrified, and proud all at once. I also felt a strange warmth wash over me the moment I killed that second guy. The relief that my battle was over was overwhelmed by my dread as I realized I had just killed two men. It was all just too much. Today was tied for the worst day of my life. I thought I was prepared to kill someone. I had trained to defend myself rigorously for years. Reality was different from training, though, very different.

I was exhausted from the battle but thankful I had kept up my cardio training the past few months. I wasn't a marathon runner, but I did light kickboxing and short-distance running to stay in shape. I placed my hands on my knees and panted, still confused about what was happening. The familiar feeling of shock and adrenaline kept me alert for a few moments longer. I tried to assess my wounds, and make sure there were no more enemies approaching. I sat in the sand, unsure of what would happen next.