Chapter 9

Coliseum!

Janet and I both slept in the following day. I was going to blame the bed full on. It was just too damn comfortable. Whenever I thought about getting up, I would make up some excuse for staying in bed for five more minutes. It was only around nine thirty when a knock on the door sounded, and I knew it was probably our breakfast. The last thing I wanted was to eat a cold breakfast. So that was what finally got me out of bed. I walked over to the door in my underwear and cracked the door slightly. I then stuck my head out and looked up and down the hallway. It was empty. So I opened the door more, picked up the food, did one more check to ensure no one would get a good look at me in my undies, then brought the food in and set it on the living room table.

The meal was served on a metal tray with fancy metal bowls with handles covering the food and keeping it warm. I popped the top of one of the plates, and my eyes lit up with wonder. There was a fucking spread. I started popping tops, and we had it all. We had eggs, bacon, sausages, toast with butter and jam. We also had something that looked like pancakes with whipped cream and berries. It was intense, to say the least. Janet was still asleep, so I returned to the bedroom with a piece of bacon. When I was back in the bedroom and standing next to Janet. I held the bacon under her nose and waved it back and forth.

First, Janet’s eye twitched, then her lip moved a bit. She took a big sniff, and her eyes opened. Before I could move the bacon or my fingers out of the way, Janet lunged forward and bit the bacon I held in half. I was left stunned, blinking at her for a moment before I dropped the bacon onto Janet’s lap and made a run for the food sitting on the table in the living room. I was going to start eating before Janet ate it all. I think Janet figured out my plan because I heard Janet’s feet pounding the ground behind me a second after I booked it.

“Travis, I swear if you eat all the bacon, they’re gonna half to call a cleric ’cause im gonna kill you.” I laughed and started shoving bacon into my mouth. Janet and I had got into a bit of a wrestling match over the last piece of bacon. Janet finally got it. That was after I licked it, but Janet didn’t care. She said,

“We make out all the time. You’ll have to try harder than that if you want the last piece of bacon when I’m around.” I conceded amicably, and we finished the rest of our breakfast before we got dressed. Janet and I were now washed, clothed, and once again sitting at the table in the living room. Our plates from breakfast were left in the hall for one of the inn workers to pick up. Janet and I started discussing what we would do for the day.

Janet wanted to go straight to the Coliseum. She was excited to watch some fights, maybe do some betting, and see what was involved with getting in on the action if she wanted to. I just wanted to go out and explore. The city was huge, and sure, the Coliseum was the main attraction, so yeah, I wanted to check it out, but there was just so much to see.

There were new foods to try, aliens everywhere, and the city was just crawling with life. Janet and I discussed what we wanted to accomplish with the day. Inevitably, as in every conversation with a man and a woman who are romantically entangled, we went with what Janet wanted to do. So to the Coliseum, it was. We packed up our stuff, which wasn’t much. Even in an establishment as lovely as this inn, I still didn’t trust leaving our stuff unattended all day.

It took us about twenty minutes to make our way to the Coliseum, but it was nice to just saunter along with people, watching as we went. On our way over, I saw a baker and their supplier going at it, a kid snatching a bag of holding of a wealthy-looking alien and running as he was seen, a dog-like creature that looked to be a stray grab a stake of the butcher’s block with the guy wasn’t looking, there was so much going on. And I was loving it. We stopped once on our way to the Coliseum to grab a bit from a street vendor. It was a skewer with some kind of meat on it. I had no idea what it was, but it tasted heavenly. We each bought two and ate them as we walked the last few blocks to the Coliseum.

The Coliseum itself was enormous. It fucking blotted out the sun if you were on the wrong side of the fucking thing. It was actually ridiculous. It must have seated a million people. I was exaggerating, but not by that much. As we approached the structure, we noticed that the amount of activity had at least triple that of the rest of the city. There were more shops, restaurants, smithies, poor people, rich people, people in full armor, and people who wore what looked like uniforms emblazoned with the same symbol as on the signs outside the central administration building. A snake twisted around and biting a rat-like creature in the back of the head. I figured those people must be employees of the Coliseum or the city.

Janet and I made our way to one of the large entryways into the Coliseum and found that next to the opening, there was a window with a clerk sitting at a desk behind it. There was a long line in front of the window, and we figured that was an excellent place to start, so we got in line. The line was moving at an okay pace, but maybe a hundred people were ahead of us. It took twenty minutes till we were one person away from the front of the line. I could now overhear what the person in front of us was saying to the Clerck, but I couldn’t understand a word. They were speaking some alien tongue, and at that moment, I really wished I had bought the ability, Chatty Cathy. It would have been damn helpful right now.A few more minutes passed, and it was our turn. Janet and I stepped up to the window and received a board,

“what can I do you for?” From the clerk. The clerk was a bolding blue humanoid alien with two arms and two legs, dressed in a suit with the usual flourishes that seemed to be so popular in the city by its employees. The really trippy thing about the clerk was the five blue prehensile tails that contently moved around behind him. I was pretty sure he was the proper pronoun in this situation. I figured because of the suit, but I really had no idea. It made me think that I hadn’t really noticed how much someone’s gender helped me define who they were in my mind.

Janet started to answer the man’s question.

“Well, we’re new to the city and…” But she didn’t get to finish her sentence before she was cut off.

“Okay, kids, listen up ’cause I’m only gonna go through this once. General admission is two silvers or two hundred Galactic Credits. That’s per person, not for the two of you. That’s to watch the shows for the whole day, but if you leave and want to get back in, you’d have to pay again. It’s not a free pass to come and go as you please. Next, we got the different arenas. There are sixteen in total. Eight arenas are on the ground floor, while six are on the second and two on the third. General admission gives you access to the ground floor, and any other floor will cost an additional fee to visit. Food vendors are spread about, and there are bathrooms near each exit. Privet viewing rooms can be obtained, but you’ll have to do that inside. You plan on betting at all?”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The man paused his rapid explanation, waiting for our answer. Janet was ready for that question.

“Yes, we will, both of us. Are there places to do that inside?”

“Yes, there are, but first, you’ll need a betting ticket.” The man’s tails started rummaging through the drawers behind him until they finally passed him something. The man then held up two what looked like paper bracelets. The kind you get at a club with a private party or something else usually involves booze. These, however, had intricate designs printed on them.

“These are five coppers a piece, or five G.C. They will let you access the betting terminals at each arena in the Coliseum. So, that will be four silver and ten copper, or four hundred and ten G.C. today. How would you like to pay?” The clerk looked between Janet and me, holding the two betting tickets up in the air. I looked at the man for a second, still shocked at how down this guy had his introduction to the Coliseum speech. I turned to Janet, and she looked eager as hell, so I turned back to the clerk.

“Can you break a gold?” And slid five onto the counter.

“That well within my bounds, sir. I will also need to see your G.I.C., and then you can be on your way.”

I gathered my change and threw it into one of my bags before we walked into the Coliseum. The inside was huge. Arching hallways spread out, and there were large magical signs everywhere. They pointed to vendors that sold food and beverages, there were betting terminals for gambling, and then there were big lit-up boards that listed the schedule of the fights in each arena for the day. Aliens were moving about with purpose, and when a tone chimed throughout the Coliseum, most people started moving toward the arenas when they heard it. I looked over at one of the lit-up boards showing the arena fight times, and sure enough, one line was blinking with its timer at zero.

Janet excitedly grabbed my arm and jerked me forward. She clearly had made the same connection I had and wanted to see the fight.

“Come on. It looks like a fight is just about to start. Perfect timing. Come on!” And we were off, moving through the crowd towards a sign pointing at the ground-floor arena entrance. It looked like our chosen entrance was closest to Arena #1. It looked like the arenas were placed so that different sections of the stands were in front of different arenas. For example, arena #1 had seven entrances labeled A, AB, A.C., A.D., A.A.A., A.A.B., and A.A.C. The next arena to the right had seven other entrances, and they were labeled B, B.B., BC, B.D., B.B.A., B.B.B., and B.B.C. This was repeated around the entire ground floor of the Coliseum, and it helped spectators find the fight they wanted to see.

We had seen that fights were taking place in arenas 1, 3, 5, and 6. The atmosphere as we made our way to the Coliseum’s first floor was only rising in excitement until we finally reached the massive open space that held the six ground-floor arenas. The wall of noise that hit us when we made it to the stands was insane. You could feel the sound waves passing through the air, and it was equivalent to being at a rock concert and standing right in that sweep spot where the speaker’s sound waves converged. I could feel it in my chest, which only got my blood pumping faster.

The fight in Arena 1 had just begun, so Janet and I found seats and settled in to watch. With Janet’s and my improved vision, we could see everything happening in the arena. We were maybe a hundred and fifty feet from the battlefield and about fifty feet up. The fight was just about to start, and both combatants were on opposite sides of the arena. I assumed they were getting some last words of encouragement from a trainer. A guy who looked like the referee approached each fighter in turn and asked them something. After that, the fighter’s coaches or trainers, I was guessing here, left the arena, and the two combatants readied themselves for the fight to come.

One of the fighters held a large sword in both hands, a mostly full suit of armor, and a helmet on, while their opponent was dressed like a Shaolin monk and held no weapon. As I looked closer at the guy dressed like a monk, I noticed he wasn’t an alien who looked human. He was an actual human. I turned to look at Janet.

“That monk guy is a human, right?” Janet looked at the man more closely, then her eyes widened.

“Shit, I think your right. He does look human. You think he’s from Earth?”

“That’s what I was thinking. Should we try to meet with that monk guy after his fight?”

“Yeah, I’m down. Maybe he can also tell us how to get in on the action.” I chuckled at Janet’s evident eagerness.

“Maybe, either way, we should try to find the guy and talk to him. Right?”

“Yeah, sounds good to me, but come on, the fight’s about to start.” The fighters took their place in the arena for the start of the fight, and moments later, the referee lifted his arm and then let it fall, and the fight began.

The person with the long sword charged as soon as the ref’s arm fell. The monk, however, stayed right where he was, waiting for his opponent to draw near. The sword wielder was fast, and before you could blink, he was several feet away from the monk, sword raised above his head, ready to bring the pain. The monk wasn’t just an arrogant asshole, and as the blade barreled toward him, he moved. The monk moved at the last second, stepping just out of the way of the blade as the wind of its passing ruffled his hair.

The monk then stepped in and shot out three punches in rapid succession.

The sword wielder flinched inward from the pain of the stricks but quickly recovered and chopped sideways at the monk. The monk jumped out of range of the sword wielder, and their dance continued. The sword wielder was on the back foot for the rest of the fight. The sword wielder was just too slow. Every time the dude would line up a strick, the monk was gone before the strike could land. The real fun began when they started using abilities.

The first obvious ability usage was from the sword wielder. The monk had retreated from a series of blows from the sword wielder, and it looked like he was preparing for his counterattack. When, out of nowhere, the sword wielder shot forward with a momentary burst of speed. The sword wielder, still busted by speed and a now glowing red and flaming sword, released a far faster strike at the monk than any other time in the fight.

The monk’s eyes shot open in shock as the attack approached him. I could tell he hadn’t expected that. As the sword fell towards the monk’s neck. The monk activated an ability of his own. It must have been a movement ability, and one second, the monk was in dire straits. The next, he was next to the sword wielder chopping down at the back of his opponent’s neck. The strike only took a second, but once the blow was struck, the sword wielder dropped to the ground, knocked out cold.

I was in awe. The fight was fantastic, short, but incredible nonetheless. I had been watching the sword wielder get carted off, so when I looked back at the monk and saw the healers working on him, I was left asking why. I’d thought the monk hadn’t taken a hit, but as I watched the healer’s work, I saw that the monk had actually been wounded. The monk had gotten his arm sliced open from his shoulder down to his elbow. It didn’t look too deep, but even from where Janet and I were sitting, I could see red vanes-like marks on either side of the wound radiating out.

I knew what that was. I had a lot of experience with being infused with elemental Mana. The sword was like the light cutlass. A blow would infuse you with elemental Mana, causing continuous harm even after the attack was dealt. All I could think about as I watched them heal the monk was, well, it looked like I might be able to get some good resistance training in while we’re here. My eyes were dancing now. This was exactly what I needed. I looked over at Janet, and she looked at me. We both had matching ear-to-ear grins. I knew what Janet was thinking, the same thing I was. Where do we sign up?