Ryan stared out the window of the Arena with bitterness in his eyes. This was the first time he had been in the Grand Arena, but he had been battle-hardened from months in the pit fights. Every day served as a new reminder that his family counted on him to save them. His wife didn't even know the danger she was in yet. And his uncle...
He suppressed the hatred he felt at the thought of Kane. It was Kane who had dragged him broken and bleeding across the desert to simply sell him into fighting, something he had been trying to escape for years.
"Ryan, are you all right?" Sarah asked from the top bunk. She watched him with a sad expression. Her brother would never have recognized him, if he were still alive. Ryan had once been a happy little boy, but things had changed too much since then.
"Not yet. Soon, though." he responded quietly. "Soon."
Early morning found Siph and Ressek sitting on the windowsill, welcoming the dawn's weak golden light. Ressek's long tail swished across the floor, occasionally knocking one of its bony nodules against the stone walls.
"I wanna win, Rethik. I wanna be da champion oth da Arena." Siph had yet to master common speech, and spoke with a lisp.
"You wish for the chance to face Calarith? You were always weird, Siph, but I never believed you were insane." Ressek sighed, his forked reptillian tongue flickering in the air. "And now I'm in the mess with you. Though I relish the chance to kick Krath around, I don't want to be here."
Siph patted his friend. "I know, Rethik. I'm thorry."
David Talis watched his son sleep from the doorway. Dawn was breaking, but John could sleep through almost anything. It almost brought a tear to the lycanthrope's eye, for he had thought that he would never see his son again, let alone anyone. But now they were to be in the same Arena, fighting each other.
John's eyes opened and he watched his father for a moment. The man wasn't young anymore, but still had a youthful strength.
"You shouldn't have come." David said softly. "I want you to get out of here, no matter what."
"I know you do. But I can't." John hesitated. "Mother thinks you're dead. She's sad and scared to believe otherwise."
"I can understand that. But I promise, we'll get out."
John gave a small smile to his father and then climbed out of his bunk to prepare for what may be his longest day yet.
Raven gnawed on the bars of his cage, for lack of anything else to do. He may have been the most violent of all the competitors, and they wouldn't allow him a roommate, for fear of him eating them before the fights. He stiffened at the sound of someone coming down the stairs. He was almost like a puppy, growing excited at the prospect of visitors.
Elise stopped just outside of the sturdy metal cage, studying the dragonette carefully. Finally, she spoke.
"This is all your fault. If you had just left me alone, everything would have been fine." she spat the words like venom, and Raven's smile broadened. He let out a strange noise, something like a squawk and an eagle's cry.
She growled at him. "You will pay soon, little dragon." Then she turned and headed back up the stairs.
Marr floated out of his room, stretching his arms before the start of competition. Dark green mosses and weeds trailed from his three right claws, and left sickle. Both his claws and sickle were the only solid points on his form. They were a dark greyish-brown, the color of muddy bones, which in fact, they were.
"Come back here, fog-slime!"
Marr slowly turned, fixing his slanted red eyes on the brute behind him.
our time is not yet, krath, the wraith said. Its voice, if the sound could be called that, was little more than a whisper, and often confused for a breeze than communication.
"Don't give me that, fog-slime. I kill you now, if I could." With an angry grunt, Krath stomped off down the hall in the opposite direction, his long tail swishing menacinly behind.
ha, the fool. he can't hope to kill me. Marr chuckled, echoing the sibiliant sound through the long hallways of the Arena.
Tyger practiced another thrust, imagining Ryan's head in place of the wooden target. She didn't like the warrior, and aimed to kill him. She started at the sound of Shalar's voice.
"You are quick." He stated simply. "I'm sure that if Ryan's death is at your hands, it will be slow and painful, though."
He stared solemnly at his bladed claws. "I only wish that Reivus' death could be avenged in the same manner." He paused, and glanced up at Tyger, his long head-blade swinging in line with her throat. "Why do you hate him, Tyger?"
She glared at the bladed warrior. "He is my enemy. We disagree on certain issues. Also, he reminds me of the man who killed the rest of my clan. Besides," she added, smirking. "He's Harac's grandson."
Shalar stared hard at her, then laughed. "And he is the man who killed Reivus' murderer, Tyger. By all rights, I should thank him. You ought to as well."
She shrugged and pushed his head-blade away from her, turning his head. "I have no reason to thank him, unlike you. The man who killed my clan was also one of the last. Like Ryan, he was a Catalyst."
"Then he was a fool. Ryan is no such thing, Tyger. And he shouldn't be your target. After all," Shalar stated, "he's trying to do what you never could- save his family."
She glared at him, trying to find words. Finally, she managed to cool herself down. "Perhaps. But you are wrong. He is a Catalyst, and I don't envy you discovering that when you fight." With that, she pushed past him and into the halls. The fights would begin soon, and she would not miss it.
Calarith gazed in wonder as the dawn sun rose above the Arena's walls. "It's glorious, isn't it?" he asked. The Arena's master nodded silently, still awed by the presence of the massive dragon. "From all parts, they come. And for what end? To earn a chance to fight me." The dragon sighed happily, a tongue of fire flickering from his nostrils and mouth. "Glorious..."
The Arena's master simply nodded again. "If you'll excuse me, Calarith, I must start the competitions. I trust you will come to watch?"
This time it was the dragon's turn to nod. "I will see them prove themselves, or die trying."
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