“God damnit. I knew I shouldn't have stolen the food from that stand!” I thought to myself.
I sat there in the darkness of my cell, with the only light being the bright moon. I still remember the look on my mother's face as she saw me being dragged by the soldiers of the empire.
“Haa….. but I still fed those children. I hope they're doing well.” I said as I positioned myself to fall asleep.
I looked towards the small window of my cell. Though I wasn't able to view the whole night sky, I could still see the bright moon.
I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
***
The next morning I was woken up by the noises of my cell door opening. Before I was able to say anything, I was dragged by my arm. I felt as if my skin was being ripped off as I was dragged on the rough terrain. Before long I was thrown into another cell but this time someone was there.
“Lucius, you've been sold to the people of the Colosseum for your crimes of murder and stealing.”
I hadn't been in there for a minute but I was once again dragged somewhere. But I assumed it was the revered Colosseum since they said that they sold me to the Colosseum. But I didn't want to go fight in the Colosseum.
So I kept trying to escape from the grasp of the guards ( I assume their guards) but they didn't want to deal with me. Before I was even able to react I was knocked out by the hilt of their swords.
It felt like hours went by. I was woken up by water being dumped over me. I flailed my arms as I didn't know what had happened at the moment. I immediately wiped my face off of the water and looked up at who I assumed splashed the water over me. It was a fat man who wore some type of tattered garb. Before I even spoke, I looked around the room to see where I was.
It was a small cell just like the old one I spent the night in. However, in this one, there was no window for me to gaze out of. I looked back towards the man who dumped the water over me. I opened my mouth to ask where we were currently but before I was able to get a word out, the man interrupted me.
“Welcome to your cell that you'll reside in for your time as the slave of the Colosseum.” Said the man.
“Oh yeah, I forgot I was sold as a slave….” I thought to myself.
“In this colosseum, you'll be fighting many warriors, animals, or maybe even heretic gods.”
“Gods? What do you mean?” I questioned.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The man looked at me with pity before answering my question.
“Yes, you'll be fighting gods but that's only if you're only on the main players who get picked for that. Now back to what I was talking about.” He said as he continued.
“You're here due to being sold as a slave as the punishment for your crimes. But now….. things have changed, it seems like your first battle is about to begin.” He said as the noise of bells rang in the room.
Before long I saw some soldier come to the room where me and this man in front of me were. They began to come towards me to take me away.
“Kid, they don't care if you're a child or not as long as they get some. Sort of entertainment. Before you go, just remember to survive against the opponents that you face.” Said the man.
“Oh wait, I hadn't gotten to know what your name was,” I asked as I was being dragged out.
“My name is Vulcan.” He responded
Those were the last words before I wasn't able to hear his voice.
The soldiers brought me towards an armory room. They tossed me inside the room. As I fell by the force of them tossing inside, I heard the sound of a door being shut. I turned my head towards the noise that I heard. But I didn't see anyone so I looked forward.
I saw various weapons like spears, swords, shields, and arrows that varied in size. Right when I first saw the weapons I heard a voice from behind.
“Pick a weapon of your choice.” Said the voice.
At the moment I started to panic, I struggled to even keep my mind straight. So I randomly picked a weapon, which ended up being a longsword and a shield. I knew it was a stupid choice but I knew I was going to die either way. Maybe I was hallucinating, but I felt as if the longsword and the shield were calling me. I held up the longsword in my hand. I felt the sword was very heavy in my hand.
As soon as I held up my weapon, the soldiers then started to speak again.
“Get some armor to protect yourself, so you can entertain the people that paid a hefty sum to us much longer.” Spoke to the soldiers.
I looked everywhere for the armour they mentioned but I couldn't find one. I guess they noticed that I wasn't picking any armor, so they helped me find some. The door creaked as they opened the door. They went towards me and shoved me into the weaponry. That's when I found where the amour was at. I looked around to see which ones they got, but it was just full of leather armor that varied in size and color. I picked armor that fit me the best.
As soon as I started to get into the armor, I began to notice the difference in my original clothing which was just rags that were hanging by a thread to the beautifully crafted leather armor that was lightweight and padded well. Soon after I replaced my rags of clothing with this armor, I was then escorted out of the room again.
“Seems like you're ready boy. Get ready for the battle that will probably result in your death.” Said one of the soldiers as they escorted me.
It felt like hours had passed since they escorted me out of the armory. I looked down at my feet as I began to imagine the opponent that I was going to face. However, I don't think it's going to be a human being since they said I was just a side event that would get the crowd excited for the main event. We walked through many hallways before finally we walked into the last hallway, well that's what the soldier said to me.
Before long we reached the end of this hallway and stood before a door. The soldiers turned towards me as if they were about to say something to me.
“Seems like this is where we part ways,” I said to them,
“Indeed it is a boy. Just remember to last as long as possible since you're the last event before the main event begins.” Said one of the soldiers.
After that soldier spoke, the other one spoke to me.
“I hope that you succeed in entertaining them. Good luck, boy.” Said the other.
I nodded my head before going through the door. I looked forward to seeing what I was probably going to face. But it is yet another hallway that leads to (I think) the Colosseum. I felt nervous as I walked towards the Colosseum. I began to breathe in and out to calm myself down, which worked. I was getting close to the battlegrounds. After a minute passed, I was one step away from entering the battleground. I began to get nervous again so I did the breathing exercise again which calmed my nerves.
I raised my head trying to look confident and stepped into the field. As I stepped into the field, The yells and screams of everyone in the crowd as I came out into the open of the Colosseum. I felt as if I were a well known king of some country that has been known for their famous history.
My uneasiness from before came back to me as I kept hearing the yells of the crowd. I kept walking onto the colosseum battlefield. At the same time, I looked for the opponent that I was going to face but I never saw them. This only made me wonder and made me nervous about who I was going to face.
Is it going to be a big muscled man that had faced many opponents or is it going to be a ferocious tiger or lion that had mauled many people for the entertainment of these people that had come here to watch?
Each thought only made me more and more nervous but I kept my head cool. I then stopped when I finally made it to the middle of the battlefield. I looked up toward the seats that were filled with very excited people.
I then noticed the kids that I helped before. They looked towards me with a worried face.