Arena (1)

Tak Tak Tak Tak Tak...

Slow foot taps were heard through the dungeons. Stepping on a blood puddle, he pulled back his foot on a dryer area of dirt, spitting on the blood in disgust.

After spotting a lifeless man covered with Whip marks, he almost threw up seeing that he stepped on that dead man's blood.

There is seriously no mercy in the eyes of these Whippers. Taking lives like they didn't matter at all, it's something even the King of this place doesn't deserve.

This Dungeon being underground, where even a breath doesn't seem to escape, made the stench of blood and rotting corpses even heavier.

It is a surprise how the people who are still alive in this dungeon, don't die out of the stench.

Maybe they adapted to it, maybe it is the only life they know now?

Or perhaps the hope of freedom and light left their hearts long ago and descended darkness encrusted their soul with what we can call suicidal thoughts?

They adapted to thinking this as their life now, dying out of pain to escape this underground hell hole being their main life goal perhaps.

This dungeon used to be a mine, a big one, the first mine of Hawk city actually! Before this place was even declared a city that is, before it was nothing but an empty space with a big bump in the middle.

Once ore was discovered here, people living in a village about a kilometer away, arrived and have used the mine for about a year along with other people from different places before this nature's gift gave out it's last ore.

The word about the mine was rapidly spread throughout a 500 mile radius in no time, people from all over travelled to make their life fortune by mining here, mining for gold! An expensive ore indeed.

No one was in charge of the mine, what people mined was theirs to sell instead of working for a salary, making some greedy bastard even greedier.

No no, authority over these mines was slim and that was the main reason for the word spreading fast, that's how the big mine deplete so fast, the gold was practically free.

But that of course came with many problems. As the gold mine's popularity increased, so did propaganda, bloodshed, greed, it was every man for themselves.

Greed came above all so 1 year later, 100 poorly built houses were around the mine and only 250 people were left living there after the mine completely depleted.

But of course all of that happened 500 years ago, it's the base history of Hawk city and we can understand why the people here are the way they are.

Now Hawk city has a bursting population of 18,000 people along with 4,000 houses.

Now this first ever mine is a traumatic dungeon, what a heck of a transformation because this is where people usually found happiness.

"Wake up." Heard Aaron James a tone rather low and yet surprisingly less offensive or less of a 'do as I say or parish' type of tone.

Aaron thought that torture time is finally here, he was surprised how no Whipper came to torture him up until this point. He heard one scream after scream from the victims nearby but no Whipper came for him.

Guessing his fate, he chose to ignore the man telling him to wake up and didn't move, waiting for death to reach him.

He is sure of his fate, this has only one way of playing out.

Aaron has been in the dungeon for 2 days already with no food or water thrown to him, he does not have the nerve to deal with this man right now.

"Wake up!" He heard that thick voice again, but this time it was rougher, louder and offering. "Do you want water?"

Hearing that word, Aaron reacted instantly. He sat straight and glared upon the man, on the other side of the arm thick iron bars.

A man standing 6 feet tall with a black hood covering his head completely and the tunnel being very dim helped him hide his face.

The man gently slid a clay bottle of water through the bars and gave it a stronger push afterwards which ended up tipping the bottle and a bit of water spilled.

Aaron's strength suddenly bursted, standing from his bed made of hay, knees dropped on the dry and dirty ground as he lifted the bottle and started drinking it without considering hygiene issues.

Drinking water that fast after a long time of not consuming it at all is of course never a good idea because It will take a hunch of time for his body to accept the water.

He turned his head to the left and threw up a little bit but all he threw up was water.

He has nothing else left in him, If 8 hours of no water is rough for the body, imagine 2 days!

Aaron here doesn't care, after throwing up, he gave a harsh spit and after drank water once more but less this time, one mouthful after the other.

"What do you want from me?" Puzzles Aaron under his breath, tired of this nonsense as he glared at the man on the other side of the bars.

At this matter he's dumbfounded, unaware of what to think first. Why is he still alive after killing so many people in the mines, why haven't any Whippers visited him?

What is this man doing here and most importantly what did the King mean by, "This tool will bring us more gold than we can count."

"You are aware of the Arena, right?" The man on the other side of the bars asks under a low tone.

"I come from Makemis if you forgot, it's a whole other country so I have no fucking clue what Arena you're talking about." Well this is a cover of course, the reason behind Aaron's lack of knowledge is because he came from another timeline, but that shouldn't be said out loud.

[The Arena however ranges 100 meters wide, the battle field itself in the middle and takes 60 meters of space. The audience area can fit around 4,000 people. Sort of hard to measure considering it was never full before.]

"You understand how an Arena works. You win a battle and you get coins while of course trying to stay alive as well. " Hearing what this man had to say, Aaron was able to form a quick theory about what's going on.

But this big headache due to the lack of food and water, completely obliterated the chances for him to focus on his theory further.

"So what do you want from me?" Queries Aaron, gazing at the ground in front of him while sitting on the hay bale bed, dizzy due to throwing up just a bit earlier.

Getting a bit irritated of Aaron already, the man in shade cites. "I'm in charge of the Arena and it's battles, call me Arena master Fin. You are an Earth quaker so you will fight in the arena for me. If you fight good you will be rich!"

[The arena itself has an entrance fee of 20 bronze coins and people are required to bet on a fighter in order to enter, it's profit in two ways. Bet 200 bronze coins at a minimum and win 400 or lose them all. The gap between bettings is the profit.]

"So that's what the King meant." Aaron murmured as rage grew by s hunch, now he has to ask. "I guess this is my only choice?"

"It unfortunately is." Fin reveals, showing sympathy for Aaron although we can call it care with daggers.

Possibly offering what can cause a spike in Aaron's motivation towards this deal, Fin pitches. "But if you survive rounds then you will be rich, loved and envied. If you become a champion then you will escape slavery."

"I won't be able to make it, I'm no warrior." Pointed out Aaron, in actual suicidal hopes of being put out of his misery.

"There are training rooms, we don't plan to put an embarrassment on the battlefield." The man pointed out in a rather firm tone, showing that he doesn't like excusements.

"Wow, so thoughtful." Whispered Aaron in a pinch of sarcasm but a question popped up in his head. "How much does it pay?"