Chapter 2

We gathered all of our belongings and laid them out for the group of strangers to pick through, they did likewise with their belongings as was the rule for trading anywhere in the country. I saw the look in all of their eyes as soon as I laid the swords that were visible inside the boxes out for them to gawk at in awe. They each took turn getting things they thought were worth paying for, I always stared at the glistening blood dripping from everyone's bodies during the trade known as Pain for Pleasure, the common items were worth less so there were fewer scars and wounds for them to suffer from. When they got to the items we held more closely though the blood really started flowing, and the bruises were darker and more visible against their skin.

Any time there is an item that is worth more than the other items you have to warn the person that is paying the price that should they decide to try and take the item they want they will have to pay a much higher price based on the amount of emotional value it has to the owner. Personal items are much harder to obtain than any other type because of the high emotional value attached to them. "Are you sure you want to take this?" my dad had said about a present my mom had gotten him from years ago that he hadn't parted with ever since. The man thought about it for a second and decided that the pain wasn't worth it. "No, it's a nice item; but it's not worth the price I'd have to pay for it" My dad lowered his knife and fist and relaxed a bit.

Finally they got to my swords and everyone was arguing over who was going to have the swords once they had been paid for, and once they finally decided who was going to receive the swords after they were compensated for I warned them of the price. "Whoever has to pay the price for these unique swords is going to pay the highest they have ever paid before, because these swords were given to me by a woman who was kind enough to give them to me on the day before my birthday; and they are the only keepsake that I have to remind me of her." There was a pause here and the group murmured among themselves if they really wanted to go through so much pain for the swords. After a long conversation they decided to send someone, he was smiling and actually looked like he was looking forward to bleeding for them.

I could tell he was a masochist, one of the few people that did well in this pain based economy, no matter how many times I cut or bruised him he would take pleasure in any pain that was dealt to him. I felt a surge of anger towards him as I prepared to take my fee from his scarred body. I took out my own knife that I had marked as my blood tax weapon, you can choose any weapon to be used in pleasure for pain and it is the one object no one can take unless you die, had I known I would get these two swords I would have saved that right to at least one of them, but I'll just have to deal with it. I readied my knife and lunged toward him, striking him straight in the middle of his chest; he gasped at first from the sudden ferocious blow, but then he started coughing and kept smiling.

I loosed all my anger on him, hitting him with my fists, slicing with my knife, kicking, anything that I was allowed to do to try and get him to retreat from getting my most precious treasure I did; but none of it was enough to phase him. He was enjoying every bit of it and he wasn't backing down from my wrath no matter what I did to him. I was getting exhausted and running out of places to cut without accidentally killing him, everyone has marks where you can't cut due to them losing blood much faster than other places, like the jugular vein in the neck, the cuff of the wrists, and of course reproductive organs were off limits for obvious reasons. The man wasn't able to stand anymore from all the cuts on his legs and was laying down and waiting for the next blow.

I wasn't sure if I should continue cutting and beating him with all his injuries, if I made a mistake and killed him all of his friends and family would be able to take his belongings and their revenge for his death out of me and I wouldn't get anything from him since I had no cuts or bruises to claim his belongings with. "I'm not inflicting any more pain until your wounds are healed" I said to the man now completely relaxed realizing I was done for the moment with my punishment. "Does that mean we get the swords now?" he said laughing between coughing up blood. "No I'm not done yet, I'm just not taking the risk of killing you with so few spots left to cut or bruise." I said with an irritated expression on my face. "What's the matter boy? you have a weak stomach for hurting people?" said one of the other guys in the group with a smirk on his face.

I burst out laughing and made one last cut close to the cuff of the mans wrists and his neck and stared straight at the man who made the smart remark and said "If I had a weak stomach for this I wouldn't like seeing the scared expression on your face right now" the man got angry and said "I'm not scared of you, you little freak! You wouldn't last one second against me in the End Game Battlegrounds!" it was my turn to smirk now, the End Game Battlegrounds was a place where anyone who thought they were strong enough to survive waves of bloodthirsty killers went to fight for the right to get anything they wanted pain free for a whole year. "You couldn't last long against the weakest fighter they had there let alone someone like me" I taunted him hoping to get a reaction.

I didn't have to wait long before he yelled "I'll take you on anytime you want to go, you useless punk! you talk a big game for someone who doesn't have so much as a cut or bruise anywhere on his body!" he was right about that, I didn't have any big cuts or bruises on me to boast about. The only marks I had on me were from little accidents and those didn't even hurt all that bad, the worst pain I had ever experienced was when I dropped a kitchen knife on my bare foot washing dishes for my parents. Luckily it landed sideways, otherwise I would have had a deep cut straight through. The thought of it was almost as painful as the actual feeling it gave me the first time it happened. "I may not have as many cuts and bruises, but that doesn't mean I don't know what pain is" I said confidently, not willing to take any smart remarks from this stranger.

"Pfft!" the guy said as he rolled his eyes at me "Drail, Brian, Claris, Evan, let's get Wyvern out of here and healed so we can get those swords" the man on the ground tried to help them out a bit by using the last of his energy to wrap his arms around two of their shoulders while the others poured hydrogen peroxide on all his wounds then cauterized them with a small focused laser assisted skin torch they probably got from one of the nearby hospitals before they came here. They all looked back at the swords as they carried Wyvern off, hoping they would get them in at least a few days after their beloved masochist was healed back up. Though he probably would do it again just for fun I'm sure they offered him some good items as compensation for his help in trying to get my rare blades.

Once they had left our home my mom and dad were deciding if they should go get some more things from the Claret Center to replace the things that they had lost. I was busy thinking about what the man had said about facing off with me in the End Game Battlegrounds, I had a bit of experience play fighting against my dad with the wooden weapons he got for pretty cheap. Aside from mainly using them for entertainment, my dad also gave me serious lessons throughout the years; and as I got older the lessons were more complex, the weapons were more powerful, and I failed constantly until I finally started learning what I was doing wrong. I learned the basics of most weapons, the hardest ones to train were spears, battleaxes, nun-chucks, and other things similar that were hard to control. The basics were easy, but the heavier and longer the weapons became the harder they were to control.

My favorite things to train were swords, daggers, bows, and other light weight weapons. As I remembered all the things I was taught how to do, the more I seriously considered going to the End Game Battlegrounds. Now that I'm at the age of affliction I can pay for things with my own blood and enter the battlegrounds for the first time. My mom and dad had finally decided that they were going to replace the things they lost and I was yanked from my thoughts. "I want to go too" I said knowing exactly what I wanted to get for myself. They both looked at me and my mom said "Are you sure you're ready sweety? I know it looks easy but it still hurts" I replied. "I'm sure, I know that it's not easy but I have to get used to it sooner or later." They looked at each other and shrugged. "Well it's your choice son, if you aren't ready to pay for it yourself yet we'll try our best to try and pay for it for you."

We reached the Claret Center and I eagerly ran inside to go get the items that I wanted. As I walked from booth to booth I kept a sharp eye out for anything I felt would be the perfect outfit for a battle in the arena. I strolled past a few more booths before I came to the perfect one, all it needed was to be dyed to the right color. It was a set of hard body armor, with rugged blue jeans accessorized with a steel knee plate, a yellow tie dye shirt and diagonally striped leather boots. I looked at them longingly, I saw myself in the battlegrounds standing confidently over all of the opponents I had to face wearing the items I see before me. I still felt like it could use a few more things but I decided to go ahead and pay for this first and get it dyed.

I rang for the booth owner and around the corner came a tall man who was dressed in an eye catching get up. He had a black top hat covered in feathers of every color, a frilly orange and yellow shirt covered by a sleeveless red ringmaster's coat, and a long loose pair of mottled blue and white palazzo pants. "Ah, a customer! What would you like good sir?" the man said with a smile on his face. He seemed like a nice person, hopefully he would give me a fair price for the outfit I like. "I like this outfit here" I said pointing to the armor I was attached to. "I see, you have good taste; I had a few people glance at this piece but no one was intrigued enough to ask for a price." the man seemed glad that he finally had someone who was willing to pay for his attire. "You want to try it on first to see if it needs to be altered any?" the man asked me gesturing towards the changing rooms. "Of course, it'd be a waste to buy something something this unique and not be able to wear it" I said taking the clothes and heading to change clothes. I came out after seeing how well they fit and asked if he could make it a bit tighter because it was too loose. "Why I certainly can my good man" he took the insides of the jeans and shirt and after asking me how loose they felt stitched them together a certain way making them tighter and handed them back to me to try on again and it fit perfectly. I came out with them on and looked in the mirror to see how good it looked. "Looks great! You really know how to choose your outfits" the man said.

"Thank you, it caught my eye because of how well made it was; I was looking for something that I felt would suit my personality and I believe this is just right for me. How much do you want for it?" I was still a little hesitant but I was not leaving without getting all that I needed. The man's brow was furrowed in concentration, and he said "I was originally going to ask for a blood price of one long cut anywhere you want, but since you admired my work so much I'll give you a discount and change it to a medium cut." I thought about it and decided that was a great deal for all that I was going to get in return. "Sounds like a good deal to me" I stuck out my left arm and pointed to where I wanted the cut. I stood there waiting for the pain to begin, not too long after I saw and felt the mans short scythe he was carrying pierce the skin and carefully drag along the surface.

"All done" the man said grinning at me, "you can take your new belongings now, and if you ever happen to pass by here again you're welcome to look around, and I may be able to cut you a deal or two" he was waiting for me to catch the joke and I started chuckling, "That was a good one" I said to the man, I realized that I hadn't caught his name yet. "What's your name Mister?" I asked cheerily. "My name is Larimeer, Larimeer Veridus" the man said proudly. "what is your name?" I replied "Bethelod Shed, my friends call me Bloodshed" the man's eyes rose. "Interesting, hope to see you again soon Bloodshed" the man smiled and waved goodbye to me. I smiled back, guess I made myself a new friend.