Life on the jail

A jailer opened the door of the prison where I was locked up, they were half beast who working as a jailer in this battle arena. There were no rules, the jailer could do whatever they want as long as the fighters were still fit to fight.

I thought they were going to lock me here forever, in fact they gather the fighters every morning and evening to eat. I got up and walked out of my prison cell. Furthermore, I saw Derold. The rat-man who filled the prison next to me and also Steve, the rhino-man who also filled the prison near me.

Unlike before, this time I could see all the fighters in the room. There were all kinds of people, I mean half beasts of various sizes and type. I counted around 4 half beasts with terrifying auras that made me wish that I wouldn't fight against them.

My eyes suddenly stopped on the human figure. Human? I didn't realize that there was another human being captured to be a fighter here. Should I approach him?

"Better not, most humans are weak. Every human who was caught would surely die in one round. If there are humans who survived the first round, then those humans are weirdos like you," said Derold who seemed to be aware of what I was thinking.

Derold's words made me realize, even though that man looks like a weak skinny man, but because he managed to survive in this arena, it was mean he was not an ordinary human, just like me. Even though I'm happy to see another human besides me, but I guess I should keep the distance from him.

We continued walking into a large room that had been provided. The fighters lined up in two rows, I lined up behind Derold. Although I knew the food provided would not be delicious, but when I saw it in person, I suddenly felt nauseous. They provided a wooden bowls full of insects, black broth, and a few pieces of fruit. The smell of the food was so bad that I'm sick of it.

"Hey bastard hurry up!"

"Sorry."

A nudge from behind made me realize that I made the others wait too long. I quickly took the bowl and walked approaching Derold. In contrast to me who looked at this food with disdain, Derold seemed to have gotten used to it. He ate the insects leisurely.

Derold noticed me, "Why are you just standing there, come here and sit down we eat together."

I put on a wry face and replied, "I think you can have my meal." I put the bowl beside Steve and sat down.

Steve then realized something, "Ah I forgot, this is your first time eating food like this. At first, I was also like you, disgusted by this food but since my body changed completely, I taste has been different."

"Do all half beasts eat food like this?"

Derold shook his head "It depends, there are half beasts who maintain human tastes, there are half beasts who develop new appetites, but overall I think half beasts have a higher tolerance for food than humans."

Derold took the pieces of fruit in his bowl and placed them in front of me, "At least you could eat the pieces of fruit. The taste is good enough for human taste."

I obeyed Derold's words and ate the pieces of the fruit. In the end, it was the only thing I ate in this afternoon's meal. After 30 minutes, the jailer returned to escort the fighters to their respective cells.

I was worried at first that these officers would prank me, but luckily I got back into the prison cell safely.

Being in prison was boring. I use my spare time to train my body. I did push-ups, sit-ups and various other movements continuously. Besides that, I also try to meditate to gather natural energy as a material for the seeds within me to grow. Too bad my attempt failed. It seems that the meditation I did was wrong.

There seems to be a special method of meditating to gather natural energy. By the way, I asked Derold about the half beast power mechanism.

According to Derold, half beasts already automatically have the seed of god when they awaken. The gods who planted the seeds were the ancestors of their own sub-race. Half beasts also have bodies that were more sensitive to natural energy, so it was easier for them to grow than humans. Their only weakness was their lack of control over the power they possess.

Even though the prison conditions made me uncomfortable, the sleepiness really hit me, so I forced myself to sleep using my own hand as a pillow.

***

"This dream again?"

I looked around, once again I was in space. I'm sure I'm in a dream. Just like what I had at that time. The only difference was a gray ball that floated quite a distance from where I was standing. The gray ball was very conspicuous compared to the other objects around me.

I moved slowly towards the ball. I used the asteroid rocks as footholds to push my body closer to the ball. After a while I finally arrived near the gray ball. I reached out my hand to touch it, but I couldn't. It was as if there was a transparent wall preventing me from touching the ball.

What's this? I kept trying to touch the ball, but I couldn't. No matter what I did the ball was completely blocked by the translucent wall. I suddenly pondered, could this dream have a certain meaning? What does the gray ball represent?

Until the dream was over I still couldn't guess what the dream meant. The next morning, after resting for a while, the time for breakfast was come. Of course, I still have no intention of eating the food that had provided, even though my stomach was really rumbling right now.

When I got out of the prison cell, I was surprised to see that Derold was no longer in prison.

"What happened? Where's Derold?"

"He's dead, Derold was dead, the death match took place last night while you were sleeping. It was a shame that although he had often defended relying on luck and his quick feet, now his luck had run out. Derold couldn't beat his enemy and he ended up getting killed."

Steve calmly explained my confusion. Hearing Steve words certainly made me shocked and sad at the same time. The Rat man, Derold, who was friendly to me was dead, now. It was the time that I realized, the reason why the other fighters seemed to be indifferent to each other was because people could die at any moment.

I really have to think of something, otherwise I could die here. I couldn't rely on Leon and Clarissa completely. Likewise, I have to come up with a plan, but myself was not enough, I guess I should try to persuade the other fighters.