Free It Rained Red Upon the Arena by Kenneth Champion Page A

and now it was at its peak. Nick assumed every other combatant had already seen at least one fight in the arena. They all seemed more confident than him, swinging their swords and bouncing around, preparing for their fight. They did this while Nick stood in the corner. His knees trembled a bit and the steel made a slight clatter of sound.
    Two Reza men were the first up to fight. One was tall and skinny with brown hair, the other was shorter with a more fatty body type. The two men followed the Refect to an elevator further down a short hall operated by a chain to get up one level to the arena ground floor.
    Minutes passed. Nick stood quietly, gripping his sword. He had forgotten to pick out his shield. Nick walked over and chose a circular one. With his left hand he hoisted it up, and he realized how heavy steel could be. But he knew that steel could save his life.
    More minutes passed and Nick stood silently in the armory. Within moments he would be outside. He had no choice, no say in the matter. It had to be kill Grimey, or be killed by Grimey. There was no middle; it was one extreme or the other.
    Another Refect came up close to Nick. He did not say anything, only held out his hand and waved him foward. Nick followed the Refect to the elevator, walking side by side with Grimey. He thought to himself, I will drive this blade into his skull.

Chapter Seven
    The elevator reached the top, and the Refect guided them to the gate in front of them. Nick looked back and there was nothing behind them, just the elevator in an open rocky room. Next to the gate was the tall and skinny Reza. He survived with parts of his face covered in burns.
    Nick heard the crowd as he walked closer to the gate. They were cheering wildly. They paused for a moment and Nick heard the announcer yell, “The next grand match of The Vincot Arena will start in two minutes!”
    Nick put his face up to the steel bars of the gate and looked out and saw his first look at the arena. Hundreds if not thousands of civilians packed the arena. Layers of staircases and seating arrangements went up high into the sky. The stands were arranged in one giant circle encompassing over the arena floor. Nick looked towards the sandy and bloody arena floor. There were ten pillars that stood across the arena, which held up a steel gate above it. They had this made so that fire and ice attacks would hit the gate and disperse before hitting any civilian. The gate also protected against arrows fired from a bow, or any combatant with an unnaturally tall jump, that would enable them to get into the stands.
    Sunlight barely shined down on the arena as dark clouds moved in to cover the sun. The first glimpse of light for Nick in days was quickly nullified. Fresh air was nice. However, he felt much more comfortable in the confines of his cell than he did at the gate of the arena.
    It was not time to be scared, but that was all Nick could feel. He was facing death for the first time of his two year death sentence.
    The Refect that had guided Nick and Grimey up the elevator walked slowly up to Nick. “I heard this is the first match you’ve had. There are a few simple rules you must follow. If you fail to follow the rules then you forfeit your life. We will go into the arena in numbers and kill the person who disobeys. The rules are as follows; one is that when these gates open the combatants walk out into the middle of the arena and face each other ten paces apart, two is that you do not start fighting until you hear the bell rung by the game commissioner who is right over there,” he said as he pointed his finger midway up the arena crowds on the right hand side to a balcony. “Third rule is that someone must die. There is no such thing as a truce within the battle. If it appears as though this might happen, then a group of Refect will join the arena and kill both combatants. There really are no other rules. Everything else goes, do what you must, kill your enemy and make the crowd