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// [I] Welcome to the Arena 
// Story: Power's Price 
// by Crimson Lionheart 
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	I awoke to a shockingly cold splash of water rushing past my face. I raised my head out of the water by instinct before dropping back down due to the splitting headache that it caused. The water began to rush back past my head and I began to regain feeling in the rest of my body. I reached out my hand to help myself up, but when I pushed down it felt like the earth was crumbling down around my hand.

I just layed there for a while and tried to reorientate myself. Every few moments the water would pass me again, dousing my entire body in ice cold water. Sometimes, a bit of the salty and foul tasting liquid would creep into my mouth and start me on a coughing fit. 

After what felt like hours, I reached out with my hand and dug my hand into the soft ground before trying to pull myself forward. My entire body ached from exhaustion, but I continued to pull myself out of the water to atleast give me a chance of surviving the water. I opened my eyes and saw that the tree line was about twenty feet ahead of me. The water is now only just lapping at my toes.

I knew that crawling everywhere is just going to waste all of my energy and tire me out. The ground here seemed to be a bit more solid so I tryed to push myself onto my feet. I pushed my upper body up with my arms before swinging my knees up to my chest. I shifted my weight to one leg and then swung the other one out. The moment I put my weight on my now extended leg It collapsed and I ended up in tangle.of arms and legs. I continued to try for a few minutes before giving up and just laying there, face down in some plant that covers the ground almost entirely.

I feel a tremendous kick to my ribs and ended up rolling twice over from the force as the air rushed out of me. I rolled onto my back and looked down at my body to see how bad the damage was. Atleast 3 ribs were broken out of place. I focused on my attacker but the sun beat down on my eyes with a vengance. The glare blocked out all view of my attacked except the horns on his helmet.

'So, I am in the Badlands. If I survive, I might find my father.'

You should probably cover your face

'Wait, what !?'

I then felt the full force of a barbarian's boot.




My vision had been flickering for the past few minutes as they carried me. I could see a large tan building which we entered, on the insides I saw hooves, weapons, barbarian helmets and creatures being held in cages.When my vision had returned entirely, I realised that  I was stuck inside one of these cages.
"Oi, Kahl ein!" was shouted at me in a deep voice from the cage on my left.
"What?" I asked as I turned to my left.I grabbed my ribs in pain. It looked like one of the barbarians that dragged me here, only he doesn't have his helmet on. That was the closest I have ever been to one, well, one that doesn't want to stomp my head in. He looks just like I do, only his feet seem rounded and hard, similar to the beasts that we used to ride a few hundred years ago. His legs were covered by a thick, fur leggings. His torso was bare and well toned with scars covering every inch of it. His face was longer than a regular human's and flat on the end, leaving a giant nose with a scar running over the left eye and running down to the bottom right side of his face. There are two jagged... things, for a lack of a better word, on top of his head that almost look like something was broken off.
"Er spricht Pony Zunge" called from my right. In this cage was a similar beast, only less muscular and a lot less scarred. "Do you know where you are, boy?" He said very calmy, his voice smooth and flowing with a slight British accent.
This caught me by surprise. I was not expecting him to be able to speak a language I can understand. "Wait! You can speak Arcadian?"
"Arcadian?" He said mockingly "This is Equestrian that we're speaking, and my friend and I were speaking Tauron before."
"What?" Now I was genuinely confused. How could another language be exactly the same as Arcadian. The chances of that is impossible.
"I'll take that as a no for my first question," He correctly states, "look, my name is A'ntaur, this is Jarr," he says as he gestured to each of them in turn. "Welcome to the Taura Royal Arena, where prisoners of war and empire wide felons are brought and forced to fight for their lives against giant creatures or each other for the enjoyment of the upper class. Which are you?"
"I don't know" My mind is rushing at a million miles a moment trying to understand this. "I remember water and grainy earth and... something stomping on my head."
"So a POW, been a long time since I have seen one, I though the empire signed the EPT."
"EPT?" 
"Equestrian Peace Treaty. Pretty much all sentient life that is in the known world has signed it. No war and fair treatment of all sentient beings. Of course, this place is a secret. Apparently it is a shrine to the old ways and a way to 'pay respects to all past participants and make sure this stuff doesn't happen again'. What a load of Stierscheiße."
"So what are you in here for?" I ask trying to change the subject quickly.
"Treason against the throne. I was supplying evidence to the Diamond Dogs and Gryphons that place like this still exist. Bit ironic I think" He gives out a bitter and short laugh.
I laugh awkwardly before asking about Jarr's reason for capture.
"He fucked the Tauran princess." He said with a laugh. I was completely shocked by how bluntly he said it. When he saw my reaction, he began laughing even more. "He was Tar'kor's best general, undefeated in battle. So when the EPT was signed, he, along with thousands other soldiers, fell into unemployment. Tar'kor made him an advisor to the royal family to make sure he doesn't fall into poverty. Then he got a little too close to Sharu, the Princess. A few days later they walked in on them 'in the act'"He lifted two fingers to make quotes. I notice that he is missing the ring finger on both of his hands. "He was banished to the arena for life after that."
"Damned for love," I said with a prominent sadness. "That is horrible." A shadow passed over me. I looked ahead to  see a group of guards walking past with a large pot and some bowls.
"Welcome to Taura." He says in a half sarcastic-half serious tone. "We healed your ribs a few weeks ago."
"Wait, how long have I been out?" I ask in a half panicked voice.
"Nearly 3 months now."
"Really?"
"Yeah," he said looking away from me and at the nearest guard."You are going to have to fight for your life in here, otherwise they wont feed you. You are safe for today, but tomorrow you are going to be put into the arena, most likely fighting a Lycanthrope of some description, probably a rat."
"Lycanthrope? Rat Lycanthrope?" I was really confused, I thought that lycanthropes meant werewolves.
"You can find out tomorrow." He said as he picked up his bowl, "but now, let's eat!"

Don't let it touch your tongue

"Why?" I ask out loud.
"What?" asked A'ntaur.
"Nothing." I said quickly, realising how stupid I must sound. 
"By the way, what is your name?" He asked after swallowing a mouthful of stew.
"Arin."
"Short, easy to pronounce and a very strong name."
"Yeah, whatever." I grab the bowl and spoon and pull it up to my face, 
"Dies wird lustig sein." I hear Jarr say as he lays down in his cage and tries to get comfortable. A'ntaur gives out a hearty laugh. I pull up a spoon of the soup and place it into my mouth.


Я не чистка, что до