Hero

1. Old Friends and New Enemies.

"Let the battle begin." Raktan said as he activated the amulets special spell, dispel all magic in the arena. Veil turned to his right and was rushing Tal before she even had a chance to react. He clenched his fists and rose the right high, Tal started her duck to avoid the punch but Veil was prepared for this. He stopped on his right foot hard, pulled his right fist back even further and delivered a mighty kick with his left leg connecting with Tal's chest sending her to the ground coughing. Veil stood over her and delivered a punch to Tal's face knocking her cold.
     Obik stood and watched the other combatants as soon as the match started. He knew the only way to guarantee his survival was to take out the strongest opponent first. It didn't take long to notice the speed, strength, and combat prowess of a human who rushed the half elf and put her to the ground in two hits. He didn't know who this warrior was but they displayed some strong martial skill. They should be the first to be crushed by his fists. Obik started to make his way toward his victim, but stopped short when he looked closer at the human who now had his sights on the approaching Goliath. They instantly recognized each other from their few encounters in the higher up meetings in the army.
     "Veil?" The Goliath gasped.
     "Obik? What the hell are y–" Veil started, but was interrupted by a tiefling putting him into a chokehold. For a smaller female she was surprisingly strong.
     "You die now bastard!" She screamed. Dezierae prepped her hands to snap her victims neck. Rage surged through her body. She knew exactly who this human was. She didn't care if she died. This human deserved death and nothing was going to stop her. Except a 230 pound dragonborn charging. The mere 110 pound tiefling never stood a chance as the three of them fell to the ground.
     "Sorry about tacklin' ya there Veil. It looked like you needed a hand." Ekim said, dusting himself off and standing.
     "I had it covered!" Veil turned and confirmed his true assailant was unconscious then stood shaking the dragonborn and goliath's hands. "It's great to see you two in particular here. But why?"
    The Goliath looked around and shrugged "I have no idea why I'm in this mess. I was here to supervise the fight then my soldiers turned on me, knocked me cold, and when I woke up I was in the prep rooms."
     "I ran away from the Calvary service and they finally caught up to me in silverstaff." Ekim replied.
     "I see you fools would rather converse with each other than earn your freedom. Fine then, kill veil and the bat and you earn your freedom!" Raktan yelled out as he hurled a dagger into the arena. The spinning arc landed right next to the half-elf who started showing signs of life. Tal seeing the dagger next to her grabbed it and stood up hoping for just one chance at the one who put her down.

     "You won't get the chance to use that lass!" Obik yelled to her. Veil and Ekim, thinking she was still unconscious, turned around to find her standing a few feet behind them. The tiefling started to stir around then as well. 

     "Are you idiots still forgetting something? He yelled out something about a ba-" Dezierae started. A loud shriek interrupted her followed by a gout of flame pulsing behind a large door right in front of the party. The door burst open and a cloud of smoke and dust flew forth, which was followed closley by a large flaming bat, which was followed by thunderous applause from the audience. "Well there it is." Dezierae trailed off. She reached out and grabbed Veil by his collar and pulled him in to scream into his face. "This is your fault you army scum!"

     "I'd watch that army scum stuff if I were you." Veil said.  "You're not wrong, but those two were just thrown in here and they served the army pretty damn well. I'd hate to see if they still have feelings for their former lives." he finished as he gestured toward Obik and Ekim. 

     The bat then flew over the party shrieking as it saw it's prey. Tal prepared the dagger for a toss but was stopped short by Veil. "I wouldn't do that if i were you! Would you let me down?" he spoke with great force causing Dezierae to let him down. He stormed over to the Tal and reached for the dagger, but Tal pulled away still not trusting of the boy. 

     "Why should I give YOU the dagger? I know exactly who you are, Veil Kyre. Youngest person to ever rise through the ranks as fast as you have. In a single year you-" Tal's melodic voice started but was cut off when the bat descended and grabbed, lifted, and carried her to the other side of the stadium. Tal, still holding the dagger, screamed in fear as she tried to break free from the creatures flaming grasp. 

    "That bat was prepared before us. These people knew one thing that we didn't. We were told if we were each told the last one standing, we would be released. That bat would be our freedom. The bat was placed here to kill us. We were never meant to leave this arena. Obik, Ekim, I'm not letting myself be stuck here. I wan't you two to help all of us escape. Starting with the half-elf. Not another victim of mine will she be!" Veil said as he took off running.

    "Come on then!" Ekim said as he started running after Veil.

    "What's the point we're going to die anyway?" Dezierae yelled as she ran after the arrogant boy.

    Obik followed as well but stayed by the angry tiefling. "Ekim and I 'ave known Veil for a'while now. 'es got 'is 'ead on straight 'e does! It brought me shame to bring 'im in. That girl won't die today, and if I know Veil, 'es cookin' up a plan to free us all. Ye'self included there missie! I'd do as 'e says." His deep booming voice reached the tieflings ears and she just scoffed as they kept running.