The End

Chapter 6

In my dreams I was there. Break and I standing face to face. I had never come out on top, this time was no exception.

I'd never seen Break before, my mind filled his face with darkness. Somehow, that made him more menacing. In my dreams he was tall and muscular, I was small and feeble. The was no chance of me winning.

There we were, in the arena. It was circular, made of stone, and filled with sand, just like the television shows I'd seen. There were four stone pillars that were erected in the center that formed a square, each having multiple chips and cuts from previous battles. I gazed at the sky and saw that it was black, there was no crowd watching either. I was doomed.

I looked at Break's face, a malicious smile appeared from the blackness, he knew he'd won.

I gazed down at my stomach, a sword was sticking out of me. At the hilt of the blade was a dark hand that connected the sword and Break.

Blood now spilled out of me, tears formed in my eyes. Was I dying? No. This was just a dream. I used all the power in my being and reached up to Break's face. I gripped the edges of darkness and, summoning all my strength, twisted his neck.

His head turned around fully, but the smile still remained. With the sword still lodged in my stomach, I collapsed. He was now standing over me. Blood oozing from me, I layed there, paralyzed. Next to him was Gren.

I woke with a start.

Gren stood over me. She seemed almost concerned. "Nathan," She said in an almost groggy voice. "You alright?"

My eyed were still trying to adjust to the light. I waited a second and then replied,"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You were thrashing in your sleep," She told me. "It woke me up. We should get going. It's already daylight outside."

I gazed outside, sure enough it was morning. I got up quickly and grabbed my sword. We were out the door in about five minutes.

As we walked down the hall, a few people had gathered to see the kid who was going to fight, and lose, to Break. I glanced at a few of them, but their hard stares and cold eyes caused my gaze to divert off of them. Most were men, some women with children, others were warriors, it was easy to tell who was who. Nonetheless, I was scared. The most scared I had been in my life.

I could die, I thought to myself. Living in the woods sounds real good right now.

I continued to follow Gren to a wagon placed in the center of the ruined parking lot of the office hotel. Josh greeted me as I was about to lift myself in.

"Hey kid," He said in his extreme accent. "I got some advice for ye'. Try not to die." He almost seemed to chuckle a bit as he said that, but not out of humor, out of worry and anxiety. Josh reached out for a handshake, propping himself up on his two front feet. I shook his hand and mounted the wagon. Josh waved and trotted a bit beside us for awhile.

The wagon was being pulled by about twelve or so wolves. Needless to say, we did not move very quickly. The wagon itself was made of some pretty sturdy wood, but you could tell it had seen better days. It squeaked and croaked like a mouse being caught in a trap, about to let out it's last breath before death enveloped it. This only made me more terrified of the situation. I may soon be that mouse. Hopefully the warm embrace of death passed me up today.

Gren stared at me the entire way to the arena. I had no idea whether it was out of hope or regret. The ride was silent for the most part, the only loud areas were that which were full of people. Some cheering in hope that I would win, other cheering in hope that I would die. It was ruthless out here, more so than when I was alone.

In ten minutes we had reached our destination. It was a park, full of dirt instead of grass, a closed off center which contained for erected pillars, most of which had chips and cracks from what I only could think were previous battles. Outside of the center ring were large bleachers, all were filled by people with scruffy clothes and some with wooden or metal armor covering their chest, legs, or shoulders.

The carriage driver shooed us off of the wagon. Gren and I hopped off and proceeded to face the guards by the metal fences gate leading into the arena. They waved us over.

"You Nathan?" The taller of the two guards said, his face covered by a spiky metal helmet.

"Yeah," I told him in a stern tone, trying to act tougher than I was.

"Get in there then," The shorter of the two said. His voice sounded very whiney, you could easily tell that he was very young. "Break's waitin' for ya'!"

He stuck his hand out at an empty animal cage that was a small bit taller than me.

"What in the hell would I get in that?" I exclaimed angrily.

"You wanna fight him don't ya'?" The shorter guard said.

Not really, I thought to myself. What other choice did I really have though. I walked into the cage reluctantly.

"Hey, Nathan," I heard Gren call out behind me. "Break's brutal. If he downs you he won't hesitate to kill. Stay on your feet and watch for his kicks. You'll be alright, you trained for this."

"Yeah, for a week!" I exclaimed.

She smiled, "You'll be okay. I believe in you."

She was lying, but right now I would take any shred of hope I could get.

She smiled and walked off. I faced forward and got ready to fight.

"Goodluck," One of the guards said.

I felt a thud and everything went black.

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When I awoke, I was living my nightmare.

I was laying on the floor. Motionless. My eyes were heavy and struggling to open. There was a small blood puddle near my head. I touched my ear, which began to throb, it was bleeding slightly.

I forced myself to get up, as I realized I was still in the cage. My vision was a blur, my head was twirling, and my body felt numb, but I willed myself up. The metal bars restrained me from leaving.

The arena was just as I imagined it in my dream. Four large pillars were erected in the middle of the sandy park. The wooden bleachers were filled with people, most had strange masks on, others with children, some even with full wooden or metal armor.

My vision finally fully focused in on the figure that was across from me. He was at least seven feet tall, his body was a dark tan, his hair was as short as the stubble on his chin, and his stocky, muscular body showed me that I would soon be dead.