The Colosseum

Chapter 1

A young man woke up to the acrid stench of blood. One of the gladiators he was with had cut his throat to avoid having to fight against the lions, leaving only him to fight them. He considered killing himself but found that death scared him more then the lions did. He looked around for an escape route but found none. He walked towards the weapons rack and looked for his weapon. He was looking for two gauntlets with extendable blades. He found it quite quickly since it is quite a unique weapon. He put them on after putting on his armour which was more of a reinforced tread coat then anything. When the preparations were done he walked into the arena. He had some difficulty reaching the arena since he had trouble moving his legs that were shaking from exhaustion. When he reached the arena though, his legs felt weightless since the sight in front of him terrified him. The massive lions were finishing their meal that consisted of the two gladiators who preceded him. When they noticed him they started their approach while slowly circling him...

He knew what they were doing and decided that his best course of action was running straight towards the monsters because that would surprise them. He started his death march towards the lion to his right and was shocked to see it slowly walk towards him. It was used to this strategy. He ran towards it and jumped before it could clamp it jaws around his torso. He landed on its head and stabbed the lion repeatedly with the blade he had on his right arm. The lion collapsed, a lifeless monument of what it once was. The second lion saw its opportunity and jumped at him. For some reason, even though he didn't see it, he knew it was there. He, in one fluid but powerful motion, turned around with his fist clamped and smashed it on the lion's jaw. The lion stopped dead in its track, its jaw hanging from the rest of its head. He was surprised to have even moved before it killed him but he was even more surprised at the power behind his attack, power that isn't his. He rushed at the inoffensive lion and, when he got there, slashed at its leg, leaving a nasty gash, before jumping on its back and jamming his sword into it's spine, completely killing it, all of this with his right arm. He jumped off of the lifeless form and headed back to the gate, surprised of his victory. He did not know the name he was given by his parents, in fact he did not know who he was. He was pretty tall and had wide shoulders. His hair was the colour silver and reached his shoulders. He had black pupils and wide eyes. He was skilled in many martial arts, he knew many languages and had a weird gem in his chest that he could not remove. The name that was given to him by the gladiators was Seph short for Sepheroth the one-winged angel. The crowd was screaming out the nickname they gave him, the Reaper. He hated that name because he did not enjoy taking people's lives. He only did it to make sure he could survive because, for reasons unknown to him, the thought of death shakes him to the very core every time he nearly encounter's it. He walked back down to his cage ashamed of having taken another life.

He was being moved the morning after since his ordeal was the last challenge of the silver tier. He was know considered to be a golden tier gladiator but was still treated badly by the gladiators because he was a prisoner while the other gladiators were there of their own volition. He was being moved into the hill that looked like a big finger that, while the base was close to the arena, reached over it. His room had a perfect view of the arena and was quite spacious. It had a nice bed, something his cell sorely lacked, and plenty of space that could be filled with whatever he desired, as long as it wasn't too expensive. He looked around his room before asking the person, that would have been their warden, if he could install an armour mannequin and a knitting station. The warden agreed perplex at what his guest could possibly want with a knitting station. Before he could leave Seph added a couple of things to his list: books about magecraft, many pieces of cloth of his choosing, a waterproofing oil, a wet stone, a mirror, many pieces of ceranite, an semi-rare metal that resisted well to everything and was always cold but could not take many great shocks without breaking, and access to the forge. The warden accepted all of his demands and asked him when he would like to buy his cloth and oil. Seph answered that he would like all of this as soon as possible. The warden got an escort together and brought the gladiator to the cloth shops. It took a couple of stores for Seph to find what he wanted. It was a cloth that was heavy, fire and acid resistant and wind proof which he purchased with some silk. When they were done they looked for some waterproofing oil which they found quickly it did take them a while however to find high quality waterproofing oil. When they finally did they bought it and headed back. Seph was surprised to see that his room now had everything he asked for. The book was on his bed with the ceranite and the knitting station was across the room next to the armour stand while the wet stone was to its right next to the mirror. Since he had the next few days off he decided to start his outfit. It took less than two hours to finish what he needed to do before leaving for the forge, his skill in knitting surprised him since his project would have taken a expert craftsman days to complete.