Gravity

Chapter One, The Ring

Sharp ragged breaths stabbed through the space between the warrior's lips, her face and hands stained by blood's savor. Sweat fell from all her pores like the energy that was being drawn out of her so completely; dirt and dust streaked her face from the falls she'd taken. Twenty adversaries, she'd already bravely conquered, their unconscious bodies strewn throughout the ring waiting for the match to come to a close.

Five more gladiators to defeat, then Naura would break her record of consecutive victories. She could practically taste her pride as she took a deep breath and adopted a fighting stance. The first of her opponents came charging almost immediately, jumping off of nearby rubble and bearing down on her. Naura had but a split second to tumble to the side as a giant blade came slamming to the ground, creating a loud tanging sound, that rang throughout the arena.

For a moment, she lacked the strength to stand, but already the man was running to deal another blow, this one with even more force than before. The blood rushed in her ears as she stared at the metal that had consumed her vision already, but then she rolled over as quick as a flash and stood immediately. Before the gladiator could turn to fight, she raced forward and slammed into his back, pushing him to the ground. He knocked his head into the dirt and before he could get up she slammed the bottoms of her sandal on his temple, knocking him out cold.

She'd taken too much time on her first opponent, however, and the remaining challengers were charging at her from every direction. She stood her ground as they charged, waiting for some unseen moment.

They were ten paces away, running at full tilt towards her. The crowds of people watching fell silent, wondering what she was up to. Had she finally given up?

Five paces away now. Naura casually wiped the sweat from her brow and tapped her foot impatiently.

"Just give in already you're outflanked!" the first of the gladiators shouted at her.

She just smiled as they came crashing towards her. "Don't feel like it," she said, and then with a wink, she leapt into the air just as they went to tackle her. All four men went slamming into each other with a loud crash, falling to the ground immediately. She didn't waste an instant landing a punch to the first man's jaw, sending him to the ground and out of consciousness immediately.

The next man made the mistake of trying to lift his sword again, his hands too covered in sweat to grip the handle. Before he could get a solid grasp on it, she was tackling him again. Once he was out of commission she turned to take on the third warrior, but suddenly she felt something latching onto her ankle, hauling her into the air.

Naura thrashed in the man's grip, trying to wriggle free as she was held upside down. The blood rushing to her head, and dripping down her face, nearly sent her out of commission all on their own, but suddenly she was being tossed with all possible force. As she arched through the air, she tried to flip herself over to land like a cat on all fours, but instead, she went slamming right into one of the blacked out gladiators. A shooting pain went up her spine as her side made contact with the armor, and when she tried to tilt her head up her whole frame was trembling.

The last two warriors were charging at her full tilt, and she knew that unless she managed to take one of them out before they reached her, she was done for. Her whole body was numb as she watched them approach, biting down on her busted lips and trying to come up with an action plan. As they became even closer to her, she grew desperate and reached her hand out for the closest object. When her hand wrapped around the fallen warrior's helmet, she made a snap decision.

Eyes narrowing, she quickly measured the speed at which the closest warrior was charging at her. Then, just as they were upon her she cocked her head to the side, spit out her blood as an afterthought, and hurled the helmet at him as hard as she could. The projectile was sloppy at best, but she'd thrown it with enough force that it went barreling into the man's face, the tip of it cutting into his skin and sending him to the ground.

The crowds began to cheer then, but Naura paid them no mind, she couldn't afford to get distracted by the glory yet.

"My eyes!" The man shrieked, trying to wipe away the blood that was now streaming down his damp face from the gash on his head. He didn't attempt to get up again, instead going limp and watching the finale.

The final warrior was still charging, and Naura knew she needed to stand. Grabbing the fallen gladiator's sword, she used it to pull herself up and had it raised just in time to block an attack.The clanging of sword on sword sent a shockwave up her arms, and she almost dropped it.

Once again metal consumed her vision as the sword went swinging towards her face. Dropping her own sword, she fell to the ground and dealt a harsh kick to the gladiator's shins, the impact of her legs against the armor sending another shockwave. The man stumbled backwards, and the weight of his sword became too much for him to handle, sending him falling backwards. As soon as he was on the ground, she dived forward and seized him. Grabbing him by the hair she slammed his head into the dirt with all the force she could muster before bringing her elbow down on his temple.

Finally, the fight was over as the last challenger fell unconscious. She'd actually done it, she'd defeated all twenty-five of the gladiators she'd been challenged to. The crowds were all screaming, shouting her alias with such a passion it brought a blush to her bruised cheeks.

"Aculeus! Aculeus! Aculeus!"

Standing carefully, she held her hands up and shouted a battle cry, positively beaming at the cheering crowds. Curious then, she strained her swollen eyes to look up to where the announcer was, looking next to him to try and see the only expression that mattered to her.

No sooner than her eyes fell on her love did her stomach lurch, her heart going cold; Cassius Vinicius Lucretius, her only reason for being, was staring down at her in disinterest. He was bored, and when he caught her staring he shook his head and turned away.

Suddenly the crowds did nothing to cheer her, the wounds that had been so numb before catching up to her. Even with all of this, it was the tears stinging her eyes and the ache in her chest that hurt the worse.

She wasn't enough for him, maybe she never would be.

"Cassius wait!" Her cry for attention was so much more timid than her previous bravado, and her fatigue caught up with her as she lunged forward. Twisting her ankle on the way, she fell straight into the dirt, giving up and lying there as the tears filled her eyes.

"Get a medic over here!"

Giving up any thoughts of glory then, she stopped fighting it and blacked out. Maybe she was undefeated in the ring, but with her lord's displeasure, she might as well be.