The Fields of Fire

Chapter 10: Arthus Adana

Arty walked quietly with his fellow students. It had been many, very boring days since Marcus' rousing speech. In that time Arty and the other students had been measured for uniforms, given military IDs, and Marcus had gone over the Entry test with the students to explain how everyone did. They had departed late in the day after a pretty grueling lesson on the history of Magic in Zytria, but everyone seemed excited to finally be out of the school building again. Arty stuck close to Zaben, who still seemed kind of down. Arty wanted to ask what was wrong, but he couldn't do it in front of all the other students. It was kind of annoying doing all this walking, but Arty was personally just grateful not to have been abandoned a second time. He was curious about their destination.

He didn't think on it much, his mind was really just focused on what Marcus had said before, about their purpose here. Arty realized that it was about more than just saving the Kingdom, because if he could do that, if he could learn to be the soldier they needed him to be, if he could use his magic to beat the Atherians, than he could show people that not all Magic users are traitors. He could prove to them that people with Magic do belong, and that they can be just as loyal and just as brave as any other Zytrian. He wanted to use his power not only to save Zytria, but to save the people like him, and the people still yet unborn, so that they wouldn't have to live their whole lives in fear of what they are. Instead, they'd stand up and be proud of what they could do, and they wouldn't have to go hide when men knocked on the door, and then they'd get to go to school and make friends and tell their families what they are, and none of them would have to stay up at night thinking about camps, or guns, or gas chambers, or whether an angry mob was going to come and burn their houses down, and they'd all grow up knowing their fathers. Their fathers would all look them in the eyes and say, I'm proud of you. That's what Arty was fighting for, more than just saving Zytria, he was trying to save the future.

The other students were a lot more worried about where they were going than he was. "Where are we going?" One of them 

"The Colosseum," Marcus said, and that was that.

The Colosseum was an ancient relic of the old regime of the Elven Empire, which once stretched almost as far north and south as Zytria itself. Arty had heard a lot about the Colosseum over the radio. It was an example of Evlen decadence and oppression. The Elves would have massive battles for show within the Colosseum's walls. They'd pit human slaves, wild animals from all across the world, Professional Elven warriors, and sometimes even Dragons; whose wings were clipped to stop them from flying away, against each other in blood baths for the entertainment of the people. Supposedly it was a way for the Elven Imperial Senate to display its power and relevance, but the ever eroding waves of time transformed it into just another Elven Ruin now occupied by the humans it once existed to suppress. Arty had heard people on the radio discussing whether or not to bulldoze the place and make room for a new statue or houses or something, but the government decided to keep it, citing its historical relevance.

Eventually he and the other students made their way into the Colosseum. Like most Elven Architecture it was large, with a significant emphasis on circular features, and made of green stained granite accented with white marble. The Colosseum towered a good 100 feet into the air and the area surrounding it was largely clear of any buildings. It's size was an imposing sight for any human, in spite of this, it actually made Arty feel a little bit better, if mankind could overcome the people who built this, than maybe we've got a chance against the Atherians.

Standing beneath the towering visage of the Colosseum were 5 men in military Uniforms. One soldier stepped forward and said, "we heard you'd be here," he looked back and forth, scanning the students, "although we expected you guys here earlier, with more students, and more teachers as well."