I was not in a good mood.
I mean, how would you feel if you were practically dragged out of the woman you love's arms, thrown in a cart, and shipped towards your upcoming doom?
If you would be happy there is something seriously wrong with you.
"Listen everyone!" Luke said, clapping his hands together as much as he could with the chains. "If you want to survive the arena, listen to me."
Luke was one of the only people here who'd been in, and survived, the arena. In fact, he was a favorite among the Romans, seeing as in his first match someone practically sliced open his face, giving him that scar, and he went on to win anyway.
"Lesson number one," Luke said. "You can't think of any of your opponents as people. Let the guilt sink in later: if you let it sink in in the arena, you're dead."
He kept going on like this. It was good advice, and I listened intently.
The next day, we got to the colosseum.
It was huge, and beautifully built. I could tell that it could contain thousands of people.
Thousands of people who will be cheering for your blood tommorow, I thought. The thought made me shiver.
We were herded into the building, and into some cells underneath it. They were practically identical to the cells back in the ludus.
I tried to fall asleep, but I couldn't. I was a bundle of nerves, and my thoughts kept going back to Annabeth, who was waiting for me back at the ludus.
Eventually, I drifted into sleep.
•🐠•
I woke up to a slave girl bringing me breakfast. I gobbled it down
After we finished breakfast, slaves started fitting us in our armour, which was much fancier than the ones we trained in.
Then they took us to what I assumed was the waiting room, and chained our hands to the wall.
We waited for hours. We were the closing event, so we had to listen to all the other events that happened before us. I was pretty sure I heard someone get ripped apart by a lion at some point.
I wished I was Travis. His companion had 'accidently' slammed his arm so hard into the bedpost it broke, leaving him unable to participate. I wished that Annabeth and I had thought of that.
But, we had been occupied with other things.
Eventually, it was time. I took deep breaths as a guard unchained my arms, and then I followed the others into the arena.
There were thousands of people, occupying every row. I noticed a grey-haired man who I assumed was the king sitting on a podium, with a blond-haired boy who I assumed was his son sitting next to him.
I gripped my sword in my hand, waiting for the king to drop the handkerchief that would indicate the start of the fight.
Luke's advice rang in my ears. Don't think of them as people.
Then the king dropped the handkerchief.
I turned to the boy closest to me, and raised my sword up to meet his. The boy was good, but not good enough. My sword was in his neck in no time.
Then I turned to the next closest available boy near me, and started the process again.
After awhile, I started to get exhausted. But my adrenaline kept me going.
Soon, there was only me and two others left. The others were fighting, so I waited for them to finish.
I looked up at the king's podium. I could see their faces clearly now. Besides the king and his son, there was a boy with sand-coloured hair, a girl with jet-black hair, and the princess. There was also a slave girl attending them, but she was too far away for me to properly see her face. Yet, I felt like I knew her.
Just then, I heard one of the others gurgle on his own blood. I turned to my last opponent, the last person I would have to kill before I could keep my promise to Annabeth.
He was on the other side of the arena, but I already could tell who he was. My heart dropped like a stone falling down a well.
Luke.