"Are you feeling, okay?" Cassandra's soft voice does little to calm my nerves as we sit together in the holding chamber waiting for my name to be called.
"I feel great," I mutter sarcastically to which she giggles. It is easy for her to laugh, she isn't the one who's going to be fighting for her future in the next few minutes.
The days had flown by quickly and it was already match day and half the matches were already done. Last week I had been one of the first to fight but today I was able to watch the earlier ones, including the one with Rosie. As she had predicted, she had lost her match against Browin, losing her opportunity to join the army after four straight wins.
I had been instructed to adjourn to my holding chamber two matches before mine and was surprised to find Cassandra waiting for me there.
The past few nights have been rough on me. Lucian had gone for a days expedition to a nearby planet for inspection and after he returned he had become much more violent in his sleep.
Fighting him off took all my energy and last night had to be our worst encounter. He nearly tore my arm off as he screamed about how he had no choice but to kill me. Fighting him off these past few nights and surviving have been nothing short of miracles and it has drained my energy considerably.
The only plus point was that my fighting skills have improved tremendously which I had learned during my combat session with a fighter in the ring yesterday. I was much stronger than I had been last week and my stances were extremely quick and defensive, even Aries had been satisfied.
When Cassandra told me the Trinity had given her permission to accompany me before my match I already knew that it was Lucian's doing. As his violence had tripled, so did his level of guilt and he had showered me with tons of sunlight every morning, all the delicacies available on the planet and a communication device that connected to Cassandra only.
I talked to her whenever I felt nervous and right now I was more than thankful for her presence.
My knees shake as I rock back and forth waiting for my name to be called. Even after having been through this once, the torrential amount of fear brewing in my chest doesn't seem to have lessened and I feel just as scared as I was before.
"You're going to be fine," Cassandra urges with her hands wrapped around my clammy ones. "You are strong, Aria. The strongest of us."
I want to believe her but her assurance seems to bounce off my skin.
"What time is it?" I whisper, my voice raspy and weak.
The door opens and I nearly jump out of my seat.
"It's time, Miss," A malnourished looking slave girl murmurs in a timid voice.
"Good luck, Aria. I'll be cheering on you from the stands," Cassandra says.
I stand up and she releases her hands from mine reluctantly. As I walk ahead I notice the burn marks scattered over the attendants arms, obviously from a snap gun.
"What's your name?" I ask her.
"Marie," She whispers and I smile at her defiance at uttering her name instead of her designated number.
"Thank you, Marie," I say as I step on to the wide dust laden pit that spans the entire arena. I think of the slave girl and her scars as I walk to the center, knowing that in this moment this is exactly where I am meant to be.
Once I am in the center, I nod at Christina who reciprocates with a sly grin looking like she has been anticipating this moment for a while.
Our names are announced followed by brief introductions and my eyes catch Lucian's blue ones. He gives me a small smile and I pray that our training will make up for my lack of sleep.
Once the formalities are over we shake hands and Christina speaks to me for the first time.
"I just want you to know that this is nothing personal. I just enjoy it too much," She says to me and I frown in confusion.
The bell rings and I pull my hand away but she digs her nails into my skin and pulls me towards her, catching me off guard. Before I can comprehend what is happening she head butts me right in the nose and my face stings at the impact.
I push her violently and stumble back, feeling slightly dizzy. My lips are wet and my hand goes to my nose only to find blood dripping out my nostrils. I wipe my hands over my pants and glare at her.
No ones supposed to attack during formalities and she blatantly cheated in front of everyone but it doesn't seem like the authorities are bothered. The adjudicator blows a whistle and I look up to see Lucian making a fuss. Lazarus sits next to him, beaming from ear to ear as he stares at me. He gets up and commands the adjudicators to continue the match.
They listen to Lazarus and blow the whistle again signalling for us to continue. I don't realize that while I had been watching the interaction between Lazarus and Lucian, Christina had walked to the wall in front of the main stand and taken an electric pole off the wall.
I knew that the poles were available after the first match but I didn't notice them there.
The moment the whistle blows, she charges at me with lighting fast speed and swings the electric end at me. The electric buzzing glides past my ears as I swerve to the right missing the pole tip by centimeters.
I charge to the wall and grab one of the poles but she reaches me before I can dismount it. She strikes me again and I duck, hearing the impact of a buzz of electricity hitting the wall.
I use my strength against her as practiced. I grab the pole she holds and pull her towards me, kneeing her in the stomach with all my energy. Her grip doesn't loosen but she gasps for air and stumbles back a few steps.
Using this opportunity I grab a pole off the wall and charge at her.
She recovers quickly and blocks my strike with the pole in her hands. The electricity from both our poles burst between us on impact and we both jump back.
Smiling, she charges at me once again but from the way she digs her left heel into the ground I can anticipate her attack from the left and I block her easily. We continue our attacks on each other until I feel my back hit a wall.
She swings the end of the pole directly at my face and I roll over to the side. Her pole hits the wall and breaks into shards at the impact. Now that her pole has been destroyed she looks at the one in my hand worriedly but I swing it against the wall breaking it in the process.
I was fine being prepared but I want the satisfaction in fighting fair and square.
Her eyes widen in surprise as I throw an upper hook her way, throwing her head to the side. Spit flies out of her mouth and she laughs. Around us the crowds are ablaze with excitement, screaming for more.
I swing my arm at her again but this time she catches it. She pulls me towards her and twists my arm behind me making my eyes blurry with tears. I kick her from behind weakly and barely wiggle out of her grasp. Using her own move against her I swing myself around her and catch her in a head lock.
I squeeze hard around her tiny fragile looking neck hoping that she will tap out but she is more resolute than I expected. She barely struggles as I feel her head shift slightly under my arms. I try to squeeze harder but I am suddenly paralyzed by an immense amount of pain that rips through the skin of my forearm.
Out of instinct I immediately release her and scuttle a few feet away. I turn my arm around to see bite marks sunk deep enough into my skin to draw blood. Bright red liquid trickles out of my wound slowly and for a moment I feel sick like I am going to vomit.
I look up at Christina who has turned around to face me with a blood ridden smile gracing her lips. I take a step back in horror as I see the blood thirsty expression on her face and for a moment I wish I could run out of this pit as far away from her as possible.
Before I have the chance to wipe my stinging wound against the fabric of my pants she charges at me like a bull and hits me square in the stomach.
I land on my back and swing my arms at her face attempting to punch but I am hitting blindly and I barely cause any harm.
She jabs the area below my neck and the breath is knocked out of me. My head feels dizzy from the fall and I can literally see spinning circles around me. Maybe I was weaker than I thought. Maybe I don't have any energy left after fighting Lucian off every night.
"Tap out now and I will spare your other hand," Christina warns as she grabs my uninjured arm and brings it to her face. She bares her teeth and from this distance I can see that her canines have been sharpened to knife edged tips.
I blink a few times wondering if she is being serious and then she bites my finger hard. A scream escapes my lips drowning out every other sound around me. My other hand reaches out to stop her but she sits on top of me and digs one knee into my injured ribs while the other knee jabs my other hand into the ground rendering me immobile.
I want to break her teeth and kick her small body as far away from me as possible but it seems like I am about to lose. I feel so weak and the pain that radiates through my ribs and now my finger feels like I am being stabbed over and over again by tiny needles.
I think of Lucian and how we practiced every evening with him training me after watching Christina's fights. I hadn't wanted to watch them myself because it felt like I would be cheating but now I feel like a fool for thinking so.
As I look into the pools of darkness that swirl in those brown eyes of hers and then the sharpened teeth that are bared for me to see, I realize that she is less human than I could have ever imagined.
I realize in that moment that I am not going to win against her unless I fight just as dirty.
"Come on tap out. You know you want to," She leans in and hisses at me with blood stained teeth and then her finger digs into my wound and I bite down on my lip so hard that I taste the rusty tinge of iron on my tongue.
With her face so close to mine, I use the opportunity to spit in her face. As I hoped some of it goes into her eyes and her grip on my hand loosens. I quickly jab a finger into her eye causing her to stumble back , releasing her hold on me.
She wipes her eyes and curses under her breath but she is too slow to block my blow to her stomach. She gasps slightly and her eyes widen at me as if she is looking at me clearly for the first time.
Remembering the way Lucian twisted my arm last night as he sleep walked, I jab Christina in the neck just like she had done and then I grab her arm and pull it behind her. I kick her legs until she loses balance and falls to the floor.
With her hand held behind her, I step on her back and hold her down while I twist her arm just like Lucian had last night.
The only difference was that Lucian had woken up while I screamed for mercy but Christina would not be so lucky.
"It's your turn to tap out," I seethe through clenched teeth as I push her down harder with my leg and pull her arm higher.
"In your dreams you cheap piece of garbage. I refuse to lose to a whore who sleeps around to get what she wants," She sputters through gasps of pain. "Vermin like you don't deserve to be here."
My grip tightens around her arm painfully as her words hit me like a punch in the chest. I feel a surge of anger flood through my veins and a venomous hatred for this person who doesn't know me and yet has judged me in such a loathsome way. For some reason I am unable to control myself as I twist her arm and pull so hard that she screams a blood curdling scream that raises goosebumps across my skin.
Her free hand taps onto the ground incessantly and I release her arm. I step back in surprise as her arm falls limply to the side and then I realize that I have ripped it out of its socket.
Christina whimpers in pain as a few attendants rush to her and the speakerphone booms announcing my win.
I rush off to the holding room that has been opened for me not wanting to face anyone after what I just did but my feet freeze when I hear my name announced on the speaker phone.
"Congratulations Aria the Bone Breaker! Your presence is required in the center stand for the next match."
I turn around in surprise as I see a few people make room for me in the exclusive seating area near the Trinity.
What is going on?
I catch Lazarus's malicious smile and immediately feel sick again. This can't be good.
Knowing that I have to obey despite the pain I feel all over, I trudge back slowly to the stands.
It is only when I take a seat that the host announces who will be fighting next and my body freezes in mind numbing dread.
Who do you guys think is fighting next? And let me know if u enjoyed the chapter below :) :)