Chapter 6
The Arena
Out stepped the biggest, meanest, and ugliest man I had ever seen in my life. His black hair was filthy and matted to his head in dreadlocks. Scars and bruises marred the large muscled surface of his seven-foot body. His eyes were a dark red that looked like they thirsted for blood, my blood. He caught sight of me and smiled a disgusting four-toothed grin.
My throat went bone dry, my palms started to sweat, and my heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest. I took a quick step back into the pond right as I saw the giant man starting to bend the fire.
I lifted my hands bringing a wall of water around me right as the fireball was about to strike. The water sizzled and turned to hot steam that rose into the air.
The crowd both cheered and booed at my block of his attack.
My mind and body were racing a mile a minute as I kept blocking his attacks and tried to think of what to do. The giant became angrier and angrier as his attacks became more frequent but sloppy.
I had no idea what to do. This time he moved his hands out to his sides and clapped them together sending a jet of fire straight at my chest. I quickly lifted my hands bringing the water up to block, but a small flame had broken around my water shield and started eating at the fabric of my pants.
I sat down in the water before my skin became burnt. My opponent laughed wickedly and so did the crowd.
Enough of this, I thought as I stood up shin deep in water, with my anger making my blood boil. I was done with this, no more shielding how angry I was. I put my hands on my hips and glared at my foe.
He threw his head back and laughed. "Oi, girlie whatcha gonna do noew?" he asked mockingly.
The mob erupted in laughter.
"This," I answered.
"Wha-" he began as I sprang into action.
I balled my right fist and sent gallons of water flying onto the bonfire the giant man had been using as his weapon. Smoke rose from the soaked cinders but no fire remained. Most common fire benders could not produce their own fire. Only the highly skilled or those born with the skill inside of them are able to conjure fire out of thin air. I could possibly had been risking my life if the man could produce a flame himself.
His mouth flew open and he yelled up into the stands, "Oi! That's unfair!"
Some of the spectators grumbled in agreement but most stared at me, waiting for my next move.
I balled both of my fists and in my fury, sent two jets of water straight into his chest. The impact caused his body to fly back with his arms and legs trailing behind. The mass laughed at him while I received some applause.
Then he stood up soaked and infuriated. You could actually see the water steam off of him. His red eyes shone in fury right before he roared and started running towards me.
When he reached the middle of the arena I grasped the power inside of me and started building up a giant wall of water behind me.
As the water grew taller the crowd grew silent in anticipation and my opponent got into my range.
"Ahhh!" I yelled as I forced the water to arch over my head, flying in a continuous stream from the pond, and over the top of the man. The constant water pressure caused his body to give out and fall to the ground. Then he began choking when he tried breathing, but instead recieved a lungfull of water.
A non-water wielder could only hold their breath for a little longer. A small voice inside my head told me to stop, but my anger kept the spray upon him.
The crowd gasped as they saw the man struggling as his life started slipping away.
Wait, what am I doing? I asked myself. I was no murderer. I shut off my connection with the water, and what was left in the air fell to the ground like rain drops.
Forgetting that the man was my enemy, I carefully walked over to the man lying motionless on the arena's soaked floor. He was twice my size and was even uglier when wet, but I knelt down beside him and felt his neck. At first I found nothing, but then I detected the slow but steady pulse.
I gave a sigh of relief before I stood up to dust off my clothing. Then I looked up to see a silenced audience. Mouths stood ajar, eyes held surprised gazes, and some were whispering to their neighbors.
Then his voice came back, loud around the coliseum, "Round winner, Alonia! The next event will be held tomorrow evening for the finals! Don't forget to collect your winnings and place your new bets!"
I will not do this again!
Minutes later two doors of the arena walls slid open and a hand motioned for me to exit. I looked down at the poor man at my feet who was still out cold and then walked over to the doors. Applause erupted behind me but I kept walking. I was not going to give them the pleasure.
This is madness! I thought as I neared the doorway.
I felt my power being sucked from me as soon as I stepped into the dark room. The doors slid shut and the scar man walked up to me with a huge greedy grin plastered across his face making his scar turn pinker.
"You did better than I expected! That was the biggest haul I have gotten yet! Maybe I can get you a nice little outfit for the finals tomorrow," he said wickedly looking me up and down.
I just stood there, using all my willpower not to show the utter disgust I was feeling or to keep myself from slapping him.
"My are you a quiet one. Well I bet you are pretty tired from that show you just put on. You will need your strength back for tomorrow," he said as he started digging in his pockets for the handcuffs.
The thought crossed my mind to punch him and make a break for it. Then I thought about the guards standing outside and not to mention I was stuck with the stupid collar.
Bad idea...
So I lifted my hands and surrendered to the metal bonds. Next came the hood and all that was left was the trip back to my cell.
"Come, come," scar face said with a tug on my leash. He opened the doors and off we went with the sound of the arena fading with each step.
"Stop right here," he said as I heard keys being fit inside a door. "Come along."
He pulled me inside where I could hear faint crying. Scar took me and pulled the hood off to reveal the dark cells I had woken up in. Next he unchained my hands and turned to close the barred door.
"Rest up my star," he said with a sinister grin, "you have a big day tomorrow."
With that he turned and slammed the main door, set the lock home, and trusted me into darkness once more.
The whimpers continued from Breezy's cell, so I felt my way across the floor and sat against the dividing wall and asked, "Breezy? Are you all right? What happened?"
"I-I-I was so scared," her raspy voice managed to say through her tears, "They made me, I had to do it. I am a killer," she said as she broke down into heaver sobs.
.....
Breezy cried for what seemed like hours since I had no way of keeping track of time. Every time I tried to comfort her she would just mutter, "murderer" or "I killed him" and she would break into even more tears.
Sleep was even more useless with her blubbering beside me so I just sat there and stared into the darkness. Then a song my mother used to sing to me came to my mind and I didn't even notice when I had started to hum the tune.
"That's a lovely tune. What song is it?" Breezy's raw voice asked snapping me from my trance.
"Oh uh, I'm not exactly sure what it is called. My mother used to sing it to me when I was younger whenever I was scared or was going through a rough time."
"Its nice," she said. "Do you smell that?"
"Smell what?"
"The smoke."
I took in a deep breath and coughed slightly as the smoke burned my nose and throat. "Yes I smell it."
"Look over in the direction of the door. Do you see that red glow?" she asked.
Sure enough the rectangular outline of the door started glowing orange and trails of smoke started seeping inside where our cells were. An instants later flames were licking at the wood and it fell into a pile of ash leaving an open doorway showing the night sky.
I saw two dark figures pass through the gaping doorway and spilt up, one at Breezy's cell and one at mine. The one at my cell placed his hand around the lock of my door and his hand began to glow like hot embers causing the lock melt like ice.
It then pulled the door free and walked in and held a normal hand out to help me up.
I was slightly suspicious about who this could be but they had to be better than what we had been going through. So I reached up and took the hand and he pulled me up to my feet. Breezy passed us looking injured and frightened as she followed her guide out through the doorway.
The hooded figure motioned for me to follow quietly as we snuck out from my prison and started down the empty street. Our little group of four traveled silently for some time until the curiosity was about to eat me up inside.
"Who are you?" I asked the to figures when we stopped at a corner.
The figures looked at each other and then pulled down their hoods to reveal...
"Burke? Thorin?" I asked baffled.
.....
End scene! Well I hope you liked it! If you did then please comment, vote, or maybe even fan! Thanks for reading ~Morgan =)