I sat on the cold wooden floor, as I listened to the cheetah, in the cell next to me crying silently. Turning my head to take him in, I saw he wore a hunter's wardrobe. Dark brown leather armor with pieces of cloth underneath for comfort, a hood, and on his back an empty quiver and a useless bow. He was covered in head to tail, with blood. Small cuts lined his body as they bled, though it was clear that not all the blood that covered him was his own. His small whimpers could be heard through the whole brigg. Turning forward I sighed.

They had just brought him in today, and he had been forced to fight in the arena. I didn't even give him a second glance, too ashamed was I to look at him, as not long ago, I had been like him. We all were like that during the first time we had taken a life. Scared and shaken, not sure how we could live with ourselves, not sure if we could forgive ourselves. I remembered that feeling, still felt it from time to time, still woke in the night from nightmares of what I had done.

I was different now though. Killing had become a daily thing for me, killing had become a means of survival, and after two long years of being forced to fight, I had grown numb to the pain, I could kill and not feel sorrow for what I had done. I had learned long ago, that it was either kill or be killed. Show no mercy as it would not be accepted, nor would it be given. Do whatever it takes to live another day.

In the arena, honor was nonexistent, a long forgotten dream that would only get you killed. My new neighbor would learn that soon enough, or he'd die, I guess I would find out in the coming days, but for now it seemed that it was now my turn to fight.

I watched with neutral expression, as the scavenger pirate walked to my cell. The ugly slobbering mutt who's tongue hung from his lips had a dumb vacant expression on his face, the red and white striped shirt he wore, making him indistinguishable from the other scavengers. Pulling out his keys, he unlocked my cell door. Standing I walked out of my cell, and headed on my way towards the arena. The Scavenger, followed me close behind.

Stopping I came acrossed the the large metal gate that separated me from the arena. The sound of cheering and bloodlust could be heard through the gaps of the gate. Looking I could see the scarred and burnt battle land that was the arena. There was a small tap on my shoulder. Turning I watched as the Scavenger pulled a knife from his belt and handed it to me, an evil glint in his eyes. Understanding what he wanted, I took the knife

The gate lifted and I walked inside of the arena. The moment I stepped into the light. Cheers erupted, these were not the cheers of fans who were supporting their favorite warrior, they were bloodthirsty cries filled with malice and a lust for violence. There was once a time when I would cower at their jeers and howls for my blood. Now though, I didn't care, the same numbness that had overcome me when I killed had seeped into my fear of those around me.

Keeping my eyes forward on the other gate, listened as Skabb, the captain of the crew, growled and moaned into the microphone. A sigh could be heard before Scratch, the parrot on his left shoulder, began to speak. "Fiends, and freaks. Elvric has survived two years, longer than any prisoner we've had before, he's survived some of our deadliest fighters, and he's shown a brutality that we have not seen in such a long time."

"He's a monster!" Sniff, added, the parrot who sat on Skabb's right shoulder.

"You've watched as for the past two years Elvric has killed, slaughtered and maimed your fellow pirates! But today He faces the Blundertails!" Scratch shouted in glee, the scavengers all screamed in approval.

"He gonna die!" Sniff added gaining more cheers.

I on the other hand looked forward, my eyes never leaving the gate acrossed from me. I could see movement behind behind the bars, could hear the screeches of the beast who lurked behind the bars of steel. I had seen the Blundertails, they were large grotesque scorpion like creatures who had a blunderbuss on their tail. I had watched many fights as the Blundertails had shredded through countless prisoners.

I blocked out the sound of scratch and sniff, my eyes narrowing as my grip on the knife the scav guard had given me. Soon there was the sound of a horn being blown. The gate quickly lifted as the blundertail stepped into the ring, the scav ridder on his back waving his hands as he tried to get the crowd to respond. They responded with cheers and jeers.

"Rip 'em apart!"

"Make 'em beg!"

"Bring me 'is head!"

Those were among the few thousand voices I could hear, all the while I never moved, my eyes however were scanning over the Blundertail. I was looking for a way to attack, the outer shell was to thick for my knife to cause any damage, however my eyes landed on the creature's eyes, as a plan began to form.

The blundertail lifted it's pincers into the air before letting out a screech and charging. Tossing the blade in the air I caught it by the handle in a reversed grip before charging at the Blundertail myself. This seemed to surprise both the rider and the crowd who watched, the Blundertail however continued to charge undaunted by my charge. It's pincers opened ready to cut me in half. Before it could grab me however, I lunged at the rider, the knife held out.

There were gasps of surprise as the rider and i tumbled to the ground, the knife currently buried in the chest of the of the rider. A screech behind me caused me to remove the knife and roll away. A moment later a cannon ball flew past me, killing the rider. Righting myself I watched as the Blundertail screeched and attempted to catch me in it's pincers.

I dodged of course and moved away, putting distance between the blundertail. It gave chase, it's tail moving constantly trying to lock on me, as more cannonballs flew past, it seemed the blundertail had a near unlimited number of shots, a fact that disturbed me. Running would do no good, it would only served to tire me out. Changing course I ran at one of the walls that separated me from the stands. I had to dodge as barrels of corrosive goo were thrown my way, the Blundertail however did not copy me.

Running headlong into the barrels of goo, I heard the sound of sizzling before the blundertail screeched and shook the goo off before continuing to chase me. Still running I reached the moot that separated me from the wall, thankfully it wasn't a large gap. Jumping I touched the wall, before pushing off of it. The blundertail think it had cornered me skidded to a stop before it could fall into the moot, the same acidic goo that had been in the barrels filled the moot.

Soaring through the air, I landed on it's back, before gripping the knife in both hands. Bringing the knife down as hard as i could, I plunged the blade into one of the blundertail's many eyes, before repeating the process. One,, two, three, four, five, times I plunged the blade into the face of the blundertail, each plunge of the blade was accompanied by a screech of pain and fury. Suddenly I felt something hitting me in the head. Falling off of the blundertail, in pain, I scattered to my feet and watched as the blundertail turned left and right trying to find me.

Moving back my feet scuffed against the ground, making the blundertail turn in my direction. It's tail raised to fire and I had to duck before my head was taken off. Slowly it began to approach me, slowly as it tried to find my exact position. Moving slowly I moved out of it's line of approach as I tried to flank it, however the scav's began to throw items into the ring, in the general direction of where I was standing.

Turning again the Blundertail rushed me, Jumping to the side I swiped at it with my knife, hoping to lob off one of it's legs, but the knife had no effect. Cursing I jumped to the side as his tail came at me. Getting ready to stand I stopped as a shadow fell over me. Looking up I saw as the Blundertail had walked overtop of me, being blinded by my blade it was unable to see me on the ground and had used it's sense of hearing to move to my last known location. As slowly and carefully as I could, i turned on my back as an idea formed in my head. Before it knew what had happened, I planted my legs under its stomach and pushed with everything i had.

The blundertail went flying into the air, before landing on it's back. Jumping to my feet, I saw my chance to strike. Running at the blundertail, I jumped onto his stomach, I felt it give a bit, the underside of it's shell being softer than the rest of it, and did a repeat performance. Bringing the knife up in both hands I stabbed the blundertail over and over.

The creature struggled desperately as it tried to to right itself and throw me off, but my weight kept it pinned, as again and again my knife plunged into it's flesh. The creatures green blood sprayed from it's wounds, yet I did not falter, even as the bitter and rancid taste of it invaded my nose and mouth. I continued to stab long after it had stopped moving, and I only stopped when at last the blundertails entrails began to spill out onto the dirt.

Stepping off of the damned beast, I moved back to examine my work. It's chest had been cut open and crushed, the ground around it turning green as it's blood seeped into the soil. Turning away I walked back to the gate I had entered in. The surrounding crowd had gone quiet in surprise.

"My fellow gauls, Elvric has won again!" Scratch began, his voice rising in excitement. "We've underestimated him yet again and he continues to surprise us! Truly this strange being continues to be an excellent source of entertainment!"

I didn't hear anything after that I had already walked back inside and his voice had faded, but I could hear the cheering, could hear the chants for my blood turning to chants to watch me fight again. Passing the Scav guard who had given me his knife, I dropped it at his feet before walking back to my cell.

After retrieving the knife, I heard the guard follow me. My cell door was still open, and I walked inside without any problem. I had learned long ago that trying to escape was useless, To escape you would need a big distraction, such a thing was hard to come by, and those who attempted to escape and were caught, died in the Arena the very next day. I was by no means a fool, I knew I could fight in the arena for as long as I needed, but the Scavs had been holding their strongest back, saving them for only the most promising of Prisoners.

Turning to look at the cell next to mine, I saw the cheetah had stopped crying, though he looked at me with a sense of fear and wonder. Looking down at myself I saw I was covered in the Blundertails blood. It dripped from my clothes and filled the brig with the smell of death, but I saw something else in the cheetah's eyes as well. A type of curiosity that I had not seen before. I paid him no mind, though, instead I turned forward, and headed for the small bucket that was in the corner. Inside was water though it was dirty and disgusting. Without hesitation I began to clean myself of the blood of the blundertail.

Tomorrow I would see what was in store for me.