The First Boredom
I sighed as I looked at the statue that had fought off Mehrunes Dagon. It had been nearly a year since the great battle, but I still remembered the thrill I had felt when I sliced and chopped my through the hordes of daedra. Watching Martin turn into the Avatar of Akatosh had been amazing and the ensuing battle between him and Mehrunes was nothing short breath taking, but I felt extremely depressed after it was all over and the Avatar became nothing but a statue. High Chancellor Ocato had thanked me, named me Champion of Cyrodill, and commissioned me a suit of Imperial Dragon Armor.
I had been happy for the armor and the fact that the world had been saved, but then I thought to myself, "What now?" I wore a disguise everywhere I went to avoid the throngs of gracious people. I eventually took to wandering in the woods to avoid people, only going to the cities to sell off the massive amount of loot I found in mines and Ayleid ruins.
It was on one of these excursions to the Imperial City that I discovered the Arena. I had decided to take a new route to the Market district, if only to make my day even slightly more exciting. I stumbled upon a huge building that had a large iron gate in the front of it. A roar seemed to be emitted from the structure itself. I had decided to find out what it was and asked a nearby patrolling guard. He informed me that it was the Arena, probably the best source of entertainment in all of Cyrodill. I was elated at the thought of a new excitement in my life.
The attendant in front the gate of the Arena told me that if I wanted to bet on and watch a match, that I should head through the door on my right, but if I wanted fight in the matches myself, then I should head through the door to my left and find Blademaster Owyn. I thanked him and passed through the door on my right, walking down some steps into what the other gladiators called the Bloodworks. I had to ask several people who Blademaster Owyn was, mostly because the majority of the people in the main area were either training or sleeping. Once I located Owyn and told him that I was there to participate as a gladiator, he told me the essentials of what I would be doing. All I had to do was ask for a match and I would get one, the hindrances being I couldn't wear my own armor, and I could only fight from 9 A.M. to 9 P.M.
I accepted the terms and he handed me a blue light arena raiment to signify my team. I put it on and left to begin fighting, which, as it turned out, was ridiculously easy for me. The people matched against me were obviously much weaker and I was able to climb the ranks at an incredible rate. The days passed by slower and slower as I kept winning fights and I felt a bit of the past melancholy set in, the only amusement occurring when Owyn gave me a boar as a partner in one fight. Eventually the only Gladiator left that I could fight was the Grand Champion, Agronak gro-Malog. When I asked Owyn if I could Agronak, he told me I had to ask the man himself, so I did.
Agronak told that he would fight me if I performed a personal favor for him. He told me that his mother had told that he was the son of a noble. He wanted me to go to a fort called Crowhaven and find proof of his noble birth. The funny thing was that I had already explored the fort and found a journal on the corpse of one of the vampires that infested the fort's innermost chambers. I had thought it was just a piece of good reading if I got bored, which was often these days. I fished the journal out of my pack and handed it over to Agronak. He was so elated to receive it that he taught me a few of his sword techniques as thanks. He disappeared while I practiced what I had just learned. I later looked for him to ask him again if he would fight me, but he was nowhere to be found. As I searched, Owyn found me and informed me that Agronak had told Owyn that he would fight me for the position of Grand Champion.
I was happy that I could finally face the best the Arena had to offer and rushed up to the Arena battleground. I noted Agronak already on the other side of the field. I readied my self for a tough fight and charged the second the gates lowered. As we had grown closer to each other, I had leaped towards him land the first blow. I had expected him to dodge or parry my strike, but instead he just stopped and let me impale him with my blade. Right before he died, he smiled and thanked me. I was dumbfounded, and even though the volume of the crowd's cheers shook my body, I couldn't process what had just happened. I had thought that my boredom was going to be lifted, that I was going to be in a fight for my life like during my treks through the oblivion gates.
The announcer told me to remove Agronak's Raiment of Valor and present it to the Grand Champion trainer. I did so and walked away, leaving behind the one relief to my boredom on the bloody sand.
I turned in the Raiment and received one of my own. The trainer then told me that, once a week, as the Grand Champion, I could fight creatures that had been brought in from all over Cyrodill, for cash prizes. I thanked her and walked out of the Bloodworks onto the streets of Imperial City. To this day I haven't set foot in the Arena again.