I opened my eyes to darkness. I tried to grab my throbbing head, but found my hands bound behind my back.
"Lovely." I groaned. I looked around the room, cold and bare. It was obviously a cell, and judging by the lack of a door I was clearly in the end. I smiled slightly, their first mistake had been made, actually bringing me go where Zoey ought to be. I awkwardly managed to stand, leaning heavily on the wall. My head was pounding and the dimly lit room seemed to be spinning. I searched the room for an exit, or at least something to cut the ropes binding me, but the room was nothing but the seamless white stone of the end. I noticed a dark puddle on the floor, blood. Specifically, my blood. I could now feel the stinging pain in my sides and my forehead, a stream of it was dripping over my eyes. As I did my best to wipe the flow on my shoulder I began to hear a faint chanting in the distance. It was too quiet to make out the words but I could hear human voices mixed in with the crackling rasp of endermen. What was going on? It didn't matter, what did matter was getting out of this cell to find Zoey. I looked at the walls again, trying to determine which one led out. The cheering seemed to be loudest coming from the wall directly behind me. I walked up to it and knocked, just to be certain. It echoed hollowly. I closed my eyes and concentrated, praying that Zoey wouldn't be in the next room to see this, and teleported out. Fortunately Zoey was not in the room over. Unfortunately, it was full of endermen guards, and they didn't seem surprised to see me. They grabbed me by the arms and marched me to a pair of large iron doors. Through the slats I could see a massive arena and two endermen battling in the stone pit. One of them managed to knock the other with his sword, ending the duel. They bowed, and a rumbling voice spoke.
"The guests are getting bored. We need blood. Bring out the prisoner." The queen hissed. I was shoved forward into the arena, the crowd roaring in appreciation. The guards marched me to the center of the circle, facing the crowd. "This, my loyal subjects, is Rythian Enderborn. Traitor, monster, and abomination." I glared up at her, wishing I could split her arrogant skull. The crowd booed at me, and I glared up at them as well, before noticing an important detail. Humans. The massive arena was filled with various humans, all wearing lab coats or other scientific apparel. There was one exception, a girl with flaming red hair and a good fashion sense. Zoey. My breath caught in my throat, why was she here? And why was she smiling?
"Zoey!" I called, desperately hoping this was some sort of trick. That Zoey wasn't sitting in the middle of a group of scientists and Endermen, smiling down at me as I bled onto an arena floor.
"Hi Rythian!" She called back happily, waving. "Isn't this so much fun?" she giggled, and it was her giggle. But her eyes weren't right, scared and wide. I relaxed slightly, this wasn't her. There was obviously some form of mind control or something going on here.
"Enough chatter." Called the queen. "It's time to fight. Bring him a sword!" An enderman handed me an iron sword and cut my bonds. The doors on the other side of the arena opened and my opponent walked out. The enderman was equipped with a dark sharp edged sword and armor. I readied the sword, facing the enderman. He had the advantage, he could teleport freely and was better armed. And I was slowly bleeding out. We circled each other warily, trying to find weak points. I found one and darted forward, spinning immediately and skewering the enderman as he teleported behind me. He fell, purple blood mixing with my red. I pulled my sword from his corpse and waited, knowing this wasn't over. I was right, the door opened again. This time two endermen came out, fully armed and armored. I dispatched them both with two well-aimed blows. The door opened countless more times, horde after horde of endermen pouring as I fought one after the other, purple blood staining my blade. I had defeated over a hundred endermen, all piled around me as I sank to the ground, exhausted and weak from blood loss. The arena was getting hazy around the edges, but I could still see Zoey, smiling happily at my pain as tears streaked down her cheeks. I did my best to smile back up at her, let her know that I understood.