By the time we arrived. I could sense the shift in air. It was thick, smoggy. Nothing like home. The road was smooth, industrial, completely stripped of its natural bearings. The cloth covering the cage I was being transported in would sometimes lift and I could see glimpses of where I was going. I wasn't familiar with anything. Fuck. I was so tired and weak. But I couldn't give in. Not yet.
Suddenly we stopped, I heard boots hit the gravel and someone walking round to the door of the cage. He lifted the cloth and the stream of sun hit me right in my eye. Too fucking bright.
"Wake up sunshine." The solider said to me. He led me out of the cage by my cuffs and the chains jangled. They were thick and heavy, I had gone numb to the pain hours ago.
"Look I'm not gonna run, but you can loosen the fucking chain." I demanded.
"Nope-we are not takin no chances with you-it's direct orders. Apparently You're a special bitch." He said. He spat on the floor. I was still bare chested and nothing to cover my feet. He dragged me like a dog across shat seemed to be a courtyard. We reached some stairs but they didn't go up we were going down. The darkness dominated the atmosphere and it became harder to breathe. The guards were different here, not like I had seen the soldiers. They had black hoods covering their face, strapped with knives and swords. They weren't exactly intimidating, but you could tell they were anonymous for a reason. We reached a door and the guard knocked on it loudly 3 times. And nothing happened we just stood there waiting.
"Where is Andreya?" I decided to ask.
"She is busy." The guard said.
"Are we gonna have any trouble boy?" Another one asked. I felt a smile creep up on my face. I lowered my voice and turned to say to him.
"You can count on it." He growled in response. To my surprise a voice came from behind the door.
"WHAT!?" It shouted.
"New delivery." The guard said. "This ones The Kings." The door opened almost immediately. Only me and the main guard walked through. I was hit with disgust as I breathed in the rancid residue that coated the floor; it smelled like death. A steady dripping noise was coming from my left, and underneath that was the sound of distant footsteps. The footfalls became steadily louder; I scrambled to see, straining against the blackness to see what or who was coming.
"I'll take it from here." The man said.
"Yes sir." The main guard said handing my chains over to him. With a smile he walked through the door from where we came and closed it behind him.
"You must be Damien, Damien Lucent?" He had a low voice, such of an older man. He lit his torch and I could now see his face. He wasn't old, just looked mature, and his light wrinkles seemed to carve a map of his life on his facial features. I could tell this man was a fighter, his scars were dominant on his face with one healed lash stretching from his cheek to his collarbone. He tried to hide it but it was a bad scar, completely ripped his cheek off and dragged down to his neck stopping at his collarbone. It was deep as-well when he got it he must've been in immense pain, brought to the edge of death and insanity. Not even I had sustained such a scar to this level. His eyes were ablaze in the fire, but framed by thick eyebrows and on his stubbled chin. Late 30's I guessed. The light from the flames illuminated his tired, worn face, wrinkles boring lightly into his skin. His expression was of frustration and fatigue. The world seemed no place for this man; he had had enough. And yet he stayed silent, those listless eyes just watching, not telling, fire adorning his skin. "You are Damien Lucent right?" He asked again. He wasn't aggressive, or trying to intimidate me, he was genuine.
"Yeah-yes I am." I said. My hands were restricted In front of me, he looked down to it and immediately started to fumble with his belt. I heard a jingling sound, and fought against the darkness to see what he was trying to get. He pulled out a set of keys and unlocked my chains. They dropped to the floor with a large thud which echoed down the corridor. I rubbed the throbbing pain of my wrists and could see them turning blue.
"I'm Lukas. I am the games keeper of this castle. I take care of the contestants such as yourself."
"Games?" I say.
"Oh I guess no one's had a chance to tell you. You are in King Zorin's kingdom. He is holding a special 'game' in a few days and you are his contestant." He starts to walk down the corridor continuing to talk expecting me to follow. And I did. What else am I gonna do? "These games are very important-"
"You keep saying game, what is the game-like chess?" I say loaded with sarcasm and he chuckled heartily.
"Bit more aggressive than Chess.."
We walked further and I was led into a room filled with weapons and men half naked sweaty grunting punching kicking at the man sized dolls. Other's practicing with weapons slashing in all different directions completely hypnotised by their movements. These men were training. But not like soldiers, like vigilantes. Others in the corner on a pile of sand were wrestling, growling pinning each other to the floor thrashing to get up. All had one thing in common, the drive for survival.
"Listen to me," Lukas whispered. "Don't tell anyone who you are, make a new name, reinvent yourself."
"Why?" He chuckled.
"They won't like the Lightning Prince showing up. Most of these men are thieves, criminals, and human. That makes them prejudice to your kind. They have all been bought to play. Here, you cannot be Prince Damien Lucent. Pick a-sort of 'Stage Name' alright?" He nodded slightly before turning his eyes away. "LISTEN UP!" Lukas shouted. They all stopped and turned their heads to him. "We have a new contestant." He patted me loudly on the back. "Show him the ropes." I suddenly felt all eyes on me. I was too weak to fight them all, but I could take 1 or 10.
"I'll take him." A voice shouted from the crowd. "I got an empty bed now that Shiv is gone."
"Good get yourself acquainted" he said to the crowd he then turned to whisper to me "I'll see you at Dinner." With an apologetic smile he walked off back down the hall. The crowd started to disperse but one man stayed put. He looked both young and old at the same time. Dark brown eyes, filled with obvious pain and hidden trauma. His face was caked in soot, streaked with dirt and sand with his brown hair turned to an Ashy grey. His shirt is torn apart, displaying his deep swollen scratches impaled on his chest. His build was average, but I could tell he was more agile.
"I'm 'Tiny', well my name is anyway." He chuckled extending his hand to me. I took it and looked dead at him. He was a little shorter than me and definitely not as strong I could tell through his grip, but I could tell he had the respect of the men.
"Is that your real name?" I asked.
"We don't tell our real names here, it's bad luck." He said. "You'll get your name when you fight."
"I'm sorry fight?"
"The game." He said expecting me to know what the fuck he meant. From my blank expression he realised I was clueless. "The game is a fight to the death. We play for the king" he gestured to the men "and now so do you." He scrunched up his eyebrows and crossed his arms suddenly curious. "Where are you from?" He asked. "Everyone in THIS kingdom knows about these 'games,' so where have you been?" I just stared at him. And he turned his eyes away after a while, and started to walk down towards the men and gestured me to come along. I felt a genuine smile after a long time, I like him.