The girl's eyelids opened as she lay naked on the ground. I tossed her my own bloodied and torn up shirt on top of her by reflex. Her eyes followed the shirt looking up to meet my gaze. Her light blue eyes broke contact and grabbed the shirt, wearing it before accepting my offered hand to help her up.
"Thank you..., Master." Her words stunned me until I guessed she was formerly a slave. As compensation for the shirt or because I was her new master, she placed a hand on my forearm, healing all my minor cuts and bruises.
I questioned why I let her touch me and shunned it off to fatigue. One by one each cut disappeared leaving only a lingering aching and soreness in their place.
"You're free now. I'm not your master..." The slave girl fell to the stone floor unconscious before I could finish. Heavy breathing and beads of sweat ran down the sides of her face. The girl must have been in a lot of pain throughout the entire healing process.
I thought about leaving her in the arena, but reconsidered the possibilities of leaving her in this mass murder scene. The blame would no doubt be placed on her as she was the only survivor with a stamp of slavery on her records.
The sound of sirens blared louder as they rushed the coliseum. I piggybacked the unconscious girl, turning my head to see a mixture of police, ambulance, and fire trucks.
They most likely were alerted of a fire or something caused by the abnormal weather, since at the forefront were the fire trucks which had water formations on standby, but did nothing as the sky had cleared up and no traces of smoke or fire were seen. I continued forward and chose to leave as a large crowd formed around the premises.
My home was several miles from the coliseum situated on the third floor of a shabby apartment building, right along the outskirts of the ghetto. The walk or should I say brisk jog through the thick humidity was more exhausting than my first few matches as my body was beyond worn out.
I tugged at the door handle after unlocking it, using my foot to pry it open as I made my way inside, laying the girl down on my uncle's bed.
A shower and bed were all I wanted as I grabbed an extra set of clothes and entered the bathroom; the only other room in the open flat design. The ice-cold water kept me standing in the shower longer than I thought as the grime and blood that dried over slowly washed down the drain. After exiting, I went around gathering my essentials and all the money saved up from odd jobs Arisa found for me.
My plan was to leave this town with her, but now there is no "her" and I still plan to leave this crappy village to find my uncle. I flopped down onto my bed alongside the other one not far from where I placed the girl. My memories of Arisa and her betrayal cycled endlessly. Eventually settling on my dark purplish energy as I faded to sleep.
The smell of food woke me as I noticed the time on the alarm clock, six hours had passed and it was now midnight. "Master, your food is ready." The girl placed a pot of ramen on the table. The kitchen looked disheveled with open cabinets as if she looked and only found instant noodles to serve.
'Well of course, that's all I can afford to eat.'
The bowl and table settings were already prepared as she started scooping noodles into my bowl.
"Thank you, but where's your bowl?" I noticed the single pair of kitchenware without anything ready for herself.
"Don't worry master, I will eat after you finish and clean up the kitchen for now." The girl looked like she was worried I'd be unsatisfied with ramen as food.
"My name is Volatis. Stop calling me master you're already free. What is your name?" This wasn't the first slave I've been around, but the way she spoke felt awkward to hear.
"My name is Eris, but if master wishes to give me a new name, I will accept it." Eris completely ignored the first part of what I said.
I got up and went to get another bowl, a cup of water, and utensils seeing as she was motionless waiting for me to start eating. I placed it all on the other end of the table and told her to eat. She still did not move, but only stared as I poured her half of the ramen. I couldn't be bothered anymore and sat down to eat. Eris eventually sat down to eat after watching me take several mouthfuls of noodles.
"Thanks for making the food Eris. You can leave or rest up here for the night, but in the morning, we will part ways." I got up only to be blocked from the sink with Eris taking the bowl and utensils from my hands.
This time I didn't bother fighting her and put the things I gathered earlier on top of my bed, pouring out a sack of coins on the blanket. Only to immediately grumble and lay back on the bed. There's not enough to start a new life in the kingdom of Illnor much less purchase passage to one of its largest cities.