I was in my room, counting how many akam's I can see out of the window until I heard a knock from my door. I got up and went to open it and saw no one there but a letter on the floor. I picked it up and opened it to see some strange red paper with a number that says 100 and a picture of the forest on it. I had about 10 of these and wondered what they were.
That was when Huraca knocked on the wall and said, "May I come in?"
He allowed him to as I put the red paper in my pocket. "What do you want?"
"Well, I was wondering about yesterday." I raised my eyebrow. "And…do you want to see the kingdom?"
I was confused. "What made you think that?"
"Well, I want you to get more accustomed to the kingdom instead of staying here. Give you more freedom."
I was pretty…happy about this, actually. "Alright, I like to stroll around."
"Alright, then—"
"BUT, no bodyguards." I said.
He looked at me shocked and alarmed but then understood quickly. "Alright. I'll take you outside and you can roam freely."
________________________________
I was now in the streets of Solistice. I looked around and wondered where to go. What to do next. It was all barreling down on me that…I really needed some assistance.
I saw all the Akams walking down the street and decided to walk along the same path. I noticed that I was way out of place from the crowd. Many of the Akam's were taller than me and—of course—they had fur and looked like wolves. I looked around and saw that there was a bakery so I went in and chose a weird type of bread that looked green like moss. After some awkward conversation later, I got the bread and tasted it. It was soft and crunchy, leaving a good after-taste.
When I was just having a good time, I was then suddenly brought into an alley by 2 akams and was kneed in the stomach before I knew what was going on. The force was so strong that I felt some of my insides move. I crumbled onto the ground as they laughed.
"WOW!!! Just one hit and the human is down. So weak!"
"No wonder why they call him the king's pet!"
I was kicked in the face from under the chin and was laid out flat. "Shouldn't have left home, pet!"
They walked away as I laid there and fell unconscious.
Fuck…only two hits and I'm out.
God, my stomach hurts so bad.
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I opened my eyes and found myself on a bed. I looked around, grunting as I saw a figure sitting on a chair.
"Who??" I muttered.
"Ah! You woke up fast. I expected you to be unconscious for another hour." A raspy female voice rang out.
I regained my vision and saw who was talking.
It was an Akam with gray fur. His hair was black but he had some yellow tips on the ends of them and some earrings on him that were like dots that went up his ear. He looked at me with his brown eyes and…I just noticed that he has metal piercing his snout.
"What the—???" I said.
"What human? First time seeing an akam?" He said. "Good thing I didn't ignore you when I saw you in that alley way. You were coughing some crazy amounts of blood." He said in a try for a feminine tone.
"Why are you wearing earrings and metal pieces around your snout? That looks like it hurts. What type of jewelry is this?" I said.
"Rude. They are not jewelry, they are piercings! Very different thing, jackass." He said up close to my face before sitting back down with his feet on the table.
He had such a weird look that it was unorthodox. He had a feminine voice that was a bit raspy which just adds to that weirdness.
I got off from the bed and thanked him for helping me but that was when he used his tendril-tentacles to cut me off from getting through the door.
"Now what do you think I run here? You got to pay me for saving your ass!" He said.
I wondered why until I got a good look at where I am.
It was a doctor's office.
"Yeaah! Now you realize. Fuck, you humans are slow." He said, grabbing a blunt and created fire from his fingertip to light it.
"You're a doctor?"
He turned and looked at me with a scowling face and circled his hand at me.
I got the message and said annoyingly, "How much?"
"Mmm…300 rapcur."
I looked at him, narrowing my eyes. "Rapcur???"
Silence fell on the room.
"...You really don't know shit, do you?" He turned his chair right at me and said, "Rapcur is the currency in the Middle ring. Worldwide! It's used for everything you need to get. Fuck, you should know what it is because I saw a piece of bread on the floor next to you! As fresh as it is!!!"
"The baker just gave it to me." I said.
He had his mouth wide open in awe and continued to smoke the blunt he had.
He smacked me with his tentacle, leaving a mark on my cheek. "Privileged fuck." He turned back around, resting his legs on the table and said, "Well if you're saying you don't got the money on ya then why not give the King a call to lend you some of the money? Then I'll be outta your back."
I grunted as I didn't know what the money looked like so I patted my legs in a way to think of what to do until I felt a bulge in my pocket. I grabbed it and pulled out some red paper. I checked it further and saw that it had the 100 number on the corner of it, the same one I was given not too long ago.
"Umm. Doc? Is this it?" I said, showing the 300—which I presumed to be—rapcur.
He opened his eyes and looked back at me waiting to be disappointed until his face lightened up. He grabbed the cash and inspected it very well and said, "Didn't expect you to even have it on ya!!! HAHA!!!"
"Will that be enough?" I asked.
"Definitely kid, now go on! Live your life." He chuckled as he inspected the money.
I was on my way to the door until something caught the corner of my eye. It was a newspaper that had some type of advertisement on it. I faced back towards the doctor and asked, "Hey, can I have this?"
"Yeah, yeah, take it.." He waved his hand at me, not even paying attention to me.
I sat down on the nearest chair and read through the article. There were many things going on, mainly the focus on the organization called Devil's Pride—that name again—and some quotes from other kingdoms.
Of course there are other kingdoms and they all seem to be humanoid animals as well. One was a picture of a humanoid bird-like creature that looked to be royalty.
It said at the bottom of the picture, "Photo of Queen Filenis."
Guess there are a lot more of them than I thought.
I read more of it and saw that in the kingdom of Solistice, they are hosting a tournament for fighters to show their skills to potentially join the fight against "Devil's Pride".
I looked at it for a while and looked at the doc, who was still smoking the blunt and counting the money.
"Hey, do you know where this tournament is being held?" I asked.
He slowly turned his chair around to face me and looked at me condescendingly, "If I tell you, you would be dead in an instant."
"You think that I'm going to join it?!"
He looked at me down and up, "You look like the type of stupid to enter a fight you can't win."
"Look, just tell me where it is alright."
He looked at me skeptically, smoked a blunt, placed it down and said, "It's very close from here, it's pretty noticeable as soon as you leave so…don't come back all blooded up and shit." He turned around, his chair following as he shooed me away.
I sighed in frustration and walked out of the clinic. Seeing that I was in a completely different area than I was before. I looked to my right and saw that I was behind the castle now. I looked around the streets, staying vigilant as I tried not to get caught again. I looked at the newspaper again and saw a picture of what the arena looks like. I walked down the road until I got to the building.
It was something similar to what the roman empire had but…it was a miniature version of it. It had no openings for the people to fall off while sitting on their seats and no way to see it from the outside unless you were at the top of it.
I walked up to the door and saw an Akam there, guarding it. I sighed as I knew something was going to happen.
"What are you doing here?" He said.
"I was wondering if I could go in and see the place?"
"You want to fight in the arena?"
"No, no. Not that…I'm just curious about what it looks like."
"Well you're too late, no spectators allowed during this time."
I tried to think for a moment and was about to give up. But then the thought of what the doctor said came to mind….
"Then how much is it to participate?" I said.
He looked at me flabbergasted and started laughing hysterically. "You really want that, runt?"
"How much is it?"
He scuffed and said, "1000 Rapcur."
I was about to grab the money out of my pocket until I heard some clanking coming from behind me.
It was Norlarena and about 20 other soldiers behind her. She looked at me and walked up to the guard. "Really, Yartila? 1000 rapcur for a scrunt like him?"
"Rules are—" He was interrupted by her slamming him against the wooden gates.
"The last time I remember, it was about 20 rapcur to enter this colosseum as a fighter. So why raise the price now to an extreme? Care to tell me that, huh? And most importantly, will I be paying that same amount as he is?"
He pushes her away and lets her in. Pushing me to the side as I hear the soldiers saying things about me.
As they were all in, he gets next to me and lends his hand out.
"20?"
He tilts his head.
I checked my pocket if I had any 20's but it's all just hundreds. I looked up at him and said, "Do you have change?"
________________________
While exploring the arena, I noticed some few noticeable things. I saw some Akams picking up some…arms, from the ground, which made a shiver go up my spine.
The stadium was empty as expected and filled with some weird foods. I then had enough with the seats and went into where the warriors rested. It was a large room with so much space that it was overwhelmed with posts that had multiple different types of weapons. I couldn't even figure out which was which. As I was walking down, I saw some of the Akams getting ready to fight, putting on armor and grabbing swords from the posts. I was overwhelmed, way more than what I could have expected.
I heard some of them snickering and whispering behind my back. I felt so tiny in this room that I thought of myself as just a mouse, scurrying through on the ground, hugging next to the sides of a wall. Because of this, I tried to find a place where it was empty and when I did I gave a strong but relieved sigh. My voice was shaky when I did so. I sat there as I was insulting myself for even thinking of participating in a gladiator event.
What made me think this was a good idea.
I could try to leave but I'll probably get found before I can. I sat there with my palm on my face and bouncing my leg up and down.
I grunted loudly as I fell down onto the ground, covering my face and lightly slapping myself.
I got up and looked around for any posts and found one out of view from every demon in here. I checked through it and was not interested in any of them until I saw one that caught my attention.
It was a sword that had blunt edges but a pointy tip, reaching like a spear but with a handle that was made for only one hand to grasp it. It also had a stylish guard on the handle, probably to block attacks or prevent a slip up from occurring. I took it off of the post and quickly realized how heavy it was.
I accidentally dropped it onto the concrete ground and it rang out, taken by surprise by the sudden weight. I tried to lift it up but couldn't even do that.
"What the hell?" I said to myself as I tried with all my might and managed to get it up. I tried to swing it but it was just too heavy.
"I can't fucking use this?!"
I looked back at the post to see if there were other choices.
I sighed when one was not found.
"Time to practice with this one…if I can even lift it."
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It has been some time since I picked it up and—miraculously—I was swinging it around and what was even more impressive is that I can wield it with one hand now. Before I had to use two to even budge it. I started to stab at the air and pretended to be a musketeer.
Suddenly, I was called.
"The human…Jarrod?" He said, mispronouncing it. Saying "Jah-rod" instead.
"Yeah!!!" I said, flustered as I hid the rapier. "What is it?"
"Your match is up."
I had COMPLETELY forgotten that I signed up to be in a match. "What? Could you just give me some more time?"
"You can quit, but the only exit is the front door." he said like it was a threat.
I was somewhat confident about the sword I found but I don't think I can match up to an akam. One hit from them and I'm out.
Suddenly an idea came up so that I could win and with a confident voice I agreed and they only shrugged and showed me the way.