I Woke up in the middle of the night most likely because I could not fall into a deep enough sleep because of the elderly dwarf prisoner. He continuously yelled and screamed about a woman called Francis.
It was not very long until the sound of my cell being banged upon by a guard.
"come on, and get up. You have had enough sleep to bring us some entertainment for the night".
I went over and saw that he was a fully armored elf soldier. As soon as he noticed that I did not move much; he started to bang at the wooden bars even harder with his fists.
" I will not ask you nicely again. If I have to go in there to bruise you up, I will do so because no one told me that you had to be in top condition to entertain them".
I got up from the floor as soon as he spoke because if I had to fight to entertain these elves I would need all of my energy due to my lack of food in the few hours which meant that I would need to conserve my energy as much as possible to survive whatever they were going to throw at me.
When I got up, he opened the wooden door to my cell, and l made my way out into the open forest.
"Good luck you are going to need it". The human prisoner said to me from the inside of his cell.
As I walked out of the cell he bound my hands with a rope. Despite how tight the rope was, I felt a sudden rush of energy course through my veins as I stepped outside.
The guard did not speak to me at all when he was dragging me through the encampment. Instead of having him speak to me. I was constantly getting death stairs from other elves around me comma instead of having him speak to me. I was constantly getting deaf stares from other elves around me.
" Down with the dwarfs". One of the elf citizens said as they threw a stone at my body.
" You are an abomination to this world because those who do not know the sacred arts are always a disgrace to the world around them".
I noticed that even the children were spitting at me if they didn't throw stones at me while I was being dragged to an unknown place.
They all continued to spout words of shame to me which told me that they hated my race above all else.
When the elves stopped throwing stones at me, I finally noticed that the area around me had changed.
This new area was open, and there was one solid structure in the middle of it.
I was now in an open arena with a couple of elven guards who kept an active eye on me as I was being dragged past them.
When I made it into the center of the arena, the guard unbound my hands and then left me alone in the arena.
I did not stay alone for very long because the Spectator seats above me started to fill up with elves.
The area around me that was quiet became a massive wave of sound that almost caused me to fall to my knees due to how sudden it felt to me.
As soon as everyone seemed to be filled. I noticed that there was someone in a much higher position rose to his feet.
"Let us begin tonight's entertainment.
Tonight we have a very special treat for you. We have captured a dwarf, but he is unlike the elderly dwarf that we have this one is young and full of spirit.
I introduce you to the prisoner known as Gilltrude". An old elf said to them as he pointed at me.
The entire crowd began to cheer as he spoke my name.
"Do you think that he will be able to defeat our champion? Let us find out In a one-on-one fight!".
As soon as the elder spoke, the guard on the opposing side of the arena moved out of the way, and there was an elf who wielded a magical staff and wore magical armor that seemed to fit his body like a glove to a hand.
After he made it into the arena, I saw a rack of weapons being rolled into the arena.
" Dwarf, you can claim one of these weapons that we have to use for combat, and if you lose on purpose, you will not be allowed to eat tonight."
I made my way over to the weapons rack and grabbed the great sword that was there. This weapon was quite dull and poorly maintained. I was even able to see cracks in the edges of it.
This told me how petty the elves truly were because they didn't even give their prisoners inappropriate weapons to fight the competition.
If I were going to play their game, I would need to use every tactic and skill at my disposal to survive.
As I grabbed the weapon, the elf that had the rack of weapons moved it out of the way so I was alone in the arena with my target.
" Let the fight begin!" The elder elf exclaimed from his stand which caused all of the other elves to cheer and scream louder than before.
" Well, you can come at me with your best attack, dwarf, but it will not be useful considering how much the public supports me in my endeavor to slaughter you on this night." My opponent said as I saw a set of fireballs generate around their body as if they were creating a ring of fire.
" You may think that you have an advantage over me, but as a dwarf, I have an insane level of magic resistance which will make you defeating me a lot harder than you think". I told the elf mage as I pointed my great sword towards it's its neck.
I then rushed at the elf and sidestepped the barrage of fireballs that it released from its spell, but despite my effort to evade them, they seemed to follow me as if the spell had some kind of tracking ability.
Due to the homing that l had discovered about the spell. I chose to continue my rush toward my intended target.
" Do you think that a trick that is older than you would work on me?" The elf asked me as he shot a magical ring with blue energy throughout it at me.
This ring instantly dispelled the fireballs that I was using to attack him.
I used the time that he had given me when he was in between spells to kick him in the chest with my right foot before he could cast another magical spell.
My foot made contact with a magical barrier that surrounded his body.
" You must think that I am a fool dwarf if you believe that I would not be prepared for such an attack. With how old I have become comma and how my race always outlives short, you would think that I have a lot more battle experience than you".
Hi became frustrated trying to attack the elf with every swing of my sword, but I was not able to break the barrier despite my greatest efforts. This told me that he had probably cheated and activated a superior grade barrier before the fight began.
"Oh Efreit god of fire; I beseech thee to grant me your blessing Phoenix Flame!"
Whenever he spoke that phrase, I saw a massive bird that was purely made of flame showing up above him.
If I was going to survive this attack I would need to use my trump card even though I was only able to use it once a day.
" Guardian!" I exclaimed as the fire phoenix began to descend towards me.
I could feel my body growing harder, and it became impossible for the attack to hit me.
When it did not hit me it bounced off of me and hit the spellcaster.
He then fell on his feet, but the fact that I won did not feel very satisfying because the elf began to fear the sound of a war horn off in the distance.
All of the spectators began to panic and scream after that noise began to ring through the camp. Would I be able to survive this attack on the camp and escape? The thought of failure made it very difficult for me, but I had to get my grit together to move forward.