The journey was long, and the sun was already fully up in the sky when the carriage finally came to a full stop. Voldrak took in the environment and was shocked to realize that it wasn't as undeveloped as he had previously assumed the place to be. The people walking around him were still poorly dressed, even though they looked cleaner, with white gowns for women and flimsy waist robes for men.
Voldrak settled his gaze on everything his vision could catch, prepared not to miss a thing. His eyes settled on the huge building right in front of them. It was ginormous, and for a second Voldrak couldn't believe that the people around him had been the ones to construct it.
He would have preferred to ask questions, but he knew better than that, convinced it was something he was supposed to know as he fixed his eyes on the crowded entrance, where people were still trooping in.
"Follow me!" the slave master suddenly said. Voldrak was shocked to see Lorety and Flonda immediately follow, curious to know why they themselves had come. Shael, the slave master, led them to another entrance, one with a bigger and more intricately beautified gate, and bigger guards that loomed over them all.
Voldrak was taller than Lorety and Flonda, which was why he was shocked to see just how much taller mortals could be.
"Our pass!" Shael spoke the second he got to the gate, and Voldrak focused his eyes on the gold coins he fetched out, surprised by how full the bag he handed over was.
The left guard nodded his head and was just about to let them in when his eyes honed onto Voldrak, squinting a little and murmuring under his breath as he did before speaking again.
"He has the mark of a slave," words that had a frown appearing on Voldrak's face, something he hadn't foreseen.
"Yes! He is here to fight for his freedom!" Shael respectfully responded, even as they all watched the guard immediately burst out into a loud and extremely expressive chuckle.
"Then may his path into the afterlife be unobstructed!" the other guard said, breaking into a smile as they stepped aside to let them pass.
Voldrak's expression was mostly blank, but they had just stepped through when he opened his mouth to speak just loud enough that Flonda could hear. "I have no marks on my body!" He only had to wait a split second before hearing her speak.
"You do, and every free person can feel it! It can only be broken here at the PARADIM."
They didn't speak more after that, and they didn't have to, as he watched Shael register each of them for a fight before handing them their tags and pointing them to stand just beside the gate under a small pavilion where others already stood in their tens, about fifty in all.
Voldrak watched as the PARADIM slowly filled up with people, as they filled the rows all the way to the top in a way that would allow people to watch without being obstructed. At the very center was a large enough space where Voldrak was confident that the fighting was to take place.
No one spoke to each other, especially Lorety, who had moved to stand a couple of feet away from them, leaving him beside Flonda, who looked a little more nervous than he expected her to be. Her one stunning feature was her brown eyes, which looked more innocent than the brutish way her body was built with muscles and firm tissues.
"You're not a slave. I can't think of why you should be fighting!" Voldrak spoke in a low voice as he looked around and realized that most of the people around him were well-built and well-fed, carrying weapons of their own, in a way that made it unlikely for them to be slaves.
"My family needs money, so the profits of my fight would go to them. If I win, I would get a slave of my own, but if I lose, I would be sold, and the profit would go to them."
"You are fine with this?" Voldrak asked, wondering if there was no one better in the family or if she had done something to deserve it.
"I am the weakest! I don't get a choice!" she responded, gritting her teeth tightly as she spoke, not once turning to look at him. But regardless, Voldrak had a faint picture of what he would see. Not wanting to burden her any longer, he kept quiet, and the fights soon began.
He was surprised to see people fight with such overwhelming force that they dug small holes in the ground when they crashed, and for the first time, Voldrak felt his heart race in his chest as he realized that his strength might not be enough.
The fights were explosive, and he was surprised to realize that the stone spears and swords they held couldn't be made out of ordinary stone, with how strongly they performed through most fights. Some weapons, which were clearly weaker, broke before the end of the fight.
One after the other, number tags were called, and people stepped forward. Some who surrendered quickly enough were able to return, as Voldrak watched them be branded as slaves, the brand sinking in and disappearing through their skins. Others weren't too lucky, as their blood was splattered on the ground, along with brain matter and gore left to decorate the fighting ground without being picked up.
Voldrak took in a few deep breaths as he waited for his own time to come, his expression darkening as he realized that with such a weak and slender body, the only advantage was his sword skills, which might not be enough when it came to who was fastest or had the strongest sword.
He waited with bated breath, and when he thought it was his turn, as the numbers around had drastically dwindled, he was shocked to see Flonda stiffen as she moved, stepping forward with her shoulders squared right behind Lorety, who stepped out first, dark expressions on each of their faces.
The crowd thundered in delight, for while others had fought, no one who had fought was as impressive as the two women he had met, and while other fights had finished too quickly and abruptly to be called a fight, Voldrak felt that theirs wouldn't.