"An offer? For freedom?" Senshi yelled, excitedly jumping up from his seat, feeling the harsh damage done to his body before immediately sitting right back down.
"Yes, if you are able to successfully fulfill my request, you will be freed and lifted of all charges." She continued. "You and a few others will be placed in the arena behind me and if you can make it out alive, you will be freed."
"An arena? You mean we have to fight for our lives" , Senshi inquired, gripping the chair's ledge.
"Yes, either that or you rot in this prison.". Senshi sat back and thought to himself, the cold air of the room blowing against him softly. He ignored the pain in his wounds from excitement and thought, the mere thought of leaving this hell house sounded like heaven for him.
"But what about Nale? I can't just leave him here!" Senshi shouted, urgently to get an answer quickly.
"Your little brother is ineligible to participate at this time"
Senshi thought to himself, thinking about the cost of leaving his brother there. Suddenly, his train of thought completely came to a halt. An idea popped into his head.
"If I survive, I'll break him out. That's if I can survive." Senshi thought, going through hundreds of different strategies in scenarios.
"I'll do it. Only if I can get time to prepare myself." Senshi said, determined to create freedom for him and his brother.
"Great!" Said the woman. She opened a drawer on her desk below her and grabbed a singular sheet of paper. She slid the paper towards the edge of the desk, the screeching noise of paper sliding against wood echoing throughout the room. It slid to the point where the left corner of the paper hung off the edge, pointing towards Senshi.
She slid another object towards Senshi, that being a pen. The pen slid on top of the paper, awaiting its use. Senshi maneuvered his hands while being handcuffed, slowly placing his hands on top of the pen, about to write. He scanned the paper, only to realize something odd.
"This.. Is in a foreign language.." He said quietly. His messy black hair covering the majority of his face from being leaned over.
"Yes, sorry about that. It's nothing insane, trust me.". Her smirk was deceiving, but powerful. An attractive woman with an offer for freedom, how could Senshi turn it down.
Senshi quickly wrote his signature and pushed his chair back.
"I'm proud! Now, the brawl shall begin within a week! Before then, you should get yourself ready. You'll be assigned a special room and a special dinner 3 times a day!"
"A speci-" Senshi couldn't get his words out before a bag was placed over his head again and was dragged out of the office.
"Left, right, left, left, keep straight for 9 seconds." Senshi thought as he was being led to an unfamiliar pathway. The prison was massive, traveling between her office and the prisoner rooms could take up to three minutes. Senshi heard all types of commotion and noise each step he made, hearing prisoners be beaten and people screaming from the beatings they received.
Eventually, his handcuffs were unlocked and his bag was taken off and was pushed roughly into a flat area. He looked around, adjusting his eyes only to be met with a great surprise. The room was big, it had a nice bed and decent furniture. It wasn't that much better than what he'd already been in and could be considered poor in terms of looks but he took it as a gift. He was even given a book to document.
"They're treating me so well, just because I signed that paper.." Senshi thought to himself, observing the room in utter shock. Although, there was one thing that caught his eye the most. On a table next to his bed, there was a large cloth covering something on it.
He slowly walked up to the table, slowly beginning to smell something amazing, maybe food?
He slowly placed his hand on the cloth and then suddenly snatched it off fully. On the table were three plates. On one plate, there was rice and sweet chicken with many seasonings and basil. Something a top chef would cook, Senshi thought. On another plate were two chicken thighs, the aroma practically thickening from the amount of meat. On the last plate, there were lots of vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, celery, and more.
"She did say I'd have a special dinner.. But I don't want to enjoy this without Nale."
He sat down on his bed and laid his head down on his pillow, feeling how tired he was after that full day. Suddenly, Senshi noticed something. He didn't feel pain anymore. Senshi sat up, laying his back on the bed frame. He took his shirt off and looked at his chest. On it, there were previously cut wounds and bruises. Now, they've almost completely faded away.
"My theory seems to be right, the more they beat me, the better my regenerative abilities get."
Senshi put his shirt back on and laid back down, placing his head on what it seemed like the softest pillow he'd ever laid on.
8 Years Ago
"Senshi, promise me one thing. You'll protect your brother, Nale." The woman said.
"I'll do anything it takes, you can trust me." Senshi said, his eyes covered in tears. He had just watched his father be executed in front of him.
"This is just our reality. When people like us become old enough, we're executed. We don't serve enough purpose for the royal family anymore." Said Senshi's mother. She held him close before multiple guards began to walk towards the section they were in.
"You're next, come on.". She was grabbed by two guards and dragged out of the crowd and across the bloody dirt. There were hundreds of spectators, consisting of royals and commoners, all here to watch Aestari be executed. Senshi screamed and cried, his little brother gripped tight into his hands.
She was placed on a stone before her scarf was ripped off of her neck, exposing her neck. She looked at Senshi, smiling, before she was beheaded.
"I will make sure to kill every single one of these animals, filthy humans that have no remorse for our lives. The best day of my life will be seeing them all beg for their lives just like my parents."
Fun Fact: Aestari's have better perception and reaction time than the average human and are able to grow stronger faster than anyone.