Broken Heart, Shining Crown

CHAPTER SEVEN: The Gladiatrix Fight

TW: Violence, murder, and underaged drinking

 As Amantius followed Dragomir, he felt uneasy, his stomach squirming with discomfort. The pair had walked into a large crowd of people, who were anxiously awaiting to get into the gladiator fight. Some people were wearing clothing of a specific color, to represent the gladiator or gladiatrix they supported. Amantius bit his lip, feeling uncomfortable within the crowd.

"...Amantius?" Dragomir's voice suddenly grounded him, "Are you alright?"

"Oh–" Amantius blinked, looking over at the man. His warm gaze instantly calmed his nerves. Dragomir warmly smiled at him, his eyes seeming to have a soft sparkle in them.

"...there should be a small library around here..." He looked around, trying to see through the crowd.

"Nonono, it's fine, I'm fine," he grabbed Dragomir by the shoulder.

Dragomir looked down at Amantius's hand. Awkwardly, Amantius adjusted his hand. Dragomir grabbed the sleeve of his tunic and dragged him into a quaint building that smelled of fresh cut wood and books.

Amantius looked around the new location. The place reminded him of a small, quaint cottage, except warmer and homier. The building was practically filled with bookcases, filled with thick, leather bound books. Amantius' eyes sparkled, as he glanced over at the shelves. Most books written were exploring journals or biographies, but there were a couple of book series that were written purely for the purposes of imagination. Dragomir picked up one of the books, a wide smile appearing on his face.

"What's that book about?" Amantius inquired.

"Oh, it's kind of dumb..." he bashfully smiled.

"None of your interests are unintelligent," Amantius blinked.

He smirked, "...it's about this prince who gets trapped in his family's portrait gallery and the only way he can escape is to switch places with the people in the paintings using some kind of ancient royal magic and slay all of the monsters or enemies featured in the paintings."

"Wow," Amantius binked. "May I read it?"

He nodded handing the book to him, "This is just one of the one thousand and sixty five."

"Is this the first novel?" He flipped open the novel to a random page and started reading.

Jessop took a deep breath, his heart racing.

'You're a prince, you can do this.' He glared up at the portrait, studying the utter look of terror on the young man's face as he seemingly started to fall to death. His eyes darted towards the malevolent figure above him, scowling at the man's devious grin as he watched his victim fall to his death.

"I have to do this, for the good of my people, as they are nothing without their fair leader, Prince Jessop of Sunderland!" He yelled as the amulet glowed a bright periwinkle. He scrunched his face up as he recited the battle call of his people. The amulet's glow only brightened and enlarged as he felt himself being drawn closer and closer into the portrait. His whole body shook as he was lifted off the ground and sucked straight into the frozen period of time, unknowing of what great hells would come his way.

"I need all one thousand novels," Amantius' eyes were wide

He chuckled, "The ending's amazing.".

"I wouldn't be surprised," Amantius mused, flipping back to the beginning of the novel. He could've stood there for hours in that library, reading that book to his heart's content.

"How did you discover this amazing artform?" He whispered in awe.

Dragomir shrugged, "I just found a copy in our castle's library when I was younger."