Holy Gladiator

Prologue

Along the innards of the church, goers reside within the seats. All are silent as the nuns, pastors, saints, priests, all of us step up to the front. I stand alongside the podium.

Deacon Simon squirms in his uniform to my right, resisting the urge to pace on the spot. Impatience dwells within his eyes as the ArchBishop fails to appear on time.

Priest Ranaldo takes a step forward, bowing before excusing himself to find the ArchBishop. I remain standing in the echoing silence, it bouncing along the walls before horse clopping draws itself to the grand doors.

Ranaldo stands at the doors as a man flings them open. He's quaintly dressed as he brushes Ranaldo aside, forcing the man away from the center carpet.

I raise a hand as I step forward. Ranaldo glances at me, seeing the hand he steps back, his arms tucked into the other sleeve. He lets out a simple breath, calming himself. He puts on a welcoming smile as the nobly dressed man strolls up to me, head held high with a smirk along his face.

"Welcome to church milord; how may I be of assistance to you?" I ask, giving a bow, my golden hair flowing in front of me before I slowly raise, brushing my hair cleanly from my face. I hold a smile.

"Well, madam, I'm here in search of your ArchBishop, for you see, I have a message from none other than Duke Vindal!" The Noble responds, sliding his hand to my hair and slowly running his fingers through my locks.

"Sir, I'm afraid that--"

"Of course, we could always make a deal ourselves~." The Noble continues running his fingers, though his hand begins to travel lower. I resist my flinch and need to react. I hold my smile, "I'm sure you're up for negotiations."

"Sir, I'd like you to know that Chairman Vindal has no reign here."

"That's not what I wanted to hear... Perhaps your Arch would be best to talk to."

"You may--"

"But whoops..." the Noble murmurs, waving someone in, that being a semi-armoured man who walks in, tossing a big bearded and long-haired man to the floor. He lacks a quarter of his skull, his brain visible. He's completely pale with fearful eyes that lack the life it used to have. "He was boring~."

I can feel my eyes widen as my gaze travels up the corpse of the ArchBishop. I can feel the fearful gazes magnet to his body, along with gasps from the crowd.

"So, we want some people for... entertainment. The Duke has deemed control over the region or bought it. And has something that he would like to test here. So tell me..." He grabs my breast, resulting in me biting my tongue to keep cool, "who is the most faithful of the bunch?"

I hear an audible crack before I know what happened.

The Noble lies on the ground, looking up at Simon, his fist flexed with anger and spite in his eyes. The Noble looks up at him in shock as he draws a hidden blade and lunges at Simon. I grab Simon by the collar, shoving him back as the Noble's arm thrusts forward, my arm under his. I wrap my arm around his, placing my hand on his face and forcing him down. I hear a CRACK as his head makes contact. I raise back up, standing protectively in front of Simon. People begin scurrying all over the church, the guards rushing in. Screams erupt within the church as blood flies onto the floor.

Ranaldo pushes through the mass of people, spotting Simon and me. He waves, then gesturing toward the back and escape hatch. At that, I grab Simon and hoist him onto his feet.

"I'll catch up, go!" I exclaim, papping his back. He hesitantly begins leaving. I race over to Ranaldo.

"Luca!" Ranaldo exclaims, "w-was that r-really?" Ranaldo, with his usual calm and chirp when being talked too seems more afraid, shocked, his crystal blue eyes rimmed with an odd sadness that seems unusual.

"Head toward the back, I'll work on defending the church!"

"But... ArchBishop Poc..."

"I get he was a father to you, but you need to go ASAP!"

"B-but... I-I can..." Ranaldo holds his hands in front of him, inhaling sharply to hold in the tears that appear within his eyes.

"Head to the back, defend there and ensure escape, it won't be long until they get to us if we keep talking like this."

"Y-yeah... yeah.. o-okay!" Ranaldo nods, racing to the back.

I nod as he flees, spinning around and facing the front as people try to flee and get cut down. A church guard breaks through the crowd, appearing next to me. He's panting heavily, bent over. I put a hand on his chest, straightening him out and straightening his shoulders.

"Don't keel over," I look at his hands, finding no weaponry. "What's your name?"

"F-Francis..!" He stutters out, taking a sharp inhale before exhaling amidst the chaos.

"Okay, Francis, I need you to go grab a weapon and protect the people fleeing from the back entrance. Will you heed my request?"

"Aye, sister Luca!" Francis bows then raced off.

I nod as he leaves. I feel my eyes begin to water. I slowly make my way through the crowd, most stopping and going silent as I make my way. I feel my life begin to flash, my primal instincts urging me to flee from danger. I continue pushing onward, cherishing the memories for the last time.

"ArchBishop Poc!" I called out, waving a hand toward him. He heard and saw me. He strolled over with a smile on his face and hands behind his back.

"What is it, Luca?" He responded, his voice soothing and crisp as he held a peaceful smile.

"Do you wanna watch me and Ranaldo practice? I've been training to prove that I'm strong enough to be a holy knight!" I spit out excitedly, then bowing with a smile before raising again and clapping my hands.

"Luca Luca, I apologize dear, but the archbishops from other churches still refuse to accept you as a holy knight, but I'm still willing to make a compromise if you wish to forfeit being a knight. Perhaps it could even make you stronger."

"No, thank you, sir! I will prove to them I have the potential to become a holy knight! I will train and train! Come, Archbishop! Watch me train so you can tell them how much I improved!"

He kept smiling as he nodded. He followed me as I raced over to Ranaldo and watched me train. I miss that day. I wish I kept that ambition.

"You're right, Archbishop. After all these years of training, they still never accepted me. I even beat one of their newest recruits in a fight, yet they keep saying I need cleansing. One of them even said that they should put me to death, that there was no way I would be clean of sin." I murmur as I sit below him, stone-faced. He seemed sad. "So, I'm going to hit the books, study to, hopefully, become an archbishop myself. If I'm lucky, I can catch up and get close to the position. Well, sir, I'll be seeing you." I could tell he wanted to say something, but he didn't know what. So I left. Oh, the innocence of you--

"Gh.... hh.... nth..." I breathe with a rasp, my words caught in my tongue as I lose the will to speak any longer. I was trying to talk down the fighting, sacrifice myself for all of these innocent lives.

It's warm but so cold. All this blood rushing down the length of the spear lodged in me. The pain is immense, but I resist screaming. I try to resist. So much so that I look up at the spear-bearer and see their fear. I reach a hand up and caress their cheek.

"So.. yo... young... Smooth skin, long life. Le..."