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Chapter Sixteen

The crowd was roaring with applause and cheers, but Glory never found anything to celebrate, since over ten champions ended up either getting knocked out dead, or they broke nearly every bone in their body and were dragged back to their cells, dragging a trail of blood behind them. Finally, when the final match came up, the announcer exclaimed that a man named Samuel was supposed to battle Giddian. Which, of course, set Glory off, along with the crowd. The only difference: Glory hated the idea. Giddy walked outside and into the middle of the open arena by a pair of large wooden doors, so Glory got to see what she really looked like. She was tiny, at least three feet tall, and immediately reminded Glory of Urchin. She had deep brown skin and chocolate hair steaming down her shoulders, and she was basically only wearing a long rag-like dress that looked torn. Giddy was the spitting image of torture and starvation. And she was about to be challenged in a life or death fight.

Glory screamed and bellowed, she even started banging and gripping the bars in her cell. She really didn't want to watch Giddy fight a grown man, but she had to. She owed that much to Giddy. Giddy even looked back at Glory and swallowed as she turned away again, looking toward where Samuel was. Giddy was so small, at least nine to ten years old, and she was entirely innocent.

Next, Glory looked over and saw Samuel coming out of the opposite end of the arena, where a slightly muscular man with a rag tunic coming out. He had a grey beard and frizzy hair--like a mad scientist--along with a massive sledgehammer. He was so intimidating that even Glory stayed silent, along with the crowd that watched. Giddy watched him come forward until he was only a few feet in front of her, in the middle of the arena.

"Fighters ready . . . " The announcer bellowed, and Glory's heart skipped a beat.

Giddy and Samuel crouched in a defensive position.

"FIGHT!" He yelled.

And the two champions went to work. Before anyone could blink, Samuel lifted his hammer and swung it straight at Giddy with a huge whistle of wind. But Giddy thankfully ducked and rolled to the side, out of the hammer's reach. But as soon as she sat up and looked back at Samuel, he took another swing and hit her with the hammer from behind, and Giddy went flying. Glory gripped her bars harder and screamed in agony. Giddy flew at least twenty feet and landed hard on her side. The crowd gasped, and Glory wished it was her in there instead of her friend. Glory wailed and cried so hard as she pounded hard on the bars until her fists were bleeding.

The worst part was that nobody except her cared about what happened to Giddy or any other champion, they were just using Elves to beat each other senseless for entertainment. And it sickened Glory so much. She just stared at Giddy's limp, bloody body laying there in the arena, and she turned around to sit against the bars and cry without letting anyone see. She pulled her legs up against her chest and laid her arms on her kneecaps. Then she banged her head softly on the bars and wept so hard, letting countless tears fall down her face. She couldn't even breathe when she looked back and saw Samuel picking Giddy up by the collar of her rag shirt, mutter something, and throw her back down. The arena workers rushed out and dragged Giddy back inside along with Samuel. Glory blinked and her eyes and mouth stung as she kept weeping.

She hated everything, she hated it all. She put her head down on her knees to hide her broken expression. She hated Samuel, she hated the arena people for entering in Giddy and everyone else. They didn't deserve it. And the crowd of people who watched were evil for watching just for a fun outing.

Glory slowly lifted her head from her kneecaps and her expression was no longer sad and desperate, it was ticked and furious, and her eyes were slits as her eyebrows were low and narrowed. She breathed heavily, blinking the tears from her eyes and started growling deeply in anger. She was absolutely livid with herself, and for putting up with everything that happened to her. What was wrong with the world? Why did everything go to hell with her and everything she found? Why did the universe hate her, what had she ever done to deserve this? Then she had a pretty good guess. She was born, and her birth had been a curse on everything. That was the reason she didn't have a family or that's why so few people wanted to be acquainted with her, and why the streets of flowing people parted wherever she walked, and they refused to stop looking at her.