The Arena

Real or not

Alera felt her fingers moving an inch, but no sound came from her opened mouth. She felt weak and useless as her last powers seemed to have left her completely. And in this state, closing her eyes, she awaited the final blow, no matter how much she wanted to live a bit more.

But the final blow never came and instead she felt prickles in her fingers from the numbness and her body growing hotter. Her chest started hurting where the ogre had hit her earlier and she began wondering that maybe the final blow came some time ago, but she didn’t feel it. So, was she dying now?

She opened her eyes and looked forward, trying to spot Tir’gal’s form, to see what was happening, but instead she saw long black hair, shining in the bright sun and slowly weaving to a slow breeze.

Her pulse accelerated and she felt every beat of her heart thumping hard in her head, trying to understand what was happening. She realised her vision got a bit better and the voice in her head was long gone. A loud cheer exploded into her ears, as if all the sounds were locked away and now, someone had released them all in one go.

Alera felt her eyes widening by the second, while she looked at the form in front of her. She could make out several scars that covered his naked back and, for some reason, he had a long sword dripping blood in one hand. Hesitating, she looked around him and she could see something purple laying on the ground, slowly being engulfed by red and abruptly, the figure turned around to face her yet again. Suddenly, she found herself looking straight into his green eyes and she could feel tears of relief gathering in the corners of her eyes.

She couldn’t believe it. Asendriel was alive and real and at that point, she couldn’t care less what Baruing would say if he saw her reaction. She just wanted to touch him and with that determination behind her, she tried reaching out to him again.

‘A-!’ was all she had managed to say trying to call his name, before she felt a sharp pain in her stomach, air leaving her lungs again. She looked  between teary eyes, trying to understand what was happening. Why was Asendriel cheering with the tribunes? Why was he grinning at her? Why was his foot so close to her? And one more question popped into her mind before darkness overcame her: why did he hit her?

Alera never knew how long she had been out, but the sun was setting down on the horizon. She had woken up to Safina’s magic, but in complete silence, in the healing ward. The troll had a bitter look on her angry face, while she worked her magic, surrounded by five guards.

‘What-...what happened?’, Alera managed to speak as she felt her body returning to her and listening to her commands once again. But no one answered.

‘How long was I out?’, she tried again, but again, no answer came. At least not a verbal one. She felt a small push on her stomach, where Safina was healing her.

The silence remained until the troll finished her work and the guards escorted her back, time in which Alera reflected on what had happened. Or what she thought had happened.

Asendriel.

Something went wrong in her fight. She couldn’t explain her delirious state. Perhaps the news of Asendriel’s fake death caused her so much grief, she had lost her mind for the moment. With a silent sigh, she realised this could be true as she found herself more and more entangled with the blood elf’s fate. She knew he was real and she was convinced he saved her life, intervening  in her fight. But what if that had a negative impact and Baruing decided to punish him again? She closed her fists and her nails bit her palm hard at the mere thought of him suffering again.

She had to find out what happened afterwards and the only person who could tell her, at this moment, was Tellor.

Alera bit her lips, anxious to find out more, as the dungeon doors opened before her. She almost wanted to run to her cell, but refrained from doing so, while the guards walked her back. After walking for what seemed like a whole hour, she finally spotted Tellor waiting for her, facing her, but refusing to look at her. He was resting his head on his arms, over his knees and he was alone in the cell.

She felt nervous and the guards seemed to take forever to lock the dungeon on their way out.

‘What happened?!’, she asked, maybe a bit louder than she wanted. ‘No one told me anything in the healing ward’.

‘I...I’m not sure...I don’t know.’ replied Tellor after a short brake. His voice was tense.

‘Where is Asendriel? Why wasn’t he brought back here? What happened after my fight?’

‘I don’t know. I didn’t even see him before he entered the arena’.

Alera began to worry and replayed the encounter in her mind, but it wasn’t good enough, since she couldn’t even get half of it straight. Looking back at her memories, she even suspected she had imagined part of it.

‘Alera, what happened to you there?’, Tellor asked in a whisper, bringing her back.

She almost chuckled as she answered, realising she couldn’t even trust her own memories.

‘I can’t tell. I could barely see straight and at some point I think I was going mad. I remember thinking about a black raven. After a while, I fell and I couldn’t move. And after that, Asendriel came and knocked me out.’

‘He was...odd…’, Tellor added reluctantly.

‘What do you mean?’

‘He killed the ogre. But-...But he had this grin on his face!’, he added after a short break, as if trying to put his thoughts in order. ‘I’ve never seen him like that. It looked as though he executed the ogre. And after...after you were out, he made a big show, repeating your words from when you two first fought. But in a mocking way...He...He seemed to enjoy it!’

Tellor seemed disgusted by his last words and refused to add anything else.

‘He must have had his reasons to put up this show…’, Alera added. ‘I had to do the same thing’.

And she couldn’t judge him for that. But before she could say more, the dungeon doors made their terribly loud sound as they were opened once again. Both blood elves stopped talking and listened curiously as several pairs of steps made their way to them. And as the party stopped in front of them, both Alera and Tellor got up slowly in disbelief.

Baruing and Asendriel looked at them from the other side, while four guards waited a few steps behind them. Baruing had his diabolical smile stretched all over his face and Asendriel seemed emotionless next to him. The closest torch casted ominous shadows on both their faces, covering more than half and making them look, at least in Alera’s eyes, as if they were some messengers from beyond, coming into being from the darkness.