Noaah ✓ (BxB)

One

A work of art.

That's something Noaah had heard the Devines call the other challengers. But, yet, Noaah had never once been called that himself.

Noaah sat in his cage, just studying the wooden bars.

He had been there for so long.

Each day, he'd be sent out to spare with the other competitors like he was a gladiator. And the worse part? He wasn't even given a choice in the matter.

The Devines needed entertainment; they demanded it from him.

Noaah took no pleasure in killing anyone--let alone hurting a soul.

Leaving this place was unheard of. The Devines would have the head of whoever left.

Noaah sighed. He would never be allowed to leave this place. He'd be there until he died.

That's just the way it was and the way it would stay.

Noaah's gaze drifted toward challengers who were being led out by Devines to the arena.

Noaah didn't know many challengers in the facility, but he did know a few.

Firstly, there was Whisper--who claimed his surname was Qiu; unfortunately, many in the facility had long forgotten their former identities. Though Whisper remembered his last name, he couldn't remember what his first was.

Whisper was young--probably about eight or nine years old; Noaah, himself, was 12.

Then there was Evangelos. He was roughly around twenty years old.

Fade was one of the only girls Noaah knew in the facility. She looked about 18, but Noaah had heard rumors that she was somewhere in her mid or late 20s.

Jayaatu Buqu, age 17, was another competitor. He, like Whisper, made a deal out of flexing the fact he had a last time, earning him a slap across the face from a Devine, each and every time.

Noaah did have a surname--Iomharsson. He earned it on account of the fact his father's name had been Iomhar Isoaksson. Noaah never knew his mother.

Vyykium was one of the Devines' favorite competitors. He demolished almost anyone who stood in his way, very much to the Devines' delight.

What was the common factor between all that resided there? Most of them were elves and werewolves...except for Jayaatu who was vampire.

Noaah leaned his head against the cold bars of his cell.

The Devines were demons--that's how they earned their name.

His violet eyes drifted to the side as he saw some of the cloaked Devines hurd a girl about thirteen or fourteen years old into the room.

The girl had long blonde hair. Her eyes were a shade of pink. Blue and pale red face paint marked up the skin around her eyes.

"You know your place," one of the Devines growled before pushing the girl into the cage by Noaah.

When the Devines had left, the girl turned to face Noaah. "Bonjour! Mon nom est Azeline! Et toi?"

Noaah huffed. "Je ne parle pas français." That wasn't true. Noaah did speak French. Noaah knew almost every language--he could speak fluently in them. He just didn't want to converse with her.

"Ist das besser?" The girl questioned, changing languages.

"Ich spreche kein Deutsch," Noaah responded.

The girl looked like she was thinking to herself. She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Hva med dette?"

Noaah froze when the girl began to speak his own language. He still didn't respond to her.

"Okay, is this any better? I'm running out of languages I know," the girl commented.

Noaah looked over at her.

"There we go! Finally!"

The poor girl probably didn't realize everything Noaah had said were lies.

"I'm Azeline de Chalons," the girl began to re-introduce herself. "What about you? What's your name?"

Noaah inhaled and exhaled swiftly. "Doesn't matter."

"Of course it does!" Azeline began. "That's your name. Of course it matters!"

Noaah exhaled again. "It's uh...Noaah Iomharsson."

"Nice to meet you, Noaah! I'm Azeline!" She stopped, pulling a face as she did. "Wait a second... I already introduced myself. I don't need to do it again. Silly me." She giggled.

By the gods, how stupid is she?, Noaah thought to himself.

"So, what is this place?"  Azeline asked him, still with a bright glint in her eyes.

"Hell, essentially," Noaah said. And once he realized she took it literally, he corrected himself, "Terra del Diavolo... Or, at least, that's what the locals call it."

"You finally got a girlfriend, huh, Noaah?" Jayaatu questioned as he was corralled back into the holding area by a couple of Devines.

"I like girls," Azeline responded, softly to Jayaatu with a smile still on her face.

"No, I like men!" Noaah blurted to Jayaatu at almost the same time as Azeline's comment.

"Okay! Okay! Jeez! I was just having fun, Noaah," Jayaatu commented. He was back in his cell now, tracing his fingers over the bars as if he was counting all of them on repeat.

"Snowy," one of the Devines called in Noaah's direction.

Noaah had earned the nickname 'Snowy' from the Devines due to his snow white hair--they never called him his name. Prior to being Snowy, he was just a number to them.

Noaah swallowed, knowing exactly what they wanted from him.

The Devines approached the cell before opening it, yanking Noaah out of it, and pushing him toward the arena.

It was his day to entertain.