The Lost one's journey

Chapter 28: entering the lions den

Raphael knocks on the door, and after a bit of silence, a mouth appears on it. The mouth speaks in a language unknown to the other two, but Raphael responds to it in the same language, and soon after the door opens. "Shouldn't you have a mask as well?" Folmon asks, but Raphael gives him a signal to be silent. As they walk in, the inside seems to match the outside of the building, with the inside seemingly abandoned for years and even some rodents scurrying about. 'This place is disgusting.' Folmon thinks, clearly grossed out by his surroundings. Raphael walks up to an equally unkempt bookshelf in the room, revealing it to be a hidden door as she moves it to the side, unveiling a staircase hidden behind it. She signals for them to follow as she goes down the depths of the staircase. As they walk down, Raphael continues to stay silent until they start to hear cheering far off. "Ok, we are almost there. We had to be silent before due to a security measure they added. Before we get there, ask your questions now." "What even is this place? I've heard rumors, but nothing concrete." Raphael hesitates to answer. "I- it's a place of entertainment. Supposedly, a human came and started this years ago. It's a large arena where the rich come to watch two creatures fight, occasionally to the death." Folmon starts to get more worried about Domo. "Is this the sort of place to bring a young child?" He asks as he looks over to Pocu. "It's better here than out there. Especially if they find out she's a human." "I see." As they walk, Pocu looks around the walls curiously as the cheering begins to get louder. Raphael then takes out a mask with a broken infinity symbol adorned on the forehead with black eyes. "From here, own out Fol, you're Crescent, and Pocu, you're Sun. You'll both call me infinity." The two nod as they enter the arena. The very first thing they see are hundreds, if not thousands, of elves with a few Beastkins in the stands cheering at two creatures battling in an arena deep down. They let out a loud roar of excitement as one of the creatures ripped out the throat of the other. Pocu watches it in silence. "Follow me." Raphael says as they make their way through the stands and to a door on the other side of the stadium. The crowd then goes quiet as Sau appears in the air, floating down from above. "That was a great match, wasn't it, folks?" He announces this as the crowd cheers. Raphael knocks on the door, and an eyeball appears to look over the trio. The door then clicks and opens. Sau notices this and turns his attention to it. "It seems we have some VIP's, folks! Give a round of applause to Lady Infinity and her partners, Sun and Crescent!" The crowd turns to the trio with a loud round of applause. Raphael placed her fingers on her neck, and Folmon can sense mana flowing through it. "It's been quite some years, hasn't it everyone?" Raphael speaks with an augmented voice. "It has Lady Infinity! Are you staying for the main event?" Sau excitedly asks, hoping she is. "Well, I heard about it, and how could I miss it?" Sau lets out a laugh. "Well, you heard her, folks! That's how you know this won't disappoint! We have to make up for the sudden, abrupt end to the last show someway."The crowd bursts with cheers and excitement as he speaks. "Please enjoy the show, Lady Infinity!" he says with a bow. "I hope I will!" The trio then enters the room and walks up a staircase to a private room that gives a clear view of the arena below without the noise of the crowd. Inside, there are tables of food served on golden plates with a crystal panther in the center of them. There are also three rows of chairs, with two people already sitting down with masks tiled to the side so that they may drink their wine and water. One of them stands up and turns around. His mask is dark blue, with numerous lighter blue dots that cover the majority of it and only a black circle in the center, along with two white spaces for his eyes. He wears a black suit and tie and gives a slight bow to Raphael. "Lady Infinity. It's been some time." He says this as he turns his head to Pocu and Folmon. "I wasn't made aware that there was a child and a new body here, either way, or any friend of Infinity. Is a friend of mine. You may call me New; it's a pleasure to meet you both." Pocu looks nervous and hides behind Raphael, while Folmon takes a step forward and gives a bow to the man. "It is nice to see you again. New. How is the missus?" Raphael says as they take a seat behind New and another person. "She's doing quite well; thank you for asking. I'd ask how your other half is doing, but I don't see him, so I can only assume what may have happened." He says it in an oddly amused tone. "He was simply feeling sick today. Nothing else. Crescent, please bring me some food. Anything will do." Raphael says with a snap of her fingers. Folmon is slightly annoyed but does go off to the food. Pocu, during this, looks around the room but focuses particularly on New and the women sitting in front of them. "Who's next up on the matchup?" He chuckles as he turns to the glass that lets them see down into the arena. "Sau! Please bring up the match list." He says this with a clap of his hand, and a green display appears on the glass showing a list of fighters, but the only one that catches Raphael's eye is Zam vs ???. "Oh? The premier match is Zam. They usually saved him till the end, no?" She asks with a slightly nervous tone. "Well, you probably won't know since you never respond to my letters, but recently, as in just yesterday, there was an impressive new recruit! He fought Zam to a standstill until Lord Voda himself came to stop it!" New excitedly says, "I see. What did he look like? Do you think it's the unknown fighter?" New laughs in response. "Hahah! My, you really don't read my letters! That hurts, but I'll let it pass because it's you. But in all seriousness, due to how the match yesterday ended so poorly, the question mark fighter is one of us! A VIP is chosen at random! Isn't it exciting!? We'll be down there fighting for glory and to bring even more fame to our names in Kruhabelt!" He declares it with an almost insane tone of voice. "What!?" Raphael blurts out. "Ehem. What? So anyone here can be chosen? Even Sun? She's a child!" New only laughs in response, scaring Pocu. "Hahaha! And? We are all from nobility! A mere human isn't enough to take us down! Even Zam won't be able to hurt us! We are invincible infinity!" His eyes glow from behind his mask. "Not to mention, I heard a rumor that the final fighter today is Voda! We can fight and win against the beast the whole world fears!! My god, just imagine! He can't touch us because of our nobility in other worlds." New's crazed tone of voice and glowing eyes quickly fade as he looks down at Pocu. "Infinity. What race is Sun? I don't see any unique ears like yours or pointed ears like Crescent." Raphael looks nervous at New. Folmon watches them from the corner of his eye as he stands at the food table, already having the food Raphael asked for. Raphael takes a quick breath to calm down and relax herself. "Look, she's a cat beastkin like me. I just had her ears chopped off because it didn't look good." He turns his head slightly sideways. "Oh? But isn't that extremely painful for a beastkin? It even renders them deaf unless they can use magic to hear, and she looks too young judging from her height to use magic." Suddenly, a new voice speaks up. "New. You're being rude." New jumps slightly in fear, then promptly bows his head to Raphael. "Apologies, Lady Infinity. I was being rude and unbecoming." Raphael turns her head toward the woman before turning back to New. "It's nothing. You were just excited. I was in the wrong if anything for not knowing such basic information." Raphael says as Folmon returns with a plate of food for them. The glass then glows a bright green, as though it's scanning them. Pocu tries to hide from the glow but isn't able to as it scans her mask. A display then appears on the screen of a wheel with everyone's mask, revealing the woman's mask to be similar to New's but the black circle being grey and the eyes black. The wheel spins with everyone watching it attentively as it slowly starts to come to an end.