Land of Aria

Chapter 8

The children all march towards the battle grounds in a straight line. Heads up, shoulders straight, Ariel's gaze fixated to the back of Sam's head as they make their way outside, everybody now too startled to cause a scene anymore. Silence lingers, only source of sound resonating from the stomping of their feet.

Ariel sees the gate that leads to the battle grounds. Her fists clench at her sides as she is reminded how long and awful this training day is going to be. Not any better then the day before. The sounds of boots on stone turn into sounds of boots crunching the sand beneath them, as Ariel squints her eyes from the bright sunlight. A wave of heat envelopes her, a reminder of the scorching heat while they were in long sleeved uniforms. They walk outside, Ariel's eyes fixated to the ground as she marched forward. But her eyes lift from the ground as she heard people in front of her gasp. She furrows her eyebrows in confusion as the line gets slower. Tilting her head to the slide to see what's happening, she can't help but let out a gasp her self.

In the middle of the arena are the two boys who were fighting earlier in the cafeteria. Only this time they were both next to each other, on their knees, hands bound behind their backs, as fresh scars and cuts cover their back and torso. Two guards stand behind each one of them, a whip in their hands as they look down at the boys.

One boy had their head down, not displayed to the other kids. Even though he was visibly shaking as streams of blood and sweat fell from his face. But the other boy was hunched over, face up and crying. Not hysterically crying though, he bit his lip and whimpered. Squeezing his eyes shut as if in an attempt not to cry. His was all bloodied, with a bruised eye and what seems to be a broken nose. Ariel guessed he was the one that got beaten up badly back at the dining hall. His body didn't display as much cuts as the other boy though. It showed that the guy who had started the fight got the worse punishment. Ariel can't help but shudder at the sight of them. Should she feel bad? Or should she not care? They had brought this upon themselves. Should the boy that had gotten beaten up been spared? Or did he deserve punishment too?

Ariel, still staring at the two boys lightly bumps into Sam in front of her not noticing that the line had stopped moving. Now everyone turns to look at them. People from her left and right whispering to each other. Some staring blankly and wide eyed at them with their hands covering their mouths as if they were about to throw their breakfast up. But she wouldn't blame them. The sight was disturbing. Even her stomach turned at the sight. It was almost as if it were a test. Two bloody and beaten up boys, displayed in front of them as if telling them, "here look at this shit. This is what you'll be seeing everyday if you pass. Blood and death."

Suddenly a man walks out to the arena and stands in the middle, in front of the two boys and facing the line of children. "Get a good look at them ya?" He begins to speak- or not speak, he was yelling. Ariel recognized him from his voice and the purple scarf as the guy that talked to them on their first training day.

Despite not being able to see his whole face, the way his eyes darkened and voice grew louder, it didn't take a genius to figure out he was really mad. And that they had messed up.

"If anyone of you little shits pull anything like this again! You will NOT be shown mercy!" A pause before he continued, eyeing the kids left and right. And Ariel can just feel the tension, feel how scared and shaken these kids are.

"You coward shit heads are now trainees! You know what that means?! It means you're not little fucking stupid kids anymore locked up in a basement! You don't get mad if someone steps on your fucking foot and start crying like a little baby! And proceed to punch each other like fucking drunken rats out on the street!" He pauses again, breathing heavily.
"This is your last warning, all of you! Pull anything like this again, lay a hand on your colleague and you will regret it!." He turns to look at the two boys, "Seize them." And with that the two guards standing behind the boys yank them both up. The bloodied one doesn't stand up though, he falls to his knees unable to stand. He is dragged by the hands away as the other boy is dragged away by his arm as he yells, "Wait, wait, wait! Please wait I'm sorry!" His cry's are ignored as everyone looks down at the sand covered ground. Ariel clenches her fists. And she can't help but feel pity for these two boys even though she had nothing to do with them. They brought this upon themselves, she reminds herself.