Blood Stained Snow

Ch 5 Darkness (unfinished)

There is a legend of a dark arena built by the darkest and most evil of man; a place where demons are put to the test, to fight to the death for the sake of their evil men and their malicious pleasure; their thrust for blood endless. There corrupt humans are more possessed by darkness then the demons that fight here. Akio wishes to gain control of this arena, make demons for his army, ripe for the picking.
We enter the arena to find them all gathered around to watch as blood floods the floor from the current fighters; Two low class demons strike out at each other, ripping and tearing flesh from bone. They fight and fight until finally a victor emerges while the other succumbs to his wounds. The humans all cheer loudly as the winner slowly begins consuming the dead demons corpse; thus I find myself amidst this gory festival.
Akio smiles in his wicked manner, dim light gleaming of his perfect teeth. He stands in front of me as I watch him take in every detail around us. It is not long before we are noticed; I glance up to see a group of humans in formal wear stroll towards us. The man in front, a tall muscular built human with thin blonde hair slicked back, bore a chain each hand, both held demons. They appeared almost human except for long razor sharp nails and huge feral teeth; they remained hunched over walking on all fours as drool dripped from their mouths.
"I don't recall inviting you," the blonde man barks as he walk toward us, both his demon pets clawing at the cement as they attempt to attack us. "In fact, I don't recall ever meeting the likes of you before," his eyes fall on Akio a grimace forming over the corners of his mouth.
"I have heard wonderful things about this place," Akio speaks in such an overly polite manner I'm shocked the words come from him. His appearance shocked me almost as much. He wore what he called a "human façade" which simply removed his most obvious demon appearances: the pointy ears and fangs as well as his claws. His eyes were a simple green. For some reason he decided to keep his hair silver and merely tied it back into a pony tail.
"I am Akio," he says as he shoots his hand out to shake blondie's, "I simply wanted to test my two pets against your champions," Akio grins mischievously at Vincent and I.
I begin to wonder as to why he chose to use his true name and not a false one. He must have just thought most humans wouldn't know the name of a demon lord, which I believe to be true as I watch blondie and see him unmoved by Akio's name.
"I'm Viktor," the man grasps Akio's looking bored, "the owner of this fine facility. If you wish for your demons to fight they must first pass a preliminary round in order to compete in any championship or tournament. Any they are involved in you are welcome to make bets on," he says dryly. I watch as a gleam appears in his eye when he starts his next sentence, "of course that would require money."
Akio pulls a small bag from his jacket, "no worries," he says as he pours tiny silver nuggets out of the bag.
Viktor's eyes shine and he practically drools, "There is also an entry fee, usually about five gold pieces a demon, but I'll accept ten silver pieces per demon if you like," he rushes his words, clearly absorbed by greed.
"No problem," Akio practically chirps with excitement as he hands Viktor twenty silver pieces. Viktor in turn eyes each piece carefully before pocketing them.
"Very good," he grins, "right this way, sir, allow me to show you to your room where you can prepare your demons for their preliminary fight." Viktor passes his pet demons off and leads us through a hallway connected to the stadium. We walk briefly before we arrive at a door with a faded star painted on it. Viktor quickly unlocks it and gestures for us to enter, "there ya go, Mr. Akio, please make yourself at home as we prepare the stadium." With that he turns and walks out into the hallway, closing the door behind him.
The room he has left us in is bare and dirty at best. A group of red couches are gathered facing each other in the middle of the room. Otherwise there's not much else except a door to a bathroom and metal pipes lining the walls here and there over what used to be a white tiled floor. It appeared greyer these days.
Akio strolls over to a red chair and collapses on it, grinning as dust flies off it. Vincent lies down on the couch, using his arms as a pillow he shuts his eyes and pretends to sleep.
I walk over and stand before Akio; he looks at me bemused as I take an exaggerated bow. "May your loyal pet sit down, sire," I mock before casually sitting in another chair.
"Oh come now, Kira, you can't possibly be angry over silly words."
I sigh, "of course not, Akio, but I still would like to know why we are here in the first place. Do you just enjoy playing along with their games or what? I'm sure we could have just destroyed this place easier."
"I don't wish to destroy this place, I wish to control it. Plus wouldn't you enjoy a couple matches against demons? It could prove beneficial for you both to learn a few things fighting the demons here."
"Sadly," I scoff, "most the demons here are low class beasts. Nothing that would stand a chance against either of us."
"I wouldn't be so sure, Kira."
That is all we say as we remain waiting in that room. I've long since forgotten my sense of time as we have lived without it for so long. Yet the time passes slowly before we are finally brought back out into the stadium.