* * *
At the arena Pancracio was talking to Leander, the owner of the Lion that Thanatos would be fighting to open the games.
"I thank you very much for getting me this lion on such short notice," Pancracio said.
"No problem, your payment is much appreciated," Leander replied with a wicked smile.
The lion, Pyralis, when a cub was mistreated be Leander, and when the cub had to perform for crowds to make money, and he could not do the trick and people laughed at him, his temper got the best of him. Pyralis would attack those who laughed at him, and over time Leander stopped the shows with him and mistreated him. The only reason Leander gave this lion to Pancracio to fight Thanatos today, is because Pyralis is the strongest lion he has. Leander has faith that Pyralis will be able to kill Thanatos, which is what Pancracio wants.
"You can have the honor of opening the cage, and you can watch from here if you want," Leander offered.
"I would enjoy that very much," Pancracio said with excitement in his eyes.
At that moment, Atalo began to speak and open the games. People started to cheer as he introduced Thanatos. Thanatos walked out holding his head high and looking confident. Pancracio scoffed and on Atalo's word the cage opened. Pancracio did not tell Atalo what Thanatos had to fight, but he assured Atalo Thanatos would win. The lion charged out and Thanatos's face was covered with shock.
Pyralis was not angered and there was a dull moment so Leander started to laugh for a moment and stopped to see if it would anger Pyralis. Pyralis roared and charged at the sound, but Leander was gone, so the lion focused on Thanatos. Thanatos was trying to calculate how he was going to fight this lion. Thanatos has fought the best warriors, but never a lion. The lion slowly stalked Thanatos, as Thanatos's thoughts raced. Pyralis charged and jumped on Thanatos, as Thanatos swung his sword wildly. Pancracio who was at the cage started laughing as he saw the horror in Thanatos's biological fathers face. Pyralis roared and charged toward Pancracio and clawed him, and Pancracio's laugh turned into screams. Leander pulled a bloody Pancracio away from the cage and into a safety zone. Thanatos who was scratched and bleeding looked at his father on the ground bleeding while the lion furiously tried to break the cage open so he could kill Pancracio. Atalo had ordered guards to get Thanatos out of there safely, while he distracted the lion.
Atalo charged the lion with a torch since most lions fear fire. Pyralis, however, was trained not to fear fire. Pyralis looked at Atalo for a moment and strode closer to him and roared at Atalo and went back to the cage. The people in the stands had started leaving, and Pancracio was in need of a doctor. Atalo sent his guards to go look for the family doctor. Atalo met up with Thanatos and they headed to where Pancracio was lying.
What they found was a bloody Pancracio who was screaming from the pain. There were four large cuts across his chest, and Leander had entered the ring to try to get Pyralis under control. The doctor soon arrived and looked at Pancracio in disgust.
"Y-y-ou," Pancracio struggled, as he looked at the family doctor.
"Me, what about me?" the doctor questioned.
"Thr-ow h-im in t-h-h-e ar-e-e-n-n-a," Pancracio demanded.
"You are delusional, he is here to save you," Atalo said trying to make Pancracio listen.
"No!" Pancracio yelled as he struggled to get up.
"Don't move, the more you move the more blood you will lose," the doctor said.
"Doesn't matter," Pancracio said breathlessly, "you can't do anything about it, can you?" Pancracio mocked.
"What? Of course I can, but I won't do it, I will not save you. You killed your wife, not Thanatos," the doctor stated leaving everyone shocked.
"What?" Atalo scowled at Pancracio in confusion.
"He locked everyone out, he thought us doctor's couldn't do anything to save her. I tried explaining that I could, but he wouldn't listen. She could have lived if he had let us continued our work," the doctor explained while tears fell from his eyes.
Pancracio lied there in a pool of his blood in shock. He suddenly went in a rage and knocked Atalo aside and tried to attack the doctor, but fell and died at the doctor's feet. Thanatos was to the left of the doctor and was stunned at what he heard. Though Pancracio was a cruel father to Thanatos, he cried for his deceased father along with Atalo. The doctor nodded to the family and left them there in their sorrows.
Months later Thanatos, who was now called Anthony by everyone, got married to Callista with Atalo as the witness. Anthony during the months struggled with his father's death and understanding everything. He bought Pyralis from Leander, thinking that facing the lion would help him with his problems, but that failed. One day, he was in his father's room moving everything out, and found a box filled with letters between his mother and the family doctor. Sitting on the bed he read through them all, revealing the family doctor to be his biological father. As if the fog lifted, Anthony realized that the doctor refused to save Pancracio in vengeance of his mother's death. Anthony, as Althea did, pretended he never found those letters.
