The Deadmages by J.C.G. & C.E.M.

Chapter 5: Gladiator Matches

    People of every size and shape trickled into the training. Some people carried weapons, like me. Others had nothing but themselves and their armor. Everyone seemed to be in little groups, almost as if there were other guilds outside of the four. Groups formed in a circle the size of three fully grown oak trees across.Trish hauled me over to a group, with no more than ten kids in it. "This is Snake. He is the most vulnerable person on the planet and his fighting style is most similar to that of a baby duck. So I ask that you all will intervene before he dies." The group members chuckled. 

"We could just call a group battle, that way the rest of us will have an easier time protecting him," a green-haired boy piped up.

"Sounds alright. Who do we want to challenge? Even light is dangerous, almost everyone here is dangerous whether their power hurts you directly or not. The people with less dangerous magic learned how to fight without it. Also, who will fight with me and the pure?" Only the previous boy and girl raised their hands. The rest waved her off, putting out excuses.

"Light is lesser of all the evils," the girl next to Trish put in.

Before Trish could reply the ground shuddered and where the center of the circle was the ground opened. A path made of waxed oak planks lined the pit, and a dais - which reminded me of the awakening ceremony - . The ground was completely even and was just bare metal. A group on the opposite side of the circle cheered.

"Great, the arena is metal today. We're doomed." the boy in Trish's group moped.

"Why, can't you do something?" I asked. He looked up at me, a glare in his eye.

"The Metal guild has a feud with us, don't ask me why, I don't know. But ever since this guild has formed we are always chosen to be against them."

"Just fight to the best of your abilities, Bark, we can't win everything," Trish said.

The Metal guild sauntered over. Their group had ten people in it, but it seemed that only five of them would be fighting us. The smallest in the group separated from his pack and faced Trish.

"Because it is our turf we have the first pick today. We have chosen the Wood guild and its allies in the group challenge."

The rest of the group stepped forward and many bent small amounts of the ground into weapons. Trish strode forward. The random boy from before followed Trish onto a wooden pathway surrounding the giant pit. The same scrawny kid from earlier taunted Trish, " Who is the newbie? Is he as terrible as you."

"Save the nonsense for the fight Shrimp," at the sound of his nickname his face reddened.

"You'll regret that," he replied.

The metal group began to advance. Trish flicked her fingers and the wooden spikes flew up from her boots. Bark waved his arms and a pair of branches broke off many trees around the room, forming themselves into flying broadswords. He chose to attack a boy twice his size, who created a huge double-edged battleaxe out of the steel lining the floor of the arena. The other Wood girl fighting with us had the idea to rip pieces off the platform and hurl them at her opponents, then bend them around their bodies. The Metal guild girl with spiky silver hair launched herself with a few nunchaku. Shrimp sprung forward first. Metal spikes flinging themselves at Trish. In response Trish lazily waved her hand, her spikes melding into a shield in front of her face.

The metal spikes embedded themselves into the shield. The shield reformed into daggers and went hurtling towards Shrimp in return. Two aimed for the head, one for the leg, one for the knee and another for the chest. Before they came in contact the end turned blunt to avoid killing him. He dodged the head and chest shots, but the leg shots connected. There was a loud thump and Shrimp's head hit the ground. Shrimp moaned weakly, but remained still.

"He always was arrogant," Trish gloated.

Before I could reach her side a hard piece of metal hit me in the back, knocking me on my face and melding chains into the ground. The shackles brought back memories of the cell I shared with Blake as they tied me to the ground. The attacker placed their boot on my back, igniting my anger. I searched my surroundings with my mind. There were vines in the trees hanging, waiting for me to call on them. I sent the call to the plants, bending them to my will.

The vines grew towards me, slowly but quickly increasing in speed. I realized that my attacker had left and was teaming up with Shrimp against Trish. Bark had been knocked unconscious and the girl that had been next to her was struggling to free herself from bonds similar to mine. The vines were growing faster than a horse could run, and I sent them into the ground. When they burst out from under the metal, a gasp ran through the audience. They grew up and around my opponent, wrapping around her entire body and bringing her to her knees. I sent them after the other metal guild member next. Slithering along the ground around his feet and up his legs. In a loud squealing noise as the metal floor was ripped apart, they rose from the ground forming into a large hammer, swinging down hitting him square in the forehead, knocking him out. The hammer unknotted into individual vines and dispersed back into the ground.The metal cuffs that had been pinning me on the ground had molded back into the ground when my attacker had been knocked unconscious.Trish came over and stuck out a hand to help me up. I grabbed it and she pulled harder than needed, nearly bowling us both over.

The crowd cheered. We had won the first match, but barely. Bark, the girl, Shrimp, and four more Metal guild members were lifted onto stretchers by Sydney, the girl from the square with gravity magic. They floated away to a tent that I guessed was the infirmary. I began to follow them, to assure that my opponents would be okay. I did hit one on the head with a giant hammer, after all. Before I had taken three steps, however, Trish stopped me. She shook her head, telling me that they would be alright. She also said that the rules were similar here as in Litalia, but with better reasons. The defeated hated when their opponents asked if they were well. They saw it as a sign of weakness, it implying that the person who beat them thought they were so weak they were at risk of permanent damage. Not only were these good reasons not to follow, but we apparently still had to fight, even though we beat the Metal guild.

Trish and I worked our way up the wood staircase onto the platform surrounding the pit. The gong rang again, and the pit transformed from metal to thick forest.

"Since we won, the pit-makers changed the layout to give us an advantage. If the Metal guild had won, the ring would have stayed as it was before," Trish said.

The change of scenery made me feel less nervous about a second match. It would be easier to perform magic if the vines don't have to travel as far. I realized that I was speeding up the growing process by almost ten years, which takes its toll very quickly. I would have to learn how to fight physically, or else I would use up all of the energy in my body. If that happens, then I die.