A Vision of Spring, Framed in Snow

What do you do when your all alone? I mean really alone, as in parents slaughtered before you and stuck in a cell for the rest of your life. I didn't have it easy, and probably never will. When I was 8 years old my village was overthrown by the emperors soldiers. Anyone who stood against them, where killed, like my parents. Me and my brother where all that was left to carry on my families name. My brother told me that the only way I could stay alive was to be a boy. So I cut my hair and wore his clothes just before the soldiers took us as prisoners. They took us both to an arena along with other prisoners to fight battles to the death as entertainment for the people and the emperor. Our lives where basically over, we had nothing left to loose but eachother. Day after day, we would train then fight in the arenas. Until one day, my brother never came back.