A blonde haired man was shackled to a red brick stone wall, his arms completely white and drained of blood.

  Anyone who would look at him would have thought of him as dead and yet small and quiet breaths escape his rose red lips.

  Bones protruded out of his dirt encased skin and a brown loincloth was drapped onto his waist.

  The dungeon in which he is located in is dark,barely anything could be seen. Light only coming out of the outer rooms which made the dungeons barely visible.

  Droplets of water hit the shackled man's head,each time he grunted and recoiled.

  Then suddenly with a loud clank his hands were freed and he fell face first on the ground.

  Dark circles grasped the eyes of the freed man, his eyes nearly completely shut widened a bit at the feeling of freedom and blood flooding through his veins.

  He outstretched his hands infront of him,his nails pointing at the ground and his palms staring out at the ceiling. His mouth opened a little bit more and his eyebrows were slightly raised.a surprised look dawned on his face,Many thoughts broke the dam of hopelessness and flooded his mind with questions which desperately needed answers.

  "Am I freed?"

  "Will I be executed?"

  "Will I see the light again? Will I see sunlight?"

  "Am I going to feel the warmth on my skin again?"

  "Could I eat quality food?"

  "Could I drink warm milk?"

  "If I am free, will I be able to find a job?"

  "Will I be homeless?"

  Then suddenly like a lightning bolt which falls down on earth from a gray cloud on a sunny evening which will develop into a raging Hail storm the iron bars were pulled loudly aside and a tall burly guard with a long brown moustache whose size was glorious stood in the doorway. His muscles were coated by armor of fat but he looked strong. His thick brown eyebrows hugged his brow ridge and in his right hand he held a long iron spear. He wore brown leather gloves and iron chainmail hanged onto his body like a curtain obscuring the parts from his trapezius to his waist but leaving his shoulders down to his hands free from the iron sound of clanking.

  Underneath the iron chainmail he wore a brown gambeson. He has black pants and brown boots, on his head he wore a bowl like helmet.

  "Prisoner,you will be brought infront of judge heraclius." The guard spoke loudly,his voice stern and feeling like thorns from a rose grated human skin. Even though the man looked to be in his 30s his voice is youthful. the tone of his voice betrayed that the sharp tone wasn't his usual,calm voice.

  "Prisoner!,STAND UP!"The guard yelled.and the freed Prisoner frantically got up, flailing his hands a little bit as he did so.

  The guard got out of the cell and stood aside,the blonde man came out of the cell and the Burly man was to his left.

  The guard sharply closed the cell and locked it. Causing the blonde man to recoil and be startled, his hands near his chest.

  "Prisoner,move forward. I will be behind you." Spoke the guard,much more calmly than before.b

  The Prisoner turned front and started walking,his footsteeps echoed throughout the clean and odourless dungeon.

  The length of the hallway which was much better lit than the cells was 30 feet.

  The prisoner walked and looked around him,some cells had inhabitants while some were empty.

  After he completed his 30 feet march he was presented with a staircase that went up by about 15 feet. The stairs were pristine,almost so clean that one could see the reflections when looking down. And yet some parts of the staircase were broken.

  The prisoner walked and walked,he came across another dungeon. Same length as before,he walked again and came across similar staircase as before.

  He did this 2 more times before he was finally at the main door which was guarded by two guards,they didn't say anything and just flung the doors wide open.

  The prisoner walked forward and to his surprise he was greeted by a full shinning moon which illuminated the rock path infront him and the grass fields all around him. Infront of him some 150 feet was a large building.

  "That is definitely the court" the prisoner thought.

  "Keep walking towards the court." The guard said sternly.

  The Prisoner walked barefoot towards the court. His feet gently touching the rock road while the wind softly caressed the grass, the sound of grass being pushed by the wind was like a choir of flutes was being played at the entrance of the court. Signyfing the arrival of the Prisoner.

  When the blonde man was infront of the large building the large black doors slowly creaked open until they were touching the walls.

  The prisoner stepped on the red carpet which was adorned with yellow ornaments and intricate drawings at the edges, but was blank in the middle.

  The floor ceramics were made out of silver marble and squares littered the pristine floor.on the outer edges of each cube there are dark silver cube.

  Both cubes have sharp stains which are inbuilt in them. On the silver ones there are dark stains and on the dark grey ones there are white stains.

  On each side of the room there are 4 pillars scattered in a zig zag formation painted in a light white paint.

  The room was painted in a color similar to human skin but several shades lighter.

  At the end of the warm hallway there is a black door adorned with fine craft and ornaments.

  As the prisoner started stepping on the red carpet he felt a wave of relief wash over him as he felt the gentle soft carpet touch his feet.

  When he was halfway into the hallway the doors abruptly shut behind the prisoner, he looked back and saw two large guards standing at the door with spears.

  He turned his head around forward and kept on walking until he was infront of the door. The guard shouted "THE PRISONER IS HERE!".

  And the doors quickly opened. Revealing a large room where everything was predominantly made out of yellow wood.

  On the left of the room was a large wooden chair, a judge sat there. And 15 feet infront of the judge was a normal sized chair.

  Across the entire room there is a large wooden platform with 1 long table and many chairs on which many people sat there. The jury.

  As the prisoner sat on the chair the doors closed and the judge hit a small iron bell with a small hammer.

  "Infront of me stands aralt flowerbell, who was sentenced 5 years to prison until his trial for his crime,luckily for him his case has been picked up earlier for it's large size.only 2 months after he has been locked up." The judge voice emitted a large boom each time he uttered a word, his voice so strong aralt felt as if the entire room was shaking.

  Judge heraclius then picked up a large sheet of paper and said "for murdering 4 guards and wounding 7 guards he would have been sentenced 25 years to prison, but the investigation revealed that he acted in self defence."

  A hopeful smiled dawned on aralts tired and worn face,hope poured on him like water on a plant.

  "But since the financial damage he caused was too high. He will be thrown into gladiatorium to entertain the masses through fights as a way to repay the empire."

  Aralt's face dropped, his eyes were as wide as the moon and his mouth hanged open for two seconds before he realised what position his jaw was in, he closed his jaw and looked at the ground. His eyes looked at the red carpet and he thought "well, maybe there is some light to this situation?."

  Judge heraclius's voice spoke unexpectedly "anything you want to say? Aralt?"

  Aralt lifted his head up and said "will I ever be free?"

  Heraclius replied "when you get to the middle level of tournament you will have certain privileges which will allow you certain freedoms. At the beginning of High level you will be able to leave gladiatorial life. But these rules might be old and they might have changed. So you will discover for yourself what the situation is when you go there.if you are at the lower levels then after 5 years or after a certain amount of money has been repaid you will be granted freedom."

  Aralt's muscles and face tensed, he tried to keep his erratic breathing from boiling over and showing it's face.he tried his best to stay calm and he gulped loudly.

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  Judge heraclius then spoke with a boom to his voice "guard stephan!! Tell the men outside to prepare the carriage!"

  "As you command!" Quickly Replied the guard who brought aralt to the judge.

  "You will follow him,aralt." Judge told aralt in a unusually emphathetic,warm and caring voice.

  Aralt was still trying to gather himself and he looked at heraclius with wide eyes and tightly shut mouth. Aralt ate his lips and hurriedly followed stephan.

  "Stephan! Buy some shoes for aralt! It would be a shame for him to hurt his foot by stepping on a rock or something sharp!"

  Stephan replied "understood! Sir!"

  Stephan and aralt quickly made their way to the carriage and left the area.

  The carriage flew across the rocky path like a bird floating on the skies,within several hours the scenic grass fields and flatlands got replaced by awakening capital city of valencian empire, spearflown.

  The bakeries,shops and markets just opened as aralts and stephans carriage made a entrance to the city.

  Thr city is approximately 16,5 miles large.

  When the carriage passed by a shoe store stephan yelled out "I need to buy something!" The old carriage driver nodded and stopped by the store.

  Stephan quickly got out of the carriage and bought a pair of shoes for aralt.

  He dashed out of the store and opened the carriage door. He gave the shoes to aralt while he waited on the doorframe of the carriage.

  Aralt tried the shoes on which are black on the outside and red on the inside. Aralt's eyes widened in surprise at the level of comfort and softness the shoes gave.

  He turned his head towards stephan and said "I like it!" Stephan smiled and sat on the red bed of the carriage.

  The driver of the carriage continued on their journey until they were infront of a large colloseum. They went towards a small gate which was near the colloseum.

  The small gate was 15 feet tall and led to the underground, was made out of brown wood and had iron edges.

  The driver got out of the carriage and knocked on the gate,the gate quickly opened and the driver went back to his position and drove deeper into the gate.

  Aralt was greeted by walls made out of red bricks which were excellently lit barely leaving any shadow.

  Aralt's eyebrows were raised and curved,his eyes wide and his mouth small and tightly shut. His muscles were tensed and sweat started to appear on his face.

  Ravenous Thoughts swirled in his head like sharks circling their prey.

  "How long will I be in the colloseum?"

  "Will I see my family again?"

  "Will I ever be free?"

  "Will I die in the colloseum?"

  "Will I be properly fed?"

  "Am I going to be drinking something nice?"

  "Will I get paid for doing this?"

  After 60 seconds of descending the carriage driver stopped infront of another gate that was similar like before.

  But instead of knocking the driver yelled "OPEN UP! ANOTHER GLADIATOR HAS ARRIVED!"

  After 15 seconds of waiting the gate opened and revealed a giant underground room that was 1600 feet tall and many gates which led to different places.

  Aralt was astonished at the size of the room and at the number of people that were there,his mouth open and his eyes wide. All tension slid off his body like water in a waterfall.

  He could see markets in the middle,rows upon rows of mini houses which the traders used to sell their goods.

  On his left in the middle he could see long and large stools and tables,places where gladiators gather and relax.

  In the left and right corners which were nearest to him he saw a 120 foot wide pools filled with water where gladiators would bathe.

  The pools were made of stone delicately cut, they looked like something out of a emperor's Palace!

  On the left and right corners far across the room he saw places where gladiators could play various games and practice fighting!

  The carriage descended 15 feet down the cobblestone path and passed through the markets, aralt suddenly remembered the many doors he saw and asked stephan "there are more rooms to this.... intricate underground dwelling?"

  A smirk appeared on stephan's face,he was more noticeably relaxed. "You bet there are!" His face became scrunched as he smiled and laughed.

  "There are many rooms! This is just the main hall. there are also gladiator dwellings, rooms for training and of course bars and many more places!. By the way my full name is stephan Goldencrown. I will be the guard assigned for your case."

  Stephan spoke in a jolly and fun tone of voice which jumped to high pitch at certain words, but became a bit more serious and deep when he reached the middle part.

  "What? A guard assigned to my case? You aren't just my escort?" Aralt was surprised,his voice high pitched in surprise. His head was turned towards stephan while his body faced forward. His hands on the red bed.

  "Oh? You seem to not know all the valencian laws. That is fine,you see whenever some sort of criminal shows something interesting or seems interesting, for example they are unusually large or show great physical finnesse. The nobles in charge of criminal bureaucracy make a note. They then investigate the cases of the Prisoner and evaluations to see if the prisoner is stable enough. If the prisoner is stable enough they will get them to work as gladiators,in your case since you did self defence they didn't need to do a psychological evaluation. And considering what you did there in that fight to the 11 guards you caught the eye of one of the noble bureaucrats, and so that is how you became a gladiator. Of course I was assigned to your case to watch out for you and protect you. Any questions?"

  Stephan replied,he was quick and eager to talk about the law and answer the questions aralt had.

  Aralt looked at the ground and leaned.his elbows on his knees, his hands held each other and his thumbs touched his jaw.

  "Who is the nobleman who assigned me the role of the gladiator?" Aralt asked,staring at the floor.

  "That.... i do not know." Stephan replied,even he was disappointed and dissatisfied in his lack of knowledge of who exactly assigned aralt to gladiator proffesion.

  Aralt turned around and opened his mouth,just as he was about asl him something stephan spoke "I do know that 10 noblemen worked on your case, but I do not know any of their names. I would have to conduct A LOT of asking just to reach their names,but I could do that if you are interested. "

  Aralt leaned back into the bed,looked at stephan and said "please do so. I want to know their names."

  Stephan looked at aralt,slight worry appeared on his face. "You know,this is unusual. As mostly a single bureaucrat works on a case,maybe 5 at most. But 10? Truly unusual,I would have to look into it for myself also just so that I can satisfy my curiosity."

  Aralt sighed and said "so how did you get assigned to my case? Was it volunteering or random picking?"

  A smile appeared on stephan's face and with glee spoke"Well, you see I am 32 years old,I worked as a guard for 11 years.since I was 21! And you see, whenever a guard is experienced and evaluated by statesmen, he gets assigned to special cases which includes overseeing a gladiator,special escort mission, and guarding noblemen! One of many things a experienced guard can do! But i had the rare opportunity to choose for which prisoner i can be a guard for and i decided to be your guard after i saw the documents."

  Aralt leaned on the right side of the carriage and laid there with arms crossed. Aralt asked him "Why did you choose me?."

  Stephan quickly replied in his strong voice "well I felt most similar to you, you see I could have chosen 4 other prisoners. But they were all true criminals and not like you."

  Aralt's eyes wandered around,then sharply took a turn to look at stephan. "So the judge said I will be a gladiator for 5 years. Are families allowed to visit gladiators? Will I be stuck underground until I complete my sentence?"

  Stephan turned his body to face aralt "for your first question you will have to ask one of the bureaucrats to issue a paper so you could see your family members. For your second question you will have to speak to your trainer who is also responsible for you. There have been few trainers left as most have been occupied with other gladiators, so you will get the sole attention of a 65 year old man who worked as a trainer for decades! He hasn't had a gladiator under him in 5 years but seeing as everyone else is preoccupied with many gladiators you will be under his wing!"

  Aralt sat upright and asked "why hasn't he had anyone train under him? And how do you know all of this?"

  Stephan quickly replied "for your first question I'll keep it short.politics. for your second question I must say that I do learn quite a few things from the servants of the Bureaucrats and I also am quite learned when it comes to these things,I knew your trainer for several years and I frequently had many run ins with the administration of valencia."

  Before aralt could say anything stephan coughed and said "by the way,if you earn enough money there are teachers in here that can teach you quite a few things if you desire to. From history to mathematics,if you are literate that is, but you could also pay to become literate! I do not judge! You could also learn crafts such as carpentry to tailoring!"

  Aralt was surprised and Said "huh? There are teachers down here?"

  Stephan quickly replied happy that he can answer all of aralts questions "sure there are many teachers down here! Many gladiators desire to learn something so that they can earn money when they get out of the underground!".

  Aralt didn't say anything, he was silent.

  The entire time aralt and stephan spoke the carriage managed to only get halfway across market, the sheer density of people there made driving hard. But after a couple yells from the driver the people ran away and the carriage went steadily towards the door in the middle.

  The guards upon seeing the carriage opened the door, but the driver stopped "I would have to turn my carriage around, both of you can get off the carriage and continue off foot." The driver spoke.

  Stephan and aralt exited the carriage and went inside the door into the hallway while the carriage driver turned his carriage around and left.

  The hallway was built in a similar manner like the other one,the length of the hallway was 15 feet downwards,and after aralt and stephan descended they came across a large room with many doors and 4 guards.

  Stephan turned towards aralt and said "this way." And went to rhe left door in the middle,aralt followed him. Stephan kept on going for about 11 doors until finally they reached a large room with one door in the middle. Stephan came near the door and knocked.

  The door was opened by an old man with a grey beard wearing a blue linen shirt,grey pants and black boots.he held a staff in his left hand.

  "So you must be aralt I presume?" He looked towards the young blonde malnourished man.

  "Yes! And your name is?" Aralt asked his hand stretched out for a handshake.The old man shook his hand and said "valentian flowerbee. I will be your trainer,both of you follow me."

  Stephan and aralt dutifully followed valentian inside the door,infront of them was a another room similar to the one they were in except that the room had 3 doors.

  Valentian pointed to the door on on the left "this door leads to dwellings, in that door there are 3 rooms. Each for one of us." Then he pointed to the middle door "that is the training room. That is where you will train,aralt." He then pointed to the door to the far left "this is where you will meet up with other gladiators to fight. You will have individual matches so that I can gauge your skill."

  The old man then turned towards aralt and said "come,both of you. Get acquitated with your rooms." Then the old man went and entered the door on the left, aralt and stephan followed without question.

  The old man stopped infront of the three rooms and said "the left room is for stephan,middle for aralt and I will be in the right room."

  Valentian then looked at aralt and said "come with me, I have clothes for you."

  Aralt followed valentian to the old man's room.the old man's room had one decently sized bed which was on the left side of the room beneath a window,the bed is covered with a white sheet,a red blanket and a white pillow. The bed is made out of brown wood.

  On the floor covering a decent portion of the room is a carpet which is blue and decorated with yellow and red drawings, on the edges there are golden yellow wool spikes.

  On the right side of the room there is a brown wooden table and two chairs.

  On the wall opposite of the door there is a wardrobe made out of brown wood.

  The window which was underneath the bed touched the ceiling.

  Valentian went towards the wardrobe,opened it and grabbed brown pants,white shirt and white underwear for aralt. Aralt grabbed the clothing and went to his room. When aralt opened the door he found that the room was similar to the one where the old man was.

  Aralt threw his loincloth off and put on the clothing that the old man gave him.

  Aralt looked at himself then darted out of his room to the room of valentian. Valentian greeted him and said "you look nice in that clothing!"

  Aralt replied "thanks, but where can I wash myself?"

  Valentian replied "in the hallway of the third door there is a washing room. You can go and wash yourself there,any other questions?"

  Aralt looked at the ground then back at him "when can you arrange for me to see my family?"

  The old man smiled and said "soon, next week is the earliest I can do. That is if send a request to the bureaucrats today."

  Aralt replied, a notable quickness in his voice "well can you do it today?"

  The old man sighed "if the headmaster is here it would be the quickest route to the bureaucrats.if he isn't here then I would have to go to the administrative building of the city."

  Aralt replied "understood,by the way. Where are the towels?"

  Valentian replied "in your wardrobe."

  Aralt replied "thanks."

  And left the old man's room so he can go wash himself.