Screaming. That's all Sieza ever hears when she's awake. The screams of the innocent, wrongly accused, the screams of her own kind as they are murdered in cold blood for entertainment, or the screams of criminals who rarely get what they deserve. Which it is, she cannot tell, as they have all melded together to form this sickening wake up call each and every morning.

Sighing as her chains rattled, she stood and walked over to her stinking food tray, bits and pieces of stale bread, mixed with whatever sour meats they could find in waste bins lay abandoned on it, as she grumbles in disgust. But due to the lack of food from the previous day's meal, she settled on eating the stale bread, least she get sick from the meat that stunk of dead fish and the dead decaying carcass of a skunk combined.

Soon cheering could be heard from above, signifying the death of one of the "Contestants". No more than ten minutes pass, and the guards walk by dragging the corpse of another innocent Cornibus, that looked no older than fifteen.

Sieza cringed at the sight, no longer wishing to finish the two bites of bread she had remaining. Even after six years of competing for every "law" she broke, Sieza still couldn't stomach the sight of all the young Cornibus and young children that perished up there in that ring.

She shuddered at the thought of how many of those lives had been taken by her own hands. Walking over to the door of the cell, she stood and awaited them to take her for "training" again, no longer having the stomach to eat.

"Well well well, early riser this morning, huh princess?" Purred the old man that lead this organization. Such a sick and twisted grin lay upon his face, that Sieza couldn't help but look at him in disgust. The guards unlocked the door to her cell and removed her shackles from the wall, pushing her from the cell. "Don't act so happy to see me Princess, I haven't even showed you the surprise I have in store for you yet!"

She paled at his words, all that escaped her mouth was a faint, "What?" Her voice cracking slightly due to the screaming she was accustomed to wailing almost everyday. "Ah! I see that you still have that voice of yours! You should use it more often, I'd love to here you beg." He once again purred, moving to stroke her cheek, before smacking her in the face. She yelped in pain, but that was all the sound that had escaped her, as the man grabbed her chains and began to pull her down the hall. The guards held spears at her back as encouragement to move forward, lest she wanted to be impaled.

After a few short minutes of walking, the guards unlocked another door, shoving Sieza into the inky dark room. The old mans voice trailed after her. "Let's seen how long you survive without your most prized sense, shall we?" He hummed, as the door began to shut, smile on his face.

"W-wait!" She called in dismay, her voice a quiet grovel in the dark, as the last bit of light was shut away from her eyes. Shaking slightly, she looked around, not a sound could be heard aside from her thunderous heart beat in her ears.

She went to stand, but as she moved, so did her chains, and she froze. The metal rattling and clinking together, a million times louder in the silence. She looked around, trying desperately to get her eyes to adjust to the low light, although nothing seemed to work. She began to wander about the room, lifting her chains as she did so, so as to minimize the sound that echoed within the room. She held them up with one arm and held out her other so she could feel anything that she may have come into contact with.

Breathing heavily, her hand came into contact with a cold and mossy wall. She flinched away from it in surprise, before quickly feeling for it again. Once she had her back to the wall, she stood as still as possible, steadying her breathing, and focusing on her sight.

After a few minutes she sight had adjusted well enough that she was able to see a few feet in circumference around herself. At this point she was dead silent, and somewhere in the room all she could hear was the sound of something moving, something big. She once again froze as she looked at where the sound was coming from.

There was sniffing, followed by a low growl. Not human, and most definitely not a Cornibus.... Sieza thought, she pressed up against the wall further, hoping her silence would keep it away. But she was wrong, oh so very wrong. Soon the foot steps of the creature neared, and the sniffing grew louder, although it seemed that the growling had stopped. Instead it was now whimpering. This confused Sieza, to the point that she pushed off the wall, and slowly neared the creature.

Once it appeared in her sight she seen that it was a young Grimban, one of the mountain dwelling giant wolf species. When it took notice of her its head snapped towards her, it growled for a moment, before looking up at her. When their gazes met, Sieza could see the fear the poor thing felt.

"Hey little one..." She murmured quietly, kneeling down to the pup. "I know how you feel, I'm scared too." She whispered to it, and held out her hand. At first it shied away from her hand, but then it sniffed her hand, and slowly went to her. It whimpered again, before huddling up against her, sensing that it could trust her. She sighed and gently stroked its head, taking care to be slow with her movements, and mindful of the fact that it wasn't used to a gentle caring touch.

She growled lowly to herself when she thought of why the old and despicable man had shoved her in here. He had wanted her to fight the pup in the dark, have it either maul her to death, or have her beat the poor thing senseless, out of adrenaline and fear. She sighed when she heard the little pup whimper again. "I'm sorry buddy.... don't worry I wont hurt you..." She murmured to it.

Sieza gently rubbed its head for a few more moments, before she turned her gaze to her chains. She had already noted that the little pup had no chains, and had free rain over the room. Although at that point she doubted it strayed too too far from its own corner, this moment just happened to be the exception. It had been a long while since she had last had a chance to even somewhat relax, but not fully. She was worried what they would do to the Grimban after she had finished her time in the room with it. She didn't want them to harm it any further, nor did she want them to kill it. She wanted to help it get out of the underground ring, but she hadn't even found a way for herself to escape, let alone a wolf sized pup.

She stood soon after that, she needed to find something, anything, to help get the pup out. She began to walk along the edge of the room, following along the mossy walls, the pup following her. She scanned the walls, now being able to see them a little clearer than before. She stopped when she found a small wall grate, what she hoped was water, trickled from it on to the floor. She kneeled down and peered inside, based on the stench that the assaulted her sense of smell, this likely came from the arena. The sent of rotting flesh and blood lingered after she pulled away from it.

"No way out that way..." She huffed, continuing to follow along the wall. As she went, however, she noted a small breeze coming from the wall. She drew closer to the breeze she found a small tunnel, she peered inside and sniffed at the air slightly. It smelt of clean air, and fresh greenery. She hummed in thought for a few seconds, before turning to the Grimban pup. "Hey buddy, I'm gonna lift you up, and you're going to go into this tunnel, once there, follow it to the end, and you should be free." She said quietly to it. It looked up at her with a seeming gleam of hope in its eyes, as she kneeled down to it. She gently stroked its head for reassurance, and it lightly licked her arms, its tail wagging slightly.

Sieza picked it up and placed it into the tunnel. "Now when you get out, go to where ever there may be a stream, or river. Follow that to its source, and you should find the mountains." She told the pup, and it licked her face, before turning towards the other side of the tunnel, and it began moving. It paused after getting a few feet down, and turned to look at her, whining slightly. "I'm sorry pal, I can't go with you, with you gone they'll want to punish someone, better me than you." She said, before shewing the pup. "Now go on, go home, be free." She said hoarsely, as she gave the pup a smile.

The pup whined a little more, before looking between the end of the tunnel and her, eventually though it listened to her words and ran down the tunnel, disappearing into the darkness beyond.

A sigh of relief escaped her lips, as she wandered away from the wall, and into the middle of the room. She sat down, and stared. Now all she could do was wait, and hope the beating wouldn't be too harsh.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pain and blood trailed down her flesh and muscles. The beating had gone on for about three hours. It had been far worse than she had anticipated, but as long as the little pup managed to get out, and make it home. A smile spread across her face, before it was followed by a grimace. "At least it's got a fighting chance now." She thought, before forcing herself to stand, and grab the bandages left by her cell door.

The pain lacing her every movement becoming dull as she began to get used to it. She snatched up the bandages and went over to her bed roll, starting to patch up her wounds.

Though the new cuts stung, and though she knew that there were a few cracked bones, she knew that she would be fighting soon, and they wouldn't care about her condition. But she was a fighter, and she was damned if she was going to die now. So she patched herself up as much as she could, and prayed for the bleeding to stop as soon as possible.

Tying the last bit of her bandages up on her upper arm, she sighed and laid back on the wall. She glanced up at the small barred window near the top of the wall of her cell, and noted that the time of day seemed to be near dusk. She cringed when she heard the sound of a blood curdling scream rang through the thick silence, only to be cut short. The silence that followed however was short lived, as another roar of cheers broken through the air in the arena above.

Sieza quickly rubbed her face with her hands, hoping to relieve some of the stress and anxiety that began to wrack her body. "I'm next..." She thought gravely, as she felt the blood drain from her face. "My god I'm next." She said aloud, the panic in her body starting to kick in. "I thought I had more time than this!" She whisper yelled to no one in particular. Groaning she stood, and began to pace. Thinking endlessly of ways that she could somehow avoid going into the arena, even for a few more hours. Sieza didn't want any part of their wicked and cruel game, but they forced her to play, they forced her to fight both innocents and criminals, for what? Entertainment? For justice? No. For sheer pleasure in knowing that slowly they were breaking her, and making her their slave. "I'll never get out of this endless fighting.... will I?" She questioned, before the sound of footsteps brought her from her thoughts. Needless to say, Sieza was far beyond tense.

Three guards walked by, the body of a large man, mangled almost past the point of recognition, between the three of them, all ailing in attempts to carry his corpse to the burning room. "Who the in the name of this hell hole managed to take him down!?" She yelled in her mind, panic once again kicking in, though she managed to keep most of it under her control, she couldn't help the nagging fear in the back of her mind.

Soon enough the guards returned from their small trip to the burning room, reeking of both rotting and burning flesh. Bile rose up in Sieza's throat, though she forced it back down, as one of them un-cuffed her from the wall, and the other two picked her up, dragging her to be geared up for her next fight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stumbling forwards as the guards shoved her into the area where the contestants were held before being unleashed onto one another, Sieza quickly caught herself, steadying herself enough to stand. "Really? You couldn't have given me something more?" She muttered out, glancing down at the selection of weapons and shields. There sat three weapons, a wooden branch, a broken sword, and a small dagger. Glancing over her choices, she picked up the dagger, seeing as how it seemed to be the most sturdy out of the three.

Quickly the other two disappeared into the drop boxes below. Rolling her eyes, Sieza turned to the shields. A flimsy hide shield, not even thick enough to stop an arrow, a light weight wooden shield, seemingly half rotten, and a rusty metal shield. Pausing for a moment she glared back at their door from whence she had been shoved, before looking back at her options. The hide shield was out of the question, and with a quick knocking test, so was the wooden shield. Sighing, she picked up the rusty metal shield, and same as the first million times, the other two shields too, disappeared into a drop box.

Positioning her shield grip properly in her hand, and swinging her dagger a few times, she readied herself, as the announcer's voice boomed all across the arena.

"LADIES AND GENTLE MEN! WELCOME BACK FOR OUR FINAL BATTLE OF TODAY, AND PLEASE WELCOME OUR TWO LOVELY CONTESTANTS!" He screamed, his voice gravely from over use. "OVER HERE, IN THE EASTERN SECTION, WE HAVE SOMEONE YOU ALL KNOW, AND HATE TO LOVE! SIEZA THE CORNIBUS!"

The gate in front of her slowly rose, and she strode out, a mixture and booing and cheers mixed as she entered the arena, she looked up meeting the faces of thousands of Noblemen and women, mixed with the faces of some lower classed people, and the dull faced slaved Cornibus, owned by several of the sleazier nobles within the whole lot of them. Though her gaze snapped to the opposite side of the arena when the announcer's voice once again boomed across the arena, announcing who her opponent would be. She silently prayed that it wasn't another one of her own, nor another child.

"AND IN THE WESTERN SECTION, THE WINNER OF THE LAST TWO BATTLES OF TODAY, THE ONE WHO WE'LL SEE IF HE IS TO BE BETTER THAN OUR 'CHAMPION'," He paused to smile evilly at Sieza, to which her face paled. "THE ONE AND ONLY, RIVOR THE CORNIBUS!" His voice boomed, and instantly it almost felt like her every ounce of her life had left her body.

Her gaze snapped to the gate, as a tall and lanky Cornibus about her age strode out. He glanced around the arena, still taking in the whole compass of the arena when full, before his gaze met hers, and his features paled visibly. "No." She breathed, and she could tell that he was thinking the same thing. "Nonononononononono!" She muttered, cursing whatever ignored her prayers. The two of them stared at each other, both not wanting to move, nor even breath, lest they disturb the silence that had on set.

"Each battle lasts about two hours.... then either they call it a draw, and the two become battle partners, or both are executed for failing to pass judgement on who was the innocent and who was the guilty." Sieza thought for a moment, before letting loose a breath she didn't know she had been holding, readying herself to begin the fight. "2 hours shouldn't be too hard, just gotta keep up our dance." She muttered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rivor looked at her, confusion, shock, and fear mixed together on his face, his thoughts running a mile a minute. He had never thought that he would ever see his friend ever again. Especially not after the raid on their village, and the fire that raged for three days straight, kill most of the entire population. But there she was, bloodied and beaten, but still alive, still fighting. Thats when the realization hit him. "I'm going to have to fight her, and... I-I'll... w-we'll-." He cut his thoughts short there. He didn't want to fight her, let alone kill her, and by the look on her face, she seemed to want the same.

The silence had been thick, that he hadn't dared make a sound, lest something were to choke him off, or cut out his tongue. He continued to stare at her, wide eyed. "How has any of this come to be?" He wondered. He watched her tenseness loosen, as she let loose a breath, and readied herself for the battle to come.

Rivor began to panic, thinking that she had thrown away her moral judgement, only looking to survive another day, and was fully willing to take his life to achieve that, but when she looked up to meet his gaze again, he could see that familiar gleam in her eye. Even after so long of not seeing one another, it was still there. A faint smile graced his face for a mere moment, before it faded back into his fearful and stressed expression. She had a plan, and he was going to roll with it.

Sighing out, and taking a deep breath, Rivor rolled his shoulders, and prepped himself for the fight to come. He looked up at the crowd for another brief moment, and cringing slightly. "We're just merely entertainment to them... how are these people so sick and cruel?" He wondered, before looking back at Sieza. "I hope you know what your doing..." he muttered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The announcer's wicked smile grew, as his gaze flickered between the two Cornibus. Oh how amused he was, as he watched their little stare down. "They seem to know one another, in how lovely it will be to see one of them gut the other, what fun~." He thought, before a dark laugh emitted from him. "MAY JUSTICE BE SERVED!" He bellowed, which echoed within the silence, the tension that had built up increasing ten fold, as the two ran at each other, and the battle of judgement began.