33 The Pit

Emile stood in a puddle of blood. Multiple shreds of clothing littered the ground around him. He took a step further into the pit, the ground uneven from the countless bouts of mutilation.

The pit reeked of blood, an odd combination of metal and something heavier, something that instinctively made Emile want to vomit.

The crowd towered over him, the pit must be twenty feet deep or more. The walls, just like the floors, were bathed in gashes and holes of varying sizes.

The rusted gate across from Emile screeched and began to rise. Simultaneously, the crowd above him started to furiously slam their feet on the ground. The higher the gate rose the faster the crowd pounded their feet.

Behind the bars, a hooded man appeared and steadily walked forwards. The hood, along with the rest of his clothes, were light brown.

He passed under the gate and lifted his hands up to his hood. Both of his arms were completely wrapped in old, blood stained bandages.

He pulled his hood down, revealing an aged face covered in gray stubble. Additionally, half his head was scarred, the skin stretched and pulled in unnatural ways.

The crowd quieted until an eerie air spread through the pit. The hooded man ignored Emile and looked up at the crowd. He narrowed his brows and clenched his jaw.

He opened his palm and aimed it beneath him. Suddenly, Emile felt the air around him get pulled towards the man. A second later, the man's bandages exploded off his arm and an implosion hit the stone, shattering the ground and rocketing the man high into the air.

He rose far above the crowd and aimed his other bandaged arm to his side, but before he could launch himself away, a loud bang echoed throughout the pit and a crater appeared in the man's chest.

His heart, lungs, ribs, the majority of his chest vanished from existence making it easy to see through him. Whatever tore through him, the impact of it launched his body into the cave's ceiling.

Like a raindrop hitting the ground, his body split apart and splattered on the ceiling. Blood rained on the crowd below.

Only a few seconds had passed since he removed his hood, barely long enough for Emile to comprehend what happened, but once he finally did the crowd did as well.

Roaring cheers ripped through the air, its sheer might shaking the pit itself. Emile watched the man's body peel off the ceiling and plummet, one again splattering against the stone.

Noticing that the crowd had no interest in Emile and were instead rushing to surround the man's corpse, Emile turned and returned to the gate he had entered from.

Within the depths of the tunnel, away from the gazes of the crowd, the man who captured Emile waited for his return.

"You must think yourself quite lucky… but I can assure you, tomorrow your luck will not persist." He said as Emile approached him.

Emile didn't respond, having grown considerably annoyed at his increasing instances of being taken helplessly. Also, he was confident Blood would find him soon enough. His only concern was surviving until then.

Emile passed the giant of a man, he had long, curly hair and a chiseled face. Just behind him, guards were waiting to escort Emile to his prison cell.

His cell was just that, a cell. An empty square room, barely greater than the length of Emile himself. No bed or toilet, just the stone floor and the polished bars containing him.

Emile sat in his cell, his back leaned against the wall, his knee raised up to support his resting chin. Blood probably wasn't even awake yet. It had only been an hour or two since Emile left to explore and that was soon after they arrived.

He also couldn't believe he left to explore, then continued towards voices knowing people were at the end, mistake after mistake. Maybe he was at fault for getting taken so often.

Regardless, now that his adrenaline's quit pumping Emile was finally tired. He closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.

***

"You're not very big, or very scary…." A girl's voice tugged on Emiles ears.

"I just don't understand…." She continued.

Emiles consciousness returned and, at the sound of the girl's voice, Emile opened his eyes instantaneously.

Squatted right in front of the bars to Emile's cage was a young girl, perhaps sixteen, she had long dreads with different bones intertwined in the strands. She wore a tightly compressed tube top and large, baggy pants.

"Who are you?!" Emile asked, interrupting the girl's conversation with herself.

The girl pulled back and lost her balance, falling over onto the ground. She quickly pushed herself back up and stood outside of the cage.

"You were awake?!" The girl asked in return.

"You woke me with your rambling. Now who are you?" He repeated.

The girl scoffed and crossed her arms, "I'm Luna, daughter of Chief Khons, and I'm interested in you."

"In me? Why would you be interested in me?"

"I don't know, but the Chief is interested in you; he brought you here unannounced and went to see you after your match, and I want to know why."

"So he's the Chief—" Emile said aloud, "he came to threaten me, said I wouldn't be so lucky tomorrow."

"Hmm—but why would he do that? He sets every match, everyone is destined to die, so why would he personally tell you?"

Emile watched Luna continue to think as he didn't have an answer to her question.

"You really are uninteresting. At first I was thinking maybe you'd have an interesting personality, but you feel weak and insignificant, like a bug." She turned away from Emile and began pacing in front of his cell.

"Not strong, not threatening, not arrogant…. Actually, you're remarkably uninteresting." She squatted down again and faced Emile.

"Everything about you is out of place, like you don't belong here. You give me this feeling that you're lost… maybe that's it."

Emile flinched when she said that, if only she knew how right she was. Noticing Emiles reaction to her guess, a smile spread across her lips.

"You are lost!" Her eyes widened, "Where are you from?"

"Fallen Sky." He answered, in acknowledgment that she noticed his flinch.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" She asked.

Emile opened his mouth, but quickly bit his tongue. He couldn't talk about the labyrinth and he hadn't expected someone to ask him this.

"I—I'm… on vacation?" Emile said.

"You're on vacation?" Luna repeated and then exaggeratedly spun her head and looked around, "And you came to the Black Gates?"

"Well—I'm actually trying to get to the forest, and then—well—then your dad found me."

"The forest? Huh—now that's interesting." Luna stood back up and began to walk away.

"Nobody has ever escaped before, I wonder what the Chief would do… I'm sure it'd be interesting. I'll help you out tomorrow and if the Chief sees you a third time, you can expect to see me too."