Chapter 7

The guard sighed at a tired Rainer “Good enough for today, I guess go get some rest. Oh and there will be an announcement tomorrow morning, just follow everyone else to the arena where it will be held.”

“Whatever.” With that, Rainer left the arena and made his way back to his room. His body was aching all over, and the bruises were still stinging. He fell on the bed, barely able to move a muscle to turn over, so he laid there staring at the ceiling. “What am I doing?” he asked himself quietly. “I just… I shouldn’t be here.”

He covered his face with his arm, closed his eyes, and his last day on Earth began to play on his mind. The way everyone’s faces looked happy as he walked away handcuffed, and how the ones he protected turned on him. Rainer gritted his teeth trying to hold back tears. “How little did I actually mean to all of you? Because you all meant so much more to me.” The resentment in his voice made him feel sick. “What do I do now?”

His tired body eventually forced him into a slumber. That night he witnessed a cloaked man, walking up a flight of crystal stairs. Rainer looked at the man’s back with surprise “I know you.” he murmured. “I saw you the day I was taken away.”

Rainer felt like it was all real, the touch of the cold stairs, the cool air he was breathing, and the smell of something sweet like candy.

Rainer followed the man up the stairs for a short while, until he abruptly stopped. “Tell me, do you like dragons?” he inquired. His voice was soft, and sounded young.

Confused by the sudden randomness of the question, he responded “Dragons?”

“Yes, those creatures with wings, scales, claws, and whatnot. Do you like them?”

“I… guess. I’m sorry, why are you asking me this? Where are we? And who are you?”

The man started his walk up the stairs once more, and Rainer followed “I am merely a phantom. And this place is your soul space.”

“My soul space? This is just a dream.”

“A dream where you can feel the steps beneath your feet, where you can taste and feel the air? Well you’ll learn over time, just as I did.”

Rainer looked around the space, to find a vast world where stars were shining above and below the staircase. “Where do these stairs go?”

“Up.”

“Ok smartass, up to where?”

“To the center of your world.”

Rainer sighed “This dream is getting weird; someone wake me up.”

Everything went dark, and Rainer awoke in his bed. He sat up, rubbed his eyes “So it was just a dream after all” he yawned. A dull pain forced him to clutch his stomach in pain. “Why does it feel like I have a pit stuck in my stomach? I even feel like I'm going to vomit.”

He was interrupted by a loud knock outside his room. Still holding his stomach, but holding back his expression, he opened the door. Standing there was a young blonde haired Coliaran, wearing clothing similar to the guards, and holding a clipboard. “Good morning sir, the assembly is about to begin. Please follow the other contestants to the large arena.” he said in a boorish tone.

“Do I have to?” Rainer asked, a little annoyed by the fact he had to attend. “I feel sick. I don't want to get up?”

“Yes. Please move to the arena at this time.” The Coliaran walked away to the next unopened room.

Sure enough, the other contestants were walking down the hall towards one of the larger arenas. Rainer released his stomach and joined the moving traffic next to a large rock-like and humanoid creature. It smelled like a dirty hamper but Rainer knew better than to say something.

The arena was impressively large. A glass dome protected the audience, while sealing in the contestants. Dirt on the ground was rusted, and looked like it was made from crushed bits of metal.

Rainer was standing in the fourth row from the back. There were about twenty rows with ten contestants each, as well as monster sized cages in the rows.

Before he had a chance to peek at what was inside the cages, a large hologram screen appeared above the dome. The view of a knight in white and gold bird like armor, stood before them. Something caught Rainer’s eye, he could vaguely see a blue aura flickering around the knight. He rubbed his eyes and the aura disappeared.

“I'm so tired, I'm starting to see things.” he thought to himself.

“Welcome, one and all.” The knight’s deep voice boomed across the arena. “To all races who have been here before, I welcome you back to this contest of strength. As for our newcomers, I am King Cor, the ruler of the Coliaran Empire. You are here today because you have proven yourself suitable to stand amongst us in the stars. This tournament was created eons ago, to measure the strength of our force as an empire. It shows us the worth of our strongest, and weakest. However, I do not intend to leave you with a mere trophy for showing such strength. The victor will be granted a single wish, any that they desire and is within my power to give. Rejoice! For you have been chosen to lead your world into glory and fame!”

The audience and contestants loudly cheered, Rainer couldn’t stand the noise and covered his ears in frustration. As the cheering died down, he lowered his hands. “My children of the Empire, this year, we shall be changing some rules. I will leave the devices in your possession, to give you the details, but I promise you, this will be the most entertaining tournament by far. Prove yourselves in battle! Victory will bring fame; loss will still bring honor! I bid you all good luck.” The screen displayed the symbol of the empire as everyone began to cheer.

The arena began to clear and Rainer went with the crowd back to his room. “That didn't sound right. Why would an empire like this need a tournament to discover who the strongest is? They could easily gauge something like that with the technology they have.”

Before he could enter the room, his guard grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him along down the other end of the hall. “Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing!” Rainer managed to say.

“You have practice, I thought you might try to weasel out of it so I came to get you.”

Being dragged against his will sparked anger in him. Thoughts flooded Rainer’s head, the images of people he once called a team, abandoning him. The image of the people who seemed relieved he was being sacrificed. It suddenly came to him why he was feeling sick, he was alone and angry. Rainer pulled his arm away, managing to free himself. He stopped in his tracks and rubbed his wrist. “Does it really matter?”

“Of course, it matters, I don’t get paid commission if you die in the first round.”

The pit from his stomach moved to his throat, in an attempt to keep from crying. “Screw your damn commission! You’re just like everybody else, greedy to the bone. I was sacrificed, so just let me do whatever the hell I want with the time I have left. It’s meaningless to fight against something I know will kill me anyways.”

The guard walked up to him and punched him in the face. Rainer fell to the ground from the heavy blow. “I don’t like whiny kids. You have a chance to do something about your situation and you’re giving it up before you even enter the arena. Stop feeling sorry for yourself! If you were sacrificed by your own kind. Then there is only one damn thing to do.” He reached his hand out to Rainer.

“Fight. Show them they were wrong, prove to them you’re strong enough to stand on your own, show them you don’t need them. They abandoned you, so let them go and remake yourself. Now grab my hand, because it is getting tired of staying like this.”

Rainer grabbed his hand and was lifted back up on his feet. He was shocked, but the words echoed through his mind and shattered the pit in his throat.

The guard smiled brightly. “There are only two questions you need to ask yourself. Who am I, and what do I want to do?” He turned around and heroically placed his fists on his hips, quite proud of the speech. “Answer that and your path will be clear. So, come to the practice arena if you want to see a future worth living.” He walked away from Rainer who was stunned by the guard's words.