Momma: "Special class?"

You will serve your new master in the same way that I served Master Nivaron, but that has no bearing on the matter.The most important thing is that you will have good food and at least some ease in your life, which you won't get working in the field.

"No, Mother!I can't be told to do this by you!

“Krista, I know what I'm asking for is terrible, but at least you'll get good food, a place to sleep, and protection from too much abuse if you do as your new master says.As a manual laborer, you won't last long in the cane fields!

"To ask such a thing of me, I would rather die in a firan cane field and keep my self-respect than be a soulless whore like you have become!"

Slap!

"Krista, you will never talk to me again like that!I've carried out my obligation!After your father passed away, I cared for you and your brother!

"You mean killed!In addition, what good have you gained by surviving?Mother, look where we are!Moreover, he is not my brother!”

“Yes, he is, and what I've done has been to keep food in your stomach. Of all the options we have, this is the safest option for you to take!Krista, you'll do as I say tomorrow, and that's it!

I had slowly shaken my head out of compassion for the girl as I leaned back against the damp wall behind me.I had no source of comfort and my world had been completely turned upside down.I had never known anything in my life that could have prepared me for the harshness of what a mother was telling her daughter or the personal loss I had already experienced with my family's death.

Who was aware of the upcoming events?I was eaten away by the knowledge of that fate, which I had no idea about.I was thankful that the darkness around me hid my silent tears from the others as they had rolled down my cheeks.

I didn't want anyone to think I was weak.As much as I had for myself at the time, I had felt sorry for the girl.I would never have been asked to perform what her mother was requesting of her.How fortunate I had been without even realizing it!And once I realized what I had lost, I lost it forever.

My memory of the past was briefly interrupted by a loud caw of a crow.When I looked back the way we had come, there was still no sign of a threat.

I gave the sleeping child a quick glance and looked at him intently.Although he was a nuisance, I was at least glad to have helped save his life.That much was clear: I didn't want him to go through what I did as a young slave.

Together with the information that his father had provided me prior to his death, I would get him to his relatives in the Valley Lands.However, there was a long way to safety, and a lot could go wrong.There was no assurance that the boy's situation would differ from mine.

I gave the setting sun a quick look.I rested and let my thoughts return to the past because I still had about an hour to kill.

I had assisted the girl in reversing her fate.I had at least made it possible for her to die in a way that would have been better for her.

I saw nothing of the sunset when I looked out at the horizon, where the sun was setting.I was thinking back to the time I had been sold as a slave to the Carsea arena fighting school.

I had to blink my eyes several times to get used to the harsh light of the slave market after we were freed from our underground holding cell.I had fallen several times on the market floor's uneven cobblestones, and heavily armored guards had lashed out at me several times with sharp, stinging whips that drew blood.

Tradespeople selling their wares filled the market.The remaining space in the market was occupied by potential buyers.

As I walked by, the noise of the crowd of yelling faces poked and prodded me, reinforcing my fear of what would happen to me in the near future.We had begun to be divided into groups by the guards;male and female, young, and old.

During my walk out of the cell, a woman in front of me caught my attention.If not for the severe lines that were deeply etched into the skin around her eyes and mouth, she would have been quite attractive.Additionally, she displayed a snide expression.While a young girl walked alongside her, she held a baby in her left arm almost carelessly with her right hand.

The young woman's fiery cinnamon-red hair reached her waist.Despite the fact that she had not yet displayed the maturity of a mature woman, she was certain to be noticed.I had a feeling that these two were the ones I had overheard the night before.

They and the guards all turned to look in that direction after a sudden disturbance off to our left.However, I kept moving forward.It felt like the right thing to do, and I didn't question my actions further than that. I'm not sure what possessed me to do what I did.I raised a fist and swung hard at the girl's head as her face was turned to the side as my manacled hands separated.

Instead of using my entire fist, I purposefully sideswiped her left cheek with the chunky metal protrusion of the manacles that held my hands together.Where the rough edge of my manacles caught her high on the cheekbone and lower down on the cheek, tearing the flesh badly, blood spurted out.She was knocked forward, breaking her mother's grip on her arm, despite the fact that I had pulled the majority of my strength behind the punch to the side.She fell hard into a muddy pool of water, splashing all over her and dowsing her in the filthy market gutter water.She looked up at me from where she was lying in the muddy water, her eyes widening in questioning expression in complete shock at the unjustified hit.I uttered two words as blood gushed down her face wildly.

"My apologies!"

When the guards slammed me to the ground from behind, I had just finished speaking.After being viciously kicked and whipped multiple times, I was only helped back to my feet.

Because of my aggressive behavior, I was placed in a group of other irritable people who shared a common dislike for me.A woman was bad, a girl was worse, and hitting a fellow slave was even worse.Regardless, I did not regret my actions.They simply did not comprehend.

As the girl and her mother were brought up to the examiners, I watched.They pushed the mother toward a group of older women who also had young children after pulling her to the side.The chief examiner examined the girl by grabbing her chin and holding it up.He paused for a moment, murmured something, and then pushed the girl toward an attendant, who escorted her out of the room.She was led by the attendant to a pen with other attractive young girls and boys.

The girl's dirty hair was covering her face as they got closer to the pen, and her head had fallen forward.However, the attendant dragged her past that pen and down the line of slave pens in the direction of the pen at the very end.

She found me among the sea of faces as she looked around confused.Before the attendant jerked her toward the field slave pen, she raised a hand and waved it slightly at me.I was certain that she would choose the fate of an overworked field worker over a longer life spent in a brothel as a cheap vessel for the satisfaction of other people's desires. Everyone deserves the chance to die in the best possible way.

I was reassured that I had done the right thing when I made the connection with the girl.What I saw as I glanced around surprised me.Respect replaced the hostile gazes of the men who were around me.They appeared to be aware of what I had done for the girl.It was easier to bear the hostility than the respect they were showing me now.It made me feel like I needed to do or be something special right now to be respected.

Despite the fact that I was only fourteen years old at the time, I already possessed my father's initial great strength and large bone structure.The purchasers were aware that arena wars would be my greatest application.

Throughout the empire, gladiatorial entertainment was a popular pastime for many Zoarinians.It was big business for men to fight each other and animals to death.As a result, it was closely watched by the ruling class of the time, who won a lot of money betting on games fought by slaves.

One of the prominent owners of Carsea's fighting schools purchased me.He was a man with a big belly who looked at me as if I were nothing more than a piece of meat or a chewable bone meant to be given to the dogs.I, along with a number of other men, were chained to a shackle bolt on the floor of a wagon by armed guards after the sale was over.

As my life as a slave had begun, the wagon began to slowly leave the marketplace.Our slave wagon had been passed by by others traveling to their respective empire locations.I saw the girl from the market almost simultaneously with her seeing me in the final wagon that passed us.We kept following one another until we lost sight of one another;My wagon was going to the cities in the south, while hers was going to the open plain.

On the outskirts of Carsea was Ramnotan's fighting school.The guards roughly yanked us out of the wagon.