“Here he is mostly ladies and gentlemen, the Naked Madman! In the six months he’s been here he has defeated every opponent with ease. Will his winning streak continue? Or will he perish at the hands of Sniper!” A high gir entered the arena. He had long blonde hair and delicate skin. On his back was a quiver, in his right hand a bow.

“He’s the only high gir fighter here at the arena. Sniper has killed every single opponent without taking a single hit! Who will prevail? The Naked Madman or Sniper? Let’s find out! Fight!”

Sniper was staring down Anarion. “How disgusting, put on some clothes will you?” Anarion glaring back replied. “What, are you jealous?” Sniper looked at Anarion in disgust. “Why would I be jealous of your fan base? Human women don’t interest me.” Anarion chuckled. “I wasn’t talking about my fan base.”

Sniper raised his fist. “Okay, I’m sufficiently pissed off. Time to die human scum!” Sniper quickly raised his bow and fired at Anarion. It was strange, Anarion wasn’t moving. Suddenly all of the women in the crowd swooned. Anarion caught the arrow with his bare hand. Sniper’s skin turned pure white. “Please, don’t kill me.”

In a flash, Anarion appeared in front of him. “Sure, I don’t like killing anyway.” He punched Sniper in the face, he rolled a few times then stopped. He wasn’t getting up. A guard came over to check his pulse, he gave the announcer a thumbs up. “The Naked Madman wins in a flash! Never before in the arena has someone caught an arrow barehanded! He’s too damn cool for words!” Anarion sighed. “Shut up already.”

Walking out of the arena Dokkor greeted him. “Great fight kid, that was damn cool.” Anarion sighed “Yeah, yeah.” The Green Skinned man stood up. “Why didn’t you kill your opponent? You shouldn’t pity the weak.” Anarion looked at him. “Who the hell are you anyway! I see you here day in and day out, you just sit there like some kind of fucking invalid.”

Dokkor kicked Anarion in the shin. “Idiot, that’s the grand champion Kroggsmash!” The green-skinned man looked at Anarion. “I prefer Krogg. If you challenge me someday and I lose, don’t take pity on me like you did that high gir. I’ve been looking for a glorious death for over ten thousand years.”

Anarion looked at Krogg. “Ten thousand years? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me? What are you anyway? I’ve never seen anyone like you before.” Dokkor kicked Anarion in the shin again. “He’s an orc. Krogg’s a rather famous orc, he was the General of the Dakar Empire before it fell to the great demon Xalabos.”

Anarion looked at Krogg. He knew the tale of the Dakar Empire. There was a great war nearly one thousand years ago. The Xalnog and the Three Demons nearly conquered Ecia. Dakar fell to Xalabos, it’s been called the Deadlands ever since.

Anarion looked at Krogg. “I have no interest in fighting you. I’ll be leaving in six months, my stay here is temporary.” Krogg looked at Anarion. “I have a great deal of clout here at the arena, while I can’t shorten your stay, I could grant you a favor if you would be willing to grant me a glorious death.”

Anarion sighed. “This asshole is weird, give me my meal ticket Dokkor.” Krogg sighed “Consider it, I will be waiting for your answer.” Anarion took his meal ticket, then returned to the pit to continue his training.

“Welcome back kid,” said Tycondris as Anarion walked back to his corner. Anarion did not reply. “So, did you fight anyone strong today?” Anarion sighed “I wish.” Tycondris smiled. “Don’t tell me you are getting bored of this place? Most people don’t last long here. But you seem to be breezing past every challenge that comes your way.

Anarion was doing one-finger vertical push-ups. “Most people? Speaking of which why the fuck are you still here? What did you even do to become a prisoner in this shit hole?” Tycondris had a sinister smile on his face “I killed some highborn prick while drunk.” Anarion gave Tycondris a funny look “So you’re just a murderer.” Tycondris laughed. “Hey, you’ve killed people. Why are you so judgmental?”

Anarion picked up the pace. "Murder is different. I have no choice but to kill here." Tycondris laughed. "It's a good thing I came here even if it's as a prisoner. After my wife passed away I became a drunkard. I was on a path of self-destruction. Here I regained some purpose, though I do enjoy picking on the and breaking weak ones."

Anarion sat down. “I’m sorry, about your wife.” Tycondris looked somewhat embarrassed. “I knew she was weak when I married her. Childbirth might have been too much for her to handle but her father wanted to continue the bloodline even if it was through some commoner like me.”

Anarion raised an eyebrow. “Her father? What was he someone important?” Tycondris nodded. “Yeah, he’s Maluk. Though I’ve heard he’s done some terrible things himself, though I don’t know the full details.”

Anarion’s eyes widened. “You were married to Maluk’s daughter? Some fat ass like you married into that legendary family?” Tycondris laughed “I wasn’t fat back then. I was a blacksmith’s apprentice. I was next in line to take over making Katarn. While Katrina wasn’t a Swordsman I often saw her with her father, we fell in love at first sight.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! Here I thought you were some lame old man.” Tycondris laughed. “I don’t exactly tell everyone. It’s a chapter from my past that I’ve closed. While I don’t think I’ll ever get out of here, I can be happy that I eat three square meals a day.” Anarion laughed “Three square meals? If you ate three square meals a day you might lose some weight.”

Tycondris laughed. “Thanks for your concern kid, but eating is the best part of my day. You have to live for something down here.” Anarion sighed as he resumed his training. “Six more months,” he said to himself.