After finally getting much needed rest, Kieran sat up in his bed. He wasn’t sure how long he had slept, but he noticed there were two trays of food. Some more slop on one that was cold to the touch, and another that was just a piece of bread. The bread wasn’t too stale at least. He must have been asleep for hours considering he had missed a meal. Figuring he needed as much energy as possible he ate everything, save a small portion of the bread which he saved for later. It wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t that much worse than soldiers’ rations, so he could deal with it for now.

The door lit up again and the large green four-armed monster from before stepped through. The monster crossed the bottom pair of his arms, and with a grunt pointed towards the door which remained lit. Kieran had learned from his last couple of encounters that he wouldn’t be able to resist the creature’s impressive strength. As he got out of his seat, he wore a defiant look on his face. Confidently he strode past the large being and stepped into the light.

It took a minute for his eyes to adjust to the brighter scenery. He found himself encapsulated in a clear glass tube that rose from the ground. Surrounding the tube was a large sandy area which reminded him of a barracks training ground. There were several other tubes with other captives held in them, none of the captives were human however. They all seemed to be wearing the same bracelets. Along the edge of the training grounds were several others who also seemed to have similar bracelets. Though they weren’t in the same tubes, they were sitting on benches, laughing and pointing at the different captives. One intimidating figure in particular seemed to be inspecting each prisoner individually. Walking around, it made notes on what looked to be a piece of glass.

Kieran reached up and tapped the glass with his knuckles. Immediately a shock of pain erupted throughout his body, making him fall to his knees. The others that lounged about, erupted in laughter, pointing and slapping each other on the shoulders. Someone that was standing on a balcony above yelled at them with authority to be quiet. It was short, stout, and funny looking with a bald head and had a short trunk like nose. Though it looked small in comparison to the rest down below they all obeyed and settled down. Kieran rose back to his feet as the monster examining the captives approached him. The examiner’s head looked like a snake covered in scales, but the shape was more human-like along with the rest of his body. It wore long baggy pants that covered the feet and no top. A mix of a dark purple and black scales covered his body. He circled the tube, carefully examining Kieran and writing more down. Kieran took the opportunity to examine the glass object more carefully. It glowed and appeared to have some sort of text on it, though he couldn’t read it. With the swipe of a finger the text scrolled down, so the examiner could finish writing more. Kieran was amazed by this. It was like a scroll, but didn’t require being rolled up. He wondered how much writing one could fit on such an item.

Once done the examiner walked away and left through a doorway. The figure on the balcony addressed the lounging captives and then left. The tube around Kieran sank into the ground, and he found himself exposed. The others rushed over and started inspecting the new captives themselves. A few of them circled Kieran and started poking at him.

“Hey! Stop that.”

They didn’t seem threatening, more curious than anything. One lifted Kieran’s arm and sniffed at his armpit. It shook its head and stammered back. They all erupted in laughter. They patted him on the back, and started to walk away to lounge around again. It had been a few days since he had been able to bathe. He wondered if he was ever going to experience any sort of luxury now that he was an apparent slave of some sort. At least the other slaves seemed to have accepted him.

After a few minutes of sitting in a corner waiting, the examiner returned and began barking orders. The other captives moved towards the sandy area and lined up in pairs across from each other with plenty of space in between. Not sure what he should be doing Kieran followed suit. Across from him was one of the other newcomers. It had a wide triangular head with two small circles on the end that contained dark eyes. Near the center were the two holes that looked like nostrils. Hanging down from a very small mouth were two small tendrils that looked like a Fu Manchu mustache. Blue skin that reminded him of a shark trailed a slender femanine physique. She even had what looked like fins trailing her arms. Though her body was also human like and stood close to his height. The examiner walked down the middle of the pairs talking. It almost sounded like he was giving instructions. Either way Kieran waited nervously.

Once the examiner was finished he walked to the edge turning and raised his hand. With a swipe down he shouted a command. Everyone immediately shifted into a more aggressive stance. Kieran’s guard immediately rose, and he backed up a bit to help keep as many of them in his field of view. He’d hope this was just some casual sparring, but he wasn’t taking any chances. The others began to close the distance with their partner and began to grapple and spar. One in particular seemed to get an unlucky pairing and was probably going to get flung around like a rag doll due to his weight disadvantage. Now knowing everyone seemed to be sticking with their partner Kieran’s focus shifted to the aquatic woman in front of him who seemed to be just as weary as Kieran. Though since they had been taking too long the examiner approached and shoved her closer towards Kieran and shouted.

She relented and started towards Kieran with a run swinging her fists. Kieran dodged the first couple of blows, but raised his arm to block the last strike. Kieran was able to block it, but she flared her fins which sliced his arm. He flinched from the pain giving his opponent an opening. She spun with a kick that landed square in Kieran’s stomach. The motions were fluid and quick and sent him falling backwards clutching his stomach. Luckily the sand softened the fall, or it would have hurt even more. Kieran rose angrily and rushed forward striking out. His opponent raised her arms to block flaring her fins again, but Kieran was prepared this time and grabbed her arms by the elbows kicking out at her knee buckling it. She crumpled under the pain from the blow falling backwards grasping at her knee groaning.

The training grounds grew quiet. Glancing around Kieran noticed everyone was staring at them. He turned back towards her as she stared back at him in fear. When he looked into her eyes, what he saw was not a monster or enemy, but another slave who was scared and hurt. He immediately regretted his decision. The examiner quickly approached, easily shoving some captives out of his way. Kieran raised his hands in surrender, but that didn’t stop the examiner. Once he was in reach, he slammed his fist into Kieran’s stomach. Still a little bruised from the previous kick Kieran buckled over coughing. The examiner turned his head and shouted something. Two others that looked like guards walked over and picked up Kieran and dragged him away and dropped him on the floor. Another one of the glass tubes rose up around him. Except instead of being sent back to his cell they left him there. Kieran sat head slumped against his knees attempting to avoid touching the glass.

The examiner shouted again and everyone got back to sparing except for his sparring partner who was transported away on a floating stretcher that wasn’t being carried by anyone. Kieran lingered on her while she was carried out of site, guilt rising. He was forced to sit and watch them spar from within the tube. Eventually it was time to rest and eat, though nothing was brought to him. This kind of punishment was not unfamiliar to him. This is similar to what he had done to other soldiers who were disobedient or causing trouble. Eventually everyone left through glowing portals back to their cells he assumed, and Kieran was alone. A couple more hours went by in silence, then he drifted off to sleep from exhaustion.

There was a tapping noise on the glass. Kieran opened his eyes and jerked back in shock smacking his head against the other side. The examiner's snake-like eyes were glaring at him. The tube vanished, and he was hauled to his feet by the two guards and led back to the sand training grounds and lined back up for sparing. Though he was still tired his years of military training helped him stand. No amount of training would ever make him ready to wake up to the examiners eyes like that though.

As the sparring continued, Kieran examined some other fighters. The pair he noticed earlier seemed odd. The one furthest from him was just as large as the four-armed monster earlier though he only had two arms, but his elbows were pointed and looked like a rough hide. The skin also had a reddish tint to it which covered his entire body. It’s bald round head reminded him of when Nolan got angry with how red it’s face was. Kieran smiled for a moment from the memory. Though he missed being back in Brigalia and his friends, he was determined he would find a way back and tried to stay positive.

The smaller of the two was a weird mole man a little more than half the size of Kieran. Even with such a huge difference in weight, they seemed to stay toe to toe. Not in a way you would normally think either, such as the smaller guy being faster. They were matching each other in raw physical strength. Kieran had to pause when the mole man actually lifted his opponent off the ground by his leg and slammed him down into the ground. The strength it would take to do that just didn’t seem possible for something that size.

Distracted by this Kieran let his guard down and was swept on his back. With a thud Kieran just looked above into a metal ceiling and sighed. He deserved that, no soldier should let his guard down like that. Especially in the middle of a fight. However, he couldn’t help himself. Every day there seemed to be something new and strange that he had never seen before. Kieran rose and continued to spar with his partner.

Eventually they were allowed to break for food. The same old slop from before. Kieran was actually starting to get used to this. Oddly it might have even tasted better than some food from the barracks, though it was hardly enough to keep him energized. This continued for a couple of days. Each day his sleep was interrupted early and sent to the arena grounds for hand to hand combat. Kieran thought this was just a way to keep the captives both busy and too tired to revolt.

Today Kieran received both breakfast and lunch in his cell. Hoping he would have the day off from training, he was quickly disappointed when the four-armed giant stepped through the door to wake him up early. The monster gestured towards the door and Kieran, unable to finish his food, understood and rose to step through the door fatigued.