Excitement flowed filled my body as I imagined my fight with the dragonkin, my new opponent. If he was anything like a dragon, then I could expect a great fight from one such as him. I’ve seen pictures of him, a noble creature, strong lizard-like creatures like the Saurians I once fought against in one of Morsad’s many conquests. If he’s anything like a saurian, he will possess superior strength, speed and reflexes to that of a human If the Saurians were unified under one banner, they would not have fallen to the ten legions that were sent to conquer it.

But being dragonkin means that he must have some other abilities, things that no Saurian would possess. I was excited, it was rare that I got the chance to fight such an opponent without having to kill them as quickly as possible. To kill is easy, to enjoy a fight is much harder. But now, I could enjoy this fight for as long as I want, to balance on the edge of life and death, to look in the face of Death and refuse to take his hand.

With great difficulty, I suppressed my excitement, now was not the time. Fight now I have to be calm, it would do no good to appear insane to those around me. I headed to the arena, a little early for my fight but being early doesn’t hurt. I continued on my way, stoic though beneath, I could hardly contain my excitement. Finally, a worthy fight, one where I could use my dragon regalia. I briefly wondered if it would offend my opponent but then shrugged it off, it would not matter in the slightest, it would only serve to enrage him and make the fight more enjoyable.

Yes… something enjoyable, something that is lacking in my life. But of course, satisfaction comes in other ways as well, even for me. Simply serving my Emperor is alright as well, for it was he who brought meaning to my life, he who accepted me as who I am. Though not personally, he allowed me to live this life with my abnormal self and still be useful. Even if I am a pawn, it does not matter, for I would do anything for him, the Father of Morsad.

I soon pushed these thoughts out of my mind when I arrived at the arena, it at most ten minutes early and I had managed to restrain my excitement to tolerable levels. Barely calm, I made my way to the arena and stood in the circle of stone, awaiting my opponent. The stands were already filled with anxious spectators, their muttering flowing into a sea of sound that brushed gently upon my ears. As I stood, I involuntarily began to see everything without focusing, noticing everything that moved in my periphery.

Finally, he arrived and just as I had expected, looks similar to a saurian but with more larger, dragon-like scales and a more pronounced dragon-snout. But there was something else that he had that the saurians did not, he had two pairs of arms, one set underneath the other and all four were equipped with a set of four claws fingers. Altogether he looked dignified, magnificent just like a dragon would look. He does not ask, he commands. He gave me a glance and then paid me no mind, just like the dragon I had fought before. That’ll soon change but not now. The element of surprise is rather valuable in my opinion, to lose it just to show have your opponent re-evaluate you is the height of foolishness.

We stood before each other, the dragonkin obviously bored, seeming to think that this fight was already won. I’m not entirely sure what to think of it, that means either he is very confident in his superhuman abilities or there is some other trump card that he possesses. Hmm, do I change into my dragon regalia now or do I test the waters? My mind began to whir with potential situations that I may face in battle and of possible ways to counter them.

I was soon roused from these thoughts as the announcer’s voice filled the air, declaring the beginning of the fight.I barely had any time to raise my sword to block a strike from the dragonkin, my sword cracking under the immense strength. Finally! A worthy opponent! Before it could break, I retreated, switching to my dragon regalia, its black and gold surface glinting in the sunlight. The dragonkin’s eyes widened and he hissed,

“Dragonsssssslayer!”

He retreated to the other side of the arena and glared at me.

He growled, “How did you ssslay a dragon?”

I just grinned widely and charged in swinging my blade, nicking his top right forearm. He hissed in surprise but wasn’t able to do anything else, too busy dodging my other strikes. I still got some nicks here and there but he was able to escape before I could finish him off. I gave chase but not in time, he was able to draw his weapons, four crescent blades made of dragonbone. With them he was able to defend against my sword strikes with ease while counter attacking with the other two.

He soon out-defended my momentum and we were at a standstill, exchanging blows and receiving them. I changed to my dragonbone gauntlets, those crescent blades were too small for my swords to be effective in close combat. We exchanged blows, going at speeds too fast for the announcer to see, evident by her obviously ignorant commentary. But soon, my speed was outclassed and I was on the retreat, making the smallest movements possible in order to defend his attacks. He revealed his teeth and hissed with hatred,

“You ssshall pay for desssecrating the corpssse of a dragon! One sssuch asss you doesssn’t dessserve to live!”

I grunted, “I slew the dragon, its scales and bones were mine by right of victory.”

He didn’t reply, only attacking more ferociously, forcing me to leap backwards and chang from my gauntlets to dual swords. With them, I began to keep him at a distance, his blades unable to reach me and my defense too perfect for him to close the distance. He growled but I paid that no heed, jabbing and slashing away with calculated abandon. He hissed in frustration, his reptilian eyes glaring at me with anger. But no defense is perfect forever and soon, I slipped up and he took full advantage, closing in with quick powerful strikes. He grabbed my swords with two of his arms and began to pummel my chest with the remaining two with enough force to kill a lesser man.

But my armor held and although I had gained a few broken ribs, I was able to switch to my shield and sword, allowing me to escape his grasp. With the wider surface area of my hexagonal buckler, I was able to catch all of his strikes with ease though doing broke my left arm and shoulder. With my left arm dangling uselessly, I retreated, desperately parrying his strikes, barely able to outlast his momentum. I then began a counterattack, hacking away furiously with my sword, forcing him on the retreat. Each strike was with the intent to kill, for if I didn’t I would be the one dead. But that filled me with excitement, this was what I had been looking for! I had longed for a fight to the death and now, fate has given me this chance!

I took advantage of his retreat, charging with my left side, it was already shattered so it was expendable. But he was prepared and met my charge with one of his own, using his armored shoulder to ram into my shield. We were both momentarily stunned but I got the better of the attack as my arm was already broken. But he was able to recover faster and as I prepared to attack, he lunged and hit me in the ribs, breaking a few. I grunted and slashed with my good arm, getting a good slice across his chest, though it wasn’t as deep as I’d like. He retreated briefly, muttering in a strange language and his wound close up.

I couldn’t allow him to continue healing so I charged, this time changing to my greatsword and swinging with all my might, the dragonkin forced to stop chanting and defend my attack. He took the strikes with ease, a testament to his race’s strength but as my strikes were so quick, he didn’t have time to counterattack. Soon he managed to disrupt my momentum and as I stumbled back, he charged forward, tackling me and shoving me to the other side of the arena. Five my ribs were broken in that one attack and my arms were terribly bruised, without this armor I would surely be dead. But that was all part of the fun, the ultimate gamble of life and death.

As I get up, he growled, “Die disssgusssting human!”

He then took a breath and breathed incandescent fire, the heat cooking me in my armor. I was able to deflect the flames with the surface of my sword but the heat was nothing to laugh at. In response, I charged forward, using the flat of my sword as a shield and rammed him with my good shoulder. As he stumbled back, I slashed down with my sword and I felt it cut through something, unusual but then again, his scales were stronger than most materials. When the flames ceased, I saw blood on my sword, dragonblood. I then saw the dragonkin, still on his feet though missing two of his arms. I didn’t let my guard down and I charged, slashing away with my sword.

My excitement had peaked, I was no longer able to control it as voices in my head thundered, “KILL! LET BLOOD SPILL! HE MUST DIE!”

He dodged to one side but wasn’t fast enough to dodge the next, losing another arm. He hissed but I swiped his legs out from under him with a swift kick but he was able to scramble away, though I sliced off his tail. Yes, now he will die but not before I make him helpless, make him realize that there would be nothing that would prevent his death. I walked after him slowly, purposefully, catching up to him as his body grew sluggish with blood loss. I stood above him and slashing horizontally, cutting off both of his legs from the knee down. As he wriggled on the ground, I turned him over with my foot and pointed my sword down upon him.

I said, my voice filled with bloodlust, “Your sentence is death.”

I raised my sword and slashed downward, only for it to suddenly glance off to one side and bury itself deep into the ground. I frowned and prepared to strike again, though the announcer’s voice brought me back,

“Torvus! Stop immediately or forfeit the match!”

I stopped, sheathing my sword. I glared down upon the dragonkin who glared right back at me.

He hissed, “I will not forget! You ssshall die for what you’ve done!”

I said, “Next time you shall die. You are lucky that I do not have orders to kill you.”

He growled, “There will be more of my kin next time!”

I smirked, “I am part of the Morsadian Army, we have killed countless dragons and saurians, your people will be conquered as well if the Emperor decrees it. Thank Fortune lizard, thank Fortune that the Emperor does not yet know of your pathetic existence.”

He growled one last time before succumbing to the blood loss and falling unconscious. Medics hurriedly rushed out and placed him on a stretcher, rushing him to the Healing Chamber. A fifth medic arrived and gathered his limbs and rushed back, leaving the arena empty except for me and lots of blood. I inspected my broken shoulder, arm and my basically shattered abdomen. I needed healing too, but I should probably leave now.

I then turned towards the exit and walked out, the audience silent. Once out of the sight of the audience, I fell to one knee, coughing up blood. It seems that at least one of my broken ribs had pierced a lung. Perhaps I would die… NO!!! I will not die unless the Emperor commands it! I managed to stand once more and headed to the Healing Chamber, most of the healers focusing on the dragonkin. But when I arrived, one separated from the group to tend to me, though I could sense her fear and disdain.

But she healed me well, resetting my bones and healing them just enough so that they would be able to stand to the normal rigours of the day. She also managed to heal my pierced lung and once I felt good enough to move, I stood. I placed a gold coin on a table and left, heading to the guild to rest. Once I arrived, I was congratulated on my win but not bothered too much, I sensed a change in the guild’s feelings towards me. My comrades congratulated me as well and gave me some space.

I fell onto my bed, deactivating my core crystals and fell asleep, this time my sleep unplagued by dreams. Before, my sleep would be filled with dreams of bloodshed and fights to the death but now that it had been sated, my sleep was as it should be. But it would only grow again and once that happened, I’d have to find another way to satiate its thirst.

Once again, I woke just at the crack of dawn, my body aching with pain. But as a soldier, I’ve faced greater pain before so I stood, I better avoid fighting for awhile, my bones may have been reset but they weren’t fully healed. I grunted as the weight of morsadian steel weighed down on my left shoulder, it was still kind of tender. I stood, stretching as best I could without breaking my bones again.

I needed to eat and not this city food, I needed meat, real meat. I headed out, Inaris and Varin accompanying me, saying that they too wanted to eat. I didn’t stop them, it would be better this way with the state I was in. We spread out in the forest to hunt, this time when I stumbled upon a bear, I used my sword to kill it as quickly as possible. My right side luckily could bear the weight of the bear without too much trouble so I brought it back to the agreed meeting sight, setting it down and bleeding it, hanging the corpse from a tree. Inaris returned with another bear and Varin with a boar.

They began to bleed the corpse as well, silence filling the clearing until I stood, my corpse having finished bleeding first. I cut it down and gutted it, burying the guts and then skinning it. I then separated the edible meat from its skeleton, eating it raw. After eating a fourth of the bear, I stopped to make a fire and cook the rest. Inaris and Varin were doing the same and three hours later, we had finished eating, only bones and the hide of the creatures left.

I headed to a nearby stream and cleaned the blood off of my face and weapons, grabbing my sword when I heard screaming and something crack branches from a different direction than the clearing. I prepared to kill, only to find someone burst from the forest with his hands up.

He shouted, “Wait! Wait! Please, help me! There are goblins after me!”

There was more movement in the brush behind him and I gestured for him to hurry and cross the stream. He rushed to comply and I walked over, pointing my sword at him once he crossed. There was confusion on his face but I said nothing, saying,

“Inaris, check the other bank.”

Inaris grunted in reply and waded across, indeed finding three goblins which he killed with ease. I then took the point of my sword away from the man, satisfied that he was telling the truth, if only a part of it. But I didn’t care what he was doing out here unless it had something to do with me so I just jerked my thumb back towards the city,

“You should head back.”

He thanked me and hurried off. I forgot all about him and began to trace his passage through the forest back, if there were three goblins, there was a nest and it’s been awhile since I’ve fought alongside Varin and Inaris. We found the nest and after blocking off all the exits, we attacked, not letting a single one escape. Soon, all were dead as well as the captured women who were used as breeders. Well, except for three. They were captured recently and have yet to give birth to a goblin, though their bloated bellies was worrisome. But it should be taken care of at the nearest church so we escorted them there, it would be best to get them out of our hands as soon as possible.

They thanked us again and again and I left it to Inaris and Varin to speak with them. I didn’t want to talk with them right now, I don't want to make any relationships with these people, better to leave a fading impression. I have to remind myself that these people will be enemies, and once they become enemies, I cannot afford them any mercy.