Ezhno made his way though the sea of people coming and going from around the entrance of the pits. The array of patrons faces were plastered with all sorts of different emotions. Those who had won money had celebratory cheers and big grins, while those who had lost had sour faces, fear and regret. Those who enjoyed themselves had arms around the shoulders of there friends and comrads, while being loud and obnoxious in a happy drunken stupor.

After finally making his way though the crowds, Ezhno finally passed though the gates and made his way towards the seating area of the arena. While standing at the top of the pits, the classic white rock was more noticable. As the sun reflected off the white rock of the entire area, it stunned Ezhno for a moment. It was as if he entered a Holy ground, and he did not know if he was worthy to enter such a grand area.

He stood there gazing at the sea of people that gathered around the spiral shaped quarry. The strip mine sprial shape made it a perfect setting for a fighting arena. A long row of cut and chiseled benches made for perfect bleacher seats for the mass of spectators who would visit the fighting pits day to day.

The place was littered with trash and uneaten food. Ezhno had to shake his head in shame, seeing the scene of wasted food littering the area. The arena looked like it was split into three different sections. You could tell that those at the top were of the lower class of society, a lot looked as if they had just left the fields or the mines and went straight here. Their appearance was like his own, before he changed in the allyway.

The middle and lower levels were roped off and guarded with large burly men who only allowed those who were dressed well, and looked like they were better off pass.

It was hard to see past this area from the top since it was covered with cloth awnings. It would seem it was to protect those from the ones above so they could not throw things or get those below tarnished with food, drink or bodily fluids since there was litter and food on top of them.

The ones seated on the lower area, closest to the fighting area had the best accomodations. Most wore rich garments and you could tell they all had an arrogent air to them of wealth and power.

The bottom of the pit was a smooth flat surface, about 100 yards in circumfrence. There were four tunnels that had gates blocking them. Each facing one another for the fighters to come and go.

Near each gate, there was one cart and a wheel barrow. Some carts had a couple of bodies lying in them, and Ezhno assumed the wheel borrow was to lug the injured away after a fight.

As Ezhno made his way down the flight of stairs, he looked back and forth. It was hard to find any good seating around the top of this area. To him, one of his stature in society would normally sit in this area. As he made his way lower and lower, he could not help but shake his head and say to himself, "This is going to be hard to find a good seat, let alone see much of the action going on at the bottom of the pit." He stopped and stood there for a moment, and thought, "I might as well test my luck and see if I can go though to the middle section. As he made his way closer to the roped off area, he was greeted by two burly men who looked at him from top to bottom.

One guard thought to himself, "I wonder if this handsome young man, is some young master from within the inner walls? But what is up with that God awful sack he has on his back?" He looked over at the other guard who shrugged his shoulders. The second guard said, in a lowered voice, "It is possible he is from a prominant family, but then again it looks like he might not be. It's better to just let him though, rather than deal with the wrath of his family, if we are wrong and do not let him pass." They both nodded at each other and took a step back while lifting the rope up.

It was hard for Ezhno to control his excitement inside. He did not think they would allow him to pass. He hurried his steps before the guards changed their minds, and headed lower down the middle section.

As he looked around, he could not believe how different it was compared to sitting above. The seats in this area all had arm rests, and room so you were not bumping elbows or swapping sweat with the guy sitting next to you in the hot sun. Behind the seat in front of you, there was also a small area where one could set their food or feet while they enjoyed the show.

Pleased with the decision to put on his nicer set of clothing, he thought to himself, "I am happy I decided to buy Little Maru. Without him, I probably would have wore my plain looking work clothes, and would not have been able to enjoy myself in a more relaxed environment. After seeing the seating above, it would have truely been hard to enjoy my food and relax while trying to watch the fights."

Ezhno then proceeded towards a section with little to no people around, and found himself a nice little area. He pulled the sack off his back and took a seat. He could not wait anymore and pulled his meal out of the the burlap sack. As he opened the flimsy, cheap wooden box, he was starting to salivate, as if something burst open in his mouth and the druel was slowly trickling out from the sides of his mouth.

His stomach was rumbling something fierce, and he could not take it anymore. He opened his mouth and took a bite. Chewing vigiously, his eyes moistened and tears of joy were slowly drizzling down his face. "Finally, finally, I am able to eat!"

At this moment, it was the best thing he had ever eaten. Even though it was just some cheap fried potato wedges and some kind of fried, unknown breaded meat or intrails, it was like a meal fit for a king in his eyes. He truely did not want this meal to end, so he decided to slowly eat and enjoy every mouth watering bite. He did not know why he had to be head strong and not eat when he had the chance, since there were many opportunities to do so, but at this moment he did not care anymore, and put those thoughts behind him.

While in his blissful stupor, the loud roars of boos and cheers were resonating all around the arena. Ezhno was so engrossed in his food, he forgot that a fight was going on at that moment. He stared at the middle of the fighting area to see two men exchanging a few blows. The shorter of the two looked like he was at a disadvantage, taking most of the blows in the exchange. However, it also appeared he was not taking any heavy damage.

While taking another bite, Ezhno stared more closely at the smaller fighter. After a couple of minutes, a few exchanges, and circling each other, Ezhno thought to himself, "He could have easily dodged half the blows, but it seems like he is taking them on purpose? Why would you purposly take on something, if you could avoid it?"

The shorter man then did something that made Ezhno's eyes open wide. He ran foward and the larger man threw a kick towards the shorter man's stomach. As he took the kick, it appeared he jumped back right when the kick landed. He clearly saw the man jump back right at the same time, and he flew about 6 or 7 feet backwards. This was almost the same kind of jump Ezhno displayed earlier that day, before the horse was about to ram into him.

As the shorter man landed, he rolled around a few times and then landed on his rear end, he was gritting his teeth and clutching around his stomach area.

Ezhno then said to himself, "Is he faking it? I clearly saw him jump back at the moment of impact, he couldn't have taken that much damage?" The taller man slowly walked towards him with a smirking grin plastered on his face. As he got within a really close distance, and with his leg cocked back ready to send another kick over, the shorter man let go of his stomach and with no time at all planted both his hands on the ground and did a sweeping kick that caught the the larger man off guard.

As the larger man was falling down, the smaller man lunged foward and mounted the larger guy, as they landed on the arena floor. He started wailing his fist furiously at the larger man's head until the larger man could no longer resist, and was lying limp and motionless on the ground. The smaller man saw this but did not stop. He was swinging both arms back and forth as blood was flying all around with each slam of his fist.

After a minute of furious punches, he finally stopped. While still mounted on top of his opponent, his arms relaxed down to his sides, while staring off into the sky. His chest was concaving in and out with his heavy rapid breathing, clothing soaked with a dark crimson red and small chunks of what appeared to be skin stuck in a select few places. Blood slowly dripped down off both of his arms and face. One really could not tell at that moment if what they were staring at was beast or human.

The larger man's body suddenly twitched slightly. The shorter man did not hesitate and took both of his hands and intwined them over his head and like a heavy sledge hammer, and swung down with a heavy force over and over again at the unrecoginizable head of the larger man. Each time he plunged down, you could see his hammer like fist sinking further and further down as crimson blood and brain matter stained the white arena ground.

After the smaller man appeared to have slammed his entwined fist all the way though to the arena floor, he stopped, looked down, and then with ragged heavy breathing, he slowly proceded up to his feet. He stood with his head dropped down and arms dead to his sides. He paused for a few moments and with his remaining strength, he looked up to the sky with his arms raised in the air and gave a loud fierce roar while looking around at the crowd above him. As he did this, the cheering roar and boos of the crowd shook the entire arena.