Fay on his first ride though the capital city of Klyde had finally felt like he was no longer some frog in the bottom of a well. He saw things and didn't know what they were or what they were used for. However, he suppressed his curiosity because at the time it simply wasn't what he needed. He understood that as long as he was in a cage he could do nothing, he was confined. He wasn't strong enough to get Pax back and not strong enough to even attempt to escape.

The roaring sounds of the main streets and market dispersed as they neared the center of the city. People were all quietly standing to the side of the street watching the fighters for the Transition Festival. There were hundreds of wagons rolling down the street that day.

Fay lifted his head when he saw it. It was tower an enormous tower the stood at least several hundred feet tall. All of the wagons were led to a ramp at the side of the tower that went into an underground tunnel system. One by one each cart had entered. Each cart stopped and the people within would be led into smaller branch tunnels.

Fay was unloaded along with the others in his cart. They were prodded like sheep down one of the many branching corridors. They eventually were crammed into a large cell where others were sitting on the cold floor or leaning silently against the walls. The only light that was in the room came from outside the cell, a single torch.

One of the men sitting near Fay was mumbling complaints while hitting the cuffs that bound his ankles. "Fucking things, they absorb battle spirit... fuck... fuck this... let me out damn it..." Despite the man's stream of curses his will to fight back was broken, he knew that no one would help or even could help him. Those around the man kept their heads down while trying to fight off the despair that was trying to devour their hearts.

Fay sat silently in the dark for several hours. That was when some soldiers came by with a cart. The cart was filled with stale bread. Some people had been in that cell for several,days without eating, but they didn't move because they knew what would happen next. The soldiers sat at the entrance to the cell and clanked on the iron bars with a smile on their faces.

"It's dinner time my good friends!"

One soldier with an almost despicable smile was kicking the iron bars. His face was cast in cascading shadows, due to the ever flickering light of that single torch, as he reached within the cart and began pulling out loaves of bread. He tossed a loaf in the center of the room before shouting with a certain sinister intent, "There is only so much to go around you know!"

Before the man even said as such people were already fighting over it. The man who grabbed the loaf of bread was brutally beaten. It wasn't long before the entire cell was fighting over the several loaves of bread that were thrown.

"Ah looks like this is the last one... would you do the honors my friend." The sinister man from before was laughing at the people who were fighting over the bread. When the fighting had died down he finally announced the last piece of bread was about to be given out. He tossed it to another man beside him. The man pulled down his trousers and pissed all over it before giving the soggy bread a casual toss.

Some of the people who had yet refused to give up their humanity didn't budge. However, an old man who hadn't eaten in several days crawled up to the bread. He stuffed it into his mouth without caring because he knew that that piece of bread was the best he could get, his spirit was broken. The soldiers pushed the cart down the corridor as their laughter echoed off the cold rock walls.

Fay had been tripped over and trampled during the fighting. He was simply sitting in the dark while eyeing that old man. He truly felt rage at that moment. He had been surpassing his rage because he knew he wasn't strong enough, all he could do was submit or die. He remembered the new and beautiful things he saw outside. He thought in silence, "How can they make such a complicated society yet still accept such cruelty? They have created many things, they know many things, yet they don't know how to understand each other. They can't understand someone else's pain..." With this thought he drifted into a deep sleep.

Fay was sitting there on the burnt grass amidst the black trees and before his was that same tiger. It spoke with a hint of disgust, or perhaps it was disbelief towards such ignorance, "Is that not the way it should be? People grow stronger for themselves. People create glorious things for their own use. People covet treasures so that they may profit. You killed so that you may gain power yourself. To think thoughts of selflessness and understanding when you contradict yourself... how selfish of you.

"You are still young. I am here, part of you. I will tell you what you must do. Rely on yourself, be selfish within reason. Be selfless within reason. Come to a balance. Other than this all I can tell you is to seek knowledge, the knowledge you find could very well grant you power... or destroy you. Remember the man who took your family. You must never submit to them again. They wish to make you complacent. To tame you and make you nothing more than cattle."

The tiger's tail swept up ash as he roared in indignation, "Now go! Don't let them tame us!"

Fay awoke startled. He wasn't even able to ask the tiger anything due to its suffocating dominance. He let the tiger's words resound in his head, the words caused Fay to feel a certain fanaticism that made his blood boil. He thought to himself with a growing resolve, "It's right..."

Not long after Fay had awoken there was the sound of metal meeting metal. The clicking of a lock broke the silence that prevailed over that place. One by one people were led through the gate. Fay was led along with the line towards what appeared to be an iron basket. The basket had enough room to hold around a dozen or so people. They were lowered in groups of five along with five soldier that stayed in the basket.

The basket was lowered with the sound of clanking chains. Once they were lowered they were pushed out of the basket by the five soldiers before watching the basket ascend into the dark above. Once out of the basket they were grabbed by several guards who one by one unlocked their bindings before pushing them through an iron gate before locking it once more.

When Fay was pushed outside he was momentarily blinded by the light of the afternoon sun. He covered his eyes as they began to adjust. When he could finally see he saw hundreds of people. They were all spread out within the bottom of the Sky Well. He looked up and saw floors that were open to the public as well as those of more noble heritage. They were all cheering in anticipation for the coming slaughter.

Fay quickly moved toward the wall so that he wouldn't be caught in middle once the fighting started. All around the bottom of the well people were being ushered through the gates one by one. Finally a horn sounded after the last man was pushed through one of the iron gates.

Fay looked down at the cold stone beneath his feet that was covered in an inch of sand. The sand was a deep brown-red, from all the blood it had soaked up over the years. He stared into the sky, only to be shaken. It reminded him of the mine, that narrow view of the sky. Fay clenched his fist as the ceremony was about to begin.

After the series of horns resounded off of the walls of the well a certain man stood and raised his arms to signal silence. He was in a bright red gown that was adorned in gold and atop his balding head was a crown. The crown was in the shape of a screaming dragon, it was known to the public as the "Tortured Dragon Crown" and it represented the weight that the emperor bore as the representative of his whole people, an entire nation.

Despite age his voice carried a certain weight and domineering aura. It was like thunder. "In the name of the gods of the ever shining sun that blesses us with their light we offer your souls. Be proud and fight til death knowing you let the nation prosper through the aid the gods bestow upon us! We will not tolerate cowardice in the face of death and neither shall the gods! Begin!"

At first no one moved. That was when the emperor beckoned for a spear. It was an ordinary spear, it wasn't even adorned with jewel or gold despite the emperor's status. Just a plain iron spear. However in his hands it was death itself. He did a casual toss, like one my flick some dust off of their shirt. The spear was so fast that it seemed to disappear. There was no sound in that moment. Suddenly a man fell to the ground, a hole in his chest. Behind that man was a hole so deep that you couldn't see the bottom and it was the circumference of the spear.

The emperor sat down casually like that man meant nothing to him. As if the emperor's action was the signal to start everyone began to ready stances, display battle spirit, and some began to chant.

The people above cheered with fanaticism. Children bought wooden swords from vendors and tossed the into the well. Citizens threw in their old and broken cutlery. Some nobles threw in freshly smithed blades simply because they wanted to see blood.

Fay watched as hundred of blades fell from the sky. Some people before him were instantly impaled. Several feet in front of him was an old kitchen knife that was probably once used for dicing meat. However, that blade was cracked in several places. That knife due to the velocity from the height of the fall was directly lodged into a man's skull.

Fay ran towards the corpse as quickly as he could handle while dodging sharp objects raining down from the sky. He grasp the handle of the crude blade and fiercely yanked it out of man's skull in a spray of gore. He took it in his right hand before jumping backwards. A blade cut his left cheek before lodging itself into the dead man's back. It was a cleaver, its blade was a perfect rectangle sharp. However along its spine was an obvious crack. It was a surprise it even survived the fall.

Fay took it in his left before dodging to his right. He stumbled in a roll. All around people were dying and people were fighting. At his left was a man who was lucky enough to get an enormous two-handed blade akin to a claymore. He had a blood thirsty smile as he ran towards Fay. He swung out with such force that the air trembled. The brute's battle spirit lightly coated the sword yet it was enough to let off an intense heat.

Fay ducked and rolled once more to the side. Although the man missed Fay the sword was long enough that it severed a nearby man's spine. The man's back sizzled under the influence of the brute's battle spirit.

Taking advantage of the brute's slow movements Fay got in close. He fiercely jabbed the kitchen knife the brutish man's calf. The knife hardly went and inch into the brute's skin before it couldn't go any further. Fay immediately retrieved his knife and tried to back away from him. Fay was too slow and was kicked heavily in the chest. The brute roared in anger.

Fay was flung towards the wall of the well. His chest had a seared black imprint from the brute's foot that was cloaked in his battle spirit. Before the brute could continue to attack Fay however he had his throat slit. The brute crumpled as a dark figure jumped from his back with a bloodied knife in hand. The dark figure faded back into the chaos, the festival of blood had begun.