Chapter 576: Slaves
Laz felt like his entire body was stiff, as he could barely move. When the light shone into his eyes, he could only barely open them.
"Hey. Hey? You awake?" Came a voice from somewhere on his left.
"Barely," Laz said, opening his eyes, slowly.
It looked like he was in a room with several beds, all lined up against stone walls. The beds were old and made of barely tied together wood, upon rested a rather bumpy and flat mattress pad. The entire room smelled of human waste and Laz saw several others sitting around, their lifeless stares as evident as the massive iron bars that blocked one side of the room.
"Where...?"
"It’s the dungeons man. Sorry to wake you, maybe you were having a dream about being someplace else? I know how I feel every time I wake from one of those, only to find myself here again. But hey? What can we do, right?" Said the man next to him.
Laz looked over and say a bald man with dark skin, covered in what could only be described as a potato sack with holes for his arms and head cut out. What’s more, the man’s entire figure looked thin and haggard, although there was still some hard muscles that showed how strong he probably once was.
Laz had no idea where he was or what was happening. When trying to stand, he almost felt over, as though he was tied down. Looking down and around, he noticed he wasn’t currently being restrained, but felt there was something there. Trying to stand up straight proved to be impossible as his back stayed hunched and Laz wasn’t bale to straighten it no matter what he tried. It wasn’t about pain either, although it was there. Instead, it was like he got to the point where his spine could no longer bend.
"It’s pretty bad man. I have no idea what happened to you, but those scars are wicked. You looked bad when they dragged you in here and to be honest, I didn’t think you would wake up. I tried man, for days, but you barely moved. Luckily you woke up though. Had you not responded, they probably would have taken you and diced you up for pet food. Course, that might have been preferable to what’s going to happen, especially in your condition. But at least now you’ve got a fighting chance, right?"
Moving his arms around his back, Laz could feel the hardened skin, some of it flaking off in his hands. Observing the blackened flakes, Laz could only imagine how bad his back actually was. Hopefully, he would have a chance to use his senses on it soon, but he wanted to get some more information out of this talkative character first.
"Name’s Laz," Laz said, extending a hand out to the haggard man.
"Jacob," the man said, seeing Laz’s hand and reaching forward to grab it, although Laz could see the confusion in his face.
Gripping his forearm, the man returned the gesture in a shake that was similar to how they used to do it a long time again.
"So, what’s going on here?" Laz asked, looking around the cell. All of the men in it looked pretty dead, although there were some sparks of life here and there.
"FUCK THIS. I SWEAR I WON’T BE DYING HERE, EVEN IF I HAVE TO KILL EVERY ONE OF YOU!" One man shouted, kicking another who was sitting hunched over with his back against the wall. He went in for another kick, but thought better of it and backed off.
"We’re slaves, battle slaves to be exact. I’m not sure how much you remember, but we are currently in the arena of the great emperor god of Rome, Zeus. Our mission? To die a glorious death in the entertainment of the people!" Jacob said, with a half smile that was dripping with sarcasm.
’Zeus is a Greek god though? So... the arena and Rome make sense... but with Greek gods? And since when did emperors get names after gods in the first place?’ Laz’s thoughts were all over the place, but the one thing he did know is that he had made it through the door before passing out. As for why he passed out, he had no clue. He just felt a made rush of pain that even his strong body couldn’t take and then blackness. Considering the scaring on his back though, it was clear that something bad happened to him. And all things considered, he was being chased by that shadow god dragon thingy... so obviously it had something to do with it.
"So what were you up to before this? You live around here? What did you do to end up here? Prisoner or war? Debtor? Traitor? Try to sleep with a woman you shouldn’t have?" Jacob asked, curious.
"I... I don’t know, if I’m being honest. I just remember opening a door then falling into darkness. Next thing I know... here I am," Laz said, looking at the strong man with dark skin.
"Ah? So head trouble huh? Yeah. I heard that does happen. Really bad injuries can lead to a man losing his memories and from the looks it of, you were injured pretty bad, huh?" Jacob said, turning his gaze again to the mess that was Laz’s back, still visible from the outside even with his potato skin sack covering him.
"Alright. Well. you’re in luck. Lunch is almost here and then we do some training before getting washed down to warm us up for tonight. Luckily they want us in the best condition possible so even if we are locked up like this, we still get plenty to eat, including a glass of wine each. As for that... you owe me your next week’s worth of wine for taking care of you while you were asleep. Tonight you might as well enjoy it though. I’m not that heartless, Ha ha ha," Jacob said with a laugh.
Laz was about to question what he meant, but then he saw a man pissing in a pot in the back corner of the chamber and he understood. Laz wasn’t wearing whatever clothing he had come in with. His pouch was gone and he was only wearing the sack like shirt. Despite all of that, Laz wasn’t covered in his own piss and excrement, so it was clear someone had taken care of him when he was asleep, otherwise he would have been covered in his own waste at this point."
"Thanks man. You can have it for a month if you want. But what made you decide to do it?" Laz asked, knowing that even Jacob questioned if he would wake up so if he didn’t, then there would have been no wine to give him. So obviously it wasn’t just for the wine that he decided to help him.
"You’re age, if imma be honest. Look around here. Not many your age are stuck in this place as most of the younger, heather ones brought here would be bought out by the rich women to be used as toys. But since you’re as damaged as you are, you were brought here. Seeing you like that... well... it reminded me of my younger brother. He did due to illness and I couldn’t even be in the same room with him when it happened. So maybe I just did it to honor his memory. Not many good things you can do once you end up in this place," Jacob said, sitting down with his back against the wall and his eyes closed. Laz accepted this answer, but felt like there were lies mixed in with truths.
Seeing Jacob like this, Laz decided to close his eyes as well and focus inward, seeing what he could see.
His inner world was a mess. The giant red ring in the sky had split into two and was currently surrounding the black palace along with the golden purple palace. But everywhere else, the land was destroyed beyond recognition while evil looking green flames still burned in many areas’ giving the place an apocalypse wasteland kind of feel. Not only that, but while the green flames burned, they seemed to be burning his energy along with it, like a fuel for the flames. Laz could feel an abundant amount of energy in the air outside, but even using his Infinity technique, all of the energy being brought in was burning off, causing the already ruined landscape to wither and darken.
If there was only one bright spot, it was that the black flame which usually floated off in the void seemed to have some sort of problem with the green flame and was currently waging war on it, all be it in only one area by the edge of the ruined land.
Watching them fight was a bit weird as it wasn’t like two flames were trying to burn the same thing, but instead it was like watching two animals go after each other, striking out a few times before retreating, all while moving around. It was like they were probing each other, both trying to find the other’s weak point despite both of them being whisps of flames.
Focusing deeply, Laz again drew energy into himself, but this time directed the flow directly into the black flame, feeding it energy before the green flame could syphon it off. While it seemed to empower the black flame, it wasn’t by much. And even if the black flame could conquer this small portion of the green flame, there were much larger green flames still blazing brightly all over the place.
As something was better than nothing, Laz kept feeding it whatever energy he could take in for as long as he could before he felt Jacob’s strong, calloused hand on his shoulder, waking Laz from his mediation.
"Time for lunch," Jacob said, indicating the guard with the door open.
Laz got to his feet with some help thanks to Jacob and began to walk. Despite his hunched back, Laz’s legs seemed to move ok and while his balance was off a bit, his sore muscles seemed to loosen up after finally moving a bit.
Seeing Laz up and around, the first guard whispered something to the other guard before both laughed, then followed Laz with their eyes as he made his way with Jacob to the lunch room.
It wasn’t anything special, just rows upon rows of benches and tables. They walked through the line and got their food; A decent size chunk of some red meat, a fist sized hard roll and some steamed vegetables, along with a glass of water and a mug of ’wine.’ It was only after taking an inquisitive sip of it that Laz noticed it was more like a hard cider than actual wine.
Not that it matter much.
Sitting down, Laz noticed no one fought one another for their food, but kept their voices low and focused on eating their meals, something Laz didn’t expect from a room full of criminal who apparently fought to the death.
Laz questioned why everyone was so well behaved.
"It’s not like some haven’t tried causing trouble in the past. There is usually at least one bastard whenever they bring in a load of prisoners. And once they try something, the guards deal with the problem quick and simple like, cutting off his arms, then his legs and finally his head. See, everyone here is a slave to the crown and needs to be in their best condition, otherwise the fights would get to be real boring really quick. So therefore the guards don’t take kindly to those trying to disrupt the order. Last batch came in around the same time you did and were all put into the same cell. Thinking they could rule this place, it wasn’t until two of them laid headless that the rest of them got the message. We were surprised they didn’t put you up in the same cell as them, but then it occurred to me that you were probably caught separately. Either way, things are quiet as now there are enough slaves for a good solid several days of violence, starting tonight."
Jacob, seeing Laz having finished his food but still looking hungry, handed over his hard roll.
"Jacob... I can’t...." Laz said, knowing how much even a bit of food meant around here.
"Eat it. You’ll need it. Last bit of info I haven’t given you yet is this. Since you’re new, tonight, you have to fight. Maybe this is the last nice thing anyone will ever do for you. But hey... if one extra roll allows you to live through tonight, then that means I get my wine from you starting tomorrow," Jacob said, laughing a bit.
Laz couldn’t help but laugh a bit as well, even though knowing he would have to fight tonight was anything but funny.
’Not with these injuries anyway,’ Laz thought to himself.
