Despite Rukioh's snoring, Lesion did manage to get at least twenty or so minutes of sleep after they moved the bodies. Lesion groaned and stood up, glaring at Rukioh, who looked as though he'd been knocked out. Except for the incessant snoring.
He walked over and prodded Rukioh. He waited a moment, then shook Rukioh vigorously. Rukioh woke with a start.
“Wha'?” He bolted upright, looking around frantically. He stopped and blinked a few times, his eyes settling on Lesion, who stood there with an obvious smirk.
“Ugh.. can it. Let's go.”
“In a few minutes. We've got time, the sun is rising, and I always do better when I have clear mind.” Lesion sat down next to his brother. They gazed at the rising sun, basking in its beauty and warmth. Minutes passed while the brother's were lost in their relaxed state, the brutal fight of the night blissfully out of their minds.
They came to at the fanfare, which was initiated at the arrival of Emperor Narix. They shouted at each other as they grabbed their belongings and hurried over to the coliseum. When they got to the entrance, both guards immediately recognized them, though one of them looked down and grumbled a bit while the other one gestured for them to hurry inside.
In a short moment they arrived at the waiting room, where they were greeted by Little Baldy.
“Hmph. You missed the opening ceremony, and the initiating of the games. You have about an hour until your duel.” He looked over at Rukioh and frowned. “To the stands with you!” he shouted, shooing him away with his hands. Rukioh turned and jogged away, saying, “Just make it back to me in one functional piece Lesion.”
Lesion gave a curt nod while Rukioh's head was still turned toward him. Lesion spent the next fourty minutes stretching, making sure all of his muscles were ready for anything his opponent could throw at him. The next fifteen minutes he used to get dressed properly for the battle. One thing he was grateful for was that in the death bout, no helmets, chainmail, or any heavy armor at all was allowed, so as to make sure that battles would be bloody. Also, this meant that he had an advantage over any fighter that was used to such armor, like a knight or guard.
Unfortunately for him, his only armor was custom made, being made of an uncommon substance called Celarium. It was very light, yet extremely durable. Luckily for him, he didn't have to pay for the magnificent armor with money, seeing as there was no way he could pull that off. Instead, he had to do the blacksmith a rather large favor. He had to convince a very specific nobelman's daughter to court him. Lesion payed the nobleman to have his daughter do so, saying that blacksmith was his cousin, and desperately needed to spend some time with a good girl. He continued on, saying that it didn't need to be a real courting, but it just need to feel that way to his 'cousin'. He then gave the blacksmith the good news, collected the armor, and left town immediately, never to be seen there again.
Lesion donned the light gladiator armor in disgust. It was filthy, the color of the metal changed permanently from being soaked in too much blood, and it had obvious areas where it was repaired, poorly. At least he could use his own weapons. They were called slip-blades, and were made of Wyxite, which was a very rare substance, which he didn't know much about. Each was custom fit to its specified hand, seeing as if they didn't fit properly, they'd be next to useless. The blades curved a little, were thin, and kept keen. The blades were designed to 'slip' between the ribs and slice the lungs, heart, or whatever was in the way. However, despite being thin, they were magnificently strong.
The boom of the drums signaled the end of a duel, which meant that he was up. He pulled out his slip-blades from there sheaths, and walked over to the gate, where he would enter the arena. The gate opened slowly, and he stepped onto the sand.
(I apologize for taking such a long time to post more. I've written quite a bit so I'll try and do a post from one of my books every other week. Please be sure to comment, leave tips/advice, say what you liked, loved, hated, etc. Thank you for reading!)
