Blood Band Arena (04)

Lat stood up in the silent cell, scratching his hooked fingers along the sidewall he was bound to. Finding it a bit humorous that the day after he escaped captivity he was back in another kind, he let out a saddened chuckle. Alban was meditating in the corner while Teta was sleeping against his nook. As he went back to tracing his claws against the cement textured walls, he heard a gargling noise from Alban's direction.

"You okay, Alban?" Lat felt pretty worried about Alban, especially since he saw him laid out with a huge gaping wound on his chest. He was equally surprised when Alban woke up as if nothing happened, the gheckla was pretty sure that injuries like that were supposed to be fatal.

It wasn't the first time Alban had miraculously recovered, though last time he couldn't get a peak at his heart, unlike this time. Noticing the odd crystal like texture and the absence of any movements from it, he almost thought Alban had just up and permanently died. Almost. Yet here he was, perfectly fine. He decided to stop question it and just get used to it, as he felt pretty friendly to him anyways.

"Ah, yeah. I'm just feeling really hungry." Alban answered without even opening his eyes, although he felt his stomach gnawing at him. He already tried eating everything he could in his inventory while the others weren't looking, yet he felt as if his stomach was screaming at him. To top it all off, that pleasant stirring sensation seemed to stimulate his hunger even further...he hoped he'd be able to fight soon.

"Oh, they didn't feed you, huh. We got both of our meals when you were asleep, weird..." Lat was a bit puzzled as he scratched at his golden hair. All of the monsters were woken up and fed, so how come Alban didn't get anything? It wasn't adding up...

"Is it really weird? We're prisoners, not guests." Alban's voice was taut, a clear indicator of his increasing unrest. Her tugged at his chains briefly before settling back down into his meditative state. Lat's mint green eyes took in all of this before considering what to say next. Feeling a bit obstinate in his beliefs, he opened his mouth once again.

"Yeah, but they shouldn't be excluding yo-" Before he could finish, the voice of the announcer entered his head.

"Would the gheckla known as Lat come out of his cell? You are to proceed to the arena now." The chains loosened before clanking against the ground while the door stood ajar anew. Lat swallowed his words and moved out of the cell, waving goodbye to Alban who was focusing on not frenzying and entering the pitch black corridor.

Trudging towards the crimson moonlit doorway, each of his steps was filled with trepidation. He was afraid of meeting any of his people in the stage, afraid of being forced to harm any of them. They weren't like him, they didn't have a chance at any further revival. He couldn't bring himself to take any of their lives no matter what the announcer's may order, though he found it unlikely that he would have to fight any of his own kin. Judging by how many monsters they captured just a day before, they had a lot of participants to spare.

As he stepped out into the enclosed stadium, he saw his fears become realized. Out in the stage were hundreds of gheckla, about a good half of his people. As he stared through the crowd he caught sight of his sister running towards him. When she reached him, she clung herself tightly only his body while Lat patted her back. Prior to their intent to talk to each other, the announcer's thrilled voice filled the whole entire arena.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and anything in between! Here is a sight you will love to see, a tale as old as the sands of time, these monsters will kill each other. ARE YOU READY?!?!"

Fervid shouts answered the announcer, while the statement so matter of factly. As if they had to obey everything the androgynous voice said. Although all of the gheckla stood unmoving and vehemently refused, the audience wouldn't just sit and watch them be happy together. That wasn't what the Blood Band Arena was about, after all.

"I see you sorry excuse for monsters need an incentive. Okay. If none of you die in a minute, we'll kill you all. Including the weaker ones that aren't on the stage right now. You don't want that, do you?" Cries of shock were uttered at the announcer's candid voice, while some of the gheckla stared at each other in apprehension. Although their bond as a people were strong, of course their individual relationships would matter more to them. All of the gheckla felt uneasy, some counting the very seconds that passed with anxious looks on their faces. Jeers rang from the observing crowd, their voices accompanying them in their counting.

And soon, it happened. A strapping middle aged man had buried his hands deep into his fellow gheckla's chest, clasping around the poor woman's heart. The woman bled profusely before hanging limp, her green blood splashing against the ground. "I'm sorry...I have a daughter." The man quickly apologized before kneeling down and begging the staring gheckla for forgiveness.

"Please, I had to. Please don't judge me..."

"You're right. You had to, and so do I. You're already a murderer, so it should be okay, right?"

Groups of gheckla besieged each other, all carrying pitiful or saddening excuses as they killed their fellow kind. The gheckla tribe's bodies started to litter the fresh hell the monsters had found themselves in, screams and roars ringing through the air. The audience laughed and applauded, enthralled in the depraved display.

Lat saw all of this and was disgusted at himself for not being able to do a thing. Krista was quiet on his chest, still grasping on his body. Lat breathed in deeply, before prying his sister off his body and walking towards the hysterical gheckla in an attempt to stop them. He knew what he had to do.

"Lat?! Where are you going, it's dangerous over there! C'mon, stay over here, with me...!" Krista shouted after him and attempted to run up to Lat and drag him back to their secluded spot. Though she exerted all her strength, she was not able to stop Lat from progressing at all. She screamed and cried in his ears, and Lat finally turned his head back to look at her.

"See? You don't have to go...you've done enough..." The resolute mint green eyes peered at her, unflinching and unwavering. Lat did not step back at all, he only patted her head before approaching the murderous crowd of gheckla once again.

"Krista, I've died already so it's fine. Sit here and be safe." Lat didn't stick around long enough to hear her reply, breaking out into a run straight for the center of the procession. He arrived, a bit too late for some and a bit too early for others. But he still arrived.

"Stop killing each other, you're family even if you don't think so right now. Besides, why kill someone who you know you'll erase forever? Why not kill me instead?" Lat smiled brightly while closing his eyes shut, standing tall and yet without hostility. The monsters that had lost their reason calmly considered Lat's words are realized that the young man was right, he was the only gheckla that had ever revived! Seeing a way to escape, the gheckla swarmed him.

As Lat's form disappeared, Krista stared on in utter horror.