THERE SHALL BE BLOOD!

The afternoon sun was hot and bright, the air was a hypochondriac's nightmare as the sweet scents of mounted wares in stalls mixed together with the suffocating smell of body odor to create a smell that will make a troll blush in embarrassment.

The Colosseum was packed full of admiring fans and critics alike. The former carried plaques that had their respective fighters' names on them along with crudely drawn pictures of their favorite fighters posing or doing a number of things that the holders of the plaques themselves couldn't tell since the pictures were that bad.

And the latter just grumbled with frowns on their faces as they waited for the event to start so that they could pick on a new fighter Whiles making coins from the bets.

The crowd erupted into cheers when the familiar sight of the officiator emerged from the holding room where the fighters were going to wait until they were introduced. His robes were a shiny blue and whispered 'gold' to all who were willing to listen. His strides were confident and his smile was infectious.

His flaming hair and bushy but styled beard added to his hypnotic movements as he made his way into the center of the sandy arena. In his right palm, he held the funnel-shaped megaphone that was going to amplify his voice to the very ends of the colosseum, even though it had none since it was circle shaped.

He lifted his arms up to the sky and the crowd burst into another round of cheers that seemed to shake the very foundation of the colosseum. The officiator pulled his right earlobe and bent in the universal sign that showed that he couldn't hear the crowd's cheer.

The crowd erupted into even louder cheers and the officiator, seemingly pleased with the warm and obnoxiously loud welcome that seemed to charge the very air with electricity started his famous greeting that he repeated each and every tournament year.

"WELCOME TO THE ANNUAL GLADIATING TOURNAMENT IN THE BIGGEST, BADDEST AND BLOODIEST COLOSSEUM YOU'LL EVER FIND IN ALL VIKING TERRITORY. I AM THE ONE AND ONLY OFFICIATOR, YOUR REFEREE, YOUR SERVANT, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, YOUR HOST FOR THIS YEAR'S BLOODBATH!"

The crowd chanted the first part of the opening speech along with the officiator. His speech was so well known that it was almost a gladiating prayer similar to psalm 23. (Or is it 24?)

"THIS YEAR'S TOURNAMENT IS GOING TO BE DIFFERENT. THIS YEAR'S TOURNAMENT IS GOING TO BE MEMORABLE, AND THIS YEAR'S TOURNAMENT IS GOING TO BE REVOLUTIONARY. GRACING US WITH THEIR PRESENCE ARE OUR HIGHEST OFFICIALS, THE GENERALS OF THE ARMY, THE CASTLE OFFICIALS, AND THE NOBLE HOUSES ALL ASSEMBLED HERE. A CHEER FOR ALL THESE BRAVES WHO DEFEND OUR KINGDOM FOR US."

A thunderous round of applause echoed throughout the colosseum and the mentioned officials beamed at all the love being shown. Even if some of it was fake.

"ANOTHER ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR YOURSELVES, YOU LOVELY PEOPLE!"

This time around, an earsplitting roar from the crowd accompanied the applause.

"Now, for the important part." the officiator started seriously and the whole place went as quiet as the grave.

"Let me refresh your minds about our ranking system. We have four ranks as you all know. The green-horns, the experts, the gods, and the titans. Green-horns are the newcomers. Experts are green-horns who have fought and won more than four fights.

Gods are experts who have beaten everyone in their group, usually done by their 10th fight, and Titans are the last two standing fighters who will battle it out for the ultimate prize at the end of this tournament."

"Currently, we already have some experts among us who will be awaiting the new ones to decide who makes it to the god rank where there are already four crowd favorites waiting. The entry into the titan group will be determined later since there are no titans at the moment.

This week, we will be dealing with the newbies. Those who make it as experts will find themselves competing for godhood next week and so forth until a winner is realized. The first fight of the day starts in a few moments. But before I come back to announce it, I have an even more important announcement to make." The officiator frowned as if he had some really bad news to impart.

"My associates will be flitting in between you lot as the event plays out. Make sure you, GET SOME MEAT, POP SOME RUM AND BET ALL YOUR GOLD, FOR TODAY-"

"THERE SHALL BE BLOOD!!!" the crowd finished the officiator's Speech for him and he smiled widely before heading back into the waiting room to meet the first batch of fighters to explain stuff to them.

Outside, the crowd debated which among the crowd favorites had made it to godhood. Whiles some argued it was surely Nynna, others swore it was Morn and his big hammer. A few ones mentioned Vydam and Jenko but no one took them seriously as they were small compared to the other ones.

Inside the large waiting room, all the newcomers, be it forced slaves, ambitious youngsters, or runaway criminals, were all waiting for the officiator in four large groups made up of 20 People each. Numbered 1 to 4. Joda was among the second group and to say they looked pathetic would be an understatement.

There were a couple of people who seemed pretty confident in their skills and were making no moves to hide it as they bragged loudly about the number of deer they had shot down while hunting or the number of fights they had won flawlessly.

One such person was in Joda's group but he paid the loudmouth no mind as he concentrated on the officiator's voice outside. By the time the officiator finished his speech outside, Joda was already bursting to get the day's fights over with so that he could go back to Orion's house.