Brutalalis Training. (XXVI)
Chapter XXVI.
Brutalalis Training. (XXVI) The steel doors to Shaol's cell slammed open, striking hard and loud against the stone wall. "Rise and shine Shaol, its training day!Maruk proclaimed broadly, sounding somewhat excited. Shaol opened his eyes, a low growl of a grown escape his maw as he sat up, turning his gaze to see Maruk standing in the doorway. Behind him stood six armed arena guards, their bodies fully armored. Seeing Maruk along with the guards made Shaol's blood burned with fiery hatred. His muscles tensed as he kept himself still, knowing well that the chain he was attached to would hold him back should he try anything. That fact was the only reason he sat still. Stepping into the cell, Maruk stood just out of range from Shaol's reach, where the chain couldn't exceed, the soldiers following in, three standing to Maruk's left, the other three to his right. Standing up from where he sat in the corner, Shaol approached Maruk slowly, until the chain held tight, not allowing him any further, only a meter away from the human. He let out a low, long, deep hiss at Maruk. Grinning a bit wide, he spoke, "I hope yer well rested, for your going to need all that energy you muster, but first... Have I your full attention, Shaol?"Upon being addressed directly, Shaol growled low yet deep, his eyes hard on the humans, mostly though on Maruk. "Good... now it's time to tell you ground rules, and it is mandatory for each and every one of them to be followed, and being a man of my word, I promise ye, you'll be greatly rewarded."Shaol ceased his growl as he heard him speak, as much as he hated him, it would benefit him more to listen, figuring these 'rewards', would turn in his favor. Deciding to play along for the time, Shaol gives a light nod of his snout as well as a short, sharp growl to acknowledge him. Maruk smirked wide as he showed acknowledgment, already feeling that he was worth the pay, not being a mindless beast as rumored, continuing to speak; "Now if yer to be treated and respected as my fair gladiator here, you got to learn the ropes and follow them at all times, let's aim for this Dawn to give Ya a good tour of the place."Maruk paused for a moment, assuring he still had Shaol's full attention, a wide grin spread on his face as he seemed to enjoy this... oh how he deep inside would love to tear and rip that smirk off him... along with every other piece of his soft meaty flesh. "Yer reward, earned through this Dawn if you so do show that ye aren't a stupid beast that needs to be restrained all the time, will be your freedom from chains. We 'ere will test ya for the first time for the tour, yer to fall low and learn. Be warned for I'll make it clear and blunt; see these soldiers? Will kill you for any attacks, so if you value life, three simple rules..."After such a long speech to Shaol, Maruk pauses to clear his throat, as Shaol stared deep and intensively at Maruk, absorbing in his words, and even though he did not understand everything, it was clear to him that he had to follow every rule and not attack anyone randomly. "First, is respect. Respect fellow gladiators of equal of higher rank, as lower ranks will respect you. Second, is honor. To hold honor by engaging in combat only the arena, outside the battle ring is prohibited and will result in severe punishment. Lastly, is obedience. Follow all set rules and instructions, then yer all good."Maruk finishes, having explained the three 'simple' rules. Shaol understood rather basically; respect, honor, obedience. He knew to himself, as he had to tell himself inside for small motivation that he could play along, for his own good and survival. He felt relieved that Maruk finally finished his long words, thinking he must practice a lot with speeches to be able to talk so much, almost fearing he would never shut up. "Alright, we wasted enough time here, the dawn's a wastin'!"As if on a silent command, the three soldiers to Maruk's left advanced up to Shaol, a gleam of fear in their eyes. Shaol saw the fear despite how slight, finding it greatly bemusing, though he would not harm them. One of the guard's fingers fumbled with the iron clasp around Shaol's neck, until finally, the collar-like chain unlatched, seconds before clattering to the ground. "As promised, chain freedom if ye are a good girl, following the rules. Now, let us begin the tour! Do follow, my young gladiator..."
Boring. So damn boring. If there was anything more boring, it would bore him to death. So far, Shaol has listened to Maruk speak and speak, he almost wanted to roar at him to shut up! He has willingly followed as Maruk led the way, showing from different areas for the human gladiators, such as training areas. "Hey boys look at this, another beast for a gladiator, maybe now the Strikeath will have higher odds then what they got against us Bloodath ahahaha!"Shaol looked in the direction of the voice. There were four men in battle armor; all of them were watching him walk alongside Maruk. One of them had a sneered smirk seen clearly past his un-kept grizzled beard. With a low snort, Shaol kept walking close behind Maruk. A shocking sudden thought came in his mind, something that gladiator said disturbed his... 'Another beast'? Was there another dragon here..? "And 'ere we have alas, the battle ring."Crowds were heard shouting and cheering in the spectator sidelines, few bowmen on the small ledge platform above the pit. Two combatants were below, fighting each other vigorously. Maruk and Shaol were above the arena pit where observers entered. Shaol watched the fight intensively, Maruk too watched. It lasted well until one of the combatant's sword got knocked out of his hand, flying a distance before lodging into the sand. Before the defenseless man could react, his enemy surged forwards, impaling the disarmed combatant through the chest, before ripping the blade out, spewing his blood as the body collapsed dead. The crowds were roaring in cheer as the victor boasted, raising his sword high for the crowd. Shaol flinched for a moment after witnessing the deathblow. Something inside himself told that if he wanted to survive, he will have to learn to fight, to be trained good and show his enemies no mercy, for it was more than obvious... this was a death match arena. "Bah, there goes another Strikeath..."Maruk said as he looked to Shaol. "But hopefully you being part of the Strikeath team will boast their moral, and by any luck, their reputation. Well, let's go meet yer arena team now shall we?"Shaol had to tear his gaze away from the fighting pit, hearing what Maruk spoke. He growled slightly, for how he viewed it, this... The Strikeath team wasn't the greatest... A slight, low smirk crossed Shaol's muzzle, for even though the team wasn't so great, well... he was just going to have to change that eventually.
"We need to stop losing boys, our reputation is falling with every loss!" Talvan, the highest ranked, being the tenth rank known as a gladiator, spoke out to the other members in the team's large personal quarters. Little to none of the other Strikeath members paid him any heed, few scowled while rolling their eyes. "Oh shut up Talv, it's not like we don't suck as it is with our rep rotted in the dirt with the blood of our fallen!"One of the fighters spat with annoyance in response to Talvan's words. A frown grew deep on Talvan's expression, retorting to the fighter, "Watch your tongue, remember the codes? Respect those of a higher rank than yourself."Before any more words could be exchanged between the two, footsteps were heard approaching. Seconds later, the double wooden doors swung open, all the fighters watched to see Maruk, along with a red dragon, enter the chambers. "Hello lads, I'd like to introduce yer newest team member; Shaol."Maruk spoke as he walked up to Talvan, Shaol following close behind, ignoring the looks from the others. "Also, I heard some of that big talk lad. Rightly so I suppose, I mean, ye are the highest rank in the Strikeath, so you are the one who is going to help our Trainee here!"The way Maruk spoke that last sentence sent chills down Talvan's spine, a look of unease crossing his expression. "H...how so..?"Talvan muttered while trying to seem calm. Shaol snickered as he watched, finding it quite amusing, glancing between all the other members of the team, slight fear in all their eyes. Shaol grinned wide, their fear was to his delight! "Come, come! Don't be shy, you'll see!" Maruk states while patting Talvan's back rather strongly, encouraging him to follow along. Talvan groaned quietly, knowing better then to testify against Maruk, muttering under his breath silently, "I hope I'm not going to regret boasting..."
"You want me to WHAT?!"Talvan exclaimed, unable to believe what he just heard. He was now in full plated iron armor from head to toe, even equipped with a well-worn steel shield, though only held drawn was a hard solid wooden sword. Maruk grinned, supporting patting Talvan's plated shoulder. "It's rather simple, I'm going to bring Shaol to the fight pit, leave him there, you come out, engage him, and then beat the livin' hell out of him to roughen him up. We need to train him, and getting him bruised and beaten an' to see how to fight and react? It's what he need, but heed, don't hit any fatal places like the throat."Maruk and Talvan were discussing in a room behind solid doors. Shaol grumbled to himself as he sat and waited, unable to hear what the two were talking about. It annoyed him, being unable to hear, though there was nothing he could do about it. So he kept silent, and waited. There was at least one active benefit to all of this; he was no longer chain-bound. It was indeed a great relief to have no chains around him, and for that freedom all he had to do was obey simple things. Finally after what seemed to take hours, the door opened with Maruk stepping out. "Well Shaol my boy, we got one last place to see for the dawn, then ya can be off to yer teams' quarters for the night." Shaol's ears perked slightly, for those were the best words he spoke so far to him. Standing up, Shaol stretched his hind muscles before letting out a quick, sharp growl to aware him that he was ready. Maruk's smile grew wide to see such intelligence, leading ahead with Shaol following. *** The arena pit was empty when they arrived. All the spectators were gone. It was silent as well empty. Shaol looked around, observing the area that not long ago witnessed the deathblow of one supposedly on his team, and now the ring was deathly quiet. The pit itself was made of sand and dirt; the grains felt between Shaol's claws were rough as he followed behind Maruk. "Here we have it, the fightin' ring itself! It's much different feel from being in it then watchin' above eh?" Maruk chuckled lightly, looking down at Shaol, who was smirking to himself with a thought... The 'rules' ran through his thoughts. Wasn't one of them about NOT killing EXCEPT in the 'arena pit'? He DID want to kill Maruk...But no. For the time, he needed him so he could gain in power, then kill him AND survive, as surly if he struck now... The other fighters would best him down and kill him. No... he will never allow himself to be like the struck down team member, telling himself that he WILL become more powerful by freely 'allowing' his owner to push him around. "Why don't ya look around the pit for a little Shaol? I need to go check on the teams..." Shaol suddenly looked up to Maruk, his attention snapping firmly to him, noticing Maruk already backing away through the entryway they came in. To Shaol's surprise though, Maruk let lose part of a chain along the wall. Seconds later, metal gates slammed down, trapping Shaol inside the arena ring. "Now don't worry boy, only shut the gates to...make sure you are still here! I'll be back my Shaol, I'll be back..." Maruk then disappeared from view after speaking, leaving Shaol staring blank at the gate now sealed, growling lowly to himself. There wasn't anything much of interest in the pit Shaol noticed as he walked about in the sand, looking around. He was about to deem this wait time for Maruk to return to be a very boring wait, until he noticed a man approaching from the other entrance across the arena pit, a man in full plated armor. Shaol growled low but very deep, as if warning the man to keep his distance. He was not in the best of moods, and this armored man did not halt. Instead he drew what appeared to be a long wooden sword before charging at him with a roaring yell. Shaol's eyes widened, his body tensing as he held his ground, his slitted eyes looked more wild as his heart picked up speed until it thrummed hard inside his chest. This man was attacking him! He felt dumbstruck for the moment, as this time, he is not restricted by chain, nor anyone to intervene for him. Too much time he wasted by standing still. Shaol yelped loudly as the first blow struck him hard upside the head from the swing, the man now right in front of him. Shaol growled deeper, the sudden pain jolted him out of the dumbstruck trance, moving himself around him. A second jolt of pain rushed through Shaol's body, being struck on his left side by the man who with ease turned himself to swing. It hurt, getting struck, it sent waves of pain rush through him, though he couldn't just back down! With a deep growl, Shaol lunges at his attacker, in attempt to knock him down, though he was it seemed, well prepared. With one foot back, his attacker took a defensive stance to hold his ground, then with his shield, bashes Shaol hard on the face, dazing him. Shaol fell to the ground, stunned; attempting to pick himself up to try attacking again though was unable to, for Talvan showed little mercy, striking all out rapidly at Shaol in a battering onslaught... All Shaol could feel was the stinging, unending pain course through his body... *** Maruk peered through the fight gates before raising them, seeing Shaol laying sprawled out and Talvan sitting, panting heavy as for all he done worn him out. "Well, it seems ya gave him quite the beating!" Maruk exclaimed with a whistle as he examined Shaol's body. The condition was quite bad; his scarlet red hide was battered and bruised from head to tail. "I did as you asked Maruk, to beat the livin' hell out of him. Here you are." Despite Shaol's beaten state, he was still conscious, and having just heard those words... Shaol couldn't believe it! Maruk PLANNED THIS! He KNEW and WANTED him to be beaten!? Is this how training is? To be beaten and bruised to learn? The thought only made his hatred grow... one day... he will pay. *** After a short time and with assistance, Shaol was finally returning to his teams living quarters to sleep. He felt such the want to sleep, to recover, almost losing consciousness a few times while walking down the halls. In the main lobby as they were passing through, Shaol noticed a large stone craving that read out the ranks of the arena, from rank fifteen to one. Staring at it tired and weak, Shaol forced himself to smirk with the thought... that one day; he will become the greatest rank, and avenge himself for all the losses.