It Rained Red Upon the Arena by Kenneth Champion

He knew this, people around him knew that his swiftness and agility with a blade were on his side. Years of Refect training would be on his side. Stabbing someone behind their back would be the training of the inmates he would meet in the arena,
    Nick made a vow to himself in the hell cell. He would get through the arena sentence and figure out why his father was murdered. He would fight in the arena to live another day to see Penny and Thomas. He promised this to himself. He even thought it was possible that fate had him sentenced to the arena in order to cleanse the world of evil men and women. It was all about mentality, and his changed drastically from the courthouse to the time for him to step into his new life at the Vincot Arena.
    The hell cell came to a stop. Night had fallen without Nick really noticing. As he stepped out of the hell cell and onto the dirt road he looked up. He gazed at the stars above him. He always enjoyed looking at the stars above in the night sky. He had been enjoying looking up at night since he was a young child. He took after the practice from his father. His dad would look up into the night sky and Nick would follow suit.
    Two Refect walked up to the hell cell to greet Nick. The Refect unlocking the door said, “You can call me Jerry and his name is Berry. Welcome to your new home, welcome to your last home.”
    Nick gazed upon the tall walls of the arena. He had seen them before and was always curious as to what was behind those walls. The Vincot Arena had four giant stone walls that made a square. It was located in the center of the city. Famous warriors of the arena were etched into the stone walls by talented artists. Nick used to come down to the walls as a child to admire the art and wonder about the men and women on the wall.
    The Refect guided Nick down a hill to the left of the arena. The hill was not far from the arena, but it was not too close, either. At the bottom of the hill there was a metal gate guarded by two Refect. One Refect who was with Nick went up and exchanged words with the guards silently. The gates open from within and Nick was walked in with the help of Jerry and Berry. Past the gates there was a metal door, again guarded by two Refect. The same thing happened, an exchange of words and the metal doors opened from within.
    This time Nick saw the true guts of the arena. It was essentially a cave; the walls, ground, and ceiling were of rock. Candlelight and torches on the wall lit up the rocky room. It was cylindrical in shape and about the size of two of Nick’s houses put together. Nick was walked up to a Refect behind a desk, several more Refect were behind the desk chatting in the background. One of the Refect, either Jerry or Berry, Nick could not tell, pulled out a paper and handed it to the Refect behind the desk.
    He looked at the papers and said, “Right, you can call me Master Dekan. From now on you will respond to any of my Refect men as Master. They will not give you a name to call them and you cannot see our faces so it really does not matter. It says here you are guilty of murder and are sentenced to two years of participation in the arena. And I will say here you are guilty of murder and will participate for a few days in the arena before we drag your lifeless corpse off of it. Perfect, right, well, welcome to your new home, your last home.”
    Master Dekan looked at his men and said, “Go ahead and process him and throw him in a cell. Good luck, Nick, your first fight is in two days’ time. Looks like you’ve got Grimey.”
    “A fight already?” asked Nick.
    “Yes,” said Master Dekan. “Good luck. You’ll need lots of it.” He laughed as Nick walked away with Master Jerry and Berry.
    There were five metal gates, each guarded by a Refect. The gates were shaped like a circle and each looked a bit like a cell. They were circular because the openings looked like holes in the cave. Master Jerry and Berry directed Nick to the rightmost gate.