“The Pit”
“Well, you ready?” Asher asked, an eager grin on his face.
“Have at it, my friend,” Omurai responded, giving a quick nod.
With that, Asher blasted away the barred door that held the two captive with a burst of fire.
“Why do people always lock us up just so we can escape again?” Asher asked as the two stepped into the hallway.
“Because they’re too ignorant to realize how powerful we are,” Omurai said with a smirk.
“True true. So, what is our plan of actions?” Asher said, looking down both sides of the hallway. “We have two choices,”
“You take the left, I’ll take the right. See if you can find our gear or a way out, and I’ll do the same,” Omurai answered. “One thing…” he interrupted as the fire adept prepared to rush off, “Don’t you find this a little TOO easy?”
“Yeah…that Julia character seemed pretty smart. It isn’t like her to leave us so unguarded. You think it is a trap?” Asher replied.
“Only one way to find out!” Omurai said with a knowing wink as he dashed down the right corridor. Still grinning, Asher went down the left.
After a few minutes of exploring, Asher managed to take out a few guards, and even managed to smack a bit of information out of one. He turned a final corner and smiled. “So, he was right. Our gear should be in here.” Slowly, Asher opened the door, jumping back instinctively in case of a trap. Sure enough, three crossbows overhead of the door went off, pinning into the ground with a slight click. Asher moved around the trap and into the room. Inside, he found a treasury full of gold, and most importantly, his stuff. Once he was fully armed and ready once again, he found Omurai’s gear and put it over his shoulder. Finally, he grabbed Omurai’s weapons and strapped them to his belt, putting any throwing daggers or shurikens Omurai had in his pack. Moving a little slower from the added weight, Asher moved along the corridors as quickly as he could. He came across a particular hallway that had a large stairway leading upward. Thinking this his way out, he sped off in that direction.
Omurai wondered about the maze of a dungeon for many minutes until he finally heard the sound of cheering soldiers. He hurried in that direction and found himself standing before a single stairway. He stepped up and walked down the tiny hallway that it led to. His eyes widened in fear as he came to realize where he was…the arena.
Asher’s jaw dropped as he gazed down upon the arena from the highest levels. Around him hid many archers, all of them bearing crossbows and readying for the signal to take out any unruly participants. Luckily, none of them had noticed him, so he slipped back into the hallway and put down all of the packs he was carrying, along with his mighty full blade. Relying on his diminutive stealth skills, the fire adept crept along the line of archers, taking out the first with a throwing knife to the throat. He took that man’s crossbow and aimed it at the next archer. This man took a bolt to the eye and lurched backwards with a heavy thud. The third man was more aware, but a crossbow bolt to the face kept him quiet. Still alive, he struggled to aim his crossbow, but Asher leaped upon the man and quieted him with a quick thrust of a dagger into his heart. The forth archer was aiming by then, but Asher fell over him in an instant, also stabbing him in the heart. Slowly but surely, he worked around the entire arena, taking out all of the archers. Finally, only one remained, and he was aiming before Asher could react. A bolt skipped across the wall nearby as the fire adept worked around the attack. Out flashed his flaming falchion, cleaving the poor man with one slash. Asher put his blade away and hurried back to his gear.
“Well, well…looks like one of our newest guests found his way here already. Impatient are we? I was just about to call for you,” Julia said teasingly, sitting in the prestige box of the arena. Bladenheart soldiers cheering all about her in the stands.
“You should learn to make magical locks, because those cheap manacles mean nothing to an adept,” Omurai said, holding his proud posture.
“Perhaps…but who’s to say I didn’t want you to escape? Makes things more interesting, no?” Julia shot back with a giggle. “You see, I hold all the cards here, and its time to play. Here’s what we’re going to do since you’re so eager to die. I’ll bring out all of my best fighters at once.”
“You could bring on an army of men…it is all the same to me,” Omurai said with a grin.
“That it is; either way you die!” Julia said with venom in her giddy words.
Just then, the gate behind Omurai closed, and the one just across the arena opened. Five men stepped forth, and the gate closed. All of them were big, brutish men, wielding a variety of weapons. One had a massive axe, two with flails, one with a hammer, and the last one had a large chain.
Omurai instinctively reached for his katana, but found that it was not there. Grumbling, he fell out of his stance and took an eased stance, ready to blast the closest man with an arch of lightning.
“I told you that you’d die in ‘the pit’…but I never said how, now did I?” Julia said, waving her hand in the air to signal the five men to attack.
As they were ordered, the five screamed with bloodlust and charged forward, all of them presenting their bloodied weapons proudly.
Omurai shook his hands to loosen them up and held back a grin. Just as the five neared him, he whipped up his hands and sent forth a might gust of wind, knocking all but the final man to the ground. That man, bearing the axe, charged on, murder in his eyes. To everyone’s surprise, Omurai matched the axe man’s charge. As the two closed in on each other, Omurai stopped short and clapped his hands together, sending a massive vertical blade of wind right at the axe man. An angry grunt escaped the man’s mouth as the blade blasted him head on, knocking him flat on the ground. The others were up by then, all of them glaring at the wind adept hatefully.
Not waiting for them to attack, Omurai blasted the nearest man right in the chest with a bolt of lightning, killing him instantly. Only a flail, hammer, and chain remained. The hammer man closed the distance between him and Omurai with surprising ease, slamming his heavy weapon into the ground where the agile wind adept once stood. Omurai jumped back in time and leaped forward as the man lifted his hammer, grasping onto it and using it as a lever to throw himself into the air. He kept himself afloat with his innate flying abilities and grinned at the men on the ground. Omurai held out his hands, and three arches of lightning fell from the sky, smashing into the hammer man in three places. Needless to say, he fell to the ground, quite dead. Next, Omurai held his hands in the posture as if he was holding a bow. An arrow of lightning energy formed between his two hands, and he let fly his first weapon, which plunged into the remaining flail man’s chest. Three more arrows succeeded the first, and he too fell to the ground. A sweep of Omurai’s hand sent three deadly blades of wind at the chain man, knocking him to the ground and leaving three mortal slashes across his body.