Chapter 1- The Escape part 1: King of the pits
The sound of the crowd, It's deep roar signaling their growing excitement and lust for blood reaching a fervor, as his serrated blades ripped through the throat of a fellow gladiator. The drone's green blood gurgling out of the deep tear running left to right from his throat, through his shoulder and chest and ending by severing his foreleg, Throwing his serrated and lightly curved blades in the air to the ear-shattering admiration of the crowd and Letting the emotion wash over him from above much as the hot sun did. The swarm of changelings sitting above him in the stands carved from stone roared and cheered, their raw emotion strengthening and further powering the Halfling former prince; his black and purple carapace, with a horn like a mixture of that of a changeling and a unicorn and a lack of wings marking him as a halfling while his towering height marked his changeling blood being royal.
While Skarrob appreciated the power they gave him through their emotions, he held nothing but hatred and disgust for everyone in the crowd above him. None held his hatred more than the large changeling sitting in a shaded tent at the very top of the arena, looking down on him, a smug smirk plastered on her muzzle. He met his half-sister's gaze with a hate-filled glare, breaking it only when he heard a yell, and saw a captured griffin approaching him with a spear, rushing forward, picking up a hand ax by a fallen body and throwing it at the approaching foe in one smooth motion, the weapon sailing through the air before hitting the fellow gladiator in the chest and killing him.
The griffin stumbled forward a few more feet before falling down dead. Having but a moment to catch his breath before being slammed into full force by a shoulder-check from a minotaur who then proceeded to tear him off his hooves, causing him to drop his twin swords. The minotaur continued rushing forward and, wrapping his arms around his body, rammed him into the wall of the arena. Dazed for a second, Skarrob, shook his head before launching a concussive blast from his horn directly into the minotaur's face, causing him to drop both Skarrob and his massive ax, unfortunately for the minotaur, the concussive spell dazed him long enough for Skarrob to grip his foe's ax in his magic. Swinging the massive weapon, the halfling embedded the head in the neck of the bull, killing him in a shower of blood and gore. The crowd erupted in cheers as the blood splattered the Halfling.
Looking up and seeing his friend fighting two changelings and being slowly but surely overwhelmed, The so-called 'king of the pits' rushed towards his friend, grabbing his blades in his magic as he passed them, and without stopping or slowing down, galloped forward and ran his swords through the chest of one of his friends attackers.
"How are you doing, Pinczer? You hanging on?" Skarrob asked as he engaged a foe as the last group of attackers swarmed the two halflings.
"Tired, but now that you're covering my back? I could take on an army." The Royal halfling chuckled as he felled yet another foe. Believing that Pinczer was good, Skarrob moved towards a group of foes, just as he killed his last foe, he heard Pinczer cry out. Skarrob whipped his head to see the last two opponents in the arena, both with their swords buried hilt deep in his friend's chest; in a rage like never before, Skarrob's magic lifted him off the ground and threw him forward at blinding speed as he roared his fury.
"YOU MOTHERFUCKERS, I'LL KILL YOU!" As his magically induced blitz rocketed him towards his friend's killers, the crowd and everything around him was mere white noise. As he drew ever closer, the two changelings tried to run but it was no use, Skarrob caught up faster than they could move and his blades tore through them without slowing him down. Galloping back to Pinczer, he collapsed and held his dying friend in his forelegs.
"Pinczer! Don't worry you'll be fine. I'll heal you." Coughing up blood, Skarrob's only friend just shook his head.
"We both know you can't, instead I want you to promise me something." WIth tears in the corners of his eyes and choking back anger and sorrow in equal measure, Skarrob spoke to his friend for the last time.
"What?" Pinczer looked at his friend briefly before replying.
"I want you to survive, not just survive, but to escape this hellhole. Promise me that Skar, promise me."
"I Promise." At that, all the pain and fear drained from pinczer's eyes and peace filled them, as the last breath the halfling would take left his lungs. A single tear left Skarrob's eye as he closed his friend's and lay him on the floor. Just then, the arena doors opened and Skarrob saw guards filing in. all the while the damn announcer cried out to the crowd.
"And Like that, the tournament is over. Once more, dozens of fighters are thrown in the king's pit and once more only the king of the pits walks out!" Flying into a rage at those words, Skarrob slowly stood, covered in his only friend's blood, Standing still, as the guards approached Skarrob started forming a plan to fulfill his promise, as the first guard drew close Skarrob ripped his sword through his chest killing him instantly, rushing forward and grabbing the dead guard's spear, Skarrob sent it flying through magically augmented brute strength, flying past the guards, they smirked, thinking in his grief, Skarrob missed his goal of killing them, unbeknownst to them, Skarrob HAD hit his target, that being the ropes that operated the system which kept the cages of the Gladiators and beasts of the arena from escaping into the crowd.
As the guards approached, those closest to him noticed and were slightly unnerved by the satisfied grin on his face, that is until they heard the grinding of gears and snapping of pullies. Drawing their attention to the cages, just in time, to be filled with fear as beasts and monsters from Timberwolves, to cockatrices, to manticores and even a juvenile hydra, as well as dozens of angry gladiators, broke free of their cages. The Gladiators' and predators' presence sent the crowd and guards into a panic, as the hungry and angry predators entered the crowd, killing and eating the assembled masses, along with a couple dozen armed, deadly and pissed off slaves who started massacring their oppressors the hydra proved to be an even greater blessing to Skarrob as it's thrashing broke part of the arena's wall creating a ramp of rubble and an avenue of escape. Rushing up the ramp of rubble and through the chaos of the stands before reaching the top of the wall of the arena, before looking back. Across the arena, surrounded by a group of praetorians, Chrysalis and Skarrob met eyes again, only this time the roles were reversed, Skarrob's face bearing a smug smile, and Chrysalis, a look of pure rage and hatred. Jumping off the wall, Skarrob slowed his fall with magic, and landed, in a sprint from the moment he touched the ground; The escaping halfling sprinted through the forest surrounding the arena, several other gladiators and slaves following his example. Free of his slavery and oppression, Skarrob made a vow for the second time that day.
'With Pinczer as my witness, I will destroy Chrysalis, watch out sister, I will see you again, and I will kill you.'
Having run non-stop for an hour and a half, Skarrob slowed to a stop to catch his breath and take stock of where he was as well as make a plan as to what he was going to do. He stopped running by a tree with a river running nearby. Walking up to the river, Skarrob, lowered his head and took a deep drink to slake his thirst. When he pulled his head away, the halfling looked around at his surroundings. seeing nothing distinct, until his eyes fell on a worn trail and a sign half covered by vines.
walking up and removing the vines carefully with his swords, he noticed it read: Trottingham, 35 miles. Skarrob started forming a plan as he mumbled to himself.
"Alright, from what I remember from mom's lessons from my childhood, Trottingham is a small Equestrian town, I could hide there for a while, while I plan my next move. Starting down the trail, Skarrob kept his eyes out for predators, continuing down the trail as early morning turned into late afternoon, Skarrob stopped as he heard rustling in the bushes, thinking it was an Equestrian, Skarrob, shapeshifted into a unicorn with black fur, and a purple mane and tail, unfortunately, the rustling turned out to, in fact, be a hungry manticore, in the split second it took to grab his blades, the manticore had already pulled his claws back, and before Skarrob could block or dodge, they slammed into his chest, breaking several ribs, and sending him flying into a tree head first causing him to drop his disguise. Dazed and on the brink of passing out, Skarrob couldn't react fast enough to avoid being pounced upon the ravenous beast.
Being pinned by the manticore, sent Skarrob into overdrive, Instinctually charging a spell, he set it loose in the form of a fire blast straight in the manticore's face, which had the positive effect of sending the beast fleeing into the woods, It had the unfortunate effect of sending the injured and already exhausted halfling into the embrace of unconsciousness, the last thing Skarrob was aware of was a pair of voices drawing closer, then he left the waking world.
Author's Note
Hey guys and gals, I hope you like this, This is something I have been writing, and rewriting, revising and editing for many years, it has taken many forms, It started as an idea a friend and I had. And I finally feel comfortable in my writing ability enough to share this with you all. Please know, Skarrob and Pinczer are my OC's, please don't use them without my permission. Anyway, I would appreciate any and all helpful criticisms or praises. If you liked it and want more, hit the like button. Thanks!
