Casseth rolled his shoulders as he rode the elevator up into the arena. He had been filling his free time, while everyone was away, with battle after battle in the Pit. Each day he fought, he grew stronger, more able to fight against those who would come up against him. Still, though, he was put up against beasts, yet to make it to another Magescian. His thoughts on that were mixed. Fighting against another person brought you into a whole other league of Pit fighting. No longer would you be up against a beast that just blindly attacked because that’s all it knew how to do. No, you would be going up against another being that could think and strategize on how best to defeat you. Not only that, but there was no definite rule against killing your opponent in the arena. He had already seen it plenty of times and was not enough of a fool to think it could not happen to him as well. After all, he was a hybrid and there was a much larger target on his head than those of pureblood inside the arena.
Still, a part of him was eager for the opportunity to fight against another Magescian. To prove to those around him that he was strong and able. As the doors slid open, he stepped out into the pit to the sound of cheering. He glanced around quickly, scanning the crowd though he knew the one he sought and hoped for would not be there. “Lithian…” He whispered his friend’s name as he jerked his gaze away from the stands and to the doors now opening opposite of him. What did those that controlled the Pit and its matches have in store for him today? He ran his fingers over the scar at his abdomen, remembering his first match. With Lithian not here, he only hoped nothing too serious happened. As is, he no longer trusted the healers of the Pit to do their jobs thoroughly enough with him or any other hybrid for that matter.
Low snarls sounded as the doors broke away and Cas’ eyes widened a fraction of an inch. It had been ages since he’d last seen the creature no standing in the pit, snarling and scraping at the ground. Not since he had lived on Aisko. “Jabrvins.” Two of them, to be precise. He remembered the first and only time he had gone up against the beast. He had been just a tiny thing and hadn’t even picked his weapon or his clan. Casseth ignored his ax this time, opting to rely solely on his gaili magic. He rolled his shoulders again, eying the two beasts stalking towards him as he remembered the reason he had fought them the first time around. He had wanted to protect Lithian. Casseth had also saved Araceli’s life that day as well.
By the looks of the jabrvins standing before him, they were still just runts. The youngest from a group had likely been taken and trained to attack even more viciously than they might out in the wild. One of the pair was larger, maybe even a little older. Cas pulled at his magic as the beasts lunged at him, bringing up a cage of rock around the larger beast, opting to take care of the smaller one before tackling the other. The crowd roared, both cheers and boos could be heard echoing through the Pit. Cas ignored them both, however, and focused on the task at hand. He pulled a chunk of sand up, working it into a hard, compact ball of dirt and grit and sent it flying at the smaller jabrvin’s head. It connected but only seemed to stun the beast for a second before it was back at him.
Casseth ran, keeping his concentration between the attacking beast and the one he had trapped. Each time the caged beast clawed away some sand, Casseth replaced it. Focusing on this task, caused him to slow down and threw his timing off. He turned his attention back to the other beast just in time to see claws and teeth coming for him. He grunted as he jumped back, letting his concentration on the cage around the other go as he held back a scream of pain as searing pain sliced through his right arm. He gripped the arm, curing as pain shot through his body afresh. He growled as the one that had attacked him moved in on him again. Blood flowed quickly from the wound and Casseth knew he would have to end this before he lost too much blood.
Gritting his teeth he used all his magic to pull up a boulder much bigger than the last one. As the jabrvin came lunging at him, he sent the rock flying, crashing into the beast’s head. Casseth smiled, satisfied at the crunching sound of bone at impact. He readied another one, intent on taking the other beast out but he swayed. His head was light and the Pit was beginning to spin. He grit his teeth, frustrated with his own weakness. It seemed, though, that he was finished for this round. He stumbled back, hitting up against the wall as the beast approached him. As his vision started to fade, a dark skinned figure shot in front of him. “…Lithian?” He squinted his eyes, forcing his body to focus in on the person in front of him. It wasn’t Lithian. “Tak.” The last thing he remembered as the jabrvin lunging at them and Tak using her own gaili magic to deal with the beast.
Reply
