The man who called himself the Fiddler shut the door behind Yuki once she entered the cramped room. With the light of the hall gone, the room’s only source of light was a dim lamp that sat on a small table beside the bed.

She went to the bed and gave it a few presses, testing its softness. Or really, how hard the bed was. She found it to be not in terrible condition. It probably won’t leave her feeling stiffer than petrified wood when she woke up.

Her next item of inspection was the toilet that sat in the corner of the room. It was surprisingly clean, the bowl spotless and even a faint air freshener smell lingered around it. Taking a closer look at the room as a whole, Yuki noticed that it was generally quite clean save for some dust. 

‘Come to think about it, the hallway was quite clean as well despite how worn the carpets were,’ she thought. ‘I didn’t see any maids though.’

After relieving herself and finding that the toilet’s flush functions work perfectly as well as the fact that there was no sink, she turned her attention to the more interesting objects within the room: the bookcase and the sole lamp. 

The lamp seemed to be powered by magic. When she put a hand around it, she felt no heat of any kind. Poking around, she tried to see if she could brighten the light the lamp gave off, but she couldn’t find any controls. 

The bookcase offered more to her. Its shelves were filled with books, though there were only three shelves on the small bookcase. She scanned through the titles one by one. Each shelf was divided into their own category. The top was history, the middle was magic, and the bottom was combat. 

‘Nothing for entertainment,’ she thought, a tad disappointed.

Her opinion changed quickly as she skimmed through the few books that captured her attention. The books, though not the most entertaining, were very informative. The top had a more in depth knowledge of history than she had seen in any library. There was even information on the history of demons, something Yuki couldn’t find anywhere except for her own personal library.

The bottom and middle shelves contained books that worked more like manuals. The middle offered insight into various magical ideas and practices, many of which intrigued Yuki even if she couldn’t use them. The bottom was the same except for weapons rather than magic. Each book contained different instructions for separate weapons.

‘Why would these be in here?’ Yuki wondered.

She shrugged and pulled a few books from the shelves and set them on the ground beside the bed. Then with a bit of shuffling, she positioned herself beside the lamp and cracked open one of the books and began to read.

When she was interrupted by a knock on the door, she didn’t know how much time had passed. All she knew was that her stomach was growling and that her back was sore from not moving. 

Taking her book with her, she went to the door and nearly stepped on a tray that had been somehow placed inside the room. It had a bowl with food and a glass filled with what looked like water.

She picked up the tray and brought it to the bed. Then she picked up the glass and gave it a suspicious sniff. It smelled normal, but not all chemicals or poisons gave off scents.

‘I’ll take a sip and wait a bit then,’ she thought as she lifted the glass to her lips.

When nothing seemed to happen, she looked at the food. Porridge with some vegetables and meat sprinkled about. Nothing too fascinating, but food nonetheless. Like with the presumed water, she took a small nibble and waited to see if any deadly poisons or mind altering chemicals were present. 

‘Nothing. I guess that does make sense. Why would the man want to impair a source of entertainment before he’s even seen it?’

With that, she shoveled the food and washed it down with the glass of water. After that, she went right back to reading the book she had put down. It was one on the history of Libra, something Yuki had read about a few times before. But this one was unique. It was written from the perspective of a demon looking from the outside. It was more objective than the ones Yuki had read and all together more informative. 

She put the book down when her eyelids were beginning to feel heavy. She started to tie her hair back to get ready for her nightly routine, but sighed as she remembered that there wasn’t a shower or sink. 

‘Hmm. I hope I can at least brush my teeth soon.’

With that plan out the window, she stood and stretched the best she could in the cramped space. While she did that, her mind began to mull over possible ways for her to escape this “Coliseum”. Her magic still seemed suppressed from the few times she tried to use it while in the room. The suppression had weakened compared to how it was inside the prison cell, but the most she could muster was a flame and a light breeze. 

‘I’ll have to wait and see what happens tomorrow when that man explains more.’

She laid down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Laying there by herself, an odd sense of smallness filled her. The bed was tiny, but it felt larger than the room itself. Then she realised why. This was the first time in a long time that she had slept by herself.

‘But at least Akira isn’t trapped here with me,’ she thought. ‘That’s good.’

Yet, that thought didn’t help her feel any less lonely. Yuki didn’t know that it would be so hard to sleep without someone to hug or the soft rhythmic sounds of a sleeping breath. She closed her eyes and tried to empty her head, but worries filled them. Was Akira okay? Erica? Yuna? What were they doing? Where were they? Most importantly, were they looking for her.

‘If they are, I don’t know how I feel about that.’

On one hand, they might succeed and be able to free her. On the other, they might end up in the same position as her.

‘If I had to choose, I wouldn’t want them to come for me. I’ll find a way. They shouldn’t risk themselves.’

But she had no way to tell them this. All she could do was hope and try to escape.

‘First, though, I would need to figure out how to get rid of these cuffs or find a way to get around whatever is suppressing my magic.’

She puzzled over her problems until her mind told her that it had enough and she finally fell into a fitful sleep.

“Wakey, wakey!” a voice filled with static yelled. Yuki’s eyes snapped open and she lurched up, her head looking around for the source of the voice. “It’s the start of a new day. A work day. I hope you all had a great rest. Your lives might depend on it.”

Yuki located the source. It was a small speaker that was embedded in the top corner of the room. She had missed it when she was looking around. She couldn't tell who it was though. The distortion was too much.

‘Ugh,’ she groaned, rubbing her eyes. She wasn’t sure how much sleep she had gotten, but it didn’t feel like a lot. ‘At least I get answers today.’

She swung herself out of bed and went to the toilet to relieve herself. After that, there wasn’t much else she could do. She looked at her clothes and the various rips and tears in it. 

‘I wish I had some other clothes to switch into,’ she thought. Then she frowned as she remembered something. ‘My daggers are still here.’

Having worn them almost everywhere she went, Yuki was so used to their presence that she wasn’t conscious of them most of the time. But having them did little for her. They were blocked by the tight cuffs on her wrists. Yuki wasn’t sure if that was intentional or not. 

‘What do I do now though?’

She couldn’t open the door of her room. There weren’t any secret entrances from what she could see. No buttons to press. No hidden pressure plates. 

Her questions were answered when the room around her distorted and she found herself in a large hall with a multitude of people around her. She looked around, taking note of the numerous scars and injuries the people had. Their faces ranged from weary to rage, not a trace of joy or excitement in any of them. 

“Welcome,” a raspy voice boomed. It was the Fiddler. Yuki couldn’t find where he was. “It is another lovely day in the Coliseum. Are you all excited for some fun?”

Yuki heard the faint sounds of roars and cheers. The Fiddler was speaking to an audience.

“Good! Good! That’s what I like to hear,” the Fiddler said. “Well, let’s begin, shall we? First, let’s introduce our current leader, the one and only Bull himself!”

The cheers again.

“This stubborn Bull has refused to back down for thirty seven consecutive matches. Quite the feat indeed. As you all know, the rule is fifty wins in a row and you can leave. But three consecutive losses? Death.”

The Fiddler’s voice dropped and became icy at that last word. 

“Let’s see if the Bull can keep that streak up today,” he continued, his raspy voice going right back to cheery. “But first! Let’s start things off a bit slower today and save that for today’s main course. Here are our first two challengers.”

The space around Yuki warped again. When it stopped, a wall of sound slammed into her. The cheers of hundreds if not thousands drilled into her, their voices vibrating the dry dirt ground she now stood on. She shook her head, regaining her focus. 

“These are the two challengers for this match!”

Yuki looked up and found a massive crowd staring back. To the sides were glass panels with people looking in, a few she recognized from the hall she was just in. Then she looked ahead. A skinny man stood a couple hundred feet away, but Yuki could see his features easily. He looked old, his hair balding, and his teeth few and yellow. But his eyes gave Yuki pause. They were murderous and desperate, a certain manic energy behind them. Things Yuki didn’t like to see together.

‘It seems that I’m up.’