The girl’s eyelids opened as she lay naked on the ground. I instinctively tossed my own bloodied and torn shirt on top of her. Her eyes followed the shirt, looking up to meet my gaze. Her light blue eyes broke contact and grabbed the shirt, pulling it on before standing up.

“Thank you... Master.”

Her words stunned me, until I realized she was a former slave. She then reached out to place a hand on my forearm.

It must’ve been the fatigue that stopped me from pulling away immediately. One by one, each cut vanished, leaving only lingering aches and soreness in their place. As compensation for the shirt or because I was her new master, she had healed all my minor cuts and bruises.

“You’re free now. I’m not your master...”

The slave girl fell back down to the stone floor, unconscious before I could finish. She breathed heavily and beads of sweat ran down the sides of her face. The girl must have been in a lot of pain throughout the entire healing process.

I thought about leaving her in the arena, but reconsidered abandoning her in this mass murder scene. The blame would no doubt be placed on her, as she was the only survivor with a stamp of slavery on her record.

The sound of sirens growing louder could be heard as they rushed to the coliseum. I threw the unconscious girl onto my back, turning my head to see a mixture of police, ambulance, and fire trucks. Easily distinguishable by the differing types of flashing lights attached to the top of their vehicles.

They likely were alerted of a fire or something caused by the abnormal weather, since the fire trucks had water formations on standby, but they did nothing as the sky had cleared up and no traces of smoke or fire were seen. I escaped through a back exit as a large crowd formed around the premises.

My home was several miles from the coliseum, situated on the third floor of a shabby apartment building, right along the outskirts of the slums. The walk, or should I say, brisk jog, through the thick humidity was more exhausting than my first few matches.

I turned the door handle after unlocking it, using my foot to pry it wide open as I made my way inside and set the girl down onto my uncle’s bed.

A shower and bed were all I wanted as I grabbed an extra set of clothes and entered the bathroom, the only other room in the open flat design. The ice-cold water kept me standing in the shower longer than I thought as the coating of grime and dried blood slowly washed down the drain. When I finally got out, I went around gathering my essentials and all the money saved up from odd jobs Arisa found for me.

My plan was to leave this town with her. There was no “her” anymore, and I still planned to leave this crappy village to find my uncle. I flopped down onto my bed, a few feet from the girl lying on my uncle's bed. My memories of Arisa and her betrayal cycled endlessly, eventually resting on the memories of the dark purplish energy as my mind drifted into a deep slumber.

The smell of food woke me. I noticed the time on the alarm clock; six hours had passed, and it was now midnight.

“Master, your food is ready.” The girl placed a pot of ramen on the table. The kitchen looked disheveled with open cabinets as if she looked and only found instant noodles to serve.

‘Well of course, that’s all I can afford to eat.’

The bowl and table settings were already prepared as she started scooping noodles into my bowl. I noticed the single pair of kitchenware without anything laid out for herself.

“Thank you, but where’s your bowl?”

“Don’t worry master, I will eat after you finish and clean up the kitchen for now.” The girl looked like she was worried I’d be unsatisfied with ramen as food.

“My name is Volatis. Stop calling me master; you’re already free. What is your name?” This wasn’t the first slave I’ve been around, but the way she spoke felt awkward to hear.

“My name is Eris, but if my master wishes to give me a new name, I will accept it.” Eris completely ignored the first part of what I said.

I got up and went to get another bowl, a cup of water, and utensils, seeing as she was waiting for me to start eating. I placed it all on the other end of the table and told her to eat. She still did not move, but only stared as I poured her half of the ramen. After a minute I couldn’t be bothered anymore and dug in. Eris eventually sat down to eat after watching me take several mouthfuls of noodles.

“Thanks for making the food, Eris. You can leave or rest up here for the night, but in the morning, we will part ways.” I got up, only to be blocked from the sink, with Eris taking the bowl and utensils from my hands.

This time I didn’t bother fighting her and put the things I gathered earlier on top of my bed, pouring out a sack of coins on the blanket. Only to immediately grumble and lay back on the bed. There was not enough to start a new life in the kingdom of Illnor, much less purchase passage to one of its largest cities.

Volatis

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