Despite my exhaustion, sleep did not come easily. The freezing metal floor of my cage did not lend itself kindly to functioning as a bed; for that reason, the limited sleep I did get was wrought with discomfort. The gruel in my trough had been replenished while I slept, leaving me with a cold, flavourless breakfast to start my day.

Within an hour after waking up, yet another guard approached my cage. It was a different guy from yesterday.

“There are some rumours going around about you after yer last match, girl. One of the most brutal kills in a while apparently…” He said, standing just beyond the bars. I shuddered remembering tearing the lizard apart from the inside out.

“Ya don’t look like much but goddamn was I impressed when I saw that. I respect it. I thought you were just another pissant sent to the slaughter but apparently not!” He chuckled as if someone just told him a bad pun. Now that he was facing me I could make out some finer details of his appearance.

He was a clearly well-defined man in his late twenties, a strong jaw and piercing blue eyes would’ve made him handsome if not for the pronounced gash that ran across his face, permanently scarring it. A slightly crooked nose and mild limp when he walked betrayed a life of combat and injury. The man stuck his hand through the cage.

“Name’s Ivan, you?” His question gave me pause. Under normal circumstances I may have reached and shook the man’s hand, giving him my name. However, these were not normal circumstances. For one, I was now female, and my original name seems out of place. I hadn’t really thought about my name until now, but I didn’t want to mull it over for too long, instead I chose to grab the man’s hand, shaking it firmly.

“I can’t remember.” I cringed slightly at the cliché of resorting to being an amnesiac, but it was the best I could think of in the limited time I had for it to not become awkward. He seemed sympathetic to this, and thankfully the alarm bells that rang in my head when I met Mira were quiet. Still, I was apprehensive. I was not going to put any trust into this man, after all, I was sure he had a reason for wanting to introduce himself like this.

“Sorry to hear it,” Ivan said, rubbing the back of his head. He seemed genuinely remorseful, but I didn’t believe it for a second. “And sorry if any of my colleagues‘ve given ya a hard time.”

“No hard feelings.” I lied plainly. I was still angry about the way I was casually treated like a slave, despite my current status as one. I swallowed my anger and resolved to make the most of this opportunity which was presenting itself to me.

“I would feel a lot better about everything if you could come and talk to me every once in a while… It gets really lonely down here.” I put on my best act, my ears lowered themselves along with my gaze. I forced memories of my time in the interrogation room to the forefront of my mind, causing tears to well up in my eyes. My tail followed suit, drooping down to the floor.

“Aye Aye! Of course I can, it must be terrible for someone as young as you to be placed in the Beast Storage Sector!” Ivan spoke quickly as if trying to push away whatever sadness he thought I was feeling.

“Thank you, Ivan.” I said, looking back up at him with a sniff.

“No worries… kid?” He responded, pausing only to think of how to refer to me.

“Y’know what, if I’m gonna be comin’ down ‘ere, I may as well give ya a name. Whadd’ya say?” I was slightly taken aback, but I figured I may as well take him up on his offer as I was only drawing blanks trying to think of a decent unisex name to adopt. I quietly nodded in response.

“Alright… um… I haven’t really done this before…” He kept on trailing off. After about what felt like twenty minutes but couldn’t have been more than twenty seconds, Ivan snapped his fingers with a ‘eureka’ look on his face.

“How’s about ‘Taily’, eh?” He seemed genuinely proud as he looked me over, mumbling ‘Taily’. When he finally saw the deadpan expression on my face, he backtracked a little.

“Okay so not that…” He looked around me, as if aiming to find some inspiration before the same ‘eureka’ look appeared again.

“Cavia? C’mon, whatcha think?” The word bounced around in my mind. It was very different from his original suggestion, actually sounding like something a person might be called. I wondered for a second about how he came up with it but decided to ask him another time.

“Cavia…” It was more feminine than I had hoped, but I really liked how it sounded. “Cavia, Cavia, Cavia.” I repeated it under my breath, as if I was testing it. The sound of gentle swooshing could be heard as my tail slowly wagged along the floor. It seemed I was more fond of the name than I had realised. Looking at Ivan, I smiled.

“Thanks, I like it.”

“I’m glad ya do, Cavia. Listen, I hate to do this to ya, but I’ve been asked to take you to the prep room for yer next fight. They make us use the collar, ye gotta understand, right?” He seemed sad as if he was about to do something he was reluctant to. I knew what he was getting at and shrugged my shoulders.

“I understand, go for it. I trust you.” I knew it was stupid of me to willingly remove my freedom – albeit temporarily – but there was an image of myself I wanted to convey to Ivan, and I wouldn’t be able to do that if I immediately began fighting back against him. The man knew I was capable, after all he had apparently seen yesterday’s fight, so if I showed hesitance to obediently do as I was told, he would likely become much more cautious.

Ivan repeated the words I had been told by my previous escort to the prep room, and we departed from my cage. I was much calmer going to the arena this time. I tried asking Ivan if he knew what I would be up against but he was just as in the dark as I was. He cheerily waved me goodbye when we reached the prep room, and I was once again alone.

I had three goals for my upcoming fight. The first was to avoid getting any major injuries. Both due to the pain, and due to me not wanting to reveal the true extent of my abilities which had apparently been able to resurrect me from the dead. The second was to test my newest Aspect, and the third was to win.

The announcer had mentioned something about ‘offers’ at the end of my last match. If my intuition was correct, that could be one of the steps for me to escape this place without needing to resort to drastic measures. However, I could also be completely wrong, so it was shot in the dark but winning would surely only be beneficial to me either way.

The sound of the roaring crowd grew louder once again as the large gates slowly began to open. This time I was much more nervous seeing as I didn’t have an overwhelming urge to maim something empowering me to rush at my enemy. I forced myself to take a step towards the arena.

“Man the fuck up. If you ever wanna get out of here, you need to get stronger and stop being their bitch.” I said to myself, ignoring the irony of my words, instead focusing on their intent. I inhaled deeply and set aside the murky fog of terror, sorrow, and apprehension that has clouded my heart for the last few days. My eyes became sharp as a shallow resolve formed within them.

Each step I took towards the centre of the arena caused what little confidence I thought I had to crack slightly. A week ago, I could have never imagined this would be my reality, forced to fight to the death in a fantasy colosseum. My opponent was yet to leave their prep room, so I stood, waiting nervously.

I blinked and it was upon me.

Mitozen

I’m super busy so sorry about the slightly inconsistent post schedule. Hope you’re all enjoying though.