Witch of the Gate (Part I): Empyrean Crystal Soul

In the arena, I can see and hear a lot of demons cheering and shouting asking for blood and action. It was like the Roman Coliseum in ancient times of Earth. We are items of entertainment for the audience.

-“I will protect you.” Dalion whispers at me.

Then, the audience starts to cheering as the master of the arena and Paria itself appears. High Demon, Jix is announcing the appearance of a new “hero” who must prove himself through the tests of arena.

This new hero is also a strong human warrior. He is tall and muscular. He goes along with the audience’s will and he is showing off his strength.

In his hands, he is holding a spear. He seems vigorous and strong. On the other hand, we are weaker. In fact, we are not even a remarkable opponent. However, Jix wants to decrease our numbers and to give some entertainment to the audience.

There are some Orks and Trolls on the walls of the arena. If the two sides don’t fight, they are going to kill them with some arrows. So, there is no other choice but to fight.

The horn rings and the fight begins. Some people of our side are rushing toward the warrior and the next moment they are lying dead in a pool of blood. This sight terrifies me. I freeze in place.

After the first blood, the warrior is rushing towards us this time. He spots the previous champion and goes to him. Dalion is really experience and takes the opportunity to organize an attack with other elves.

Some beastmen mimic Dalion and rush toward the warrior surrounding him. He wields his spear quite skillfully and with a hit he kills two more people. Dalion takes charge of the remaining elves and beastmen.

I am quite surprised with her strategic abilities. She looks like a teenager, but she is old enough to handle those situations.

The warrior's weak opponents are not strong enough to injure him but they can be annoying. He seems to be interesting only in “Black Knight” who even though he is injured, he is still giving a proper and interesting battle.

The warrior lets alone his strong opponent as he decides to get rid of the “ants”. With that way, more elves and beastmen fall down from his deadly spear. He is determined to eliminate the weak and rushes towards us.

I also get in front of him. I freeze and I can’t move from his path. As his spear is coming toward me, a sword is stopping it. It’s Black Knight’s sword. He saved me. However, I don’t understand.

-“Move!!!” He shouts at me. Then, I come out of the shock and I run backwards.

-“Stay here!!!” Dalion says and with others they are rushing toward the warrior.

When Dalion, the Black Knight, me and a couple of other prisoners survived, Jix stops the battle. He praises the strength of the warrior and our effort to survive. As Dalion has said, we are given the opportunity to stay alive.

They return us to our cell. Everyone is tired and breathless. However, only six of us came back alive.

I approach the warrior as I want to thank him.

-“You are useless, aren’t you?” He sneers.

I furrow my eyebrows. I don’t know why he is so hostile toward me. If he doesn’t want, he shouldn’t have saved me.

-“I am not a warrior.” I say as I want to defend myself.

-“You didn’t even run away from harm.” He insists. Well, I was terrified to death.

-“Before being a burden, you must learn how to fight.”

I tighten my fists and I want to tell him that I don’t want to fight but as I witnessed a lot of deaths today, I can’t say such words to him. I let him alone and I return to my corner.

To not keep this grumpy mood, I turn to Dalion to ask her about her battle abilities.

Well, all elves have a lot of vitality. They are capable to jump from tree to tree so they can also be quite lively in battle. Most of the elves can handle bows and arrows and spears while they reimburse them with their magical powers of wind and earth.

Dalion has the powers of the wind but she didn’t show them on the arena. However, her strategic mind and physical abilities were really fantastic. She is skillful with the spear, too. I really don’t want to become a burden but I am really scared of violence. I didn’t even take a weapon with me.

-“Do you want to learn about spear?” Dalion asks me.

I really want to refuse but I am afraid that I will disappoint her. Mother was disappointed in me as I wasn’t like other kids. I was a freak to her.

I bite my lips with anxiety and I nod. She smiles warmly at me. Of course, we don’t have any weapon in our cell, so she is just teaching me due to shadow training.

Her hands are pretending to hold a spear and move together with her legs and body. I have no other choice but to mimic her.

As the days are passing, I can see her enthusiasm while she is teaching me. I don’t know why but I learn quite fast about the spear. She is just regretting that we don’t have a real spear with us. I don’t know if I have to be happy or sad about it.

A few more days pass, when the door of the cell opens. Instead of Orks or Trolls, a small-built demon gets inside. He is wearing a hood so I can’t see him clearly. He looks around him and finally focuses on me. He comes toward me and the rest of the prisoners seem terrified.

The moment I walk backward, I hear a familiar voice.

-“Miss, it’s me, Lucida.” Then, that person puts down the hood of her cape. I look at her surprised. I jump on her hug.

-“What about the others?” I ask.

-“They are in other cells. I came here to set you free first. Then, we can go to them.” She explains. I nod.

-“You are friends with a demon?” I hear the strict voice of Dalion. Even the Black Knight’s stare is hard on me.

-“She is my companion. She is not a bad person.” I say but Dalion’s eyes looks at me disappointed and I just feel numb.

I know that she suffered because of the demons, but not all demons are bad. Their authorities made war with the other tribes, but the civilians are not at fault.

-“Dalion, it is an opportunity to escape.” I suggest to her trying to ignore that cold and disappointed look. She looks at me and then at Lucida.

-“What if it is a trap?” She asks with disbelief.

-“This is a map of the arena.” Lucida says and she gives her a map. Dalion takes it hesitantly.

-“Miss, we must leave. It is their business to believe or not.” She says at me and with hesitation, I look at Dalion and I follow Lucida. Of course, she lets the cell door unlocked.

While we are trying to find our captured companions, Lucida explains to me that the days of our capture, she managed to escape as the hypnotism of Jix didn’t affect her. Then, she tried to find a way to come in touch with anyone of us. She even found a job at the arena as some sort of janitor.

Then, she made a map of the arena to help us with our escape. When she finally got more credit from the higher up demons, she had access to the prisoners’ cells.

While I was listening to her story, I am looking behind me for time to time trying to see if the others have got out of the cell.

Then, we reach another area with cells. In one of them, I can also see the warrior we had fought some days ago.

Finally, we stand in front of Tarragon’s cell. He has some scratches and wounds from fighting but he is alive. When he sees us, he smiles at us without a word. Then, we proceed to find the other two.

I freeze in my place when I reach Gina’s cell. She is tightened with chains while there are a lot of whip wounds in her back. I can tell what happened. Gina’s attitude is not exactly timid or submissive. She wouldn’t go along with the demon’s orders.

Lucida uses her dark energy to break the chains and Gina would fall to the ground if Tarragon wasn’t fast enough to catch her. He holds her in his arms and as we are ready to leave, I can hear the other prisoners’ voice.

-“Let us free!!!” They shout. I nod to Lucida and with her powers opens everyone’s cells.

Then, we follow her to the exit. Well, it would not be so easy to escape and suddenly I remember Cielo. Where is Cielo? I freeze to my place as I am looking at Lucida.

-“I think she is in Jix’s room.” She says.

-“Why didn’t you tell us? Why are you going to leave without her?” I ask.

-“I care about Miss Daphne’s safety more.” She answers. I furrow my eyebrows. Is it because of the contract between us? However, Cielo is my friend, too. I can’t let her behind.

-“Let’s go to save her.” I insist. Lucida is hesitant but she succumbs.

We take another direction but this way is more dangerous. More and more demon soldiers are in our way. Lucida is strong enough to eliminate them alone. She doesn’t hesitate and she just kills them, even though they belong to her tribe.

After a couple of minutes, we get outside of Jix’s room.