From Slave To Ruler

Tak Tak Tak Tak Tak...

Slow foot taps were heard through the dungeons. Stepping on a blood puddle, he pulled back his foot on a dryer area of dirt, spitting on the blood in disgust. When he saw a lifeless man covered with Whip marks all over his body, he almost threw up, seeing that he stepped on that Dead man's blood. There is seriously no mercy in the eyes of these Whippers. Taking lives like they didn't matter at all, it's something even the King of this place doesn't deserve.

This Dungeon being underground, where even air doesn't seem to escape, made the stench of blood and rotting corpses even heavier. It is a surprise how the people who are still alive in this dungeon, don't die out of the stench. Maybe they adapted to it. Maybe it is the only life they know now. Maybe the hope of freedom and light left their hearts long ago. They adapted to thinking this as their life now, with dying out of pain to escape this underground hell hole being their main life goal.

This Dungeon, used to be a mine, a big one, the first mine of Hawk Kingdom actually! before this place was even declared a Kingdom that is. Before it was nothing but an empty space with a big bump in the middle. Once ore was discovered there, people living in a village about a Kilometer away, arrived on the scene and have used the mine for about a year along with other people from different places before the mine gave out it's last ore, the Kingdom merged with that village after time though, transforming into a bigger Domain.

The word about the mine was rapidly spread throughout a 500 mile radius in no time, people from all over travelled to make their life fortune by mining here, mining for Gold! A rare ore indeed. No one was in charge of the mine, what people mined was theirs to sell instead of working for a salary for a greedy man which brought no wealth at all, but just enough food to survive the month. That was the main reason for the word spreading too fast and for the big mine to deplete so fast, the gold was practically free. Even nobodies could make a life fortune, in this case wealth and social status didn't matter.

But that of course came with many problems. As the Gold Mine's  popularity increased, so did propaganda, bloodshed, greed, it was every man and woman for themselves. Everyone wanted Gold Ores, even if it meant ruining one life after another. Greed came above all. 1 year later, 100 poorly build houses were around the mine and only 250 people were left living there after the mine completely depleted. But of course that was 300 years ago. It is a big scar of the Kingdom's history for some but also a big pride for others whose last name is the same to those who helped form the Kingdom after the Gold Rush. Big family names branching through from tens to hundreds of houses. At this age, social status varied on the family name heavily.

Now Hawk Kingdom has a bursting population of 4,000 Houses and 18,000 people to live in them. Amazing, isn't it? At the beginning, this place was filled with greedy people and now the greedy are ruling this domain. How tables turn. You would think that those who are greedy by blood would have fled the place once the Gold ran out. But i suppose blood relation doesn't have anything to do with greed and character, people can change for the better and for the worse. Anyway, now the First mine is a traumatic dungeon. What a heck of a transformation don't you think?

"Wake up." Heard Aaron James. A tone rather low and yet surprisingly less offensive or less of a "do as I say or parish" type of tone. Aaron thought that torture time was finally here. He was surprised how no Whipper came to torture him. He heard one scream after scream from the victims nearby but no Whipper came for him. Guessing his fate, he chose to ignore the man telling him to wake up and didn't move, waiting for death to reach him. He was sure of his fate. Furthermore, Aaron was in the dungeon for 2 days already with no food or water thrown to him, he did not have the nerve to deal with this man. He had no nerves to deal with anything that isn't water.

"Wake up!" He heard that thick voice again, but this time it was rougher, louder. "Do you want water?"

Hearing the word "Water", Aaron reacted instantly. He sat straight and glared upon the man on the other side of the arm thick iron bars. A man standing 6 feet tall with a black hood covering his head completely, and the tunnel being very dim helped him hide his face.

The man gently slid a clay bottle of water through the bars and gave it a stronger push afterwards which ended up tipping the bottle and a bit of water being spilled. Aaron's strength suddenly bursted, standing from his bed made of hay, his knees dropped on the dry dirty ground and he lifted the bottle right away, started drinking it without considering hygiene issues. Drinking water that fast after a long time of not consuming it at all is of course never a good idea. Try drinking a lot of water after an 8 hour sleep, you will feel like throwing up. It will take a bit of time for the body to get used to the water. He turned his head to the left and threw up a little bit. But all he threw up was water. He has nothing else left. If 8 hours of no water is rough for the body, imagine 2 days!

He didn't care. He threw up, spit and drank water again. But less this time. Consuming one mouthful after the other. "What do you want from me?" Asked Aaron under his breath, tired of this nonsense as he glared at the man on the other side of the bars feeling bewildered. At this matter, he was dumbfounded, he didn't know what to think. Why is he still alive after killing so many people in the mines, why haven't any Whippers visited him, what is this man doing here, and most importantly what did the King mean by "this tool will bring us more gold than we can count"?

"You are well aware of the Arena, right?" The man on the other side of the bars said under a low tone.

"Actually i am not. I come from Makemis if you forgot. It's a whole other country." Well this is a cover of course. The reason behind Aaron's lack of knowledge for this arena taking a big part of the Kingdom is of course due to him reincarnating into this world two days ago. He doesn't remember everything his current body remembers yet. The Arena however ranges 100 meters wide, and the battle field itself in the middle, takes 60 meters of space. The audience area, can fit around 4,000 people. Sort of hard to measure considering it was never full before.

"Either way. You understand the concept of an Arena. You win the battle, you get coins. You die, well, you die!" Hearing what this man had to say, Aaron was able to form a quick theory about what's going on. But the big headache due to the lack of food and water, completely obliterated the chances for him to focus on his theory further.

"So what do you want with me?" Asked Aaron James as he stared at the ground in front of him while sitting on the hay bale bed, being rather dizzy due to the fact that he threw up just a bit earlier.

"Didn't you understand it already? I'm in charge of the Arena and it's battles. Call me Arena Master Fin. You are an EarthQuaker, you will fight in the arena for us. With the word of mouth spreading that there are People with Powers fighting in the arena, the profit will be overwhelming. If you fight good, you will be rich!" His voice raised in excitement, in the l.u.s.t for gold. The arena itself has an entrance fee of 50 Bronze Coins and people are required to bet on a fighter in order to enter. It is profit in two ways. Bet 200 Bronze Coins at a minimum, and win 400, or loose them all. Of course the odds of 500 people betting for one fighter and 500 betting for the other is rare, there will always be a ratio gap which is the source of profit for the one hosting the betting or anyone financially superior to him or her.

"So that's what the King meant." He murmured with himself and added "I suppose this is my only choice?"

"It unfortunately is." He said showing sympathy for Aaron who went through this much for greed coming from people of higher standards. "But if you survive round after round, you will be rich, loved, envied upon. If you become a Champion, you escape slavery." Said the man with his voice raising in enthusiasm. He sure had a way with words.

"I doubt that I will survive for that long. I have no idea what I'm doing." Pointed out Aaron, in suicidal hopes of being put out of his misery.

"There are training rooms. We don't plan to put an embarrassment on the battlefield." The man pointed out in a rather firm tone, showing that he doesn't like excus.e.m.e.nts.

"Wow so thoughtful." Whispered Aaron in sarcasm, but a question popped up on his head. "How much does it pay?"