Chapter 1: Into The Arena

Chapter 1: Into The Arena

The fateful eight enter the sprawling complex, staring in awe at the sheer size and ambience of suppressed energy filling the place. As the rest of them head down to investigate what will be their home for the duration of this endeavor, Ayasha goes to the hexagon combat ring in the center, knowing here is the most important spot in the complex. She had entered first and watched the others as they walked through the yawning portal, full of purpose and possible trepidation.







Most seem determined, not something Ayasha is used to seeing from her potential enemies; normally they are too fearful of her uncle to do anything but talk. She wonders idly what these people are like, and whether she can find their weaknesses before they try to take her down. They spend a while taking in their surrounding before heading down the stairs into the nether regions of the arena, where the living spaces are.

Inside is a barracks with eight beds, training halls with practice dummies, board breakers and regular hard iron for those wanting to simply bulk up, and a large kitchen capable of feeding them all and more.



Things go wrong pretty much immediately when she meets a purple-haired woman named Rowena in the kitchen and thinks “What a ridiculous color for hair she has.” The other present in a towering, well-muscled black man named Troy with the look of a thug, who eyes her up and down, taking in her tattoos and physical bearing. “Get a load of this woman and her painted face… must think its Halloween or something” Rowena says to Troy with a snort making Ayasha instantly hate her. Her tattoos are a source of pride for her, and show her place in society at a glance for those that know how.

“A painted face indeed.” She mutters, launching into a tirade about how ridiculous the other woman’s hair looks. A heated argument between them ensues, with Troy just watching from the side expressionless, though seemingly ready to jump in to aid Rowena.

Blaze; trying to take his mind off the events that brought him here, adds to the chaos when he decides to have some fun by sneaking up on Saraya Marquez, who is watching Tarik and Troy play foosball in the recreation room while muttering under her breath. He doesn’t know her that well and should have given the idea a second, if not third consideration. Once the initial shock wears off, she grabs him physically and throws him into the nearby practice room.





“Grraaahhh! You think you can have fun at my expense, think again!” She shouts and proceeds to try and show him why she is a six-time gold medalist in the olympics. To her surprise, he proves to be a fairly tough opponent and just barely gains the upper hand against him. When they go their separate ways; Saraya raging within at her underestimation of the childish Blaze, and him somewhat oblivious, thinking instead about his last fight and remembering with a frown what had gotten him into this situation, thinking perhaps he shouldn’t do that anymore.

Since the fight between Ayasha and Rowena is over for now, Troy goes to find Owen with the intention of apologizing for dragging him into his criminal activity, but the other man irrationally doesn’t want to hear it, vowing to make him pay for what he did; namely ruining his life.



After the argument, Ayasha attempts to get to know some of her new roommates, hoping to win them over to her side; or at least give her some insight on how they think, and soon finds Saraya in the bathroom; just having gotten done making faces at herself in the mirror. While she seems okay, something is definitely off about her, Ayasha notices that she seems distant; like she is unsure of Ayasha’s intentions.

She decides to end the conversation when the other woman starts ranting to about some guy named Antonio, seemingly talking to herself more than Ayasha.





Wandering back into the barracks, she finds

Simon is searching for a place to lie down; it has been a long day for him apparently. He seems like a nice guy, though a little geeky, and he chats with her amiably, though she doesn’t make much progress in winning him over or give away much about himself. He seems to find her untrustworthy; perhaps something happened to him to make him that way, so she decides to try and find out later.



Everyone seems to be retiring for the night, but she is too excited to sleep, taking a wandering tour of the complex instead and finds the training room, relishing the metallic tang of sweat in the air inside. She makes her way to one of the board breakers and proceeds to work out all of her excess energy and excitement.



It is nearly an hour of working out before she passes out on her cot from sheer exhaustion and her last thoughts before falling asleep is wondering what tomorrow will bring for her and the rest of the competitors.