《Broken Mask》


 Hard won battles

    It''s dark, cold and crowded. There''s barely any light to illuminate what seemed to be an ancient Roman underground cave.


    There are about a million people on standby in there.


    There was no discrimination while picking these people. There was all kind of people. Dark skinned, light skinned, red skinned, black-haired, blond, red-haired, men, women, fat, skinny, you name it. There were people of all kind in there.


    Among all those was Nesd, a young adult that had light brown hair and bright green eyes.


    He might not be that tall but he has been looking around for quite a while.


    "What''s happening here?", "Who are these people?", "Are they like me?". These were just some of the main questions that passed through his mind while deeply scanning his surrounding.


    ...


    After some time people started asking one another about the situation. Chatter slowly filled the poorly lit room.


    Nesd heard their chatter and realized everyone there seemed to be in the same situation: "Teleported here from out of nowhere".


    The chatter slowly increased until a bright light started shining from thin air.


    What appeared to be an angel materialized right in front of the nearly blinded people.


    "You will now fight for humanity" is what the angel said.


    His hands moved and many smaller shines appeared and turned into weapons. It turned into swords of all kinds, spears, axes, bows, crossbows, even sticks. Every object was to be used as a weapon.


    Different kinds of armor also appeared. Plate armor, chain mail, leather armor. All kinds of armor.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    But this made some despair. There were two reasons for such despair.


    Some were afraid to fight. They don''t want to die.


    But the observant ones met despair because they realized one small detail. The number of weapons and armor aren''t nearly enough for everyone.


    Not only that but the weapons and armor were all on one side of the cave, near the angel. Those who were on the opposite side were almost guaranteed to have no weapons or armor.


    Some people fell to the ground, helpless. While others redied their feet to make sure they could get their hands on something. It didn''t matter what anymore.


    Suddenly, the angel spoke again: "As I explain, feel free to pick a weapon".


    These words shook everyone present.


    Nesd was in deep thought already since he is in the far end of the room, far from any kind of weapon.


    What should he do? Try to trample everything in his path to get a weapon or piece of armor? Or should he just do nothing? He was deep in thought.


    "You...", started the angel. This moment was pure chaos. People running, pushing and trampling one another. In the end, Nesd just stayed in place.


    "...will be fighting in this tournament. The tournament of the gods. If your performance is good, then humanity survives." finished the angel.


    By now there was already a blood river flowing from side to side of the dark room. People were dying, trampled by others.


    "You will be fighting alongside the legends who are much stronger than all of you together. As such, your shameful face won''t be seen." said the angel with an arrogance that could make most people that weren''t already, puke.


    "Who the hell does he think he is?", "who are these ''legends''?" These two questions passed by everyone''s head.


    Some people actually even tried to kill others that had weapons and armor.


    ...


    After a few bloody minutes, all the weapons and armor were taken and the corpses had pilled up because of that.


    In the end, a third of the initial people had died. From those that survived, only half had either a piece of armor or a weapon.


    It was miserable.


    "I see you are ready." Said the angel as he disappeared.


    Once the angel was gone, the wall that was behind him started rising and the sunlight bathed the bloodied people that had just fought their first fight.


    They found themselves in a giant arena. Loud cheering could be heard. All the spectators were some kind of divine being like angels.


    They looked ahead and saw their legend.


    She...

 The Legends and the masked

    As Nesd looked ahead into the arena that appeared in front of him, a mask magically appeared on the face of everyone that didn''t have a helmet covering it.


    Ahead, a woman with short blond hair and perfect curves with a bow faced a dark-skinned woman with long black hair and a plentiful body with a spear. Both were beauties.


    These two women were without a doubt the legends. They had no mask after all.


    "The minions have arrived." said a deep, divine voice coming from above.


    The owner of such a voice was an angel with four pairs of wings.


    "Now, each side''s minions will battle as the legends battle. Once their battle is over, they may help their legends or minions correspondingly."


    Everyone was walking forward while looking at the legends, angel and the enemy minions.


    Everyone was tense, anxious and nervous.


    Yet, some smiles could be seen.


    "What could they be dreaming about?" thought Nesd.


    He couldn''t understand why anyone would smile in such a dreadful situation. People would just keep on dying until no one was left.


    But above all that, Everyone had the same question.


    "Are these really legends?"


    To Nesd, they looked like normal people with fancy weapons. Not only that, but both of them looked like some kind of model. They''re way too beautiful to be fighters.


    Nesd was starting to have worries. They might be getting tricked.


    Everyone was sizing everything up around them.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "The war duel is about to begin." said the eight-winged angel.


    Both legends readied their weapons while all the minions readied their resolve.


    They decided to forget everything and simply fight without looking back or even sideways.


    After a few seconds, a loud "BANG" resonated in the giant arena.


    Both legends let out a war cry. The minions followed and charged forward into the enemy army.


    The metallic sound of weapons clashing started but it didn''t last long. Not because it stopped, but because it was shadowed by the large explosions coming from the other side of the arena.


    Magic. The legends were fighting with magic.


    The arrows shot by the bow split and swayed in the wind in the direction of the enemy while shining brightly.


    The spear would shine brightly and destroy all the arrows which made the explosions.


    Nesd who stayed behind was stunned at that sight but after a few minutes, he broke free from it.


    "Why am I so impressed? I saw a bunch of angels just now. Magic should just be a given at this point."


    Nesd looked forward and noticed that people were already dying. It was his opportunity.


    He didn''t have to fear dealing with a legend while the explosions were going on.


    He sneaked between everyone and found a dead man with a sword still in hand. It was sweaty and drenched in blood but it would do fine for now.


    He picked up the sword and as he stepped back he heard a "whoosh".


    A sword had barely missed his head.


    He panicked a bit.


    He stepped back once again and regained his composure.


    He grasped the bloody sword and stepped forward.


    The enemy was a man a little taller than him. He raised his sword above his head and Nesd answered by preparing a swing from below.


    Once the man swung his sword, Nesd did the same.


    The blades clashed. The man''s sword swayed a bit and missed Nesd completely but Nesd''s sword drifted along the man''s and cut off four of the man''s fingers by half.


    The man''s blade fell to the ground and as the man took a step back in panic, Nesd finished it by thrusting his sword into the man''s chest.


    The man started bleeding and after a few seconds, fell motionless.


    Nesd missed the most vital organs but he hit the man''s lung.


    With the bleeding, the man was unable to handle it.


    "So this is the first..." said Nesd in a low voice.


    He was surprised. He had just killed someone. He killed another living person. He actually won his first little battle.


    But, even though he was impressed by this, something else overshadowed everything.


    He felt good.


    He felt nor disgust nor anything that one was supposed to feel when killing a fellow man.


    He felt none of that. Just the rewarding feeling of accomplishment and a weird hint of satisfaction.


    He looked ahead and listened to the continuous explosions.


    He looked ahead and prepared his sword that was now even bloodier.


    He thought "Let''s just do this".


    And stepped back forward.